I've just bought a Honda XR125L 125cc road/trail bike and I love it. Apart from the long highway stretches I think it would have worked fine for me on my Morocco trip. I'm off to Salisbury Plain at the weekend to see how it copes with dirt tracks and potholes...

I remember that they featured two guys on 50cc Yamaha Zuma scooters on The Speed Channel, a motorsport cable television channel in the US. There is a motorcycle show every Tuesday called Two Wheel Tuesday, and the host and his buddy rode (roughly the majority) of route 66 from somehwere in the eastern part of the US to L.A. They had a crew with them, and did the segments weekly, so it wasn't as dramatic as going straight through. Three guys on TGB 150cc delivery scooters rode cross country from New York City to L.A. for the TGB company. I think the story and photos are on a site called www.cobramotors.com, the site being a distributor/dealer of the Taiwanese made scooters. Here is a direct link to the cross-country story: http://www.cobrasales.com/news/cobra...orts112004.htm

There is a scooter Canonball Run in the US, from coast to coast I believe, a distance of 3293 miles in only 9 days. All scooters are in the range of 125-251 cc. There are even vintage ones participating.

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe it is an annual event. For more info, chack out this link: http://www.scootercannonball.com/

If I am brave enough, I might try a cross country (U.S)run on a GY-series enduro 200cc. In the near future, I'd consider one of the 150-250cc scooters, preferably one with a stereo for a cross country jaunt.

I have a Loncin-manufactured 200cc bike, which are almost identical to the Zongshen 200. I bought my bike based on a recommendation from another fellow here in Mexico who owns the same model.

In his first year he rode his little 200cc just over 13 thousand KM, mostly commuting on the freeway but with the occasional weekend trip away from home. Now, that's sure not Iron Butt territory, but it's not that low either. In that time, he never had any mechanical problems of any time, just regular scheduled maintenance. He never did anything more than replace the plug, check the valves, or change the oil.

I think a lot of these initial reports of questionable reliability are from folks who are new to riding. They find a cheap motorcycle for half the price of a Japanese-made equivalent, are too cheap to take the bike into the shop regularly and don't know how to do their own maintenance, don't bother following the breask-in instructions - and then become upset when the bike doesn't hold up to their demands.

I just purchased a Jetmoto GY200 enduro. The company is based in San Francisco, CA, but are manufactured under contract in China. It uses the common Lifan 163FML 200cc engine, which is similar to what the Loncin uses. Since it is based on the 1980's XR200 engine, (the difference from the XR is that it has electric start), it is a highly reliable engine. The rest of the bike has a decent quality to it, too. I think the put downs were warranted 2 years ago, but the companies have made tremendous strides since then. Living a few miles from the Mexican border, where Baja Norte and Sonora meet, I will be making trips to both Mexican states in the near future. I am much more confident in these bikes, now. Due to the types of roads in the US Southwest and Northern Mexico, I would like to deal in enduros, and for daily, strictly off-road playthings, ATV's.

ChinaBikes is a group I belong to that discusses Chinese-made bikes in general, including scooters, enduros, cruisers, and "sport" bikes.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChinaBikes/

Check the group out