Cheap Chinese ATVs

Where abouts are you Kroozer??

Cheers.....Borgy

Sorry, cant help with the experience part, but its a good question you pose!

If your handy enough with spanners to fix anything that breaks.....and something probably will, they hey....why not?

You've already said your not going to rely on it life/death so whats the worst that can happen? you might have slightly limited fun? I'de do it if I had just enough $$ to spend, even been looking at the $300-400 ones for the kids to play with.. ;-)

Some thoughts:
Can you get spares - suspension, engine, rings, bearings, caseings, electrics, controls, etc?
Whats $1k worth to you? (if you use it 4 times and it ends up a pile of junk in your shed....did you get your $$ worth?)
How much can you enjoy or use it for that limited life span? (lets face it, its not a honda and wont last forever)

End of the day, its a bit of a gamble and everyone will pose an opinion, but you might learn something the hard way....and not spend $5K plus to learn a lesson.

Good luck.
Cheers
NUTS!

I see the brand Zongshen make the SELVA brand of outboards also. Anyone had any experience with these, i see there prices arent exactly cheap in the WA auto trader, not far off Mercury and Yamaha really for the mid range 15hp-40hp.

Hey Kroozer,

If you do get one, change the engine oil straight away.

Chances are its had Melamine added to increase viscosity....lol.

Cheers.....Lionel.

One of the properties we were at last year had purchased one of these 'Made in China' units and when it was working it did the job.
Problems were with bits breaking eg footbrake/gear change lever/hand brake bracket/and on and on. Guards and flares tendered to fall off.Then there was the matter of power. Hit a small patch of sand and the revs would just die. Suspension was also suspect and need frequent attention.

About half the price of a Honda but about one tenth the value but apart from these problems the motor seemed to start well enough.

If contemplating purchase also check on price of a good welder to carry as well.

Would I buy one? No thanks.

Kevin J

A friend of mine imports scooters from China. Out of 10 scooters about 8 go on the road and another 2 will be used up for spare parts. I ride bikes all my life and we had some lemons in the 70's but they where still masterpieces compared to the crap that comes from China today.
I would find a good second hand Honda or Yamaha if I wanted one. Safety should be an issue too.......that's why most of the Chinese toys don't have a compliance plate.
My 2 cents worth anyway
cheers
Reiner

We had a woman bring one in to work just after new year to see if we could re-weld the frame where it had cracked in several places. Of course we flatly said NO. I told her to take it back to where she bought it to which she said she did that and they wouldn't fix it because it had been used "off road". There was actually a sticker on the frame near the headstock that said "NOT FOR OFF ROAD USE. WILL VOID WARRANTY" or words to that effect. An 8 year old kid was the only one that had used it, and he had ridden it a half dozen times around their yard.

Wouldn't you be better off trying to get hold of an old kwaka or something?? Sure you could get something good for $1200. Just a thought.

Personally, I think Chinese made bleep should stay in China. Just my $0.02 (incl. GST)

Kroozer, have one about for the grand daughter on the farm. I know it has been used for people a lot heavier- like +100kgs and once we worked it out it seems to go well. We did have to take the carby apart to make sure jet needles and cables moved easily. It goes a lot quicker than GD would drive it so I am not sure it has ever been flat out except in low gear

It has the US style lockouts like only starting with the hand or foot on the brake. It isn't as well finished perhaps as the Japanese branded ones but it goes pretty well for a 200cc quad. It also has a remote kill switch you can keep for yourself if kids got to it.

A couple of years back I raised the issue though of brakes on quad bikes on eBay. A lot of them only have rear brakes and in my mind, that is a NO NO! I think it is a Loncin but I would have to check that out

Yeah all good comments. Only thing is that i know of 3 here locally that have been here for about 12-18 months and they are all working fine and are used quite often. One of which my mate who is 6 foot 6 and weighs about 95kg rides and nothing has gone wrong with it yet. They all say the same thing, go over every nut and bolt and tighten them again properly and run them in over 3 full tanks. And while on the same note about things breaking, another mates Yamaha Raptor 660 frame cracked in half also when he landed a jump that was barely 2 foot off the ground. Yamaha wouldnt replace it also even though it was only 12 months old. He had to get a new frame out of his own pocket. But dont get me wrong i would love a Yamie or Honda or something, would absolutley love one but the price is just a little too steep for me at the moment. Thought i would just get one of these cheap ones for now, till i pay my boat off then upgrade to something real with 4wd and stuff. Im not really after speed more just getting into places my car cant.