I spent a year or so wrenching on a beater dirtbike, so I'm not afraid to get my hands a
little dirty.
But, my free time is more limited now, so I don't want to spend every weekend keeping a bike on the road. That also means I won't be riding
that much, so I'm hesitant to drop $5k on a Japanese dual sport. So, I'm considering a Chinabike as a calculated risk.
- Typically, how much labor goes into keeping a Chinabike going beyond the initial setup (assembly, oilchange, threadlocker, etc.)? Is it a "few hours every weekend" sort of deal where small things regularly go wrong? Or is it a "one weekend every few months" type of deal where you don't have to worry about it?
- If something's wrong with the bike, will dealers honor their "parts" warranties?
- How common is it to get a lemon that requires a lot of extra labor or needs to be junked?
- Is there a major difference in reliability/quality between the lower-end bikes (Magician, TBR7, Hawk) and the higher-end ones (Hawk DLX, Brozz, TT250)?
Given these concerns, is a chinabike right for me? If so, which one?