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Post by mauiboy on Feb 2, 2012 22:39:24 GMT -6
So after 13 months the lovingly cared for Rocket A 150 broke down, nothing terminal (ripped diaphragm i think) but enough to prompt me to act on my original plan of always having a second scooter. The roketa actually lasted longer than I expected it to so I had more money and was lucky enough to pick up a 2010 burgman 400 (non ABS) super cheap new, before anyone spots the error there, Hawaii imports direct from Japan so they did actually have this model in 2010 whereas the mainland didn't  . The chices were a 2011 drz400 (6200 list, 6800 OTD), a 2012 ninja 250 (4200 list, 6300 OTD!!) and the burger (6700 list, 6800 OTD). The burger was an easy choice Before anyone comments about how much cheaper they can find them, please remember about 'paradise tax' everything costs a hell of a lot more here! So in a year the rocket has had 3 oil changes, 2 tune ups, the front and rear lighting wiring redone, various bulbs replaced with better parts and thats pretty much it. All done by me. Insurance fully comp was 99 a year (160 fully comp for the burger), road tax was 80 and safety check 10 bucks. 1600 miles ran about 104 dollars in fuel. I'm going to try and avoid slating either scoot as they both have plusses and minuses, neither are actually 'bad' but you can end up buying the wrong one for you. The burger is tougher to work on yourself. The roketa needs you to be able to work on it at the drop of a hat and does need more regular attention to keep it sweet. The burger is much faster, heavier and smoother but you do give up a lot of road feel compared to the roketa. You knew exactly how much grip you had on the rocket (usually very little) with the burger its more of a guessing game but even the stock tyres are brilliant. The extra weight is very obvious until you get moving then you can throw the scoot about easily. Overall, daft as it may seem, the roketa was suprisingly good for the price. I could buy 5 of them, a bunch of spare parts and a lot of wine for the cost of the burger. Roketas and their ilk are definitely not for everyone. I spent a lot of time burning in the sun working on it, if you aren't prepared to do lots of preventative maintenance and enjoy it, it probably is best you get a used scoot from a Taiwanese or Japanese (or cfmoto) maker as you will likely spend the price difference quickly in having it fixed. Roketas have a bad rep with some folks, for sure I dont expect mine to reach 50000 let alone 100000 miles, but if you only have 1000 bucks, you don't have to rely on it 100% and you enjoy fixing bikes the roketa and similar makes can be a sensible buy. You can get them used insanely cheap. They are very basic and therefore actually very easy to work on, despite what people say parts are easy to come by and cheap. The cost of a major service on the burger would buy a used roketa. For me it was worth the money and time and I would do it again, I'm likely to keep the roketa, I just need the bigger scoot for getting about further (and higher, 10000ft) afield. The burger also has a lot more road presence and a 139db horn is on the way |
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Post by JR on Feb 3, 2012 20:26:53 GMT -6
Congrats on the Burgy maui! Sweet scooter and my thoughts are two. One I think you would have been more plesed and still do if you had got a 250 Chinese scooter instead of the 150 for lots os reasons the hills as you mentioned and heat. Reading all of your post I fell like part of the learning process for you was fixing some things along the way and some of them could have been avoided with a butt kicking PDI. Some of the things like wiring as such can be healed one time and then it's a no issue thing from then on. But you have a very wise and practical sense about these scooters and if more people took that approach they would be a lot happier. I'm like you, headed to the 50k club!  JR |
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Post by mauiboy on Feb 4, 2012 16:39:16 GMT -6
Great point, I would have loved a 250 but the only option was a 2200 usd used model that the dealer couldnt get to start and i needed one quickly lol. Re the pdi, very true. The wiring, auto enricher etc would have been caught by a great pdi. I definitely reccomend tearing down any scoot and checking everything as soon as you get it unless you really trust your mechanic and you paid for a real pdi. I personally wouldn't trust a pdi on a mail order scoot unless it was from someone off these forums that had an active presence (cookees / rapidjim et al). Even then I would probably take it apart for giggles. It's really important to remember that if you are buying based on price, they are selling you and operating based on price so where they can save time and money they will (by them i mean box shifters, not cookees etc). I did expect heat to be an issue, luckily it wasn't, i also expected the fact that most of my trips are short to be an issue and I cannot see it so far. Longevity of parts probably isn't as great but it has to be viewed on a total cost of ownership basis. Basically its really important to set your expectations correctly, it is unlikely to be something you buy, never touch and always works. If you keep it sweet it will reward you well. Some folks just see cheap and blame the dealer or the maker when it doesn't go well. just wanted to share the experience to help others in making a similar choice |
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Junior
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Post by kz1000st on Feb 4, 2012 19:04:14 GMT -6
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Post by JR on Feb 4, 2012 20:11:33 GMT -6
It's really important to remember that if you are buying based on price, they are selling you and operating based on price so where they can save time and money they will (by them i mean box shifters, not cookees etc)Going to agree and disagree with that statement. Agree: People that know nothing about a scooter and just looking for a bargain so many times are disappointed when the product doesn't meet their expectations. To make matters worse if they are not mechanically inclined and have no leads to a good forum or a mechanic to help them work out the small and generally simple problems the cheap part comes in and you'll see them sitting in a garage or on Craigslist for sale cheap and them left saying all Chinese scooters are junk. Many a person has got a steal on cragslist and fixed a loose connection and had a good ride for nothing spent. Disagree: Myself or even you now knowing what you are getting into that start to look for a scooter as a economical and cheap way to travel for fun or even to work will price shop. A GY-6 is a Gy-6 and maybe some Chinese scooters are built a little better from the cosmetic end than others but by knowing what to do and how to "properly" prepare a scooter when delivered or bought at a bargain on craiglist you can in most cases turn this cheap investment into a reliable and economic means of transportaion. People who know me know that I wouldn't be afraid to get on my scooters and ride to anywhere in this country and I'm not for two reasons, one the PDI I've done and two the ability to fix thngs if needed. There is another factor that plays on the ability to ride a scooter for the long haul it applies to just anything that moves and it's the way you ride it. Want to run it like a BTOH from the time you get on until you stop, it's a short lived machine. I didn't get 201k on my S-10 by driving the wheels off of it. So many people get a scooter delivered to their house open the crate put gas in it and then expect to ride forever. Myself I don't even put the battery in until I've tore it apart went through ever nut, bolt and wire and then I fire it up and ride. My expectations are made by me and I fully expect good results. Cheap then becomes wise, economical and fun to boot!  JR
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Post by JR on Feb 4, 2012 20:23:56 GMT -6
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Junior
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Post by kz1000st on Feb 4, 2012 20:36:29 GMT -6
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Post by mauiboy on Feb 4, 2012 22:00:32 GMT -6
Looked at both of those Those two scoots have been on CL for at least 9 months (the burger for even longer), both for sale from the same guy with the price dropping over time. The older adds stated the swing was a 2003 i think? The burger was reasonably priced ish, maybe 1000 over what it should really go for, but thats paradise tax. I was going to check them out but I got a decent deal on a new one. I was also put off by the amount of time they had been listed (perhaps daft? I was checking on how to see if they were stolen etc, to me one guy selling via CL with two pretty high end scoots, both imported, neither selling in a long time is something worth checking on and getting vins cleared). Thanks for looking however It's appreciated. |
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Post by mauiboy on Feb 4, 2012 22:06:35 GMT -6
It's really important to remember that if you are buying based on price, they are selling you and operating based on price so where they can save time and money they will (by them i mean box shifters, not cookees etc)Going to agree and disagree with that statement. Agree: People that know nothing about a scooter and just looking for a bargain so many times are disappointed when the product doesn't meet their expectations. To make matters worse if they are not mechanically inclined and have no leads to a good forum or a mechanic to help them work out the small and generally simple problems the cheap part comes in and you'll see them sitting in a garage or on Craigslist for sale cheap and them left saying all Chinese scooters are junk. Many a person has got a steal on cragslist and fixed a loose connection and had a good ride for nothing spent. Disagree: Myself or even you now knowing what you are getting into that start to look for a scooter as a economical and cheap way to travel for fun or even to work will price shop. A GY-6 is a Gy-6 and maybe some Chinese scooters are built a little better from the cosmetic end than others but by knowing what to do and how to "properly" prepare a scooter when delivered or bought at a bargain on craiglist you can in most cases turn this cheap investment into a reliable and economic means of transportaion. People who know me know that I wouldn't be afraid to get on my scooters and ride to anywhere in this country and I'm not for two reasons, one the PDI I've done and two the ability to fix thngs if needed. There is another factor that plays on the ability to ride a scooter for the long haul it applies to just anything that moves and it's the way you ride it. Want to run it like a BTOH from the time you get on until you stop, it's a short lived machine. I didn't get 201k on my S-10 by driving the wheels off of it. So many people get a scooter delivered to their house open the crate put gas in it and then expect to ride forever. Myself I don't even put the battery in until I've tore it apart went through ever nut, bolt and wire and then I fire it up and ride. My expectations are made by me and I fully expect good results. Cheap then becomes wise, economical and fun to boot! JR Actually I think we are agreeing I probably just wasnt clear. I meant that if I get one from those type of guys I expect them to care about how it arrives. I don't expect it to change the basic quality of the scoot, just how it was checked and assembled. It will still need love, but I wouldnt expect stuff like fuel filters in backwards, auto enrichers not connected etc to happen. Those guys care which is probably why they are unlikely to be the cheapest but I do think if you don't know what you are doing and want to learn it might be a good place to start with someone like that doing the PDI for you, so you are off to a good start. The ape that put mine together needs to be taken out and boiled in a vat of snot. I agree entirely a gy6 is a gy6 with triple digit percentage tolerances and all that fun that comes with sino scoots. They are what they are Cheap and cheerful and in need of love. |
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