yesterday my bike went bang.she was dour to start after a break,then whilst doing 60 on the duel carriageway she made a pop/bang noise and engine died.some kind of fluid appeared on chain guard and exhaust and made a nice wee puddle.recovery guy reckoned i'd ridden her to hard for a 125,is that possible,would you not have some kind of warning?
     don't want to call mechanic until i have some possibilities,experiance has taught me as soon as they spot my ignorance on all things mechanical there will lots of teeth sucking,technical talk and pound signs.
     Shes a haotion 125,does anyone have any suggestions please?

Cassie, it does rather sound as if something has let go within the engine, possibly with the loss of your oil. Can't say what from the description you've given, though if the engine had locked up solidly you'd have had a pretty scary moment. I mean, scarier than the one you've obviously had. (sucks teeth) To be honest, I don't like the sound of it from the information you've given. If the engine has broken something substantial inside, then it's probably uneconomical to repair and maybe you'd be looking at a new engine. Chinese bikes are the coming thing, but spares supply can be a bit patchy and besides, an hour of a mecahnics' time is still an hour, no matter what the bike. It's difficult to be certain from 300-odd miles away, but I'd be tempted to assume the worst and then be suprised if it doesn't come to that. Again, I can't say whether you've ridden the thing too hard. If there has been a catastrophic failure in the engine, then it wouldn't have given you any warning. I see there's a couple of Chinese bike dealers in roughly your area, one in Arbroath and one in Aberdeen. Both charge £42 an hour labour, and a brand new Haotian 125 Vixen is £845 - do your own sums! I assume the bike wasn't under any sort of warranty. Best of luck, and tell us how you get on.                                                                                                                                                                                

Thanks so much for that Wills,just what i didn't want to hear,lol.

At least now i know any and all teeth sucking is genuine.

Looks like i'm gonna have to crack open the piggy bank and make a call or two.

Will keep you posted.

You'd be better off getting a nice little jap 125 cruiser than getting the Vixen fixed. With a jap bike you're guarenteed good longevity.                                                                                                                                                                             

Vixens barely run in tho Rattler,any specific recomendations.                                                                                                                                                                              

my friend has run a 125 dragstar for almost two years trouble free and only sold it recently because he done the das course . he went on many ride outs with us with big bikes so it got some serous flat out use there worth having a look at cassie                                                                                                                                                                             

Cassie I know exactly where you`re coming from re. getting ripped off.  I know sod all about bikes when it comes to fixing them but if its barely run in I`m assuming you bought the bike brand new and is there no kind of a warranty on it??                                                                                                                                                                             

cassie silly question but is the bike still under a warrenty? If not there are plenty of spare part / second hand dealers out there that would sell you a running engine to keep you running.                                                                                                                                                                             

Cassie, the importers' website lists a complete engine as £206.83, which might give you some guideline to work from. Have you plucked up the courage to have a look where the fluid, almost certainly oil, is coming from? If there's a ragged hole somewhere in the engine, then look no forther. The website for Llexeter, the importers, says there's a 12-month warranty, btw. May be worth checking when it was first registered, assuming that you bought it second-hand. I don't think they've been imported into the UK for more than a few months, so a warranty may be transferrable.                                                                                                                                                                             

hey guys,thanks so much for all your advice/suggestions.

Unfortunately,haotions are such a new import second hand spares are unobtainable at the moment K.o.t.j,am looking into the warranty thing tho.

I bought the bike from a guy who bought it brand new,did 7 miles then was diagnosed with a medical complaint which prevented him from riding it,he never registered it in his name so according to docs i am first owner after importers.Bike was first registered in Nov '06 so gonna contact importers and see where i stand.

Teeth sucking bandits have been foiled as well Claire,got a knowledgeable bud coming round tomm to give her the once over and is willing to make himself available for the mechanics diagnosis.

Wills you astound me,you are a mine of information and have saved me hours of searching which i get so frustrated with,thanks so much,its really appreciated.

At present my options seem to be,repair and sell,hurry thru big test and buy something meatier or repair and sell,buy myself something more suited to my needs(very possibly a dragstar,cheers Graham)and take big test when i feel ready to move up.

I hate making decisions,oohhh its sooo hard being me

                                                                                                                                                                             

Just check how many miles you've done, Cassie, and make sure you've got receipts for any routine servicing. You'd hope that the dealer/importer would do the decent thing, but if someone wanted to wriggle out of a warranty they could probably point to a clause saying that proper servicing was required. I once had to back up a friend from Brazil who was a postgrad at Liverpool Uni. She bought a car from a back-street dealer when she arrived in Liverpool in September, and come the first frost of the winter the coolant froze and the engine cracked wide open. Car was supposedly serviced when she bought it, but they tried to get out of a warranty claim on the grounds that she hadn't kept to the servicing schedule. As she'd only done 1,000-odd miles before it went bang, they didn't have a leg to stand on, as the service they'd supposedly carried out should have checked the anti-freeze. Took trading standards plus a letter from Sexy Rexy (Claire will know who I mean - local solicitor) before they gave in, but they wouldn't have dared try it on with a scouse bloke. Obviously foreign woman was fair game, alas. Moral is, get as many people on your side as you can.                                                                                                                                                                               

Glad you`ve someone who`s judgement you can trust Cassie and willing to do the work too... added bonus     I`d definitely consider going down the trading standards route and see if the warranty will cover the repairs.    If all else fails we`ll get Sexy Rexy on your case. You only need to mention he`s representing you and the manufacturers will be quivering in their boots lmao