Shineray X2X review, Guandong

[snakeeater]

Finally I am street legal with a Shineray X2 and want to share some impressions.

Getting the bike

To register a bike here in Huizhou you need to have the fapiao issued by a local dealer. Then within two weeks you have to register it. So I got an offer from the factory (“no problem, 5 days to my place”) went to the local dealer with some good reputation when actually ordering it quickly turned out that the delivery time is 4 weeks. Anyways, I paid, then everything went as planned, the dealer helped with the registration (I put on new decals before, no problem).

I ordered it with two sets of tyres, supermoto and off-road. If came with supermoto tyres and looked like it was meant to be registered that way. But in the papers it says 21/18, anyways I changed to Enduro tyres for the beginning.

To learn something about the bike I just took a look in the KTM XCF250 manual, quite similar. Shineray only provided me with the Chinese manual. It is sufficient to be sure which oil and brake fluid to use.

The bike is a different beast that the Galaxy/CQR-class I rode before. With 178cm and the big wheels I can just balance it on the tips but got used to balance it quite fast. This bike is heavier and therefore more stable, you can take dirt-roads faster and compared to a smaller bike very comfy to ride on the pegs.


Inspection close up

When sitting on the bike the first time everything feels solid and nice. Security relevant screws like on the fork and brake discs are marked with yellow lacquer.

By now I have put about 500km to the tacho, which brings me to the first pint of failure: no tacho signal right in the beginning. Tracked it down to the sensor cable/sensor replaced it, now works fine. Something that’s not in the manual: If you want to change between 17 inch and 21 front wheels you can set the tacho correctly. To do this, hold the left button while turning on the ignition to get to the setting.

Next defect found: Engine leaking oil. My village mechanic fixed it with epoxy successfully.

Then I saw the front brake hose slowly leaked brake fluid where the hose was crimped to the fitting. (even in China not acceptable).

Then found the rear light glowing very dim and having constant power of 6V, tracked it down to the rear brake switch not opening fully. Don’t know if it was there from the beginning or from the bike getting wet, anyways, should not be. While trouble shooting this I also found two rear wires were crimped poorly, could pull them out without force, they were crimped on the insulation without removing any insulation at the cable end… just happens in China, taking it easy.

Other than that I found about a hand full of loose screws, one holding the water cooler, one on the engine, Side stand, rear Lights… nothing major.

With one fuel tank you can go about 200Km
Max speed seems to be about 125Km/h, while 100km/h is a comfortable cruise-speed. Also with a passenger the bike handles well.
The bike needs 1.3L to 14.L engine oil, oil plug has a magnet.

And I nearly forgot: the original rear view mirror had an imperfection so the center of the image was donut-like, anyways; I came up with a stiffer, off-road friendly design.

All in all that’s not more and not less than you should expect from any Chinese bike. You just have to look close enough - or just ride it a few months until something falls down. Going through all that stuff needed a lot of time, but made me really familiar and also comfortable with the bike.


Recommended modifications

• Get a pipe with better sound (taobao)
• Aluminum Shield for the rear brake pump. (somebody on Taobao makes them)
• 30mm Handle bar risers (somebody on Taobao makes them)
• Hand guards, chest cushion, Neoprene front shock-socks.
• Daylight running lights, additional brake lights, HID, power port and RAM GPS mount.
• Two-tone car-horn with horn-relays (all together three horns now, had to change the circuit of the bike a bit and took some time to find good positions for the horns). Good on those mountain roads and in the city: when you honk people actually look at you.
• This thing does not have a kick-start, so I already put two cables with crocodile clips under the saddle for the case. But on the other hand: right from the beginning it started very well. Under the saddle near the air filter you can also find some small space to carry emergency tools
• I fitted a sealed chain and polyurethane guide roles. With the 52 teeth sprocket of the big wheels it is also better to get a custom rear chain guide (somebody on Taobao makes them)
• Made an engine shield myself (no sharp corners, no screw heads)
• The side stand was a bit short, had an extension welded on. And the mount of the spring interfered with the heel of my right boot. After grinding down the man screw, then shortening the pin of the spring (and filing new groves) I can place my foot about 15mm further in on the peg.

All in all I am really happy with this bike and when I am done with it I am confident it will be a hell of a China-bike and I am looking forward to do longer trips. Here the bike in action in my backyard. (Lofu Mountain).

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