MotorbikesToday.com

Anyone ridden one of these Apache 125's For £500 on Ebay, copy of Honda and able to use Honda engine spares, they seem just the job for a rat to go to work on, without getting salt on the VTEC. Can't find a write up in any of the comics. They are either rubbish, or the comics have pulled together not to write them up to save Honda losing sales to the Chinese. Someone out there must have tried one????????????

I have seen one of these in the flesh, as it were. They look reasonably well put together but I have had first hand experience of poor quality components on cheap chinese imports. However, it seems that pretty all the parts are interchangeable with the Honda model so it shouldn't be too hard to make it reliable and at £500 it is a very cheap way to avoid the ravages of winter making a meal of your Pride and Joy!

You pays yer money and takes yer choice I suppose.

Did you get one then?
What is it like? you can hardly go wrong for £500 - or can you?
By the way, do the Council really put salt down in Devon? I thought you lot lived in a balmy mediterranean climate!

Gripper

No Gripper, I think that's just BARMY!

Just finished assembling one for my Son; bike is amazing value, cheap switches but surprisingly good welding; delivery was four weeks late from Trademac so our lad opted for the next registration period. We left off the back rack to save weight, instructions are clear but could do with some pictures to clarify the text. Brakes were already bled; I'm an ex-mechanic so it all went together pretty easily.

Text describes fitting the side panels as 'a fiddle' but all you have to do is gently use a soft mallet to tweak the backing metal brackets into position so that all the holes line up. When we'd assembled it the starter was pressed and the solenoid stuck on, the bike was cranking away for about a minute until I could get the side-panel back off and tap the solenoid to unstick it. Found the terminal had been cross-threaded and distorted the internal workings, so I rang the Trademac office and Mark sent a new one straight away, which bodes well for future service backup and spares availability. Nothing else was faulty and nothing was missing from the kit in the crate, apart from they forgot to put the number plates in and posted them a day or two later. The speedo cable needs re-routing or it wouldn't last five minutes, but that is in the instructions from the supplier. All the cables are 'dry' and need oil and tweaking to route them smoothly, there's only three to worry about, speedo, clutch and throttle.

Don't try to run the standard large back sprocket as this limits the top speed to 50mph; Trademac sell a smaller one (46 tooth) and this transforms the bike into a reasonable commuter; I ordered one when calling about the solenoid.

There's a lot of potential to save weight if you can be bothered, as many parts are iron that could be changed for alloy; this would make a fun hobby if you like tinkering. I'd buy one, or look their alternative supermoto as it is lighter with an alloy frame.

The bike looks good when finished; draws a lot of comment from people when told the price.

Handles OK if you don't go bonkers with it round corners.

Kev