Buying a moped or scooter, avoid cheap chinese rubbish

Hello there, chances are if youve found this guide your looking for a moped or automatic scooter. ebay is full of poor quality chinese vehicles that have a tendency to fall to peices after a while.


So your looking and you find a good deal, brand new vehicle with a full pdi for 400-600, maybe more maybe less??? chances are it comes under the name of loncin, baotian, chongwong heigin, heicong, kymco etc etc


all companies noones ever heard of, because theyre all based in china, taiwan or some other third world country. standards in these countries are low, the majority of people assembling the vehicles have no prior qualifications, for the vehicle to be cheap they are made with cheap materials and process's.


Ive told you about the manufacturer, then what happens? they get sent in mass deliveries (often tens or hundreds) to companies all over europe, some wholesale warehouses, some companies buy direct to save money)


now these companies are very clever, they have a tendency to stretch the truth in their auctions a lot... they all promise bikes that are bought cheap and they pass the saving onto you, they promise a 'guaruntee', a full pre delivery inspection, they promise their vehicles are the latest and best 2008 models. I wouldnt use the term liars but the truth is stretched in many respects.


I will now back up my guide with a few examples of the poor service you can recieve. a friend of mine bought a kymco 50cc 2 stroke automatic scooter for 1000. i cant name the company who sold it for obvious reasons, but they advertise promising all the above, and have 20 'dealers' nationwide, one of which is just up the road from my house.


he had this bike bought for him by his parents, the 'dealer' happened to be a guy with a garage attached to his house, very professional. he sold him the bike, all well and good.


5 days later the numberplate falls off, these bolts should have been checked with the pre delivery inspection but werent


2 days later the rear light assembly fell off, again was loose from manufacturer.


through this time the bike also had difficulty climbing up hills and had a top speed of 25mph (restricted apparently) and it just wouldnt work in the wet, as soon as water touched it the engine wouldnt have it.


10 days later the cdi decided to go on strike, at this point he took it back to the guy who sold it to him, he wasnt in and his wife answered, told him to leave the bike there and her husband would ring him.


he rang the guy after 3 days, the seller firstly accused my friend of 'ragging it round' and insisted he'd done something to it. my friend told him as the bike was new he wanted it fixing for free and hed like to pay to have it derestricted.


the guy told him (quote) 'im not a f**ing charity, ive already ordered the cdi with my own money, i want 100 for the work as it is or an extra 50 for the derestriction' my friend argued and basically got the response 'either pay for the work or you aint having the bike back, im not letting some kid f**k me around' and hung up on him, his parents then paid for the work...


and guess what, the guy had charged 50 to derestrict but the bike was no faster, the bike broke down again 2 weeks later with no spark again, the guy is now trying to sell it for 500 with no interest so far (and has since bought a brand new yamaha scooter)


another friend bought one of the 4 stroke specials, again with no warranty (which is against consumer rights i believe?) a top speed of a whopping 20mph and has gone through 2 throttle cables already, that plus its just plain ugly to look at.


ive heard a lot more stories about the poor aftercare service but also these bikes are unreliable and often slow, restricted the performance of many scooters is dire, and they all get left behind by people owning gilera's/piaggio's/yamaha's/mbk's/aprilia's and a select few others.


The alternative? look for a second hand brand named bike. parts are a lot easier to obtain, they perform a lot better and are a lot easier on the eyes aswell.


for example, you can buy a brand new aerox for 2200 which seems like a lot, but you could get a pre 2001 one for 400 or maybe less and it will hold its resale value a great deal too. standard they are capable of 55mph on the clock (derestricted) and with some select tuning goodies from mr polini could see you doing 60-70 on the clock and wheely good acceleration!


to sum this up, dont bother with a name noones ever heard of, dont listen to sellers lies, too many people have fallen for it and have peds in their garden waiting for the scrap man...


ride safe!

sam from scootershack