New Riders pick Chondas?

[Lowfatbaconwrap]

How many of you are like me and got the chinese bike to start with and had no or low experience with bikes?

I've had A lot of experience with ATVs but this is my first bike.

[Weldangrind]

I had considerable experience with bikes. I got into China stuff due to the prohibitive cost of getting my kids into Hondas. I had my wife on a 150cc ATV, my daughter on a 50cc ATV, my son on a 50cc pit bike and me on an old Suzuki PE175. We were all out there having a great time for less than the cost of one new Honda. That's where the addiction began...

[blanc12]

I had street bikes. Wanted a duel sport for years and didn't want to pay the big money for a Japanese bike. Going to sell the street bikes now. This duel sport will do fine for what I want to do.

[Mudflap]

I grew up with bikes. Dad owned a Vespa shop, uncle owned one too. I was a motorcycle mechanic for many years, and surely have over 500,000 miles on two wheels. Didn't know much about Chinese bikes when I bought my Lifan 200 in 2007 but it quickly grew on me and I've come to love the CG engines.

[2LZ]

I've had bikes my whole life and used to race MX locally. Street bikes for school and summer jobs. Then, I got older, didn't ride near as aggressively as I used to, had a life full of expensive responsibilities (read X-wife and all that comes with that...) but still wanted to get out on a trail once in a while and putt around on something i could afford.
The CB was the ticket. Reliable, light, fun and I can work on it.

[stretch8668]

My first bike was a coolsports co200gy enduro. That thing went anywhere and even took my motorcycle test on it. Hopefully will be getting a hawk here soon as I need another bike.

[Megadan]

I started on an actual Honda. I am a bit of a Honda motorcycle fanboy - Owned 9 to date.

That said, these Honda engine clones - especially the CG clones - are good enough for me to confidently say that they hold a candle up to the real thing.

They are just as appealing to us veteran riders and returning riders. They are super affordable, fairly durable, and cheap to fix when they aren't. Simple and rugged, so they are easy to work on and you can fix them with bailing wire and duct tape if need be. You can beat them up without feeling guilty or gutted. Just watch somebody crash their brand new $7000 Japanese dual sport to see what I mean lol.

You crash a Hawk or a Bashan, you go "Aww man!" bend some parts back as needed, and then carry on. The guy on his WR250R or CRF250R will cry on the inside as he imagines the repair bill (assuming he bothers).

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by Lowfatbaconwrap

How many of you are like me and got the chinese bike to start with and had no or low experience with bikes?

I've had A lot of experience with ATVs but this is my first bike.

I worked my way through a virtual parade of bikes made virtually everywhere in the western world. I bought Hondas and Yamahas when they were affordable. For now, Chinese bikes are very affordable, so lots of former riders have been able to get back into to riding without breaking the bank....ARH

[chiliphil1]

I’ve always steered away from the Chinese vehicles. I work in a dealer that sells all 4 of the major Japanese brands, anyone there will tell you all day how junky the Chinese ones are. I spent years avoiding them at all costs. That cost happened to be that my kids and I didn’t get to enjoy riding together. I am not in a position to afford a fleet of Honda’s or Yamaha’s, so, I started looking into the Chinese vehicles. I have purchased 4 of them now for less than the price of a used Honda 50. I’ve had to do some work on these to get them running properly but now they do. We go out on a Sunday and have more fun than we’ve ever had before and for me it’s a dream come true to have them riding. I still need to get a big dirt bike for myself but the kids are covered. Since I’ve gotten these i have learned that these are reasonably well made, great value, extremely easy to work on, and super easy to get parts, even easier than the Japanese bikes because with these all you need is the engine size and any parts fit, you can’t beat that.

[shanesaw]

My first bike I ever owned was Kawasaki ke100 enduro. Putted around and drove to work. Blew the top end one hot summer day screaming down the highway. Rebuilt it and traded straight up for a Kawasaki kz 305. Big mistake. I missed the ke100. Still miss it really.

That's what put me on to the hawk. I wanted another enduro. I wanted more power than my ke100 but don't want anything too big. Didn't want to break the bank. Hawk was perfect. Very happy with the bike.

[Sochin]

I've owned 15 bikes in my time, and I also have a -99 Kawa ZRX1100 Eddie Lawson replica bike. But like others, I wanted a dual sport, but wasn't ready to drop 5-6k on a yamahondakawasuzki

[roundhouse]

my first bike was a late 70s KL 250 2 stroke enduro. I had so much fun on that bike but quickly realized gals did not want to ride on the back of an ugly green, smokey bike. they wanted to ride on a ninja or a hurricane (mid 80s)

The hawk was just because: 1. got it for next to nothing. 2. nostalgia 3. It is as fun as I remember and I can do things on it I cannot on my liter bike.

[ChondaChondaChonda]

I'm also a big Honda fan.

The guys above are spot on; rugged, simple, low cost is a good combination. China quality has improved 20x in the last few years and they are moving into more upscale markets while keeping most of the characteristics that appeal to value conscious buyers.

We're not buying a lifestyle or a statement of our individualism, we just want a good value at a low price.

Plus, if I have to walk out of the middle of nowhere after wadding it up; it will be nice to think "Geez, I'm glad that wasn't a shiny new $11k orange bike".

Less worries, more fun.

[jimwildman]

My first motorcycle was an Indian 100, same exact thing as the hodaka dirt squirt 100. It was a peice of shit and met its end with a broken main shaft in the Transmission.

A brand new china bike would have done me well.

[2LZ]

A big reason for new (and many) riders picking CB's and that's because the Japanese companies have left our market behind. If you don't want to flop an expensive Japanese model learning how to ride or simply don't need the newest/latest/fastest bike, the Japanese have nothing to offer that's remotely affordable. I believe the cheapest small displacement dual sport is the DR200 and it's twice the price of the SSR XF250 and the SSR is a more advanced bike.

Me spending big bucks on a top of the line Japanese bike would be like me buying a set of Callaways. At this stage of the game, a $10,000.00 set of clubs will not make me a better golfer nor am I looking to push the limits and improve my game.