JH600 Impression (2)

[Franki]

Hey, nice report.
I see you were giving a ride to Mr. Liu, a Takalamakan rally racer.

Just by looking at the photos of JH600 one can tell it is not a trail bike. It is a long distance touring bike tuned for Chinese roads. Since I plant to take on more dirt roads in future, I am trying to put Karoo T (Metzeler) tyres on and it will surely improve on dirt road performance.

All the problems you have mentioned in the report are small problems and can be ironed out easily. Once you have decided to buy one, Mr. Liu can fix these "problems" for you.

I am used to cruise at 120-130kmh on highways and didn't find the JH600 vibration borders me. Mind you, I was on 5th gear, not 3rd gear

[Chinggis101]

Franki

Thanks for the comment. Yes, it does sound silly to say it's not a trail bike, I didn't express myself very well.

I don't think the exhaust, vibration and off-road handling are major issues, after the test ride yesterday I'm sold! I just hope I can get past the red tape with the two major hassles I mentioned at the end of my report.

Although I'll be letting them know myself, when you next speak to the guys from Jialing please tell them I think they have a good bike there, and I found them very helpful.

[Franki]

Congratulations on your decision to purchase the JH600. There is a family of JH600 owners that are ready to ride with you. You will not be alone there.

Jialing plans to organise 2 factory sponsored tours each year to promote the JH600 and bike touring. Make sure you stay tuned to what is going on... Make sure you get the latest DVD from Jialing to see details of the tour.

PS: who's that pretty lady examining the bike?

[Chinggis101]

Unfortunately there's a big distance between wanting to buy a bike and actually buying one. If it's possible I can see myself getting one, but it all depends on those two factors, and the second seems to be more difficult than the first.

The pretty lady is a friend from work who was translating for me.

[Nick in PRC.]

Remember we were talking about distributors and dealers taking the Jialing 600 to the US..........and the risk of gray market imports/exports........if you want to buy a container full of them thru an trading company look no further than Alibaba.


http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/20...oled_SOHC.html

http://www.maxusmotor.com/index.htm

Why would anyone want to invest in setting up a distributorship.......or becoming a dealer.

[Chinggis101]

This is a different issue but unfortunately a big problem. Which, again, is unfortunate because this bike offers an alternative for people who don't want to or can't pay the price of a big Japanese or European adventure bike. I guess its a different mindset on how to do business and all the associated and related issues.

The issue of cheaper Chinese bike imports in the US or Europe is an interesting one. Reading the responses on boards like Advrider there is a lot of criticism of Chinese bikes, much of it valid, but sometimes it comes across as elitist, rather like a wealthy club. The focus seems to be more on the type of bike you own than the experience of adventure biking. There's a 4x4 parallel - in the parts of Africa that I've lived in there's a view that the only proper 4x4 is a Land Rover, if you own a Toyota or a Nissan you're not really a true off roader. In reality, although Landys are good vehicles, if you want a reliable, economical vehicle that will get you there at the end of the day then a Toyota is in fact a better option than a Landy.

I'm not suggesting that a JH600 is the equivalent of a Honda Transalp, but the JH is certainly good enough to give you a real taste of adventure riding. The real issue is not the bikes but the business and support side of things.

[Indochine]

Way cool bike.

It does remind me of the Trans Alp, a bike I can only dream of in Canada. Although it's destined for our market later this year.

ETA: Forgot to ask: how is that "crash bar" attached? Looks like only at one point, in front of the oil cooler, or some such. Doesn't look to, er, helpful.

And just what is a bike doing in this picture?

[CrazyCarl]

...I'm not suggesting that a JH600 is the equivalent of a Honda Transalp, but the JH is certainly good enough to give you a real taste of adventure riding. The real issue is not the bikes but the business and support side of things.

That's a very fine point and I think more of the manufacturers realize they have to pay attention to relationship development in order to support the success of their product and name.

Sooner is better than later!

CC

[CrazyCarl]

Way cool bike. ...

And just what is a bike doing in this picture?

What bike?

Looks like the guy who took this picture lost track of the foreground and ended up with a pic of his "friend from work" <nudge nudge, wink wink>

It happens!

And in ChongQing too... what with all those mountains and pretty wee-min, a guy hardly stands a chance. Here's to dangerous living!

CC

[Chinggis101]

Yes, well, no, yes.

I've just read the last two comments. Let's just say she is pretty but my focus on the day was the bike.

I didn't really investigate the crashbar, had too many other things to focus on.