Chinese Scooter Review

Hey folks,

It's been a while since I've posted. To date I've bought and sold 26 motorcycles and scooters in the last 5 years. One of the type of bikes I really enjoy flipping are Chinese scooters. I was in Taiwan in the Fall and saw their scooter culture. It's rather impressive, their infrastructure for scooters is amazing and you'll see thousands of them on the road!

Seeing all those Chinese scooters proved to me that they're reliable. Think about it, the manufacturers churn out millions of these puppies a year. The kind that I saw on the streets of Taipei and Taichung were mainly Chinese made. Most of them have been to hell and back, but they run!

Once I got back to the states, I started planning on buying a scooter. Through some networking and deals I made, I scored a Jonway 150cc scooter from a friend. This thing had a few miles when I got it. I quickly started customizing it with a stereo system and a vinyl wrap.
 A few months later the scooter has almost 900 miles. I use it 3-5 times a week. It pretty much as replaced my car. The only time I use my car is when I have to carry passengers or go to the grocery store. 

Anyhow, let's get to the review. At nearly 900 miles (and growing), the Jonway 150cc scooter has been super reliable!

100 miles: cleaned the carb for safe measure since the scooter sat for a few years.

300 miles: I changed the oil to a synthetic blend.

400 miles: vacuum line connected to the intake manifold came loose. Replaced it with a new hose. Hasn't come loose since.

On occasion I've had to adjust the idle speed. The screw for the idle seems to vibrate it out.

Since then I haven't had to do anything to it. I know most forums recommend adjusting the valves at 600 miles, but I  haven't done it, I figured that it's fine the way it is.

The scooter keeps running like a clock, my only complaint is that the fuel tank is only 1/2 a gallon, which means I have to fill up every 40 miles. Other than that, the fit and finish, quality of parts all seem to be on point.

My only recommendation for any Chinese scooter owners is to replace your hoses right away. The stock hoses that come with the bike just aren't that great. Your local auto parts store has hoses for super cheap, about $2 a foot. Get 3-4 feet of vacuum lines and about 3 feet of fuel lines. That should be plenty enough to replace all the hoses.

In my opinion, Chinese scooters will run for a long time as long as you maintain it. Oil changes and valve adjustments (super easy to do) are the basic thing these scooters need to run like properly.

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