Boom Vader (A Grom Clone) Review (My First Ride).

Now that I finally got the motorcycle license plate and temp MC registration for my Boom Vader bike, I took the motorcycle out for its first real ride. This post is my first ride review of my Boom Vader Gen 2 125cc motorcycle, a well known Chinese Grom Clone.

I plan for a more detailed review of the Boom Vader Gen 2 motorcycle at the 100-mile mark. This review aims to do a shakedown of the Grom Clone and find out if anything is broken. So this review is more about how the Boom Vader held together on the first day riding it.

Boom Vader Review Up To This Point.

I have to admit, the Boom Vader Gen 2 feels like a better-constructed motorcycle than my TaoTao TBR7 dual sport motorcycle. There were fewer steps to complete to assemble the Boom Vader and get it ready for riding.

I had problems(rear brake) and concerns(gas tank rust) I found during the assembly of the Boom Vader. Much of this has been taken care of(replacement parts) ( Boom Vader Broken Rear Brake Reservoir ) or has steps to prevent my concerns from becoming real problems(fuel filter) ( Gas Tank Rust ). So not going to dwell on this; we will move on for now.

Now let’s get down to the Chinese Grom Clone motorcycle’s first ride.

The Boom Vader Gen 2 motorcycle is rough with starting in and shifting around the motorcycle gears. Again, I feel these things will work out as I continue to ride.

Now the real problems with my Chinese Grom Clone motorcycle. 

I Had Boom Vader Motorcycle Parts Fall Off?

One joke about getting a Chinese motorcycle (A Chonda), A Chinese Grom Clone not excluded, is that every bolt, nut, or screw needs blue thread locker. I have many bottles of Loctite(name brand and non-name brand versions) floating around my garage from my year of assembly and upgrades for the TBR7 ( TaoTao TBR7 Motorcycle Review – One Year. ).

Well, this is what happened:

The Boom Vader’s Left Tail Light Left Dangling.

This issue is funny looking; here is a picture.

The nut that held the left turn signal light in place has vibrated off—leaving the light hanging by its wires. Not losing anything was good news. Wait to read what part I lost later.

The fix for the turn signal requires me to unassemble the motorcycle’s rear fender, so this fix will wait until I have time. Also, I will be using a thread locker to ensure this mishap doesn’t happen again.

The Boom Vader’s Shift Linkage Was Lost.

The Boom Vader has a weird shifter. You operate the shifter that has a link to a short shifter that is bolted to the gear selector axle. I was unfamiliar with this type of setup since my TBR7 has a one-piece shift attached to the gear selector axle.

I was coming to a stop, and the shifter dropped down to the ground. It was still attached but completely rotated down to the 6 o’clock position. 

I thought the shift somehow became loose and slipped on its mount, but that wasn’t the case. It flopped around, and I could see no connection between the foot shifter and the lever attached to the gear selector axle.

Something was missing, but I didn’t know what it looked like.

I parked the bike and searched for something that didn’t look like it belonged in the street.

The shift linkage was found but by dumb luck. The linkage was black as the asphalt; I just happened to see a shiny black item on a dull road.

It was getting darker, and I turned the motorcycle around and pushed it home. I was close to my house, and I was done. I could live with the turn signal hanging off, but losing small shifter parts was too much.

Video About My Stock Shift Probems, And Over-coming Them:

I will fix the problems and try again later. An interesting first ride for the Boom Vader. Remember, it’s a Grom Clone, not a real Grom, so I figure there will be some growing pains with getting the motorcycle broken in. However, I don’t want it to break in the process.

Ride Safe, Ride Fun!

Click To See My Recommended

Boom Vader Gen 2 Upgrades

In the Grom Clone Defense…

This a rebuttal to feedback I received about Grom Clone motorcycles in general and specific to my new bike.

This motorcycle review was a short post about my first ride on my new Boom Vader Gen 2 motorcycle. If you saw this as a negative post, understand a few things.

Not All Grom Clones Are Built The Same.

Indeed, motorcycle manufacturers who try to model their bikes after the highly revered Honda Grom motorcycle do not all come to the same end design.  

These bikes might ‘clone’ the original so much that they share the same motorcycle parts, including Grom aftermarket parts. However, they are not all built initially the same.

What makes it out of these motorcycle factories is more a factor of the final quality control inspection than the original design.

My Boom Vader motorcycle is the middle road for quality. In contrast, many Grom clone motorcycles can be considered toward the higher end. Such bikes from Kawasaki and Benelli.

When I talk about quality, I am talking about the base, the items you don’t often change, like the frame and engine. Grom clone body parts are designed very ‘cheaply’ since body parts and graphics are often on the to-do list of many Grom Clone owners.

My Boom Vader had some body part issues, but with easy fixes.  

One item I didn’t like was the gear shifter being disabled by the link falling off. Still, fasteners are known weaknesses of these copycat bikes.  

By design, this was a test ride. I was looking for general quality and finding out the first items that would fail, and I found them.

The Boom Vader Gen 2 motorcycle is OK. Compared to my TaoTao TBR7, the welds are better, the bike vibrates less, and I get a better overall feeling of the cycle construction.

Please don’t write off the Boom Vader or all Grom Clone motorcycles, this is an adventure, and sometimes, the journey is the fun part. Not the destination. I will be upgrading my Grom Clone and will ask you rad a long and offer your feedback about this process.

Thank you.