What's the difference ?

[stevew]

Here in the UK there seems to be 3 versions of the same bike all made by Jianshe,

Jianshe JS125-6A for £940
http://www.learnerlegal.com/125cc-co...prod_1138.html

AJS JS125 £1300
http://www.ajsmotorcycles.co.uk/new_ajs/docs/main.htm

Yamaha YBR125 £2600
http://www.yamaha-motor.eu/uk/produc...Studio-001.jpg

The first two seem to be identical but the Yam has F/I and fancier plastic.
As you can see there is a massive difference in price, so the question is are they all made to the same standard ?

I will be buying as a mature 66 year old of 50 years riding experience (not all good ) who is down sizing. Bike's use will be as a touring machine doing high mileages all over the UK and Europe as well. It will have to carry all my camping gear plus everything needed for 3 weeks away. So well loaded, long distance, and reliable.

Here in the UK if you asked anyone about the Yam YBR they would tell you it's un-burstable and would do all i want. But it's made by Jianshe...........................and so are the other two !!!!

Anyone nearer the manufacturer's home town know anything?

Cheers
SteveW in the UK

[culcune]

If the bike is the same, or similar, purchase the lowest cost one. A 125cc Yamaha made in China is still made in China. Yes, it is a joint venture, so Yamaha had say so in the bike (at first), but Jianshe has been making these for years!

Yamaha, for 3 times the price, will be the best pick overall, but for a third of the price, I would buy the Jianshe and expect to work on the bike here and there for Chinese things, like bolts needing to be tightened and such.

We had this guy post on chinariders a while back from Ireland with his Keeway; he was doing photo rally all over the country riding the 125cc and seemed to have very good things to say about his bike http://chinariders.net/showthread.ph...ght=irishbiker

I think Lexmoto have some good, basic bikes as well as Sinnis. You do have a good selection of decent quality 125cc bikes to choose from in the UK

[ZMC888]

I'm not sure if the £2600 YBR is actually a Jianshe Yamaha. Last time I was in a Yamaha dealer in the UK, there were Brazilian, Chinese and others knocking around for different price points. So you need to make sure that any bike is actually a Jianshe Yamaha, have a look at the VIN on the head-tube. IMHO if the Jianshe Yamaha YBR125 is £2600 that is massively overpriced in the UK and should be on sale for about £1500 IMO, going by China prices. Ask a salesperson in a dealership for clarification on this.

I'm heavily confused with the AJS. Never heard they were offering that. Usually the AJS bikes are Regal Raptor/Johnny Pag/Lifeng. So I'm really not sure if it is bolted together by Lifeng or by Jianshe and re-badged, I can't see how it would be any better than the Jianshe for for the money, forget it.

My suggestion would be to go for the Jianshe or Yamaha. The Jianshe will most likely not be as well assembled (some parts may be loose on delivery and some bits not thread-locked), and have cheaper parts (so corrosion will be more likely) but the same design, also the resale price will be worse, but how much an you fall from £940? If you are mechanically competent and don't mind getting your hands dirty and maybe bolting on the odd part now and again, are going to keep the bike for most of its lifespan the maybe the Jianshe. If having a properly bolted together bike with a name that won't be laughed at and will retain its value better, and be more reliable then the YBR125.

Be aware that the YBR125 is about half the price in China at about £1000-1200, but the Jianshe would be about £700-800 in China, so it's very good value.

Personally I'd risk it with the Jianshe or buy a nearly new 2nd hand Honda Suzuki or Yamaha for about £1000-1500.

[beniamin82]

The info of keeway is.a.good point. A friend of mine has a superlight keeway and it has over 15000 km on wheels without any problem.
I

[stevew]

Checked the VIN plate on new AJS and a s/h Yam...............both say made by Jianshe.

Been working on bikes for years and really don't care about the label !!

Reading between the lines it appears you are saying there are separate assembly lines in the Jianshe factory, one with thread lock and decent bolts and one with out. Can that be true?

AJS buy from many factories in China and badge for themselves. The RR bikes are all cruisers. The only way you can tell is by looking on the VIN plate

BTW thanks for the info so far, it's been very interesting, keep it coming please

[ZMC888]

AJS bikes are 90% Johnny Pag/Lifan/Regal Raptor including the NAC (street) and cruiser variants. They are not 'the best bikes from all over China' that's their marketing spiel most likely.

Of course there would be different assembly lines with a price difference 130% apart!

I'd probably buy the Jianshe if I were you. Please ask about the YBR125 at a dealership in the UK, ask the salesman where it was sourced, ask why in China it is less than half the price. Likely he'll tell you it was made in Europe or Japan.

This is were things get confusing you get bikes like the YBR125 and the CG125, it turns out they are simultaneously made in different countries, including or not including often China, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil, India, Thailand, Portugal, USA etc etc........always mostly to the same design, but often with different parts or assembly line and therefore different prices. Although these days you'd be hard pushed to find a single model that was made in more than two factories.

[MJH]

The first character of VIN tells the country it was manufactured within, that would be L for China.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Vehicle...fier_%28WMI%29

Five models out of nine offered by AJS are out of Lifeng , those are the NAC125 and the cruisers…they also have an XGJAO sourced bike that resembles the MT125 Yamaha.

The Sinnis SC125 and SP125 are also made by Jianshe.
http://www.sinnismotorcycles.com/mot...nis%20SC%20125

[humanbeing]

LAP = http://www.jianshe.com.cn/
LBP = Jianshe- Yamaha (a JV that Yamaha had 50% share ). ANY bike w/ this WMI is to Yamaha standard.
---
That "F28" from JS had little difference than "5VL" YBR . http://translate.google.com/translat...htm&edit-text=
If you MUST buy a NEW chinese 125, that "F28" had highest Price–performance ratio.

Those workhorse "taxi" had switched from CG clone to this engine family. http://www.motorfans.com.cn/bbs/view...originator=yes

[DavidC]

We can see more and more bikes made in China or other developing countries under established brands as they are chasing the profit margin without increasing the retail price.