Chinese Scooter Repair…
Chinese scooters often aren’t worth fixing based on multiple issues caused by poor quality control combined with zero maintenance, operator error, and owner abuse.
They can work OK as an emergency form of temporary transportation, but to think a Chinese scooter is going to hold together long enough to he considered reliable transportation regardless of who works on it is folly at best.
IF YOUR BIKE IS NOT WORTH FIXING, YOU WILL STILL BE CHARGED THE $132 MINIMUM SERVICE CHARGE!!!
They’re horrible scooters. They’re so bad I refer to them as “scooter shaped objects“.
I feel sorry for the people who own them. I like making money sure, but I don’t feel good when I hear from the same people every 2-3 weeks when their Chinese scooters break and break and break.
My minimum is $132, and that’s what I like to get paid – MINIMUM – when I show up and spend 30 minutes figuring out what’s wrong with a bike or fixing it. Feeling sorry for people is NOT good for my brain OR my bottom line. I drive myself nuts doing all kinds of work for free or at reduced cost trying my best to keep people and their Chinese scooters on the road for “reasonable” money.
There’s nothing “reasonable” about a Chinese scooter. They cost just as much to fix as any other bike, but they break five times as often. They cost what they cost because you get what you pay for.
When you buy one of these “brand new scooters” at the local flea market, you will get no warranty, no dealer network, no documentation, and in most towns and cities nobody is willing to work on them. Many of them don’t run properly even with 0 miles on the odometer, and I often get called out to fix them when they have less than 5 miles on them.
I’ve found everything from the worst quality materials one can possibly use to put a scooter together to stripped threads and fasteners to expensive-to-repair internal engine damage on brand new Chinese scooters with less than 50 miles on them.
Imagine buying a brand new car with 0 miles on it that doesn’t run right when you buy it, driving it 5 miles before it won’t start or go down the road, being told by the “dealer” that they can’t do anything about it, and then having to call an independent local mechanic to fix it. That’s what Chinese scooters are often like to own. It’s pure insanity.
Why is that? I can cite some sources. This isn’t just my opinion, and I don’t know any of these people:
Why we stopped repairing Chinese scooters by Nashville Motorcycle Repair
Here’s what they have to say:
“Imagine Sisyphus, sweating away in Hades, pushing his rock up the hill every day, only to watch it roll back to the bottom, where he’s forced to start over. Now imagine the rock is actually a poorly-made machine that’s always breaking down, and halfway up the hill, you have to stop and pay $150 to get it fixed.”
“We’ve told over a dozen owners of cheap Chinese scooters that they should sell them as soon as possible (before they break again), then buy a heavily-used Japanese scooter from the 1980’s or later. Similar cost as cheap Chinese, and there might be an additional investment to take care of the previous owner’s neglected maintenance. But after that? Gas, oil changes, and tires will be most of what it ever needs.”
“The reason we stopped fixing cheap Chinese scooters is that when we were done, we knew we’d be fixing some other problem before long, and it was just too depressing.“
Those are my thoughts exactly but written by the very smart people at Nashville Motorcycle Repair. I tell people to “SELL IT ASAP” all the time. I also tell people to buy used Japanese, Taiwanese, and Italian scoots.
And yeah, feels like Sisyphus repairing them, and YES it’s depressing more often than not. Money is great, but I have to earn it in a certain kind of way that I feel good about, or it messes with my brain.
Why Not Buy a Chinese Scooter? by Slow Kids Scooter Gang
“I enjoy breathing and really don’t want to die on a Chinese POS made in the same fashion you make toasters or Hello Kitty rice cookers! I also dislike companies that make deathtraps and purposely lie to gain sales, and who copy designs simply to mislead you from your money.“
So there’s that too. If I wanted to ride a deathtrap, I’d build a rigid chopper with a GSXR1100 engine in it. And it would still be safer and more reliable than a Chinese scooter.
I won’t own a Chinese scooter because they’re not worth my time. People try to give them to me all the time, and I always laugh and say no way.
I risk my reputation every time I touch a Chinese scooter. What do people think when I have to roll out every 2 weeks to fix yet another issue on their Chinese scooter?
If they’re reasonable, they recognize they bought a raging piece of shit, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, but I’m trying my best, and I do in fact know what I’m doing.
If they’re not reasonable, they might start thinking I have no idea what I’m doing and making their problems worse. These people are a complete pain in the ass to deal with, and there’s no way to make them happy short of reaching into my presumably limitless supply of small business dollars and shelling out on a new scooter for them ‘cuz obviously I’m the cause of all of their Chinese scooter issues. Fortunately, the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of unreasonable people don’t affect my reputation as much as they would like. But it’s still a risk.
“With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.”
Everyone with a Chinese scooter gets the same speech from me. Sell it ASAP before it breaks again. If you really like riding a scooter, sell that Chinese scooter and buy one made by Honda, Yamaha, Kymco, Genuine, PGO, or even Vespa.
I’m willing to work on your Chinese scooter, but I offer absolutely no guarantees concerning how long it will hold together after I repair it, and I hope you realize that having me repair your Chinese scooter is NOT going to be cheap or easy given how often they tend to break.