Hongdou Urban DZ125

look after it and maintain it ;i get 145 mpg ? ten pounds 300 miles say no more

I bought one for the wife to get some experience on, and I've ridden it more than she has!

It's great fun - like being 17 again! I've chosen it many times over my 600 to go to work on because it's a bit of a laugh and handles really well.

The build quality isn't as good as a Honda or Yamaha, but then you're paying a third of the price.

It goes ok even with my 16 stone on it's back and is cheap to run and insure (£90 fully comp)

Excellent bike for a first timer, although the seat is a little high for my wife (she's 5' 4")

Cheap thrills. :)

I'd like to start my review with 2 statements:

1) for the price you CANNOT get better value for money

2) build quality out of the box may be bad, but with good maintenance and checks before first ride you wont get a nightmare story like you often see.

It is very true the bike vibrates, in my case audibly from the exhaust between 5-6k rpm, a common fault caused by the exhaust not being tightened when building. whether they leave bolts loose for shipping intentionally I dont know but as many good reviews have pointed out, if you want yourself and your bike to survive then make sure bits are tightened and use nylock (or similar).

There are a few common faults with these bikes:

* vibration causing bolts to loosen (shearing is unlikely unless the bolt is over-tightened)

* totally rubbish standard battery and spark plug (replace upon purchase)

* lighting electrical fault (my answer is simply make my own circuit to stop blowing the bulbs)

* the bike rusts very easily (especially in winter even if garaged)

Other than this most faults are a product of poor maintenance or vibration.

These aren't "bad bikes" but you have to appreciate them for what they are. Mine tops out at 65mph but happily sat there for 2 hours (Manchester to Birmingham). This isn't a race bike (though I've read its not too bad off road if properly built), its a 4 stroke so wont accelerate as quick as other 2 stroke 125's (however they tend to blow up.. trust me :D).

If you treat the bike well then you'll have only few problems which you could expect from any bike.

As a note I would recommend replacing some consumables upon purchase (eg brake shoes/pads, spark plugs, battery).

overall I'm happy, I have had to do work on the bike and there are little niggles but in no way do I regret buying it!

So if your on a budget, looking for something to learn on that can handle you dropping it, or even if your wondering how to do work on a bike. I'd strongly recommend this bike.

given the choice between a new chinese bike or an old 125 with however many previous owners trying to destroy it, I'd pick the chinese everytime.

Happy Riding

I have been riding around on my Hongdou Urban DZ125 for just over 2 years now & having just pasted my direct access I'm now lookin for a bigger bike, maybe a BMW F800GS or a Yamaha XT 660r! In all honesty i can say that, when my DX125 goes...it goes quite good! It looks great, sounds great & can hit speeds of around 80mph (with a tail wind behind you lol) Even although i would recommend this bike to a new biker, i do think that this bike only good for that reason! Its cheap to run, all the recurring problems (with my bike at least) have taught & given me the confidence on how to strip it down & fix it when the need arises! Problems that i have encountered with this bike are as follows 1: CDI box failure 2: Starting in Winter (it just hates the cold - but if you increase the tick over speed just a little in mid winter it does help) 3: Battery failure (after only 6 months) 5: Headlight/Tail light seem to blow every 2 - 3 months 6: Main wiring loom is pants! (where it comes down under the fuel tank, every wire in that loom is joined together with tape at some point! Occasionally these wires break & cause problems such as lights,indicators, ignition from working...depending on the wire that broken) 6: in winter time the bike just rusts & rusts so you have to keep polishing the chrome bits every week to keep it off!

Im now looking forwards to having a bike which has a lot more power & is alot less maintanence free! For all its bad points...it is good for a learner!!

i have had the urban dz for over 3 months now and it is a nice looking bike and i have had 85mph out of it with somethings done to it, but it does fall apart and you have to spend money on it, the welding aint good on it and takes a while to start up but once its running it is a nice bike to ride it just dont like the cold weather

I have owned 2 of these bikes and over 150 motorcycles in the past the welds and build quality are not great but then these are buget machines i paid £200 for the 2004 one i have which had a tick over problem when i bought it but after cleaning the carb out was fine and they sound great though i wouldnt want to take it to far as it might full apart

The Hongdou Urban DZ125 bike is okay for commuting, had some problems with leaking petrol tank as well and had to have mine replaced as well, also cdi unit failed and had to replace it, vibration on bike has caused a lot of problems and welding is terrible, cost me a lot more money to repair and wish I had invested in a Yamaha DT 125 instead, bike is still running now but rust is a problem... although bike cosmetically looks good its very temperamental

I bought the Hongdou Urban DZ125 from a good friend of mine after its original purpose was no longer needed (meant for someone else to learn on).

Build quality and parts aren't be fantastic, but for 600 quid, I believe it is well worth the money. Plenty of grunt for a 125, and they sound pretty nice under bridges/through tunnels =P

With my head down, looking like an idiot, I managed to get 70 but that REALLY pushing it. It'll sit quite happily between 50-60.

This wee Hongdou Urban DZ125 bike was fun to ride...it went everywhere and anywhere....I was a bit hesitant about buying one but then i took the plunge and bought two! One for me and one for my partner We bought them in the shipping crates and built them ourselves, after reading some of the reviews i took no chances and treated all the bolts i could find with threadlock, this worked a treat and i have had no bolts work loose. At 200 miles my partners bike quit...it just wouldn't go and after some investigation it turned out to be the cdi unit...that bike is now 10 months old and has 2000kms on it with no further problems. My bike went will but eventually developed a problem leaking fuel and we had to change the petrol tank. There great fun to ride...whether your across the fields, on the beach or on the road.

These bikes are great to learn on, top speed of 65mph. I've taken mine everywhere, long trips and short trips, road, off road, through water, over sand, up on rocks and off again. Only problem I had was that the CDI unit failed after a week, bike just cut out and wouldnt start. Also the carb clogged, but it still rode home, backfiring all the way! was easily fixed by taking apart the carb and giving it a clean.Apart from that, I love my bike and wouldnt change it for the world, it looks good, sounds good, and runs good.