New Rider.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Well, my boy passed his MSF and is now a licensed rider.

Now on the hunt for a bike for him. We were both thinking something lightweight, road legal, dual-sport. Something used and cheap that would need little to no work on my part to get him on the road. So we've been looking.

The Chinese models that flood FaceBook marketplace are getting hard to ignore at the price. Names like Lifan (actually Thailand), Tao Tao (Taotao Vehicles Company, LTD, was has been manufacturing motorsports and other products in Jinyun County, Zhejiang Province of China since 1985), CFMoto (Zhejiang Chunfeng Power Co., Ltd)

A quick search says I should be able to get parts pretty easily, but this is my biggest worry.

We came across this ad for a Tao Tao Hawk 250. (internet claims this to be a clone of a Honda CRF - I have no delusions about how close this is to an actual Honda anything).

Yes it has a title. Street Legal, not far from my house, and $800.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/787659376348550/

I believe this or something similar could be a nice, cheap first bike for the boy. Lord knows my first bike wasn't anywhere near as nice.

Does anyone here have any first hand experience/opinions on this or similar Chinese bikes.

Here's a torture test "review" of the bike. This channel is mainly for entertainment purposes, so they absolutely trash the bike, on purpose. I found it amusing. But apparently some people have more money than they know what to do with.

[rphillips]

A few yrs. back, a buddy got a little junk Chinees or Tiwan 4 wheeler (don't remember the name). It had starter clutch problems. It took a while researching the parts, but wasn't a huge deal. Got it going and rode it a yr. or so then sold it. I was more impressed than I'd have thought I would be.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

..... I was more impressed than I'd have thought I would be.

That's the concensus of the reviews I've been reading on this breed of bikes. Thanks

[Nessism]

My son took his riding course last weekend and passed. He's waiting on his certificate, so he can go to the DMV and get his license now. In the meantime...of course...he bought a bike! An MT-07 Yamaha. And since he doesn't have his license yet, guess who got to ride it 90 miles home? I was kinda nervous about it last night, riding in So Calif traffic for that long, but once we hit the road it was great fun! It's an amazing bike; lightweight, and with plenty of power. I'm jealous.

BTW, this photo is after he came home after riding at the school the first day. He didn't get enough saddle time to get comfortable, so we fired up the KZ and hit the local courthouse parking lot! He only dumped it once!! Ha ha, the bikes first scratches. Of course, I don't ride it much...if at all, so it's about time it actually got used.




20230617_174117[1] by nessism, on Flickr

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Well, we went to see he bike I posted above and we brought it home. I’ll meet the guy tomorrow afternoon at a tag service to handle the paperwork.

The $800 bike has upgraded carb, suspension, front sprocket ( for a little more top end). The kid is pretty happy.


This thing is super buzzy, I had to stop an hour into the 90min ride home to shake out my hands.


Couldn’t feel my but or my toes. That said, I was able to get it up to 65 on the highway. Just glad there wasn’t more than a few miles of that.

Too early for a full review but I think this will be a great first bike for him. He can learn while riding with me on the forest roads. And when he’s at school I’ll use it when I want to hit some trails I wouldn’t touch with the GS.

[JMHJ]

How are knobbies in the rain? Just intuitively, I think I'd be scared of them. There's a guy at work put some on an SV650, and I wondered about that. They looked cool though. Don't know if he rides in the rain or not.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Not really worried about the knobbies’ performance in the rain TBH. They’re the original Chinese tires that came on this Chinese bike. It’s my kids’s first bike. We’ll be doing a lot of riding on forest dirt/gravel roads especially as he’s learning. When these wear out probably go with something like the Shiro 705 like in have on the GS or the 700 which I’ve also used on the GS. 700 is more aggressive but I don’t think you’d call it a knobby, per se.

[oldGSfan]

Took my son out to the desert and rented dirt bikes, gave him a rundown of the operation of clutch throttle and gearshift and took off on him after he stalled it 3 or 4 times Waited about 5 minutes behind a hill around the bend and pretty soon, around he came, hauling butt and mad as a hornet hahaha.

[Who Dat?]

I may have missed the rally, but I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. Gave my son his first riding lesson today.

Well, my boy passed his MSF and is now a licensed rider.

I guess there is now no reason that we won't see BOTH of you at the rally next year.

You would not be the first father/son team there. I think there have already been three or four.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

That could happen. My SIL has a sprinter van we could borrow. Could you imagine riding a 250cc dirt bike 615 highway miles, one way? This thing made my fingers, toes, and butt numb after an hour.

[93Bandit]

My son took his riding course last weekend and passed. He's waiting on his certificate, so he can go to the DMV and get his license now. In the meantime...of course...he bought a bike! An MT-07 Yamaha. And since he doesn't have his license yet, guess who got to ride it 90 miles home? I was kinda nervous about it last night, riding in So Calif traffic for that long, but once we hit the road it was great fun! It's an amazing bike; lightweight, and with plenty of power. I'm jealous.

Your son's first bike is an MT07????? I'm very jealous, those are great bikes. I have several buddies with the 07, 09 and 10.

[gtem]

Congrats on the new bike for the newly minted rider! A dual sport (a cheap chinese one at that) is a GREAT first bike IMO. Not much to break if he drops it, not too much power to get in trouble, plus they're just plain FUN with the upright seating and nice wide handlebar and low weight. That and you have plenty of fun gravel roads to explore with him on and riding on gravel and getting comfortable with how the bike feels when it's loose and doesn't have full traction is all great stuff for building skills IMO.

[oldGSfan]

It's a different perspective a parent, your own kid on a bike. My dad hated motorcycles, but never forbade them. In the 70s and early 80s when I was young, it was 'anything goes'. No rider training, whatever gear you could gather would do. Good to see that we have evolved, but sometimes it seems a bit over the top to an old crusty dude. All is not bad in the world, and we need to savor the good times that motorcycling brings. It has added a lot to my life, that's for sure.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

When I say my dad "taught" me how to ride in 1983 (1972 Yamaha DT250), I mean he showed me how to use the clutch, no real explantation of why. How to change gears, 1 down, 4 up, Neutral between 1st and 2nd. Showed me the throttle. Showed me the rear brake.
Me: What's this lever on the right hand?
Dad: Never-mind, you won't need it.

explanation: I was 12, the alley behind my house was dirt. We rode only on dirt except for crossing the occasions paved road. To this day, I believe I rode that bike for 2 years and never touched the front brake.

Dad was a man of few words. He let me go off on my own or follow my older brother on his SP500. I learned quickly, learned how to crash real good. I dropped that bike a lot. Shortly after getting it, I was riding in the woods behind my house and somehow managed to get my handlebars wedged between some trees. There was sapling @ 2" dia. wedged between the clutch lever and the grip. I had to walk home, grab a saw off dad's neatly organized pegboard, back out to the woods and cut down the offending vegetation. That was the first of many broken levers. But that's the one I remember most.

If I do half as good a job with my boy as my Dad did with me, he should do OK. I'm a little more protective, I think, but I'm not above allowing him to make mistakes, safely. One thing I did get from my dad is the phrase "put my GD tools back where you found them when you're done with them"

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Today we sold the Hawk 250. Noah is leaving for the military soon so it had to go. Happy to see it go, and it was fun for me and him to tinker on. Everyone’s first bike should be kinda crappy.

He just put it up on FB marketplace today after a potential buyer that stopped at our garage sale last week ghosted him. Lots of interest in a short amount of time. A buyer came 100 miles to get it for $650. It was priced to sell despite to money in upgrades we put into it. Just this week I paid to renew the state inspection and registration. I was to meet them at the local notary but left work a bit early so I could stop at home and make sure all was good with the buyer. He was to load it on his pickup at the house.

I see the guys truck when I pulled into the driveway, got out, and first thing Noah says to me is “Dad, I just crashed the bike….bad”. I notice some bloody knuckles and he’s rubbing his shoulder and holding my helmet in his hand. “It’s all messed up, I told him he can have it for $200.” After making sure that Noah is relatively OK, check out the bike. Things I can see: left side of handlebar is bent way down. Front fender is broken almost completely, big chunks of it laying about. Left footpeg is broke, dangling, came off in my hand when I touched it. Bike is f’ed. I got it started and could shift gears, rode it toward buyers truck. Front wheel is horribly bent. FML.

Buyer is Dominican. That’s neither here nor there, just mentioned to explain there was a bit of a language barrier. He wasn’t saying much but I knew he doesn’t have a MC license. Between he and Noah, the story I pieced together is: throttle stuck, bike hit telephone pole, bike landed in ditch. I’ll get more later when Noah gets off work and I’ll have him walk me through it. But he had to get cleaned up before starting his shift at the brewpub. Think I’ll go in and have him tap me a beer. Bar shouldn’t be busy. He was a bit shaken up when I left. Even gave the guy his helmet saying he didn’t want to ride anymore. I started to say something like “it’s 5 minutes after the accident , think about this later….” He already told the guy he’d give it to him. (The gently used $200+ helmet w/bluetooth I had just handed down to him with a brand new face shield on it)

What’s bothering me most is Noah just had this bike at a local shop yesterday, where the owner inspected it, rode it, and slapped a new sticker on it. It was to be in good working order. I’ll never get the chance to figure out what exactly happened, and why.

Trashed bike gets loaded in truck, guy has no straps. No way I was giving him mine. So it’s laying down in the bed, of course gas is pouring out of the tank overflow tube. I found a nail to plug the hose. No idea if that would keep what was left of the gas to stay in the tank. His problem now. Guy followed me to the notary to do the title transfer. Costs him $179+ with tax and fees. We chat a bit and I learn that he rode many different bikes in DR. I’m not so sure. He didn’t seem to know which side the throttle was on. We shake hands, off he goes. When I get home I realize I was probably supposed to keep the license plate to return to PennDOT. It is impossible to get a person on the phone. I found a way to send an email. Waiting on a reply to see what I’m supposed to do about the plate. I don’t want to contact the buyer again.

We definitely lost money in this deal, but the important thing is Noah is OK. I’ll get him back on a bike, when he’s ready.

No pictures. Not sorry about that. Thanks for reading.