Hi,
Looks like its the same bike, here in South Africa is sold as BIG BOY SMR 450 the motard and MXR 450 the off road version
Cheers
http://www.bigboyscooters.co.za/bb-s...les/SMR450.jpg
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Hi,
Looks like its the same bike, here in South Africa is sold as BIG BOY SMR 450 the motard and MXR 450 the off road version
Cheers
http://www.bigboyscooters.co.za/bb-s...les/SMR450.jpg
Yebo, I have bought my 250 from them. My MX450 will arrive this week - it is basically the same bike as above but in Motocross trim and setup.
Hi There!
Good to see you liked so much the 250 that you bought a 2nd one.. Bigger,
What About the parts and support from Big Boy, Warranty? they seem to have 12 month road assistance !?
how do you think will hold as a commuter ? the price for the 450 is on the edge I think..too close to a 2nd hand Jap, isn't ?
I'll be waiting your review
Parts are not even an issue, you phone up the dealer and within 5 work days you have it, sometimes even quicker. My 450 has only arrived here on wednesday (blame customs) and is sitting in my garage for the weekend. I can't give a review yet as it has to be run in for the next 300km's and I am not allowed to over rev etc etc etc etc - all warranty related. Yes the warranty is 12months on ALL models - amazing! For a brand new bike with warranty against a second hand Jap bike here - no way. A used Japanese or European bike here is either scary expensive or it was hammered and misused, a buddy of mine bought a used YZ250 for about $2500-00 it looked to be in good shape and started up nicely, but after three days it seized and the shocks all started leaking - repair cost $1700. Do the math. :)
Hey, Powerball, where in fact is "here" in your case? Given that this is a global website, the geographical/national context of your comments is crucial. (I'm writing from southwest China.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Powerball
How about updating your profile to include your location? Click "my profile" up in the top righthand corner.
In fact, would hope all members of MCM would do the same!
thanks/cheers!
Hi ,
Let me be devil's advocate...
You mentioned
"...parts are not an issue ..."
And I've read the same about Big-Boy here in South Africa
"...you phone up the dealer and within 5 work days you have it, sometimes even quicker..."
Googling Big Boy in SA will show you a few contradictory stories about that particular point
"...the warranty is 12months on ALL models..."
South African warranties ...Not the most bullet proof around the globe, type of warranty that might work for a light bulb but not an engine rebuild...
Again, I have no proof but comments and posts on the internet. Not that you can really find a lot of comments about their bikes, and most probably , the commentators are always the ones with the problems and NOT the happy owners...
" .... against a second hand Jap bike here - no way. A used Japanese or European bike here is either scary expensive or it was hammered and misused, a buddy of mine bought a used YZ250 for about $2500-00 it looked to be in good shape and started up nicely, but after three days it seized and the shocks all started leaking - repair cost $1700. Do the math. ..."
Point Taken If :
If The Warranty Works
If the one you bought is Not the Lemon
If The dealer you bought it from is the "good guy"
If you have lots of patience and you understand you actually
SAVED money buying the CHinese bike for only 45% of the price of a Brand new Jap's
Of course all that can happen to you when buying a brand new Ducati for x3 times the Money and you will be feeling x100 times more depress as well
But the last sentence logic has a fault ...the Big Boy 450 is R39000 (Rands) 5400 u$s (+/-) and a Second Hand Jap with same specs but smaller engine (WR250,XRF250,YF250,etc ) or even the 450s will go for R 25000 - R45000 , 2001/2008
Depending the condition and blah! blah! blah! ... and sometimes cheaper
I did actually owned 2nd Hand Japs and I know you can have a lemon but they are usually hard to Kill.
I know as well (against this last idea) that parts for the big 4 are usually very expensive.. and if the China counterparts have "decent" quality parts at reasonable/cheaper price parts then the equation might be leaning to China's again...
And then Again how lucky are you with the dealer and if they have decided to keep importing the parts and not discontinuing it ... or Just simply if they don't go broke
I still have my doubts... I haven't come the definitive answer.
But my feeling is ...
if you are lucky
and have some tools
If You enjoy working on the bike...
ready to do some "Must Be Done" Mods
Ready to make friends (or foes) with the Dealer
Ready to learn some Google-Chinese
and you enjoy endless hours of "research!"
And when you bought a China's you'd set your mind like if you are buying a rare and Exotic "2nd Hand" Bike ....
Then you will be Happy with your buy
I haven't made my mind yet ! :confused1:
Ok here we go, I am from Namibia - we have three dealers in our small country for big boy. The only thing that broke on my 250 was my clutch/brake levers and my throttle cable - so far. I phoned up the local dealer and they had the throttle cable here within two days. A buddy of mine had a big crash with his, a radiator, shroud and water pipe got damaged - the local dealer had the parts here in 3 working days, we also get discount from the dealers on stuff like chains/tyres/tubes etc. Another guys with a 450 motard had an electrical problem - the dealer had his techs drive 90km to assist him and the bike was running within 30min - all warranty - no charge! So slap me silly for thinking our dealer here great - to say the least.
I owned a few of the big four, the part prices are horrific and you wait ages for the dealer. I agree a new Jap bike is quite hard to kill, I had owned a Suz RM250 (two stroke) for 5 years with only chain and tyre problems - but man when those power valves flew to pieces it destroyed the whole engine and the repair costs were just too high - so I sold it as scrap.
But hey everyone has his own idea of what they want - I like the more affordable Chinese bikes, and I will support them because every year these bike will become better and better - last year we did not have an aluminum framed dirt bike - this year.....
Powerball,
Wow! Wish we could get service like that on our Chinese bikes right here in China!!! You are very fortunate!
Thanks for the introduction. Fantastic that our MCM family includes multiple members in Africa. How cool is that! :riding::riding::riding:
cheers
I have to agree with the Jap's parts prices...and not only Japs , a colleague at work had a Triumph Daytona, priced around 40.000/50.000 Rand (1 Yuan = 1 Rand = 7.20 u$s ) had an engine failure (Can't remember what.. ) and the repair quotation from the Dealer was R 50.000 and a indy quote was about R 40.000, guess what... sold the bike R 15000 to the mechanic and bought a 2nd Yamaha R1 for R40 000
Not to mention the aftermarket parts ... the are impossible.
I Hope Chinese bikes keep improving they way they are doing it now, and become and alternative to the Big names (what I think its already happening)
and the people bringing bikes to whatever country you are , pay more attention to the customers, just like your experience with the Namibia dealer. (You should mention Him, I think he deserves it)
I would like to say that issues and customer frustrations its not exclusive to Chinese Bikes, its global, The most horror tales I've heard are coming from Harley Davidson, Ducati , Aprilia ...and I strongly believe the Dealers are to blame for ..most of the times.
CHeers! Every one
powerball: please keep posting about your experience with the 450
We have a ring of three dealers here Powerbikes and Northern Bikes and Quad. we also have Bike and Quad clinic that we get awesome service. Our biggest frustration is the couriers - man they always mess up with parts delivery. Bigboy has more dealerships than any other make in SA/Namibia and botswana - someone will have the part you are looking for - trust me. I am taking out the 450 this afternoon again - whatever people say about Asiawing 450, I know for a fact that thing can jump! I sneaked it out to the MX track yesterday and a hit a few jumps - no bottoming out - on the straights (and in the right gear) this thing is a bullet. There were some guys with Jap bike and they all said that that is a nice looking Honda - where did I buys the decal kit. I started laughing like a mad man..... When I told them it was a Chinese bike they were quite disgusted until I passed a few on the track - and mine has got electric start!!! LOL!
So I presume many other after market parts would fit bolt on, not only the stickers , isn't ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Powerball
Keep posting your adventures with the BB450... I think we might have a winner there...
Cheers
Interesting Website, in ...Slovakia?
http://www.kmotors.sk/
Google translation is good enough to navigate the site, and then you will find English links
TOKENS TXR-450 : http://www.kmotors.sk/htm/f_450x01.htm
http://www.kmotors.sk/img/gcrf450x/dscn0411.jpg
There is even an exploded view of parts and prices (Euros) seems to be the same bike ( Big Boy, Asiawing, etc...)
and the parts catalog is downloadable in PDF (http://www.kmotors.sk/doc/uk_parts.pdf) and XLS (http://www.kmotors.sk/doc/uknd_450.xls)
or online HTML ( http://www.kmotors.sk/pbc/htm/ukf0.htm )
Nice post...Thank you very much!!......
Long time lurker, first time poster. :)
I felt I should contribute at last, because I am, unfortunately, an owner of a 2010 Asiawing LD450. It is indeed a copy of the 08 CRF450X, but very low quality. A local dealer imported two straight from Asiawing, and I bought one following the untimely death of my KTM 640 to a cracked head. Worst investment I ever made. I've had both of their machines during the last 6 months, and for 13 weeks of that the bikes were being repaired. A string of problems have assailed them.
First, they are Honda-style UniCam valve gear, and tend to shear the counterweight guide lug off the cam wheel if stalled too hard. The one I am currently stuck with has had to be re-shimmed twice in under 900 miles/1100 kms. They eat 1.5ltrs of oil every 500 kms. The seat is a shockingly low quality item, you may as well be sitting on a big sponge, as the cover offers about as much protection to the seat foam as a sieve. The chains are awfully low grade and require weekly lubrication and adjustment, even doing just 3-15 miles a day on the road.
It was sold to me as a water-cooled motard, with the dealer knowing full well I wanted a mid-cc machine for commuting....... It's not even remotley suitable for commuting. Don't be fooled by the flashy LED lighting kit and projector headlamps, the Yuasa battery and minimal output stator are not powerful enough to manage more than 5 starts on the electric leg (IF it fires at all) and then do not do a very good job of charging the battery after that. Even a decent Varta gel item made no odds. Regular night/day use? Forget it.
The carb is not the same as those used on the Honda either, and is rediculously boggy at low rpm. The manual, spring-loaded choke lever where the hot-start usually should be, is a nightmare to use, too.
Now, after only 6 months and 1100km of light road use, it's sitting in the front garden with a blown reg/rec, which the dealer is no longer interested in looking at as Asiawing are now tired of firing replacement parts to them, and told me they would give me a new Galaxy 50cc worth half the LD450, or if I wanted my money back to "break it on Ebay"......
I'd like to be able say "Well, ok, it IS too highly strung for a daily road bike with a bit of added grunt for fun. Maybe it would be better suited to the dirt." - but I don't even think I'd trust it that far. I've now ridden a Honda CRF450, and I can honestly say the Asiawing can't even begin to hold a candle to it, on quality, ride, and certainly not reliability, despite being almost identical. The local moto-X boys (many of whom I know and told me to avoid the LD), are now having a good chuckle at my expense. Fair play to them, too, I should have listened. "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." Oh, how right they were. I fail to see how Midwest, Token, Odes, Big Boy etc. are managing to keep so many of these things on the road, and can claim so few problems with them. Bad luck? Possibly, but then out of two machines it's been a 100% fail rate.
So until I get the reg/rec fixed and sell the f&$%!#g thing, it can look on in misery as I pull out on it's replacement each morning - a brand new XT660Z Tenere. Nice try, Asiawing, but better luck next time.
Thanks for telling us your experiences! Not good that you lose out so badly, I would be quietly considering a petrol bomb through the dealers window one night. They should replace the fucker with a decent bike at least. I pity the poor sod get it after you too. Have you looked hard at warranty and consumer rights and taken advice? And you should post your story, naming the dealer as well, on every motorcycle forum you can join.
Very interesting write up AckAck78, thanks for sharing your story. I was very close to purchasing the LD450 last week, but couldn't justify the price for something with such mixed reviews. In one of the Chinese forums, they say Asiawing is very responsive to problems, and the components of the bike are continually being improved with each production run. Maybe with a little more time they can get the reliability issues sorted out. Bad seats and chains are just typical China bike problems, but the oil consumption and charging system sound a bit more serious.
I hope other LD/LX450 owners will follow your example...stop lurking and start posting :thumbsup:. It would be nice to hear some other long term reviews of the Asiawing experience.
Cheers!
ChinaV
Shame to hear about your experiences, I only live down the road from the factory, I was hoping that they might be able to bolt something worthwhile together. If I didn't live in China I wouldn't have anything to do with Chinese bikes. Just buy the best 2nd hand Jap brand I can for the money I had.
Ditto to that comment...Quote:
Originally Posted by ZMC888
Thanks a lot for posting your thoughts! Man this bike really gets mixed reviews, i have no idea what to think of it. For us here in china with our very limited choice of bikes it's a very tempting one, but after reading that i don't think i'd buy one. Living here at least it might be easy enough to get parts, but abroad i wouldn't go near it.