help me choose this pitbike? (ASAP!)

[aussierider]

hi, someone in my town is selling a used zongsten 125cc, here is the picture... pitbike
thing is they dont know what model/year it is apart from its a zongsten 125cc. they said they are selling it because there son has out grown it, i love pitbikes my self but im 6"1 and im not sure if i would fit it or not. Also does anyone know if this bike is decent? i have hurd that the motors are soild but i cant find any more information. they are selling it for $250 with an old spare bike that doesnt work (has rims, tires ect just no motor) is it worth it? i might be able to get the price down a little bit. thanks heaps!

 

[my67xr]

Welcome to Miniriders

Make sure you drop in to our Introduce Yourself thread and say g'day.

The bike look's like an old Orion or Apollo.
It could be made anytime between about 2007 and now.
It would be ok as an entry level bike.
But i'd say by the condition of it, it might need new forks and rear shock as a minimum.
Being 6' you should be ok with it, you can alway's fit taller bars etc.
The angle of the rear swingarm makes me think it's had a longer rear shock fitted at some stage.
If you get it, try to pay the least you can.
Service the engine, adjust the valve/rocker clearances, oil change , fit a new NGK spark plug and clean it up.
You might want to flush the brake fluid and replace it too.
New plastics and other parts are available on ebay etc or from our site sponsor.
Look at Orion plastics on ebay and check if they look the same..
Check the wheel bearings for play

Cheer's, Craig

 

[mikkh]

What bike is the old spare bike? Do you have any pictures of it?

That bike pictured has problems with engine mounts breaking (frame doesn´t support the engine underneath, the pegs are mounted on engine).
The frame is weak too (bends easily).
The forks are junk (they have thick oil and springs nothing else inside, if I identified them correctly according to the picture).
The wheels are very weak.

 

[aussierider]

they said the old bike is a L85AG 125 (they think) and no pictures yet.
would it be okay for someone just to cruise around on, maybe some small jumps because im still a beginner and only weight 65kgs at the moment. they did say the bike had upside down forks? so im not sure if that is good or not. the last bike i had was an atomic motoX 70cc which was okay for learning but its almost totally wrecked now because i didnt have access for it for about 2 years and one of my family members left it out side for about 2 years and didnt ever start it :/

 

[my67xr]

It is a bigger version of the Atomik Moto X
The tripple's look the same as Fastace tripple clamp's, fork are just stock pit bike fork's
You could just do an oil drain /flush and refill them with better quality oil for a smoother ride, you can also add spacer's in above the spring's to make them a bit stiffer too
The frame could be braced to strengthen it, and you can add a bolt on or weld on cradle to help support the engine, or make up something yourself
Just need to know someone with a mig or tig

Upside down fork's are just the style of the fork's, oil is up top, chrome stanchion's are at the bottom
Conventional fork's have the oil down the bottom and chrome stanchion's at the top

 

[mikkh]

The tripple's look the same as Fastace tripple clamp's, fork are just stock pit bike fork's
You could just do an oil drain /flush and refill them with better quality oil for a smoother ride, you can also add spacer's in above the spring's to make them a bit stiffer too.

Those triples look like fastace ones, but they aren´t. Those are just fastace copies made out of cast aluminium. All the USD pitbike forks (I have taken quite a few of those apart) which have no air bleeder bolts at top have no damper rod pistons . They have just a spring inside the chrome tube. Better quality oil won´t improve them. The rebound is still too quick (although using lots of oil helps it a bit, but not much.)

 

[my67xr]

Yeah the tripple's are a fastace copy, eg dirtmax or similar?
But they are still a lot stronger than most of the cheap bike's tripple's, they're thicker and they use an extra bolt on the top and the bottom clamp's

I can't see if there are bleeder screw's on the top's of the fork's in the pic or not.
But if they have bleeder screw's there like my old Orion and old Atomik stock fork's did then an oil change with 20ml-30 ml more per fork, and some 19mm spacer's between the spring's and cap's made a big difference to the feel

The only USD fork's i've seen without bleeder screw's were some 600mm fork's off a CRF50 copy

 

[gottagetacheaperhobby]

The ddr 125 that I got callum years ago had the same forks and triples, and they are fairly different to the ones you pictured craig, and I actually cracked them when I dropped them on concrete without the forks in them. If they are the same triples on this bike, and they do look the same, I would be swapping them asap! The bar clamps werent adjustable..

 

[mikkh]

Yeah the tripple's are a fastace copy, eg dirtmax or similar?
But if they have bleeder screw's there like my old Orion and old Atomik stock fork's did then an oil change with 20ml-30 ml more per fork, and some 19mm spacer's between the spring's and cap's made a big difference to the feel

The only USD fork's i've seen without bleeder screw's were some 600mm fork's off a CRF50 copy

It is getting dark around here, I can take pictures of my set of forks tomorrow (they look the same and are spring only setup).

Those Orion/Atomik forks would work excellent IF they had used real piston and shims damper rod setup. Most of the times these forks get fast rebound because the washer, that holds the shim in place shatters, beacause it cast iron. Don´t have any of those apart currently for photos.

Random pic of bleeder screwless forks off the internet (notice the swingarm wear LOL ).

 

[my67xr]

Yep, i believe you.
I haven't had those style tripple's or fork's before, they must look stronger than they are.

So getting back to the ops' original question, do you think this bike is worth $230 - $250 AU ?

 

[mikkh]

I would pay 150 AU max for it and wouldn´t bother with upgrades.

 

[motodevo]

If you're wanting a 125 its maybe a little high pricewise but if everything works as it should its not a bad buy. If you want to buy it and make it faster, spend a little bit more for a higher capacity bike and save yourself a bit of cash and alot of work in the long run. Theres a bit of a price hike between up to 125cc and over 125cc as most 125cc and lower bikes are primary clutch bikes meaning if the bike is revved to 10000 rpm the clutch is spinning at 10000 rpm. Larger capacity engines clutches only spin at a fraction of the engines speed meaning less likelihood of a clutch exploding on you.

I bought this 125 for $100 a few years ago, it needed a new master cylinder which i had (available for $30 or so from pit bike shops). It's definitely no racer but as a playbike for mates to borrow its perfect