Galaxy Motorcycle Factory Visit

[Supersignet]

Last Tuesday ChinaV, Franki, Franki's friend Jon and I went to visit the lonley motorcycles at the Galaxy motorcycle factory here in Guangdong. I'd heard a fair bit about Galaxy and their bikes over the past year, but I never thought they were anything more than an assembly house that was throwing together bikes made from other company's parts.





It turns out that Galaxy is actually a smaller subdivision of one of the larger motorcycle makers here in China and that Galaxy was started to gain export interest from the foreign motorcycle market. The team at Galaxy is young seem to be trying hard to come out with something special for the foreign and domestic markets. We saw things like the development of their own Kawasaki based DOHC water cooled 250, their own F.I. application, some nice CNC work and some higher quality craftsmanship.





The bikes themselves seem well built. Using the same trusty China clone Honda CB engine series. The forks we were told are their version of a KTM adjustable USD forks. The fork tube diameter, long travel and good damping was a surprise. If the seals inside the big beefy things can hold up to some abuse it looks like they could be very good. The real swing arm we are told is crafted in house and has some of the nicest welding I have ever seen on a Chinese made motorcycle. The rear shock however looks to be the same as we have seen on many China bikes of this kind and should really be upgraded is any serious riding is undertaken.

























After going over the bikes in the waiting area ChinaV and I strapped on the gear and went for a ride. We got to test 2 bikes on their track. One was the Galaxy XTR 250 (really a 230) and the other was a smaller 150. I wasn't really impressed by the bikes we were given to ride. Neither were well setup and both seemed to be mules that had been beat quite badly. One was missing parts, like an exhaust heat sheild and I dammed near cooked me bike pants riding around the small test track. It's things like this were Chinese factories really fall short. If people come to look at your setu and test your equipment one would think that you as a factory who is proud of your product would provide the best means possible for demonstrating the selling points of your product.


to be continued.....