Hey All! I'm new to the forums and just bought my 9 yr old son an Apollo Blazer9 quad (https://www.powersportsmax.com/produ...ducts_id/21433) for Christmas. I was hoping someone could help me out with some general questions I had.

My understanding is that this bike (as well as most other Chinese quads) don't come with Assembly instructions. I've been working on my own street bikes now for about 10 years and have done clutch replacements, fork rebuilds, steering stem and swing arm bearing, etc. Point being, I'm not a mechanic but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty either!

The main thing I really want to know is torque specs for these bikes. Does anyone have any recommendations? I can likely feel my way through some of it but I really don't like doing that with suspension components.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

 

Also, forgot to ask... from what I have read the oil and sparkplug should be changed right out of the gate. Any oil weight recommendations?

 

Hi Rev. If you haven't already done so, check out the Chinese section of the forums. Lots of experienced folks there.

 

Oh, my bad, I thought this was the Chinse ATV Section! I'll poke around a bit more. Thanks for the heads up.

 

It is, you have to find old posts on the same subject.

Never done it myself, but use threadlocker on any bolt you think may come loose. Torque settings are not given for most bolts by most manufacturers, you are expected to know how tight to tighten an M6, M8, and M10 bolt. Generally, if you use a spanner, as tight as you can get without lengths of pipe, should be OK, sockets and Tommy bars are different, a set table taken from the internet should tell you torques for each bolt diameter, assume 8.8 quality, though "Chinesium" bolts may not be that good. Not sure where the "change oil and plug" idea came from, I assume people think Chinese oil and plugs are not that good, probably not, but surely as good a quality as the rest of the bike. "Run it in" the tolerances are not as good as the Honda equivalent, and change the oil after a few hours. I use 10-40 semi synthetic "suitable for motorcycles" in all Quads. If you live somewhere that gets low temperatures, go for a bit thinner oil.

 

Thanks for the response merryman! Loctite was already planned for all bolts. I'd hate to have this thing shake itself apart while my boy is tearing around on it. Your torque specs information has me laughing over here. As I said, I'm not a mechanic but I have been working on my own cars and motorcycles for years and of course acquired a proper torque wrench to keep things on the up and up. The funny part there is after all this time, I never realized there were defined standards (Of COURSE there is...*facepalm*) for bolt torque. I always just looked in the service manuals for that information. Learn something new every day...

as for the oil and sparkplugs: My understanding was that the oil that arrives in the crankcase was shipping oil and was not for general use. I also received an email from the place I bought it from that specifically stated:

"If you bought a gas power bike, be sure to change the factory oil as soon as you finish assembly, otherwise you risk permanent damage to your engine. You may use 10W30 or 10W40 motor oil."

I read a lot of different posts and articles stating the cheap plugs these ATV's arrive with weren't very good. Many of which reported better performing and smoother running engines. For me, the plug is really more personal preference and may or may not make any difference at all. I have always preferred NGK plugs and for a small price it seems worthwhile to have a little peace of mind regarding the plug quality.

I'm certainly not expecting this to be HondaKawaYamaZuki quality, but I do expect to get a few years out of it until he is ready to move up to the next level.

 

Interesting about the oil, looks like they must put some sort of protective stuff in at the factory rather than proper oil, can't see why, but if the dealer tells you to change it, who am I to disagree. The big makers all send bikes out with "proper" oil. I should be doing PDIs on a couple of Suzuki King Quads this afternoon and won't be changing oils.

 

Yeah, I was a bit surprised myself. Imagine getting your shiny new toy and an hour after getting it out on the dirt the motor burns up. I realize these are inexpensive starter bikes but DANG... A beginner would be the least likely to check that sort of thing! The package arrived safe and sound last night. I'm really excited about my boy getting it on Christmas day.
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