Hey guys. First time posting to the forum. I suppose I should introduce myself real quick.

My name is Mike and I live in Eastern, WA. We have some rural property where we spend most of our time riding and have really enjoyed our entrance into the world of ATVing. I recently bought my kids, age 12 and 15, atv's for their birthday and we have been having a blast! I am new to owning 4 wheelers but have owned motorcycles in the past.

Like many of you, I wrestled with whether to buy an older name brand bike or a brand new Chinese atv as money was a major factor. I was fortunate and found a 1993 250cc Suzuki Quadrunner that was in great shape for my son. One down, one to go. I watched the want ads for a month for something for my daughter but couldn't find a nice used bike. With her birthday drawing near, I finally decided to purchase a 125cc Hensim Razorback through Costco.

My initial impression of the Hensim was that it was very well put together and rugged. I had looked at the Roketa atv's and this was, in my opinion, a much better built atv. It came fully assembled in a steel crate and fired right up once I figured out the proper starting sequence. Like most Chinese quad's, the owners manuel was of little help.

My kids were thrilled and have been riding the heck out of them both for the last month. In a nutshell, here is my experience.

1993 Suzuki Quadrunner- zero problems. Starts right up every time.

New Hensim- Arrived with a broken seat latch and a cracked C clamp on the handle bar. Emails to customer service have gone unanswered. In 4 weeks of use the following have broken or had issues: Rear disc brake came off. Gear shift broke. Electrical died but found the problem was due to water in the fuse. The bike also started having issues of not going into neutral.

This last weekend, I excercised my Costco membership rights and returned the Hensim with great customer service. That same day I found a 125cc Yamaha Breeze for my daughter so she is back riding with a big smile on her face.

I understand that their are high quality Chinese ATV's out there and my experience can't speak for everyone. However, in my case, the older Japanese atv's have been a lot better experience then buying a Chinese built atv.

Anyway, I hope to get to know everyone a bit better as time goes by. This is a great forum.

Mike

 

Welcome to the forums.

Odds are that you'll see responses that will both agree and disagree with your experiences. I always advise buying a used name brand over a new off-brand but I understand the money issues that make the off-brands tempting. I just sold my '98 LT80 to a friend who had recently purchased two Chinese 90's for his kids. All they were good for was to show that the kids did like riding - and they were cheap. Beyond that, they have had mostly down time. I'm sure that the Suzuki will continue to be a reilable bike, as it was for me.

Jaybee

 

I will always recommend purchasing a used name brand ATV/Bike before any Chinese quad. It is my opinion that no matter what Chinese brand a person purchases they are all made with sub standard parts and do not last with out constant maintenance.

SB.

 

I'm not at all surprised by your findings...

 

I will agree, in your case buy used big 4! We bought 4 Chinese atv's due to 2 main reasons, I wanted the kids to have fond memories of us buying all new ATV's to ride as I had when my parents bought us 2 new Mini Bikes when I was a kid. And I only had $7000 to work with and that had to buy 4 atv's, trailer, license and sales tax.
I don't mind working on these but must admit keeping 4 Chinese atv's up and running is a chore. If I had to do it again I don't know, I'd probably make the same mistake! Don't get me wrong we have had fun on these atv's but look on my site and you will see I have two that carry a tow rope and Jumper cables which we have had to use a couple times![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

 

Ive had alot of name brand quads, mostly Honda. I recently bought a few chinese quads, that have been remarkably
reliable. I guess I dont fit into your schematic here, or maybe I was just lucky. Maybe its because I can fix things
that break on my own. I also have an excellent local dealer, so that might help as well. I like my chinese quad more than most of the name brands
that Ive had. My friends all have big 4 bikes, and I can pick a few things on each that I dont like at all. In the end, it goes down to whether
or not you can wrench. Theres too many people on this forum who have never owned a chinese bike, but according to their posts, they are experts
on them. To them, I wish theyd just keep their mouths shut unless they have personal experience with one, before they try to act like
a professional on the subject.

 

I think the chinese atv's serve a purpose. Their cheap prices enable you to not only get ATVs for the whole family, but give you some insight as to whether your family member will continue to enjoy riding once the novelty wears off. Craigslist, ebay, and those the like are filled with ATVs that were purchased, and the rider lost interest. I know I would be a little more annoyed if my son were to lose interest in riding, after I shelled out a few grand for his ATV, instead of a few hundred.

These ATVs are also good for riders who will not be very hard on them, (i.e. kids, beginning adults). As for myself, Ive ridden before, I had a blast doing it growing up. So when it came time to find my ATV, purchasing a used Yamaha was a no brainer.

So as my family gets older, and if they continue to enjoy riding, than sure, I will of course purchase Japanese.

 

I think the general truth is that for Chinese quads, some of them will be trouble free while many of them will have constant maintenance problems. For the Major brands it's more like - some of them will have problems and most of them will be trouble free.

I would not be surprised that within a few years the Quality of the Chinese quads will rise to be vry close to other major brands.

Jaybee

 

I agree with both ends. I purchased two Kazuma Falcons (110cc) for my two boys for Christmas and then three weeks later bought a VBike 250V4S. We have run these things hard. A few three day weekends in MO on my college roomates 2500 acre farm. A couple of weekends in WI on the DNR trails in Jackson County. A few boring winter Sundays just being stupid out on our back 3 acres and other than me flipping my quad and smashing the plastics, I have not had hardly a problem. (Biggest problem I have encountered is the ignition switch housing coming loose in the plastic housing, which I fixed once I realized the nut needed a little help from some adhesive)

I only attribute that to taking everyone's advice and prepping them correctly and it seems that of the MIC stuff, the Kazuma's and VBike seem to be the better made stuff. The Jetmoto's seem very good too according to all I have read on here. I would do it over again. I have 2K into their quads, $1,300 into mine. $1,900 for a triton trailer for them. That $5,200 would not have gotten me two new TRX 90's. Everything else I own is Honda and I swear buy them, but we are having as much fun as if I bought big 4 at a third of the price.

I would tell anyone buying MIC to stick the dealers, like a Raceway, do your homework and take time to prep them correctly. If you do these things I believe you will get more than your money's worth and have a whole lot of fun in the process.

 

or see if you have a local dealer. That is very beneficial to anyone buying a MIC bike. As long as you know how to wrench, and have the resources like a dealer to help you, you could have a very good experience with them. Its all about budget. If I had 5 grand, I would definately buy a Honda, but if Im buying forthe family too, then Im looking for the lower prices.