Try our new info resource - "Aladdin's Cave" (Main menu)Just added a separate link to Ash's Dropbox thread (shortcut)
Surely I'm not the only one who is old enough to remember the exact same comments being made about Honda etc. in 1958/59?
No, it's got that mechanical insect look about it. Chinese bits ends the matter!
I suspect the Chinese can build a good engine if Honda write the specification, they seem to be able to make the iPhones for Apple at a suitable premium price!
They look nice if a bit on the plastic side and somehow very similar to the CB650 motor. But.......no YELLOW paintwork :'(, it’s a 400/4, where’s the parakeet yellow .It just shows how the motorcycle world is moving on with the global production of motorcycles taking place in the countries who can offer the cheapest labour and who allow huge factories to be built quickly. I know the Japanese factories have taken a similar path in the past with both Honda and Yamaha using Brazil as a production facility (and also in Italy and the US but that was to get over import duties).I think with the emergence of Royal Enfield in particular the likes of Honda etc, are having to shift manufacture of motorcycles to compete pricewise. Would I buy a motorcycle made in China if it had a Honda logo on it, No. Having witnessed firsthand the sometimes poor quality control of Chinese made products once they have won a big order and the clients have left the country I will continue to steer clear. I have however bought an Indian made Royal Enfield and can say the quality (apart from the switchgear maybe) is easily up there with the likes of Triumph, Honda etc .Norton (in the Garner days) was planning on having the crankcases and major castings for their new V4 and the 600 twin engines made in China. I was told this by the technical guru on the Norton stand at the NEC as I was about to write a cheque for £500 as my deposit for the new Norton Atlas (and I was going to receive the bike by April of the following year he said......... ), when I heard it was a part Chinese made engine I thought better of it. The story goes that just before Garner was found out he sold the rights to the Norton designed V4 engine to the Chinese and it was going to be manufactured under a Chinese name. In the aftermath of the Garner era it was reported that TVS who bought Norton, the V4 motor had a good few faults and it had to be redesigned. I haven’t seen a Chinese bike using the original Norton V4 designed engine so maybe they were also caught out by the Garner smokescreen just as Vince Cable was when he handed him £M’s of tax payers money to build the Norton apprentice training centre that never happened! Still, Donnington Hall looks nice, I wonder what pension pot paid for the renovation of that building
Aye Dave,interesting post about Chinese stuff and I sort of see where you're coming from.But can any of our UK forum members here think back to the late sixties motorcycle scene when we talked about 'Jap Crap'?Well It wasn't long before we had to eat our own words and I think probably the same may soon apply to the saying 'Chinese junk'.
