lexmoto opinions

I love the way the motors parts of the forums work.

People ask for advice/opinions
People who have first hand experience make some very specific reasoned recommendations
People ignore them
Pain ensues...

To recap:

I bought a Chinese bike (125). It was rubbish to ride, it was annoying to fix, poorly made, hard to get a lot of the parts, and broke a lot. - It cost me a load of cash, and left me disheartened with biking.

I bought a SIGNIFICANTLY older Japanese bike (also a 125). It rode brilliantly, was easy to fix/modify, was made to last, parts were cheap, and readily available - It sold for more than I paid for it, and stopped me falling out of love with bikes!



Good luck to anyone who buys Chinese. Maybe they have got better over the last 3-4 years, but I doubt it..

Also, don't expect it being garaged to stop the rot, unless you NEVER ride in the wet/damp. I would dry it and clean/treat it as quickly and as often as possible to help keep it in good nick, and to have ANY chance of reselling with any value.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
I love the way the motors parts of the forums work.

People ask for advice/opinions
People who have first hand experience make some very specific reasoned recommendations
People ignore them
Pain ensues...

To recap:

I bought a Chinese bike (125). It was rubbish to ride, it was annoying to fix, poorly made, hard to get a lot of the parts, and broke a lot. - It cost me a load of cash, and left me disheartened with biking.

I bought a SIGNIFICANTLY older Japanese bike (also a 125). It rode brilliantly, was easy to fix/modify, was made to last, parts were cheap, and readily available - It sold for more than I paid for it, and stopped me falling out of love with bikes!



Good luck to anyone who buys Chinese. Maybe they have got better over the last 3-4 years, but I doubt it..

Also, don't expect it being garaged to stop the rot, unless you NEVER ride in the wet/damp. I would dry it and clean/treat it as quickly and as often as possible to help keep it in good nick, and to have ANY chance of reselling with any value.
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Not as bad as they were, most Chinese bike sellers in the UK have vanished due to your reasons. Lexmoto claim to make sure the niggles are fixed somehow, although they are the first to point out they are Chinese parts and the price reflects this.

Spares are in abundance now through someone called cmpo I think it's called.

Rust wise they are still not long term bikes imo, example my son had the 50cc hunter for just over a year, we do live by the seaside but the complete exhaust system was rusted through. Starts first time everytime though.

But again the 50cc is £1400 2 years parts and labour, the lxr is £2200 with 2 years parts and labour. My son knocked he's lxr over and all 4 of the big bits of plastic had marks. The panels were around £20 each, cheap bikes plenty of spares available and cheap to fix.

For the price I think they are perfect learning bikes for 16 to 17 year olds that look rather nice. I am not in the slightest bit interested in the resell value of these bikes. They are what they are.
 
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See I had a different experience. My first bike was a second hand Superbyke Chinese 125 and I didn't had any problems with it (even keeping it outside in all weather) until the throttle cable siezed due to lack of lubricating about 2 years after I first got it. Service cost was low and it performed as well as any 125. I traded up for a Kawasaki ER5 and had endless trouble with it for the couple years I owned it, although some was caused by a previous owner not treating it well.
 
Well, I've decided to go ahead and get the Lexmoto LXR. When making my decision I also thought about the Suzuki GSX-R125. I am a learner and just looking for a cheap commuter bike that is cheap on petrol as right now I am burning through £70 of petrol a week in my Jaguar XFR.

I see a lot of conflicting information, I have tried to find as many owner accounts as possible to base my decision on and I can find a lot of people praising their LXR but almost nobody giving a negative long-term review. That isn't to say they don't exist but in my experience it's unusual as people are generally quicker to post their complaints and gripes than positive experiences.

The reason I went for the Lexmoto over the Suzuki is simply on the price. The most I can possibly lose on the Lexmoto is £2,099.00, even if it was scrapped my loss is capped at £2,099.00. I saw a few people say they will only last 5 years, if I amortise the cost of the bike over 5 years it only cost me £419.80/year. Since I am a learner and going to be putting miles on the bike I am probably going to scratch, ding, scrape or otherwise damage the bike and factored this in. I think I will probably be the one and only sole owner of the bike, if it only lasts me 5 years I will happily just scrap it at that point as I am potentially going to save £1,800 - £3,600 on fuel costs per year. I also know I will still need to use the car during winter months or when weather doesn't permit the use of the bike and factored that in as a 50% uncertainty of measurement.

I am probably the rare exception where I really couldn't care less about the re-sale value of a bike. I see it as a mere capital expenditure that will be depreciated down to zero value over 5 years. Servicing costs, parts and running costs are still significantly less than the amount saved in fuel costs over the lifetime of the bike. To me, economically it seems a sensible option. The only negative thing I can see is that Lexmoto seem to be uninterested in forcing their dealers to undertake warranty work, etc so I found a few frustrated accounts of people trying to get dealers to fix niggling/ teething problems.

I'll keep the thread updated with reviews at different mileages and servicing/ upkeep costs, etc. I don't have any allegiance to any motorcycle brand: it is a tool for a purpose.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
Good luck, I hope it works out for you. It's certainly not what I would have done given what I know now. :)
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Thanks, if it works out good then I will be happy with the savings over the course. If not then I will show it for warts-and-all and possibly help someone in future if they find the thread through Google.

In the worst-case scenario I see it as education where a maximum £2,099 loss to myself is nothing compared to the possible savings to other people: if it stops 10 people from buying one who would have otherwise then it's a net saving of £20,900 after all. I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised though :)
 
Keep on top of maintenance, oil changes are good to do often on Chinese spec engines. Keep it clean and dry after wet rides to reduce corrosion, may be worth protecting with a sealant/cleaning products when you can.
Store it indoors, or at least under a decent cover, and it will hopefully be ok for 5 years :)
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
Keep on top of maintenance, oil changes are good to do often on Chinese spec engines. Keep it clean and dry after wet rides to reduce corrosion, may be worth protecting with a sealant/cleaning products when you can.
Store it indoors, or at least under a decent cover, and it will hopefully be ok for 5 years :)
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Well it will be kept in my garage and I will probably still toss a cover over it, but the thing I was actually going to do the weekend after I get it I was going to give it a little extra protection with a spray on dry PTFE coating on as much of the exposed frame and components as possible.

.one. said:
My CG125 I bought 35 years ago cost £75 quid lol.
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Ahh the 80's where a brand new car was £3,000 and a house was £25,000.
 
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