Soberpete's YBR 250

[soberpete]

DSC00991.jpgDSC00993.jpg
DSC00999.jpgDSC01002.jpg

[slabo]

how's the headlamp, still using the stock bulb? Is the light wide enough or is it a narrow beam? Did you try to disconnect any cable and play around behind the headlamp area? On my bike, which has a similar mounting braket and headlamp, it's a real hairy mess in there, especially trying to figure out which wire connects to what, as not all connections use sockets.

[soberpete]

Hey Slabo!
I just went out and took these pictures for you. Had the neighbors staring at me from their windows asking each other what that foreigner is doing .

I am still using the stock bulb and everything else that came stock minus the oil, which was changed at about 150km. I haven't cracked the headlamp open yet so I don't know about the wire situation in there.
I can only guess that it would be far more tidy than the inside of my JD 150-15's headlamp. If an Old English Sheep Dog was made of wires then that's what it would look like.
OldEnglishSheepDog.jpg

The high beam (Top-left and bottom-left) seems very narrow and cuts from low to high. The standard headlight (Top-right and bottom-right) is a little low, pretty wide and seems to cut just underneath the windshields of oncoming traffic. A very driver friendly headlight in my opinion. It fills the road up quite nicely as you can see in the top-right picture.
DSC01007.jpgDSC01008.jpg
DSC01011.jpgDSC01009.jpg

[moilami]

DSC00991.jpgDSC00993.jpg
DSC00999.jpgDSC01002.jpg

Very nice pics here.

[soberpete]

Did a 320km ride with ZMC888 today.
Hit the road at 7am left Zibo and didn't get back until about 2.20pm.
Ride highlights:
> A couple of very aggressive box van/bread van drivers that seemed more eager to run ZMC888 off the road rather than let him overtake .
> A scary coach driver in my wing-mirror approaching me at a very high speed . After he failed to overtake us he harassed us for a few kilometers until we got to our turn off.
> Got the bike up to 134kph at 8.800rpm against a strong headwind.

Took the YBR around some really tricky roads and quite a few really nice ones. I took only a few photos... couldn't afford to stop and take photos of the most beautiful places .

DSC01015.jpgDSC01020.jpg
DSC01016.jpgDSC01013.jpg

[soberpete]

DSC01034.jpgDSC01031.jpg
DSC01027.jpgDSC01024.jpg

[soberpete]

The YBR:
It handles really well. I had no trouble keeping up with ZMC888 around the corners and I could outrun his Raptor on the straights. The brakes are really good; ten out of ten. I haven't done any real emergency stops yet but I have put them to good use dozens of times so far. Riding the YBR makes me realize exactly how awful the brakes were on my old Jieda cruiser and how unfriendly it was with corners.
This is the first proper ride I've been on since getting the YBR and I was really pleased with it. It was a lot of fun to get out of the city and ride around some of those mountain roads. Today's little adventure took the odometer from 450km to almost 800km and after a few more rides the engine will be fully broken in.
I still don't have any kind of cover to expand the girth of the handlebar grips... my left hand started cramping after the first 100km.

[ZMC888]

The YBR250 vs DD250G-2.

YBR front brake is 50% better. (Much better than than the CBF150 too).
YBR top speed is 10% better. (140 on tacho seems possible)
YBR acceleration is 10-20% better.
Handling is a bit more tricky to quantify as it's rider dependent something around 10-25% most likely.

[felix]

This YBR250 really seems like it's worth the money. Fast, easy, comfortable, reliable, could make a great china touring bike! I'm curious though; how does it handle on bad roads with dirt or potholes, compared to the dual sport touring bikes that some of us use?

[slabo]

Thanks for the pics, that dashboard.. ooo. Seems like the only legal and proper commuter bike in China. Too bad there's no DS version.