A few more ATV Questions

[Wahoo]

Does anyone run an hour meter on their machine? (can be had real cheap - like $10 shipped to your door on ebay) I'd be curious to know what kind of TIME some of these machines are racking up in conjunction with mileage.

[last5oh_302]

Wahoo makes a good point. A lot can be determined by the hour meter. I believe I have about 280 hours on mine and roughly 4500kms.

[Fisherman]

Most of the newer machines have built in hour meters in the speedo head, speedo, odo, trip meter and hour meter.

[rf2]

Here's something you might want to consider (the Honda). See if he will go lower with the price:
http://www.usedottawa.com/classified...w-Cab_24184278

[sherlockbonez]

Looks like a decent deal.

[35wailin]

What is this and who makes it?? jainshi mountain lion

Chinese bike. Stay away. It will be near impossible to get parts after about five years. Trust me on this one. You WILL need spare parts. They don't last.

[sawbill]

I'd have burnt those out by now. My little Honda 350 fourtrax has well over 35,000 km on it and so far, no motor job.
(Knocks self on wooden head)

[Oddmott]

Greatwhite, doe the Jianshes still come with straight axle and carbs?

If so, they could be a great machine for you. It's older tech... but it's essentially older Japanese tech, at Chinese prices. It's something you could maintain and fix much of yourself, if you ever run into issues.

Lots of people are happy with the various chinese brands atvs and utvs. They're made in the same factories, by the same workers that most of the big brands are. They're just older tech and (sometimes) lesser materials.

In many ways it's exactly the same as choosing to buy GM or Chev.

A buddy is a Nissan mechanic. He moonlights as a small engine mechanic for a guy who sells all sorts of Jianshe/Linhai/Jiangsu/Haowu machines. He claims their assembly leaves much to be desired - he has to go over them with a fine-toothed comb adjusting settings and tightening too many nuts and bolts - but that once they've been inspected, tightened and tuned, they work quite well.

I've been very hesitant for years... but he's wearing me down to purchase a Linhai Bighorn 28 instead of waiting to find a good, affordable, used big brand utv.

If you're going to buy off-brand though, you have to buy it from either one of the Parts Stores chains, or from a reputable dealer of big brands. There are literally 50+ chinese off-brands. Who knows which ones are "good" and which ones are truly terrible, right?

[35wailin]

I bought, well, my wife bought for me, a brand new Loncin Baja 250 in 2006. It was doing good for the first 5 years or so. After that, the tie rod ends, ball joints, bushings, etc. were worn out and needing replacement. I went through two CDI boxes for the ignition. When the rear brake drum split at the spline where it slips over the axle, it took me a year of phone calls and internet searches before finding one.
The black rubber boots around axles, between carb and intake as well as hoses started cracking after the first year. I replaced all the hoses with vinyl. I couldn't keep Chinese brake pads on it. Once I went to Yamaha parts, I could rely on the brakes.

Two years ago, when the plastic of the starter button broke, I found that the part was not available ANYWHERE. I ended up jumpering it.

Buy what you want, but when you can't find replacement parts, you will question the wisdom of your choice. I had a 20 year old Honda motorcycle when I was younger. The local dealer didn't stock parts, but I could get them. Sometimes it took a month or so, because they were shipped out from Japan, but I was able to get every part I needed.