The Chinese Motorcycle

[Mortblanc]

You need the skills to work on your own bike anyway, no matter where it is made or what the brand.

Shop time at my local dealer is billed at $110 per hour with a one hour minimum. That would be about 90 pounds I guess.

Fortunately I have been riding the RE for a year and a half and it has needed no attention other than oil and filter changes which I do myself.

The China bike has required "piddling". I have been informed that some people do not "piddle" very well and must pay others to "piddle" for them.

Once I had piddled with the Chinese carburetor until I reached my zone of frustration I decided that buying a $50 carb was cheaper than paying $110 for someone else to tell me not to expect my piece of Chinese $#!t to work properly after they finished.

I have found, like many others, that the quality of Chinese products is directly related to who is doing the final QC.

Every Japanese motorcycle maker has at least one model that is produced in China, Harley is having parts produced in China and all of the BMW 800 series motorcycle engines come out of China.

Almost the entire automobile electronics systems world wide are produced by China, or have bits made there, then are branded to the respective firms. Imagine my shock a few years back when I discovered that the replacement control module for my Ford truck was branded Mitsubishi and stamped made in China!

Primary problem being that here in the states nothing is being shipped from China at the moment. All of the tool outlets are empty, all of the motorcycles and scooters have sold out with no replacement shipments in the flow, fireworks got scarce this past holiday. Sporting goods stores have bare shelves with no optics or electronics being replaced.

I am sure the computer and electronic suppliers are in the same situation.

I was also informed by my local cable company, which provides my internet service, that they are completely out of repair/replacement parts for the home internal systems because nothing is coming in from China.

Everyone can rag on Chinese quality all they want but half of their life is dependent on parts made in China that they do not even know exist.