ChinaV's new Yingang YG250NF (YG250-6)

Oh boy, my first thread in the Street section here on My China Moto. I've been looking for something to fill the role of a commuter bike, and read a few things about the Yingang YG250NF. On a whim, I sent an email inquiring about price and availability, and was quite surprised at how quickly someone got back to me. The folks at Yingang were just making it too easy to get my hands on this bike. The motorcycle was ready to ship, ready to register, and Yingang was ready to do business. What a pleasant change from the usual BS encounters with most entities here in China. I transferred ¥15K and 48 hours later had a tracking number for the delivery of the motorcycle. Five days later, I came home from work to find a box sitting outside my house.

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A quick peek to see what's inside... looks like a motorsickle. :thumbsup:

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The sun was starting to set, so I decided to wait until tomorrow to do the assembly. Let me just say that my first impression is very good. The crate and packing materials were top notch and Yingang included a race stand and a box of extra gifts. Nice!

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I put fluid in the Yuasa battery, and set it on a 1 AMP trickle charge for the night. :snooze:

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Tune in tomorrow and we'll get this baby together. :naughty:

Cheers!
ChinaV

Holy shit, V! You can't just leave it out there on the street overnight, can you?

First thing I thought, upon seeing the carton: It's completely intact and unmarred! My Jialing carton arrived from Chongqing with a big hole in the side, but fortunately no damage. Back in August in Guiyang, I watched in some horror as a truckload of cartoned scooters was unloaded at a local dealership where I was having my bike serviced. Suffice it to say the offloading was "gravity assisted" and came with gutwrenching sound effects. And the cartons, by the time they reached the ground, did not look anything like yours!

So far so good! Keep it coming!
:clap::clap::clap:

cheers

Oh, and I love the English-labeled "gift parts" box. Question: Was Jenifer in there somewhere?

Envy!

ChinaV,
Very nice looking bike and a race stand too! Can't wait to see what's in the "gift parts" box.

ChinaV,

Now I'm thinking about whether Yingang might start being a game-changer in this space of marketing and customer service. I know you've worked closely with Galaxy, but I don't have a sense that this goes beyond accommodating some hardcore hobbyists (you, Pfaelzer and Frankie, mainly) rather than really pulling out the stops to make a great product and win over the hearts of customers, particularly those here in China.

I'm hoping Yingang is raising the bar -- and that others are watching!

And so far, so good. You got a fantastic service response with a cold email. You got one of four hot marketing babes, all of whom can be reached online by Messenger, to do the deal with you in a matter of hours. You got delivery in record time, and in perfect condition (pending any surprises). You got cool extra goodies.

They also have a pretty useful website that's useably bilingual.

Bloody hell -- they answer the phones and email!

But do they have a dealer network and why, for example, are you assembling it yourself, which would seem to have implications for the warranty? Will yours be the first YG250NF in Dongguan the way my JH600 was the first in Shanghai? Are you the first in Guangdong? What about service that cannot be done in your own immaculate garage?

Anyway, the mind runs on, and you're probably more interested in screwing the bloody scoot together than answering all my questions.

But hey, hope springs eternal.

Can't wait to see you put her through her paces!
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

cheers

Cheers, way to keep your fans waiting mister!

More please!

:gaah:

China V has just read Spook's post on maintenance of newly arrived bikes, I bet he strips it down and greases it all up before we get to see it put together for a ride! It looks good in the pics and positive factory support from the beginning is what we all pray for ... and few get.

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

So I guess we left off here last night with the battery charging and my new bike sitting half crated outside.

Euphonius, you can leave a motocycle sitting outside all night with the keys and not worry about it, it's a gated community, so things are pretty safe. As far as I know, Yingang doesn't have any dealers in Guangdong, so I doubt there are any of these YG250NF's here yet. Personally, I wouldn't want a shop doing the assembly of my bike. If the factories can barely get it right, I don't think the shops are going to do much better. I've seen too many pictures of bikes being worked on, and I'm always horrified at the lack of care most places exhibit. Warranty issues can be handled by e-mail, again, I prefer to work directly with the factory instead of letting someone else cause further damage. My first step last night is a perfect example... how many times have seen a shop open a battery, fill it with juice, and put it in a bike? If they didn't trickle charge it for 6 hours, you lost half your battery life. I know many people don't have the luxury of doing their own work, but I do urge everyone to watch what is being done when someone is wrenching on your bike.

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First thing to do was finish un-boxing and unwrapping everything so I could get started with the assembly. The "Gift Parts" box had some spare gaskets, seals, oil filters and brake pads.

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Also 4 Liters of oil. I don't know if this comes standard with every bike, but it's a nice touch.

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User manual, operations manual, and toolkit.

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Ready to start assembly.

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Or in my case disassembly, as I wanted to have a look around and tweak all the little things they sometimes miss at the factory. Here's a peak under the tank, you can see there is no airbox, just a pod filter on the carb with a plastic shield around it. Not blown away with that design choice.

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If you try to do this alone, you're in for some fun. I had quite a time getting the front wheel on without a front hoist. First got it raised with my lift, and then slid a jack under it, once I had it on the jack I was able to get the wheel on.

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Wheels and axles all greased, handlebars and controls adjusted, front fender installed and all bolts torqued.

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I call it like I see it folks...(I'm also a bit of a cynical prick)... It's still a China moto, and little things eat at you as you make your way through. The first disappointment comes when looking over the frame, that's some nasty welding.

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Finally get everything together and fill her up with gas. Vroom, the engine starts up easily and falls into an idle after 15-20 seconds on the choke. Sounds pretty nice.

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Got my gear together and took off on my usual 25 kilometer twisty ride to work. I've done this road hundreds of times and know every millimeter of pavement and how each bike handles it. Here are some first impressions. Bear in mind that the bike is new and I can't go revving the shit out of it until the break in is done.

#1 The engine is smoother than the QingQi 250 and Loncin 223, but both of those air-cooled engines feel like they have way more torque down low.

#2 Sixth gear...hooray!... something all my other China bikes have lacked. Get to 100km/h, click sixth and keep going.

#3 Shifting is much more silky than any other China moto I've ridden.

#4 Exhaust sounds good, but the pod airbox setup makes the bike sound like it's starving for air.

#5 Suspension is stable, but doesn't feel as good as the QingQi over larger bumps.

#6 Brakes are fine, better than the QingQi, the "feel" is not quite as responsive as the Galaxy. Could just be a matter of bleeding and replacing with better fluid.

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OK, that's all for now, I need to get some work done. Will try to follow up with more detailed pics and vids later this week after I get some more time riding.

Cheers!
ChinaV

It always frustrates me how you find better welds on a 300 RMB bicycle than on a 15,000 RMB motorcycle. :eek2: