Honda CB125t copies in Southern China. Real twin engines?

[effertime]

Well, I took a new job in China...on the Fujian/Guangdong border (a city called Shantou). There is one motorcycle that I see everywhere, it seems like everyone has one. It looks like a near perfect copy of the '83-'84 Honda cb125t. The grey one, with the twin engine.

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/mod...b125t%2081.htm

I've been in China for a few years but have never seen this clone. And it has my interest because the original Honda 125 twin had about 13-14hp. Which means that if this engine is similar, it might be a nice option over a en125 or a wh125 which makes less than 10hp (i believe). And locally, they sell for around 6,500-7,000 rmb, which is cheap.

Of course, the body stylings are pretty outdated, but i think its still pretty cool in a retro kind of way.

Obviously, the thing im worried about is actual performance of the engine. Im not too mechanically inclined, but definitely seems to be a twin, at least. Does anyone here know if there was ever a legit factory in guangdong making these bikes at some point in the past? Has anyone had any experiences with it? If the bike performs anywhere near the original, im going to pick one up as my daily driver.

[effertime]

For reference

http://h5.m.taobao.com/awp/core/deta...28&ns=1#detail

Sometimes, everything will be marked as Honda. Other times, strange Chinese brands ive never heard of (not Loncin, Lifan, Zongshen, Haojue, etc etc)

The next time i walk around town, ill nab some pics.

[humanbeing]

There was Jialing-Honda making "real" CB125T twin. Most CBT twin clone in GD are powered by Lifan.
I suspect those are legally registered in such bike "unfriendly" city http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/CcKejwaMbpw

[ZMC888]

Some Honda blueprints for the older engines came into China possibly in the 90's the CG125, the CB125 twin and the CMX/CB250 (234cc) twin, probably plus others. I think this was through Jialing-Honda as Humanbeing points out and then leaked to other manufacturers.

I doubt the clone engines are much good compared to the real blueprinted engines, still I reckon they'd be more powerful than a CG125 clone engine, but then a real YBR125 or CBF150 engine would probably be better in all conditions and give better fuel economy.

My personal experience with the CMX/CB250 234cc clone is that when cold it had similar amount of power to a real engine (havibg owned a real CB250 in Australia) but the power began to slide when under strain and heat, really noticeable going uphill in the mountains during the summer (not over 3000ft, so not a carb issue). It was rated at 15KW, I think it actually had 12-13KW and this slipped to 8-9KW when hot and under strain. Must be due to maufacturing tolerances.

Also with a real Honda engine they are air-cooled, however with the lower quality of clone engines they may really need an oil-cooler to perform acceptably. I had an aircooled Regal Raptor with a Lifan engine, and it was a worse engine than my friend who had a oil-cooled Qianjing.

Clearly if you get one, get one with an oil cooler and disk brakes if possible.

[NZBrakelathes]

For reference

http://h5.m.taobao.com/awp/core/deta...28&ns=1#detail

Sometimes, everything will be marked as Honda. Other times, strange Chinese brands ive never heard of (not Loncin, Lifan, Zongshen, Haojue, etc etc)

The next time i walk around town, ill nab some pics.

That looks very similar to my old CB250RS I had as my first road bike
But it was single OHC same as the XL250S of road bike

[ZMC888]

That looks very similar to my old CB250RS I had as my first road bike
But it was single OHC same as the XL250S of road bike

A coincidence! A CB250RS was my 2nd road bike!