I have been seeing new 4 stroke mopeds lately. I had always wondered if anyone would ever make one, and how they would run and handle. I see the "Com-Ute" by Honda is a great looking machine. Does anyone know the price of this bike, and what are the handling charachteristics of it? Thank you.
'Nilla dog
I don't know it's price, but I do have lots of experience with a lot of types of Honda fourstroke mopeds.
THEY ARE THE BEST, they handle great, they give a good pull, the sound is awesome (especially if you take out the muffler) and they run about 170 - 180 Miles/Gallon if you don't "tune"them too much.
I have not seen anything about them but If you have ever ridden an Indian 4 stroke you know the smoothness and tractability can not be beat. Also take care when riding with no exhaust as you run the risk of burning the exhaust valve. A common problem with the indian but also with any 4 stroke engine.
Chris
The moped warehouse
www.mopedwarehouse.com
And it's hard keeping a gasket in the old Indian...or at least so I heard from the two guys in Baltimore that had them..apparently they had difficulties with that.
I suspect they might not have been using the right material, however.
-Ree
Thanks for the info so far, guys. I found out the com-ute is made by a chinese company called PANDA, not Honda. Its motor is modelled after the Honda four stroke moped, though. I am looking for a dealer that has one I can test ride. So far, only a place in Irvington, NJ that can special order them. I wish somebody local had one in the store for test riding, such as the Moped Warehouse or Steve's Moped. I actually prefer the Moped warehouse, because I have gotten better service from them thru the years than Steve's. Oh well... my quest for info continues.
'Nilla dog
I agree i have an idian my self and they are sooo smooth the have soft shocks a smooth engine not to loud of a exhaust but not too quite either and also its just a classic it is sort of like a chopper moped or at least i think so. They have a ton of chrome on them as well.
Fox
I don't know where "home" is, but there is a dealer in Onieda, NY. I tried out a Com-Ute last fall,and it rode well and had plenty of power but it is a 3 speed shifter and the shifting was very clunky and hard to shift. It comes with a heal-toe shifter that can be installed by the dealer or the owner, but the dealer and I couldn't get it to work at all. My opinion is it needs some refinement but could be a good moped when the kinks are worked out.
Heres specs and price on that bike, go here and click on mopeds:
www.fiveflagsmotorbikes.com
Aha, one of the many Chinese manufacturers. There are a lot of Chinese manufacturers making replica's of Honda fourstrokes. Companies like Jincheng. These replica's are ok for a moped, but they really don't match up with the real thing.
Jincheng make's replicas of the Honda Monkey, the Honda Dax (known as "trial" in the US), the Honda Chaly and the later Astrea grand.
Honda still produces the Monkey and a couple of other 4stroke mopeds like the CD50 and CL50. Honda's quality surpasses the Jincheng quality by FAR, so if you can get an original you should do so.
Then there are 2 Japanese companies (Kitaco and Takegawa) that make Honda 4stroke replica parts for racing use. Their products are superb in quality and the poweroutput of their monster-engines is immense, but they're also very expensive. Takegawa is the only one of these two that builds complete bikes wich they have completely restiled in a racing fashion.
There's also a Korean company that makes replicas of the estrea grand, but I don't know much about these Korean bikes.
stay away from the cheap shit.
it will cost you in the long run when you need parts, go with brand names
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