Recommendations for touring bike (YS250 vs GW250 vs JH600 vs X5)

As I finally got my legal motorcycle license, I'm now looking for a bike that can take me places. I've owned a CQR and a cheap Regal Raptor, but they weren't made for local roads, so I sold them (read: the parts that didn't break).

I've browsed through this forum and I think that the new YS250 2013 (previously sold as the YBR250) with some modifications might be a good one for touring through China and further, but the GW250 (S) gets more love from the folk around here and looks like a fine traveller too. Also, a JH600 or Shineray X5 might do the trick, but I've heard they need more maintenance and I lack some skills in that field.

A lot of major mountain roads here in Sichuan are not that nice for 2-wheelers and some roads are completely gone. There's plenty of great, new pavement around here too, but most of the touring will be on roads that don't offer the same smoothness as some of the roads people around Beijing/Shanghai ride on. So, which of these motorcycles (especially the YS250 or GW250) can you recommend, and why?

EDIT: I know there are some other threads around here that ask for recommendations, but I can't find real comparisons between the bikes I named in this posts. In addition, some of those threads are incredibly out-dated

If you want to save some money, check out this bike http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...150-in-Beijing The guy who started mychinamoto, 'Crazy Carl' (he also lived in Chengdu working at the university there) started out on one of these 150cc Jialings and even filmed a documentary of his riding one all over China. The YBR 125 or 250 fitted with modifications (i.e. dual sport tires) seems to have a good reputation here on mychinamoto, but it takes modifications (meaning more $$). Don't rule out the Zongshen RX-3, but that, like the Jialing, would take some skills in maintenance which really is not as hard as it sounds. I guess, since you live in China and the repairs are reasonably priced as well as parts all over, you could use bike shops more frequently to maintain your bike, if you chose one of the Chinese offerings over a joint venture bike like the Yamaha or Suzuki.

Thanks for the answer. I'm looking for something a bit more powerful than a 150cc Jialing. The RX-3 was on my list before and I had the chance to ride it, but it looked too appealing for a 20,000RMB bike. The report on http://kelleyssilkroad.blogspot.jp/ also put me off. There were just too many issues for a comfortable ride.
Reliability is really important for me now. My CQR required too much maintenance and I spend every trip repairing the SOB. In the end my entire luggage rack came of and the chainguard snapped in the middle of nowhere on the Tibetan Plateau. With freezing temperatures and no passerby's to bring me back to civilization this wasn't a pleasant experience.

Reliability, it's got to be the YS250 or GW250. I keep buying China bikes, my current CFMOTO650NK has survived well for a Chinabike, but it still has lots of silly issues, like they saved 500 yuan by cheaping out on things they shouldn't have. I also had a Regal Raptor 250 before that, honestly when the engine got hot it lost a third of its power, crap reverse engineered thing. I did 20,000mkms on my old Sundiro Honda CBF150, just one fork seal in all that time. Total reliability. China keeps tricking you, there just aren't many bikes that have big engines or can tour here well that are made established brands for a reasonable price, like we are being manipulated. That some 250cc-600cc single road/trail tourers that everyone wants to buy isn't made here by any Japanese JV, is it so the Chinese get their slice of the market? I'm tired of playing this game, I recommend that others stop it too.

Dependent on how much rough road touring you're going to do depends on which one of the bikes I'd choose. The Suzuki being a water-cooled twin seemed fairly low-slung when I rode on it and there is a fair bit of weight for a 250. Also that 'design element' front fender will absolutely clog up with mud on the wrong day. Although I prefer the Suzuki as it's more powerful great city and well surfaced road machine, the YS seemed a more straight up air cooled single not trying too hard to be anything more than a nuts and bolts air-cooled single when you tour in China you know that a third of the roads will be being rebuilt with no diversions every summer so in the real world the YS is a better choice.

Thanks for the advice. I hear you on Chinese bikes. I burned through 2 bikes in the course of a year and I could have bought one nice bike for the same price. The constant problems are the reason I'm thinking of moving to a Japanese bike (or Traitor Bike as some locals call 'em :eek2: ).

I've found a workshop in the city that installs aluminium side panniers on a YS and GW, but I don't know what they did with the exhaust on the YS. Is this modification safe or will I experience trouble during rides?

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this is the bike without the mod:
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That exhaust mod could be done well. However the locals like to earn as much as possible doing as little as possible, so you'd need to make sure it was done right and be a fascist micro-manager. Make sure the welds are very good and you find someone with real skills like a boilermaker, not just some bodger who could only manage to weld a gate with welds that look like old chewing-gum. (Most bike mechanics in China can weld, but they normally are not good enough at it for what you need. A car exhaust fitter might have enough skills for an OK job, but not ideal) also the hangers nuts and bolts all need at to be thread-locked with at least Loctite 243 or more and need to be made out of good quality steel.

https://www.gw250inazuma.com/side-ca...0fa04664d41b04

I have YBR250 and never complained about, well maybe apart from it being a 250cc. Great bike, very reliable, very comfortable. If you are not planning on riding two up than I would suggest different panniers. I bought some fake fake pelican boxes on taobao and put them on. The whole thing cost me much below a 1000 and its very durable. I heard those aluminium boxes wont be waterproof after you drop a bike.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...661/Thm8aF.jpg

The exhaust mod on the pic you posted is necessary cos it goes up quite high but I just mounted my boxes like this. The only problem is that its uncomfortable for your pillion. My GF is only like 158cm and weights 45kg but even she can only stand it for an hour at most

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...633/BGJIHi.jpg


But if I have to be truly honest Id not put any boxes now if I was going around China again. YBRs back suspension is not great and fully loaded it bottoms out a lot. Id take soft bags.

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Originally Posted by modron

But if I have to be truly honest Id not put any boxes now if I was going around China again. YBRs back suspension is not great and fully loaded it bottoms out a lot. Id take soft bags.

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I haven't thought about this, so I'm gonna follow up on this advice. The modification for the aluminium cases seems a bit too difficult and I'm sure I'll experience some problems later on (it's a very basic shop). I'm a bit worried about the heat coming of the exhaust though, as saddlebags are right on top of it. Won't they rip after a long trip? Any knowledge on GDW bags?

Also, the stock tires don't seem suitable for bad roads, does anyone have any recommendations on a good set of tires for the YS? Something more "dual-sporty" maybe?

the exhaust does not get that hot so dont worry. I have a set of bags and its all good even tho they hang about 1,5-2cm from the exhaust.

As for the tires the only dual sport option I could find are these CSTs. They are decent. Back tire lasted around 15000km for me ;) to compare with 6000km for the Michelin super sporty, but Michelins grip on tarmac is way better

Quick update: I decided to go with the YS/YBR, as I expect to come across some bad roads. I found a nice, small Yamaha store in a motorcycle market with a very helpful and friendly owner. He told me he could sell me a brand new one for 22,000 rmb. I didn't buy it yet, because some alarm bells were ringing. I've been in China for quite a while and in all this time I've never seen a shopowner willing to sell an expensive product 1,800 rmb UNDER the official price (yamaha websites state 23,800 to 24,800) without even haggling. This sounds like an amazing deal, right? I'm just wondering if the bike will be of the same quality as the higher priced ones in the other stores and taobao or if they removed/replaced some parts with cheaper stuff. What do you think?

You are right to be concerned, the bike could be old, stolen or a bunch of assembled parts without a VIN plate. It could be a safe deal on the other hand, hard to know, but be very cautious. Pay a small deposit only (as low as 500) and the rest when it's all legally registered.

I know China is not the west, but is there a Chinese Yamaha national dealers' office to check in with to see if this dealer is on the up and up or is even an official dealer? Or to check the VIN with? Just throwing it out there as someone living in the 'west' but wondered if there is something similar in China.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...id=13712431207

Gdw make a bag specially for the ybr . The bag is cut on an angle at the base so it clears the pipe. Lots of tyres for the Yamaha at the moto market north of the city just outside the 3rd ring.

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Originally Posted by zhu

Gdw make ....

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Official shop : http://gaodawei.taobao.com/
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=3754538858

Thanks for the advice, ya'll. I just got home from my first trip with the new YS250. Still breaking it in, but the first impression is great. No complaints. Only issue is trying to fit hand guards on the handlebars, as the bar isn't straight enough. Also ordered the GDW bags　：）

Hello,
Can i ask, is it possible to post a few pictures of the bike?
And also, how much did you end up paying in the end? I was also looking at these 2 bikes, so i'm very happy to have read this post.

Can someone explain to me why the air cooled engine is more reliable as compared to the water cooled? (other than less parts, so less chance of going wrong.. & lighter)
I did a ride last year on my air cooled suzuki 125 and a friend on a qianjiang 150 and both bikes were running very hot in the end.
I just assumed the water cooled would take away this problem a little bit.

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Can someone explain to me why the air cooled engine is more reliable as compared to the water cooled?

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Who told you this !! Surely must be better with a water cooled engine !
My Yamaha YBR 125 went bang because it got to hot on a long/hard ride

Air cooled bikes are more simple and lighter weight, if they are well made they are not usually a problem, but some Chinese bikes can get hot due to poor machining and in rare circumstances can heat seize but usually only lose a bit of power. I've done hundreds of thousands of kilometres on Chinese and Japanese air cooled bikes and never had a problem other than China bikes losing some power riding real hard and hot in the hills.

So then you might think water cooled bikes are better, but then they will make the bike weigh up to 10-20kg heavier, and if they are made poorly you could have loads of problems with the thermostat, water-leaks, fan bearing and other mechanical or electrical complications maybe it's more complication than you need.

Look at the popularity even now of 70s CB550, CB750 even a C90 step-thru air cooled Hondas, great engines, why all the extra weight and complication of a water-cooled machine?

Then again if water-cooled bikes are made well you can keep your bike cool even in hot weather and gain top performance, max hp, torque all the time when you want it. Longer time between oil changes, longer engine life cooler running engines.

in short, there is no one answer.....just buy the best quality bike you can afford!

Update:

So far, I've driven nearly 3000km on my YS250 and it's a magnificent bike. Only had to repair the bike once, but that was my fault and not the bike's (burned the clutch on a steep icy climb). The YS shines on the road, but it doesn't like dirt as the suspension is not great, but if you ride slowly you'll be able to cross any obstacle without problems. I installed a cheap windscreen, handguards and a luggage rack. Overall I spent around 24000rmb inc. GDW's saddlebags and tank bag. If you're looking for a long distance killer under 30,000 rmb, this is possibly the best choice in China. I measured 28km/L the other day and riding 100km/h is not shaky and noisy at all, unlike some other 250cc's. Also the simplicity suits me as a maintenance noob

The pictures are from a short trip I did last month with VroomVroom. (Chengdu - Xichang - Lugu - PZH - Chengdu).
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Great looking bike good choice , there don't make Clutchs like you used to make ice or no ice ! Put a set of 50/50 tyres on the bike and you will have less of a problem over any obstacle !!!

Need to keep away from that ice not good for your health!!

Ride safe

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Originally Posted by Tramper

Update:

I measured 28km/L the other day and riding 100km/h

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I have 22 entries in my fuel log, 2.82l average for 100km ;)

Great bike!
Ride safe

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Originally Posted by ZMC888

Air cooled bikes are more simple and lighter weight, if they are well made they are not usually a problem, but some Chinese bikes can get hot due to poor machining and in rare circumstances can heat seize but usually only lose a bit of power. I've done hundreds of thousands of kilometres on Chinese and Japanese air cooled bikes and never had a problem other than China bikes losing some power riding real hard and hot in the hills.

So then you might think water cooled bikes are better, but then they will make the bike weigh up to 10-20kg heavier, and if they are made poorly you could have loads of problems with the thermostat, water-leaks, fan bearing and other mechanical or electrical complications maybe it's more complication than you need.

Look at the popularity even now of 70s CB550, CB750 even a C90 step-thru air cooled Hondas, great engines, why all the extra weight and complication of a water-cooled machine?

Then again if water-cooled bikes are made well you can keep your bike cool even in hot weather and gain top performance, max hp, torque all the time when you want it. Longer time between oil changes, longer engine life cooler running engines.

in short, there is no one answer.....just buy the best quality bike you can afford!

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Thanks for your answer.

I think I;m going to go for the opposite of Tramper and go for the gw250. Just waiting to complete my license