crf230ripper

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Jun 22, 2007
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I'm 36 year old, and looking to buy a first bike for my 6 year old. Did some looking at the PW50,the hondas, and the suzuki 50cc bikes ,but have also been looking at these chinese knockoffs, some seem like they might be alright. Does anyone have any experience with these? or know a company thats reputible?

Also, I could use some advice on what brand name 50cc bike might be the best one to purchase for him.

Any insight would be appreciated.
 

Patman

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For a 6 year old I'd look at something besides a 50cc kncock off. He'll be wanting something more in a very short order and most of the 50cc knockoffs are built with price as the major consideration. I have been VERY UNimpressed with every small displacement knockoff I have seen, and I've seen a bunch. Do yourself a favor and look for a Honda XR/CRF70 or maybe a PW80 or TTR.
 

yamarider88

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Jun 24, 2007
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yea i agree with patman my neighbor bought a yamoto 200 dual sport because brand new it was like $900 and the first ride out a lot of screws came lose and fell out he must have replaced all the plastic screws and side engine cover. also parts are supper hard to get he can;t even find parts for it and its like a 2005!? so yea and resell value for hose things is like 1/2 so that amounts to like $350 not very much so do yourself a favor and get a reputable brand like honda ride red.
 

Patman

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Dracus124 said:
wow i have a blast with those chinese knock offs, just maintain them like you would any other bike.
I do as well, heck I distribute them but they are more Honda quality than cheapie knockoff. I've had to do as much repair on the pit bikes I have for personal use as I have my XR80 & XR250 (which ain't much!). My point is the small engine bikes are generally garbage, pick up a quality pit bike made for an adult like a SDG, Pitster or my personal favorite ;) Pit Viper and you will likely have a good experience. But I don't think that a 125cc bike like that is appropriate for a 7 year old.
 

_JOE_

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Patman said:
I do as well, heck I distribute them but they are more Honda quality than cheapie knockoff. I've had to do as much repair on the pit bikes I have for personal use as I have my XR80 & XR250 (which ain't much!). My point is the small engine bikes are generally garbage, pick up a quality pit bike made for an adult like a SDG, Pitster or my personal favorite ;) Pit Viper and you will likely have a good experience. But I don't think that a 125cc bike like that is appropriate for a 7 year old.
How much does one of those Pit Vipers cost. Looks like fun. I have a ton of fun with the wifes TTR.
 

Patman

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Shoot me an email with your contact info to pat"at"pitvipermx"dot" com
 

red_bull

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Jul 2, 2007
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i would never get a chineese knockoff ...
1. hard to replace parts
2. the fact that you need to replace parts as ofton as gassing up
3.there not good
4. bad suspension
5. no power

you and you chilcd would be much happier if you went for a honda, kawasaki.yamaha,suzuki,ktm.
why?
these are all respectible bike brands all supproting pro riders so they must be good i am not just saying this but i have ridden just about evey differant brand. persoanlly if your sure you want a 50 the honda 50s are your best bet if you want a 65cc ktms your man after that the yamaha ttr series is great as well as the kawi honda and suzuki line ups are all great
 

Patman

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red bull you are making a generalized statement without anything but speculation to back it up.

1. Maybe for the fly by night companies but there are some that actually get it and see the big picture. We have an extensive inventory of parts within 50' of this computer. Parts that could build several bikes from the ground up and I know of a couple other companies that have the same method of operation.

2.Again complete BS. Our bikes have proven to be very durable and "The build quality is near Honda" as told to me from a Honda dealer! I have demo bikes that have seen nothing more than oil changes with numerous hours on them.

3. Care to expand on this with more speculation? I can back it up with factual first hand knowledge that is contrary.

4. So nitrogen charged, progressive wound springs and adjustable C & R is bad? LOL!

5. Again, maybe on the cheapie bikes available on the side of the road, from auto parts store or on auction sites but not ALL are underpowered.

Because a company is able to pay a rider doesn't make their product the best, there's plenty of crap out there with big advertising dollars. There are some VERY big name riders don't even use the products their names are associated with. Get over the idea that every product out of China is garbage, it's just not true. People said that about Honda's not so long ago. Like anything you get what you pay for. Just sometimes you end up paying for a big name to advertise so you get a bit less product.
 

bdtoady22

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May 18, 2007
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i have to say that i have kazuma Meer cat 50 and i couldn.t ask for more. my sons crashed it jumped rolled it you name it and i havent done anything but change the oil and clean the air filter. for the money i can buy 3 of em before i could buy an yamaha honda or suzuki. i recommend the tough little *******s
 

keefbikes

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Apr 16, 2007
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K, both sides are true. Some brands are hard to get parts for, some are cheaper made then others. But the simple fact is the reasone there is such an explosion of these bikes at low prices is Honda lost the patent for this type of bike, so all these small companys are basing their bikes off of previously patent desines. They all have the potential to be good bikes, but it may take a little more money to get alot of them to a quality point :nod:
 

Pushin50

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Dec 18, 2006
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If you only have one kid a cheap one may be fine. He will out grow it in a year or two anyway. If you have younger kids or nieces and nephews as I do you may want to go Honda (or Yama...) as these bikes will last forever.
When I was young a nieghboor kid got a new 1972 Honda 70 (basically the same bike as the 2007 70). We rode the dickens out of that bike. Fifteen years later his kids tried to ride it to death but could not kill it. Now his grandkids are riding it. The front and rear fenders are long gone, the tank is bashed in on both sides (all those parts were metal in 72) and the seat is a mass of duct tape, but it still runs. I doubt cheap bikes will have that kid of longevity or parts suppport.
 

pitbull49990

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Jul 14, 2007
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trust me dont get a chinese knock off the price seems great but its basically like a disposibale bike wonce it breaks you can't find parts anywere go with the honda or yamaha i rode a honda crf50f i am 130 pounds and that bike was pritty quick
 

SHSPVR

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Oct 24, 2006
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1. hard to replace parts
Depend on what part
The Motor on the hand are nothing more then Honda Clone and eazy to get parts.
I know I have a Lifan 110 in an old ATC 70 and that old 70 is one wicked ride and fast to boot.
Chinese bike are reputable brand but there one small problem that lack of doing thing rigth the frist time so you need petty much need to get out the tool box and check ever nut and bolt over.
And as rule check Valve adjustment after riding a bit about 3 to 5 hours and few more time after.
SDG, Pitster are nothing more than a Chinese bike
 

tyler_43

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Jun 22, 2007
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here in canada we have this "brand name" chinese knockoff called "Skyteam"... they're alright but like other people say they aren't the quality of the Japanese or Euro bikes. My lil' bro just turned 7 (kinda small for his age) and we got him on a crf70f. He loves it... they aren't THAT expensive either, and there's honda dealers EVERYWHERE. Plus, the amount of mod's for crf50's (many of which fit the 70) give great x-mas present options :P. We bought fmf exhaust for his birthday and he loves it. Sounds just like the 250f's I race against lol.
 

Andrew_C

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Jul 20, 2007
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hah..... ive had such bad times with those knokoffs...... my brother bought one and it just like caught on fire for no particular reason.... my friend also baught one and lots of the screws came off.... so i dont think you should get a knowkoff.....
 

Patman

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Perhaps the phrase "You get what you pay for" might come in to play with some of the issues? A new $500 knock off will have very few of the virtues of a $1100 Honda no matter how badly you want it to. On the other hand some of the knock-off bikes that are higher priced also happen to come with significantly higher quality. Lumping ALL of them together is being ignorant of reality.
 

Patman

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motoken said:
have anybody bought a good china?
Which manufacturer do you work for?
 

whenfoxforks-ruled

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Oct 19, 2006
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Alright already,I confess to owning a chinese bike,125 orion. It works most of the time,but I am using it as a pitbike,I do have reservations about racing it though! Early issues were met cheaply and quickly! It looks like all the bling has been thrown on it,it looks like a sl-125 engine and is loads of fun! You do get what you pay for,for the price of a top end mod it can not be beat! I cannot compel myself to list it as my bike,yet! From what I have seen,the larger and smaller bikes have a lot more issues.
 
Jul 3, 2006
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I have a no name off brand chineese pit bike. its a 110cc I think, bought it at a flea market just to do slow wheelies and stuff in front of the house.. They break pretty easy, especially the shocks! I do have to say that after you replace everything, and I do mean everything they arent too bad.. I had to replace the shock with a really firm gas shock, and about a million different screws and bolts, hoses and such.. then I broke the pegs on a freestyle ramp ( bad idea) but after I had them weld reinforced they werent to bad at all really.. I have spent about as much as I would have on a honda though...
 
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