Shineray / XinYuan X5 review

Hi all,

I have been following this thread with great interest for a while now. Very good review ShuBen and Chinasam... it made me really curious about the bike.
Hopefully i gonna hold my chinese license in my hands in october and then I am ready to hit the road.
I was at the Knightrider shop in Shanghai this weekend to have a look at the X5 - sadly there was no bike for a testride available. First buy - then try!
But just from sitting on it - it feels quite good.
They also had a used X2 in front of the shop - just 200km.
My friend is riding the X2 for a while and is quite satisfied with it... good quality and no problems so far.
I was tempted to get the X2 immediately but
we want to do long trips together - might even drive from china to europe... so I think X5 could be the bike to do that - out of the very limited options we have living in China.
I dont have much experience with bikes and I am not sure which bike is the right choice.
Whats do your opinion (especially ShuBen and Chinasam): Would you recommend buying the bike and do you think it could do a three months trip with a few modifications?
Is the clutchproblem solved now? Was that really just an issue of the oil? or is that a manufacturing problem.

Keep up the good work and enjoy your toys

Hey goldenboy, When would you be doing that trip back to Europe? Im going to ride to Istanbul in July and most likely I'll be taking the X5. I also asked a similar question a little while back and got a good response.

I think with a well maintained and modified X5 I would try it. The clutch issue is not really an issue, just sometimes annoying. From my bike it comes and goes..!!!!!???? I found it especially happens when the bike is ridden hot. So I assume it is related to the clutch friction disc material.(?) Anyway the oil type change helped for me.

Why I would consider this bike:
a) after getting some internal info from Shineray I know that the engine is a 1 to 1 copy of the XR400. Even in their parts list the most engine parts info refers to XR400.
b) It is air/oil cooled -> simple technical solution
c) carburetor version available -> fuel supply problems easy to figure out and repair
d) powerful enough and light weight
e) (personal view) -> over 7k km with a few minor issue that never really stopped me. I rode the bike quite rough on RPMs, speed, terrain & weather conditions and it didn't fail. I dropped the bike twice in the dirt. Nothing broken, easy lift up, immediate restart.
f) in other countries might be spare supply via XR400 parts.
g) I know guys guiding foreigners through QingHai and "Tea-bed-tan" areas using X5 and JH600 for the tours. And i didn't hear about real bike problems from them.

Finally, .... the decision is up to you

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gjackson4431

Hey goldenboy, When would you be doing that trip back to Europe? Im going to ride to Istanbul in July and most likely I'll be taking the X5. I also asked a similar question a little while back and got a good response.

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We plan to start from shanghai around April/June - I will buy the X5 in october - ShuBens points are convincing - especially the point that the X5 Motor is a exact copy of XR400...
Lets keep in touch on how the preparations are going and how the bike does on your end.
I will keep you guys updated about my experiences.

Sounds like you're plans are about a month in advance of mine. I should be able to afford the bike in early November and my contract here ends in late June. Definitely keep in touch. It would be nice to have someone to share ideas with. I also think my friends here are getting sick of having our conversations constantly returning to motorcycles...

Hi Golden boy & gjackson,

sounds like an interesting adventure you plan there... how is your planing about the route, visas, how to get the bike into those countries etc....?

I'm highly interested in that topic and would like to discuss with you/share experiences ... as I ask myself those questions currently as well....

I purchased a power outlet kit + cigarette lighter to USB adapter but after the flimsy fuse container thread broke and the lighter didn't fit right I scrapped it and honed my taobao-fu until I purchased a direct USB plug:


YESMAX 703 USB

was it more expensive? hell yes, but worth every kuai.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thedannywahl

I purchased a power outlet kit + cigarette lighter to USB adapter but after the flimsy fuse container thread broke and the lighter didn't fit right I scrapped it and honed my taobao-fu until I purchased a direct USB plug:


YESMAX 703 USB


was it more expensive? hell yes, but worth every kuai.

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Great link i need one of these thanks for posting

Well Snev I plan on taking the Irkeshtam Pass or the Torugart Pass into Kyrgyzstan. I can't find anyone else who has done that and I don't remember what I finally read that made me decide that was possible but I'm quite sure it is :) I'll get that visa in advance in Shanghai and I'll probably get the Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan visas in shanghai too.
I figure that if I have my chinese registration with the bike in my name and a license I should be fine at the Chinese border. For good measure, I'll have everything translated before I go for the other borders.
I haven't found anyone who has done this exact trip, but I have heard that someone took a chinese registered bike through southeast asia without issue. I also know of a few people who have left through the Kazakhstan border. There was also this post I read a while back about a guy who went almost everywhere I want to go but he never finished writing about it... Plenty of people have also gone nearly my whole route from the european direction and a few have crossed the caspian sea in the direction I'll be going. So when I put everything together, I'm reasonably sure that it's possible.
I'll get transit visas for Turkmenistan (5days) and Azerbaijan (3 days). Turkmenistan will be rough especially considering that the caspian sea ferry is notoriously unreliable, but apparently they will stamp you out of the country at the docks and let you wait there until the next boat comes so you don't over stay. Georgia is REALLY cheap and easy, and Turkey is also easy AND I speak Turkish so hopefully I'll get some points for that :)

I have another post in the ride prep section. Might be best to continue this there.

EDIT: Im glad you asked that question. I have a totally different plan now as most of these stupid visas are date specific.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snev313

Hi Golden boy & gjackson,

sounds like an interesting adventure you plan there... how is your planing about the route, visas, how to get the bike into those countries etc....?

I'm highly interested in that topic and would like to discuss with you/share experiences ... as I ask myself those questions currently as well....

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Hey Snev313,
We are on a very early stage of planning the whole trip - i dont even have the chinese license yet. Lets continue this topic in another thread and stay in touch how the whole planning comes along