I just got a new 125G for my boy last week and thought I'd share my thoughts on it. I ordered it through a local dealer and had it shipped to my house, it was here the next day. It was packed on a pallet with a steel cage around it and a cardboard box over everything. Didn't appear to be any shipping damage so I signed for it and started opening it up. They give you an assembly dvd but I didn't bother. The battery was shipped dry so I filled that and put it on the supplied charger before starting on the quad.

Assembly was pretty basic, put the wheels on, install the lower bolts on the front shocks, bolt down the handlebars and insert the outer tie rods into the spindle and tighten the nuts. They shorted me one of the castle nuts but I got by with another metric nut I had laying around and a lock washer until I get the castle nut that secures with a cotter pin. The chain was too tight and needed to be loosened also.

The owners manual wasn't right for this quad so I had to figure out the switches but once I knew what was what it fired right up. I had to turn the idle up some so that it didn't stall but that was it. After I let it idle for a while then cool back down I fired it back up and took it for a spin. I noticed a little hesitation or bog so I ran it back into the shop to adjust the air screw. Turns out they plug it with a brass plug so you can't adjust it.

I drilled that out and got the air screw where I wanted it and it ran much better and revved out more. I noticed that it didn't want to downshift all the time so I started looking at the shifter and it wasn't set level, it was a little low in the front and would sometimes bottom out on the nerfs. I took of the footpeg on that side and adjusted the shifter and solved that problem.

My boy rode it for about 5 hours on Saturday with no problems so Sunday morning I ran it around the yard a few times to warm it up and changed the oil. The oil was already black and pretty thin so I wouldn't suggest leaving it in there too long. I also noticed the front brake cables were twisted and rubbing on the headlight bracket wearing off the plastic so I took one of them off and untwisted it then cut two pieces of fuel line and put over the headlight bracket with some electrical tape.

All in all I'm pretty happy with it so far. My boy learned how to shift gears in the first hour so I'm pretty confident when he moves up to a manual clutch model he won't have much of a problem. I do wish it had a reverse lock so that you had to apply the brake to put the engine in reverse but it doesn't. The 3 speed is nice but third gear might be a little higher than it should be, first to second is an easy transition but second to third is a bit of a jump.

The front brakes are pretty much worthless. They are cable activated drums and they are really hard to pull, even with me pulling on them they barely slow you down. The rear brake is a hydraulic disc though and works exceptionally well so when you teach your kid the braking show him the foot brake first.

This quad has the 17" front and 18" rear tires on it so it sits a little higher than some of the other 125's and 110's. My boy is 7 and looks a little small on it but I think it's a great size and he operates it easily. It will probably be a good fit for him for the next couple years, plus a beginner could just put it in first or second gear and run it around all day without needing to shift.

The turning radius isn't very tight but I'm sure that's to keep the youngsters from taking sharp bends too fast and tipping it. I'm sure I could grind down the steering stops when he gets better on it and needs to turn tighter for riding in the woods but it's fine in the yard. The shocks are way to stiff and they don't give you a spanner wrench to loosen the pre-load but I'll figure something out there soon.

So far I'm very happy with the investment, I had my boy away from his video games all day Saturday and most of Sunday. If the motor holds up for a few years it will be well worth the money, especially at 1/4 the cost of a comparable Japanese atv that he's going to grow out of rather quickly. At that point I really don't care if I have to give it away, I got my $700 worth.

 

Great post.

But one thing I notice is that you are very mechanically inclined, and handled quite a few problems with ease ("I drilled that [brass plug] out and got the air screw where I wanted it" for example).

Problems such as these are way above the technical expertise of many others. If you're thinking of buying a chinese quad you're going to have to tinker a lot to get it working right. This set of tasks is not for everyone, so be forewarned.

I have had a really good experience with my chinese 150cc quad. I've put thousands of miles on it, but I've had problems over the years. Things like disintegrating rubber everywhere that needs clever inovation. My air box to carburetor connection is now clear PVC tubing instead of the articulated rubber hose that split in several places within 6 months. The PVC tubing came from McMaster Carr, and some other copper plumbing mods (using a propane torch and RTV) to add a fitting to the air box, All the rubber bushings in the swing arm, and shock absorber eyes, disintegrated too. I had to machine new inserts (i used delrin - I never understood why they use rubber). I also had tremendous difficulty with keeping the rear axle positioning anchor bolts tight. I finally had to machine some shims to fix the frame distortion forces that were causing this problem.

Strangely, the tires don't disintegrate like every other rubber like part. My tires have about 3000 miles on them and are about 2/3 worn.

I would buy another chinese quad in a heartbeat. But I can also see how problems that you and I just breeze through could frustrate the dickens out somebody else...

 

You make a very good point. I really didn't want to buy one of the chinese quads either but after looking at 10 year old raptor and polaris 90's for $1200-1800 for a year I broke down, but went in knowing I could probably fix anything that went wrong with it. I've ridden and worked on atv's for almost 30 years now. I do all my own work, anything from rebuilding a top end to splitting the cases and getting into the transmission.

I almost expect to have to work on it for the price I paid and don't mind doing it, I'm hoping for no major engine work for a few years but if I lose a cdi or stator that's no big deal. So I'd have to agree with Lynn, if you want something ultra-reliable that you won't have to work on now and then or don't have the knowledge to do so you should probably stick with one of the name brand japanese atv's. From what I read while researching these most shops won't even look at them.

 

I just wanted to update this thread since we've owned the quad for about 6 months now. The only problem I've had is the battery is pretty crappy but I'll wait until it goes completely bad before buying a new one. We rode it all through the fall and have had it out in the winter a few times and now that it's been warming up he started riding it more. Absolutely no problems with this quad. Every time I'm out in the shop I put the battery charger on it for a while and start the quad so that it's not sitting for weeks on end. So far so good.

 

Thanks for the write-up. I'm now looking at the same quad for my 9 year old. Where did you buy yours from? Do you recommend them?

 

Excellent question, lol. That was my biggest issue with buying one of these was finding a dealer that I felt I could trust. Lots of bad reviews on the internet guys. I ended up seeing this guy on craigslist and after talking to him a few times I felt pretty good about it. He also gave me a really good price. He had to order one so he checked into the shipping and told me it was actually cheaper to just ship it to my door from the TaoTao warehouse in Indiana. His website sucks and doesn't really have much for quads on it but just call him and tell him what you're looking for. He will call the factory and call you back with a total price. HomeTown Scooters

 

I found a local person selling a used 125G and took a look at it. I didn't feel much better than my 9 year old Panterra 90. Acceleration was about the same and had the same tippy feel to it. I decided to hold off and look for a used Yamaha 125 (or similar). I have up to a $1500 budget so I'd like to get him something better than what he has and not just something newer but the same. The person would have sold it for $450 though. For that amount it was a good starter machine.