01-01-14, 06:17 PM
I had a Chinese 50cc supermoto that I owned from new for about 20 months. I really liked it because it was my first ever bike and I was finally on the road which I had been waiting for for years but looking back it wasn't well built at all. I really really looked after it too. Main problems I had were :
Spark plug very cheap quality, very exposed and HT leads and cap were extremely poor so wouldn't run in the rain.
Serious pitting on forks, luckily not in travel area even though I cleaned it very often.
Lots of rust, finish was very poor on swing arm and shock. I hadn't discovered ACF 50 then though.
Suspension looked beefy but was all for show and rear shock linkages weren't greased.
Can't remember seeing any grease anywhere in fact
Throttle Cable Snapped
Nylon tyres were finished after a couple of thousand miles
Exhaust was rotting to pieces before my eyes even worse than OEM fazer headers.
Indicators would play up although electrics were mostly reliable.
Gear Selector fell off, luckily in my driveway just as I was leaving
Chain was stretched and worn and rear sprocket was finished in about 5000 miles even with maintenance.
Speedo cable snapped.
Front disc rusted and warped somehow which made front end judder during braking.
There were probably more issues, to be fair though I rode it to 6th form, about 5 miles from my house, almost every day in all weather for nearly 2 years and it only broke down properly once when the throttle cable snapped. I did honestly love it, things like the awful HT leads etc can be swapped for decent Japanese ones and sprayed in stuff to keep water off. The thing is, I would hate to put it through its MOT after the 3 year exemplary period because I doubt it would pass and I think the deterioration from the time I sold it to it reaching 3 years old would have been really bad. If you are getting it bought for you though, definitely worth consideration. Definitely get a skilled mechanically able mate to thoroughly check everything over for you though, and treat it very gently especially the run in period because my engine was sound even after a fair few miles whereas a mate who bought the same bike ragged his everywhere and de-restricted his and it sounded terrible and was barely quicker than mine. You will need patience though because they are SLOW.
Then again, wouldn't it just be better to repair your Kawasaki and put some decent tyres on it? Think everyone is getting a bit off topic suggesting 500 twins and trialies etc that he has already stated he isn't interested in, don't fit him physically or can be insured on the cheap.
Spark plug very cheap quality, very exposed and HT leads and cap were extremely poor so wouldn't run in the rain.
Serious pitting on forks, luckily not in travel area even though I cleaned it very often.
Lots of rust, finish was very poor on swing arm and shock. I hadn't discovered ACF 50 then though.
Suspension looked beefy but was all for show and rear shock linkages weren't greased.
Can't remember seeing any grease anywhere in fact
Throttle Cable Snapped
Nylon tyres were finished after a couple of thousand miles
Exhaust was rotting to pieces before my eyes even worse than OEM fazer headers.
Indicators would play up although electrics were mostly reliable.
Gear Selector fell off, luckily in my driveway just as I was leaving
Chain was stretched and worn and rear sprocket was finished in about 5000 miles even with maintenance.
Speedo cable snapped.
Front disc rusted and warped somehow which made front end judder during braking.
There were probably more issues, to be fair though I rode it to 6th form, about 5 miles from my house, almost every day in all weather for nearly 2 years and it only broke down properly once when the throttle cable snapped. I did honestly love it, things like the awful HT leads etc can be swapped for decent Japanese ones and sprayed in stuff to keep water off. The thing is, I would hate to put it through its MOT after the 3 year exemplary period because I doubt it would pass and I think the deterioration from the time I sold it to it reaching 3 years old would have been really bad. If you are getting it bought for you though, definitely worth consideration. Definitely get a skilled mechanically able mate to thoroughly check everything over for you though, and treat it very gently especially the run in period because my engine was sound even after a fair few miles whereas a mate who bought the same bike ragged his everywhere and de-restricted his and it sounded terrible and was barely quicker than mine. You will need patience though because they are SLOW.
Then again, wouldn't it just be better to repair your Kawasaki and put some decent tyres on it? Think everyone is getting a bit off topic suggesting 500 twins and trialies etc that he has already stated he isn't interested in, don't fit him physically or can be insured on the cheap.