Printable View
that is awesome, i ran out of gas on the highway last week gettin home :thumbsup: pushed it a little to muchQuote:
Originally Posted by barnone
I'm liking these Bikes they really are great commuters. 5 more weeks and I'm taking the bike to Americade. That should be one hell of a ride report.
Looking forward to your reporting on how the bike handles in NC
These two manufacturers -- Dongfang and Qingqi -- are pretty major players in China, and though no company is immune to problems I doubt that either is in any mortal danger. The problems it seems US and other international buyers are facing, Aboshi and Gardo among them, arise mainly from the importer/distributors, not the manufacturer. These seem often to be bare-bones, fly-by-night operations just trying to profit from the rather large spread between what a Chinabike costs at wholesale in China (three digits in USD) and what the American consumer expects to pay for a motorcycle (four digits). Of course it's an oversimplification to blame just the importers. The manufacturers -- despite being huge, or perhaps by virtue of being big -- generally don't give a toss about what what happens to a bike or its buyer once it leaves China.Quote:
Originally Posted by barnone
Don't feel too bad: They take basically the same attitude toward bikes sold inside China...
In other words, as Vince has said many times, given the general lack of bricks and mortar investment on the distribution end (CCW appears to be a notable exception), buyers of Chinabikes anywhere need to be very realistic about the likely lack of after-sales support. More succinctly: Caveat emptor.
Footnote to Aboshi: It'll be interesting to see what happens to your heap of rusting Dongfang if the seller doesn't come fetch it before the statute of limitations expires. I commend you on your brilliant strategy of charging them a daily storage fee! Touche!
cheers
Hey I'm new here i've been around bikes since i was 5.(im 16 turning 17 soon) I just started to do mechanical work on bikes a couple years back. I was wondering if the dong fang bike can be regged in nc. Because I'm thinking that if on the spokes you could strip the chrome and get them powder coated that might solve the rust problems seeing that I think the chrome is a low grade. But thanks for all the info so far on this topic. Ive read all 55 pages lol. But if anyone can get this info back to me that would be nice or tell me how to get the info before i buy the bike. Thanks Richard
Dear Richie,
Welcome to the forum, and, dang, I guess we're going to have to start a youth group! Do keep an eye on barnone, as he summers in your fine state and perhaps is enroute your way as we speak. as you'll have read, barnone knows these DFs inside and out, and has great knowledge and wisdom about motorcycling.
Keep reading in this forum if you want to learn more about chinabikes, but please do not neglect to post regularly about your own experiences. What, if anything, are you riding now?
Finally, given your, ahem, tender demographic, please spend some time in the safety threads and repeat after me: ATGATT. ATGATT. ATGATT. Not some of the gear some of the time, or none of the gear all of the time. allthegearallthetime. Ride safe (and smart) and you might live to be an old fart like some of us!
cheers
Richie, welcome to the boards. to be honest you can contact your local DMV and give them a VIN# and they will let you know if the bike can be registered in your state.
Richie,Quote:
Originally Posted by richie777
Where in NC? I'll be in Robbinsville,NC in a week or so with my Dong Fang and you are welcome to come by and take a look at her. I don't know what happened to Aboshi's spokes to cause them to rust but in his photo the disk is also rusting as if someone poured salt on them.
Notice the white substance on the tire? I asked Aboshi about the white powder but he has not responded as to what it might be.
Something does not seem right. I have no rust problem with my DF.
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...h/IMG_0776.jpg
My DF several days ago.
Get the VIN number from the seller and run it though NC's DMV.
barnone, I live in northern Minnesota about 75 miles from the Canada boarder. Our riding season is just starting. looks like rain the next week.
Welcome Richie =)
barnone:
Thats not salt, thats sand that blows over the sea wall. WE had fog here for 5 days but that was last week and although the spokes were rusted already that didn't help out lol.
Like I said weeks ago within 48 hours the spokes oxidized and I wound up using the turtle-wax metal polish, and it was supposed to protect against this also... (clearly it does not)
When it started to oxidize we had rain for 2 days but I did have a waterproof cover on it and nothing got wet, including the wheels. I can take more pics for you guys where there is no paint on the frame where it started to rust also (Valve cover, VIN# engraving, the battery box corners, and a few other odds and ends) I know the salt air can have a lot to do with rusting but never this fast. I think the chrome is just super poor quality. If they don't come and pick up this bike and they abandon it I will wind up sending the wheels in for powder coating (or just sand blast and rattle can them). As for the warranty you are living in a dream if you think you will ever have them honor that. The day I received my bike the clutch perch was muffed up and I had put in a claim and sent them pics as they requested, 2 weeks later I still had no clutch so I wound up ordering folding levers (only the clutch can be used) and I never heard back form countyimports on the matter. So when I started the charge-back and they called me one time to bitch at me so I even brought up the fact that I still don't have a clutch in hand and asked when they were planning on replacing it and here is their answer "We are only a distributer and we do not stock parts at all, we have to get it from the manufacture and that takes time and we never received your clutch perch" And this is where I got truly pissed off, They claim on their site and even on the phone they stock parts for the bike, they also claim they they have the bikes in their warehouse. None of this is true what so ever! They are a reseller for scooterdepot and scooterdepot is the drop shipper so nothing ever touches countyimports hands except for $$$. The fact a simple clutch perch is not on hand boggles my mind, its a $2 part! Also the fact they said they wanted me to send them the perch when all they asked for were pics that I had sent them the day I got the bike kinda blows my mind also. They don't care once they have your $ so if you have issues with your bike make sure you are good at fixing things and improvising, because if not your going to be shit out of luck. Now imagine your frame cracks, or your motor takes a shit do you think they will replace it like they claim they will? I highly doubt that.... I have a pretty serious transmission issue with it not wanting to go into neutral when the motor is running, but once you turn it off it goes right in. I have had this issues with some jap bikes and its not a hard fix but it requires removing the clutch basket and making sure everything is aligned, the point is it can become a major issue if not fixed and for someone buying a brand new bike that should work out of the box without a mechanic having to crack a motor open (besides having to checking the valve clearance).
Either way stay far away from countyimports if you are going to order one of these bikes. Other then the small issues I have the bike looks amazing and it has so much potential its redonkulas =)
Aboshi,
I got a new gas tank under warranty from my seller (Chad at http://www.extremescooters.biz/250cc...r-chopper.aspx) who had it shipped from the importer of the DF so there is some warranty support. My original tank had a small leak which I had repaired but felt that the seller owed me a new tank and they sent it.
barnone, how long did it take to get the gas tank?