Yeh the china bikes are absolute crap! Not worth the time and effort let alone the injuries! Mate had a mini 50cc quad and the ball joints fell out when riding along, forks came off, brake line started leaking. Like Justin said get a old Jap bike.
Dunno what brand bike you guys have been buying or seen, there are mega cheap ones, but my Pitpro has last me a year of riding. The only things ive replaced are the cheaper parts inwhich they put on but were never meant to last (usually just put on to sell the bike), but i walways wanted to do that anyway. Things like handle bars, grips, bendable brake/clutch lever and cheap tires. Now my bike is great. One thing you HAVE TO do is lock tight everything. But then you have to do that with a brand new Honda/suzuki/kawasaki bikes anyway. Me and my mates have all owened "proper" Jap bikes, but now with the price of these cheaper ones we could buy one every year and throw em away when the tires wear out and buy a new one. Remeber, fixing a jap bikes fork seals, rings and tires, costs what one of these CCB costs.... I say go for it Lurch, you wont beleive the fun that can be had for $500.
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dattos aren't MEANT to be nice - they're meant to hardcore - occasional road use only, semi rally / racing cars with stripped interiors, full cages and a pair of webers.