I have now owned my 2012 650TR for about 8 months and I believe the time has come to part ways. I have spent a lot of money fixing the bike up but I find it is too heavy and gets too hot to cope with the crowded urban environments I frequently find myself in, and the mountains where most of my riding takes place. I bought the bike right after a cross country tour that involved sneaking onto the expressway almost every day and was a total misrepresentation of the type of riding that I really do every day.

I really want a lightweight bike that doesn't make an excess amount of noise but will handle both doing surgery on the cancer that is Chinese traffic, get me through the mountains, and the occasional rush past big trucks on the new non-expressway highways that are going up in South Fujian lately. I was in such a rush to sell my YBR after the Yunnan trip, that I didn't appreciate how wonderful it was to zip such a quiet, lightweight machine all around the mountains and wherever else I wanted to throw it. Now every trip is a goddamned chore filled with stressful moments, because I have way too much bike for the kind of riding I'm doing.

Right now I'm looking at these following possibilities:

-KTM 390, CNY 42900 plus 4000+ in fees. This was my leading choice but I am very upset I will have to pay $6000 US for the old 2016 version when I could get the new version in the US for $5000, since China won't have the 2017 until next May. There's a used 2014 going for CNY 35000, around 8000 kms, belonged to the president of the CFMOTO dealership, test drove pretty well, but everyone say NO 2014. Unfortunately I can't find another used 390 in Fujian and I'm not sure the process of cross province transfer.

-Ninja 250 ABS. There's a used 2016 with 3000km going for CNY 31000 that already has a plate on it, owner is a Taiwanese friend that was very maintenance conscious. This bike seems totally smooth and might be just what I'm looking for, but I have yet to ride it. I guess I'm just worried that I will be too disappointed about the torque drop, and also Kawasaki-capable mechanics are hard to come by. I have my guy in Xiamen but I'm still a bit worried. Finally, although I've seen some Ninja's go offroad, doesn't seem like something I would really want to do. Supposedly 130kph restricted in China, although a Thai ECU on Taobao claims to allow a top of 169 kph.

-CBR300R. This bike is going for cheap, CNY 35000 new, I test rode it and was pretty interested in it, although the single is certainly vibey. Seems to provide a bit more torque than the Kawa, I will have to see when I test the 250. Would be nice if like the rest of the world Kawa would sell their Ninja 300, but TIC. I can't find the 300F anywhere. Also appears to be limited to 130.

I'm also taking a peek at the KYMCO 300i Maxi Scooter cuz it's going for a steal. I've only testrode a Chinese made Maxi and I thought it was super comfortable, but of course that bike is heavy and the small tires are worrisome. Does has ABS though.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated, but please don't tell me about the Benelli TRK 502 because I literally have a visceral unexplainable hatred for that bike.

Have a nice Day!