Hi Everyone

Hi Everyone,

My name is Alex and I live in California, I am in Chengdu frequently for work and plan to get a small dual sport adventure bike to do some exploring in the area. My coworkers and I have just started discussing taking a trip to Tibet next fall too.

In the US I have two Husqvarna dual sports, a TE630 and a TE250:

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Question for you guys, which current bikes are copied from old school Japanese dual sports like the DR200 or XR200 with good parts interchangeability? I'm thinking air cooled motor with good reliability and easy repairs plus availability of good used motox bits I can potentially bring back from the US (suspension from CR or RM bikes etc).

Looking forward to learning from you all.

Alex

I think practically all 125cc and 250cc (actually usually it's 223cc) engines are Honda clones from the 80s. The less-frequent 200cc are Yamaha clone (think TW200), AFAIK.

Hey Mate,

Also currently in Chengdu doing a lot of dual sport adventures these days. Give me a shout on wechat: mattcopsey

You can go view some bikes at 2 different places in Chengdu. Most popular seem to be the Zongshens, Shineray and Qingqi models.
I know one of the Qingqi's uses the exact same engine as the DR200.
Theres a few used Japanese dual sports for sale in CD but impossible/near impossible to register them. Parts availability is quite limited too.

Regarding Chinese bikes, reliability can be hard to come by. They usually require a bit of TLC throughout their lifetime but nothing you can't handle yourself. I'd recommend going bike shopping in the aforementioned places and see what you like. I'm currently in the market for a new bike too and fell in love with the DR250 when I rode one. Looking for something similar.

Whats a DR250? Could you please upload a photo?

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Originally Posted by ShuBen

Whats a DR250? Could you please upload a photo?

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Suzuki DR250 (one I rode was a djebel XC) designed for cross country. Reliability, wide seat, nice riding height, nimble, big tank. Perfect for what I want.
Looking for something similar to this.

The old DR250's were basically a DR350 with a smaller engine. It was an air cooled dual sport motorcycle Suzuki made in the 80's and 90's. In the US anyway the DR's except for the DR200SE and DR650 were replaced by the watercooled DRZ bikes, we only got the DRZ-400 but I believe internationally there was a DRZ250 as well.

http://www.mototu.com/upload/bikepic...i-DR-350-S.jpg

This is the DR350, not having Google while in China sucks for finding good images.

http://www.lnmoto.cn/bbs/data/attach...ld4amhewtz.jpg

I believe this is the DRZ250S, but I've never seen one because they were never imported to the US.

@VroomVroom on Chinese bike reliability, what has been the main cause of unreliable replicas? The designs are fairly rock solid as far as old Japanese dual sports go, have the Chinese makers cut too much cost and used lower spec components and parts that are more prone to failure?

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Originally Posted by Guoseph

@VroomVroom on Chinese bike reliability, what has been the main cause of unreliable replicas? The designs are fairly rock solid as far as old Japanese dual sports go, have the Chinese makers cut too much cost and used lower spec components and parts that are more prone to failure?

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Wheel spokes are awful
Chains stretch very quick
cables snapping
Braking system fails
Bearings don't have grease
Bolts un-tighten

Depends on the bike but usually they require a bit of attention to keep well. Get what you pay for.

I would say the problem of Chinese clone bikes are:
a) cheaper and therefore weaker materials (spokes, chains, casting parts ....)
b) manufacturing quality (unacceptable tolerances, poor welding, material failures, sloppy assembly ...)
c) finish (refractory plastic, insufficient coating without primer application ....)
d) .....

The Shineray X5 was basically a bulletproof design of the unbeatable Honda XR400 (see the movie "Mondo Sahara")
But what Shineray made out of it .... mmmmmhhh ....

XR400R's are one of my favorite Honda's. I found your X5 thread and will take some time to go through it. I didn't think you could register a 400cc bike in Beijing.

In theory you could register a Chinese clone and slowly swap out parts for the original Japanese ones, but I'm more looking for a bike to ride, not a project :p My original (potentially misguided) thought is to take a Chinese clone (is there a reference thread somewhere that says which Chinese models are clones of which bikes?) and upgrade a few key components.

Btw, your X5 looks fast :lol8:

http://img.newmotor.com.cn/UploadFil...4581113214.jpg

If you dont want a "Project" you must buy a foreign brand :-)

I guess by project I mean taking large pieces of a parts bike from the and grafting it to a Chinese clone, assuming exact parts compatibility. Things like suspension, wheels, brakes, etc. right now I'm not sure how much of a clone these clones really are, or more "inspired" by the original design

I would consider complete wheels and a good used engine as a project :-)

Anyway .... the X5 has acceptable suspension from FastAce

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Originally Posted by ShuBen

Anyway .... the X5 has acceptable suspension from FastAce

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The XR400 had pretty good suspension so as long as Shineray didn't muck with it it should be quite decent.

I am really looking for a 200cc class bike though, not looking to spend 30k on a bike I won't get to use that often.

The man who started this site 'Crazy Carl' was an American guy who lived in China for a few years teaching at the (or one of the) universities in Chengdu. He got to know some of the management at Qingqi, and for the last year or so of his stay I China, he rode all over on one of their dual sports. As mentioned, the 200 uses an exact copy of the DR200 engine. They have a 250 version although I am not sure what Suzuki it is based on.

IN the US, the company known as Qlink imported the 200 and rebranded it as their own in both motard and dual-sport styles. In spite of having great success with the endure, other bikes and 4 wheelers have driven them out of business in the US. SSR picked up these bikes, too, in both 200 and 250 forms, and while Qlink was still in business, they both sold these bikes.

If Qingqi is still available domestically in China, I suggest you buy one of those. As far as Chinese bikes go, they are probably as good as they get. Yes, there are Benelli 600's, CFMoto 650's, or the recent Zongshen RX-3 250, but those are complicated and cost much more than the simple Qingqi. I must say, no one in China who is a member here has reported buying one in a long time, so they might not even be available domestically to you, but research them, and if they are still available, put one on your short list.

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Originally Posted by culcune

The man who started this site 'Crazy Carl' was an American guy who lived in China for a few years teaching at the (or one of the) universities in Chengdu. He got to know some of the management at Qingqi, and for the last year or so of his stay I China, he rode all over on one of their dual sports. As mentioned, the 200 uses an exact copy of the DR200 engine. They have a 250 version although I am not sure what Suzuki it is based on.

IN the US, the company known as Qlink imported the 200 and rebranded it as their own in both motard and dual-sport styles. In spite of having great success with the endure, other bikes and 4 wheelers have driven them out of business in the US. SSR picked up these bikes, too, in both 200 and 250 forms, and while Qlink was still in business, they both sold these bikes.

If Qingqi is still available domestically in China, I suggest you buy one of those. As far as Chinese bikes go, they are probably as good as they get. Yes, there are Benelli 600's, CFMoto 650's, or the recent Zongshen RX-3 250, but those are complicated and cost much more than the simple Qingqi. I must say, no one in China who is a member here has reported buying one in a long time, so they might not even be available domestically to you, but research them, and if they are still available, put one on your short list.

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Thanks for the info. I did find this:

http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/QM200GYFII1835/

Not sure if this is the bike Crazy Carl had, but from reading the description it's got fuel injection. I will try to find some more info on the bike and the brand.

I'm not stuck on the DR200, anything based on the CRF 223, TW 200, XT225, XR 250 would all be good candidates.

The 'QM200' seems to indicate Qingqi, and would be close to Carl's bike. The fuel injection is new, however. I would seriously look at this bike not because of the 'Suzuki' part but because of the quality part. Zongshen had plenty of their TW200 based engine bikes, the Sierra, back when one could travel to China, buy one for about a $1k US, travel China with no license, and sell it to someone when you were leaving--alas, they no longer make them, or at least are no longer sold in China (unless someone knows different), and I think the free and easy days of riding China license-less are over and done!

Honda-ish bikes are plenty, but I think the quality on the generic domestic bikes are spotty, but they are cheap. Someone from China had asked about a Sukuda (I think that is the name) 250 enduro a few months back, but not sure if the bike was good or the guy even bought one?! It looked decent at least! Galaxy, which are/were (?) made by Yinhe were fairly decent bikes and even had a racing pedigree (they won one of the Talikaman Rallies in China a few years back).

People love and rave about the Yamaha YBR 125 or 250 but I am not a fan of their looks and they seem to be limited in their use, although people insist they can be off-roaded. They look like a generic naked sporty bike; but I would choose one (if that is still even an option) if I was one of the many people who post the familiar "I am planning to buy a bike in China, ride around, and then ride to ...." posters (they are usually planning to head back home to Europe riding a bike the whole way). As much as I am not a fan of their looks, they do have reliability behind them (the Yamaha part, even if they are made in China), so check them out, too, but probably the 250 for resale value. Speaking of brand names--the Chinese made Suzuki GW250 is available in China, too--but that is similar to the argument against the YBR--its limited, to none, off-roadiness (I am an enduro snob)

I read a few of those "help me buy a bike" threads and the YBR is heavily recommended, but cast wheels and a metal tank takes it immediately off the option list for me. Plus it's kinda heavy looking too. The Qingqi bike you mentioned looks like it has a 120kg weight, not sure if that's dry weight or wet. I think for a nice 200 class air cooled, 110kg would be more ideal. My Te250 is only 106kg dry, but then that's a race bike :p

I also found these:

http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/JH200GY5A2317/
http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/XY250GY2B5510/
http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/Z5zhan250huayouqiban5620/

The Shineray X2X seems like a nice bike but from what I understand it's based on the NX250, which is not a common bike in the US.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Guoseph

I read a few of those "help me buy a bike" threads and the YBR is heavily recommended, but cast wheels and a metal tank takes it immediately off the option list for me. Plus it's kinda heavy looking too. The Qingqi bike you mentioned looks like it has a 120kg weight, not sure if that's dry weight or wet. I think for a nice 200 class air cooled, 110kg would be more ideal. My Te250 is only 106kg dry, but then that's a race bike :p

I also found these:

http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/JH200GY5A2317/
http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/XY250GY2B5510/
http://motor.newmotor.com.cn/Z5zhan250huayouqiban5620/

The Shineray X2X seems like a nice bike but from what I understand it's based on the NX250, which is not a common bike in the US.

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All of those bikes are good options. All of which have decent (for china) reviews. The Engines from the main 4 companies aren't usually a problem and should be expected to work day in day out if oiled properly. Spud rider for instance has put over 65,000 miles onto his Zongshen bike. That Jialing is for sale in Chengdu and the x2x also. Both can be seen in the same place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VroomVroom

All of those bikes are good options. All of which have decent (for china) reviews. The Engines from the main 4 companies aren't usually a problem and should be expected to work day in day out if oiled properly. Spud rider for instance has put over 65,000 miles onto his Zongshen bike. That Jialing is for sale in Chengdu and the x2x also. Both can be seen in the same place.

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Crazy Carl originally had a Jialing 150 enduro and rode it all over China--if you search this site, he might have his video for sale which is interesting to watch, at least for me who has never been to China. As far as the bike--it was rock solid, even taking the 'Chinese' into account. I imagine the 200 would be the same, just a little bit more power. Simple to work on, too, these 'Honda-ish' engines; I commute on an export-only TMEC 200 enduro 16 miles each way to work and back. The TMEC engine is rock solid, even if the rest of the bike rattles and such. I have over 3000 miles since late May.

The Shineray is probably a decent bike, too, even if the engine is a little more 'exotic' but it does cost more than the Jialing. Not sure what that last bike is or who makes it. Okay, compare the Shineray, the Qingqi, and the Jialing when you have time. As far as weight--the Shineray probably has the best power to weight since Shineray did make an attempt at a competitive bike with the X2X, but I am fairly certain finding a world-class competitive bike made in China is slim to none!

I think whatever you get in China will be a compromise, unless you are willing to shell out for an import. The X2X is looking pretty good, the NX250 motor was a very solid one, but other parts of the bike seem to be based on something else. I wonder which original they copied the rest of the bike from.

One more to add to your shopping list
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...74&ns=1#detail