Chinese Motorcycles

How To Find And Buy A New And Cheap Motorcycle

I've been looking for a motorcycle for about a year already. The problem is that my budget only allows a maximum of $2, 000. The cheapest alternative is to purchase a used motorcycle but there is never a guarantee that there are no small imperfections in the frame and structure. Also, most of the time, there will be no warranty available with a used motorcycle.

Financing a new motorcycle is almost never worthwhile. Although you may see advertisements for low payments of only $59/month in some cases, these payments basically only cover the monthly interest fee and little else. The super low payments do not even pay off any of the actual MSRP of the motorcycle. And, after the first year or two, which is when the low introductory payments expire, the interest can jump to over 10% in some cases.

I personally do not like the small Kawasaki Ninja 250's or 500's. I think they look a little wimpy. I would much rather prefer a dual sport with only 200cc's over one of the smaller displacement Ninja's. The problem with my preference is that the cheapest new dual sport is around a steep $4, 000. So I did some digging. In this day and age, almost everything is made in China. So I thought that maybe I could find something cheap from there. I researched some more and came up with a few companies that are really putting their names out there. The main ones were Sunl, Qlink, and Hyosung. I had seen Hyosung quite a bit outside the US before but they did not offer any dual sport motorcycles. I was left with Sunl and Qlink.

Both Sunl and Qlink offered a variety of motorcycles for VERY fair prices with with 2 year/unlimited mileage warranties. Most Japanese and Domestic manufacturers do not offer the same coverage. The next question was reliability. According to "Chinese Motorcycles - Growing Fast" by Paul Crowe of "The Kneeslider, " the companies which have been available in the US are being supported with a presence and are growing very fast. And at over 70 miles per gallon in some cases, its worth a second look.

I settled on a Qlink XF 200 because it was ultimately the cheapest. It was a 2008 leftover model and was being offered at only $1, 699 plus $220 for shipping and handling to my door in 2-7 business days. To top things off, they were offering a Bill Me Later program with allows 0% financing for 12 months on orders of over $1, 000. I drove close to 100 Miles to the closest Qlink dealer who had one demo motorcycle left with slight damage to the plastic fairings. I test rode it and it rode very well with a very smooth shifting transmission. He offered the motorcycle at $2, 200 WITH the damage but only had good things to say about the motorcycle. I figured that for the amount that I am paying for a brand new motorcycle, it is worth the risk. I spoke with Qlink about my reliability concerns and they reassured me that when I purchase the motorcycle, a sales representative in my area is assigned to me and should there be any warranty issues, Qlink would pay another (non-Qlink) dealer to repair the motorcycle and would provide the dealer with the necessary parts as well.

Because there are so many growing companies, one way to ensure the legitimacy of a company and the duration of their existence is by scanning over their website. A fad has recently developed whereby any person can go over to China and commission a company to manufacture a motorcycle, however there is no way to know the reliability, safety, grade of metal used to make the frame, and replacement part availability. Many of these operations are "fly by night." Another way to determine legitimacy is to check the company's Better Business Bureau Rating on bbb.org.

I will be ordering my motorcycle on Monday and have already looked into the insurance cost ($236/year) for a 21 year old. I will continue to document my experiences.