lexmoto

Soldato
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Do they make anything bigger than a 125?

Just 50 and 125. Made in China and they do copy other brands bikes. Their version of the VanVan is only £1300.

Chinese... get a Jap 125.

The kids are all over these. Just because of the price. Like I said, have overtaken everyone apart from Honda but might not be long till they are number 1.
 

IC3

IC3

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The thing with Chinese bikes is, they loose value quickly. When you pile miles on it, even though its a fairly new bike it'll be worth 2x less than what you paid new.

Now my example, I've bought KTM Duke 125 for £2050 and after 8 months sold it for £2450.

If you want to keep the Chinese bike for a longer time, then you might as well get it. If you don't plan on keeping it on for longer, I wouldn't bother... this is coming from someone who has owned 2 Chinese mopeds (I was 12-14, don't judge me :p)
 
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If you want to see depreciation you buy a Chinese bike as IC3 said as soon as you roll it out the showroom it's worth 50% of what you paid, they also have a habit of disintegrating in the rain.

They're cheap for a reason although they do seem to be improving slowly so one day they may be up there with their Jap counterparts in the first time rider category.

They also come with weird stuff like speakers in the fairings, obviously to appeal to the yoof.
 
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It used to be that you'd buy two of the Chinese bikes so you had a full set of spares....

But I do love how that JIANSHE adds £4.99 for a tax disc holder by default....

Personally I'd look more towards a used CBF125.
 
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I have never heard anything positive about the Chinese bikes. All have been around build quality and reliability.

People seem to buy them as they are half the price of other 125's and then quickly realise why! Then try to sell them to get a Jap 125

Edit: some Chinese brands have gone for bigger bikes. The HYOSUNG GT650 Comet is a rip off of an SV650
 
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I have never heard anything positive about the Chinese bikes. All have been around build quality and reliability.

People seem to buy them as they are half the price of other 125's and then quickly realise why! Then try to sell them to get a Jap 125

Edit: some Chinese brands have gone for bigger bikes. The HYOSUNG GT650 Comet is a rip off of an SV650

Hyosung are Korean, so cant be included in the "Chinese" group, they do make some decent bikes.
 
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My sons friend bought a Lexmoto Lowrider new in 2013 . Think there about £1300 . Other than consumables and a service he had no issues with it but after getting stolen and recovered he gave up on it and left it in the garage .

6 months later he passed his car test so wanted rid.. I paid £60 for it and spent the next 2 months getting it roadworthy again .
Mostly due to corrosion the list was pretty long .
2 new tyres
new caliper
new rear brake cable
rear brake light switch and cable
battery
rear light assembly
headlight assembly and bulb
tank resprayed
chain and sprocket
starter motor
plug and oil
plus general tidy up and full front rewire of loom from damage when it was stolen

My son now use it daily to go to college and it sips fuel and so far has been reliable but they pretty much rust in front of your eyes .. Parts can be quite expensive but is based on the suzuki gz range so a lot of parts are interchangeable.

Personally i would get summit Japanese. Only reason we bothered was the low purchase price
 
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A few friends of mine have bought and ridden these, and they all have the same set of problems in my experience,

- Not assembled right, important bolts are loose from factory - eg. Swingarm , Stand, Handlebars
- Electrical Problems - Rectifiers go more than old Hondas, Wiring loom is very poor quality and water corrodes it out after the first winter with water under the cable sheath.
- Carb setting is weekly, as they go out of tune very quickly - this often leads to a fight to get the engine running again.
- Plastics crack horribly if you drop it, or just through normal use if roads are bumpy.
- Dashboard fails, electronics or speedo drive.

This is all from my memory of a Jianshe and a few Lexmotos. It must be said, sometimes you get a good one and they are acceptable - but its a gamble.
 
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In... Just here to read all the bike engineers comments on how rubbish they are compared to mainstream bikes ect as they always do because they're cheap, If you want a cheap 125 to mess around and not sell on go for it.
A few friends of mine have bought and ridden these, and they all have the same set of problems in my experience,

- Not assembled right, important bolts are loose from factory - eg. Swingarm , Stand, Handlebars
- Electrical Problems - Rectifiers go more than old Hondas, Wiring loom is very poor quality and water corrodes it out after the first winter with water under the cable sheath.
- Carb setting is weekly, as they go out of tune very quickly - this often leads to a fight to get the engine running again.
- Plastics crack horribly if you drop it, or just through normal use if roads are bumpy.
- Dashboard fails, electronics or speedo drive.

This is all from my memory of a Jianshe and a few Lexmotos. It must be said, sometimes you get a good one and they are acceptable - but its a gamble.

I think your talking about the other ones that look at the same is it the pulse adrenaline ?? I think lex made a lot of changes ect..

My friend has a lex adrenaline its a fun little bike

I have a drz400sm btw
 
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Soldato
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They're Chinese, that's enough reason to completely avoid. :p

I'd just spend more and go for something like the CBF125 - tried & tested, decent manufacturer, >100mpg, ridiculously cheap to maintain and run and good re-sale value.
 
Soldato
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In... Just here to read all the bike engineers comments on how rubbish they are compared to mainstream bikes ect as they always do because they're cheap
Not so much rubbish just for being cheap, so much as being cheap is what results in them being rubbish.

They buy the design off the mainstream manufacturers and then copy-build it using flimiser (and also cheaper) materials than they were designed for, resulting in more frequent (and in some cases catastrophic) failures. We had a local courier buy some Jin-Cheng copies of famously "bulletproof" Honda bikes, once... They were buying genuine Hondas within days, as half the bikes fell apart during transit and two of the frames failed while their riders were doing 40mph down a dual carriageway.
JinCheng quality also caused problems for the ScooterMan franchises.
 
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In... Just here to read all the bike engineers comments on how rubbish they are compared to mainstream bikes ect as they always do because they're cheap, If you want a cheap 125 to mess around and not sell on go for it.


I think your talking about the other ones that look at the same is it the pulse adrenaline ?? I think lex made a lot of changes ect..

My friend has a lex adrenaline its a fun little bike

I have a drz400sm btw

It was summer last year, so quite recent - the bikes were (if memory serves) a Jianshe JS125 and a Lexmoto Arrow ? Don't get me wrong, I would love to be proved wrong - a fun little 125 for pocket change is something I would buy for when I can't be bothered with the Pan European, i just have trouble trusting them after wasting so many hours fixing my mates!
 
Soldato
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Who said they're worried?
They can't be THAT worried, as I've not even heard of these Lex guys...

Worried that someone will mistake the Lex copy for the big brand original, perhaps?

Well they are, the missus works for Honda bikes. Regardless of opinions on quality, the kids are buying them and buying a lot! They sell more bikes than all the other manufacturers, of course they will all be worried.
 
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