my buddy went out and bought a generic quad to ride, he didnt listen to me when i said that he was wasting his money. the quad he bought was a 250 hi-bird sport, he decided to jump a 4 foot step me and my buddy built out of dirt, and when he came down on the back end, his swing arm went snap, not only that his rim got warped and the rear shock broke. i know atvs can only take so much abuse but he didnt even hit that hard, ive more then doubled that distance on my 250x and come down harder then he did, i believe its because of poor craftsmanship. the quad he bought wasnt even 3 weeks old. he gave like 1000 for it, i could have given him a lawn mower for 1/4 that and it would handle jumps better then that generic p.o.s, just posting this to see what all of yall think....

keep in mind my friend never owned a quad before and he is only 13, and his parents are cheap...

 

It is an endless story..... I've known several people that went Chinese and regretted it big time......

I've heard of them catching on fire while riding, a-arms breaking, rims coming apart, shocks, swing-arms, steering stems, triple clamps...etc...etc...etc.....

I can always understand people wanting to save some money. I'm far from rich myself. But I would rather buy a 1986 Honda 250ex, or a 1985 Suzuki Quad Sport with a billion hours than any 250cc Chinese junker......

My neighbor bought two Tractor Supply ATVs the same summer I bought my 2000 Honda Rancher. This was back in 2006. I paid $1800 for the Rancher....it has been used hard, it had no front brakes, bald tires, and worn grips.......but it was totally usable for what I needed, and that was just a work machine.....

My neighbor paid $2700 for a 350cc 4x4 ATV, I cannot even remember the name of it. He also bought a 4x2 for his wife, a 250cc that cost only $2200 on sale........

On year later, the 4x4 ATV was dead weight..... He broke the front drive, trying to pull a fence post down....He could not find any parts, and a custom metal shop wanted $400 to create a new shaft piece. So he did....but not three months later he wasted the front CV joints trying to pull his wife's 4x2 out of the mud......Then the thing would not start at all.....he did not have the time to fix it, because most of that time was spent tracking down parts.....

Last summer, his wife's 4x2 started breaking down, the knuckle in the steering stem snapped, he rigged up something....after all she only rides slow..... Then the rear shock broke, and then of all things he discovered the carb was cracked.......

Now three years later, my $1800 Honda Rancher still runs like a champ....it mows and works all summer and plows all winter. I got new tires, but I never did fix the front brakes or change the grips......

This spring, my neighbor went out and bought two new ATVs for him and his wife. A slightly used but still nice Honda Foreman for him, and a slightly used Suzuki Ozark 250 for the wife...... he could not be more pleased...

 

Just like my dad always said you get what you pay for.

 

im learning the same way. i got one and ive only rode it 3 days total out of the 4 months ive had it.now im goin for suzuki.

 

I've seen those POS ATV's at my local TS, they look as if they will break if you go to sit on one. Pep Boys sells them too, but different POS name on them. One of those little plastic toy atv's would last longer then these junkers. I remember seeing the pep boys Sunday flier and how they advertised the crap out of them. It's a shame about what happened to your neighbor, but I guess it also is a good lesson.

 

STOP STOP STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you get what you pay for this is tru, but how about a little personal responsibility. Now, I don't blame your friend he was 13yo he's supposed to want to ride hard after all that is what these are supposed to be able to do. no doubt he has seen all the motocross guys do all kinds of fancy tricks and jumps. And these guys advertise these things to be able to do this. BUT I do blame the parents they should have had the decency to research and let him know that these are not meant nor built for that or went out and bought a machine that would. I would say these machines are not for teens or hardcore diehard riders that take them to places like BUSCO BEACH in Goldsboro, NC or mudslinging or boggin or doing 80ft jumps off of 50ft hills. Their for people who just want to say they have one or for kids to learn.
There has to be some sort of common sense not trying to insult anyone but you know that if you want to go drag racing you would not put your honda against a 67 camaro or your dirtbike against a duccati. you wouldn't buy a tyco r/c to race against nitro cars. stop and think you do get what you pay for. I got one for my daughter for christmas now keep in mind that I already know there is a lot of maintenance and a durablility issues so instead of buying new from a dealer that wasn't going to provide a warranty or parts I dove head first into finding as many diff. sources of info. and parts and bought used.
Now there was a little issue with a broken bolt (machine shop) but that was known before I bought and I know that my girl doesn't do motocross heck she doesn't even drive the manco scorpion, or the yerf dog hard, I've almost turned them over more than one time myself. It's all in what you plan on doing with it if he wanted to jump hills then they should have bought a yamaha or honda

 

My brother in law bought a 110 for his grandson 2 years ago at a flea market.

Only problem we had with it was adjusting the carb, and getting a new battery. We also make sure they're not trying to enter the X-Games with it either. Yeah, it's cheap and the little 90cc Aeon I have would run circles around it. But as for getting the kids acquainted with the basic skills needed it was a great investment.

Yes, you do need to know how to turn a wrench. But if you're putting someone on their first quad, then you have a little responsibility yourself to make sure they don't over ride their skills or the quads.

 

thx scooter

 

Heck, I've got 3 chinese bikes. Now, they don't compare to my Honda's but they have been great for the kids. Now, my kids don't do the jumps but they do ride them hard. I've done very little in the way of repair to them.
Let's see... I've replaced the chain, tighten the lug nuts and adjust the break on one.
I had to replace the exhaust header studs and clean the carb on one (although the carb issue was my fault for not draining the bowl prior to it sitting up for a few months)

The only other thing is I will have to work on the rear axle on the last one because my daredevil 7 year old decided he could power slide the beast and ended up hitting a tree with the rear wheels, thus shifting the entire rear axle assembly to one side. It'll take some work with a big hammer but I'll get it fixed!

I've got less than 2300 bucks in all three of them, including parts so I'm more than happy with them and they have not let the kids down yet! I truly believe that I got exactly what I paid for! 3 extremely happy boys with their own ATV!

 

Ive had fair luck with the Chinese stuff. My sons 110cc Eagle is pretty much a rattle trap at this point but starts and runs fine....but he flogged the hell out of it for almost 3 years and learned alot on it. Its still ridden by other kids but hes moved on....and since he rides hard I went with a Suzuki LT80....a few mods later and hes happy as a clam. Again, it was worth the $500 I paid new, I got what I paid for....3 years of good service and my son learned to ride on it.

My daughter is a very small 4 year old.....so she has a Kazuma Wombat 50cc....seems like a well made quad....seems far better built then the Eagle 110 machine. Bought new for $575. Its going to be a yard machine and low speed.....so I didnt see the point in spending the money on the big name 50cc machines. The small 50cc ATVs get grown out of quickly and rarely see the abuse the 80cc and larger machines see. When she grows out of that shes going to be on her brothers LT80.

Learner quads for the little ones....great idea. Once they learn skills and start really working something, I would never go chinese.....they hold up great as yard machines, past that.....waste of money.

We also have a Sunl 110cc go kart. Its the worst of them all....but it still runs damn good and the kids have fun on it. Ive replaced various bolts and such, seems its always needing some attention, nothing serious. I paid $970 for it and its the only purchase I wouldnt do over again....its just really hasnt been worth what I paid. Im just waiting for it to die so I can crush it.....but it wont die, keeps on chugging.