Yamoto 150cc Review
 

I bought a Yamoto 150 about 4 weeks ago. I really wanted a Banshee like the one a buddy of mine has but I can't afford it at this point so I ended up buying a Yamoto for $1050 plus tax. The dealer was a local dealer so I ended up paying $1139 total. Before I purchased it, I did alot of comparisons with some of the other Chinese knockoffs and the Yamoto seemed to be the best bang for the buck. Anyways, here's my review after 4 weeks of riding:

Note: I'm a 6'1" man weighing in at about 250 pounds [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I'm exeeding the maximum load cap on the ATV by 50 pounds. You can get an idea on how much abuse went into the poor quad.

--FIRST IMPRESSION-- When examining it for the first time I was really impressed with the features. I really expected a $1000 piece of Chinese junk that would tie me over until I could get my Banshee. Turns out the quad really wasn't the piece of crap I expected it to be.

--CRAFTSMANSHIP-- Soon as got my hands on the ATV I rolled it into the garage and started stripping it down to the frame. I'm not sure where the steel came from but I assumed it was chinese steel. Most chinese steel has a little more iron in it than, let's say, 1015 carbon steel, therefore, has a tendancy to rust a little faster. Anyways, the frame welds looked decent enough. Everything looked OK untill I got to the welds for the shock mounts. The upper shock mount on the frame looked like a 9 year old welded it. It looked like the bead/s were just piled on top of each other. Just outta curiosity (and safety), I busted out my ole angle grinder and started grinding down the weld all the way to the joint. I expected gaps underneath but it seemed solid enough. I rewelded the mount and repainted the exposed steel. Better to be safe than sorry.

Next, I inspected the body.... same cheap plastic typical of most ATV's. I was going to take my calipers and measure the thickness of the material and compare it to a Raptor 80 body but I havn't gotten around to it yet. If anybody has calipers would they mind taking a measurement for me and post it here. It would be interesting to see how they compare. Oh, I forgot to mention. I had a run in with a barb-wire fence. The front fender took the beating and ended up busting the front body mount and two side mounts located unter the fenders. The wire was high enough to clear the low-mounted front bumper and also snapped both of the plastic mounts on the headlights. A little epoxy fixed all off that. However, after rinsing it with a hose I noticed that the headlight was no longer sealed from water. The lens is glued to the headlight casing with what looks like clear silicon chalking. The headlights weren't that bright to begin with so I ran down to AutoZone and picked up some halogen fog lights for $40.

I did have a few notes on the drivetrain and brakes. The tranny is a fully automatic belt drive that requires no clutchin and shifting. Pretty much it's "press the gas and haul ass". There's a good slogan for ya [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Anyways, it's great for riders like my wife that don't know how to ride a bike/atv with a manual tranny/clutch. Another thing worth mentioning is the drive chain. It's slighly thicker than my Suzuki 400's original chain. I pay 5 grand for a quality bike and it's got a whimpier chain than this atv. Go figure.

Now, for the brakes. The front mechanical brake pads are made from that cheap pressed particle board. For sure they won't last long... especially if water gets inside the drum. The atv does come with 2 extra pads located at the rear of the tranny. They are reminisant of the old Kazuma design so the dealer told me. The orginal Kazumas were supposed to have a tranny brake instead of a rear disc brake. Apparently, Yamoto has evolved the original Kazuma design and installed a rear hydraulic disc brake which work at stopping a 250 pound guy going 45 mph.

--THE RIDE-- I was suprised on how the 150cc engine pulled me around. On my first ride I started the engine up with the electric start. No problems there since day 1. After doing a few circles in my front yard to get a good feel of the throttle and warm the engine up, I was ready to haul butt down the street. I expected alot of clutch slipping followed by a little bogging during initial acceleration but that wasn't the case. It gave me a nice jump right off the bat and smooth acceleration to top speed. I hit the top end (about 45 mph) right about 3 houses from my house. It actually accelerates pretty dam fast up to about 35-40 mph and then gradually get to about 45 mph. I'm sure it's because of my weight. Another small test I tried was to see how it handles pulling me up a drainage ditch bank from a dead start at the bottom. The engine bogged a little at the start then the clutch started to slip a bit. Soon as I got some clutch slippage the engine revved up to mid RPM's and that's all she wrote. I hauled butt up the bank with no problem. I had my wife's younger brother try this. He's weighs in at about 160 pounds. He had zero engine bog and gunned it up the bank.


The suspension is really the only thing I havn't liked about the ATV. It's too stiff for handling decent ruts and bumps at higher speeds. The first inch or so of suspension travel are soft enough. Unfortunetely, I'm too heavy for the ATV and soon as I sit on it I've already compressed the shock springs to the point where the suspension gets a little stiffer. I would recommend that anobody over 200 pounds buy a bigger quad or, in my case, lose some weight [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] You don't wanna try jumping off drainage ditch banks with the stiffer suspension. My tailbone has been hurting for 2 weeks now. Anyways, I like modifying anything mechanical so this weekend I'll grab some longer adjustable shocks and move the shock mounts to fit them. This should fix the problem.

Well, there's my review. I'll be doing my best to bust welds and generally tear the ATV up. Yes, I like to fix things that much! I'll keep you guys posted on any weak points I encounter. For those of you that think I'm a nut, no, I won't be doing this to my Banshee. I've thoughely stress tested my buddy's [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

excellent review, more info than anyone else would normally give (re-doing the welds?? you are picky, but good for you that you can do that, and i wish I had some extra equipment to do the same).

Please do let us know of any other problems, and how hard you were going at it when the damage happened.

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

Thanks, I tried to be a detailed as possible. As for the reweld, I'm not really too picky, I was just looking for an excuse to fire up my arc welder [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

Welcome to the site DirtForAShirt...
That is one of the best reviews I read. I was looking into one of these for my
niece. Now I really am closer to getting thanks to you.

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

yep, you gave great examples and described the type of riding. a lot of people just say something is junk, but never explain why or how they did damage.

I'm a multi-area handyman-carpentry,electrical, drywall, carpet install, flooring, concrete,mechanical repairs, woodworking, fabricating, roofing,etc..... but I've never welded and i figure that will be the next chapter I'll try to learn. Then my shop will be complete!

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

DirtForAShirt, Do please keep us posted. I have been looking for cvt 4 stroke for our 13yr old 80lb son to race in the Youth Production class and the yamoto 150 sounds like one i really need to look into.

P.s. Do you know anything about the availability of replacement parts?

Thanks

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

now that I think about it, we test rode a 150cc/4-stroke CVT. my son said it was really fast. never got much of a chance to critique it myself because the tire came off rim from being flat. I'll bet this is the same quad as Yamoto. Ours was called MFC. you can view them at www.mfc.com.

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I have a few more notes on the quad:


**Sucessfully Broken the Rear Axle**
Yup, I finally broke it... and almost my tailbone. I figured a few 5 foot jumps with my heavy butt on it outta do the trick but after about 2 dozen tries... nothing. I remembered there was a nice 10 foot drop further down the river bank so I tried dropping off that thing. I was only doing about 10 mph when I hit the edge. I didn't want to be doing 40+, hit the ground, bust the axle, and prey that when I finally came to a stop, I was gonna be in better shape than my quad. Anyways, I pretty much just dropped off the edge of the bank. First time around I was almost standing straight up and ended up bending the foot pegs. That was stupid of me. I nearly broke my ankle in the process. Second time around I put my butt about a foot off the seat with knees about at a 45 degree angle. I hit the bottom, my butt nailed the seat, bottomed the rear suspension out, and CLANK, it finally snapped between the rear fork and the right wheel. I also bent the right stainless steel axle sleeve too and it would also have to be replaced.

I don't think there would have had a problem with somebody shorter at the same weight (well maybe a little skinnier). I'm about 6' 1" in height and I have to plant my butt near the rear of the seat. When I bottomed out all the weight went to the rear suspension. Heh, I know it's bad jump-posture, but hey, I'm still learning.

**Customer Service**
The guy I bought the ATV from was unavailable when I got home so I checked the website, www.yamoto-motor.com, and noticed they had a part order form online. The axle wasn't too expensive at $25 so I gave em a call just to see if anybody that spoke English would answer. The number was a 510 area code number which I think is to their California warhouse. The service rep told me they had it in stock and they would have it shipped out the next day from that location. I held off on the order since the dealer I bought from had a stripped 150 that he used for parts. I ended up running over to his house that night and picked up a new axle and sleeve for $35. He was nice enough to give me a new set of headlights also. We talked a little about replacement parts and he mentioned that he was missing a part from one shipment a while back but they 2nd-dayed it to him at no charge since they messed up. Another thing worth mentioning is that he told me the Cali warehouse stocks MOST replacement parts. Apparently, sometimes they are out of stock on things and they have to be shipped in from overseas. The longest he can remember waiting for a part was 2 weeks or so but that was a full frame.

**Intake Hop Up**
The engine is mounted further foward than I would think is normal. It throws the center of gravity off a little when jumping but a little throttling and posture changes fix that. Anyways, what I was getting around to was that with the engine mounted further up front it leaves a HUGE space between the back of the engine and the front of the chain drive. If it weren't for the body I could remove the exhaust guard and stick a soccar ball in there. This is where the air filter housing is. The carb intake is facing rearward and connects to the air filter housing right under the seat. Currently, servicing the air filter is a pain in the rear. The housing panel is facing the right side and is bolted in by 4 screws. The top front screw is right behind the frame and cannot be removed. I had to remove the front body and gas tank to remove the entire filter housing and air intake tube. This seemed like a royal pain to me so I'm going to install a K&N Conical filter in that large space under the sear. For those of you that like hopping up air intakes, this is a nice little spot to stick a performance filter.

**More Suspension Notes**
There is NOT a chamber adjustment at all since there isn't an upper arm linkage. Single A-arms on both sides is all you have to play with. Even with no load on the ATV the arms are perfectly horizontal. IF you decide to stick on longer shocks, you end up pushing the a-arms down kinda like how the other sport ATV's arms are positioned. Unfortunetely, the chamber angle would look like a car's when it's lifted off the ground. You would probably end up wearing out the outside of the tire from running around in the street.

One more thing about the front suspension... I mentioned previously that the front suspension was too stiff for offroad use. Well that's true for jumping, deep ruts, and bumps. I was going to move the shock mounts out near the steering knuckles and put in some adjustable shocks but I ended up just cutting the springs. That worked great. Cutting the spring 1/2" took alot of preload off of it and it much more comfortable to ride. But here's the kicker. I can't take a street corner at high speed anymore [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] It turns out the hard suspension was good for something... HAHA [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] .

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

when I saw your post i thought, oh uh, what did he do now!? you're a wild man!! Can't wait to hear how it performs on your 500' cliff drop test.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

whadya mean $35 for an axle?? that's a warranty issue isn't it?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] LOL,LOL. Man, you should advise someone on how to build the perfect atv, cuz you really put it to the test. cutting 1/2" off the coils? where do you get these ideas? that's great, keep up the hard work.

Yamoto 150cc Review
 

Excellent review. I had been considering adding Yamoto to my line, and you are going a long way toward convincing me of it...