About to take the plunge

Hi Guys I am a daily rider from just outside Melbourne Australia. I have been riding pretty daily for the last 5 or 6 years.

My main interest in motorcycles is Enfields of India. This keen interest has gotten me to the point where I am looking for something to ride 80 kms to and from work every day while I finish building my extremely developed bullet proof 350 Enfield Bullet.

I have decided on monday to go and buy my self a Kinlon 200 Super Moto. It looks like a good cheap commuter bike and I am quite used to the daily maintenance involved in riding a non japanese bike.

Wish me luck

The Enfield Bullet! That was the costar of a wonderful film from India a few years back, called "Riding Solo to the Top of the World".

Riding Solo link

Worth seeing if you haven't...

As you know from other threads I have the Kinlon R/T. The same 200cc engine I think, seems OK, very noisy, good value for money but for a commute of that distance at average 90kph only, it is not very appropriate surely? I have had 250 cc bikes that went a LOT better. You will need to play with sprockets once it is run in.

I have done a few trips of forty km + or so now and I must say it is fun but it is tiring, it will get to 100 kph with a tail wind, even two-up, but the slightest slope to climb or side or head wind and you are doing only 90 kph and the engine is at the limit easily. I don't feel it will last at those revs on such a trip. This is also a very uncomfortable even dangerous speed when all other vehicles are stacking up behind you and getting impatient on country roads, or else making you wobble as they fly past on the freeway. You have no leeway to speed up or overtake or get out of trouble and this makes you mentally tired, always on edge like a fox terrier running with wolves. Vibration is minimal, just blurs the mirrors, engine balancer is noisy and I am hoping all the other rattles are not serious ... needs careful running in to free up the engine, a couple of thorough oil changes and at least 750 km slow work before it starts to pick up and the engine runs freely was my experience. The saddle and frame height is good and comfortable even if you are tall, but like all dirt based bike designs it sits you up and faces you squarely into the wind, you cannot get down in any way to cruise. I cannot find aftermarket racks or good screens but if you are in town you may be able to try a few places and find something, probably have to build them though. Tank is a bit small for commuting too at only 8 litres and fuel econ. not as good as one would hope at those top end speeds.

You obviously have experience and if you get one for $1500 which is possible, plus on roads, well great - but unless you are just negotiating city streets these bikes are not commuters for any distance out of the box - however they look or are sold! A couple of blokes on the forum have the Motard and at least one has changed the sprocket and made a more comfortable commuter out of it so read the old threads and see. Mine is still losing nuts and bolts after more than a year and lots of tightening up on my part, may be best to completely strip and re-assemble, just for safety and certainty. Oh yeah and as a true personal opinion I found the dealers you are going to seemingly very friendly and helpful before I purchased but in reality, short on backup, support, parts, care, honesty. You will be on your own once they have your cash.

Here is a members blog on it: http://kingmarty45.vox.com/

I do not want to seem too negative though! I like this machine and the Motard is basically the same but set up a bit different and prettier so if it suits you it is still good value if it comes cheap enough (mine was $2000 18 months ago and now they are less as you know from the other thread so do NOT pay anywhere near asking price). You do have to have low expectations and some experience.
I would try and get the JH600 imported if I was doing this again ....

I had a look at the Enfield a few times, there was an importer up my way for a while, a very cool machine and a classic, and I thought about it a lot, too many stories of poor steel. I hope yours is good. Can't wait to see your pics of it and the work you have done on it, no-one here will complain that it isn't chinese!

Euphonius thanks for the welcome. Riding Solo is a great doco. I have watched it many times, I am also lucky enough to have Gaurav Jani while I was riding my Enfield around India. A really nice bloke.

Jape thank you for the very thorough welcome to the forum. I have read a number of your posts around the forum and seems you are getting to know your bike very well. I know exactly what you mean about the stress of riding a slow bike on a major road. A stock 350 Enfield has a happy cruising speed of about 60 to 80 kph so I have learnt to make myself visible and take routes that are alot more freindly to slower vehicles.

I am lucky enough to live far enough away from the city so that I have the opportunity to stay away from all major roads on my commute to work. I end up riding alot further but it gives me the opportunity to enjoy my riding and wind up and down on the way to and from work. The quality of the bike is something I really look forward to testing over a long period. The 1970 Enfield Bullet that I am rebuilding at the moment is terrible. It was a poorly designed bike when it was built and with 40 years of road side bodging it is in a real state, but at the same time I have enjoyed running it and maintaining it discovering it's good and bad points and improving as I go along.

The Kinlon will actually be the second Chinese bike that I have owned. When I lived in the U.K I was lucky enough to ride a Jang Chiang (Spelling ????) Monkey bike for a living. The little 50cc with 3 speed gear box and auto clutch had been modified so that it would come apart and could be put into the boot of a car. For about 6 months I delivered and picked up hire cars using the little bike. That little bike was also my main form of transport. I would average about 70 miles a day on it and the only thing that really let it down was the terrible carby it had. I would also like to know how many litres of loctite I put on the damned thing. I used to get home and I would be tingling for hours as it would vibrate like nothing on earth.

Well back to the forum to do some more home work.

How did you go? Did you get the thing?

Hi Jape, Thanks for the interest. Well I went and visited the Kinlon dealer on Monday, and all I can say is wow. I have to say that I was really shocked at just how good the build quality was on the Kinlon SM200. All of the welds looked really good the paint on the frame seemed really heavy and extremely glossy but unfortunately it was just not the bike for me. It was just a bit to small and a bit still a fantastic bike.

So good in fact I still put a deposit on one for my Brotherinlaw, Matt. I really can't wait to see how the Kinlon stands up over time. I have no doubt it is going to be a fantastic first bike for Matt and he is going to really enjoy it.

I am definitely going to hang around here though as you guys have a really good forum and some very interesting bikes. I think I am going to have to start keeping my eyes open on e-bay for a cheap Chinese bike that Ican make into something that suits me.

I have also added a few pics of my Enfield and my KLX 250 in to the Album section check them out.

Hi mate, what a beautiful machine that Enfield is, shame about the hairy bugger on it! I am surprised the Kinlon was small for you, maybe the smaller wheels of the Motard style did that? After all, I am 6' 2" and I am comfortable with the saddle height of the R/T. Did you look at and sit on one of them?
ps I am glad to see you are getting the youngster started early! Some of my first memories as a young lad were in a sidecar and then later sitting on my dad's shoulders believe it or not as he did exhibition practising. He was in an army demonstration team, you know the blokes who rode around with a pyramid of other soldiers on their shoulders, dropped on parachute from planes seated on m'bikes etc.
There's another Melbourne Motard rider on here, one day next summer we should all go for a (slow, i am getting old) ride round the bush or something once your B in law is confident?

I agree that Enfield is damn beautiful lady bugger. They have a new EFI model too of which I was very interested.

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