Are Benelli bikes big fat lemons....

A member on here just purchessed a Benelli BJ 600GS with only a reported 14.000km on the clock .

He's intention was to ride around China with this bike to visit the 12 most important mountain in China.

After riding a very few km around Beijing he sets off on his well planed dream ride.

After only 600km out of Beijing the bike starts to have gear changing problems with the end result with the gears locking up.

But this is not a man to give up he arranges the bike to be shipped back to Beijing at short notice and at great cost .
He has the bike repaired at great cost.

He restarts his epic ride only to get as far as Chengdu. .

Why ... the petrol tank has started leaking .

It's fair to say moving parts wear.... and no owner can be hold accountable even after a total if just over 20.000kn been clocked up on the bike.

I have been told I could be a drunk ??? But I don't drink.
I have been told I know nothing about bikes ? But I have 4 just now and just covered 46.000 km in one trip visiting 26 country along the way.
With all general repair carry out by me.

But the one thing I have certain about a petrol tank on a bike is not a moving part?

OR THERE SHOULD NOT MOVE.

So the Benelli BJ 600 GS gets the big fat Lemon vote from me.

WARNING to all owners you are riding a lemon not a bike.


WARNING to all sellers don't try and sell lemons on MCM.
This is a bike forum not a market.

Naff Said.


Attachment 18752

I hope some owners that have had trouble-free tens of thousands of kilometers chime-in to defend their bike.

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

I hope some owners that have had trouble-free tens of thousands of kilometers chime-in to defend their bike.

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:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

I am waiting maybe some pass owners from MCM would like to chime in as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

I hope some owners that have had trouble-free tens of thousands of kilometers chime-in to defend their bike.

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This is the internet, people only come here to complain :lol8:

The guy I ride with every week here in Changchun has the Benelli 600GS. He had one issue with it overheating when it was new. He changed out the chip and had it remapped. Also had to put a more powerful cooling fan on the radiator. Out side of that it has been problem free for almost 20,000kms.

I still find it insane that the bike comes from the dealer with cooling issues but hey it is cheap in the grand scheme of motorcycles.

It does have really cheap parts on it. He dropped it a stand still when I was with him a few months back (forgot kickstand) and it snapped the foot peg off.

I am really happy I dished out the extra money to go with the Duke. Which by the way, is nothing shy of amazing so far.

Update with the tank .
Found a Taobao seller who had stock and is being shipped to Chengdu now hopeing the bike will be back on the road in 3 days time.
The owners bike sitting all alone in the hotel seating area looking like a right lemon

How about a picture of the tank failure showing where it occurred and some background on why. I've owned a lot of Chinese bikes and I'm well versed in their quality problems, but one thing forums are great for is sharing the information so others can prepare for and possibly avoid these problems.

No way I'm going to defend Chinese manufacturers and their quality problems, but why would someone buy a Benelli BJ 600GS to tour China? I think it's been proven time and time again that a smaller displacement dual-sport is still the best way to reliably tour the country.

Pictures taken allready just not uploaded yet so I do know the rules lol.
Owner ask me to have a look around the bike to see what eals needs working on.
This is the list so far.

1.Front right hand shock seals leaking badly, was informed by the owner he had the front 2 seals replaced shortly after he purchessed the bike? At 14.000km.
And now 1 has leaked again .
This leads me to believe maybe one of the shocks needs to be totally replaced now.

2. One of the front brake is sticking on. Easy fix.

3. All the working cabels were all dry with no grease to prevent cable wear. Just bad maintained by the owners, easy fix.

ChinaV , some people don't have the foresight and knowalage with what is the best bike to ride around China.
But to be fair to the owner he has fitted some Good 50/50 tyres and is coping ok with all the roads so far.
And I am riding the TR-G with road tyres on just now , just makes it a bit harder and you need to be more carefull when you hit the bad stuff.

And with 46.000km and 26 countries travelled the bike has been spot on for the trip but it was only when I got back into China that I wished I had more of a ADV bike.

On looking at were the leak from the tank is under the back mounting bracket that holds the tank in place.
Can't see the actual place it's leaking because its under the bracket ?

The owner said he thinks the reason it because he's fitted a hevery tank bag and maybe this has put pressure on the back bracket.

IMO.... maybe but just a poorly made tank.

Some metal bonding putty carried with you would fix this to get you home ok IMO.

On my old cheap TMEC 200 enduro (export bikes, not sold in China), the tank leaked, I found some adhesive that was made for fuel tanks and such, and never had any more issues with leaking gasoline.

As far as the type of bike for touring, I, too, think he could have made a better choice. I know the Jialing 150 enduro got Crazy Carl all over China, and my guess is they have larger engine versions now (at least 200cc if not the [so-called] 250, er 223cc version). What ever happened to all the pleased Yamaha owners (forgot the name of that one bike made by Yamaha in China)?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

No way I'm going to defend Chinese manufacturers and their quality problems, but why would someone buy a Benelli BJ 600GS to tour China? I think it's been proven time and time again that a smaller displacement dual-sport is still the best way to reliably tour the country.

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Best bike for touring China? A Japanese brand, made in China 400cc single dual sport bike. Yes, the one you can't buy....

For me it would be the new Afican Twin just waiting for the bike to be come available in China then it will be on the shopping list for sure .
The Honda CB 500 X with the uprated off road kit would be very good as well but once again all these bikes are not available in China.
So until such time we ALL have to make do with Chinese lemon bikes

To repair a fuel tank we made far out offroad once the experiences that a lot of tube repair glue well dried and patched with a big repair patch could solve our problem sustainable.
We tried that because it was our only chance in the middle of nowhere ... And it worked!
A too long bolt had damaged the metal tank on the inner flank where the frame goes through.
Over the patch we still put duct tape. We had no idea how long it would last.
But for the remaining days it didn't leak a drop :-)

Sent from my HUAWEI P7-L07 using Tapatalk

The owner is this case would perfere to have a new tank ?
I did explain the option which could be done with a 99.9% of success.
New tank is winging its way to use now with a cost of 450 RMB and 150 Rmb for express delivery.

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Originally Posted by prince666

The owner is this case would perfere to have a new tank ?
I did explain the option which could be done with a 99.9% of success.
New tank is winging its way to use now with a cost of 450 RMB and 150 Rmb for express delivery.

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I hope it turns out to be a "bolt-n-go" operation for him. A lot of newer bikes with EFI systems have multiple parts that need to be taken off the old tank and then added to the new tank. Being a lemon bike, the gaskets will probably be single use that can't be re-used. Tell him to pay attention when swapping the parts over, or he could end up with even more problems.

Thanks for the advise.

Tank was ordered yesterday at 10 am from SH area the we recived the tank today at 5pm .

But did cost 200 Rmb to ship,tank all fitted and working great owner very happy can now finish his ride.

All the bits came off ok and was fitted with rubber gaskets.

Just 1 cock up he did not push the fuel pump plug on correctly as you have to do this last when the tank is being lowered down.

We should of checked it then to see if all was connected correctly.

Well with all the side panel back on we then found out we had a problem hehehe.

So all the bits had to come off again to check the plug.

This time before all this bits was relocated we checked the pump to see if it was working.

Spot on big smiles all round owner happy as a sand boy.

Got pictures you asked about but for some reason I can't seem to upload them it could be the slow internet connection so I will try at the next hotel stop.

Thanks again for the advise and showing a interest in this thread .

I just fill so sorry for the owner who is a really nice guy who has takeing the time to ride around China on this trip he has planed.

We don't have to many of us left in China now who does and not just talk about doing trips .

IMO I still think he had a bad deal with the bike and the guy is very laid back and will just take it on the chin.

That why I have been helping out and I was in the area to be off some help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prince666

For me it would be the new Afican Twin just waiting for the bike to be come available in China then it will be on the shopping list for sure .
The Honda CB 500 X with the uprated off road kit would be very good as well but once again all these bikes are not available in China.
So until such time we ALL have to make do with Chinese lemon bikes

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I think you should look at the KTM1190S model. I was within hours of pulling the trigger and buying the Africa Twin, but here's what changed my mind.

#1 The KTM is lighter
#2 1190cc vs 1000cc, more is always better :naughty:
#3 The KTM has 50 more horsepower and 20% more torque.
#4 The 17" X 19" tire sizing is perfect for China and Adventure riding. You sacrifice a lot of road handling when you run a 21" up front.
#5 Ride By Wire cruise control. Easily added to the KTM, not available for the Honda. This was the main deal breaker for me.
#6 Bigger Fuel Tank

As far as I know, the KTM1190 is available today in China and would probably be roughly the same price as the Africa Twin if it was available.

Now, since we're just talking shit and "wouldn't it be great if" but "this is China".

The 2017 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT is the Ultimate China Bike (UCB).
It's going to be a lot less money than the Honda or the KTM.
Way more power than you will ever need in China.
The engine is legendary for performance and reliability.

http://www.cyclenews.com/wp-content/...0XA_YEL_L8.jpg

Some good points made.

I do like the sound off the DCT and a like off road riding to which nearly every ride report on the bike says the DCT is spot on for track riding.

For me 100 hp is more then plenty power .

And I am not keen on the running cost off KTM.
I have looked at the 650XT and I do like the bike but it's a bit low on ground clearances.

Still early days won't buy the new bike until next year and we still need to wait for the new CFmoto 650 MT ADV bike to be released.
Also I need to sell 3 off my bikes lol

Most of the new KTM's now have 7000k maintenance intervals. If you keep up with basic maintenance in between the running cost is not bad. I have 50/50 tires on my tiny little 390 and it pulls through mud and rough roads with out a sweat. I've done 7 hours straight on freeways on several occasions and it has plenty of power and torque. Had it buried in miud and gone up steep rocky inclines. It's a very suitable ride for China so the adventure bike would be a dream.

Its time I chimed in here since this thread was inspired by my bike.

OK, I have had some problems with this bike and that doesn't mean its a complete lemon.

Someone asked "why would anyone buy a Benelli bj600gs to tour around China". Well, I did not buy it for that purpose. I bought it for some something fun to get around on in the mountains where I live. Later on the opportunity came along to do a month long tour.

Yes I could have done tons more research before buying a motorcycle. The fact is I did some research and what I learned is that the Benelli 600 is not as poorly built as most Chinese bikes. Of course one can engross himself in research, but that can take quite some time. I had reasons to be in somewhat of a hurry to buy a motorcycle and I live well outside of the city which is not convenient for buying a motorcycle and I have the obstacle of not speaking Chinese, so when the opportunity to by the Benelli came along - I took it.

I have had fun on it. So far it is working well for me to get around my route which is pretty much all pavement except for where the road is dug up for repair, detour, etc - and in those cases my dual purpose tires do the job. I would not call them 50/50 tires, more like 80/20 (Avon TrailRider on the rear and Metzeler Tourance NEXT on the front).

Of course I am not happy that I have had 2 problems with the bike already on this trip. But for me, when Sh*t happens, I just get on with it. I was actually very disappointed with the first breakdown because I didn't know if I could get it repaired in time to continue my trip. But the repair was quick (although expensive) and I was thrilled to be on my way again. As for the second issue, the leaking fuel tank. Well that was not even a breakdown and I knew how to deal with it - simply replace the tank. Thanks to Taobao, SF Express, and Prince's wife translating for us, we got a new tank in just 30 hours (This was during the holiday period when we could not even order form the manufacturer because they were closed).

Here is the failed tank. Fuel would seep from under the rear mounting bracket right where the arrow is pointing. I would wipe it clean with a rag and withing 1/2 second it would seep again from right there. The actual leak must be somewhere behind the mounting bracket - probably on one of the 2 welds close to where we could see it seeping.
Attachment 18762

And here is the new tank, I put it on the bike as soon as it arrived:
Attachment 18763

And we were on our way:
Attachment 18764

Much thanks to Prince666 for his support and help. Also to Eric, our hotel manager who received the new tank delivery gave us the lobby of his hotel to use a workspace. Here we are:
Attachment 18765

To add information, about a week ago I leaned of this list of known issues that can affect the Benelli 600: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4523378949 (and none of these reported issues are found on my bike yet).

You are more then welcome Bill with the help I have given.

Generally bikes do go out off there way to help other bikes.

And I am no exception to this rule.

Take note Mr seller nickname "The vanishing Man".

Like you Bill I was so happy to see the bike all repaired and ready to run after the new tank was fitted.

You are being too kind towards the bike when you say it not that badly made ?

If a may Bill remind you about the front fork seals which you tell me you had replaced shortly after you purchase the bike from the Vanishing Man which at that time the bike has clocked up about 15.000 km correct if I am wrong.

And on a very quick inspection of your bike the other day the right hand seal has gone again.

Bike now 22.000km ?

Sorry Bill a well designed and made bike front fork seals don't generally need replacing so soon .

And if a may again Bill point out to the readers about the top bike frame because this thread is about "Are Benelli bikes lemons".

After we adjusted your rear chain I noticed your number plate was not center to the tyre which is should be.

You told me you had a small lay down with the bike the other day on some off-road stuff?
And that the side box took all the impact on the fall.

And this has pushed the top sub frame out by about 100mm.
On inspection off the side box no visual damage can be seen so it fair to say the fall with fairly light.

IMO then the bike is not designed to take side box or it's again a poorly designed and manufacted bike.
On riding with you today I do like the look and the sound of the bike and it had handel the extra kg you are carrying very well and we have at times not been going slow and it has great profurmance and handles the road very good.

Would i buy one A BIG FAT NO.

With the knowalage you have with the bike now would you ?

So I thank you very much to chime in with your oppion about your Benelli bike.

But I am sorry to say it's still gets the Big Fat Lemon award.


Attachment 18772

You can see have much the rear top frame is out off alignment.

Attachment 18773

Bill on his well packed and maybe a bit overloaded bike.:scooter:


Attachment 18774

After 46.000km and 90 days having to load and unload the bike every night you learn how to streamline a loaded bike
Easy on easy off.

Attachment 18775

Even with a lemon bike prevention is better the a cure..... Bill oiling the chian.

Attachment 18776

A very nice man looking happy with the bike nearly ready to go.

Looool

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Diaveldav

Looool

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I don't think is funny And I am sure Bill don't think is funny and I am certain other people don't think it funny Dave that you sold him a lemon bike.
Just goes to show people what type off person you really are.

Yes as you are looking in at the thread when does a tank become a moving part from your expereance as a Germany enginerer.
Naff Said.

Well Prince, you may be a "nice asshole", but you are still an asshole. It appears that your vendetta with David is clouding your judgement. My guess is David is laughing at your relentless attack on him and your LFZ comment about a gas tank not being a moving part (what does that really have to do with anything anyway).

In person the "nice" part of you is more evident, but in text the "asshole" aspect shows up front and center.

It would probably be wise for you to just drop whatever issues you have with Dave and get on with life.

That my bike is a"lemon" is your opinion, not a fact. Just because you think it is a lemon does not mean everyone does. I believe Dave thinks he sold me a motorcycle, not a lemon. And some day, I hope to sell this motorcycle to someone else. And I hope your vendetta with Dave has not ruined my chances of ever selling this bike through the forum.

Enough said.

Good to see you got the bike fixed and are back enjoying the ride. Thanks for the pictures as it is helpful to see what others encounter so as to know how others to handle things when they go bad. Keep safe and best of luck for the rest of your riding in the middle kingdom.....

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Originally Posted by billeuze

Well Prince, you may be a "nice asshole", but you are still an asshole. It appears that your vendetta with David is clouding your judgement. My guess is David is laughing at your relentless attack on him and your LFZ comment about a gas tank not being a moving part (what does that really have to do with anything anyway).

In person the "nice" part of you is more evident, but in text the "asshole" aspect shows up front and center.

It would probably be wise for you to just drop whatever issues you have with Dave and get on with life.

That my bike is a"lemon" is your opinion, not a fact. Just because you think it is a lemon does not mean everyone does. I believe Dave thinks he sold me a motorcycle, not a lemon. And some day, I hope to sell this motorcycle to someone else. And I hope your vendetta with Dave has not ruined my chances of ever selling this bike through the forum.

Enough said.

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Hi Bill,

Exactly this is the point. I'm not laughing on the issues as this is really unfortunate and I'm sorry for it, but on a guy from outside who appears to believe he can make judgements from far away. Despite he doesn't know me personally nor he was ever involved or has seen the bike. That's why I laugh, seeing a guy loosing his temper but having no background info or seen the bike ever before....

Yes, I'm sorry that you have had trouble with the bike, but I don't think I have sold you a lemon. And I don't think you feel like that.

For me is important that you have a save trip, enjoy the rest of the days and yes, I'm completely jealous on this trip you made. Big respect from my side!

BR
David

Bill, be happy u skipped Hua Shan. I just read the crowd was soo big that the cable lifter ran out of capacity and later some wind came up making them stop the transport. So people had to spent their night up on the top. ... But they got blankets and water supplied.
Could have been u ...

Sent from my HUAWEI P7-L07 using Tapatalk

I don't post often here, but I'm an American living in Xiamen, I speak Chinese and toured a Yamaha 250 to Yunnan and back this summer, also doing research and switching to a CFMoto 650.

In every province I went to, I asked Chinese riders' opinions on the Benelli v. CFMoto argument. The Benellis seem to be universally loathed, particularly the pre-2015 BJ series. I've heard better things about post 2015 BN600s. Apparently they made a large number of quality improvements in 2015 after the bike became famous for basically falling apart in minor crashes - The bike's Chinese name "HuangLong" or Yellow Dragon being referred to as DuanTouLong or Broken Head Dragon. I know one guy whose bike slid on a mountain curve at 40kph and the swingarm literally twisted, he needed a major repair. I know another guy who got into a 35kph fender bender, the triple tree apparently came apart and the handlebars somehow tore into his stomach - sounds weird, I wasn't there but he showed me the stitches.

Most Chinese bikers told me the CFMoto is for serious bikers, the Benelli is for people who want to seem cool or "zhuangbi". I say to each his own, but I just wanted to put my input as someone who talks to the Chinese bikers regularly and is in too many Chinese motorcycle WeChat groups where Benelli is pretty universally derided. I think the export versions of the bike must be pretty good but domestically QJiang seems to have cut too many corners and damaged the Benelli brand name.

Thanks for the input Steve. Benelli bike are very popular where I live as the factory is here and its easy to get them fixed nevertheless CFmotos are gaining ground with the new design for 2016 and the 400cc version of the NK which is RMB10000 cheaper. Ive heard some good stories about CFmotos but we also had some bad ones here on MCM.

p.s. if you are in all those bike wechat groups, have you heard anything about the 2016 Shineray X5? they meant to be significantly improved

It was very nice of you Prince to help out with the repair :thumbsup:

I won't get into the argument about selling lemons, but I will stand up for that fork seal. Based on the photos, that motorcycle is completely overloaded. Based on the story, the owner is touring China, which is prone to sections of very bad roads. The forks are probably not that great to begin with, however, stiffer springs and heaver oil should have been part of the prep for a trip like this. Those forks don't stand a chance in their current state.