Shineray / XinYuan X5 review

[Chinasam]

It seems you are confident that these collisions were not deliberate, and that brings a lot of comfort. How loud is your tailpipe, and your horn? This seems an instance where a loud exhaust is a real benefit.

It's a thumper, so you definitely know if I'm close....I upgraded the horn to "Seriously Annoying" but I guess I could special order something in the range of "Obviously obnoxious" to help. Also may add some more reflectors on the sides just to make the profile light up a bit more. I doubt they are deliberate, just bad driving habits on their part...am used to it after so many years here.

Shuben - Yes - check the gas cap....mine would rattle right at the 5000 RPM mark.

[bikerdoc]

I advocate the liberal use of vehicle horns in PRC. Irrespective of what local laws might be in place, I am a firm believer that more noise announcing ones presence the better. If I have even the slightest suspicion that someone or some vehicle is about to invade my space or a space I intend to occupy within the next 11 seconds, I'm on that horn. Usually a couple of small blasts is suffice and seems to work its magic. More lately though I've gotten into a little habit of pressing the horn button making a little tune.
Beep-beep--[pause]-beep--beep-beep-[pause]--beep-beep.

Regardless, as I've stated before, no one locally takes offence at the use of horns, and I'd even go so far as to say/write that many of the locals depend on others using the horn as a way of announcing ones presence.

To me, it's a joke that cities like SH adopted horn bans, when little was done to educate all the citizens first in proper road etiquette. Once that is completed and everyone is operating from the same knowledge base, then sure adopt some sensible bylaws, but until that day comes, I'll stick to using my horn liberally at or nearing intersections, side roads, busy roads, instances where multiple road users are found, approaching other road users, when passing others, others walking, cycling, riding, driving, blind corners, mountain roads and all the other traffic, road situations and conditions found all too commonly here.

I know this attitude has saved my arse more than once.

[gjackson4431]

Hello everyone, I have been reading posts on this site for a while but haven't contributed anything yet. I have to thank all of you for the invaluable information and inspiration you all have provided and hope I'll be able to return the favor soon. I just recently moved to China and got a teaching job mostly so next summer I can ride a bike back to Istanbul. I thought this would be the best way to get around the infamous China problem encountered by so many trying to do this cheaply and legally.

After reading about this bike, I THINK it seems to fit the bill best. I know it's marketed as an enduro, but ever since I've come here, all the Chinese riders that I've met say that Shineray is a "third (tier) company" and I should avoid it... They seem to be known here for producing lower quality bikes that lack endurance. So my question is do you think this is their honest attempt to reverse that perception? Does the bike appear to live up to the enduro label? Basically, now that you've ridden the bikes a while, if you could, would you trust them for a trip back to Europe?

[prince666]

I very much concur with bikerdoc with regards of the use of the bike horn in my recent bike accident which was 100% not my fault the police decided final outcome was 95% the other people fault and 5% "MY" Fault ??? when asked what 5% did i do wrong ... i was told i did not use my HORN because the other riders told the police that if there had heard my bike horn then there would not of turn in front of me???? so Bikerdod has a very good point .......but remember it is not "IF" you will have a accident but "WHEN"

so here starts ..

The battle of the little bighorn

[Chinasam]

Here you go guys -

Here are some pics of the fog lights -
Fog Lights 1.JPGFog Lights 2.JPG

and some of the Engine lug -
Eng Lug - 1.jpgEng Lug - 2.jpgEng Lug - 3.jpg

[Chinasam]

I know it's marketed as an enduro, but ever since I've come here, all the Chinese riders that I've met say that Shineray is a "third (tier) company" ...bikes that lack endurance. Does the bike appear to live up to the enduro label? Basically, now that you've ridden the bikes a while, if you could, would you trust them for a trip back to Europe?

Hello GJ -
I think all Chinese manufacturers are 3rd Tier companies still - and they will continue to be until they stop focusing on reverse engineering old Japanese bikes to fill their product line. Until they start relying on their own full engine designs and developing their own tech, they are just cheap end manufacturers that are still learning. That being said, there is nothing wrong with the bikes they produce when you understand that and price their options accordingly. Aside from obvious IPR issues, they produce a very economical alternative that is perfect for what many riders want-- a bike they can flog to death without costing them a bundle.

I like the SR400cc X5 - it is less than 30K all in, even when you add a few bells like the fog lights / engine bars / handguards / etc. It sits tall, it has a solid 400cc Carb engine that is easy to maintain so far, and has good power output. The weakness on this bike is on the outside bits - the handles / chain / fittings / grips -- and all of these can be easily customized and fitted to how you like it. As with all Chinese bikes I think - the cheap quality steel takes it's toll on overall production quality and durability.

It handles highways well enough and does very well on rough roads. It won't impress on top speed (about 110 KPH) but it will go from 0-60 faster than a Benelli 600 will, and that is handy

Will it get you from China to Europe - Yes. Will it do the trip without some basic mods / upgrades - Probably Not.

It is definitely more of an all-round China adv bike than the stripped down Japanese 250's or the other more off-road bikes. The closest competitor seems to be the CFMoto NK650 and that is much higher priced (38-50K RMB) and is not really geared up for the rougher side of China Adv riding - more of a Sport touring bike - though I have heard rumors they are planning an Enduro version of that bike mid 2014 - 2015.

Hope this helps. If you ever want to give it a test ride, go check out the Knight Rider shop in PuDong, or you can PM me - I normally ride every weekend somewhere...

[gjackson4431]

Thanks for the detailed response. Yea i had planned on making some of the upgrades you both had mentioned and I expected to get what im paying for. I am a bit worried about the clutch issue and the availability of 20w40 oil throughout my route... I haven't really looked into it but I'm assuming if you had some trouble finding it near shanghai, it won't be very common in the west or the stans. I may take you up on that offer once i get settled in here and definitely will check out the Knight River shop on one of my long weekends. You'd still recommend them? Regardless, I'll need someone to ride with once i get a bike, so I'll let you know once i do.

[ShuBen]

finished today my 6500km bike self inspection. No big issues, just changed the rubber chain guard protecting the swingarm as preventive measure. It was quite worn out because of the original installed poor chain. Costs: 75RMB bought from the dealer.

NOTE: the X2 chain guard doesn't fit!

So far I am still happy with this light weight bike. Only thing I found in the last days:
When the engine is really hot the rough clutch problem comes back when you drive powerful by opening the throttle aggressively and push the bike forward. I hope to find time to have a closer look inside.

I also want to check the valve adjustment. I will consider the XR400 parameters:
inlet: 0.10mm
outlet: 0.12mm

[modron]

Thanks for the detailed response. Yea i had planned on making some of the upgrades you both had mentioned and I expected to get what im paying for. I am a bit worried about the clutch issue and the availability of 20w40 oil throughout my route... I haven't really looked into it but I'm assuming if you had some trouble finding it near shanghai, it won't be very common in the west or the stans. I may take you up on that offer once i get settled in here and definitely will check out the Knight River shop on one of my long weekends. You'd still recommend them? Regardless, I'll need someone to ride with once i get a bike, so I'll let you know once i do.

Im not sure about other countries but in China 20w40 oil is easy to buy. In every yamaha store you will get 20w40 yamalube. Sure, its not a great oil but its better than any other chinese brand oil that you can buy from local mechanics. I recently have done nearly 16000km around China on a YBR250 and the oil issue was a great pain in the ass. I left home with fresh synthetic mobil1 10w40 in my engine and 4l of taobao Redline synthetic 10w40. first oil change after 5000km and it turned out that the taobao oil was fake (bought it from a shop with good reputation) so i needed to do something about the oil. I decided to go for tha yamalube cos I figured that if Yamaha dealers get the bikes from the factory maybe they get the oil from them too. Every Yamaha dealer had that 20w40 yamalube oil with the exception of Dunhuang where they only use 10w30 yamalube (strange cos its hot there as hell) and those oils behived pretty much the same after every change which means they were prolly genuine or all fake hah
Anyway, it isnt synthetic and you need to change it every 2000-2500km but at least the quality is acceptable

by the way, do you guys know any sellers on taobao (or some other website) that i can trust and from whom I can buy a GENUINE synthetic oil?

[felix]

I have not found any way to know where to buy real oil. It's a huge pain in the arse never knowing.

My question is, how did you know you got fake oil? What's the visible/audible difference?