gasbike.net

GoldenMotor.com
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Sep 4, 2009
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I used to do tech support for a major manufacturer of computers. The second someone mentioned the dirty L word (lawyer) we could no longer help them we had to tell them to let their lawyer get tech support from our lawyer it went in their file and their warranty was pretty much worthless at that point...why help someone who wants to bankrupt you?

You can get a lawyer to sue for anything that is why I am a firm supporter of tort reform. You likely learned more about mechanics with that kit than most ever know and surely will benefit much the same as my first lemon car did for me. Mine was a Dodge Dart slant 6 225 engine that was using a quart of oil every 50 miles and the whole front end needed replacing (steering linkage) along with brakes all the way around...what the hey I paid $900 for it at a tote the note yard put a few hundred down and paid it out. I'm a pretty good shade tree mechanic today because of cars like that I had 25-30 years ago. Peace dude move forward.

As a side note King's sold me my first kit it wasn't the one I ordered but it worked fine after MUCH tweaking. I told them about the wrong kit being sent they ignored me and I choose to this day not to shop with them because I gave them many chances to make it right no big deal I still got a bargain deal on the kit...the Chinese do a fine job with the resources they have IMO. It sure wasn't the China kit manufacturer that sent the wrong kit LOL!
 
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johncy7

New Member
Mar 11, 2012
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Although I've never sued anyone and probably never threatened to do so until I ran into these shiney junk peddlers. The "second" came well after they made it clear, they would not support or respond, as you'll find this is Nationwide Access, LLC's (kingsmotorbikes.com/gasBike.net) notorious way of doing business.

george_n_texas wrote:
"why help someone who wants to bankrupt you?"

It is called integrity. You sell something to a customer with a warranty, that something breaks under warranty, you replace that something as you said you would. Crooked scammers just don't like doing this. That is why we need laws and lawyers sometimes.

There are good and bad businesses everywhere. Even when I was buying my Honda kit parts, I had to file a claim against Heliobikes just to get them to repsond to my emails and ship my $300 part. AGK was the same way.

george_n_texas wrote:
"the Chinese do a fine job with the resources they have IMO."

I don't know how you can say that. There are strong steel bolts on the engine is certain places. They had to work hard to create metal nuts and bolts that have the strength of plastic. The 66cc engine can go up to 40mph. Being held together with glue is a death trap.

The buyers have the power. If you want better quality hardware and parts, you don't buy from them.

"NO GRUBEE, NO CHINA"
 
Sep 4, 2009
980
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I say it because I believe it. It is my opinion you have a right to yours...it is a free country. You have stated your opinion over and over as if repeating yourself gives validity to your cause. You really showed your colors when you told everyone Don Grubbee told ya to shut up...never heard him say anything like that before to my knowledge. Thousands of people have started their hobby thanks to the nice cheap entry level kits. The biggest advantage to these kits is they give you a nice way to learn for very little bux. I also believe the bolts are made to snap if you tighten them too much as a fail-safe measure but hey I'm gullable LOL

As a side note how's your honda running?
 

Predator303

New Member
Apr 26, 2012
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San Juan, Puerto Rico
Why do you defend so much a company that is doing business like that? Already the fact that they have 3 different company names and websites under the exact same main company name selling the same products basically now shows me, that they think they could fool some not so clever people (no research) on buying still from them after they try to find a better company - maybe after the first bad experience. I have spent 50 bucks and literally got NOTHING for it. I had to pay more to fix the damage and not to forget the mess of having to call a friend because I was somewhere stranded. I just wait for tomorrow morning and will call them until I get my money back or other parts.

BTW for anyone having problems reaching anybody, because they basically NEVER answer their customer service phone, here I got a direct number where always somebody answers. Have fun getting on their nerves:

818 779 0088
 

johncy7

New Member
Mar 11, 2012
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Well spoken george_n_texas. Don himself couldn't have said it any better, or be as perturbed by my posts as much as you are.

george_n_texas wrote:
"I also believe the bolts are made to snap if you tighten them too much as a fail-safe measure but hey I'm gullable LOL"

I can understand this, so long as we define "too much" as being the point where the bolts are actually supposed to hold a part in place.

I'd also be willing to bet that they use the same nuts and bolts on ALL their products.
You can't squeeze blood from a turnip nor quality from China.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
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38
Lebanon, PA
They will answer that number, but eventually they will realize its the same person calling over and over and stop ansering, because their supervisor Lorenzo tells them not to. if you do research BEFORE buying a product, you will know the potential quality issues associated with that product. if you know the quality issues, and are willing to put the time and effort in to correct them, then you will have a reliable bike. all of these kits are self-assembled, and only as good as the person who puts them together. if it falls apart, and you dont want to fix it the right way, thats on you. nationwide access only warranties engines. some have said you get what you pay for. I will take it a step further and say you get out what you put in. i put in the work as many others have to keep my bike on the road. you didnt want to and thats fine. but this thread is not going to stop people from buying grubee or china products, especially those like myself with less money to spend. YOU ONLY GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN.
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
11,837
252
63
up north now
You can get quality from China....you just have to PAY FOR IT.

When you buy an engine kit from China for under two hundred dollars, what do you expect?

These kits are not Hondas, they are "do it yourself" kits that cost next to nothing.

You want a honda, pay for a honda.
 

Bikeguy Joe

Godfather of Motorized Bicycles
Jan 8, 2008
11,837
252
63
up north now
You get what you put in...good call BBB. They CAN be made reliable, for a few dollars more.

Also, I have built 8 of these things, and I have had to "adjust" only a very few things. I have one floating around out there that I went through, cleaned and adjusted everything, make a skate wheel tensioner, and it's got about 10,000 miles on it.

I have also build a couple that I built right out of the box, and they are doing fine as well.
 

johncy7

New Member
Mar 11, 2012
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hahaha....

the Grubee team is in full damage control mode.

Now lets blame the customer's for not making their product better.

hahahaha....

As my brother once said: "one dissatisfied customer will lose you twenty potential customers"

The readers will find the truth... I've given them enough good information to research with.
 

youknouno

New Member
May 27, 2012
83
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Florida
John -
Your posts and this thread are right on time! I ditched the notion of shelling out the bux for a Morini as a starter and my next dilemma was 'now which china girl? and where to buy from?' While the cheap starter (china girl), and its associated elbow grease and hours that I'll have to put in, no longer deters me because I have decided that I'd like to know the engine inside and out before moving up. Works perfectly for me because I get to tinker, learn, take it out on my bike during the process and once I've gotten a grip on what I'm doing and it purrs, place that onto my g/f's bike and then upgrade my own ride Italian style. Long story short, I can afford the Franco currently, and was COMPLETELY CONVINCED that reliability is paramount [gotta commute thru the grades of Central Cali], I still need that ultimate reliability however : FOR ME, that can wait. We own three cars and that can buy me time to learn the trade.

With that being said, I really don't want the hang up of slow shipping! And unresponsiveness. I'll deal with the cheap parts, but I've totally got to know that I can get the girl in-hand when promised.

On to more 'thread-surfing'......
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
johncy7, you are not the first person to denounce grubee, and the information you have provided is nothing new. yet there are still plenty of people buying china engines for their bikes, as there always will be. nationwide access does have terrible service, and i dont buy from them anymore. i do still buy chinese two stroke engines and products, and im getting ready to buy a lot of expensive parts to upgrade my chinese piece of crap engine. it will be a little while till i have the money, but im rebuilding my entire bike except for the frame and engine. i have dealt with every headache from broken down engines to bent rims and defective parts right out of the box. I can almost guarantee you that having worked on my bikes for almost 3 years, I know way more than you about the poor quality of these kits. yet i still choose to invest in them because i get a great sense of accomplishment out of taking a piece of junk and turning it into something I can use. the only sense of accomplishment one can get out of putting a "bolt-on and go" type of kit together is, "well hey, I put it together and it works". not much to learn from a "bolt-on and go" type kit.
 

crmachineman

New Member
May 24, 2012
259
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New Hampshire
I don't blame gasbike.net at all. They are just supplying people with the goods at the lowest possible price. Lowest price is the main deciding factor for what Americans purchase. I don't blame gasbike for that, I would blame the American people for that. The customer service is as good as they can manage. If they hire more staff to handle that aspect, the price for the goods they sell must increase. If you think your nightmare is bad, try that of the independent American machinist, who at every attempt to earn an honest living, just simply can't sell anything because everybody wants to pay bottom dollar for essentially Chinese slave labor. That's what is happening. For the last 15 years I've been a machinist, I've seen hundreds of good machine shops close and half of the machines literally thrown away in the dumpster. All our American manufacturers are giving up because they just can't compete with the Chinese slave labor which makes their goods. I wonder when I will be joining them.
:-||
-Fred
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
I The customer service is as good as they can manage. If they hire more staff to handle that aspect, the price for the goods they sell must increase.
nationwide access's customer service issues go way beyond being understaffed. when I ordered my first kit in 2009, it wasnt so bad. Back then you could actually call and speak with the technical support person. the last time I called and asked for technical support, the shipping manager was supposedly "doubling" as tech support, but he never answers the phone in his office, even at the times he is supposed to. customer service does not always mean you have to have a high quality product. I know that they dont make the kits. but good customer service means you take care of your customer. it doesnt take a large staff to make sure that everyone gets what they pay for and is treated fairly. I ordered parts I never got from them, and when I called to ask about it, I was hung up on. I know they have caller I.D., because sometimes I would call and they wouldnt even answer. I finally gave up and ordered the part I needed elsewhere. I dont blame nationwide access for the poor quality of the products they sell, because I know that they dont make them. But I do blame them for not taking care of their customers properly and for not providing fair customer service. Has anyone noticed that they are one of the few dealers that isnt a member here or on the "other" forum? why do you think that is?
 

Longshot270

New Member
May 8, 2012
112
0
0
Texas
crmachineman nailed it. Americans are all about getting something for nothing. I bought my cheap-arse china kit because I like tearing into engines. Last year I bought a '84 Honda dirt bike for $200, made it run, then sold it for $275. This engine just runs a helluva lot better so I'll probably ride it into the ground then sell it for scrap aluminum...or do something crazy like make a side table lamp out of it.

For the record, I broke a tooth on my drive sprocket and chewed up the chain in the first few hundred yards. Knowing shipping rates are crazy I went to Walmart and got the $6 Bell 1-3 speed bike chain that just happened to be the same size. I'm still using that chain a few hundred miles later.
 

johncy7

New Member
Mar 11, 2012
11
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0
n/a
These guys that get on here and say things like, I love my Grubee piece of junk, I want to get to know it better by it breaking down constantly, are full of it. Or say, I've put a hundreds of miles on my bmx chain... so, was that right before it broke running your little 30cc engine? Then you pedaled the rest of the way home? You'll rack up hundreds of miles joy riding a Honda, in a short time at that.

I took shop in Jr. High. We took engines apart and put them back together again. Nothing I need to "get to know", either I can put gas in it and ride it or I'm wishing I bought something else. (which I did)

These guys are either not playing with a full deck, trying to bs others or are just sadistic and like causing themselves pain. Odds are, the majority of the people looking to put an engine on a bike, actually want to ride it or sell it. Grubee is not fighting competition by cutting so many corners, b/c the next price range engine kit is over a hundred dollars higher than the skyhawk. So that's just profit going right into their pockets while they laugh at us stupid Americans that bought it.

I actually believe and told Don that these could be really nice engine kits. I think, for the most part, the same blueprints with stronger material, would be a nice kit and it wouldn't cost them much more to make it happen when it comes to buying in high volumes. But that won't happen unless the government forced quality control or the the manufacturer had morals and scruples. It would be nice to see American companies step it up and not fall as crmachineman was describing, to foreign companies that can sell their product because of low prices rather than its usefulness. I would go one step further though. Our government is to blame, for allowing such trash to flood our markets. It's a rare thing when I can buy something from our local china-mart and not have to take it right back for a refund. very sad, that this is expected to be the new normal.

So... I finally have my new Grubee replacement engine five months after I bought the first one, three months after mine died (with very low miles on it) and over a month longer than Don said it would arrive. I'm also supposed to believe that gasBike.net is so busy they can't answer the phone and they don't have one little cheap replacement engine in stock to send me, so it needed to be shipped all the way from China. ??? NOT!

Now I need to figure out what to do with it. I certainly don't want to waste another five months working on it. I wouldn't want to sell or give it away because that would be cruel to the next person. I think I'll just cruise around for a couple hours on my Honda and think about it. Oh, and if I pass one you "I love my junk engine kit" guys broken down on the side of the road, would you like for me to stop and help or just keep on riding?

-John

peace
 

nightcruiser

New Member
Mar 25, 2011
1,180
2
0
USA
These guys that get on here and say things like, I love my Grubee piece of junk, I want to get to know it better by it breaking down constantly, are full of it. Or say, I've put a hundreds of miles on my bmx chain... so, was that right before it broke running your little 30cc engine? Then you pedaled the rest of the way home? You'll rack up hundreds of miles joy riding a Honda, in a short time at that.

I took shop in Jr. High. We took engines apart and put them back together again. Nothing I need to "get to know", either I can put gas in it and ride it or I'm wishing I bought something else. (which I did)

These guys are either not playing with a full deck, trying to bs others or are just sadistic and like causing themselves pain. Odds are, the majority of the people looking to put an engine on a bike, actually want to ride it or sell it. Grubee is not fighting competition by cutting so many corners, b/c the next price range engine kit is over a hundred dollars higher than the skyhawk. So that's just profit going right into their pockets while they laugh at us stupid Americans that bought it.

I actually believe and told Don that these could be really nice engine kits. I think, for the most part, the same blueprints with stronger material, would be a nice kit and it wouldn't cost them much more to make it happen when it comes to buying in high volumes. But that won't happen unless the government forced quality control or the the manufacturer had morals and scruples. It would be nice to see American companies step it up and not fall as crmachineman was describing, to foreign companies that can sell their product because of low prices rather than its usefulness. I would go one step further though. Our government is to blame, for allowing such trash to flood our markets. It's a rare thing when I can buy something from our local china-mart and not have to take it right back for a refund. very sad, that this is expected to be the new normal.

So... I finally have my new Grubee replacement engine five months after I bought the first one, three months after mine died (with very low miles on it) and over a month longer than Don said it would arrive. I'm also supposed to believe that gasBike.net is so busy they can't answer the phone and they don't have one little cheap replacement engine in stock to send me, so it needed to be shipped all the way from China. ??? NOT!

Now I need to figure out what to do with it. I certainly don't want to waste another five months working on it. I wouldn't want to sell or give it away because that would be cruel to the next person. I think I'll just cruise around for a couple hours on my Honda and think about it. Oh, and if I pass one you "I love my junk engine kit" guys broken down on the side of the road, would you like for me to stop and help or just keep on riding?

-John

peace
After reading your expectations, I think a guy like yourself should have looked at the $179 price tag and known that he'd better buy the $750 Honda instead. There are lots of other people who don't want to invest such a large amount of money in their bike, or don't have that kinda money to spend. Still there's another group that actual ENJOYS fabricating their bikes and are perfectly capable of taking this cheap china motor and building a great bike with it. Please do not insult us for our desire to do so. All I put was an extra $40 bucks and some time into my bike and it runs great and I haven't had to wrench on it in a long while, I just get on and ride and it takes me where I am going. There are plenty of others like me out there. That said, if and when a better quality USA made kit becomes available for around the $300 price range I and many others would consider riding them instead, unfortunately those kits don't exist.
Besides all that, this and other forums are available for you to read opinions similar to yours (and mine) from MANY people that have come before you so you can make the right decision for yourself. When you see a kit that's so inexpensive you've gotta ask yourself "what kinda quality product could it be?", a quick search will let you know what you're dealing with and what things you can do to make it work out better. If you're not interested in doing those things then perhaps you should look into something more expensive and better to build with...
 
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bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
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Lebanon, PA
I think the OP is just bent on boycotting ht engines and insulting anyone who doesnt agree with him. others have offered their opinions respectfully, but he hasnt been very respectful in sharing his. I for one am moving on. I said my piece and arguing about it isnt going to change anything.
 
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