Why a Chinese Scooter?

[scooterpimp]

Most small displacement scoots are made in China , yes the Japanese makes in the U.S. are mostly Cinese made. They too take advantage of cheap labor. May be built a bit better then a taotao. But still farmed out for the most part. I think even Vespa get thier small engines via China. So why pay for a name?

[tsimi]

So most of you guys buy them because of the cheap price, that is logical.
But what I often hear is "Honda around $2000" or "Yamaha around $2000"...you guys do have used Scooters there right? There are sure some European or Japanese made Scooters that are used but still in an OK condition for under $1000, right?
Our Scooter price range here goes from (used) $400 up to (new) $2500 depending on the make and model.
Popular Scooters like the Honda Ape or Honda Zoomer (aka. Ruckus) or the Yamaha Jog ZR are a bit more pricey.

[spaz12]

Aug 17, 2015 20:44:34 GMT -5 tsimi said:

As the title says, I was wondering why some of you guys buy a Chinese Scooter?
I was just curious to know since we don't have those "dangerous" Chinese cheapo Scooters here in Japan. And it will probably never happen that they would sell them here. The fact that the PDI is in the hands of the customer is out of story.
That is crazy and can be dangerous in some cases, the Laws here would not allow it.

I know they are cheap and you get them delivered to your doorsteps in a crate but what do you "actually" get for that price?
So you pay what, around $900 for a frame, 2 wheels(*tires not included), plastic body parts and the engine case. All the other stuff will/should be replaced sooner or later.
Replacement parts;

All kinds of bearings
Crank
BBK
Gear
Carburetor
The whole CVT stuff
Reeds
Intake
Stator
Ignition stuff
Tires
Oils (Gear & Engine)

...hell, that is almost a whole Scooter right there...

So if I calculate all the parts + the $900 for the Scooter you get around $1500 maybe more maybe less depends on the grade of the afterparts.
Since most people replace anyway those mentioned parts why not purchase a Yamaha or Honda or some European brand? There must be something around (2nd hand) for less then $900.
The crank from a Honda or Yamaha can withstand lot more then a crank from a Chinese Scooter there alone you save $150-$300 bucks. Then the bearings, all Yamaha Scooters use high quality bearings, that saves another few bucks.

If anyone has an explanation that makes sense please share. Thank You.

Can I double 'like' this?

[tsimi]

Aug 18, 2015 18:57:55 GMT -5 scooterpimp said:

Most small displacement scoots are made in China , yes the Japanese makes in the U.S. are mostly Cinese made. They too take advantage of cheap labor. May be built a bit better then a taotao. But still farmed out for the most part. I think even Vespa get thier small engines via China. So why pay for a name?

that is true, these days many popular Brands are made or build in China.
Still if you compare an Apple iPhone with a no-name or not popular China Brand that is a big difference.
Just an example, I was looking for a CHT temp gauge and there is KOSO (Made In Taiwan) and there is no-name cheapo china temp gauge. Of course, I too went for the cheaper no-name one but according to some people that bought them the quality is not really stunning and many have received devices that didn't work from the start.
Same could be with those Scooters, you could get one that lasts a lifetime or you might get one that would fall apart the first few miles you drive it.

[spaz12]

I'll buy a used Yamaha for maybe a couple hundred more, and sometimes less than, a new Chinese scooter. The most I've paid for a Zuma was 900 dollars and I've gotten one for 500. With just a couple hundred dollars in parts, they make for one of the best scoots.

[derbiman]

Used Zumas in my area go for around $1000 or more. Most people see dollar signs before any other thing in the ads for scooters. So the logical thinking person sees that they can buy a brand new scooter for $600.($400 less than a scooter that may have a lot of miles) The new scooter most likely has a meager warranty but none the less,it has a warranty. Pretty attractive deal to most people who don't know a whole lot about scooters. The education comes after the purchase when the Chinese scooter buyer joins this forum for advise.

[spaz12]

I've been fortunate enough that I've never NEEDED a scoot, like, right now. I've always waited for the good deals to come around. 

Once upon a time I did own a Chinese scooter, A Tank they called it back then, but I see them rebadged taotao now. VIP's they've been called too. Anyway, that was my learning experience with those scooters that I'll never go through again. Thank you  

With that said, I feel my Yamaha's are junk compared to Vespa's. I guess it all boils down to what we can afford at the time.

[Fox]

Why would I wanna buy a used Japanese scooter that may break down any minute? Japanese parts are insanely high as are Vespa parts so if I'm gonna go the used route which I always do, I'm gonna opt for a Chinese scooter again because replacement parts are so much cheaper and readily available and they are easier to service too. I have worked on a bunch of Japanese and Vespas over the years. I prefer to work on the Chinese 50-150cc scooters because they are all pretty much the same machines under the body so the maint. procedures are identical across the board no matter what model you have as far as the engine is concerned which simplifies things a lot. The 50's differ slightly from the 150's but once you learn those differences it becomes second nature. Some of the Vespa scooters are a pain in the ass just to do an oil change or a valve adjustment due to the design.

Taiwanese scooters are a middle of the road solution for some people that can afford the slightly higher price and parts prices and they are definitely a step up in quality compared to Chinese brands.

[paulmohr]

You don't see many used scooters in my area, especially higher end ones. If you do find one it is most likely a chinese model.

Another reason I didn't go the used route was I don't care how good the brand is, scooters are scooters. They are prone to problems at some point. I don't want to pay 600 to 1,000 dollars for what might be someones headache. To me its far more risky than buying a used a car. Now if you could pick one up for 100 or so that might be different. But like derbiman said I am not going to pay a grand or more for a used honda or yamaha when I can get a brand new chinese model for the same or less. The risk would be about the same, you might get a good one, you might get a pile of crap. At least with the new one if its junk you can return it in most cases. With the used one your stuck with it.

Another attractive point to a cheaper chinese scooter is that parts are pretty plentiful and cheap. If you are a decent mechanic you can get a new scooter plus everything you need to upgrade and tune it for less than a new honda would cost. Heck, you could a scooter and a spare engine cheaper than a new ruckus or zuma costs.

[90GTVert]

Here's about a month's listings from my local craigslist. Honda Ruckus for $3200, PCX150 for $1890, MP3 for $3000. Not exactly tons of reasonable higher tier scoots popping up at $1000 or less. Even the Chinese scoots are few here compared to many areas.

[tsimi]

Now i can see and understand "why" you guys buy chinese scooters.

Too bad that you have such an overpriced market.

[FrankenMech]

I did not have any choice but to buy an import from China.

I wanted a reverse trike for stability. I take meds that mess up my balance plus I have had several mini-strokes that have trashed my brain. I looked at the local scoot shops and almost puked when I saw the prices. They had absolutely nothing I wanted either. I also wanted a vehicle that would fly under the radar without 'Imperial' entanglements. So I bought a China clone variant.

Once I got rid of the OEM carb, headlights, muffler, and changed some wiring around it has done fairly well. The OEM fuel system was a horrible mess. The vacuum powered fuel pumps are not very efficient. We gave up on vacuum powered devices on cars back in the 50's except for power brake units. If I would quit monkeying with it I would be better off.

I had to raise the handlebars to clear my knees and reinforce the seat. I replaced that horrible high $$ OEM wet cell lead acid battery, that had a dead cell out of the box, with a Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery like we have in computer UPS units, alarms, and emergency lights. A SLA battery will crank the hell out of a scoot due to lower internal resistance. My headlights, stop, and tail lights are all LED. The turn signals are conventional.

I currently have some mismatched parts in the variator that will require some work to fit. The variator has two positions, all the way closed or all the way open. I have a bent frame from some behemoth that sat on my scoot in a parking lot and messed with it. I have not figured out how to fix the frame yet so the scoot sits while I walk.

The 50cc engine just is not enough to deal with the hills where I live. I have decided to just replace the engine with a 125-150cc engine. BBKs just tear an engine apart. The little 50cc engines, cranks, etc, are stressed to the max already. I am allowed 130cc under Kansas law.

[Sitticuss]

I visited a new local dealer the other day. I was surprised to see some brand new Taiwanese 2T scoots. I was like WTH. The dealer told me it was possible to import them still in Florida. Of course they seemed to be installed with a few emissions control stuff. I was told they came with a two year warranty. Anything goes wrong they will fix it free of charge. Price was pretty much between a "china" or "Japanese" brand.
Anything other than a "china" scoot down here and you can basicly buy a motorcycle, insurance, and get licensed for cheaper. My insurance is like only 18 bucks a month. Plus replacement oem parts for any Honda scoots at least are way expensive. I've learned to scour the web avoiding new replacement parts for my Honda Rebel.

[birdman]

Ever since joining this forum awhile back, I have been attracted to the idea of owning a Tao Tao Powermax 150. One reason is I want to build a 4t scooter engine, like a 200-232cc GY6 150.

Second reason is that with a chinese scoot I can do so for cheap compared to fixing up say, my car, motorcycles, or even my Yamaha and Honda scooters.

The third reason is that I can buy replacement plastics for pennies on the dollar compared to my Jogs and Elite. So I could ride it rough and thrash that thing and not cry about spending 600+ plus on plastics when I drop it.

I have yet to own a Chinese scoot, but I for sure will one day!

[tsimi]

birdman

Trader! You shall be stripped from your flag and hanged upside down from the Tokyo Sky Tree. Har, har, har....

*just kidding*


After so many posts I'm kinda getting interesting to see or even drive such a China Scooter. Getting really curious. After parts for a Yamaha or Honda or Vespa can be very expensive, very true, unfortunately. Especially when it comes to Panels.

The Kymco can be found here too, not many but they are here. I was standing at a red light the other day when suddenly a Scooter showed up at the other side of the crossroad and I couldn't make out the model or maker but when the light turned green and we crossed each other I could see a number 8 (i think) on the rear side panel of it. After getting home I did some research and it could have been a Super 8. Looked very nice and kinda aggressive. Don't know about availability of parts here but I guess it is not so hard to get some smaller stuff even directly from Taiwan if necessary.

I personally would give my left nut for an Aerox 50 and both of my nuts for a Jog RR. God damn it spaz12 why did you post those super sexy Jog RR images the other day!