Johan W

I know alot about scooters and i have owned a chinese 125cc scooter. Things did break occassionally but for the price, it was totally worth it, especially since i intend on selling these for profit.

I found a website where i was quoted $365 each with a minimum order quantity of 26 (one 20' container) and the shipping to baltimore included (2900), it comes out to around $480.00 USD per bike. ($12,000 total).

This does not seem like too good a deal to be true because afterall i have to spend 12k and thats a fair price. The only thing is this is another country and i have very little to no recourse should they not pay period. They are already making a good profit on these and lots of people safely import from china, but i really need to do my research here.

The name of the company i am mainly considering dealing with is chinaflamegroup ltd. and they are not on alibaba, but have their own 2 sites, chnflm, chinaflamegroup.com, etc.

Has anyone heard about them or purchased scooters from overseas and been scammed?

If so, what are the telling signs and what can be done to avoid wholesale fraud? - Mark

I live in Maryland and received two tickets at separate times for Displaying expired Temp Tags($70) and just yesterday a third one, accompanied with operating unregistered vehicle on highway($290), Knowingly driving uninsured vehicle(had expired card but insurance did drop my family plan about 12 days ago), And driving motor vehicle on highway without required license and authorization (I had a PA license but a maryland walking ID card which he wrote the ticket to, therefore making it no-license).

The reason I was pulled over: I was stuck going towards an exit ramp so i slowed down and used my signal to cross back onto the highway, cutting off some of the little triangle of lines that diverges off the exit ramp. There was a civic in front of me which beeped and pulled over to the right, and then a cop comes out of nowhere from behind and pulls me over.

For that, he gave me Driver changing lanes when unsafe: $90, and Negligent driving vehicle in careless and imprudent manner endangering property, life and person.($140)

I also have an unpaid red-light camera from several months ago. The temp tags have been expired since june, but the tax was paid in PA so i was making time to do that. In any case, I have no points on my license, which is still i PA license because i recive mail there (I think that is fair to say). I should not have given him the MD id card.

What should i do about these?

What i have considered:

Thought about pleading it down but it is a stack of tickets. Also, I should probably get insurance before court. I have had my license suspended in new jersey (Prior to getting it so it was my permit) a few years ago and the only point was over 3 years ago on a scooter so it probably doesn't matter.

I have a suzukia katana 600 (2004), and the chain was a bit rusty. I took the bike for multiple repairs to a motorcycle shop and brought a KMC chain i had bought on ebay for $35.00. They said that the kmc chain was so cheap, that the factory rusty chain would be better and the KMC would break in 1-2 months. Is this really true or were they just trying to sell me something. I just lubricated the existing chain and plan to resell the kmc depending on what answers you guys can give me. I welcome any advice! -Mark

Just curious why there is a disconnect between engine displacement (in cc's) between "cruisers" like Vtx1300c and "street fighters" like Yamaha FZR type bikes. isn't power directly related to acceleration? Are the bike weights that different?