What China Bikes have you had?

[BrianW]

Curious to know what China Bikes you all have owned or have experience with.

Thinking about my own experiences since 2008, I’m surprised by how many I’ve owned over the years. In no particular order:

1. 2008 Lifan GY-5, put about 10k miles on it before selling. I really miss this bike as it never once disappointed on or off road. 1 of 2 bikes I ever bought new, in a crate
2. 2006 Lifan GY-3, still own and mostly use to teach newbies how to ride a manual motorcycle. Actually have had two of these bikes as my first one was stolen.
3. 2010 Sachs Madass
4. 2009 Qlink XF200
5. 2006 Zongshen Sierra, 2 of 2 bikes I bought new, in a crate. A seriously great bike but sat too low for my 6’ 2” build
6. One of the rare 2010 Pitster Pro LXT400. This thing was absolute garbage. After about ~300 TOTAL miles the engine stated rattling. Took the side case off to just try to see what could possibly be happening and found PLASTIC gears and timing chain inside. Also the handlebars broke while riding off road once. Luckily it sounds scarier than it was. Oi vey, giving China bikes a bad name.
7. 2007 SUNL 50cc scooter
8. 2018 Hawk 250, currently own but would be willing to trade for either the GY-5, Zong Sierra, or Qlink listed above 😉

Couldn’t have and wouldn’t have done it all without the folks here. Chinariders.net: Enabling people like me since it’s founding

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

1..2008 Lifan GY-5 Got it from Brian May at MOTOXTREME. Don't like this bike has chain adjustment problems. 2..2015 Bashan Storm 200 from Supiorpowersports 3..2010 Lifan LF110GY-3 from Killermotorsports now has a pirrahna YX150 on it.

My bikecame from Brian @ motoxtreme as well. It was a little damaged from transport and he was very quick to make it right. Too bad yours had issues.

[Mudflap]

Currently
2007 Lifan GY5 (200) Bought new, also from Brian
2017 Taotao Rhino
Lifan 140 powered 51 year old Trail 90
Past
2008 Hensim 250
2005 Roketa 200
2005 Taotao ATA250D
1971 Trail 90 with Lifan 110 engine
1963 Cub 50 with Lifan 110 engine

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

Since you have been here since 08 do you remember a member called Q he had one from Brian also. He had the chain problem to his repair was to relocate the engine 1/2 inche lower in the frame. That solved the chain tension problem. These were the counter balanced engine bikes.

I do vaguely remember that. That’s a pretty significant issue for the buyer and retailer since it’s obviously a manufacturer defect. Those counter balanced engines made all the difference.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by Mudflap

Past
2008 Hensim 250

This was the granddaddy (or grandma) to the Hawk. I recall an online retailer out of Oklahoma seemed to be the actual importer. They also sold the Hibird 250 dual-sport. I think the Hensim and the Hibird were pretty much the first batches of bikes to come with engines larger than 200cc and that were called '250'. In the early days of Chinariders, right around 2006, the Odes company distributed what was the first (and last for a few years) '250' bike, which were made by Asiawing. I think one member bought one of those, and we never heard from him after that. Anyway, a trip down memory way!

My Chinese bikes included:
2006 Alpine 200 dual-sport. Alpine was the mirror company to Jetmoto, kind of like Ford and Mercury, but Alpines were sold on Ebay for around $1000/shipped whereas the Jetmoto company wanted the Jetmoto bikes to be the retail store bikes. I did own mine in Arizona so no problem with street registration, but Jetmotos, as well as several other brands, could get street registered in California at that time. They would pop up on various California cities' Craigslists, shown with plates, from time to time. Something happened to the Zongshen sourced engine (or maybe simply valves) and I ordered a Lifan crate engine to replace it. I had a guy in Mexico install if for me for something like $75 labor and the clutch cable was too long, so the bike wouldn't shift, and me being a complete newbie, I panicked and parted some of the bike off and sold the rest to a member from central Arizona for $50. He had enough parts from another bike and was able to put them together (remember, most of the bikes had Shineray as their OEM, so were pretty much the same dual-sport, only re-labeled as a 'brand') and the bike lived happily ever after.

2009 TMEC 200 Enduro bought used; was supposed to be used for an MTV show where it was going to be destroyed, but due to the difficulty of running a two-wheeler off a cliff, they used a quad instead. The guy who I bought it from lived in the L.A. area and was the brother of the director. California ha.d cracked down on Chinese bikes, so he realized the hard way he was not going to get it plated, although I doubt he paid much for it

2013 TMEC 200 Enduro bought new in box; thanks to the 2009 TMEC, became friends with Wade Liu, the owner of Excalibur Motorsports. He gave me a great deal on this bike since I bought it along with a 50cc scooter for a friend's sister who used it to commute with here in Yuma.

Plans for another bike--not sure which one, but I am still leaning towards the Lifan X-pect.

[culcune]

Yes, VBikes! They sold numerous Hibird 250s for cheap. When the 250 model sold out, they sold 200 versions of the same bike. When those sold out, they got in the Hensim 250s. The video was the seller of my TMEC who agreed to ride it to my parents' home where I was going to leave it until I could rent a van and get it back to my home in AZ.

[Megadan]

At this point, just 2 Hawks, but I am considering one of those 320cc Twin street bikes that Jerry posted. I might even sell my Hawk in order to get it.

[McFailbutter]

Wow, not going to post my list, but am surprised that China bikes had even this much history. Just got into'm this year. Didn't realize they went back as far as 63.

[2LZ]

Two Hensim DB 150's
One Xmoto GY200
One Qlink XP200
One CSC TT250
Two CSC RX3's
One Tao Tao Rhino

[pete]

Shineray 200 duel sport...
125 pit bike of unknown brand...


..

[OneLeggedRider]

Originally Posted by Megadan

At this point, just 2 Hawks, but I am considering one of those 320cc Twin street bikes that Jerry posted. I might even sell my Hawk in order to get it.

Hey here now! Sell the Hawk? That's crazy talk! Step away from the keyboard and let's not make any rash decisions..