Well I don't quite own one yet but sort of am helping with one!

[secretagentmole]

A friend of ours was put on a scooter by the local job centre and having got a job they were relieving him of £40 a week for a gutless Honda Vision scooter. Now our friend is 6 ft 5 inches tall and 25 stone. He looked like a gorilla on a kids push bike. It also topped out at 30 mph at the top of the steep hills round where we live.

We saw a Zontes Monster advertised on line, 90 miles from us, at a price of £500, a months MOT left, so we expressed an interest and toddled over. A look round the bike impressed me. OK there was severe corrosion of the exhaust, but other than that not too bad. Switch gear was pretty nice, all the lights apart from the number plate light worked as they were supposed too, but the right fork seal needed replacing. Decent set of tyres on it and chain and sprockets looked good too, even if the chain was a little loose. The footpeg rubbers are also a bit worn and could do with replacing.

The seller had advised that the bike was losing power sometimes. So he said that the price had dropped to £200! A quick 83600 text showed no advisories on being stolen, no advisory on outstanding finance and it was not an insurance write off. So our friend quickly handed over £200 and got a top box thrown in on the deal as well, so well chuffed!

We wheeled it out into the road and I was to ride it back, I have a full license and I am used to geared bikes. He has only ridden scooters and a blast from Colchester to Norfolk is not the time to learn how to shift gears! So I was put on his insurance policy he had set up the day before (nothing like being eager) and after collecting the bike he paid the £17 road fund via the mobile and 4G!

We filled the beast up, swapped the tap to main and set off from Colchester. Now the first thing I noted was that the back brake was there for decoration, not for use. It appeared to have no effect on deceleration unless you stood on it! Front brake was nice and sharp though, the clutch was nice and usable, no creep, and the gear change though clunky, was safe and predictable and the gear position indicator was working nicely.

Blatted through the town, the exhaust having a rather fruity burble and warble in it's additional hole. The handling was great, much better than the learner staple of a CG125. Actually very good handling, it leant over much more quickly than any other learner I have ridden (CG 125, YB100, Derbi Fenix and an SR125). The acceleration was reasonable to 40, then it sort of slowed, but still not too bad.

About 10 miles out of Colchester it struck, the Kangaroo Bounce, it bounced, lurched forwards, slowed down, stopped, revved ok without load, set off did it again. Stopped, let things cool down for 10 minutes, started again, more Kangaroo progress, at this point I was getting worried. Stopped by the roadside again, then I thought well it is not electrical, as it was running, electrical tends to be either go or stop, nothing in between, was running OK so not air, last left is fuel.
I knew the fuel we put in was fresh, so problem in the lines? Swapped from main to reserve, revved freely, so a fist full of throttle and waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Off it shot like a demon, the little bike spun up to speed nicely and cruised onwards with renewed vigour. So a problem in the fuel tap diagnosed as being the main reason for the £300 price drop!

It was nearly ninety miles door to door and somewhere 30 miles in some son of a female dog swapped the seat when I was doing 50mph. It went from being a reasonably comfortable perch to being something built out of angle iron. It got painful, very painful. Sitting here 16 hours later it is still painful!

We bought 10 litres of petrol, it has a 17 litre tank. We poured at least 7 litres in, topped up as we went back, got back and had enough fuel in the can to top the tank to virtually full again! I also noted that the fuel gauge is wonderfully inaccurate!

The Monster is a capable bike, it handles, you can chuck it into corners and come out grinning and happy rather than worry about grip. We know it needs work, but for a few quid more he will have a bike that can cope and at the end of the day will be his! Would I recommend one as a thorough Jap/European owner?

I have not seen anything on that bike that I have not encountered before and to a worse degree on something made in Japan. It handled as well as anything from a Japanese or European manufacturer of learner bikes. It was also cheap, very cheap, ok so it will never fetch as much as a mainstream bike, but it never cost that much and even with the repairs that need to be made, it will still be worth what he paid.

[secretagentmole]

Wife has just acquired her own Monster so now I sort of own one!

[culcune]

Sounds like you and your friend have some fun ahead of you! It seems that Zontes, from all the members here and Chinariders.net who have owned one loved theirs. Chinese bikes, as you already experienced, need extra TLC and a sense of humor. The engine is their best trait--everything else seems to fall off/break around it, but the engine will keep going and going. These threads here and, if you join Chinariders.net will keep you going via all the advice (those issues not apparent to you)

[culcune]

....oh, and I forgot to mention, with Chinese bikes, you can measure the difficulty of repairs by swear words...

[secretagentmole]

Well the throttle cable on both bikes went within a week of each other. So now I am proficient in the black art of dissassembly and reassembly! Also of changing the cable. Found that the carburettor on the Monsters purport to be Japanese! The cable purports to be made out of egg noodle!

On the plus side we do seem to be getting more than 115mpg out of the beast, this is based on real world mileage and speeds of up to 60mph (eventually).

[culcune]

Found that the carburettor on the Monsters purport to be Japanese! The cable purports to be made out of egg noodle!
.

They must be 'Sheng Wey--standard of Japan' which doesn't actually mean they are actually made in Japan, LOL

You are starting to see that owning Chinese bikes takes lots of swear words and plenty of humor!!

[secretagentmole]

They must be 'Sheng Wey--standard of Japan' which doesn't actually mean they are actually made in Japan, LOL

You are starting to see that owning Chinese bikes takes lots of swear words and plenty of humor!!

Replaced the inner with a Venhill cable. Braided, galvanized, teflon coated, as used on speedway bikes, hope it copes!

My local bike shop is the major service agent for speedway bikes in the area (Peterborough, Mildenhall, King's Lynn)....