Zontes T310X
 

Nice looking little Adventure style bike.
Sensibly priced
What do you peebs think?
Anybody got one?
Can share their experience.

Not on my radar but interesting

Apart from 3000km service intervals!!!! Crazy

I've never heard of Zontes before; I had to google them to find out more.
The MCN review is pretty mediocre... I think if I were travelling any distance I'd spend the extra money to get a known brand with known parts and service.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-...es/t-310/2019/

If it makes it to 3000 km in the first place. :blushing:

Just the usual Chinese junk.

Mezo.

Don't forget what they said about Japanese bikes!!!!!.
The Chinese are a cummin:eek:

I wouldn't take any notice of them, or the glossies.
They have a publication to sell.

More interested in how many valves they have or if one is 2 mph faster than another

Owners reviews only. Imho anyway.

Apparently 3 years in design and trials

Check the tube u.

They come out quite well.

I have seen one for sale 6 months old. 1200 miles. With hard cases.
£3200, got it down to £2900, that's £1500 off

Tbh I offered £2500. May be worth a punt at that. Maybe not :whistling:

Their 125's are good for China, decidedly average against the Japanese big four. A case of paying less now but maybe having more hassle later. Using their own name instead of buying a defunct European brand also made me more interested. My conclusion was they were close but not there yet. Look at the corrosion on one at three years old compared to a Honda.

I'm currently having as little as possible to do with Chinese products, but that's a political thing that has no place here, except to say I've stopped looking.

Andy

zontes
 

for the cost you could buy far better 2 year old bikes , don't be fooled by all the cheap extra's for that money cb500x better by miles

Trouble is Andy, inadvertently you buy chinese every week I bet. They are sucking us in. Then they will bleed us dry.
India too

Chinese bikes
 

Mainly refereing to ATK in Colombia/South America.

https://www.aktmotos.com

I get the impression that
* Persons that have bougth them and used them for touring South America are happy with them.

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...-200-la-101134

* Persons that have never seen one of these, are sure they are crap.

But that is my personal reflection.

DON'T...

I'm currently working on a few warranty issues on Zontes bikes that a shop here used to sell.

They are utter sh*te...

Really cheap chinese JUNK...

Bikes with less than 5,000 miles with burnt stators, seized up everything and failing electrics.

Chinese bikes are in my experience a total lottery. And I believe that comes from complete lack of quality control of their assembly and the really cheap components they use.

If you buy a brand new one then you will probably have 12 months or a long trips use out of it.

Would I buy a second hand one...... NEVER.

Would it be helpful or even possible to draw up a list of Chinese built bikes with a good reputation for quality based on actual first hand experience of owners? I have seen posts from people who have used them mostly in South America who have had great experiences and others who have had a nightmare. My own experience is limited to my Honda XR125 which is made in China and is everything you would expect from Honda in terms of quality, I have also had a couple of Indian built Heros while there and found them to be well built, reliable bikes and would certainly include that brand on any list of cheaper motorcycles that are worth having.

The problem with this as I see it is that chinese made bikes comes in a huge cluster of brands, names, models which many are just exactly the same bike model as another, just with totally different names and badges in different continents and countries. Saw a lot of AKTs in south America, didnt seem too bad although not as good and reliable as japanese bikes made under license in south America.

CF Moto brand seem to be the better one. It gets quite good reviews from western expats who lives in China. One guy took one of the models and rode it from China to London and back to China again without too much hazzle. CF Moto also has a well known ATV range I think....

https://global.cfmoto.com/MOTORCYCLES.html

I guess many people on trips buy brand new Chinese bikes. And they're likely to be fine for the average trip of South America. Even cheap shit should last a three month trip up and down the Pan American.

Everything on them is cheap and fragile. It doesn't need explaining.

It's a gamble you take with everything built to an extreme budget in factories with very poor working conditions and no quality control.

I wouldn't bet on it, not quite the same but I bought a $100 bicycle that only had to last for a fortnight's holiday on Oahu and do a circuit of the island, the bloody chain snapped after 3 miles and at the end of my holiday every bearing on the thing was knackered in no more than 100 miles, absolute junk.

Why would you bother when you can get a Royal Enfield Himalayan brand new for £200 more? I know which I would expect to last longer and to have a spares supply globally.

Why ??
 

159 kg vs 182 kg
19 liter fuel vs 15 liter
35 hp vs 24 hp
equipment that are X-tra on other bikes are standard

I'm like a broken record here with this bit of advice.

Just buy a used Japanese or European bike. A ten year old Jap bike will still be better than a One year old Chinese bike if it has been even remotely looked after.

A twenty year old Jap bike will be still better than a two year old Chinese bike..

If you offered me a twenty year old Jap bike or a six month old Zontes, I would take the Jap bike all day long. I would actually pay more for it.

You can buy a plethora of EXCELLENT time-tested, well loved, over-polished quality and engineered bikes for about £2000-£3000. These bikes would have cost near £10,000 not so long ago.

Just because something is new does not make it any good. And just because something is old, it does not make it worn out or superseded.

The difference in quality is literally black and white. There is no comparison.

FWIW - and to echo Ted - I recently bought a 2002 Suzuki DRZ400E, a DIRT BIKE, which had been well used off-road, has over 22,000 km on it's SECOND speedometer (new just in the last few years), no idea what the first one had on it, paid good money for it - but it's now been thrashed by me, with really zip for maintenance, just some personal tweaks - and it's fine. Never missed a beat, starts instantly, everything works perfectly, and I think it was a BARGAIN. Would a Chinese bike I could have bought new for not a lot more money be better? I don't think so!

I have literally just bought a second hand 2002 DRZ400S. Out of nostalgia from the one I rode to Capetown ten years ago. Great minds think alike ;)

It has been well thrashed. Ridden to every corner of our continent. Dragged through bogs and rivers and maintained to a very tight budget. It's twenty years old now and it still starts on the button and everything works. Okay, it needs a bit of TLC but nothing serious.

In comparison, at the motorcycle dealership I contract at the moment, I have two Zontes in for work. They are both less than a year old.

On one, I am replacing the entire wiring loom, every sensor, throttle bodies and fuel tank. The distributer doesn't even query a single claim as they know how bad they are.

The other one I had to replace the Stator and Reg/rect. Burned out in 800 miles.

The Zontes components feel like they came out of a Kinder Egg. They are so flimsy and pathetic. I am in disbelief how this stuff passes any kind of safety regulations.

For example, I turned off the fuel tap so I could remove the tank and the pipe union SNAPPED off in my hand. LITERALLY SNAPPED. I am not heavy handed. I am used to working on fragile components. (New BMWS's) ;)

For example. I Stator on a Zontes costs £18. On a Jap bike it would cost £200-£300. But I stator on a Jap bike should last FOREVER. It's a false economy.

There is pretty much no test or requirement for robustness and none for longevity. It passes the test on the day, its in. All test vehicles are specifically prepared, conformity of production is done by part number audit.

The European system is also competitive. TUV Wolfsburg have one customer. If they'd shouted about emissions they'd have gone bust. Personally I always liked the Spanish test authorities, buy them breakfast, kick the tyres, bit of testing, lunch, fill out the certificates.

I wonder how many of these Chinese bikes get past the US Federal or Canadian Authorities? You can lie on their self certification but get caught and you are gone. They know how to spot the usual lies.

Andy

That sounds like how I do MOT's

Although no ones bought me breakfast yet. I need to change that.

:rofl:

Touring Ted to another thread URGENTLY!

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...houghts-101394