Nice nice!!! My 11 year old daughter seems to be having a blast (its her 1st atv - taotao 110cc). So far I've done nothing but change oil. So far so good.

 

Awesome! I am also looking to get one for myself so I can ride with my daughter on some entry level trails. You mentioned NE Philly right? Would you be able to give me more info on this trail? Thanks alot.

 

Well I went back and reread this thread as well. And... I see your point.

So why do I not 'blow my stack' when the quad doesn't start, or the connectors fall apart, etc. I guess I just like challenges. Some quad riders see a challenge in climbing that steep hill. Or going 60 miles per hour and seeing if they can ski across a pond. I'm too old for that. It takes me too long to heal. So my challenge is to keep a cheap quad running and to make it back to camp fairly reliably. I get a rush when something doesn't work and I can fix it on the spot. Probably the same feeling others get when they finally conquer that steep trail that they balked at before.

I've said this before, but I would have *NEVER* bought a quad and gotten into this hobby were it not for Chinese quads. I would have *never* bought a used name brand quad either, because I didn't know anything about quads and I wanted to start off with "new" equipment so I wouldn't have problems. Of course I did have problems, and that's when I started learning.

I bought my quad for my home business (I have a day job too). I wanted a tow vehicle for pulling geophysical survey instrumentation on a trailer 35 feet behind the quad (yes it has to be that far away). There was no guarantee this was feasible, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a possible lost cause. On the other hand I didn't want to ignore a viable market. The economy tanked, I was stuck with a quad with no purpose, so I started riding it. My neighbor and I started taking turns, then he bought his own.

I now have a 35 foot trailer, it works, the economy is improving, there is interest, so this may still be a viable endeavor.

Would I buy a used name brand quad now? Yes, if I could find one. They are hard to find in california. I look from time to time, though I don't look every day. Before I get serious and buy my next quad I have to have a place to store it. The plan is to put a new shed in the back yard - one of my projects for this year.

 

We've been happy with our mics also. For the most part they've been trouble free other than a few loose bolts here and there. This is a sunl 150 that one of my daughters ride. The only problem it's ever had is a headlight bulb burned out. Here's my son in laws sunl 250T. Other than a lost bolt or two it's been a reliable machine. My Hensim 400 has been another reliable mic with only oil changes. It just rolled past 900mi yesterday. My wife rides a Yam bear tracker, but was riding a taotao 250D. The only reason she rides the Yam is because I had the opertunity to buy it cheap, and it's much more comfortable than the 250D. We still have the 250D and it has been very good also. We just keep it mostly as a backup and loaner now. I don't have a picture of the 250D at the moment but here's the Yam. here's my oldest g-son's 110 hummer. It has caused a few problems recently. Mostly the chain which I'm going to replace, but the worst has been the lock nut holding the slide in the carb keeps coming apart and putting him in a bit of a bad situation since it causes it at unexpected times to go wide open. Luckily, he's had the sense about him to hit the kill switch both times it happened. I don't really want to locktite it but might not have a choice since just tightening it doesn't seem to hold it. Overall we've been happy with them but we didn't buy them with the expectation of them being anymore than they are. Maybe thats why we've been pleased with them tho. That and the price. Back in the 80s we had several of the name brands, and all were good except a kawi. It was a lemon from the start.

 

Hi mge 1 those pics of your daughter are real cool; she’s having a blast. My son is 8, I figure he’s got another 2 years on his 110 and he’ll be big enough for one like your daughter’s.

The NE PA I mentioned is a little farther north than Philly. The trail pics were taken in Waymart PA and the old coal breaker is in Carbondale PA. The trail is privet so I can’t give directions there; but if you want directions to the breaker PM me where you’re coming from and I’ll try to give them to you.

LynnEdwards you and I were cut from the same stock. I wouldn’t enjoy this sport near as much if it weren’t for the minor challenges my son’s 110 gives me. In fact at the level his quad is capable of I would flat out get bored and go find something else to fix so I’m glad I didn’t spend the money on a Suzie or Honda.

BTW the brake light issue was just some dirt in the pin switch in the hand brake. I took it apart last night, cleaned everything out, packed the switch with yellow brake grease to keep dirt and water out, put it all back together and presto better than new (literally better than new). While I was at it I shot some Kano SiliKroil down the brake cables, took apart and greased the thumb throttle and shot some Kano SiliKroil down the throttle cables.

Used quads around here are ridiculous $2000 for one that’s been rode hard and put away wet; $1000 for a box of parts and a frame. Around here the best deal seems to be new left over models. I bought a 08 Kawasaki last Nov for $3800 new off the show room floor (I wanted a work horse for myself).

 

Never buy a Roketa ATV. I have a Roketa ATV-87. It is the biggest piece of **** ever. I bought it a couple years ago and the problems with it started even before i got it. First it took for ever to deliver, about 3 months. Than when i got it i had to put it together myself and than i figured out that some of the bolts that came with it had a different thread than the nuts. so i had to go and buy some other bolts. When i finally got it to ride, after 3 rides there was already a big crack in the rear axle. So i took pictures of it and took it apart to repair it. So than I mailed the pictures with information to roketa for a new axle. First i thought that I wouldn't have to pay for it but there costumer support sucks and i didn't get my part for free although i have a 6 months warranty. So i told them okay whatever, i will just pay for it. But than the next problem came. They didn't have the right parts so they said that they would order it and sent it to me. I waited 2 months and than i mailed them again. They said that they still didn't have it so i waited 1 more month and mailed them again. I didn't get a mail back within 2 weeks so i mailed them again. and i stil didn't get mail back so i guess they are not going to help me and now im stuck with a broken Roketa ATV-87 and wasted 2500 dollar. thats why you should never buy a Roketa ATV. So now i bought some other atv's and they run just fine and don't have any problems with them. My Suzuki king quad 750 axi is perfect and My sons Yamaha wolverine 350 is a nice atv for him. Those atvs were way more expensive but that is worth it because they are way better and they will run for years and not only for 3 rides.

 

The kids love their 125's.... They have had two huge issues.


One when going into water/mud that was about 8" deep at full speed it stalled. It seams the air filter doesn't work well when covered in mud and water.

The other one was just the other day.... They need gas to run. Course I figure out what was wrong after the tow.


Here are two photo's of my 8yr Old.



This is the one that caused the filter issue.

 

We have 2 Gio Beast 200CC Quads, the first one was for my girlfriend, I wanted someting cheap and no quad is cheap up here (was looking at a non running 1991 Polaris 250 2WD for $1200 for example, ATC110 Trike sold for $900), I found the Gio's, seemed to look ok, but they had lots of parts available so we decided to get one. My girlfriend has never used a manual clutch before, so it took alot of abuse from slipping, stalling etc... So far, it has held up good, I enjoyed riding it too, it was alot nicer for riding around the yard than my 83 Odyssey, so my girlfriend got me one for my birthday.

On both quads, we replaced the rubber swing arm bushings for metal ones because they compressed and made the chain loose, I upgraded from the China brand carbs to Mikuni ones. Both quads had to be assembled and thoroughly checked over and have everything adjusted, then test it, and do over, but every quad is like this, even the name brands. My dad used to work for a Suzuki dealer, and he said these Gio's werent much different from the Suzuki's, bend a bracket here, adjust this, loose bolts everywhere, etc...

My girlfriends GIO was damaged in shipping, something hit the box, bent the metal frame of the box, and pushed the rear axle forward 6" on one side, I told GIO, sent pictures of it in the box showing the damage, and they asked what was broken, sent them a list (swing arm, axle, battery was gone I thought but turned out to be installed with the empty box loose in there), they sent all the parts out on UPS and I got them less than a week later. On my Gio, the cooling fan stopped working, I got a new one shipped out too. Other than that, I have had no problems, they are fun, and very light. I only wish it had 5 gears instead of 4, and a gas tank larger than 4L.

 

I just joined the chineese quad owners. A couple friends own them and highly reccomended that I take that route for my 6 y/o sons first atv. I am very happy with the purchase!

 

Welcome to the forum skellinator!

Thanks for your input..

THANKS to everyone who has shared opinions, stories and pictures in this thread..

I love reading and seeing it all.