Importing a new motorcycle from China into UK

[beniamin82]

It is typical, allways the same. I talk about chinesee bikes and the People start to argue with chinesee 50ccm shit scooters and crash test of cars.

I do not talk about cars which safty is obvieus, but the safty on a chinesee bike and japaneese bike is the same (without abs).
Besides :
The quoros 3 car has 5 stars i Encap crash test.
It is the same safty that volvo has.

[ZMC888]

It is clear that a new japanesee motorcycle is of better quality than a new chineese one.
But it is worth the price you must give for?

Look, in europe the japs has no motorcycyle i want.
I have very simple expextations from a motocycle:

1) Cruiser/chopper look, or classic one (70's)
2) displacment 250ccm, 17+ HP,
3) fuel consumption 2,5-3,5

The Japs do not sell such motorcycle in Europe, end even if they have they in stock they would sell them for too much money.
As i write Suzuki sell his Tux 250 in US for 3500-4500$, for the same price you can buy in Poland a Malibu by JOhnny Pag or a Regal Raptor

by Almot.
In Europe the japaneese sell motorcycles for much higher prices, i thinks they would sell it for the double price then in US.
With the Tux for 3500$ they could swipe out the "importers" of chineese bikes in a year, but the do not do that.

I have a Keeway Cruiser, he has 32.000km on wheels, and the repair cost were low, the fuel consumption is 2,64l/100km.
I have bought it used for 1200$ with mileage 5000km. The quality of the bike is very good, im comparison with YBR 125/Honda CG 125.
My Keeway is 7years old, i drive it every day to work, also in rain, and i have no problems with rost.

Before Keeway i had a senke 125. And the most problem was the quality of assembly. I had to spend few houres to "repair" it.
I buyed a new one for 1000$, an YBR costs 4000$. I sell the bike with mileage of 18500km, the new owner has now 30000km.

A friend of mine maked with senke 125 65.000km, and then it was cheaper to buy a new one as repair the old one.
There where bearings to change and some engine problems. He buyed a new a 150ccm chineese one (again?).
Another friend of mine has a Jinlun 250 with meleage of 80.000km and now he changed the gearbox wich cost 100$.

So?
I have the choice to buy one bike from Japs and drive it for 120.000km(!) and 12 Years, or every 3-4Years have a new Chineese bike.
I choose a new chinesse bike, it is very simple for me.

P.S. And the "some modern additional emission equipment" are very easy to cut out, no one in Poland controls that after the bike is registered :-).

P.S.S
The 320i from Lifeng, are selling very good, but if some one search for more power, and more prestige than he must buy a Japaneese one.
The benelli thing and CF 650 are to expensive, and the keeway 600i is not availble in Europe, and this are not choppers...

I think you want a 2nd hand Japanese made CMX250 rebel or CB250. It will meet you price expectations and after three years it will be in better mechanical shape, and give you far better resale.

I'm a teacher I buy lots of red pens.
Chinese red pen lasts something up to a week usually a day. A French made bic lasts me around a month. Reliable, good quality, price is actually the same, although really a bic is 25% of the price as it lasts 3 times longer.
The reason: Chinese manufacturers give not one fuck about their consumer. Consumers are to them faceless muppets, screw one over, who cares? Another one will be there to take their place. All they care about is one thing: money.

They could make their pens better, but they won't, you'd buy fewer! What do they do? Collude with other manufacturers to make sure all pens are equally shit and also use the government to prevent imports to defend their industry.

The only time Chinese companies can manufacture properly is for export, when they have to, even then it's shonky shit.

[beniamin82]

You have a lot of right thinking in your answer. It may be that the oryginal chinesee bikes are not good in quality, maybe my senke was of good quality because of the quality control of polish reseller. The romet company assembly those bikes in Poland. This company exist in Poland since 70's. They do not want any bad marketing.

The second topic, Yes the rebel or cb 250 is something for me, but for first thing i can not buy it new. The same thing with suzuki TUX, it is not availble in Poland /Europe. And the import from Us is expensive.

The next question is: make the tripple price (ybr 125/senke 125) tripple better quality? Or Just double it. Is it posible to drive ybr for 180.kkm without engine trouble? If Yes it maybe a solution. But If senke engine make 65.kkm it is better to buy a new one after then and not to buy a ybr. And drive it to end of my life.

As i wrote you, the japaneese bike are still well Sold in Europe because of Power and Prestige.

I can say something else, i see the difference of quality in senke and keeway. The keeway is better, but it cost more.

[ZMC888]

If a company buys Chinese bikes in parts and welds and assembles themselves they can if intelligent make a pretty good bike from the better Chinese parts and undercut the Japanese bikes. You see the main problems with Chinese bikes is assembly mentality. That being a race to fill as many bikes as possible into a shipping container and be number 1 manufacturer by volume.This means bikes arrive the other end with welds that look like the have been done by children and finger tight bolts.

Japanese made bikes are of course better, but Japanese bikes made in China can be just as good as Indian made even better and not far behind Thailand. I see it as a mangaement issue, and obviously CFMOTO and Qianjiang are beginning to get the idea. Wuyang, Hoajue, Sundiro and Jianshe have already been taught the correct methods becuase they have Japanese bosses.

[NZBrakelathes]

If a company buys Chinese bikes in parts and welds and assembles themselves they can if intelligent make a pretty good bike from the better Chinese parts and undercut the Japanese bikes. You see the main problems with Chinese bikes is assembly mentality. That being a race to fill as many bikes as possible into a shipping container and be number 1 manufacturer by volume.This means bikes arrive the other end with welds that look like the have been done by children and finger tight bolts.

Japanese made bikes are of course better, but Japanese bikes made in China can be just as good as Indian made even better and not far behind Thailand. I see it as a mangaement issue, and obviously CFMOTO and Qianjiang are beginning to get the idea. Wuyang, Hoajue, Sundiro and Jianshe have already been taught the correct methods becuase they have Japanese bosses.

Are you saying Chinese mentality is low? They can't make things right?
Funny thing is the Chinese even tell you the same
They ask if my bike is an import but I say it's Chinese then they say it's not a good bike because it's made in china
And here in china welding correctly isn't a known thing
Looks like bird shit from some prehistoric species

[bikerdoc]

It is typical, allways the same. I talk about chinesee bikes and the People start to argue with chinesee 50ccm shit scooters and crash test of cars.

I do not talk about cars which safty is obvieus, but the safty on a chinesee bike and japaneese bike is the same (without abs).
Besides :
The quoros 3 car has 5 stars i Encap crash test.
It is the same safty that volvo has.

Well there are no specific crash tests for MC's that I'm aware of.
The car testing was simply an example. However I would say that generally speaking - pretty much everything made in China, not made by a JV or WOFE with international QA & QC systems in place and adhered to, likely produces suspect products... bedding, clothing, textiles, furnishings, furniture, food, beverages, vehicles, components, buildings, building products, tools... pretty much everything. Evem plain old drinking water is not immune!
Lots of shortcuts, altered and cheaper materials and cheating the customer/end user. Maybe not every local Chinese company does so, but I doubt many don't. Even if a company tries its level best to control everything including the supply chain, there are no guarantees that one of the suppliers don't/won't take short cuts (common occurrence) shaving a mao here or a mao there.
As stated, it's not just specific to auto-mobiles, it's everything and it's endemic - nothing is immune!
That's okay though, you go for your life on the Chinese MC... <insert product here>.
It's not a pissing match, it's just a reality... the collective just trying to warn you.

[Lao Jia Hou]

Hey folks - the original poster seems to have been frightened away by the "discussion". He just wanted to know if there was someone who could ship him one of the Suzuki GN250s.

OP - IMHO, it is unlikely a legitimate shop will sell you one, and arrange shipping to the UK. A legitimate shop needs an Export License to be able to sell & ship to overseas customers, and I can't imagine any legal shops having the necessary export license. The only shops I have ever heard of that will risk shipping outside China w/o a license are the CJ shops, and I would not recommend any of them for your requirements.

[beniamin82]

Only to add:
Quoros 3, chineese car 5starts ENCAP
http://www.euroncap.com/results/qoros/3/528.aspx

[ZMC888]

Hey folks - the original poster seems to have been frightened away by the "discussion". He just wanted to know if there was someone who could ship him one of the Suzuki GN250s.

OP - IMHO, it is unlikely a legitimate shop will sell you one, and arrange shipping to the UK. A legitimate shop needs an Export License to be able to sell & ship to overseas customers, and I can't imagine any legal shops having the necessary export license. The only shops I have ever heard of that will risk shipping outside China w/o a license are the CJ shops, and I would not recommend any of them for your requirements.

Dear Edgara,
Sorry for our off topic rants.
It would be possible to buy a single bike online, you could try Alibaba. However these large companies tend to be greedy and unresponsive to individual customers, they would want you to commit to buy a certain amount of units 100+. But really with the documentation worries such export licenses and other obstacles you'd be best advised to come to China yourself to source a bike, and then attempt to get it registered by the DVLA when you return to the UK, which may not be possible and financially illogical.

If you really were keen on something like it you'd be best advised to find one second hand in the UK, or a Honda CMX250 Rebel or purchase and Inazuma from a dealership.

Still you could try Wonjan, it won't hurt to ask, they may be nice people who really love motorcycles and hugely value each customer, unlikely but worth a shot.