Chinese Engines Are Worthless

[Dave31]

I've been lucky enough to get years and thousands of miles from my china girl engine. Never have changed a darn thing on it.

Short trips, long trips.....it's been good to me and has never let me down.

But, I have been noticing small changes in the sound, vibration which I never had any vibration before that seems to come and go now. Compression that seems to change from day to day even though I do not see anything wrong that would change compression.

When she dies, which I have a feeling that will be soon...that will be it for me. No more MB's, I have more important thing's to spend my money on.

 

[Etacovda]

cherokee - pull the engine to bits and see whats wrong, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain

 

[swdave]

the fun is just keep it running and have fun with the $150

 

[Egor]

Fairracing - I hope your China Girl lasts a good long time it would be a shame to loose you from the forum. I suppose some day I will loose interest. I got up on two wheels motored when I was 13 and never got over it. I went to work for Honda in 65 as a mechanic and was in heaven, would have worked for free but never let on. I now work on Outboards. I still have a garage full of the little Honda's, I love the little ones the best. LOL Have fun, Dave

 

[Dave31]

Fairracing - I hope your China Girl lasts a good long time it would be a shame to loose you from the forum. I suppose some day I will loose interest. I got up on two wheels motored when I was 13 and never got over it. I went to work for Honda in 65 as a mechanic and was in heaven, would have worked for free but never let on. I now work on Outboards. I still have a garage full of the little Honda's, I love the little ones the best. LOL Have fun, Dave

I hope it last too, it sounded sick today coming back from the Fourth Ave. street Fair.

I have pulled her down looking for something wrong but other then normal wear I do not see anything wrong. In fact I was a little surprised not to see more wear. I might have to take her down a little further, but I do not know what for, there's nothing I can do about it.

I just built a friction drive, started to a while back but the way my china girl has been running really gave me a kick in the butt to get it going.

I am not going anywhere as long as I am still online, even if I have nothing to ride.

 

[Dan]

I dunno. Have had great luck with the lil wonders. Broke em in with synthetic oil, ran em to death and not once upgraded a thing on my personal MBs except for last BGF. Plug and wire. I hear my first build is still running and I sold it to a biker bar owner. Still surprise me a lil weed whacker engine like a china girl can do what they do. I had no mechanical experience b4 MBs now am fabricating my own parts and trying to do things that seem like another person would do. Not me. Has been an incredible education. Then the social stuff that comes from this fraternity/Sorority.

I am not disagreeing with you in any way. All about preference. I have just finished my first 4 smoker and do not see my self going back to 2 strokes. But am oddly grateful to them and feeling nostalgic.

Morini, suweeet. Best of all worlds. Some day, some day.....
Please be sure to post pics. Man they look good. I have yet to hear one. wonder if youtube..... LOL, never mind. Will to go look.

I am not going anywhere as long as I am still online, even if I have nothing to ride.

Glad to hear it Fair. Scared me up top there.

 

[ibcnya]

"Chinese Engines Are Worthless"

Opinions vary....

 

[WOLF IV]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience Brett. Good luck with your Morini project, it sounds cool. I guess I got lucky, after break in my engine has been consistent and reliable. Still a Chinese POS but I am getting a lot of good use out of it even stressing it out with loads of "high performance" tweaking. I use the phrase loosely Ha. Keep us posted on your next project, I wanna see it.

Pat

P.S I like your style man. Here' My ride.

SICK BIKE!

 

[fm2200]

What you say about the vibration being excessive is true, but I have years of riding mc and there are even some of those which will have vibration. It has been my experience with regards riding anything that has vibration to not run the rpms high in the zone where the vibration occurs. If you disregard this excessive vibration and only focus on the speed your attaining while the engines wailing away,you will have a many more problems, so don't ring the little engines neck, and expect it to be reliable. That is simply what I consider abuse, when I first realized that this engine had this unfortunate trait I thought oh well it was only $150 (the price reflects the quality). I am also going to get a morini engine there are two which I'm thinking about. I will probably not by another china engine for there are better engines out there 2 & 4 stroke.

 

[marioaz]

Grubee 66, two months and 600 miles so far. Careful break-in, always warm it up, pedal help up the hills. No oil leaks, no snapped bolts, it developed more power after 200 miles. Easy does it.

 

[WWCherokee]

Every one keeps giving me advice and assuming that because there engine is fine that mine was broken in wrong or I'm over revving the engine or....

I broke the engine in with high quality oil and took it easy.

The engine now will only do about 10 mph because it vibrates so bad that at that speed the gas foames up in the carb and it won't run any faster. Is that taking it easy enough?

The engine is toast. I hardly used it and did everything right. That's just how it goes with these engines. I'm over it and have moved on.

 

[Dan]

Every one keeps giving me advice and assuming that because there engine is fine that mine was broken in wrong or I'm over revving the engine or....

I broke the engine in with high quality oil and took it easy.

The engine now will only do about 10 mph because it vibrates so bad that at that speed the gas foames up in the carb and it won't run any faster. Is that taking it easy enough?

The engine is toast. I hardly used it and did everything right. That's just how it goes with these engines. I'm over it and have moved on.

Just happened to be thinking about this. I think these threads (they come up regularly) just evoke strong emotions. Any one who has ever bought one has very strong emotions on the subject. Love or hate. The folks who hate them are not around long after they tire of them. The folks that love them, read the angry and/or frustrated thread titles and feel their personal and functional piece of art is being insulted and dismissed. For the amount of emotions that brings up, I am always surprised how kind the responses are. The group dynamic here is really fascinating. Good folks. Have yet to meet any one here in person that isn't welcome at our place for dinner. (Carol is an awesome cook)

All that to say, it is not personal. The titles of the "never again" threads just get people going. They are usually long with lots of posts, but die out quickly.

 

[grouchyolfart]

I'm always up for some good eats, but das a heck of a long ride from out here.

 

[thatsdax]

Not sure who WW is.. But.. If you bought that engine from me.. Return it to me for a warranty replacement. The Engines I sell are balanced from the factory and should not vibrate or very little anyway... There must be something wrong with it. Again.. If you bought the engine from me.. Please return it to me and I will send you a new one under warranty.. Thanks..

 

[Dan]

I'm always up for some good eats, but das a heck of a long ride from out here.

GF, Carol's cookin' is worth a road trip and I got a cold one waiting on ya (by car, roll up the windows. By MB, big 'ol snorkel!)

 

[WWCherokee]

thatsdax,

No I did not get the engine from you. I did come to your house a week ago and buy a CDI and a magnito from you.

Brett

 

[Spunout]

i havent read more than just a couple posts in this thread...i get the gist. "these motors are a crap-shoot.....one off the line is a screamer, the next may be a dog."-AZVinnie. thats true.
i DO have two motors on a couple of my personal bikes, that have far exceeded all expectations. one (recently deceased), i had for 4years and over 16,000 (documented and calculated) miles before giving up the ghost. another, has over 10,000miles and is still going strong.
since quality control isnt really a factor with the chinese (they hate us), whats important is customer service. spooky and dax are well-respected for that. Zone8Cycling can suck it.

 

[DEATH4OF4]

You Should Have Tried A Hub Adapter And Smaller Sprocket. It Got My Vibration To Go Away. I Am Hitting 43MPH On The Flat With My 700c Wheels.

 

[Gaft]

...Chinese motorized bike kits SUCK, SUCK, SUCK...

Surely its horses for courses. If you are a high performance enthusiast, get yourself Formula 1 gear, but you'll pay for it.

I've done 8,500 kilometres (that's 5,000 miles) on my bicycle with a reputable Chinese 2-stroke and it is still running as sweetly as when I first ran it. Engine kilometres is up around 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles). The only major problem was that I needed to put a new spark plug thread in it.

Unfortunately, the Chinese 2-strokes all seem to get tarred with the same brush but some of them are actually quite reliable. In fact, there is nothing much in a 2-stroke and if it goes wrong, the simple thing is to find another engine supplier.

 

[Cabinfever1977]

I got a 48cc dual start grubbee kit from gasbike $149.
I put it on a $20 mountain bike.It runs fine,i adjusted it a couple of times,no vibrations and everything stays tight,nothing broken,no leaks,
and if i get any i will seal it up for a couple of bucks,everytime i go to the store with it,i save $12 on a taxi.It will pay for it self in no time.and if the engine ever goes i'll swap out the engine for $99.
And oy yeah it pull started the very first time.