I bought my daughter a Giovanni 110 for a starter quad and have had to do quite a few things to it to make it operate properly. So I thought I'd do a little writeup on how I feel about these quads.

1. They're cheap. The pricetag on these things is ridiculously low. I bought mine off of ebay for $299. With shipping and tax it was at my house for about $650 (Canadian).
2. They're cheap! The fit and finish is garbage and believe me---you will probably be missing a few parts.
3. Mine runs OK. After putting it all together (checked carb for gelpac---none. Changed oil) she fired right up and with a little carb adjusting, she was running smooth. While I had the carb apart I moved the needle to the bottom slot.
4. Had to adjust the steering and toe-in as it was way off. No biggee.
5. Had to adjust valves as it was really hard to start when it was warmed up. Set them at .004" intake and .006"exhaust. Starts and runs way better now and has more power.
6. One rear tire fell off!!!! My son was riding it (16 yrs old 200+ lbs.!!) and the rear tire just fell off. All the lug bolts came out!!
7. After about 3 hours of use (and abuse by older boy and all his buddy's thrashing this thing!!) the a-arm ball joints were all loose and needed to be tightened. The rear hubs had to be tightened onto the axle as well.
8. Swingarm is loose. Have to tear it apart and have a better look but if there are bearings in there, they are toast.
9. The battery is pretty weak. Doesn't seem to hold a charge for long. I'll get a new one in the spring.

So the question is, are they worth it? In my opinion, yes and no!!! If you like to wrench things, then these quads will do well as they apparently require a lot of tweaking. If you wanna get on and go, I wouldn't recommend one. If you don't know anything about mechanics, don't buy one as you will not be happy with it. I like tweaking, so I'm OK with the things a guy has to do to make it operate properly.

Just my 2 cents worth!!

 

Well if you are mechanically inclined and have patience, they are great bigginer/disposable bikes. When my boys Pantera 90 finally blew up ( I swear he had more miles on it than the past two that I had) He looked at Moma and Dad while the large hole in the block was dropping the last bit of oil and and just broke down crying. So when momas little man loses something he loves, Daddy's going shoppin'. 3 days later he hed a brand new Grizzly 125. Train in cheap, so that they realize that maintenence is involved, and if the don't like to ride, you haven't lost much.

 

They aren't badly built for the price. The old saying "you get what you pay for" is true. These things aren't high quality, but it is an operating quad when you get it. If you don't mind making new parts or tinkering, buy one. If you don't like tinkering, buy a brand name and go.

I tore the swingarm apart today and as I expected, the bushings are toast. No bearings in there, just a small rubber bushing with a metal sleeve. I made a new set of bushings, made the swingarm greaseable and all is good again!! She runs pretty good! I need to adjust the carb again as there is a little stutter right off idle. My daughter has a friend over for a sleepover and she was riding it. Same age as my daughter but she is a lightweight. Probably only about 60 pounds. That thing rips with her on there!! They were riding in the driveway (still lots of snow here) and they were powerslidin the turns!! It was fun to watch. They were having a ball.

 

I haven't had a lot of hassle with the three Chinese quads I've owned so far. I'm either lucky, or they are starting to be better built. Of course Redcat/Kazuma are some of the better ones out there with Jetmoto probably being the best.