Random Output
China Scooters - A Starting Point:
09/30/2010
Many if not most cheap scooters imported into the U.S. are from China. Italy offers the Vespa, Japan has Honda, both are considered the top end in scooters. South Korea and Twain are also players, mostly for the middle market in terms of quality and costs. Today however I'm focusing on scooters from China.
With Chinese scooters it's a situation with one blessing and a few curses, the blessing is cost. On average you pay less for a scooter made in China. However the curses should not be underestimated.
In fairness it should be said Sachs is produced in China and many consider it a solid quality unit. However the entry level, low end of the market has a significant quality problem. The curse is in essence you have, are or considering buying a scooter designed not to kill you in the first 5 miles or blow up within the first 500 miles. Every nut, bolt and part is the low end of the quality spectrum.
The second curse is product support. The lack of support runs in all directions. It starts with the dealers themselves. It seems like some people decided to get into the market when they didn't understand the product or what was required to support it. Even when the dealer is a "reputable" name brand motorcycle shop, getting good service is a dicey proposion. Some dealers have the attitude that they will not worry about you when they could be focused on serving someone spending large money on a high end motorcycle. Lastly this curse runs straight to the factory. You cannot buy a factory service manual for most models. You cannot contact the factory reps if you have a problem. Other than to sell product, there is no process to get parts.
These are real problems. Going Chinese means you have a title and a little bike that your going to need to learn to service and upgrade to get a reliable machine. Yet for those with the time and the intrest in tinkering, these are selling points.
I've ordered boxes of parts and will be documenting these upgrades both here, with U-Tube videos and at Scooterdawg, an internet forum for scooter owners.
Stay tuned, help is on the way.