An inexpensive motorcycle is a fun way to enjoy the summer. There’s something liberating about being able to buy a new road-legal motor vehicle that costs less than some smartphones do. It’s also freeing when a low price means you don’t cry too hard when a botched wheelie results in broken parts. You, like me, might be tempted to find the cheapest road-legal motorcycle in America. I found it, and you can have it delivered to your house anywhere in America for $939 plus shipping. This is the X-Pro Vader 125 MC-N020, a tiny bike styled suspiciously like a Honda Grom that looks like a ton of fun for the price you pay.
For the past handful of years, Honda has had the market for the cheapest motorcycle in America from a mainstream brand on lockdown. The Honda Navi has been rolling down America’s streets since 2022, and at its original price of only $1,800, no other big-name motorcycle company could touch it. Today, the price has risen to $2,199 before a $300 destination charge and additional tax, title, and fees. Yet, even with the price hike, the Navi is still the cheapest name-brand bike for sale in America.
The Honda Navi has been a friend-shaped motorcycle gateway drug ever since its launch. It’s slow, forgiving of mistakes, and accessible to a near-infinite number of riders. People who might feel intimidated by a normal motorcycle might feel confident on a Navi. All of that is great!
But the unfortunate reality with all of Honda’s small motorcycles is that they’re sometimes subject to dealership markups. So, you’ll need $2,499 at minimum just to cover the Navi and its destination charge, then you have all of the other fees and potential markups. If you go to Cycle Trader right now, you’ll find countless dealers automatically applying a markup of $150. Normally, that’s not a lot of money, but it adds up when the base price is just $2,199. So, that’s a shame.
But what if you don’t even have $2,499 plus additional charges to spend on a new bike? What if you had not even half that in cash? Well, that’s where China comes in. While many of China’s motorcycle manufacturers are busy building motorcycles that can flirt with 200 mph, others are still cranking out diabolically cheap bikes.
Bottom Of The Barrel
Last year’s cheapest bike was the X-Pro MC-N025 (below), which was so low-rent that its aggressive cheapness actually gave it a lot of charm.
It featured a classic pressed-steel body, drum brakes on both wheels, and a 154FMI-3 125cc air-cooled single-cylinder engine with 8.3 HP and 6.2 lb-ft of torque on tap. Specs like that are laughable today, especially the fact that it doesn’t even have a front disc brake. I cannot even remember the last time a name-brand sold a motorcycle in America with nothing but drum brakes. As readers note, some scooters still have dual drums, at least. But it was $800 plus $400 shipping on Amazon or $1,119.95 total with free shipping direct from X-Pro.
Reviews were all over the place, with some folks appreciating the bike’s stone-axe simplicity, cheap parts, fun ride, and easy wrenching. Others hated how they were constantly broken down, shipped with missing parts, or failed in ways that basically no other motorcycle would be expected to.
Sadly, or perhaps thankfully, the MX-N025 has been discontinued. So far as I can tell, the cheapest road-legal motorcycle that you can get in America in 2026 is the X-Pro Vader 125 MC-N020, which is also sold as the Boom Vader BD125.
This one is interesting because these have been on sale in America for longer than I’ve been a motorcyclist. I remember seeing these for sale when I got my endorsement in 2018! Back then, they were $1,000 plus shipping. Honestly, it’s remarkable that, technically, they’ve gotten cheaper over the past eight years.
So, what is this bike? Well, it’s not an “X-Pro” or a “Boom.” China’s motorcycle industry is chaotic, with more than 200 motorcycle manufacturers cranking out bikes at any given moment. You only hear about China’s most famous brands like Benda, Great Wall Souo, Zongshen, Kove, or CFMoto. A lot of these companies have been making leaps and bounds in increasing performance and improving quality. I stand by my word when I say that my 2024 CFMoto Papio SS was built 95 percent as well as a Honda Grom, but with 100 percent better looks. It even had features that Groms don’t have, like a six-speed transmission and a better top speed. I was blown away by this because it was only in the late 2000s when CFMoto was cranking out trash. I would know, I used to wrench on those little piles!
But not every brand has been on that path of constant improvement. It seems a lot of Chinese motorcycle brands are content with intentionally residing at the bottom of the barrel. Most Americans have never heard of the bulk of China’s motorcycle brands, and, honestly, I’m not sure it’s even possible to know all of them. Many Chinese motorcycle brands sell their motorcycles as white-label goods, so by the time you’re buying them, they have been slapped with a totally random, meaningless brand name. X-Pro USA is just a dealer slinging white-label motorcycles; it doesn’t actually make what its name is slapped on. Boom is just a random name.
This 125cc Grom-like bike has been one of the worst label-slap offenders. You’ll find these things sold as X-Pro, Boom, Venom, and other names I’m forgetting. If you’re not into this specific style, you can get a slightly different-looking Chinese Grom-like bike from Tao Motor (below), Icebear, HHH, SSR, Vitacci, and who knows how many other names.
Sadly, I could not ascertain which actual company builds the Vader 125 MC-N020. The real manufacturer of these may be DongFang, but it’s hard to say without looking at a certificate of origin. But I can tell you that there’s nothing particularly unique about it. This bike even sports the same 154FMI-3 single-cylinder engine as the X-Pro MC-N025 from last year, which is also housed in other Cheap bikes from China. The Chinese motorcycle companies that live at the bottom of the market share so many parts that the lines between them are as clear as mud.
China has also been building these “Grom-like bikes” since not long after the Honda Grom itself went on sale. As I said earlier, I saw these for sale back when I got my endorsement in 2018. I even came very close to buying a TaoTao Hellcat to add to my collection.
It’ll Force You To Be A Wrencher
What scared me off? Reviews of these bikes have always been interesting. Many folks seem to appreciate that these bikes are crazy cheap, fun to ride, easy to work on, and are built with parts that you can buy on Amazon for peanuts. Some owners even claim that these are faster than real Groms.
On the other hand, you also get what you pay for. Back when I got into Chinese clone motorcycles, I was taught that the first thing that you do when you get the bike is tighten and Locktite every bolt that you see. If you don’t, the thing will shake itself to pieces, and parts will fall off. You’ll also want to give it an oil change at just 100 miles in, because chances are you’ll find some fun stuff in the oil that you don’t want circulating around the engine.
It’s also wise to inspect the wheel bearings, replace the fork oil, and switch the engine mount bolts to a higher grade. While you’re at it, go ahead and upgrade common failure points like the starter, the CDI, the carburetor, the exhaust pipe, the petcock, and even the chain. Even after you do all of that, the bike may still break on you. Or, at least, that’s what it was like when I got into Chinese bikes in 2018. There has been an electric version for years, which is likely more reliable, what with not having an engine and all, but that one (below) costs about $2,000.
It’s been eight years, maybe the quality has improved? If the Amazon reviews are anything to go by, the new ones are still rough. One person said their transmission failed at only 3,000 miles in, and they could not find parts to fix it. Then there’s this review:
The main problem I had with the bike is that it arrived with a broken speedometer. It is actually illegal for a manufacturer to ship a vehicle with safety components that do not work. The smart thing to do would have been to return the entire bike right then and there. But instead, I took in mind that I saved a lot of money on this purchase, and went ahead and contacted them and asked for a wiring diagram of the speed sensor. They didn’t have a wiring diagram, so I asked them to send a replacement speed sensor, and let them know the urgency because I cannot ride the bike without knowing what speed I’m going or I’ll get a ticket. It took them 2 weeks to send the speed sensor. They sent the wrong sensor. I then provided them a clear diagram of the correct sensor, they sent the wrong sensor two more times. The fourth time, which is now about 6 weeks later, they sent the correct sensor, and the speedometer still doesn’t work. So I asked for a new gauge cluster, as this is the only other component that could have failed. They sent me a carburetor instead (a full week later, of course). I then had to wait another full week before getting the gauge cluster. After installing it, the speedometer finally started working, however the speed reading is so far off, it’s completely unusable.
And after all this, I was still willing to write a good 5-star review, because otherwise the bike was doing just fine … However, on my way home yesterday, the bike suddenly died and it wouldn’t restart. Luckily I heard a weird hissing sound, looked down, and gasoline was draining out of the carburetor and onto the hot exhaust. I immediately turned the fuel valve off and was very lucky the gas did not ignite. When I inspected the carburetor, I found that the two fuel bowl bolts had backed out. When I inspected the bolts closely, there was no locking mechanism on the bolts, nor was there any Loctite or thread compound of any kind. Let me make this clear; the only two bolts preventing gasoline from spilling onto the hot exhaust had not been properly tightened, and had not been locked in place in any way. This bike has less than 30 miles on it. When I contacted them to let them know that their factory forgot to secure the bolts, they told me it was my fault for not checking them regularly, even though they know from our chat history that the bike is brand new and has barely ever been ridden, because of the speedometer issues.
Update: After only 140 miles, both motor mount bolts sheared off on my way home from work. Total and complete garbage.
Another reviewer noted that their bike shipped with a bad clutch and a hole in the seat. One person said that they never got their Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin. Another mentioned stripped bolts and a tweaked swingarm right out of the box. One review claims they’ve never even been able to get their brand-new bike started. Even the five-star reviews mention broken parts galore.
It’s a similar story over on a Vader Facebook group, where even the guys who rave about outpacing Groms still say they had to upgrade a bunch of parts. One dealer in that Facebook group reports a customer with over 25,000 miles on their Grom-like bike.
Still Amazing How Cheap These Bikes Get
So, that’s just a long way of saying that not much has changed from when I first saw these things eight years ago. Yet, I’m not at all surprised. The X-Pro Vader 125 MC-N020 is $939 before $400 shipping on the jungle site, or $1,179.95 directly from X-Pro with free shipping. That’s half the price of a Honda Navi, and you’ll get a bike that has more power, a higher top speed, and a real manual transmission. There are also “fancy” versions of this bike with better quality plastics, like the “Vader Gen III” that costs around $1,899, which is still much cheaper than a Grom.
But the big catch is that, speaking from my own personal experience, these bikes will force you to wrench. You will spend a ton of your free time fixing one of these, and you will likely even make some of your own engineering improvements along the way. If you don’t know how to wrench, you will end up learning how because these machines require constant upkeep. In fact, it was owning one of these Chinese clone bikes that led me to teach myself how to wrench on motorcycles. I learned how to disassemble carburetors, how to route hoses, how to remove and replace wheels, how to rewire a motorcycle, and more just from owning a cheap Chinese bike. Honestly, I found it a blast.
But it isn’t for everyone. If you want a bike that will start the second you take it out of the crate and won’t require substantial upgrading to be reliable, just buy a Honda. If you’re strapped for cash, just buy any used motorcycle from a known brand. You can still get Japanese bikes from the 1980s for about the same price as a Grom-like bike. Sure, it’ll probably have rough paint and a few missing parts, but it’ll run, have better performance, and will probably be as reliable as death and taxes. Really, the best reason to buy a Grom-like bike is to get a small motorcycle toy to tinker with while you’re bored.
But, should you? I think that’s going to depend on who you are. I can see owning one of these if you’re a moto masochist like I am. But I’ve also voluntarily owned two Volkswagen Phaetons, so my ability to pick reliable vehicles is suspect, at best. If you’re like me, get one of these, and you’ll probably have fun. If you like getting to work on time, run for the hills and buy pretty much anything else. Either way, I’m still impressed that $1,200 can buy you a brand-new road-legal motor vehicle in America.
Top graphic images: X-Pro USA
“The Honda Navi has been a friend-shaped motorcycle gateway drug ever since its launch. It’s slow, forgiving of mistakes, and accessible to a near-infinite number of riders. People who might feel intimidated by a normal motorcycle might feel confident on a Navi. All of that is great!”
You meet the nicest people on a Honda.
Back when I was in college I was initially jealous when my brother bought a Chinese knockoff 50cc moped that would do 40 or 50 mph while my Honda was stuck at 31…downhill…with a tail wind…if I tucked.
Then it turned out he could almost never ride it because it was constantly broken. I think it eventually got left next to a dumpster when he moved out of college. Meanwhile, my Honda ran fine until the foam air filter completely fell apart because I was a stupid college student who didn’t know how to maintain stuff and never changed it.
The other anecdote I always keep in mind when looking at stuff like this is that a Chinese scooter is one of the only vehicles mustie1 was not able to get running properly, outside of stuff with catastrophic damage (and even some of those ran for him). If that guy can’t keep something like this running, I have no shot.
“Meanwhile, my Honda ran fine until the foam air filter completely fell apart because I was a stupid college student who didn’t know how to maintain stuff and never changed it.”
So what happened to the bike after that?
I’m actually not sure. By the time that happened I no longer owned it and I can’t recall if I ever heard whether it got fixed or not.
Other than their diminutive sizes, I do not understand the point of these. For <$3,000, the used market is incredibly robust, with real brands and actual manufacturing standards.
The risk with used bikes is component failures, but when a brand-new cheap Amazon bike can eat its own transmission in 300 miles.. the paranoia about large maintenance bills seems aggressively misplaced.
I don’t think I appreciate the continual hyping up of these rock bottom rigs when we all know the significant risks and shortcomings. These things are cheap because they’re cheap. There is no deal to be had! If Honda sold you a new Navi with a nonfunctioning speedo and a ticking time bomb underneath your seat, people would be smashing dealership windows.
When so much of the economy feels like a scam nowadays, it’s painfully ironic to me that people intentionally allow themselves to be swindled into buying junk by an attractive price tag. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes if you can’t afford to pay for “more”, maybe patience really is a virtue
I agree with this sentiment. I’m also fairly active in several different audio communities, and the turntable groups are rife with people coming to them with no prior experience screaming for help with their new suitcase players that don’t work out of the box, or within weeks of purchase.
Crosley and their ilk are selling literal garbage that goes from a retail outlet to the trash with a brief stop on a consumer’s table top. These seem to be the same level of sales to trash pipelines. Same goes for most of the stuff sold on Temu, AliExpress, Shein, and at a lot of levels, Amazon.
Amazon has always wanted to be a garbage marketplace, it just took them time to find enough garbage.
I bought a bootleg full-series box set of The Sopranos on there before season 6 came out (2005ish). It was copied DVDs with printed labels. The front cover of the box had the caption ‘Family Rederined.’
It cured me of my notion that Amazon was any better than ebay or a guy selling things off a blanket near a bus station.
Yeah Amazon is very much a buyer beware marketplace, with some level of moderate support in most cases. It was certainly the trend setter for other even cheaper platforms to find a business model in our current markets.
We all win in the race to the bottom! /S
It seems like the quality of these completely negates the cost savings almost immediately.
I like wrenching as much as the next person, but there is a wasted time pricetag attached to a riding weather day spent trying to get a brand new bike to start and idle.
Nobody enjoys fighting through manufacturer support phone mazes to waste weeks receiving incorrect parts. Regardless of the weather, that is just wasted time.
At least with Honda, I can find a local parts department.
In my experience, these tiny bikes (not specifically the Chinese ones, but in general) tend to be bought by a few different demographics. There are the stunt riders who want to do wheelies on a bike that won’t kill them when they get it wrong. There are the beginners who are just learning. There are also the purely urban riders, and then the folks who get intimidated by full-size bikes.
I also see Groms and Grom-like bikes used as runabouts at campgrounds and racetracks.
Admittedly, I sold my CFMoto Papio SS after finding that the Grom type of experience wasn’t for me.
Doesn’t Honda still sell us the Ruckus? I wonder how much it is now if they do and if it’s changed from drums…*opens new tab*
They do! as well as the metropolitan, both still with dual drums and like 800 more than I remember paying back in 08 or so.
I had a lot of dumb fun with that thing. I wonder where it ended up.
I’ll be dipped! I thought those had baby discs up front! But I guess a 50 doesn’t exactly need meaty stopping power.
I’m just as surprised as you that it seems they haven’t really updated it beyond adding different colors in over 10yrs.
The Navi that is pictured in this very article looks to have drums front and rear as well.