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Old 07-20-2017, 03:09 PM   #8
culcune   culcune is offline
 
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Yuma, Arizona
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mudflap View Post
I'll bet that's a blast to ride on a tight winding road. People underestimate how well a small bike with low center of gravity handles.

I have a couple of Taotao ATVs made 10 years apart. There is a clear improvement in quality of the new one over the old, except in the engine which is identical. Still curious who supplies engines to Taotao or if they make those too.
SSR's site has the link to the video and article from Motorcycle.com of the 4 way test of the SSR Razkull and 3 other bikes, and they all seemed to like the small bikes on the mountain road. As far as quality goes, you stated it with your ATVs and others with their scooters that quality is up--engines have always been the strong point no matter if the rest of the bike is falling apart

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2LZ View Post
Good question. According to my China Bike dealer in Sac, most engines are either Lifan, Loncin or Zong. I'd imagine one of the first two. It would be interesting to find out somehow.
I will ask Alan if he knows about engines; we have discussed Taotao at length (and he is pleasantly surprised in the quality over the past 3 or 4 years as based on having to back up any issues with bikes he has drop-shipped. As far as the company goes, he thinks they make everything in-house in China. He laughs at how they seem to copy many competitors' products, and come to market so soon. Engines might be difficult to buy if a competitor puts their foot down with Lifan or Zongshen or Loncin, so Taotao might actually have the ability to manufacture those in-house. However, don't quote me since I am basing it on what I think I remember from old conversations with Alan and my own theories on how a manufacturer exists in China--engines seem complicated enough to be limited to a few large companies, so that could be the case. But until I confirm, they might have perfected the ability to reproduce engines in-house...
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