Chinese Motorsport Product Reviews

Mini ATV Assembly Guide

2010-12-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

I noticed when reading the Giobikes.com Q&A's there are a lot of questions regarding what needs to be done assembly wise when getting these quads, so I thought I would post a pictorial of how I've put the two together I have been involved with. This assembly guide will probably work for other brands of ATV, not just the Gio's.
As usual, Giobikes is Johnny on the spot for delivery, and I had the unit 1.5 business days from sending the payment. Now I know I'm close to him so that helps. Here's what comes in the big brown UPS truck:

The larger box is the actual atv and the smaller is the wheels and parts box. Here is what the quad looks like packaged inside the box.

The 50 cc Gio is much less assembly than the 110cc I initially took on. Here is a pic of the hardware it comes with for assembly. Missing from the shot are the wheels and the battery.

After removing all packing materials other than the bottom support crate, here's what you have:

The first thing I do is install the handlebars. Loctite is used here to ensure the bolts don't loosen up and the bars don't dissapear on you on a heavy bump or panic stop. Ouch!

The clamps go around the bars where there is a machined area for better grab and bolt into the holes here.

Tighten the bolts down well to ensure the previously mentioned condition doesn't occur.

Once I have the handlebars tightened down I make sure all the cables have room to move between the body and the bars, and nothing will get snagged or pinched. I then remove the packing crate completely and jack up the unit in order to install the wheels. This is the point I start checking all the bolts and re-tightening/thread locking much of what I can get at. Most of the bolts on this one were pretty snug. If you don't have jacks, you can make due like me with little stools.

I put the rear wheels on first, I don't think this matters. To install the rear wheels you need to slide the long tubes over the axel bar, rule of thumb is long one on the left. Here is me doing the right side tube.

Then the wheel butts up against the tube.

You then install the small washer, then the big concaved washer. Keep the concaved washer with the curved edge <i> toward </i> the wheel. If you don't, you won't be able to get the rubber cab over it.

Loctite, then twist the nut on.

Then install the cotter pin. Your cotter pin should slide through so the thick end fits inside the castelated nut to ensure it does not loosen off. Then bend the ends of the pin, back and around so it doesn't fall out.

Repeat these steps for the other side and you now have back wheels installed. This is a good time to inspect your back axel alignment, to make sure the front and rear sprockets are running true, and the chain is not too tight. Mine came with the chain extremely tight, so I needed to loosen it off some.

You now move to the front wheels. My ATV came with front brakes, I'm not sure if all the 50cc units do, but this is the second one I have ordered that came with them. The first one I did I had some trouble figuring out the order of the pieces, which was mainly due to some burrs or uneven grinding on the front spindles which was grabbing some of the washers and brake assemblies and not sliding on all the way. This unit was better for that, and everything slid on as supposed to. (Apart from some thread problems which is an entirely different matter)
Here is the order I installed the front wheels with brake assemblies:

Slide the front brake drum right back on spindle, and insert stud through the frame mount. Should be a nut here to tighten but mine was missing on both sides. You then slide the longer bushing/tube up against the brake drum assembly.

Then push the wheel up against the bushing. I should mention that my wheel bearings were falling out of my front tires. I put a dab of loctite on the outside edge before installing them into the hubs. Insert the smaller bushing up against the bearing, then the small washer and the concaved washer like the back.

I would be careful tightening these too much as it will push the bushing into the wheel bearing. I made them snug, so there was room for the cotter pin to sit in correctly, using loctite again of course.

You repeat this process on the other side and you now have a rolling atv with four wheels!

Next comes the battery. The battery sits under the seat. The seat has a latch at the back you reach under and pull and the seat pops off. I find these fun to put back on but I digress. Once you remove the seat, you need to fish the battery cables out from wherever they wiggled to during shipping.

The battery should be ready to go out of the box. There is no acid filling needed on these they are sealed and I have yet to find one not charged and this is my fourth Gio in the extended family. The hardware is taped to it and I would suggest strongly you don't lose them! The connectors on the battery are very small, and it is hard to find replacements for these. I used a dab of loctite on the rectangular clamp piece for this one, as I already have seen two rattle the connections loose and lose the hardware. This is a good item to check for snug bolts regularly. This is pretty straight forward, red to red, black to black, slide into it's hole, make sure the wires aren't going to bind anywhere and plop the seat back on. (Have fun with that) :)

Can't stress this part enough. Now it is time to drain the oil from the motor and replace it. The manual specifies 10/40 for this unit, however I used 15/40 Diesel oil. I have run this in both my 110cc and 50cc. I did not take a picture of the drain plug, but probably should have. It is in a bad spot, with the frame and a frame bolt right below it. Drain oil completely, then refill. I would start with .5 litres and keep checking the dipstick until it's at the safe level. You won't need more than .9 litres, probably less. Oil filling is tricky without a funnel due to the placement of dipstick.

Now for the obvious, put some fuel in it, and put the gas cap on with the rubber hose for venting.

Now it is time to try to fire it up. The 50cc ATV has a manual choke lever on the left side of the carb, which is tucked up under the body. The black 'vent' plastic comes off to provide you easier access to the carb.

Hard to see in this picture, but I am pointing at the choke lever. You pull it up to fully open, then it pushes down and clicks closed, and then you can push it down to open it again. I find it is easier to start by pushing it all the way down.

Don't forget to squeeze the brake lever to start. If you get no spark, ensure the kill switch/tether boot is on correctly as it's easy to bump it. At this point you'll need to do some carb tuning I'm sure, and the mixture and idle screw are on the other side of the carb. Impossible to get at without removing the black plastic on the other side and having a long carb screwdriver.

Overall this quad is pretty easy to assemble, and they are fun little machines.

The only thing left would be to attach the front brake cables. There are instructions on how to do this included with the unit.

Hope this helps you while you're putting together your new quad! Giobikes now only sells these with 110cc motor, but I'm sure the assembly process is the same. The 110cc motor is a good runner, and lots of fun.

Gio Mini Beast 110cc Quad Review

2010-09-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

Back in 2008 I decided to purchase my first ever quad from Gio. I made this decision as I wanted to have a smaller ATV for my daughter's to to ride alongside me on my Yamaha YZ 250 F dirt bike. Not having a lot of money to spend, and not sure if my daughters would love riding as much as I do, I chose to go the "off-brand" or Chinese product over a big name brand like a Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha etc. It has started a bit of a love affair for me on these products, and has opened the doors to new friendships as well.
The Mini Beast will always be dear in my heart as it was the first of many Gio quads I've been involved in, and up until recently was the most upgraded unit in the bunch. It was only recently surpassed in this regard by my larger, adult sized 2007 Gio Beast 200cc.

My Mini Beast arrived at my door for less than $500. It arrived in two boxes via UPS. I knew 'some assembly required' was the name of the game, but I certainly didn't expect the kind of time it took me. For those reading and wondering, the Mini Beast from Gio is one of the more time consuming assemblies in comparison to most of their other products. The owner at Gio confirmed this for me after I spent a good 8+ hours on it. If you purchase one, expect spending some time on it and expect these things to install:

Mini Beast in Box

Handlebars,
Wheels (all four),
shocks,
exhaust system(dual),
fenders,
front grille,
sprocket and rotor protector.(underneath at back)
Battery.

Just Some of the Parts

You also need to set and adjust steering, set up front brakes (if included), set up rear end(chain tension, alignment) and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. My time estimation is not an exageration, and I have a reasonable mechanical background so this is really not a job for someone not used to tools. Please read my other post about the safety of these machines. The Mini Beast will do close to 70 km/hr so you really want to make sure it's assembled and set up correctly.
On to the meat of the review. My thoughts on this ATV after 2 years of ownership are weighed heavily in the positive aspect of ownership, but it's not without it's headaches. I don't think any of these machines come fault free for less than $500, so I want to be clear that for the money I've spent, I really can't complain..but I will a little.
The quad has two major shortcomings. First is the front end, meaning the shocks and suspension set up is just plain not designed well. The shocks are just plain springs, with no damping or rebound correction. To add, the springs are just way too stiff. So stiff they barely move when pushing down on the front grille with your hand. The A-Arms do not articulate at the right angle, due to a pushed in stance to keep it as a small machine. Combine this with the shocks barely moving it results in the fasteners and control arm bushings taking a beating when it hits any bumps. Myself and a few others have been tightening, changing bolts and bushings, and trying to soften the shocks a number of times, a number of ways, and it's still not great. It's a shame, because the machine would handle trails real well if not for this problem. Well, it still will go through the trail, but you'll be doing some good fixing afterwards if it's rough and you hit bumps with any speed. The Mini Beast would really benefit from some form of aftermarket shock, however at this time no suitably sized product has been found, or offered from Gio.
The second concern is the design on the rear axle. It employs what can only be deemed as spacer tubes to control where the wheels stop on the axle. The spacer tubes press up against the brake rotor and wheel on one side, and the sprocket and the wheel on the other. They just won't stay tight, and come loose and rattle quite loudly. It really makes the machine sound like it's going to fall apart, and doesn't instill confidence. If you tighten the wheel nuts up against the spacers more, it preloads the bearings and the brake rotor to the point it won't turn the axle. If you back them off, you're back to the rattling. This does not really affect overall performance of the machine, it just becomes an annoyance and a bit embarrassing hearing it rattle and shake when it hits anything larger than a pebble.
Now the good things, the motor is fantastic. The 110cc powerplant has never given me an ounce of trouble. This is with the stock carburetor which I fully expected to give me headaches, and has not. If I haven't missed the annoying kill switch boot on the back(it sometimes tips and kills spark), and if the battery has a good charge (we'll get to that) the quad will fire right up. I added a performance CDI to provide it better timing and spark power, which it really didn't need just me being an upgrade freak. With or without the CDI it has always made power, started right up, and ran without too much of a miss since day 1, and it still is.

Orange Mini Beast, Brand New.

Your author is a full sized adult, and the 110cc motor will pull me around without too much trouble. It picks up speed well and throws the little machine around perfectly. Now I wouldn't go riding through heavy trails with me on it, but I think it would get by if not so uncomfortable for someone my size. It's certainly great for the targeted age/size group.

Silver/Blue Mini Beast w/ Rider
Copyright, www.familyfirstphotography.com

The quad is light, and is very easily operated by youngsters. I've had kids as young as five on it, and people as old as 40 riding it. It's a cute, good looking little quad who not one person who has rode it doesn't finish with a smile on their face. It has safety features like the kill switch on the back, which is attached to a tether strap, the throttle can be governed easily by a screw on the handlebar, auto transmission so no shifting for the little ones, and excellent working brakes.
Despite the front end issues, the Mini Beast is remarkably durable. Our unit has been thoroughly kid tested, adult tested, and ridden hard for two years, it still fires up and takes a licking for whoever decides to take it for a ride. The machine requires maintenance with checking wheel nut tightness, occasionally changing out the cotter pins for new ones and fresh loctite, it runs and runs and continues to put smiles on people's faces.
I honestly cannot NOT recommend the Mini Beast from Gio for the sole reason of cost versus fun factor. No, it's not a Yamaha, and don't expect one for that kind of money. What you can expect is a fun, light duty quad which with proper care and attention, should get your years of enjoyment for your children, or yourself.
To end this report, I would recommend a battery upgrade, Canadian tire offers a good solution that fits. The Motomaster battery number is 4L - B and the Part Number is CTC# 27-1007-8. This battery will fit the Mini Beast and Mini ATV body styles, although you need to trim the battery drain tube slightly.
I will also add a video of the machine running, because personally I always want to hear what any unit sounds like before I buy a motorsport product. Must be a man thing!

Are Chinese Motorcycles, Quads, Atv's and Dirt Bikes Safe?

2010-09-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

When one looks at the price difference between a major brand motorcycle or quad and those being imported from China, the first question any reasonable person should ask is, "Is it safe to ride?" I know it was the first thing I thought, being that the Chinese brand products were going to be for my kids to enjoy. The last thing anyone wants to see or have happened to them is a catastrophic failure of an important part causing injury to you or your loved ones. My biggest fear was always the wheels coming off, and I'm really not sure why. I don't know if I saw this picture before or after I bought my first quad, but the image has always stayed in my head!

Now what? Photo Author Unknown.

I'd like to say there is an easy
answer to the whole "Is it safe?" question. The fact of the matter is it really depends on you, the owner, to ensure it's safety regularly. This is probably no different than owning a Honda or Yamaha, or Harley Davidson but I would think those bigger brands are a little more forgiving in some instances if you forget to check bolt torque for example. The Chinese machines are not as refined in their engineering, which causes a lot of vibration from the motor. This vibration is the source of a number of headaches, the most glaring being that of loosening fasteners. Yes, you must always check your bolts when being an owner of an off brand motorcycle or quad. It's the number one most important piece of maintenance you can do, that, and buying shares in Loctite.

  It's my experience and opinion only, that the biggest issue that has plagued manufacturers and seller's of the off brand power equipment, is the fact it is delivered to the customer in one big box of rattling metal. Bolts rolling around, falling out of holes in the cardboard from it's long journey across the water to it's intended destination. This box lands in the consumer's front doorway with a terribly written manual, no instructions on assembly and a 'thanks for doing business with us' card.
  Yes, that is my major concern with these products. You are asking many non mechanical people to properly assemble a motorized vehicle capable of speeds anywhere from 50km/hr to 140km/hr at home, by themselves, with no instructions. This is rare in a big brand environment. Dealers unpack, assemble, ensure it's done correctly by certified mechanics (we think?) who know the product and usually know what's a safe way to tighten a bolt or where it belongs. With most Chinese brand products this is not the case. There are a few exceptions to this rule, and I think there are more and more dealer environments springing up selling these products so you can avoid doing this 'assembly' yourself.
  Assembling these products is not generally hard, but you do need to have an understanding of how they work. How the wheels are held on, how to set up the carbs, how to adjust the rear end, chain, steering etc. If you do not have a mechanical back ground you should really have the product set up for you by a licensed motorcycle mechanic.

Douse it with Loctite

  Important things you should know. Loctite is your friend. Buy it, lots of it, use it everywhere you can. At the beginning of this article I mentioned vibration. Vibration is caused by internal components of the engine not being properly balanced with each other. (Car enthusiasts spend a lot of money on balancing their motors.) Now this doesn't hurt the engine itself, but that vibration does travel through the motor mounts, into the frame, into the handlebars and everywhere else that touches the frame (pretty much everything.) Bolts are the weakest links holding your bike or quad together, so they'll be the first place the vibration will cause and issue. Namely, loosening your fasteners. Loctite (or threadlocker) greatly reduces the impact of vibration on your nuts and bolts which minimizes your risk of losing one at the most inopportune time.
  My final point is to not do something you are unsure of and say to yourself, "Ahh, it'll be fine." In fact, if your gut reaction tells you don't think it's 'right' it probably isn't. Get it looked at by someone mechanically inclined. A half hour check it out bill at the local bike shop is a lot better than a funeral bill. There are many resources on the net now to aid you in your product assembly or if you get stuck on something. My favorite spot is Chinariders where you will find helpful, non judgmental people who know these bikes and atv's very well.
  I would like to wrap up saying, "Yes, I believe these bikes to be safe to ride." This can only be said if they are prepared and assembled properly by someone who knows what they are doing, if they are continually checked for loose bolts or problems, and maintained regularly otherwise.
Enjoy your new, or existing bike to the fullest!

Zongshen 200GY-2: Dual Sport Motorcycle

2010-09-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

When fuel prices exceeded $4.00/gallon in 2008, I decided to return to riding motorcycles. However, as I began to research the price of Japanese motorcycles, I got serious "sticker shock!" Looking for a more reasonably priced alternative, I discovered Chinese motorcycles, and started to frequent the China Riders web forum to gather more information.

After doing quite a bit of research, I discovered many Chinese motorsport vehicles are very reliable, and excellent values! I finally decided to purchase a Zongshen 200GY-2 motorcycle, which employs a faithful copy of the 2010, Yamaha, TW200 engine. I paid one-quarter the price of a new Yamaha for my Zongshen motorcycle, but I received a well-built vehicle which I have ridden over 36,000 miles! I would like to tell you more about my Zongshen 200GY-2 in future installments.

Why buy a Chinese Motorcycle or Quad?

2010-09-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

I'm excited to be typing my first blog article on this new site. I think it's about time we have a news/blog site on the POSITIVE aspects of owning a Chinese brand motorcycle, dirt bike, quad, atv, or scooter. Yes, we may expect to have to pull out our wrenches once in a while, but what guy doesn't love to do that?

My love of these products started with a dream, an idea of my whole family owning something to ride through the woods, over the grass, or up the mountain together. You know, a family that plays together stays together! I start looking at prices. Wow!

Yamaha Dirt Bike Used: $3500
Honda Utility Quad for Wife(used):$4000
Suzuki 50cc Quad Used x 2 for kids: $4000
Trailer to Haul Toys to riding area: $1200

I haven't bought a helmet or a gallon of gasoline and I've just spent $12,700. Darn I think, perhaps I better look at peddle bikes instead!

Then I heard about Chinese Bikes. I couldn't find many places on the web not completely trashing on them until I came upon www.chinariders.net. It's a forum discussing these products. What a great community! A bunch of guys and gals sharing stories and information about their products. I've been hooked ever since.

I now own three Chinese brand quads, (all Gio's) and have spent a grand total of $1000 to own all three. Yes, they still run, yes they steer, stop, go over bumps and put smiles on my and my kids faces. Would I do it all over again? Yes.

I'm here to share knowledge about them. To show pictures, share where to buy parts, and hopefully put up some well written, real road (or dirt) tests from new and exciting products from real reputable sellers.

Come often and enjoy the articles.