Anyone any experience of Chinese ‘clone’ Honda GX200 4 stroke go kart engines?

Anyone any experience of the Chinese ‘clone’ Honda GX200 4 stroke engines?
My son is building a motorised trike for a college project and we need an engine for it. I have an old Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine he was going to try and use but by the time we have got I running in the right orientation and spent cash on gaskets, seals, filters, machining the crank to take a clutch etc. it might not be worth the hassle or expense for a measly 3.5hp !
There are loads of Honda GX200 clone engines available for around the £100 mark (the most popular looks to be a Predator 6.5hp but unfortunately it appears to be only available in the states)
The proper GX200 is standard fit on junior race karts, and a quick trawl of the net shows it and the clones fitted to loads of homemade karts and trikes, so it’s perfect for his build. A real Honda is far too expensive and not an option.
Does anyone run any of the Clone’s that are available in the UK? Are any brands better than others (are they all from the same factory, just with different distributor stickers on?) or are they complete junk and not worth bothering with

Regards,

Phil

Not go-kart specific, but I bought a Launtop clone a couple years ago for an old Howard rotavator I’d rebuilt, and it does the job.
Build quality does leave a lot to be desired. Things like the throttle lever is flimsy, and the fuel tank cap has sealing issues, but it starts and runs whenever I want to use it.

The way I looked at it, was the engine cost me £90 at the time (think it’s a GX160 equivalent), so if I got a couple years out of it, I’d be happy. When it does die, I’ll most likely replace it with a genuine Honda engine, as now I know the Honda will bolt straight on. I didn’t want to spend the £300 on the Honda at the time, as I wasn’t sure it would fit.

Don’t know of a supplier but it does remind me of a day when I used to work at an outdoor centre where we had a go-kart track.

I was duty manager for the day and was told that both karts had stopped working. I went out to the track and the instructor told me that they had run out of petrol so they had filled them up again; using the handy cream coloured fuel can at the side of the track. Apparently, they couldn’t understand why the petrol was all foamy…

Rachel

My CCM 230 is a Chinese bike. The engines are close to Hondas and some parts can be swapped Eg the clutch on mine is the same as the Honda 230. Some things don’t swap and you might find that the engines are lower spec, eg 5 speed where the Honda is 6.
Mine has done 20k , mostly commuting in 5 years. Treat them nicely and make sure that you get electrics, carb etc with the engine