Risk a Chinese knock off? I´m in Bolivia ready to purchase a bike!
 

Helloo all

My friend and I landed in Bolivia today and are excited to start our 2.5 month tour through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Columbia (a lot of riding). We have our gear, GPS routes, maps all ready to go...only thing left is the bike purchase and we need your advice!

The biggest help here would be from fellow advriders who have purchased brand new Chinese bikes in South America. How did it go for you?

Here are our options:

Option 1: A brand new 250cc Chinese bike, costs $1,500 (US). We are going to be riding a lot, and all of the dealers themselves have mentioned that they require a good amount of maintenance (bad news). Most saying that we would need to give the bike a rest every 4 hours and let it cool off for 30 minutes because the engine gets super hot (is this normal?). Another dealer mentioned we will probably end up replacing a piston $100 (US) on our bikes before the end of our Bolivia route(?). Overall, I´m not getting good energy from the Chinese knock offs

Option 2: Purchase a used Honda 125cc CGL (or similar, have any suggestions?) for around $2,500 (that is if we can find any available for both my friend and I). It will probably be very old with a lot of miles, and again, we risk mechanical problems if the replacement parts are crap or if the bike was not maintained well.

Here is what it boils down to...we are budgeting up to $2,500 for a bike, and we have 2.5 months to spend in South America. We´re looking to get more riding in and less time spent on the side of the road broken down, sitting in shops, and twiddling our thumbs. If we can get buy with purchasing a Chinese bike for $1,500 and only deal with a couple of repairs, that would be phenomenal. If it will require religious maintenance and prayers every day, should we look elsewhere?

Again, any trip reports or insight from fellow riders who have purchased a brand new Chinese bike would be extremely helpful. Thank you guys so much! bier

Buy the Honda

Hi,

A friend of my took the risc and bought a chinese bike:

Making it up on a motorbike. | China's 2 wheeled revenge on Latin America.

I bought a Honda CG for 800 Euro and sold it for 300 Euro. 2500 Euro was the total budget for my 9 month trip 28.000 km around southamerica:

Motorbike trip around Southamerica: Chile and Argentina part 1

If you are going to bay a new bike you will be spending a lot of time waiting untill the registration is done (in Chile it took me one month).

Travel save, Tobi

Thanks for the feedback guys! We went to the market again and took photos of our 5 options. If you have any experience with a similar bike, or recognize any parts on these bikes that are clearly going to be trouble, we would like to hear from you! :)

Option 1 - Photo Album - Imgur - Pegasus 250cc (Korean made)
OPtion 2 - Photo Album - Imgur - Mizumo 250cc (Chinese made)
Option 3 - Photo Album - Imgur - Montero 250cc (Brazilian made)
Option 4 - Photo Album - Imgur - Fenix 250cc (Korean made)
Option 4 (same model, different photos) - Photo Album - Imgur - Fenix 250cc #2 (Korean made)
Option 5 - Photo Album - Imgur - Supermotos ¨Brozz¨ 250cc (Chinese made)

We are looking to pick the best of these 5 options. They all cost just about the same so we are not sensitive price ($1,500 - $1,700)

Some of the key differences are balanced motors vs unbalanced. Is this something we should be concerned about? Also, the Fenix has a radiator, and none of the other bikes have radiators. We are thinking this may help prevent overheating and take us longer distance in comparison to something like the Montero which does not have a radiator.

Does no radiator mean we will have to stop every 4-5 hours to let the bike cool down?

**side note** the dealer also mentioned that the Montero has better chassis and manufacturing (aluminum) than the other bikes given it´s made in Brazil.

We would really appreciate your input on these options. Thank you all for being so helpful! :)

FYI, we´re documenting our entire journey, you will be sure to see the final video and photos in a few months!

Hola viajeros.
 

Hola viajeros. Welcome to the HUBB

This is a difficult question, as I have not ridden one of this bikes I cant tell you which one to buy. I rode a couple of times the older model of Brozz (150cc) and it is crap.

But I can tell that I would take one with an electric and kick starter.

Than the reason for this post: an advise.

Take two or three days do a little tour around the area with all your gear on the bike, get used to the bike/the roads/the traffic. Than go back, find a mechanic that explains to you how to change the oil/filter, adjust things, do valve clearance, check tyre pressure (buy a gauge!), check the airfilter/batterie water level, ask him what tools and what spare parts to buy and check all the bolts and nuts before you set off - try to learn as much as you can.

Than you go and buy spare parts for your bikes the mechanic told you. I would not leave without: Clutch and brake lever or better the complete bracket, brake pads, both inner tubes, 2xchain and 2xfront pinon 1xrear corona, clutch cable, and two spare oil filters (if the bike has a paper filter) buy a small pump and tyre levers, if you dont know how to change a tube a local will know and do it for you wiht your levers.

... always check oil level and tyre pressure, lube the chain and adjust it properly, ride slow and careful you are not riding the rally Dakar ;-)

write your trip report here on the HUBB

disfrutar y suerte

mika

Mika - thanks so much for the advice. That was fantastic. We´ll be certain to do that.

Also,we did some more walking around today at the shops and spoke with some repair shops and pizza delivery men and everyone seems to have a different opinion. However, I think we´re set on the Montero 250cc after some feedback from a trusted moto rental shop. What are your first impressions of the Montero?

I know nothing about those bikes but I'd really recommend just buying a Honda 125. Heard a few mixed reports about the Chinese bikes (mostly bad to be honest) and everyone who went with Honda 125's said they did the job excellently (accept for very high-altitudes). Speaking from experience, overheating and constant mechanical problems aren't much fun. You can buy a brand new Honda 125 in Santiago, for around 1000 GBP. The paperwork is supposed to be fairly easy to get done (takes around 3 weeks but you can either ride around Chile or get the docs posted up north before you leave the country) and you can even get insurance for the bike. I'm not sure about Bolivar. Good luck :)

hola viajeros.
 

Hola viajeros.

Yes, why not the Montero? From the pictures its hard to tell, and as I dont know the bikes ...

I would buy a new (and only new) Honda XR250 Tornado or a Yamaha XTZ250 Lander, but this is maybe a bit over your budget and in the end it is your journey so do it your way and enjoy riding and learning about/from the different people that you meet.

Suerte
Mika

Thanks for the advice! Looking forward to buying it tomorrow.

Been reading through some of the prevention and preparation tips, and came across a site of someone doing a similar route to us who had trouble with all three of his bikes (Kawasaki 650KLRs) at the same time:

How common is this? Hard to believe all three of them had the same exact problem and had to cancel their trip as a result. Does this usually happen in dust storms, riding in mud, or ?? Also should we consider replacing the air filter with a premium air filter as well? Thanks all! :rolleyes2:

Hola viajeros.
 

Hola otra vez,

good, so you are going to buy the bikes tomorrow - congratulations your adventure can begin ....

... the KLR is a very good and reliable bike, but you can destroy any bike if you/or your mechanic does something wrong.

the airfilter is an important part on your bike - learn more about it.

if there is an upgrade (a washable foam filter) for your bike buy it/install and maintain it properly. on the KLRs I would say somebody made a mistake with the filter or connecting the manifolds - maybe the same mechanic worked on all three bikes and made the same mistake.

dont forget to write a report here on the HUBB

suerte y saludos
mika

Or they used aftermarket air filters which often don't filter the air very well, although they allow a lot more air in.... I have to have a pretty good reason to use non-OEM bits on my bike and never, ever, in the engine department.

If you haven't bought yet, I'm with Mika - buy Japanese all the way; I'd get the XTZ250 and if that is over budget, the Honda CG125. An unreliable bike is a right PITA on a trip.

Motorcycle PULSAR
 

Hi guys, I don't know if you have come across motorcycles Pulsar, they are said to be very reliable, there are some trips logged with those, from Colombia to India or other parts of South America. They are not too expensive, may be around $3,000 usd in most of the countries. They are very popular in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, even Argentina (I don't know about Bolivia or other countries). If not sold in Bolivia, I would go to Puno and get one. Personally I would chose one of the Pulsar ones without thinking if I had a low budget. I have seen videos about south american trips with very good feedback I have not tried them personally but you may want to do a quick research. If I am not wrong Pulsar is produced by Bajaj from India.
:scooter: