Hi from Shanghai, looking for people into Enduro / MX

[sonicgroove]

Hi guys,

Just found out about this website. I've been in SH for several years but never rode anything else than a scooter.
Used to ride lots of Enduro back home and still do once a year since I moved to China 9 years ago.
But I would love to get back into it and was very excited to find out that there is a bunch of riders out here.

Thus, any information on tracks, where to buy bikes & gears and meetings would be helpful.

Cheers

Guillaume

[sandor]

Guillaume, Welcome to MCM!

For mx track look for 'anting' with advance search.
Eg:
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...light=Mx+track

I got an x2 with 21/18 wheels recently.
I am interested in having fun on this track (i was not there yet) and also in off road riding though i am not too experienced yet. Planning to have some rides on the coming weekends.
Read MCM, i am sure you can find guys with the same interest.

The bests
Sandor

[juice]

Cool, an MX dude. What's up bro?
I am burning for an MX bike, but I just can't seem to find a proper solution for China.

The Chinese govt. has the market of say 50cc bikes all the way up to 500cc bikes in virtual lock down. The way that LEGAL lower cc bikes are taxed allows the govt. to keep a monopoly on this market. The tax on imported bikes gets progressively higher as you go down in cc's. In reality what this means is you'll end up paying around 150k RMB +++ for a 250cc dirt bike to be legal. Not many people are willing to pay that type of money for what should be a 50k RMB - 75k RMB bike when that same money will buy you a proper street liter bike.

I have thought long and hard about this problem and was mm's away from plopping down 16k RMB just a few days ago for the Shineray X2. I got a chance to ride the X2 a few days ago in order to check it out before purchasing. Prior to that I read all that I could read and talked to as many people as I could. The proof is always in the pudding as they say. My thoughts on the matter are as follows:

1. For the money it's hard to go wrong with the bike, as it can be legally registered.

2. I have to say that I was totally disappointed and pretty much heartbroken with the bike.

3. The bike lacks power

4. The handling sucked

5. The bike is way too heavy (not that you can't pick it up) for a dirt bike

Ok, so the bike is what it is and at the same time I do believe that if one was willing to put a little money into the bike it could be made to be a bit better, BUT......

My number one reason for not buying the bike is the frame. The frame was the deal-braker for me, no matter what you do, you can't change the frame.

I have also concluded that under no circumstances will ANY Chinese bike be in my future.

Back to the dirt bike dilemma:

Some soul searching was in order and just like anything else, purchasing a thing is always half the battle. Living with a thing after purchase is entirely another matter. I already have pretty much brand new Yamaha 125cc YBR in the garage taking up space that I can't live with, so I don't think I'm gonna make that same mistake twice.

Most of the guys that I know that own dirt bikes are none registered. Their reasoning is simple, the bike never sees the street and is either trailered, or loaded in a van and carried to off road locations. There is a lot to be said for this type of thinking, but it doesn't really work for me.

In the end, I may end up following the lead of the MX crew and doing what they do (I dunno). That reasoning doesn't come without fault, though.

If you get stopped by the police with a smuggled bike you don't have papers to prove that you own it, you are now in a real good position to have the bike confiscated with no recourse. This is what makes the X2 very appealing.

Like I said, the govt. has this market locked down.

Or, you spend real money and pay the cost to be the boss.

[euphonius]

When it comes to dirt bikes, my forte is armchair enduro -- so I don't have much to offer. That said, there are some folks in China using chinabikes to have a serious bucket of fun in the dirt, albeit a couple of provinces removed from Shanghai.

Motokai is always itching to take on the Suzhou tank grounds, and legend has it that he even managed to get both wheels of his JH600 off the ground simultaneously. OK, my source for the legend was, ahem, Motokai....

euphonius

[sonicgroove]

Thx gor your input guys.
I am also puzzled about what to get and where to get it.
I tried a few Chinese bikes before, and it is like riding a 1990 400 Honda XR with 40k km history. But I am sure there must be some bikes that get close to the Japanese when it comes to the matter. Any recommendations?

I am thinking the only real dirt bikes you get abroad that you can ride on the road are japanese enduro but I have never seen one here. Is there anything available around here that comes close to it?

Otherwise, any solid dual use that could do a decent job?