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Cheap Chinese motorscooters are a great deal (If you're careful).
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Chinese scooters from under $800 are a great deal but care is
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Where can owners get parts and service? Seems to me a support
network is lacking.
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indicated. Here are some pointers.
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Last year I brought a pair of 'LIFAN' 100cc trailbikes for my boys. They
are copies of the old Honda XR 100 (twin shock rear end and disc brake
up front).....they are still in court with Honda over 'trademark' issues.
Iv'e had no problems with the bikes and they are ideal 'learners' bikes.
I have no worries about buying Chinese products, as most things here are
imported anyway, and at least we get a 'free trade' deal with China,
unlike some western countries who continue to 'protect' their local
industries by imposing import tariffs.
The influx of 'cheap' small bikes is good for motorcycling as it gets
more 'bums on seats'. Before getting the LIFAN's, I had been looking at
a Yamaha TTR 125 (admittadly a better bike), but I got both the LIFAN's
for the price of one Yamaha.
Now, if you were a ten year old, would you rather have a bike of your
own to go riding with your brother, or have one bike to share between
the two of you?
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The new Chinese scooters are a mixed bag. The quality varies widely and
the makers, though high in business acumen, are notoriously low on
business scruples. They are, however, aware of the effect of this
reputation and some manufacturers of low-end scooters, notably TANK,
are making a genuine effort to establish at least an appearance of
respectability. (Note: 150cc TANK scooters are very reasonably priced
from $799 right now. See our Best Scooter Deals page
NB: Scooter World has published a well-researched article entitled
"China and the American Scooterist" on the importation of Chinese
scooters to America.
Specific Advantages
Price
The Chinese models do beat the prices of all scooter brands from
Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and certainly Italy and the U.S. There have been
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When you pay your workers $40 per month a beat them when they don't
meet their quotas, it tends to drive down the cost of production.
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"As a source of low-cost labor, there is no question China offers a tremendous
opportunity. Average labor cost is a miniscule $0.87/hour in China compared to
$2.38 in Mexico, $21.33 in the U.S. and $26.18 in Germany according to
September, 2003 statistics from the U.S. Department of labor."
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Boy, just when we're warming up for a good old-fashioned brawl, somebody has
to go and insert actual facts into the thread! Have you no mercy?
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You know the story about a monkey writing a novel if you give one enough time?
I was looking into furniture recently and stumbled on another site that had some
stats on Chinese versus US furniture. I tried to find it but found the one
above instead. The one I saw earlier listed shipping and overhead costs as
well. For furniture, shipping raised the cost of the Chinese product something
like 24% but then overhead in China was something like 50% compared to 200% in
the US. Those were for furniture, but it kind of shows you just can't compete
with places like Mexico and China.
The labor rate in Mexico, assuming the link is accurate, kind of explains the
mass influx of Mexicans into the US.
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Say no to as many Chinese-produced good as you possibly can. Don't
support communism.
Tim Kreitz
2003 ZX7R
2000 ZX6R
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accusations of, and unfair trade lawsuits filed against Chinese
companies for "dumping" (selling below cost) scooters on the American
market. Some are still not worth the price, particularly those which do
not qualify for registration in the states, but in a certain sense, it
is nice that the Chinese are subsidizing economical scooter usage in
America.
Simplicity
Some scooter repair experts claim that he Chinese scooters (despite
poor documentation, see below) are very simple and easy to work on.
Track Record
Yes, I did say "track record." Unlike so many other reverse engineered
knock-off products produced in China, scooters have a longstanding
history as a Chinese product. The gy6 engine used in Honda scooters has
been manufactured in Chinese factories for decades. China runs on
motorscooters. After the bicycle, motorscooters are the dominant form
of private transportation. In China and Taiwan, one sometimes sees
whole families on one scooter, sometimes dogs are on the scooter with
their owner. The Chinese home market is vastly larger than the American
or European markets and, for over a decade, Chinese products have
dominated sales to developing countries. This does not mean that all
Chinese factories know what they are doing. There is little regulation
and quality products must be ferretted out.
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