Well the Vbike (TAOTAO) 150D has served pretty good through the summer. Of all three MIC's it has gave me the most trouble though. My Marshin and Hanma have been Pretty die hard. Have not had to do anything with them. The Vbike started to throw the chain shortly after we got it. Took us a while to figure out that the swing arm bushings we shot. Tim, from Vbike sent me out a new pair and while I was replacing them I found another problem which was probably more of a problem for the chain than the bushings. A welded nut that held the axle carrier had broke free, this also held the bolt centered in the hole. Since the nut was not centered it allowed the axle to slide forward on one side which in turn misaligned the sprockets. I re-welded the nut and replaced the bushings and that took care of the chain from coming off. I got about 150 miles since the repair and it has not jumped the chain once. Unfortunately the bushings are already starting to show wear again. It is really not a very good design. I now have a pair of brass bushings a friend of mine made me to replace the steel sleeved rubber bushings that they used.

Also, I have had to change the oil twice because the fuel had somehow seeped into the crankcase. I figured that the needle seat in the carb was faulty/dirty. I also had a problem with the engine starting hard once it had warmed up. I figured it was the same thing, that fuel was leaking past the seat and flooding the engine. When we got the unit I saw what I though was a vacuum operated shut off switch. I also figured it was faulty because it was allowing fuel to flow when the engine was shut off. I found a manual shut off valve under the tank so I just used that to shut off the fuel when not in use. Kind of a pain, but worked at least keeping the fuel out of the crankcase. It was still hard to start if you did not remember to shut it off when riding. Finally got around to doing some troubleshooting and decided to see if the vacuum fuel shut off would work. I disconnected the vacuum to see if the engine would die from lack of fuel. What I found out was that fuel was leaking out the vacuum side of the valve! So what would happen when you shut off the engine was the fuel would leak past the diaphragm and directly into the intake manifold. This was the problem the whole time. It was not the carb needle seat. We went riding after I removed the shut off valve and it ran great and was easy to start. All you had to do now was blip the started and it would start. Makes it that much more fun.

Well I would still purchase another Vbike. They really do run good and the price is right. This unit tops out on the flats at 45mph and will climb anything it can grab traction on. It also gets about 45mpg incase anyone wants to know.

Included a little video from our last ride. I did not think it could do it, but after two successful runs I had to get my camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktHnJHy6QSc


Other is the wife playing around afterward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UQ4tQkCQCE


Enjoy, Ghcoe.

 

Wow Ghcoe that's impressive in the water/mud hole.

Our TaoTao 150 is still running great.

I also had an issue with that vacuum valve. I never had fuel in the crankcase though, but that is because I have always shut the gas off with the shut off valve under the gas tank. I had starting issue once and I atributed it to that vacuum valve. I completely removed the vacuum valve and routed the fuel line direct from the fuel shutoff to the carburator. Off course I had to plug the vacuum port that feed the valve. I havn't had a starting issue since.

Both our Vbikes are still going strong.

 

Coloradotrailrider

Hello again. been a while since I have posted here. Just did my swing arm bushing conversion on my 150 and thought I would post. Time flies when you are having fun!

Well have not been able to use my MIC's this year because I was laid off this last spring and they changed the registration requirements here for quads. Just have not had the money to get everything taken care of. The good thing is that the quads were all paid for so they did not have to go back to lenders.

I too just removed the the vacuum valve and all has been great.

I dusted off the dust on the TAO TAO and Marshin this week and gave them a good cleaning. They both started right up and I though that I might as well throw in those new swing arm bushings while I had it out. Was a great day to work on a quad. Those rubber/steel bushings just allow too much play for my liking so I had my friend make up some brass bushings. I have already replaced the rubber/steel bushings once and they barely lasted 150 miles before I had a inch of side to side play in the swing arm. Took about a 1 1/2 hours and now it is rock solid like my other MIC's. The other two use roller bearings in the swing arm. I tried to find a roller bearings before I resorted to the bushing, but could not find any that would work. I even went to a bearing shop and they could not find anything in their books that would work.

Included some shots of the upgrade. First set were the first bushings. They fell apart shortly after we got the ATV. Middle set are the replacements. They still look like they are in good shape. They have about 150 miles on them and I think the rubber has been softened up too much. The swing arm had at least a inch of side to side play at the axle. The set on the right are the new brass bushings. There is no movement now!

 

Good to hear from you ghcoe.

Glad to hear your still enjoying your quads...bummer about being laid off...I know that feeling.. Neat getting new swing arm bushings made...should last forever.. do you really get 45mph out of your 150? If you do it would be the fastest 150 by a long shot...most are in the 32 mph range stock..

 

mywifesquad,

I am going by what my Marshin speedo was telling me. It seems to be pretty accurate when I have compared it to my GPS readings. My son was riding at the time and he weighs about 90 lbs. We hit a long straight level stretch of road and he went flying by me. Took me a bit to catch him because my Marshin tops out about 53 mph. Once I caught up to him I began to pace him and the Marshin was showing 44 mph. I was impressed too. I know that it will easily cruise at 35. Wife and I on smooth ground are always running between 30 and 35. I figured that I was going too fast for the 150, but she always complains about how slow I am going.

ghcoe

 

Thats real impressive...wonder how they got that kind of top speed? Id guess its still got lots of low speed pulling power?

I have clocked both of my 150's with my KTM and its ICO odometer...Both went 32 stock.Yamoto has a Hi output CDI and now goes 39 mph...

 

I think I have read where some people were complaining that they were geared too high (19 teeth) to climb steep grades and were replacing the engine sprocket to get more low end torque. we have not had any issues with this, but then again no one in the family weighs over 150lbs. Or maybe we are just not trying to climb such a steep hill! I was thinking of picking up one of those performance CDI's for it and the 110cc off of ebay. Was not sure if they were good for the engine though. How is your experiences with them? ghcoe.