How often does your China bike need repairs?

[Nuhaus]

It just occurred to me, after spending 3 years riding motorcycles, and nearly all that time in China, that maybe taking the bike into a mechanic once every two weeks was somewhat effing ridiculous. Just last week I got a new regulator rectifier & a rebuilt shift lever, 2 weeks before that it was a new triple tree. I keep in mind that my bike is a lovingly aged () piece of machinery, however I know for a fact that a similarly aged Japanese car which I owned did not nearly need so much attention.

So what do other owners of Chinese bikes have to say? Are you also just used to taking your bike to a mechanic every couple of weeks? Or are repairs few and far between for you?

[Robeta]

Ha funny you should say that, when i got my zs150 3 weeks later the main hose to the radiator produced a leak, so the man at the store decided to bring another hose to my house to fix it , but it was the wrong hose a slightly more restricted size at that, 2 months went past and the replacement hose started to crumble ( looked like it was 20 years old) well off to the store this time and i demanded the right fitting this time no make do, other than that(apart from) my brake lever light switch seems to have shorted somewhere and the wire gets hot if i connect it, so i decided to disconnect it for safety , but have not had the time to repair or take to the store, but soon i will do..........

[MJH]

The problem with most if not all the Chinese manufactured bikes is that they do not solve initial problems that well, its very important to check quality of components and identify failures then get rid of the supplier or redesign the part. Then issue bulletins to the support, that being the retailers.

I learned that years ago, I had car and took it in, it was making strange sound, it sounded like a heat shield on the exhaust was rattling. The mechanic assured me that I had great car and showed me the database that they used that recorded all failed component on the models and that mine had none. He said he had seen them come in with 200,000 miles on them. It ended up being a wheel bearing that was not packed with grease, he was really surprised claiming the odds of that happening were really low.

Smart manufacturers measure failures and in that calculate probabilities of failure on any part. They also train mechanics not only on the products but also on the process, the parts as well as the importance in recording what they do into a shared database.

When you purchase a motorcycle and realize that there is no parts book, that should send up a red flag. The parts book should have part numbers and those should on the manufactures side represent suppliers or lot numbers, if the part is produced by them internally. Those lot numbers should link to production runs and in that employee ID numbers, it is also important to train the line worker as well.

It all spells cheap, fast and also disposable.

If and when you bring it back, they should record the part replacement, then the factory should see that as a probability of failure, if the numbers rise as a percentage of failure, then the part should get replaced, the next person coming in then gets the new improved part.

I bought a Chinese motorcycle, I would not if it did not have a parts book and also a service manual. I also checked the VIN decoding and seen that they used revision numbers for production. That means when parts change so does the parts list, its called a revision. Then when they ship out, they should ship with a parts book that matches the revision number.

None of it works if the people in the value chain are disconnected, if they are not trained and in that all tied to the factory and business model as well as the corporate charter, goals and directives. That is what a brand represents or should represent. ..

[andre555]

Surprisingly enough my Shineray holds up well after some teething problems. But I have to admit that I only rode 3000km since purchase in May 2010.

No serious issues, dirt in the carb, typical chinese quality chain. I'm satisfied with the reliability.

[dewsnap]

Great post from MJH and nice idea for a thread.

My China bike (Regal Raptor DD250G-2N) isn't even 6 months old yet and i reckon i'm averaging a weekly trip to the mechanics. I'm 6500km's in and had endless little niggles particularly with the cooling system. I'm on my third speedo and rev counter as they're so cheap they die after heavy rain. I've had 2 new batteries, and endless tuning and tweaking. The Ragal Raptor mechanics certainly know their way around this bike but the liquid cooling system and EFI are new to this model and i don't think they really know what they're doing. The Fuel Injection system is Japanese and it's become apparant that they haven't got a clue. Neither have i though, but the point is, who's gonna work on my bike if the official mechanics can't do it?

This was the latest cooling system failure...

P1070075.jpg

[Nuhaus]

Sorry to hear about the constant repairs Dewsnap. I was hoping that as you had a newer bike, you wouldn't be hanging out at the repair shops each weekend like me. Luckily you are still under warranty. Aren't those guys on Pubei the same mechanics who work on the BMWs? If so, I would think it's the parts that are the problem.

My Honda franken Rebel is unfortunately a little out of warranty. Were I in my own country, repairs this frequently would have bankrupted me, but here, I have access to cheap parts and labor. Had I my druthers, I'd be driving a larger Japanese bike that was much more reliable. And if a frog had wings...

[Gardo]

My heist is produced at the Rhon facility by Cleveland Cyclwerks and have over 6200km on it since April the only replacement has been the 428 chain at about 4800km. I constantly check my bike minimum twice a week but thats because she is a true hardtail and needs to be tightened up every so often. Loktite has become my friend
Now i have replaced the front sprocket witha 16T, handlebars, mirrors, seat suspension and lights while also having the the head decked ported and polished with a newer bigger carb
Still running the stock Battery wheels and whatnot all in all i have been lucky with my scoot from some of the things i have read on this board.