Birth of a Moto

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
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Residents and tourists see motos all over the streets, shiny ones on delivery trucks on their way to a dealer and in showrooms. I thought folks might want to see what happens between the shipping container and delivery to the showroom floor. Most motos are built like this, more or less.

Alida and I had a meeting at the coffee factory in Jarabacoa last Saturday and I wandered around because we were early (actually, late, but MY 15 minutes late is Dominican one hour early.) It?s the coffee off-season and I wanted to see what maintenance was being done. I walked into the export warehouse and was met with this:
Warehouse.jpg



<O:pMotos and boxes everywhere, a virtual factory of moto assembly. I knew the family imports, sells and finances several brands of motos, including their own private label (BR), but I thought the assembly was done at the lot. I guess not. So I walked around and took pictures of the process.

Seems a container was delivered during the week.


They are imported in lots of 8 and come in 8 frame/parts boxes:
Frameparts.jpg



8 Engine boxes (small square ones on the left):
EngineBoxes.jpg



And 8 sets of Tupperware* in one big box:
BigBoxesofTupperware.jpg



Three guys are doing the assembly. One guy takes the frame parts:
Frameasembly.jpg



Wheelsshocksforksexhausthandswitches.jpg



DashSprocketSteering.jpg



Starts building the frame:
FrameAssembly.jpg



FrameAssembly2.jpg



And bolts on the motor:
Engine.jpg



Engine2.jpg



Engine4.jpg



Engine3.jpg

^^^Note^^^ the serious bash plate :cheeky: I never knew small motos came with one.


Another guy, using boxes of bolts, connectors and sophisticated tools:
ToolsandSmallParts2.jpg


<O:p</O:p
The Tupperware*:
Tupperware.jpg


Does the final assembly:
Finalassembly2.jpg


</O:p
Finalassembly.jpg


The third guy is a GoFer.

Each bike gets a quart of fuel, a fresh battery, oil, tires inflated and gets cranked and checked for leaks.</O:p

This particular moto, a BR105 (for Belarminio Ramirez) is a 110cc Yamaha Crypton clone and sells new for RD$43,000. I cannot tell the difference when examining them side by side. I rode one and it seems like a decent ride for a small, budget moto.

So now you know...
 

jrjrth

Bronze
Mar 24, 2011
782
1
0
~Hey how long does it take them to assemble one moto??

Love the high tech Power tools....fzzp...fzzp...fzzp...they need their own sound effects:laugh:
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
There is an assembly house on the way to Gaspar Hernandez just like the one you covered CB. An interesting place for someone who likes tools and motors. They had over a thousand assembled Chinese copy motos from 50cc up the last time we were there looking for parts for a private label BM (Busco Morro - LOL) moto. You too can have your own private labeled clone business if you want to order mass quantities and resell them here, but I recommend you don't try that at home. The clones that I have seen were similar to the Krypton, but all had small differences from the original and amongst themselves. Similar but different.

They could not help us find the plastic parts we needed, nobody in the country could, and we eventually sold off those bikes. CB, it is interesting to hear that they are now making exact copies of Yamaha Cryptons. Is that right down to the plastic parts being identical or just "similar" ?
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
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There is an assembly house on the way to Gaspar Hernandez just like the one you covered CB. An interesting place for someone who likes tools and motors. They had over a thousand assembled Chinese copy motos from 50cc up the last time we were there looking for parts for a private label BM (Busco Morro - LOL) moto. You too can have your own private labeled clone business if you want to order mass quantities and resell them here, but I recommend you don't try that at home. The clones that I have seen were similar to the Krypton, but all had small differences from the original and amongst themselves. Similar but different.

They could not help us find the plastic parts we needed, nobody in the country could, and we eventually sold off those bikes. CB, it is interesting to hear that they are now making exact copies of Yamaha Cryptons. Is that right down to the plastic parts being identical or just "similar" ?
I would not go into the basic moto bidniz. There isn't much $$$ in the sale, The $$$ is in financing, and loaning money here is NOT a gringo business.

Honestly, I can not find any discernable differences between a Crypton and some of the clones. Even the engine stampings are the same except for badging like on crank inspection ports. Are the the exact same and parts interchangable? I don't know. But they look like it'd take a DNA test to determine...

I do factually know this: many of the Suzuki models in the DR are made in the same Chinese factories as the dreaded Chinese models. So that leads me to believe many of the larger brands do the same.

From my perspective the Chinese models have pretty much caught up in quality to the lower end "name" brand motos. Certainly some motos are higher quality than others, like Chip's Yamahammer YB125E and Jessica Rabbits Honda Storm. I've ridden both and they are real motorcycles.

In an industry with few factories and many million produced units, it doesn't take that much to improve quality at a low cost.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
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I found two different, vastly different, Yamaha YB125E models on a quick search. I hope we are talking about the first one?

The good:

Zennco Super Motard YB125 for ?1199.00 OTR

The not so good:

YAMAHA YB-125E - Karachi - Motorcycles - Scooters

I do suspect that they disassemble the metal parts of a Yamaha in China and make carbon copy castings of the engine and drive train. The parts do seem to be interchangeable. All of the clone bikes I have seen have slightly different plastic pieces and nobody carries spares of those. Either you make friends with someone good enough to repair Corvettes using fiber glass or you end up with a bike that looks like something from a Terminator movie if you ever crack that shell.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
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dr1.com
I wonder what they do with all the left over nuts and bolts?
Do they use Loctite on any of the fittings?

The Chinese are replicating everything these days, even down to oil rig parts. The problem is, often it's low quality and a serious safety hazard, especially when you're talking about 15,000psi rated hoses, joints etc.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
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I wonder what they do with all the left over nuts and bolts?
Do they use Loctite on any of the fittings?

Loctite, use Loctite here? Now that is funny. I did see a tube of Silicone gasket maker in the pictures, but I suspect they have not ever used Loctite thread locker.

I had heard the term Chinese Copy all of my life, so it isn't just a recent trend:

Chinese copy - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The term Chinese copy has been around for a while:
Definition of CHINESE COPY
: an exact imitation or duplicate that includes defects as well as desired qualities
First Known Use of CHINESE COPY
1920
 

Bigocean

New member
Nov 25, 2010
255
2
0
I wonder what they do with all the left over nuts and bolts?
Do they use Loctite on any of the fittings?

The Chinese are replicating everything these days, even down to oil rig parts. The problem is, often it's low quality and a serious safety hazard, especially when you're talking about 15,000psi rated hoses, joints etc.

My cousin's fiancee has a business where he brings electric items to China to have them cloned and then imports them to sale in the country. Mainly cell phones but other assorted electrical items as well. He (and sometimes my cousin tags along) travels to china about four times a year and apparently does quite well with this business. However, the few electrical do-dads that he has given us have failed catastrophically in a short time due to poor quality. I guess as long as it is a cell phone and not a defibrillator !
Thanks for the photos CB, it is always enlightening to see how creative some of the entrepreneurs in this country do business. Certainly a side of the Dominican culture that the casual visitor does not imagine.
 

bachata

Aprendiz de todo profesional de nada
Aug 18, 2007
5,341
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Now I know why people from developed countries call us Dominican Indios, yes that is the way 99.9% of Pichardo's people does mechanics works in DR.
Look at that: the guy don't have a bench, a stool, much less will have a power tool...

I used the first power tool here in US after been doing mechanic works all my life in DR. The difference is that in DR the time is not worthy like it's here in America.... here you have a certain amount of time to have a jab completed plus 40 cameras allover the shop and a damn supervisor rushing you up all time.:nervous:

Yes now I'm lazy, to change a tire of my car I need a portable impact gun. yes I can't live any more with uot it I carry one in my car all time.


JJ
 

bachata

Aprendiz de todo profesional de nada
Aug 18, 2007
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So.. they are making Motos in a coffee warehouse?

Yes they don't meet safety codes, not environmental regulations....
I'll send city inspectors to lock it up!

jajajajajaja

JJ
 
May 5, 2007
9,246
92
0
Loctite, use Loctite here? Now that is funny. I did see a tube of Silicone gasket maker in the pictures, but I suspect they have not ever used Loctite thread locker.

I had heard the term Chinese Copy all of my life, so it isn't just a recent trend:

Chinese copy - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The term Chinese copy has been around for a while:
Definition of CHINESE COPY
: an exact imitation or duplicate that includes defects as well as desired qualities
First Known Use of CHINESE COPY
1920

You think the Chinese can't reverse engineer? Though they say a copy of the F 117 Nighthawk WITH greater stealth capability it looks more like the F 35 JSF, if that were the case the Chinese would in the span of about 2 years "developed" a plane that outperforms our newest (Lets forget the best, the F 22 Raptor as we simply aren't budgeting them anymore) Stealth fighter, though never truly designed as a fighter and only given the "F" prefix to keep air Force Bus drivers happy, and has a lower RADAR cross section

BBC News - China stealth fighter 'copied parts from downed US jet'
 

PICHARDO

One Dominican at a time, please!
May 15, 2003
13,280
893
113
Santiago de Los 30 Caballeros
Now I know why people from developed countries call us Dominican Indios, yes that is the way 99.9% of Pichardo's people does mechanics works in DR.
Look at that: the guy don't have a bench, a stool, much less will have a power tool...

I used the first power tool here in US after been doing mechanic works all my life in DR. The difference is that in DR the time is not worthy like it's here in America.... here you have a certain amount of time to have a jab completed plus 40 cameras allover the shop and a damn supervisor rushing you up all time.:nervous:

Yes now I'm lazy, to change a tire of my car I need a portable impact gun. yes I can't live any more with uot it I carry one in my car all time.


JJ

I guess that's why Rolls Royce builds their engines by "Indio's" hands in this day and age, the grill is 100% made by hand and eye only...
 

southwardbound2

New member
Jun 5, 2008
472
0
0
cobraboy; said:
This particular moto, a BR105 (for Belarminio Ramirez) is a 110cc Yamaha Crypton clone and sells new for RD$43,000. I cannot tell the difference when examining them side by side. I rode one and it seems like a decent ride for a small, budget moto
So now you know...[/SIZE]
Absolutely fascinating!!
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
0
38
yahoomail.com
When your "Indios" built "La Plasa de La Salud",they used string to measure everything.
Nothing ever fit!
"Lets see,"Rolls Royce Grill",dominican assembled "Motos", I guess I must be missing the connection there.
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

HumbleHindu

New member
Jan 14, 2010
326
7
0
This is very much true. A friend of me imported bikes from India and that brand has became very popular also. -" Apache". He was selling at the same price that I would pay in India. I asked him how he is managing. He said the same thing that he puts 36 % interest rate and finance the motors. But he did not last long. He was saying me the other day millons of his pesos are on the road.

I would not go into the basic moto bidniz. There isn't much $$$ in the sale, The $$$ is in financing, and loaning money here is NOT a gringo business.

Honestly, I can not find any discernable differences between a Crypton and some of the clones. Even the engine stampings are the same except for badging like on crank inspection ports. Are the the exact same and parts interchangable? I don't know. But they look like it'd take a DNA test to determine...

I do factually know this: many of the Suzuki models in the DR are made in the same Chinese factories as the dreaded Chinese models. So that leads me to believe many of the larger brands do the same.

From my perspective the Chinese models have pretty much caught up in quality to the lower end "name" brand motos. Certainly some motos are higher quality than others, like Chip's Yamahammer YB125E and Jessica Rabbits Honda Storm. I've ridden both and they are real motorcycles.

In an industry with few factories and many million produced units, it doesn't take that much to improve quality at a low cost.
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
3,480
732
113
Although these bikes may LOOK like a carbon copy of the original. Carbon is the key word.

One thing the chinese haven't got around to yet is metallurgy. They can copy a casting, but the metal they use is cheap grade. They don't spend the millions that Yamaha spent on get the exact right amount of carbon and other alloys in their steel to ensure that the crank, for example will last the lifetime of the bike (over 50 years for a Japanese bike)

Their aluminum also also cheaper grade too. It's been recycled many times before and they skimp on the process. To refine pure aluminum you need a huge amount of energy, but you can get a lower grade material with less.

It's only recently that the Koreans have joined in the game, but they have invested a lot on foundries and metal recycling plants. The Koreans are almost on par with the Japanese now, the Chinese still have a way to go, but they will get there, and before long we will all be driving Chinese cars and bikes!
 

frank12

Gold
Sep 6, 2011
11,847
29
48
Residents and tourists see motos all over the streets, shiny ones on delivery trucks on their way to a dealer and in showrooms. I thought folks might want to see what happens between the shipping container and delivery to the showroom floor. Most motos are built like this, more or less.

Alida and I had a meeting at the coffee factory in Jarabacoa last Saturday and I wandered around because we were early (actually, late, but MY 15 minutes late is Dominican one hour early.) It’s the coffee off-season and I wanted to see what maintenance was being done. I walked into the export warehouse and was met with this:
Warehouse.jpg



<O:pMotos and boxes everywhere, a virtual factory of moto assembly. I knew the family imports, sells and finances several brands of motos, including their own private label (BR), but I thought the assembly was done at the lot. I guess not. So I walked around and took pictures of the process.

Seems a container was delivered during the week.


They are imported in lots of 8 and come in 8 frame/parts boxes:
Frameparts.jpg



8 Engine boxes (small square ones on the left):
EngineBoxes.jpg



And 8 sets of Tupperware* in one big box:
BigBoxesofTupperware.jpg



Three guys are doing the assembly. One guy takes the frame parts:
Frameasembly.jpg



Wheelsshocksforksexhausthandswitches.jpg



DashSprocketSteering.jpg



Starts building the frame:
FrameAssembly.jpg



FrameAssembly2.jpg



And bolts on the motor:
Engine.jpg



Engine2.jpg



Engine4.jpg



Engine3.jpg

^^^Note^^^ the serious bash plate :cheeky: I never knew small motos came with one.


Another guy, using boxes of bolts, connectors and sophisticated tools:
ToolsandSmallParts2.jpg


<O:p</O:p
The Tupperware*:
Tupperware.jpg


Does the final assembly:
Finalassembly2.jpg


</O:p
Finalassembly.jpg


The third guy is a GoFer.

Each bike gets a quart of fuel, a fresh battery, oil, tires inflated and gets cranked and checked for leaks.</O:p

This particular moto, a BR105 (for Belarminio Ramirez) is a 110cc Yamaha Crypton clone and sells new for RD$43,000. I cannot tell the difference when examining them side by side. I rode one and it seems like a decent ride for a small, budget moto.

So now you know...

Wow...now that was extremely interesting. I wonder what a U.S GM, FORD, Chrysler, Honda, and Yamaha plant would have to say about the operational costs of this assembly plant (3 guys) compared to their plants?


Can you imagine how cheap a car or motorcycle would cost if you had an assembly plant with 3 guys? Now that's crazy talk!

Frank