Intro from Dominican Republic.

Hi all,
Yes I do have a Chinese bike, a very popular one Suzuki AX-100. Two stroke enige, modest HP but very reliable and in case of maintenance, a home mechanic can do the job.
Now considering of buying a dirt bike, overhere available is Honda 125 bros (made in Brasil) and since some months a Keeway 200cc. I'm not too found of its design.

Think for me it is not what i'm looking for.It seems that Lifan LF 200 GY-5 is rather a good bike, when browsing posts Galaxy 250 XTR draw my attention. Could anyone help me about this subject, is weight of 113 kg real? And reliability how about that, can you tell how the bike holds over some years.
Well, thanks in advance. Abraham 1815

Personally I feel the quality of Japanese badged bikes is nearly always better. The Brazilian Honda would give you many more years of reliable riding, but there are some good Chinese bikes.

Have a look here: http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...-A-brief-guide

Benjamin550 is 'next door' to you in Haiti. He has the Lifan GY-5.

Guys,
Thanks for replying, probably agree about quality of Honda engines made in Brazil. Honda 125 Bros is available over here (price 2000 Euro) but just like to feel a tad more HP and 21" front and 18" rear instead of 19"/17" that comes with the bike and no alu rims.

Yes, Lifan is sold in Haiti, on Lifan's website i saw that they have a distributor overhere, but no adress or what soever supplied. For 2 days I mailed them for more info. Guess that it might even be a car import. But perhaps they can give hand if choice will be Lifan 200. But Galaxy XTR 250 looks very sweet if weight is around 115 kilos then it is sure attractive. Considering no dealer overhere then it might be tricky. Custums overhere tend to have their own rules.

OK, me still on the outlook and gathering more info.

Cheers, Abraham.

Abraham,
Don't be fooled, a modern Japanese 125cc single engine often puts out as much power as a Chinese 200cc engine. This is especially true when the bike gets hot because of more modern better quality machining and design of the Japanese engines, also lower fuel consumption.

Hi ZMC888,
Not making it easier for me, you telling that a Chinese machine may have more powerloss then his Japanese congener. Yes a liquid cooled has avantage of maintaining its horses. But howcome that between air cooled engines there may be a different specific powerloss. Has it to do with metalaloys that permit less tolerance?

Browsing MSM a Galaxy owner mentioned that it feels like the machine has some 18 HP. For my intended use I'd say 15 will be fine.
Though it is not just HP, but Lifan and Galaxy models do have nearly same stroke as bore, meaning low end power (all relatively).

Police overhere is using those Brazilian Honda's NXR 125 bros, on patrol always by 2 men. sometimes even 3. Machine holds up very well.

Resuming this is more or less what i'm after; a bike weighing less then 120 kilos and 15 HP. Not just electric start also kickstart and air cooled.

Cheers, Abraham 1815.

Yes absolutely.

Firstly most of the Chinese engines are simply Honda clones, that cloning was mostly done in the 90s. The majority of Chinese manufacturers hardly do any R&D go you'll find it a time frozen engine lower quality than the original Honda engine. The Honda engines have developed and are better balanced and more fuel efficient than they were in the 1990s.

I have a Regal Raptor 250cc twin. It absolutely suffers from power-loss when it gets hot, really it needs an oil-cooler. Original Honda engine didn't have an oil cooler either and didn't have hardly as many power-loss issues. You don't really need water cooling though.

If you want to buy the 200cc Lifan make sure it has lots of positive reviews, parts can easily be bought and that it ideally has an oil-cooler.