Hunh?

You realize that engineers here in Cupertino, CA designed the iPhone, right? The 420cc gas engine I bought last year was made in China for a US company (LCT), the one that acquired the assets of Tecumseh. Just a couple of examples.

China has provided many good products to US customers, but caveat emptor. Some Chinese companies have clearly cheated with respect to intellectual property, and others have clearly provided low quality goods. Neither of these legitimate concerns apply to ALL products from China.

 

All depends what part of China...our engineers and quality control peoplecant just go over there and show them what to do, they submit samples for approval. In Tiwain they are welcome to come in and work together . Do you have any idea how many I phones are rejected untill they get it right? Same with tennis shoes, the high cost is due to the mass number of rejections. I worked with a company that had Chinese outlets and while very cheap, quality control was the highest cost part of the finnished product. In some cases it took years to get products
that passed quality control

 

Yes, I agree with that: QA is often inadequate. I imagine the dumpsters behind the FoxConn factories are usually full.

This year I got a Chinese factory to make some significant changes to a mini-excavator they make. Mostly it was moving to a US-made EPA-compliant engine. They made the changes, but failed to do adequate testing (QA) on other changes. Paint quality has been one of my biggest complaints, and is still a big problem with lots of different products.

In the past 10y or so, mainland China has started to produce decent quality hydraulic components and small gas engines, in my personal experience. They still have a ways to go with complex hydraulics (HSTs, etc) and diesel engines. Most consumer electronics are make in China, even if they are designed in Japan, the US, or Europe.

I am very interested in how well HiSun and CFMoto ATVs and UTVs do in the US/Canada/EU. Both are mainland China-made.

 

Have to agree that China is getting better, as there economy grows they need to match quality that other countries produce. This change is just slow...but as there economy grows the population is expecting more, thus all the riots going on ver there. As there labor rates increase there quality needs to improve or they will sink!

 

Well, I got my "new" Kymco...it is a 2017 MXU 450i LE, and shows 40mi on the ODO. It is the LE edition, with winch and matte grey paint. The paint is disappointing, but I can live with this "feature". It has a couple of big scratches. I prefer the colorized plastic where scratches barely show.

It also has a steel fuel tank. That is a surprise. Plastic tanks are much better as they do not rust. I had to weld up the rusty bottom of my current '96 Honda quad. I see bad steel tanks on many older ATVs.

Otherwise, very nice. Plenty of power, and loads of good features. Gotta take some panels off to get a look, and find the VIN and engine number for DMV purposes. Pix coming.

Shipping from Ft. Worth to San Jose was brutal: $440 thru Uship, including 8% fee.

 

I dont like painted plastic either, but when you get "custom" colors you dont have mych choice. Was surprised to hear of the steel fuel tank, my SxS has a steel tank but a big one, cant believe they didnt use plastic on an atv! Hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine, keep us posted and take some pics! That engine is solid and runs like a scared rabbit!

 

OK, here is a photo of my new mean machine. This will be my personal-use quad for the foreseeable future, replacing my '86 Bayou 300 4x2, AND my '96 Honda TRX300 4x4. I have already started the modifications.

Maybe this will become our default Kymco ATV/UTV thread. The OP bought a new 450i ATV a few years ago, but I do not know if he is still using ATVConn.

 

Here is a bizarre feature of my "new" 450i: no mechanical parking brake, and no Park in the CVT. Instead, TWO hydraulic parking brakes, one on each master cylinder. So, don't park overnight on a slope.

I looked at the owner's manual on KYMCOUSA.com, and it is pretty weak.

 

Hard to believe no parking brake...on my machine there is a spring loaded lever that forces a plunger against the rear hydraulic piston to operate the "parking" brake. Uses same hyd cyl that operates the rear disc brake. Nice looking machine by the way...the Kymco owners manuals dont tell you much same as most other brands. There were orher operating manuals at Kymco USA the last time I was there. A company called "Cyclepedia" has an online factory service manual you can access for a lifetime for around 60 bucks and a printed manual for about the same. Good part is you can post questions and they will get you answers on any issues you might have. Keep us posted on your ride, I did a write up on my 450i UTV. In the Kymco section or "other" as some call it.

 

Your parking brake is OK if it mechanically pushes on the wheel slave cylinder to hold it engaged. Neither of my 2 parking brakes will hold for very long since they are hydraulically-actuated and the pressure will bleed off. It may take a few hours, but this is not the way is should be done. I did once have a car that had a parking brake like yours. I do not think that I have ever seen a parking brake on an ATV that was not mechanical.

The air filter box on my unit was under the front right fender, and hard to open/close to check the filter. I put a homemade vermin screen on the air inlet. There IS a factory screen upstream of the filter, but that is not good enough.

I will get a service manual, as I do for everything I keep any length of time.