Sinnis Trackstar - Rolling review

[BuckshawBiker]

Thanks guys for the reviews.

I am looking to get my first motorcycle (as yet, still to complete CBT) and after the Yamaha YBR 125 Custom, the Sinnis Trackstar attracts my attention.

Not into the whole racing track look, more the classic styling.

Have seen a few video reviews and it seems a good bike provided it is maintained (as would any).

There does seem to a bit of a statistical bias in that the Chinese bikes may be purchased by those who economise harder and therefore may not maintain them to such a high standard. Besides I understand Sinnis is a Brighton based company? Which makes me think, people diss Chinese phones, but the Apple phone is celebrated (though made in China).

All seems like marketing to me.

Provided it is safe, reliable, and comfortable, I don't really care who's name is on it; the 24 month warranty gives an extra blanket of comfort.

Will be visiting the garage shortly.

[RantMachine]

I'll post the usual warnings once I get to work.

Tl;dr

Warranty is worthless

Bikes are unreliable and rust like crazy even when you look after them well

Parts availability falls away in months

Resale value is negligible

Source: I'm one of the resident Chinese bike survivors.

[RantMachine]

Default response time:

 

My Chinese bike was always serviced at a dealership, in line with their VERY FREQUENT service intervals. That gets expensive, I should note - writes off most of the money you saved on the bike. I also cleaned it regularly and did everything possible to keep the rust at bay.

Plastics cut into some of the wiring around the headstock after ~1 month. The CDI unit fell out the bottom of the bike after ~3 months. The intake rubber split after ~4 months. The speedo stopped working after ~6 months. The starter solenoid failed at ~2 months, ~5 months, and ~9 months. The fuel gauge never worked even remotely accurately despite several replacements. The bits with actual chrome peeled after a few months, and the varnish on the bits of fake chrome (aka varnished and painted plastic) lifted and the paint subsequently washed off leaving them a sort of matt yellowy cream colour after ~10 months. The front brake seized up after ~12 months, I tried to sort it myself but several parts had been done up so tightly that neither Tango nor I could get them off the bike, and the dealer insisted that it wasn't covered by the warranty. I contacted the manufacturer, who washed their hands of it and didn't even reply to me, just forwarded my email on to the dealer, who then got very pissed at me contacting the supplier!

After that I started servicing it myself and found a whole heap of problems, things like an ungreased axle that had rusted in place making changing the sprockets rather tricky. Also, the manufacturer had already stopped supplying many spares for the bike - had to use the front sprocket from a DR125 and stick a washer in to space it out properly. And the replacement chain (Lextek, word of warning to all) from their website was utterly dire, to the point that I was carrying a couple of spanners everywhere so I could adjust the chain on the go. Stretched like crazy despite being very well maintained.

The only bright side was that because most of the parts were discontinued so soon after I bought the bike, it was pretty much an instant write off when someone knocked me off it

Short version:

Chinese bikes are not big and they're not clever. Go Japanese.