Beware: Vbike Dis-honesty

[KentuckyDonkey]

Hey Everybody!

As some of you may remember from my Vbike 300 "Monster" review posted a while back on this forum, I was very upset at the fact that the pictures on Vbike's website of the 300 Monster show it as having greasable ball-joints- and when I asked (several times) via telephone to confirm that it indeed did have greasable joints...Tim told me that it did.

Of course, I ordered this two-thousand dollar Chinese bike...and of course, it DID NOT have greasable joints! (I would never have paid that much for a bike that did not have greasable joints!!!).

I made Tim aware of the problem- this was over four months ago- and what do you know? I just went to the Vbike site and looked at the 300 Monster pics again...and sure enouigh, that same picture showing the greasable joints is still on there!!!

Vbike has a reputation as being one of the best Chinese dealers....and I used to try and give Tim the benefit of the doubt......thinking perhaps that he was just careless/ignorant about what he was actually selling- but now this confirms to me that he is dishonest, as he has been long aware of this problem- and has even admitted that the erroneous picture is really from the 300 Thunder model- and I had made a big stink over this issue, because the whole reason I was willing to purchase the 300 Monster was because of it supposedly having greasable joints.

Just wanted to post this to warn others: Although the cheaper Chinese bikes can be good deals (<$1500), I would never again buy a Chinese bike without being able to actually see it (the very bike that I am buying) in person first. You just never know what you are getting!

You can ask specific and detailed questions...and look at pics...but it is no guarantee that you will receive what is described. This also happened to me with the 250T model- it had even more discrepancies (but at least some of the photos on the Vbike site were changed on that one).

Sometimes it's dishonesty...sometimes it's that they really don't know what is in the containers that they receive (as was the case with the 250T- he had gotten a mixed shipment of older and newer models and supposedly didn't know it. He worked with me somewhat on some of the issues...but not enough to make it right. Ultimately, he didn't want to do anything that would cause him to lose money- even though the issues were all his fault).

So just be aware...that when you order from any online dealer- even one that has one of the best reputations.....you are just rolling the dice! (Again, I do not mean to discourage people from buying Chinese bikes- some of these bikes- especially the cheaper ones, are quite good deals- even if not fully as described)

/rant.

[Weldangrind]

$2000 :?: 8O

[KentuckyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

$2000 :?: 8O

Yep- $1999 for the 300 Monster. I had bought one of their cheaper bikes first (the now discontinued V4SW) as I was not going to chance spending $2K on my first Chinese bike, not knowing how it would be- but after being impressed with the quality of the V4SW, I figured the $2K bike could only be better. WRONG!

While the Monster is not a bad bike...it is not worth $2K. The V4SW was of near-Japanese quality in my opinion (not quite- but approaching it)- while the Monster is a lot cheesier.

Actually though, after the discount I got for ordering 2 bikes (also ordered a 250T at the same time), the $100 refund I got to partially make up for discrepancies...and the fact that I made $200 when I sold the 250T...I guess the Monster really only cost me $1600- and for $1600...it is not bad, compared to the Jap bikes that you find used around here for that price (Here, you only find 10+ year-old models that are really beat for that price)

But I'd caution anyone against paying $2K for any Chinese bike. Quality does not improve with price.

[TurboT]

Originally Posted by KentuckyDonkey

But I'd caution anyone against paying $2K for any Chinese bike. Quality does not improve with price.

This has been my concern while looking at big ute quads of chinese make. I'm fine working on my $400 mini quads, but paying 2 g's and still getting crap quality, in only bigger parts, would annoy me.

[KentuckyDonkey]

Originally Posted by TurboT

This has been my concern while looking at big ute quads of chinese make. I'm fine working on my $400 mini quads, but paying 2 g's and still getting crap quality, in only bigger parts, would annoy me.

Exactly, TurboT! When I look at some of these Chinese sites, and see UTVs selling for $7K and big 700cc ATVs for $5K I cringe, and just hope that people aren't foolish enough to pay that kind of money for cheesy crap.

I mean, if I had kids, I'd gladly buy 'em the cheapo little ATVs instead of the expensive Jap ones...but anything above that is just flushing ones money down the terlit.