Watchdog. Beeb1 Now.

'The off-road bike firm that likes to play dirty'

No idea what it's about yet.

Chinese Imports, perhaps? - or have one of you lot reported Wavy Davy?

 

Ahhh, Chinese Imports.

 

SteveH says...

One company who took full deposits and never delivered. It could have
been Taiwanese, Russian or American imports, it wouldn't have made a
difference to the company's owners.

Strangely enough, the managing director can't attend any court hearings
because he's been deemed by his doctor as medically unfit to travel back
from his home in Pakistan.



--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
GSF600SW (broked)
'I do not object to people looking at their watches when I am speaking.
But I strongly object when they start shaking them to make certain they
are still going.' William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett, Oct 1960.

 

The other thing I spotted was the guy from trading standards ripping
into the bike.

What I'd liked to have known is if the bike was delivered assembled or
crated - 'cos some of the stuff he said was 'dangerous' would have been
down to whoever assembled it.

To be fair, though.... I thought I was taking a gamble on my Hongdou at
700 quid. What the ****** do people expect to get when they order a new
bike that costs 400 quid OTR?

 

So, when's the big review?

 

I asked a few days ago. He ignored my post.....

 

You did?

I probably missed it. Been a bit busy recently.

Well, so far..... I've only done just over 200 miles on it. Taken it out
quite often, but only done short blatting around.

Faults so far - blew the main fuse, making me think I had a fried
battery. Then I remembered, I blew it when I put it together, replacing
it with whatever I had kicking around. Replaced it with a 25 amp fuse
and it's OK now.

It's loosened up nicely - now starts almost immediately on the electric
boot.

Brakes are pretty sharp, handling is 'odd' - but that's down to me never
having ridden anything so tall.

Goes well enough - holds a steady cruise at 55mph with no issues. Will
push up to 65-70mph if you push it, but it's happier at 55mph.

Sounds like a bike should - proper retro dirt-bike sound.

I love it, but really must find some legal off-road-ish tracks to try it
on. Quite happy using it for blatting over to friends houses, popping
out for milk etc. at the moment, though.

For the money, I can't fault it.

 

(SteveH) wrote:

Long travel suspension can do that, too. Presumably, you've looked it over
and re-torqued the bolts, now there's a couple of hundred miles on it?

That'll be the gearing....

I likes that.

Krusty will most likely point you in the right direction. Buying some OS
maps would help, though.

So far...

 

and the knobbly tyres: although I doubt Steve gets it fast enough around
corners for it to start drifting on fast sweepers

depends on the off road stuff but if it's to be gravel tracks & gentle
green lanes then tyres like Avon Gripsters would make it a better road
bike. If you intend getting muddy then stick with the knobblies.

 

Yup. Well, I've tightened the bolts. They weren't exactly specific with
torque settings.

Obviously. I don't think I can be arsed swapping sprockets to gain
5-10mph given the kind of riding I do on it.

Yeah, good plan. I need to find time, though.

 

Try having a look in a Haynes manual for any Honda 125/200 single.

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/

 

It's not the buying of maps that's the issue, it's finding the time to
actually get out and ride.

 

Nowt a bit of stupidity and counter steering won't resolve

 

Did you hear the bloke moaning the rear wheel had fallen out and the
chain had come off? I check for rear spindle tightness when I buy a
new bike as I never trust the previous owner (and everytime I have been
riding my trials bike)

 

If it's a new bike, there hasn't been a previous owner, has there? ;-)

 

Meant a new one to me but surely you'd check something like that
especially as they will be going over rough ground and likely to shake
things loose (threw my rear chain on a trials bike purely because the
spindle had worked its way loose (and I may have forgotten to tighten
it to spec)

 

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:05:58 -0600, "Peter Jones"

snip>

If I'm buying a new bike I just ride it away from the shop, do about
500 miles, bung it in for a service, do some more miles and then cane
the living **** out of it. I check the tyre pressures if I'm going to
do a track day, I look at the oil level once in a blue moon and I lube
the chain when it gets rusty.

The last time I bought a 2nd hand bike it was off someone I knew and
he looks after bikes better than I do so I checked nothing. I still
haven't checked the tyre pressures on that bike because I haven't
taken it on a track and I haven't changed the tyres.

 

To be honest, I check just about everything on a used bike I've bought.

Recent example - the 125 I've just bought for son.

"It's just had a full service, mate."

Right, so that's why the tail light doesn't work, the oil hasn't been
changed, the chain adjustment is all to cock.....

 

I've just checked the 'FAQ' on the website - the bikes come in shipping
crates, although are more assembled than my Hongdou was. However, the
FAQ does state that you should check all bolts etc. before riding.

Therefore, all I can assume is that there's not a huge issue with the
bikes they (eventually) deliver - it's more that the people buying them
are too stupid to be allowed to do so, IYSWIM.

 

This is true - although all the alarm bells were ringing when I read
they only take BACS or cheque payment.

Not really. You're buying a crated bike more or less direct from the
factory. That's one of the reasons why they're cheap. The website
clearly tells people that some assembly is required and that they
recommend you check the tightness of all fixings / bolts etc. before
riding it.

It's a completely different ball-game to buying a machine from a dealer
on which there's an OTR charge and PDI check.