Are Benelli bikes big fat lemons....

[prince666]

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.


Lemon.jpg

[ZMC888]

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

[prince666]

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

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

[ChinaV]

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

This is the internet, people only come here to complain

[Asymptomatic]

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.

[prince666]

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

[ChinaV]

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.

[prince666]

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.

[culcune]

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)?

[ZMC888]

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.

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