<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: rideatvs2live

Yeah, I saw a 400cc Linhai - Yamaha, and a 550 for the trail as well. Good to see something large enough to actually get some speed.</end quote></div>

Sorry to say.. Those Linhai ATV's look so much more like a Polaris ATV it isn't even funny.. when was the last time you seen a Yamaha ATV with the shift on the RIGHT side.... let alone Racks like that... Yes it would be nice to have some storage like that on our Yami's but that is a Popo deal...


I found this article / new announcement:
Link to Yamaha Multi-Purpose Engine Manufacturing Joint Venture in Jiangsu Province, China

"Yamaha Motor has reached a 3-way agreement with the Chinese motorcycle engine maker Jiangsu Linhai Power Machinery Group Corporation (representative: Lu Haimin; Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, China) and Yamaha Motor's motorcycle manufacturing joint venture Jiangsu Linhai Yamaha Motor Company Limited, known as "LYM" (representative: Lu Haimin; Jiangsu Province), to establish a new company to produce multi-purpose engines. The agreement will be officially signed in Shanghai on August 1, 2003. "

"it will produce six four-stroke multi-purpose engine models with a maximum rating of 12 hp"

After looking at the pictures more and the video.. seems like nothing else about that ATV is Yamaha... MAYBE the engine.. but I doubt it since the Yamaha/Linhai plant is focused on small engines as stated above.. Also the Shift Lever is Polaris style all day long!

So my take is Linhai is making Hacked together ATVs using a hodge podge of parts... I bet their frames are weak as well... And they are selling them for $5300? Who would play $5300 for a no-name brand 400cc 4x4 ATV when you can spend a few hunderd more $5700 for a Polaris 400 4x4, $5800 Yamaha BigBear 400, or even $5400 for a 3 wheel drive Honda 420!


Good luck to anyone who has purchased one of these... I will however help you out if I see you broke down on the side of the trail [img]i/expressions/beer.gif[/img]

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: les99

hi there i new to this site i have a 550 linhai 4by4 it go as well as the yamaha 660 ..this year yam came out with the 550 it is the same motor and trans...the frame on the linhai 550 is honda 650/680 ricon</end quote></div>

Ah - Huh?

Welcome to the Site... but I doubt you can compare a Linhai 550 4x4 atv to a Grizzly 660....

So you are saying your Linhai 550 has the Yamaha Grizzly 550 (558cc) Fuel injected Engine and Transmission stuffed into a Honda 650/680 Rincon frame? If so send the pictures because this is really really hard to believe...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Stoopidbot

I still wouldn't trust a Chinese built quad.</end quote></div>

Well the thing is, its not so much the fact that China made ATVs are built in China, it is that they have poor quality control in those companies.....

The Chinese people are not stupid...lol...... it's not like they cannot build quality things. It is just that most of those Chinese ATVs built now are geared and made more as toys than they are serious off road motor vehicles.

They don't have strict safety codes and designs made for hard off road riding. And the factories don't have the quality control standards in place that the Japanese companies do....they cut corners to save money, because that is how toys are and have always been made......

Now if Yamaha is going to send people to this plant, to run it, and maintain some quality control standards, the machines might well be OK. I'm sure that if Yamaha is going to set a standard of operation and help this company produce serious ATVs, the Chinese people will have no problem meeting the standards of Yamaha.

As it is, many of the parts on our Japanese ATVs are made in China. Only difference is they need to pass the high standards of quality control set out by the company buying those parts like Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki etc......

 

I never said they weren't smart. I know that they have no quality control, that is why I wouldn't trust a Chinese built quad. I don't see Yamaha jumping that far into it. If they are a silent partner and own 21% of the company, they get 21% of profits for doing nothing but handing over a little loot.

 

Linhai of China has been manufacturing engines for Yamaha for about 8 years now. In the late 1990's, they worked with Yamaha to develop new products for Yamaha to build into their product models sold world wide. Yamaha even owns a small percentage of Linhai and keeps their QC and engineering staff on site to assist Linhai in the development of it's new engines and products. Linhai has learned a lot about product development and building quality products from their dealings with Yamaha. They are now the second most common scooter brand in China behind only CF Moto. It is because of their abilities to develop and build quality products that they now build models for the US market.
http://www.buyatvscheap.com/LI...4-p/li%20300%204x4.htm

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Stoopidbot

I never said they weren't smart. I know that they have no quality control, that is why I wouldn't trust a Chinese built quad. I don't see Yamaha jumping that far into it. If they are a silent partner and own 21% of the company, they get 21% of profits for doing nothing but handing over a little loot.</end quote></div>

Yeah sorry I didn't mean it to look like you were calling the Chinese dumb or anything, I was just trying to stress the point ......

But either way, I'm in agreement with you.... I would not personally buy a Chinese made machine, but you and I are ATV fanatics. There are a lot of people in the Ute market who only want something that will putt-putt around the farm or go exploring on occasion. So in that these off brands do have some market.....

I'd rather buy a used Honda or Yamaha then a new off brand...... my Rancher, which I paid $2,000 for used, has now outlasted two of my neighbors "Tractor Supply" ATVs. He was still insistent that because he paid only $2,500 for each that he's gotten his money's worth...... I could not make him understand that if he just bought ONE $5,000 Honda or Suzuki that he would still have that first one and it would still probably be perfect........but he keeps saying "Honda ATVs cost $10,000" and I try and explain that only the biggest and baddest of anything costs anywhere near that, and that you don't HAVE to buy the biggest one..... he just won't understand.....

 

Sounds like a thick headed guy, hey it's his money! It would be nice to have a good reliable 2000 buck brand new quad someone could just cruise on. Too bad there are so many bad apples that the one good one is over=looked.

 

yes guy you are right it is a chinese atv but the motor is yamaha and trans is as well...it is a good starter atv to see if you would like to play harder or not... as for the it being tough i ride with 660 grizzle and a 700 grizzle and a canam 650 i do all the same as they do and go as hard as they go on the trails etc:But when i get my next atv it will be a 800 canam 2up.....tks for you in put

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: CraZySteve

So my take is Linhai is making Hacked together ATVs using a hodge podge of parts... I bet their frames are weak as well... And they are selling them for $5300? Who would play $5300 for a no-name brand 400cc 4x4 ATV when you can spend a few hunderd more $5700 for a Polaris 400 4x4, $5800 Yamaha BigBear 400, or even $5400 for a 3 wheel drive Honda 420! </end quote></div>

And those are MSRPs - you can get them for around $1000 less around here. I can't imagine paying $1000 more for an untested chinese quad.

 

Being that Yamaha invested into this company, there must be some promise in the company in the future. It is just a matter of time before a magazine picks up on the atv's and does a review being it is a yamaha backed product. When this company starts getting banged around with the price, they will adjust to level out the market. Right now it is very farcical to draw an opinion on this machine without a solid review of someone who will put this through a beatdown of offroad tests and totally pushign this quad beyond its limits to see what it offers. I think everyone should wait and see what promise this company has in the future. It is a very clever design idea(referring to the 400 4x4 http://www.buyatvscheap.com/LINHAI-400-4x4-p/li400.htm) which def. does resemble a polaris with its own flare. I think it is a neat looking machine and want to see the quality. And, this being a crappy machine can harm yamaha;s reputation in the long run, so they may work hard to keep the quality control on these very closely regulated.