Qjiang QJ600GS / Benelli BJ600GS - rumors thread

[ChinaV]

to be fair most modern japanese 600,s would be pretty tired after 5 years

Absolutely disagree. A Japanese 600 with a touch of maintenance and care here or there will easily last a decade and 100,000 kilometers without major repair. My V-Strom 650 is almost 5 years old with 50,000 China kilometers on it and it looks and runs like new. Summer 2010 I bought a 6 year old Kawasaki Concours with 20,000 miles on the clock. My wife and I rode it 20,000 kilometers across America and I sold it for the exact same price I purchased it for. Bikes that are taken care of tend to last a very long time. Despite my best efforts, all of my Chinese motos have suffered from poor materials. Paint that flakes off, anodizing that fades, fasteners that rust, premature corrosion in the bearings and bushings, etc. etc. Japanese manufacturers have a fantastic pool of sub suppliers like Showa, Nissin, Yuasa, etc to build quality machines. Chinese manufactures have a pool of no-name garbage sub-suppliers, there's little hope in the near future of us getting quality components on bikes made here.

Perhaps there are enough imported components on these new bike to ensure they will last, and maybe there's even a chance that a company like Benelli is educating Qjiang in the art of sub-supplier management and evaluation, we can always hope.

But then again an abused Gixxer might not be as good.

In America, the 600cc sportbike is the number one entry level moto for squids. They are usually inexperienced and irresponsible when it comes to the maintenance of the machines, and a large amount of them end up crashed or abused. In 1990 I sold a Suzuki Katana 600 to a female friend of mine, she is teaching her daughter how to ride on that same bike over 20 years later. It just rolled 100k miles and has required nothing more than general maintenance items.

I think almost any modern motorcycle has a good chance of lasting well beyond 5 years, as evidenced by the thousands of postings across the internet supporting the longevity and durability of Japanese, European, and American motorcycles. On the other hand, there are very few documented cases of Chinese motorcycles surviving a long time without constant attention and replacement of vital parts. This site is littered with opinions about "durable" Chinese bikes, but almost all these experiences are coming from people with less than 20,000 kilometers on the clock. Look at the very honest appraisal of long term ownership posted by ZMC, he likes his bike, but he calls a spade a spade and does a great job of pointing out where the manufacturer has cut corners. Does he still enjoy his bike, sure, but I respect his opinion (even if he does like Honda's) far more than the people saying the wing fung choo XYZ200 is a decent bike, because ZMC is not letting "face" get in the way of calling it like it is.

That old saying "you get what you pay for" is never true in China, and maybe should be changed to "you get what you take care of" when it comes to non-Chinese motorcycles.

Cheers!
ChinaV