For less than $300 you can put an engine on a bicycle.

Stay away from the cheap Chinese scooters. They will work fine for a while and when they break, you will have a very hard time finding parts. Even the "dealers" have trouble getting parts for them. Stick with the major brands. Vespa, Lambretta, Stella, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, etc.

Cheap and Good are mutually exclusive when dealing with a new scooter.

I've put over 3600 miles on a $1699 Chinese 250cc scooter since March 26th 2008, zero problem, great fuel economy, easy to work on, yet to break down once.

Even taken it off-roading for 30 some miles:

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...7c69ecc923.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...1af40df3df.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...855e1b1352.jpg

meangreen, if price is important, you'll want a china bike or scooter - something in $900-$1700 range.

150cc can be had for under $1K shipped if you look around
Here is an example 150cc scooter with storage trunk shipped for $888 :
https://www.atvdiscounter.com/Picture...4027&bg=000000
https://www.atvdiscounter.com/Scooter...oductInfo.aspx

One thing I'll recommend is that you research who you'll be buying from - either google or visit scooter forums. Main problems I've seen people complain about: missing MSO/paperwork/certification so can't register; drop shipping - sometime take 3-4 months to deliver; American Lifan black-listing legit Lifan VINs with DMV - can't register; shipping damage - broken fairings, missing parts (like front wheel); some vendors don't seem to care what they ship - bike can be a wrong color or even different model/type

Quality on private label brands (e.g. Roketa, Sunl, Viva, Tank etc.) can vary as they are often changing suppliers. I know Roketa outsorced some bikes from Chaunl and they were nothing but trouble - leaking fuel hoses, overheating, electrical problems, carb issues, poor casting/parts breaking (manual starter, foot pegs, engine mounts, etc). QLink is pretty good quality vise - they used to have Zongshen as their supplier and now switched to Qingqi, but their prices are astronomical.

For OEM name brands - Lifan, Zongshen, Qingqi, CF Moto are the big ones. There are many other good suppliers, and a few bad apples in between, so do you research - it's worth it, because quality on better chines brands is getting close to Japanes big four, at less then half the cost, even if you compare to used bikes.

Ross

Cat0020 - Nice pics! I was just looking at your scooter mods list, why did you take out CD and speakers? Also, any problems with overheating? I heard many 250CC water cooled scooters (e.g. Roketa Bali 250) had poor airflow around the radiator, did you have to redesign yours?

Thanks
Ross

Cat0020, Do you have a website for your scooter? If you do, i think I stumbled across it and just have to say, Breath taking photographs!

As far as scooter go, Honda is always a safe (but expensive) bet for ultra reliable, smooth runner. Mine started on the first kick after sitting for years haha.

I can't hear the radio/MP3 player/speakers at 30 mph, unless I crank the volume all the way up.. then I can't adjust the volume unless I open the seat hatch and adjust it while the engine is idling.. (but not while riding).
These scooter stator crank out very little (electrical) juice to begin with, once the radiator fan kicks on, you're limited to very little available current to power other things. I took out the radio and speakers to allow more storage room under the seat and in the front glove compartment.

After more than 3600 miles of usage, I have never had overheating problem.
The temperature guage rarely get up to 1/2 way, 90% or time the guage stays well below 1/3 hot, once the radiator fan kicks on, the temp guage drops down between 1/3 and 1/4. I changed out the OEM coolant and flushed the radiator with distilled water at 5 miles on odometer. Put in Honda coolant, distilled water and Water Wetter at 60/30/10 ratio. I think i will leave the radiator as is, seems that my opertion of this scooter is not straining the cooling system at all. If really need to, I will add an oil cooler instead of moving the radiator somewhere else.

I check the engine oil every week, usually change every 1000 mile or so.

https://s262.photobucket.com/albums/i...ter/?start=all

I put my scooter pictures in the link above

Once I worked on my scooter and realized how easy these Chinese scooters (or scooters in general) are to work on, I'm never buying another scooter over $2000.

You can thank Honda for that, since your bike appears to be a Reflex knockoff. ;)

Colin, that plot is a bit deeper. Most mainland china scoots copy their 250cc engine designs from CF Moto and Linhai. Where Linhai was a derivative of a Yamaha, and CF Moto based on Honda Helix. So there you have it - a copy of a copy, but most of them do pretty well from what I've heard.
Ross

I'd imagine so. When you don't have to engineer your own product, half the battle is already won. It comes down to metallurgy and tolerances.

I'm not sure how the 250cc stuff compares, but most of those 150cc GY6-engine scooters have crappy welds all over the frames and the kind of wiring quality that could make a Best Buy "crimp-and-pray" stereo installer cry. Engines are fine, though. In fact, my Ruckus is getting a 187cc 4 valve GY6 this winter. :)

Colin