RockyDS
Well-known member
I had a Chinese made Pitster XTR250 for just over 3 years and enjoyed riding it.
The engine was a Honda 230 clone. I thought it was good value but I did buy it very cheaply as a bankruptcy sell off. It had some good quality components to be fair, like a nice swing arm and decent fully adjustable suspension, but the switchgear was cheaply done, the air filter didn't fit properly and the seat was awful and a nightmare to put back on the bike.
When I first had it I took it into a local dealer as it wouldn't start. I'd cleaned, reset and checked the spark plug, checked everything else I could think of and even stripped and rebuilt the carb. He told me to leave it on my truck and went and got a new spark plug. After fitting it the bike fired up instantly. I was quite surprised and told him I'd cleaned and reset the spark plug. He said that's a waste of time - just fit a new one. Since then I'd always carry a spare spark plug or two to swap as putting in a new plug just worked - I only ever had to do that out in the sticks once. At home I always had a can of 'quick start' handy as well! I found that iridium plugs definitely lasted longer. It was usually difficult to start from cold anyway and I never managed to kick-start it unless it was already warmed up fully. If it would have started reliably like my 14 year old Honda quad does, I likely would have kept it longer.
A friend of mine asked my opinion on Chinese bikes recently as he'd found the price on the CFMoto bikes to be attractive and knew I'd had the Pitster. He was looking at the 800 which basically uses the KTM 790 engine. I told him the engine would most likely be fine but the savings would be on the rest of the bike and I'd always be suspicious of cheap components, poor metal, and so on. You get what you pay for. I'm also not sure I want to support the CCP indirectly but the political aspect is above my pay grade. I might consider a Chinese made Honda because it would be backed by Honda but a Chinese brand? Not so sure - yet.
Pitster now sells bikes branded GPX Moto and they do get some good reviews. If that local dealer I went to carried them I'd take a look and might be tempted but he no longer carries Pitster and has switched to Beta. I guess that tells us something.
The engine was a Honda 230 clone. I thought it was good value but I did buy it very cheaply as a bankruptcy sell off. It had some good quality components to be fair, like a nice swing arm and decent fully adjustable suspension, but the switchgear was cheaply done, the air filter didn't fit properly and the seat was awful and a nightmare to put back on the bike.
When I first had it I took it into a local dealer as it wouldn't start. I'd cleaned, reset and checked the spark plug, checked everything else I could think of and even stripped and rebuilt the carb. He told me to leave it on my truck and went and got a new spark plug. After fitting it the bike fired up instantly. I was quite surprised and told him I'd cleaned and reset the spark plug. He said that's a waste of time - just fit a new one. Since then I'd always carry a spare spark plug or two to swap as putting in a new plug just worked - I only ever had to do that out in the sticks once. At home I always had a can of 'quick start' handy as well! I found that iridium plugs definitely lasted longer. It was usually difficult to start from cold anyway and I never managed to kick-start it unless it was already warmed up fully. If it would have started reliably like my 14 year old Honda quad does, I likely would have kept it longer.
A friend of mine asked my opinion on Chinese bikes recently as he'd found the price on the CFMoto bikes to be attractive and knew I'd had the Pitster. He was looking at the 800 which basically uses the KTM 790 engine. I told him the engine would most likely be fine but the savings would be on the rest of the bike and I'd always be suspicious of cheap components, poor metal, and so on. You get what you pay for. I'm also not sure I want to support the CCP indirectly but the political aspect is above my pay grade. I might consider a Chinese made Honda because it would be backed by Honda but a Chinese brand? Not so sure - yet.
Pitster now sells bikes branded GPX Moto and they do get some good reviews. If that local dealer I went to carried them I'd take a look and might be tempted but he no longer carries Pitster and has switched to Beta. I guess that tells us something.
