This is the problem, people go and look at these quads and assume they are solid quads. They are not. For the most part the Chinese kids quads should workout for you, but this all depends on how well you take care of the quad. Also you must have tools, a welder, and some fabricating skills just in case you need to improve on weaknesses you find. Now I'm not saying that the quad is going to fall apart right away, but just by looking at the quad doesn't mean the quad will hold up to your kids riding habits. Looks can be deceiving.

It seems that you are leaning towards the Sunl quad because of the price and the fact that you have a local dealer. This is how the Chinese market survives. I bought my Chinese quad due to this: Price. I knew beforehand that the quality wasn't much to look forward to. They survive because of their pricing not because of quality. The quads are cheap and you won't be losing too much if doesn't work out.

It really can't hurt to give it try. I always say "why not?" What the heck. It's cheap and it may work out for you and your family. Your best bet though is to try one first. If you are lucky and it does work out, then maybe buy that second one.

If you have problems there is plenty of info here in the forums to help you out.

Things to think about:
Can you trust your local dealer?
How long has he been in business and how long has he been at his current location?
Has the dealer had any complaints to your local BBB?
Remember you are going to rely on this dealer to help you out if you have any problems or complaints.

If you are unsure of any of the above questions buy the quad from Raceway like Bill2099 suggested.

Good Luck.

SB

 

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.....I have read over a lot of these fourms, so I wasn't asking specificly about SUNL's quality, but about these specific units and there possible problems. I am an ASE certified master mechanic and have also taken some welding and machine shop classes, so I feel like I can repair the quads as needed. I do hope however to not have to, at least for a while. I just really wanted to know the specifics of this model and if there were any very common problems that we could take care of prior to giving them to our sons. I do understand that these ATV's are cheap, but having grown up around atv's and comparing what I have seen through the years, to these, especially the newer SUNL's they seem like there have been some improvements. Well, once again thanks for all of the input and if anyone has anymore it we would be glad to hear it. Gerry

 

GPOPSHOP,

You were like me when I bough my first Chinese quad. I am also a cert master with Toyota. I knew what I was going to get into. I now have a garage full of chinese for both my kids, neice and nephew with an extra for visitors. You can look at my pics to see what I have. All are chinese (except for the Honda and Unison). They range from the meerkat 50, sunl, roketa and Jetmoto. I have had no problems with SUNl quads and they are ridden every weekend. The Roketa is holding up well along with the JM. I have had more problems with the JM than any other of my quads but I have fixed the problems and even made the problem areas better. Being a technician I like to tinker like Im sure you do also. The problem with SUNL is not the parts but service. You can find parts from any JOE ont eh net. You cant get service from them. Thats where places like Raceway comes in. Raceway is awsome and can get any part for just about any quad out. The Sunl that I have are the sunl mini delux and the MS 125. I really like the 125. It is built very well, has plenty of power and the suspension is ok. The only complaint is I dont like the small tires they put on these Chinese quads. I dont have any info about the sla120 but if it is anything like the 125 you will be fine. It all comes down to the prep of the quad. Spend the time to prep and it will treat you good. If you just put it together, gas and go it will fall apart. You wont find anything good about SUnl the company but they do have some decent quads. It just sucks the company has to suck so bad and bring a product down. I think if SUnl had thier Stuff together they could be a leading company. JM is a great company even though they had there problems at first but they turned them selves around and got there stuff together. Now they are at the top and constantly improving. They however do not have a market in mini quads. 110cc and down. If you like to tinker then dont be afraid to buy a Sunl. Just dont expect anything else from them.

 

Does anyone have a SUNL SLGK-6K? I bought one three months ago and in I'm in NC and its getting cold here and this thing is giving me fits starting in the morning. I just have a 5 acre place but my little girl goes to school just down the road and she likes me to take her to school in it every morning. Also when I get it started and ride it hard for a while it all of a sudden shuts down and won't start. This happens mostly in the cold weather...30s and 40s. hoytultratec told me to check out this forum to find good advice. I'm not a certified mechanic but have done a lot of tinkering. I've got a mig welder and am only so so welding. Its been 25 years since I've had high school welding class. I know what you mean by needing a welder though, some of the welds on this thing are real poor. My foot pedal broke at the weld and I'm having a heck of a time trying to weld it back. The dealer in TX is trying to get me another but SUNL says they don't have any and they're waiting for a container of parts to come in? The price was definitely right but I hope I'm able to spend more time in it than under it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

sounds like your gonna buy, i think if you tinker some and can get parts, you will be fine, i would suggest reinforcing the frame before it breaks, just a heads up!

 

I've already started the parts search online. Any suggestion of areas to reinforce?

 

Thanks for the input 2manytoys and everyone else. I looked at your photos (2manytoys) the MS 125 looks close to the SLA-120, but the SUNL has larger tires front and rear. Anyway, I am going to start taking the new mini 110 utility apart to day and going over everything and adding loctite and better fasteners where needed. I was wondering what type of oil we should use in these things, I was thinking of going to the local Honda dealership and getting the oil from there, I guess I am just wondering what everyone else uses, since the stuff that comes in those things can't be very good???? I worked in Nissan and Chrysler new car dealerships for about 10 years and now we have our own bussiness a turbo rebuild shop, some of our tools include a lathe and a mill which might come in handy on these thinkgs in the future. Once again, thanks for all of the input and the fourms, they can be a great help....

Ranchbuggy, I do hope you find some help with your cold start problem, if I had any answers for you on that one I would be glad to help. Maybe you could purchase a new carb with a choke on it, you might contact someone who sell a simialr size witha choke and see if it is a possiblity. Thanks again Guys.....

 

I use 20w50 oil, you might be able to make some nice wheel spacers in your shop

 

Hello again.....Yes, Dealseaker, I have thought about doing that for the 110 mini utility, but haven't gotten around to doing anything with it yet. The SLA-120 is really pretty wide, and does have some really nice looking tires on it, they are a lot bigger than most Chinese atv's. I have some pictures on the net of the SLA-120 I will try to get them posted here, but I am new to this and don't know how long it will take.

I do have an update on the Mini utility, I totally disassembled it yesterday, and I put loctite on every fastener. To my surprise, I only found a few loose bolts on the whole unit. Most of them were from the 10 minute assembly process at the local dealership. I was also bery surprised to find that the disc brake rotor bolts and sproket bolts already had loctite on them from the factory, they where so tight that I could not break them loose with out the help of some heat. So, I left those alone for now, but maybe they are starting to listen or do some testing or something. Anyway, this mini utility is very impressive so far, it has some nice racks and what seems to be plenty of power. I would say that if you can get one of the latest Sunl's they seem to actually have some quality, I am not saying that they are a Honda, but there are some improvements being made. I will start a new post on the Mini utility and go into detail on the problems I find and anything else that might be helpful to someone wanting to purchase on or who already owns one. Now, I will get started on the first SLA-120, I will post any problems or things that I run into along the way.

 

Well, I put some the pictures of the SUNL SLA-120 on "My Page" if anyone wants to take a look at them. As soon as I can get some pictures of ours I will poat them, I will try to get some comparison photos os the SLA-120 and the Mini Utility together. Gerry