I'm located in Chengdu and there's a fairly large motorcycle market in the area. After scouring the bike market, taobao, and reading ThePopes thread, I've decided to go with a super-moto style bike. I often see a bike for sale listed as a CQR, and most often it has a Zongshen 250cc, air cooled, single, inside.

But i've run across the same CQR platform with a Shineray, "GTY" and CBi500 engines as well (and i've probably even missed a couple).

The zongshen seems to come in the cheapest at around $5500-7000 for a decent setup.

My question is about the difference in quality between these engines. I've heard (read) decent things about the zongshen. Is it worth the extra money to upgrade to a shineray or something else? Are there fairly significant differences in kw/hp?

If the zongshen is "good enough" without being drastically underpowered, ill probably stay cheap. I want to ride around the city at night and have general super-moto city fun! ..and maybe even some touring trips out of town. If the zongshen is unreliable, has problems or is really underpowered, i dont mind spending more for something like a Shineray. What do you guys think?

sorry for the frat!