Help with my Zongshen X-Ranger?
 

Well, I finally got the call today. My local QLink dealer has my 2006 X-Ranger 200 in their shop. It has been there for over 6 weeks now. The final word came from QLink today. They will NOT warranty the frame and swingarm on my bike. They believe someone has wrecked the bike. I assured them again that it was NOT me. I bought the bike as a new motorcycle but apparrently it was damaged either in shipping or from someone crashing it when the original dealer had it. They passed it on to me. I never saw the damage, until I returned home with the bike. It was at this time that I reported it to my local QLink dealer. I don't blame my local dealer, they can only do what QLink gives them authorization to do. I'm not really sure they helped me very much though!

I like this little bike. As I told the owner of the shop today, I was not trying to get anything over on them. I own other more expensive bikes and I don't need this one! At no time did I ever damage this bike! I was considering having a new set of wheels build for it in more tire friendly sizes. So, I am willing to spend money on it. That's on hold for now!

My new plan is to disassembly the bike down to the frame and try to rebuild it. Yes, we have been through this before! But, as I said I like this bike and I miss it. The dealer is reporting to me that the subframe is bent. No freakin' joke! I told them that when I took it to them. First off, I don't think this bike has a subframe. The subframe is part of the frame. A subframe is removeable. If it's not removeable it's not a subframe. The bike needs a new frame. If anyone has a line on a used Zongshen or QLink like mine or parts anywhere please post here or PM me. I have buddies that weld and I have an awesome set of tools. :roll: We may be able to cut the subframe off and reweld it or bend it back into place. The dealer is checking the price of a new replacement frame and swingarm for me now. They'll give me those prices tomorrow. If you have any or know of any QLink or Zongshen parts, again, please contact me!

I have decided to rename the bike a Zongshen X-Ranger 200. It is no longer a QLink. All of the Qlink badges will be removed.

Thanks in advance!

SamM

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/1047/cimg0092qa0.jpg

For all its worth, my Jetmoto is at my local UM dealer, after the transmission broke. I'm supposed to go in and try to get a loan on one of the dual sports, most likely the SMF-200 (motard version), but I am hesitating at paying over $3000 OTD ($3660!) although the warranty is pretty good. I am slowly getting the wheels turning on the new Qlink XF200 as well, although that one is out of state, but much cheaper.

I have someone who wants my broken bike in exchange for parts and labor to install a fuel pump on my Buick (in tank job). He seems a little flaky, however, and another friend who just got back from Iraq for a break from a contractor job (no, not Blackwater-DynCorp) is willing to help me out, too, which will leave me free and clear with the bike.

I will probably part it out--the frame is registered here in AZ if that will help, but it seems like you just need parts from it. If that will help you out, and if I do get to keep the bike, I will let you know.

Do you have the awesome set of tools because you're a tv repairman? :lol:

Stay away from QLink!
 

I knew someone would get that. Can you believe that Phoebe Cates' husband is 60 years old? What a babe she was! Too bad she married an old fart. :D Hey, wait I'm an old fart... but I'm not that old!

I appreciate the offer culcane but your Jetmoto is very different from my Zongshen made QLink. Not much from the Jetmoto is going to work on the X-Ranger. If the frame is inexpensive enough for me to buy outright from QLink and swap, I'm golden and everything will work out. If not I'm in for problems with it. PolygonFla had a problem with the engine in his Zongshen. I'm not sure if he ever got that bike fixed. I was hoping maybe he wanted to PART :D with some if it. He liked that bike a lot and has probably already fixed it by now. When I last talked to him, he had a line on an engine for it.

I'd stay away from QLink! Both they and their dealers are flaky at best. For a dealer to know of a problem and sell a broken bike anyway is unethical. For the parent company to not take care of it after this had happened... is worse! Sadly, to get my bike fixed I have to give them more money. The crazy thing is that they are willing to warranty the shifter seal that is leaking because of the same incident that bent whatever is bent! That's hoaky! I guess the cost of the part is what you base the bottomline on! Not the incident as they are telling me.

SamM

Sam, I'd strip it down to the chassis. Leave the swingarm attached and take it to a bike shop with a frame machine. They can bring it all back into true, and it should be pretty reasonable to do. Actually, were it me, I'd do it myself. Build yourself a jig to hold everything in place. Take some measurements and heat and bend what needs to move. Re-paint the frame and ride it!

Unless perfection is the only answer, I'd do the same as Red suggested.

Jason

Re: Stay away from QLink!
 

Look at Shawn Penn. He'll always be Spicoli to me, but he actually does serious movies and all that.

I am attracted to Qlink due to them using Qingqi as their OEM bike now. Catastrophix always has good things to say about his Qingqi, and I like the fact they use a Mikuni carb and a Suzuki-connected engine.

My "local" Qlink dealer is in San Diego, about 2.5 hours away, and they seem like they're on the up and up. If financing goes through (a big IF), I plan to ride the bike back to Yuma on back roads. That is, if the fires have been extinguished yet between here and there in a few weeks!!! :?

I've already checked into bike frame shops and the only shops that have the kind of equipment to do this correctly is GMD Computrack. They want over $500 just to measure it and tell me what's wrong with it. That doesn't include any repair work whatsoever. Not an option for an $800 bike. I don't want it to be perfect, but I'd like it to be straight. Doing it myself or buying the new frame are probably my only options at this pint.

DUDE... that's my skkulllll! :roll:

No sweat man. Trust me, you can flop these things at 45-50 mph and live to tell about it. Oh yeah, and the Roketa still runs great and the frame is strait!!! :lol:

Seriously, yank that thing down and heat and bend it back. Truthfully, if the bike tracks strait, run it. That "sub frame" doesn't amount to anything other then holding your butt off the rear tire. I bet if you remove the rear plastic, lights, seat, etc and give it a good whack with a sledge hammer and block of hard wood it'll come right back. BTDT more then once.

Yeah, it should be an easy process to move the frame about a half an inch to the left to line up the rear fender. I just like my stuff to look decent that's all.

The dealer says the bike tracks straight. They checked it!

SamM

All I can offer is moral support :lol:

Good luck Sam, I bet You can get it lined up better with very little effort.

AZ200cc,
Sometimes that's the best kind of support. Positive words of encouragement go a long way!

Thanks!

SamM

It's very hard for me to see this bike being laid down or taking a hit hard enough to bend the frame but not damage the body or other parts. Did they replace only those parts just to make it look new and hope nobody saw the damage? I should have bought the yellow one and just painted it. No matter what anyone else says, I believe the bike was built with a bent frame. They say the proof that it was dropped is that the handlebars are also bent and the shifter seal is leaking. I don't doubt that it was dropped but dropped and bent without damage, again, is too hard to believe. I also don't think this dealer or QLink were ever going to fix this bike or warranty anything on it.

A good buddy of mine says to deal the chinabike! He doesn't think these bikes are worth the time or money. I still think they are a great value for the money. Here is my point to him. If I deal the bike, I must tell any perspective buyers that the bike is bent or fix it before I sell it. That's cut and dry for me. If I don't I'm no better than the scumbag that sold it to me! He agrees! It's the only ethical thing to do. If I take the time to fix the bike myself then why sell it? I still have a lot less in it than I would if I paid MSRP for it, even with the repairs. Incidentally, I called the dealer today and they reported that QLink wants $500 for the new frame. Not happening!

Here are a few more pictures of the bent part of the bike.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/328/cimg0106rh0.jpg

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7387/cimg0105vd2.jpg

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/2425/cimg0104nk1.jpg

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/3769/cimg0102yt2.jpg

It still looks like it's only the top portion of the frame such as the seat support and fender that are bent..But I have been known to be wrong....A LOT :lol:

That wheel looks cocked to the side to me. As I said, the dealer says it's straight and the bike tracks straight. Squaring the swingarm doesn't seem to be a difficult job.

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1360/img2062am7.jpg

Lastnight, I rode the bike home from the dealership. The bike seems to run normally and apparently tracks straight according to my wife. The dealer also reported this to me. It appears to be the tailsection part of the frame that is bent. The dealership called it the subframe but in order to be a subframe, it needs to be removable. This bike does not have a removable subframe. A buddy of mine is going to help me work on it Thursday. We'll probably cut and bend the tailsection tubing back over to the left side of the bike and reweld it straight. We talked about it today and started to formulate a plan as to what we will do. I really don't want to put a bunch of money into this bike. The dealer scratched it up pretty good for me. The X-Ranger stricker on the right side is pretty much trashed now. It was perfect when I dropped it off 7 weeks ago, imagine that! In the end they really did a big fat nothing to help me with this and had my bike for almost 2 months.

I feel that since the original selling dealership sold me a bent bike as a new bike QLink should have replaced the frame on this bike. The local dealer pushed this for me, or so they say, they pushed this, but in the end it was QLink's decision to do nothing. Because of this I am going to remove all the QLink stickers from the bike. I will NOT advertize for QLink anymore. This winter I will probably rework the plastic and repaint the bike. I'm open for suggestions on a color. I may do Flat Blue. Harley has a nice Flat Blue color. The frame, handlebars, grips and rack will all be black. If I have a new set of 19/17" wheels built for the bike they will also be black. The stock instruments appear to be junk. One minute I'm doing 40mph and the next I'm doing 75mph. Not likely! I'd also like to replace the rear drum brake with a disc brake conversion. I already have half of the parts that I need. These are left over from my Jialing. I'll be installing the longer Jialing forks on the Zongshen too! Zongshen built it so I guess now it's a Zongshen. I'm done with QLink. Two year warranty my lily white BUTT! Sorry rant off!

That's the story! I'll report back when I have something to report or some pictures. Feel free to comment and give me some ideas. I really like this little bike and since I have very little in it I can afford to spent a little on it. I just made an offer on a KLR650 in Pittsburgh. If they give me a decent trade-in price for my KTM 950 Adventure it's gone. We'll see!

Stay tuned!