get into 50s the right way and buy a crf50 , that way you know your not getting some sort of mystery bike.
If you find 50s arnt your thing you can sell it off much quicker and at the same price as you bought it.
If you like 50s then no need to upgrade as your already got a tiptop bike.
The myth of doing up a crf50 is costly now is fake , thanks to the massive decrease in aftermarket parts cost. You can easily buy a stock , second hand which has been used to teach the young fella how to ride and get it race ready for under $1000 more including a bore kit , suspension and ergo's.
With a crf50 you also have the option if bought stock to return the bike to stock after you've modded it to sell it. This is an effective way in selling them as you can get a fair bit for the stocker and then sell the aftermarket bits. Usually you would the sale for the bike near what you paid for it and get half to 3/4's back on the aftermarket bits.
You can also keep the honda for future generations such as the Son , as the crf50 wont brake down overnight its going to last much longer than any china.
Despite china's getting better and better , especially with the motovert pro corners will still be cut to minimise price. And thats the most frustrating part about owning an import , you never know what is ultimatley going to brake ..... next. I would brake the most bizare things on mine but never broke the commonly broken things such as frame's.
Basically an import is a gamble , you might get a good one , you might not. This is due to the production standards in these factories , despite Aussie importers such as MSO having a fair bit of control over the level of quality in the production of their bikes , they are still on the other side of the globe. And a business is a business , if an oppurtunity to reduce business expense is there they will do it.
I'd love to say China's are all well and good but they are so variable even between models. Eg my mate Tim bought an agb27 in 2006 , paid 1 grand for it. Despite all the reviews on the bike sometime later as one of the biggest p.o.s in minibike history we couldnt destory the thing , weekend after weekend he'd ghostie it , valve bounce it , rake it out but never to the point of it being unridable. He still uses the ducar engine , 3 years old and hasnt died yet and its seen 2 oil changes in its life , one being the transport oil after 12 months of riding haha.
Moral of the story - choose wisely:
