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  1. #1 JH600 Impression (2) 
    C-Moto Regular Chinggis101's Avatar
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    Part 1

    It's 34 Degrees Celsius outside, everything is hot, and I've just returned from my long awaited test ride on a red JH600. It was the European version, so a bit higher than the Asian version.

    Let me start by saying I haven't ridden a bike this size for some years, although I have done some dirt road riding on a Yamaha 200 on a sugar cane farm over the last few summers. So I'm not making comparisons with any similar sized Japanese bikes or a BM.

    My first first view of the bike was "Wow, this bike looks awesome". It looks far, far better in real life than in photos. A family from school were standing near the bike and they were all very impressed, their teenage son was drooling. There isn't a bike in China to match this one on looks.

    I did some short rides around the school entrance and grounds, and it purred as we idled along. Went down a short steep hill, and it felt good coming back up. The road in front of the school is a long sweeping uphill, great for opening the throttle to see what's underneath. I went up and down a couple of times, then loaded the bigger of the two Jialing guys on the back and did a repeat up and down the hill a couple of times, I also took it onto a dirt track, onto some gravel and some soft/loose sand, builders rubble etc.

    So how did it feel and behave?

    The GOOD stuff:

    To start with, it doesn't seem short on horses. In fact I was pleasantly surprised at how it handled the hill, two up. One of the stats mentioned the bike's power, quoted at 30kw (at 6500rpm). This had me a bit concerned about whether it would feel sluggish. I took it to about 5500/6000 revs, in 3rd (I think), with a biggish passenger, and I felt the bike wasn't really working very hard. At about 80kph I tapped off because we were near the top of the hill, and my eyes were watering. There was ample power for me.

    I've already mentioned the looks. I think it looks awesome. With that big red tank it looks like it means business, although in a refined kind of way.

    The ride was a mix of things. Overall it was a good ride and which I really enjoyed. If it wasn't for some of the hassles that I'll outline below, I'd buy it today.

    The Rest:

    Well, did I mention it was hot? In Robin Williams' words in Good Morning Vietnam - it was "HOT, DAMN HOT" - and not just the weather. The exhaust was also really hot, and so if we weren't moving it made my right leg feel kind of cosy. Although I don't remember my riding days in the dark ages that well I don't seem to remember the exhaust on any of my bikes making that kind of impression on me.

    I think the problem of the heat from the exhaust was compounded for me because, although I'm nearly 6 foot, I found the European version too high for me. I have short legs and as you will see in the pics, I was really stretching to reach the ground. I want to sit on an Asian version, and I think if I'm closer to the ground I won't have to push/stretch down as much and so my right leg mightn't be as close to the side as it was today.

    I also don't think the heat will be as much of an issue when the weather cools down or when it rains. But today, it did trouble me.

    Here ends part 1. I'll do part 2 later this evening. Pics will follow, I need to get my thoughts down first.
    Last edited by Chinggis101; 06-07-2008 at 04:22 AM.
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  2. #2  
    Senior C-Moto Guru bigdamo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chinggis101 View Post
    Part 1

    Its 34 Degrees Celsius outside, everything is hot, and I've just returned from my long awaited test ride on a red JH600. It was the European version, so a bit higher than the Asian version.

    Let me start by saying I haven't ridden a bike this size for some years, although I have done some dirt road riding on a Yamaha 200 on a sugar cane farm over the last few summers. So I'm not making comparisons with any similar sized Japanese bikes or a BM.

    My first first view of the bike was "Wow, this bike looks awesome". It looks far, far better in real life than in photos. A family from school were standing near the bike and they were all very impressed, their teenage son was drooling. There isn't a bike in China to match this one on looks.

    I did some short rides around the school entrance and grounds, and it purred as we idled along. Went down a short steep hill, and it felt good coming back up. The road in front of the school is a long sweeping uphill, great for opening the throttle to see what's underneath. I went up and down a couple of times, then loaded the bigger of the two Jialing guys on the back and did a repeat up and down the hill a couple of times, I also took it onto a dirt track, onto some gravel and some soft/loose sand, builders rubble etc.

    So how did it feel and behave?

    The GOOD stuff:

    To start with, it doesn't seem short on horses. In fact I was pleasantly surprised at how it handled the hill, two up. One of the stats mentioned the bike's power, quoted at 30kw (at 6500rpm). This had me a bit concerned about whether it would feel sluggish. I took it to about 5500/6000 revs, in 3rd (I think), with a biggish passenger, and I felt the bike wasn't really working very hard. At about 80kph I tapped off because we were near the top of the hill, and my eyes were watering. There was ample power for me.

    I've already mentioned the looks. I think it looks awesome. With that big read tank it looks like it means business, although in a refined kind of way.

    The ride was a mix of things. Overall it was a good ride and which I really enjoyed. If it wasn't for some of the hassles that I'll outline below, I'd buy it today.

    The Rest:

    Well, did I mention it was hot? In Robin William's words in Good Morning Vietnam - it was "HOT, DAMN HOT" - and not just the weather. The exhaust was also really hot, and so if we weren't moving it made my right leg feel kind of cosy. Although I don't remember my riding days in the dark ages that well I don't seem to remember the exhaust on any of my bikes making that kind of impression on me.

    I think the problem of the heat from the exhaust was compounded for me because, although I'm nearly 6 foot, I found the European version too high for me. I have short legs and as you will see in the pics, I was really stretching to reach the ground. I want to sit on an Asian version, and I think if I'm closer to the ground I won't have to push/stretch down as much and so my right leg mightn't be as close to the side as it was today.

    I also don't think the heat will be as much of an issue when the weather cools down or when it rains. But today, it did trouble me.

    Here ends part 1. I'll do part 2 later this evening. Pics will follow, I need to get my thoughts down first.
    Thanks for the ride report.
    I saw a BMW today that looked very similar to the JH 600.

    Did you have shorts or jeans or proper riding pants on today.

    There are shrouds/exhaust protectors (fibreglass/carbon fibre) that can solve that exhaust problem.
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  3. #3  
    Administrator-tron CrazyCarl's Avatar
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    OH YEAH!

    This is sweet!!!

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  4. #4  
    Administrator-tron CrazyCarl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigdamo View Post
    Thanks for the ride report.

    ...

    There are shrouds/exhaust protectors (fibreglass/carbon fibre) that can solve that exhaust problem.
    It would be sweet if they'd take the JH600 platorm and let some foreign engineers work on it. I think the results could be awesome.

    On the other hand, that would take away all the fun and name form the manufacturer... and it might be nice to have a project like the JH600 as your job.


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    Adventure Motorcycle Dual Sport News Magazine

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  5. #5  
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
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    Here ends part 1. I'll do part 2 later this evening. Pics will follow, I need to get my thoughts down first.
    You sure know how to get a guy on the edge of his seat waiting for a ride report.

    Bring it on!

    Cheers
    ChinaV
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  6. #6  
    C-Moto Regular Chinggis101's Avatar
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    Part 2

    Well, some of the high of this afternoon has worn off but I'll do my best to continue in the same vein as earlier. On the question of clothing, I was dressed as I would on a normal work day, ie. longs, collar and tie, except no tie at ride time today - too hot!

    The Ride

    As I said earlier, I really enjoyed the ride. However there were a couple of aspects of the ride that bear thinking about if you're a potential buyer:

    First, although it's an adventure bike and is meant to be used off road, from the short time I had riding it I would say that its on-road capabilities were stronger than its off-road capabilities. Perhaps the balance and weight of the bike need some working on. That 19 litre tank is big and would be heavy if full, giving the bike a high centre of gravity. So on the gravel and loose stuff I was a little nervous, mostly through lack of recent off-road riding experience, but also because I was worried about the bike sliding out from under me. Because I had to stretch to reach the ground on the European version, when I was riding on some of the bush tracks I had to keep moving because I wasn't sure I would be able to keep the bike up right if I stopped. I think I would have found the Asian version easier to handle in the rough today.

    I'm sure its been mentioned before, the Asian version has less ground clearance (by about 4 cms) so you trade control for ground clearance. But as I don't plan to ride through ditches and up 45 degree slopes that suits me fine.

    Now to the 'Thumper' aspect. OK, its a large single cylinder, which makes everything vibrate as the revs increase. Its not a 'fault' of the bike, that's what it is/does, can't blame it for that. I just didn't think about it before riding. From 3000 rpm upwards it is noticeable and increases with increased rpm. I wasn't riding on an open highway and had to watch out for stray vehicles, people, sheep, goats etc so trying to read a vibrating speedo and rev counter took some getting used to at first. I think if I was riding the bike every day I would soon work this out.

    However the vibration might be an issue if I was doing a long trip. It would be interesting to hear from Franki or any other JH600 owners that do long trips about this aspect of the ride. The bike's power seems to come into play above 4500 rpm, so any open road riding at 80 kph or above might get quite tiring after an hour or two. I don't know how a five or six hour ride would feel.

    Overall

    The little boy in me wants one of these bikes. The size, power, and appearance of the JH600 make it a very attractive proposition.
    At about RMB 30 000 (I understand) it doesn't come cheap, but I think Jialing have done a good job with the bike and when compared to the Japanese bikes and BMW it's very good value for money.

    So now you want to buy one.....
    The hassles I was referring to in Part 1 are first, getting a Chinese bike licence, and second getting the bike registered and licensed. If getting a bike license is difficult, it seems that buying the bike as a foreigner is impossible. You can buy it for export, but the Jialing guys told me that as a foreigner I couldn't buy one of these beauties here in China in my name.

    Lest I get carried away and spoil a good day, I'm going to wait until I get my license and then explore the options about buying one.

    And now to try and upload the photos.
    Last edited by Chinggis101; 06-07-2008 at 04:25 AM.
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  7. #7  
    C-Moto Regular Chinggis101's Avatar
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    Chinese Dream Machine
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  8. #8  
    C-Moto Regular Chinggis101's Avatar
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    Under the hood, so to speak ...
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  9. #9  
    C-Moto Regular Chinggis101's Avatar
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    And then there's a small matter of the stainless steel exhaust ....
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    Last edited by Chinggis101; 06-06-2008 at 04:38 PM.
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  10. #10  
    C-Moto Regular Chinggis101's Avatar
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    Other views ...
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