While getting the bike MoT'd...

[Grip Fast]

...There was a Lifan 125 (Chinese bike) there. The guy said, "it's a sad tale". The bike is less than a year old, with only 300 miles on the clock, and on its second owner already. He showed me the side-play on the swing arm - the back wheel was moving about a centimetre. He said the bearings are bushes that are machined in, but not worn, and therefore not much he could do for it.

He recons it was an MoT failure from new.

[slparry]

they're utter shite. I'm surprised they're allowed into the UK

[Corvus]

they're utter shite. I'm surprised they're allowed into the UK

They shouldn't be. And that goes for a lot of stuff from that country. Certain minimum standards should be met. A lot of stuff is simply not fit for purpose.

IMO.

[Grip Fast]

they're utter shite. I'm surprised they're allowed into the UK

Exactly what we said. And the EU have been trying to ban owners from modifying their bikes in case we make them unsafe, yet they allow clearly unsafe from new bikes to be imported. Makes no sense.

[GerryB]

they're utter shite. I'm surprised they're allowed into the UK

I have a friend who buys loads of stuff from various Chinese manufacturers, for the Oz and South African Markets.

He told me this after visiting several Chinese factories, every 2 years.

80 % of the world's motor cycle batteries come from China , different box for BMW , KTM , Honda etc etc .

The trouble is not the Chinese Bike Manufacturers .

They manufacture several different lines, Top Quality ,

Medium Quality for certain markets - Australia etc .

And Industry Standard , basically the cheapest manufacture ...

And guess what the UK importers are buying ????

The absolute crap ......

The USA , Oz etc will not accept this sub standard .....

Another case of Rip Off England .

Nearly every Honda 125cc and smaller is manufactured in China under licence I believe , and has been for many years .

[roadburner]

I've been trying to keep on top of the step sons pulse adreneline 125 for the last year and although it looks reasonably well built it's needed new wheel bearings, 2 sets of fork seals, 3 sets of chain and sprockets, plug and cap, 2 gear box sensors, clutch, 3 oil changes due to the amount of crap the engine discards, ignition switch, rear shock and various oil seals. this on a 2 yaer old bike that's done about 3-4000 miles in the last 12 months. it's not so much the main components that are bad, but more the consumables that let it down

[slparry]

they're utter shite. I'm surprised they're allowed into the UK

I have a friend who buys loads of stuff from various Chinese manufacturers, for the Oz and South African Markets.

He told me this after visiting several Chinese factories, every 2 years.

80 % of the world's motor cycle batteries come from China , different box for BMW , KTM , Honda etc etc .

The trouble is not the Chinese Bike Manufacturers .

They manufacture several different lines, Top Quality ,

Medium Quality for certain markets - Australia etc .

And Industry Standard , basically the cheapest manufacture ...

And guess what the UK importers are buying ????

The absolute crap ......

The USA , Oz etc will not accept this sub standard .....

Another case of Rip Off England .

Nearly every Honda 125cc and smaller is manufactured in China under licence I believe , and has been for many years .

When in a previous role the company had one of its factories in Shanghai, and I visited it on a regular basis.

The general consensus with the European QC team was that if you watched the Chinese 24/7 you got a reasonable QC level from manufacture, however if you took your eyes off for a moment the QC would plummet. Japan has an ethos of excellence, sadly China does not it has an ethos of cheap enough to warrant just replacing.

This is why many companies, BMW included has had severe qulaity issues over the last few years as the bean counters insist on cheaper production bases.

[oyster]

I used to PDI and service the bikes in the 'cheapest sale price' dealership in N London in 1976. When I advised the London based importer of Yamaha that the RD250 had about 5mm of swing arm play, I was told to pump it full of grease. The shims had been left out.