This is a post I did on the Chinese Scooter Forum on Yahoo! It's got some decent info for comparative buying in regards to going with a brand name, or going Chinese...
Re: Kymco VS other brands
I've been watching the forum for some weeks now... and it appears thateveryone has their views and opinions on what is good and what is bad about the various brands. These discussions remind me alot of whatused to be debated (and still is) on the ScooterBBS...Now... to address a few items that have been floating around on thisforum in regards to Taiwanese brands and mainland china brands...
No.1 - Kymco and SYM are Taiwanese made. Both companies own and operate factories in mainland China and other parts of Asia. The reason why they operate these other factories is two-fold - one, to make cheap parts for the factories in Taiwan... and two, to make complete scooters for those huge markets (1B people plus each in Chinaand India). The Kymco and SYM bikes here in the US are Taiwan made...the VIN code gives it away...
No.2 - Kymco and SYM have been around for many years... since the1960's. Both have had collaberations with the Japanese brands, mainly so that Honda and Yamaha could break into the Taiwanese market. Honda and Kymco jointly developed the GY6 engine. The engine in your Roketa,Tank or whatever is not a GY6 engine... it is a GY6 clone - and not even a great one at that. Good enough for the mainland Chinese, but no where near the quality of the original...
No.3 - Kymco (and SYM) cost more because of the following:
a - It's ten times the bike as any of the mainland China brands.
b - There are dealers in most parts of the country.
c - All have a 2-year full warranty.
d - Parts can be had from any dealer.
e - It will last much longer and it will go much further.
g - It most likely won't ever need major servicing... or stop on theroad... and will start every time you need it to.
h - All of these points apply to all of the major brands. They areworth the cost if you have the money and have no desire to deal with amainland Chinese brand. If your only interest is to save a buck, you'll loose in short run...
No.4 - Roketa, Tank, SunL, Baron, Lance... and the like, all come frommainland China.
a - They are clones - nothing more... and in most cases, alot less...
b - Dealers are not as common - although they are all building their dealer bases. Bare in mind, a Roketa dealer is not a Honda dealer, and is no where near the same calibre. Someone will question this so I will explain in detail later...
c - Most off-brand bikes come with a parts warranty - but it really equates to an 'As-Is' type sale because you never know if you will get parts and tech help when you need them...
d - You can't get parts from Roketa or Tank to save your life... or theirs. But GY6 clone parts are pretty common at this time, if you know where to look. The off-brand 250cc engines are less reliable than the GY6 clones... because they are Honda and Yamaha 'clones'...
e - Off-brand bikes are not going to last... no matter how many hours you spend 'prepping' them, or how many parts you change out. They aren't designed to go for long periods... and there is little you can do to change that - other than to buy a Kymco or SYM...
f - Off-brand bikes are going to need lots of TLC - always... or until they die at least. You can expect something to 'fail' just like clockwork from day one - ie. a bad CDI at 500 km's, a bad rectifier at 1000kms'. You will have to service your own scooter because most dealers won't touch it. If you have a local off-brand dealer, take advantage of that fact.
If you enjoy working (tinkering) on your vehicles, then the off-brands are probably an excellent value for you. But most Americans want someone else take care of the scooter problems... so we, as a group, should always recommend a local purchase thru a brick and mortar dealer...
There really isn't any question as to why brand name bikes cost 2-3x the off-brands, it's because they are way better in all regards. The off-brands do make good 'starter' bikes - less of an investment to findout if scootering is your thing... but there are numrous 'cons' to go with the numerous 'pros'...
And who am I you ask? Well, I'm Jim J from Bandit MotorSports to be sure. I've been importing Bandit Scooters since Jan 2003... and I've been in and out of most of the off-brands as well as the name brands over these four plus years. I've ridden most brands, and serviced most as well. There are only a handful of people in the country who have the knowledge and experience of multiple brands to offer an opinion on all of them... Just some food for thought... or cannon fodder...
Thanks, Jim J...
Bandit MotorSports
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