Please recommend, thanks. Affordable price and high cost performance is the best

 

A brand name if you want parts and sevice down the road.

 

No such thing as a Chinese machine that is cost/performance effective. They are throw away, ride for a year then throw it away as you cant find repair parts for them. Brand name costs a lot more but after the kids outgrow them you will still have a machine worth something.
Look at the Kymco brand, they make many of the smaller machines that the big names sell. Made in Tiwain good build quality...

 

I have had both a gio 110 that i bought as a basket case and fixed up and ran great the whole time we owned it. Sold it for more than i had into it the people that bought it their kids rode the poss out of that thing still running but they bent the rear axle now.. Bought a new tao 125 this will be its 3rd year all i have replaced on it is the carb as it did not like sitting for a 1.5 years... fires up easily every time even after sitting for that long. I keep em on a maintainer all the time and have no issue and would buy again no issue... Only reason im looking at something else right now is my little one wants to trail ride with us big boys and a 4x4 machine would be easier for her... Missed out on a polaris 225 last week for a steel

 

You are one of the few lucky ones that have had sucess with them. The mahority has not, forums are full of horror stories.

 

yep... i think alot of people do not understand the limitations of these machines. They require maint and you cant go speeding through mud puddles due to where the intake is on most and the location of the CDI. We have swamped one due to mud puddle splashing and i fried a CDI washing it by spraying the cdi with water not thinking. My only real complaint on them is both machines the chain would rub on the trailing arm slightly when you slowed down but if you adjust it tight since the sprockets are always slightly oval or the mount is slightly off the chain will get to tight. Im eventually going to put a tensioner on the machine but its not bad enough for me to worry about at this point... The lower chain guard is to flimsy i need to constantly bend it back when she hits something big.. Im going to build a new one out of rebar that will be able to take a hit. Other than that a few oil changes during the season of good quality oil and greasing and its a happy machine.

On the original basket case one i bought when i first got it i was having issues starting once and a while. I pulled the wire harness and redid every solder joint in it. The grounds were just a really bad cold solder joint. Never had a issue after other than the starter switch went so i just put a high voltage push button starter switch and wired direct to battery and starter.. 5 years later its still running of the same switch..LOL