Appraisal of New Grubee GT1 Cruiser Bike

[Irish John]

Several years ago he brought me the first so called 80cc over in his suit case for the sum of $505.00. It was the roughest bike kit I had ever seen. Even the muffler looked like scrap metal. When I called him on it, his answer was:"You know that Chinese quality control is not very good, just take the muffler and get it chromed".

Thanks John

That would be about what I'd expect from Grubee. Was he wearing a shiny suit as well?
The big problem with this kit is that they designed it without knowing the small all-important technicalities like, for example, they thought it would be taking a larger back sprocket but it needs to be smaller and this changes so much else because the chain line on a 44T interferes with the band brake lever and it also means that with the engine sitting so high the tensioner has to go too far back along the chain stay and it is then misaligned with the line of the chain and keeps wanting to ride over the tension wheel wall at the back. To remedy this I will have to make a washer that is thicker at the back than at the front to give the tensioner wheel a kick to line up with the chain. They hadn't really got a clue about the proper set-up of the drive train and it is the perfect drive train set up that makes all the difference between a bad ride and a good ride.
If it in fact needs a smaller sprocket than 44T these problems would become too severe to build the rig. It's all very hit and miss I'm afraid but there are many good things and good intentions with the G4 kit. Sadly it's the detail that brings it all unstuck and the width is actually preposterous! People will hate the width of this thing.

 

[Irish John]

Catastrophic near-death GT1 Steering failure

Today the GT1 cruisers steering snapped where the head joins the stem. It is a very very dangerous design for a joint between head and stem to begin with but to see how catastrophic the failure was see:
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=23078
Put your brown trousers on before looking at the pictures! The rider is lucky to have survived.
The above appraisal of the GT1 should now be amended pending a total product recall for safety reasons.

 

[Foximus]

Perhaps I missed it in your first post, but where do they sell this bike and how much do they cost?

 

[Irish John]

They only sell on Ebay and the guy has gone to Thailand until 29 Sept.
Until he fixes the stem problem I don't think he'll be allowed to sell any more.
I forget what they cost but its probably $400.