Bought my son a new chinese quad for his birthday, first chinese we've had.
Utility style with racks, looks like a Yamaha Grizzly but miniature...
125cc automatic w/ reverse, hydraulic disk rear brake, cable drum fronts, remote kill, brake/tail lights, electric start, pretty sweet package really, 19" tires on 8" rims all the way around, $898 total after shipping w/ 6 month warranty to my door in Indiana.


The motor is sweet man, really sharp and runs excellent after setting the carb up right.
Not really and auto though - just a single speed that equates to 2nd gear on the shifting models, with reverse behaving like a 1st gear only backwards..

The shocks are completely worthless ***** and they immediately went into the garbage can and replaced with a new full set that actually do dampen the rebound and are valved for a 60-80 pound rider with adjustable preload.

The front is 38 inches wide but the rear is only 32 inches wide. Stupid!! I widened the rear 4" with wheel spacers.

The shock changes I made lowered the ride height from 28 inches to 24 inches, and that combined with the widened rear end make the quad oh so much safer cornering and sidehilling.


The carb has zero jetting adjustments - there is NO idle mixture screw, there is only one groove on the jet needle, and the bowl screw heads are ground off so if you want to remove the bowl it will require grinding and replacing screws.
After setting the idle speed correctly, which is the only adjustment this carb has on it, I determined the needle needed raised and accomplished this with a needle shim made for this purpose which raised it the equivalent of 1/2 a groove, and throttle response and cold starting are much better, perfect actually, for our 800 feet elevation.

The stock shocks have ZERO rebound dampening - they are NOTHING more than springs, which are WAY too stiff for even an adult let alone a kid, and result in nothing but an unsafe bouncing pos that will KILL your kid on the trails - I want my boy to live. The new shocks are proper for his weight and actually dampen like a shock should, keeping tires on the ground instead of in the sky, and make the ride much more safe and smooth and fun.

The steering knuckls, a-arm pivots, and swingarm pivots and axle carrier will all be destroyed if they are ran in water with any frequency. None are sealed, they are merely metal bushing with sloppy fit that function but are not made to last long term, especially if you ride mud and water. No grease zerks, they must be disassembled to lube. They were lubed well from factory.


All in all I am satisfied, I knew what I was getting before I ordered it and after installing the correct suspension and setting it up proper I am still 1/2 the price of a Japenese mini. Yes the pivots are cheap and will require maintenance down the road but if you enjoy working on this stuff anyway then its all good. But if you just want a quad for your kids that will last and last and require little care, buy a jap one. We are enjoying this one and I am happy I bought it and would do it again, but its not for everybody.

 

Thanks for taking the time for the write-up HT! Our little Taotao mirrors your observations almost to the "T". Since the kids just cruise around the yard, I've left the shocks alone. It's ridiculous how worthless they are though. The 'adult' sized machines have to be like riding a pogo stick. These little motors do run sweet. They got that down-pat.

Joel

 

Where did you buy your shocks?

 

I just bought a 125 as-well, what brand shocks did you buy and where?

 

I have a 3050b for my son and was also wondering about new shocks. And did you fabricate the shim or purchase it.

 

Found shims at honda ealer still working on shocks . This is the first bike i have owned and haven't done any wrenching in 25 years so excuse me if i ask a stupid question from time to time.

 

What shocks did you use and where can you get them?

 

Lol spam bot

 

I bought r

fy air shocks on ebay