EBay quad bike buyer beware
Submitted: Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 17:26
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Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses
Have been looking at the eBay bikes of late that look inexpensive. In particular the 4 wheelers or quads that some like to call them I just sound a warnng to EOers who have an interest that way. Particular to note are the inexpensive ones that aren't inexpensive if they injure the user.
Looking through the specs they all seem to describe brakes as rear disk or drum ok. The thing I want to warn of is that very few actually mention the pausity of front brakes. 4 wheelers are really reasonably stable but there is a real safety issue I believe in not having any front brakes. If your
child only heads up hills that is great and they will stop alright. With no front brakes any application of brakes will shift the transfer to the front and no brakes to apply. If the rider is going down even just a slight slope they will not be able to stop in the required distance. That means the tree in front will be hit or the drop in front will have a rider over it.
My experience is riding three and four wheel bikes for 25 years and I have no doubt there are others just as experienced. I have rolled them, flipped them, hurt myself and broken bones(other family members have too). I would feel very uncomfortable if the outdoors friends on EO put family or friends at risk by just going to the lowest common denominator in bikes. Make sure they can stop as
well as go!
Reply By: Footloose - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 17:53
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 17:53
John, I was seriously looking at something along these lines to carry a bit of very light stuff around the place. After reading of their safety record I've about ditched the idea.
Now I know everyone has a great time on them etc but when it comes to tipping over or not being able to stop on a slope, I'm a wuss. So thanks for that. I'll stick to the sit on.
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Reply By: Member - Stephen M (NSW) - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 18:49
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 18:49
Yep and there motors go bang with in weeks and when you want it fixed forget you might as
well count your losses because they dont want to know you. Regards Steve M
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Reply By: nowimnumberone - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:01
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:01
we have bought our kids a cpl of cheap bikes/quads from ebay ect.
i think if you make sure your kids know what there doing and what not to do you lesson the chance of something going wrong.
the same could be said about most things in life.
cars/pushbikes/tractors/busses ect ect.
if you dont know its capabilities dont get on it.
cheers
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:54
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:54
Good point, I'm with you - the best motorcycle riders in the world (for example) crash their brains out on the best bikes available - case of knowing your capabilities and the machine you're hanging off - and then expect the worst anyway...if you dont like the sound of this - play bowls (which is also good fun..I assume:)
Cheers
Greg
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 20:29
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 20:29
doing the same nowimnumberone, nowimnumberone again. But just be aware they should not be put on slopes where I know you and I have driven mate.
Greg, you may be right on that, but letting a kid out with no brakes on a slope is quite different until they get experience or they will never get to go exploring. Being inexpensive, a lot of parents get them for little kids as they are the smallest and least expensive bikes. I am talking about little kids bikes.. The kids will seldom have had experience.
I leave bowls alone. I have smashed bikes into animals and fence posts w i t h good brakes and nearly with my head. Bowls. Not for me.
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 20:51
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 20:51
John - sorry mate should have acknowledge your original post - good advice - if the units being sold are defective in some way then spread the word. My comment was more general. Anyway back to point ...front brakes provide ~70% of stopping power...without them you are in trouble. I tried to ride my XR 600 with front brake disconnected once (slight slope)...ended up in fence..ego destroyed ...only temporarily obviously..
cheers
Greg
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 21:58
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 21:58
No troubles Greg. You have just made the point again reinforcing it. The front brakes are v e r y important. The quads are built cheaply but the faults are built in with no brakes at the front. Glad the ego was only interrupted mate. Fences are relatively easy to repair.
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Reply By: MarkTheShark - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:21
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:21
Good call
John. I have a quad bike and can vouch for how dangerous they are for an inexperienced rider - having been thrown off and rolling one down a steep slope. A quad bike without front brakes beggars belief and makes one wonder about other aspects such as
suspension etc. People don't realise that these bikes don't have power steering and no steering dampers. With fat tyres they are heavy to steer and can be thrown off course easily, especially in rough going where I use
mine. I use
mine to get to awkward
places on my property for work purposes, but with the greatest respect.
Mark
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 22:01
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 22:01
Spot on Mark, and if you have a property that has steep bits, probably best off with the 4by ones. We have avoided those here as they are higher maintenance and it is frequently difficult to get staff to maintain plant. Thanks for helping draw people's attention to the possible dangers.
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Reply By: Exploder - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:27
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 19:27
I don’t know if they are the same ones as you are talking about but a mate at work recently brought one Chinese 250cc 4 stroke Quad bike (Sort of look’s like a banchee “Yamaha”) from a bike
shop for $2500.
Say’s it’s not a bad bike it looks good when you stand back from it, winds out to around 100Km/h, but up close you can pick little quality related things out on it. In saying that he recons it’s not a bad buy overall for the price and considering he will only use it a few times a year he wasn’t about to drop $8000+ on a Jap Quad.
Only problem he has had so far is the Kill switch was wired up incorrectly so the thing wouldn’t start. He was tearing the thing apart trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Took it back to the Bike
shop and said if ya can’t fix it I want my money back, they had it for a day to figure it out what was wrong with it.
Cheers.
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 20:36
Tuesday, Oct 31, 2006 at 20:36
$2500 is one of the more expensive Chinese quad bikes. It should have brakes and perhaps even better made than a lot. I agree that it is expensive buying the $8K and more Japanese bikes and US made ones too, particularly when you find frames break through in a matter of months. One local supplier actually fits 3/4" water pipe up the inside of some of the new framework to make it last longer. That is a US made Japanes branded bike too.
I know lots of farmers are no longer buying many quads preferring old 4bys instead as they last longer and are more reliable. We have two second or third hand ones here ourselves.
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Reply By: TerraFirma - Wednesday, Nov 01, 2006 at 15:45
Wednesday, Nov 01, 2006 at 15:45
Everyone I know who has bought one of the chinese imported pit bikes has had nothing but problems. You get what you pay for and these are a classic example. They have their market if you don't mind reliability issues and lack of service, not for me.
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Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Wednesday, Nov 01, 2006 at 18:42
Wednesday, Nov 01, 2006 at 18:42
Your quote "Everyone" is a good broad generalisation TF. I was talkng to one guy in the motor industry the other day who has a distinctly different opinion. Been hearing that some of the Chinese copies of Honda motors have been graded better than Honda originals too. Some of the higher technologies haven't matched though.
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