I am wondering if anybody has advice on chinese quads. are they good bad or ugly? is there a difference brand to brand? whats the quality like? I have only really heard asssumptions from those who do not know. any advice as to what to get if there is a difference?

 

Well for an adult or child sport or utillity? . If you want cheap and just for kids ok , you cant find parts for most and they wont last. most Chinese Quad are a knock off of something else. I was lucky I only threw away $1000.00 or so .If you want a Quad for anything else save yourself a huge pain the $#@ and buy a used Jap Quad or a new one is even better We had 2 Bajas ,a 250 wilderness utillity and a Typhoon 125 sport . we sold those and picked up two used kawazukie 400 good luck.

 

I always advise buying a used, name brand quad for older kids.....you can find older ATVs like the LT80, Moto 4 etc for under $1000......sometimes as low as $500 or $600. Sure you have an old quad.....but you have a solid machine with parts and support.

For small kids....Chinese aint bad. Just have to know the limitation and expect it to be disposable. For adults....I would never buy a Chinese quad.

I have 2 Chinese quads.....and 2 name brand quads (Honda and Suzuki).

I have plenty of experience with all of them.

Chinese quads range from decent to utter trash.....sometimes within the same manufacturer and model.....its likely there is NO quality control. You and your neighbor may buy the same quad......his will run forever and your wont start out of the crate. Despite that they usually provide good service provided you dont use them hard and keep up on the maintenance. Always check for loose parts....never know when they are going to fall off.

 

thats exactly what I was wondering turns out you get what you pay for. I was thinking it was gonna be for me (i am 300 lbs and about 6'1) but i have seen some awfully crappy steel come out of china so I got to thinkin. what about the 1000cc dune buggys? same deal? they seem pricey enough they should be better than the cheap stuff

 

Same folks making them, same quality control and parts suppliers.....same outcome. Ive got one of those.....its a SunL brand....its the biggest POS I have.

What your you looking to do with this ATV.....reason I ask is sounds like me and you are about the same size.....so I could give you some advice. Im 6ft4in and 320lbs....give or take.

Ive got a garage full of stuff and can tell you a little bit about what works and doesnt.

One of my favorite ATVs to ride is a little 200cc Honda 2wd utility wheeler.....Fourtax 200. Its not fast......but its geared great for loafing around on the trails, in the yard and blasting around town. Despite being 2wd it has gone everywhere Ive asked it.....good tires are the key. Its in darn good shape and Ive got $700 in it....thats cheap wheeling on an ATV with a name behind it. Ive climbed some steep inclines....went thru some decent mud and snow....just had a hell of a time for cheap. At my size I KNOW I would have ruined a $1200 China wheeler doing what Ive done with this ATV.

 

Just like aaronkelly said same crap just more money the stuff from china is going to fall apart we bought our Quads in May 08 by Aug 08 I was just hoping to sell them, By then screws fell out, carbs fell off ,so we shined em up and crossed our fingers hoping for the next unsuspecting customer

 

Basically most of the stuff out of china are youth atv's. The youth ATV's are the ones that are priced very cheap are the -50cc to 250cc atv's. Out of them they are hit an miss from basic garbage to something that will give not bad service for youth. There are a few larger cc Adult Chinese models out there that I have heard good reports on but now with the economy the way it is in the Chinese ATV market I wouldn't risk it. If you buy used Jap. you get quality but that doesn't always garantee you won't be wrenching on it either, depending on how old it is. Just check the other brands forms on the webiste here everyone is fixing something. Its just the nature of ATV's and the places they can go water, mud etc. The more handy you are with a wrench the better deal you will get when it come to buying used atv's. You mentioned dune buggy.... check out these http://cdn.polarisindustries.com/ORV...iew/ranger.gif


I had the crew 6 seater version in my shed for a bit that belonged to an in-law of mine. His has the extra bench. 2010 Polaris RANGER 800 CREW Utility Vehicle : Overview

I've been VERY impressed with this thing and the places it can go. The only trouble he gets into is if the trail is a bit narrow in places. He has small kids and didn't want to fool around with the little kids atv's, etc. This way the whole family can go out for a ride. He lives in the city and has to trailer it some place when ever they want to go riding, so he wanted something that ""works" as he is not handy with wrenches.

I wouldn't recomend buying a chinese versions of these things. Just too many moving parts.

 

kind of figured the dune buggys might be a big waste of cash. I am just looking for cheap transportation summer and winter so I think something like that honda would be a fantastic idea. I do have a 2003 200cc polaris that i just picked up for like $500. the thing is I have been looking for the model i have and I cant really find it. Since I am in polaris country (I was born in roseau and live close to there now) I was wondering if the factory guys were using it as a prototype or had a weird racing legue or something. maybe I will just upgrade that a bit tire-wise.

 

There are some decent buggies but again the decent ones cost $$$ even for the higher chinese ones you have to pay$$$

They sell those 200 polaris's up here if you're talking about the Polaris "Phenoix 200" CVT shaft drive type quads.

I'm sure you could find a smok'n deal on a used Chinese 250 of some sort but not sure if you're up for that. If you can buy used 200cc - 250cc Honda's or Polaris's under $1000 then go that route.