Update on 11/May/2014:
10500km after 2 years and it is still running fine, no major problem.
I have nothing to do with the manufacturer, nor with any other company, etc. The simple reason I am posting about this motorcycle is that I have not found too many helpful information about this particular scooter on the Internet. Now I have a chance to help those who might need it.
Model: DB125T-26 Sport Scooter
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| ZNEN DB125T-26 SPORT SCOOTER |
- cheap
- relative strong
- 125cc 4-stroke engine
- saving money on public transportation
Other reason we invested in this Chinese scooter is that we did not have more money to buy a better one.
Also it took only 7 months to get back it's price, because we save £130/month on public transportation.
Not to mention the cost of medication, when we got sick because of the sneezings, coughings and germs from the underground, bus, etc.
Purchased online from DirectBikes.
Price was: £834 (including £50 delivery)
- registration: £90
- insurance for 1 year: £320
- number plate and L-plates: £20
Additional expenses:
- application for provisional driving license: £70
- jacket, helmet, gloves: £150
- chain lock: £20
- service book from eBay: £10 (Trevor Fry - Caring for your scooter)
- (unleaded) fuel: £5/week
OPINIONS ABOUT THE ZNEN CHINESE SCOOTER
Most people say don't buy from DirectBikes, don't buy Chinese motorcycle. Either we were lucky, or we just know how to take care of a bike, but our opinion is different.
The salesman from the nearby bike shop was pretty mad when he heard that we bought a Chinese scooter. His opinion was something like this: China just started the scooter business, and they got no experience assembling and manufacturing motorcycles. What they do now is copying Japanese and European models. Now China is somewhere where Japan was when they started to build cars. Well, it is very possible that China will be leader in building motorcycles in the future, that is what happened to Japanese car industry. But not at the moment.
We had not much choice because of the financial situation so we have purchased a Znen Chinese scooter from DirectBikes. We did not regret it. The scooter runs fine, no major problems occurred.
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| ZNEN DB125T-26 SPORT SCOOTER |
It saved us a lot of money already and we are happy with that. My wife is using it 5 days a week to drive to work and back. It is 1 year old now and has 4200 km. It did not fell apart as many people belive :)
So all I'm saying is that these scooter is not as bad as so many people "advertise" it. If you take care just a little bit, it will give you a service for a couple years or maybe more. I guess that is worth £1000.
However I will give some information about minor repairs on this page.
FIXING ZNEN CHINESE SCOOTER
I never had motorcycle, I am a bicycle-guy, but because I love to fix everything myself, so I kinda got a little experience with this Znen Chinese sport scooter.
Unfortunately no mechanical manual came with the purchase. So I had to figure out myself what to do in most cases. But the Internet also helped a lot of course.
(Sorry for my English, I'm not good with mechanical names.)
DELIVERY
It came in 1 piece. DirectBikes delivery was fast (less than a week), we did not have to wait too long. It was packed in a huge box, standing on a metal frame. A forklift took it inside our garage.
We did not have to assemble the scooter. The only thing we did was to screw up the top box behind the seat and placed the number plate with a couple extra holes drilled into the mudguard.
We bought the sticky L-plates, and it fitted perfectly on the front of the scooter.
THROTTLE, TWIST-GRIP
Not sure why, but our scooter's throttle twistgrip was (still is) not very smooth when speeding up. There is a little gap (dead zone) between speeds. But the 125cc 4-strokes engine is quite powerful.
Fold up the seat and remove the cover at the bottom. Now you can access the throttle cable and adjust it with the nut. It did not solve my problem. All I could do is to set the tightness of the twist-grip.Be careful when you adjust the throttle cable at the carburetor end! The locking nut and everything else there is made from aluminium - not steel. If you're not careful you can damage the thread of the bolt and that sucks.
THROTTLE CABLE
The engine can behave differently under certain weather conditions / temperature.
If the throttle cable is too loose, than the engine speed is slow and stops after ignition.If the throttle cable is too tight, u might loose petrol (rear wheel is spinning from too much power).
To changing the engine's idle speed you have to play with the adjuster screw while the engine is running. Make sure the scooter is on the stander and the rear wheel can turn freely. The best position of the screw is when the wheel is not spinning but the engine is running smooth.
CHANGING LIGHT
After 1 year of regular use, the front light bulb gave up. It was a bit tricky to figure out how to remove the front panel to be able to fix the light. I mean it was for me, since I never did this before.
It is all about 5 screws.
1. Unscrew the 2 screws on the front to take off the small brim/peak whatever the name is of that banana shaped plastic just above the front mudguard. Careful, the plastic can break easily.
2. Just under the front lamp unscrew the big screw (got a metal and a rubber washer).
3. Now go around and find the screws underneath the grips/handles (1 each), unscrew them.That should do it.
Stay here because now you have to release the front panel from the inner black plastic panel. You can use flat screwdriver or your fingers if u are ok with that. Do this only in the corners, than with a few gentle hits with your hand make the front panel slide downwards.
Ok, now that you opened the front, you can see the cable that is attached to the lamp. From here it's very easy to change the bulb. With a little twist you can remove the light from the front panel.
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AIR FILTER HOUSING
After a year I found the air filter housing loose from the body. Probably from driving and shaking a small piece of metal broke off on the bottom of the housing, that supposed to keep it tight with the body. Thanks to my habit, not to throw away my junk, I found a similar piece of metal and replaced it.
To get access to that piece of metal underneath the air filter housing, you have to open the housing (plastic box). There are many screws and you need a long Philips screwdriver.
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FLASHER RELAY
After 1 year regular driving the index lights started to behave strange both side, back and front. Instead of blinking, they were just permanently on.
The flasher unit is inside a small round box under the front panel of the scooter. I did not have to buy a new flasher unit. I just bent the 3 contact metal a little bit so the connection with the other cable get better. Now it works fine.
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Sorry, but I have to correct myself. I still got the problem.
In the morning the index lights are flashing, but later in the afternoon they don't.
--> they work, but not blinking. And every day it is the same.
The guy from the nearby bike-shop told me to charge the battery, which I did...
...but it did not solve the problem. Dunno what's wrong.
...update (Nov.29.2013.): f*ck knows what happened.. for some time it works again with no problem :)
OIL CHANGE
This scooter has a 4 stroke engine.
I used a 10W-40 motorcycle oil.
I explain the oil-change in pictures.
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RUSTY REAR BRAKE PIPE (after 5600km)
This was a tough one. What happened?
We noticed that the rear brake was not working any more.
When I pulled the (left) brake lever, I could feel it's loose.
So I opened the brake fluid reservoir (little black box close to left handlebar) to see if it's empty. It was.
[Be careful when you remove the top of the box because I got "lucky" with one of the screws. It was too tight and when I forced unscrewing it, the +/x head broke and I had to buy a left handed drill bit to remove the broken screw. Bad quality, weak screw.]
Then I went to buy brake fluid (brake oil)...DOT4-type.
Then I refilled the brake fluid reservoir.
Then I tried to play with the brake lever.
Then I saw it's getting loose again.
I opened the black box and I saw that the brake fluid was gone.
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Okay, it's leaking somewhere.
I found a small oil-pool under the scooter. Dammn! I said.
Let's find the problem.
The brake pipe which leads to the back was rusty under the rubber covering. I removed it and had to cut off the rubber to clean it.
I found 2 tiny little holes on the pipe and after a proper cleaning I soldered both.
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Then I cleaned the inside of the rubber cover too, because it was full of rust.
Then I applied a primary layer of paint from a spray-can. That is to protect the metal from rust. After that, I gave another layer with a finishing paint.
(to be continued...)
Well, soldering did not work. After I covered the painted pipe with a new rubber hose, I assembled the brake pipe back to the scooter.
I refilled the reservoir with brake fuel and using the 'bleeding' method (jar with brake fluid, small hose connected to bleed valve on rear caliper) I pulled the brake lever several times to pump brake fluid into the rear caliper.
BUT! The solder came off and the pipe leaked again.
I got 2 options. Find a way to plug the holes on the pipe, or buy a new pipe.
...couple days later:
I ordered from http://www.chinesemotorcyclepartsonline.co.uk a new complete rear brake pipe system. It was for a different scooter model but basically the same what I needed.
Paid £35 and already replaced with the old pipe.
Everything works again!
BREAK LIGHT NOT WORKING (after 7000km)
I was lucky to find the right cables responsible for the break light.
A bit struggle to reach the connectors, especially for somebody with big hands.
The problem was that the cable was too short and stressed. It got loose and that is why there was no connection.
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