The Dirt Biker Chronicles

“You get what you pay for.” That’s the old saying. And when it comes to buying a dirt bike its true.

Lately I’ve noticed a lot of advertising for low-price dirt bikes. We’re talking brand new 250cc dirt bikes for under $2,000. That’s about a third of the price of a similar Japanese bike. When you look at pictures of these low-priced bikes, they’re good looking bikes. They look similar to the Japanese and European bikes.

But they are not the same. These bikes are made in China.

Shoddy Chinese manufacturing practices are well known: from lead paint on toys, to toxic ingredients in pet foods. So out of curiosity I decided to do a little Internet research and see what I could find out about these Chinese dirt bikes.

I was amazed to discover how many Chinese motorcycle manufacturers there are. China has more manufacturers than Japan, Europe and the U.S. combined! One site I found, www.made-in-china.com, listed 4,931 variations of Chinese dirt bikes on the market. Some of them may have been duplicate listings, but browsing through the first two hundred or so I didn’t spot any.

The Chinese make almost every model of motorcycle you can think of. They make minis, motocross, off-road, dual-sport and super-moto models; not to mention their street bike models.

It’s surprising how blatantly the Chinese copy the Japanese and European bikes, and its obvious why intellectual property rights are a problem in China. The Chinese manufacturers have models that literally state they are copies of Yamaha, Honda, and other established brands. I saw one KTM look-alike that had plastics and graphics almost identical to a real KTM. One Chinese manufacturer is named Keweseki, and clearly trying to play off the established Kawasaki name.

The Chinese do a decent job marketing these bikes on the Internet. The bikes look modern. They offer electric start, disc brakes, aluminum frames and water cooled engines. And both two-stroke and four-stroke models are available.

These bikes look ready to race in the pictures you see on the Internet. Are they ready, though? That was my doubt, and I wanted to see what owners of Chinese bikes had to say about them.

One of the first testimonies I found was a YouTube video titled, “Why you should not buy a Chinese dirt bike”. This unhappy buyer paid $2000 for a Chinese motocross bike that looked like a Suzuki. The video documents several problems with the bike, including a broken frame, bad piston rings, a broken muffler, and a dysfunctional front disc brake.

There are several stories from other disgruntled buyers too. The theme is always the same: the Chinese bikes are junk. They’re made of poor metal, bad welds, cheap components, and half-assed quality control. They frequently break down within weeks of purchase, and when they do finding replacement parts or a mechanic that will work on them can be difficult. Even if you do locate parts, the machining isn’t always precise and they don’t always fit right.

Imagine attempting a long trail ride in remote mountains on one. You would be asking for disaster. I wouldn’t take anyone riding a China bike on one of my rides. I don’t want to spend the night with a broke down China bike in the forest.

Some say the Japanese bikes were poor quality too back in the late 60s and early 70s and the Chinese bikes will progress like the Japanese did. I agree eventually some Chinese manufacturers will build more reputable bikes with acceptable durability, dealer support, and part availability. When that will be is anyone’s guess, however. Building a solid bike requires good material, components, engineering, and quality control, which drives up manufacturing costs and, subsequently, the price of the bike.

For now, though, the Chinese bikes are cheap to buy because they’re cheaply manufactured. It just goes to show, you get what you pay for.

Filed under: The Dirt Biker Chronicles on February 18th, 2009