Jialing JH-150GY-3 impressions

[thedannywahl]

Hey all, I literally just walked back n the front door from buying one of these up in Beijing. I'll go pick it up and ride it home on Thursday or Friday.

I had originally gone up today to look at a second-hand ZongShen, the only thing it had going for it was that it was cheap (asking 6200, plated). But first I decided to go to Qili to see what QingQi models they had available. Hey had 2 models of their 200cc EFI for 15500 and 17000 respectively. I was really hoping to stay n the 10-12 range. Then I saw this bike (and a jh600 that I Almost talked my wife into) for 7300. They didn't do much for me on the price, but I ended up snagging it for 8300 (inc. plates, ins., Reg., and agent fee). When I go back up I'll see if they'll throw in some freebies ;)

I had really wanted a 250 and was willing to settle for a 200, definitely didn't want a 150 -but reading his thread I think I'll be happy. And I'd rather have a bike than wait for this whole guosan thing to get sorted out by the manufacturers...

So quickly it seems I should:
watch the brake lever
Watch the chain
Swap a new plug
Take it in the dirt!

(and yes it's blue )

[filipu]

Hey! welcome in the blue Jialing gang. Maybe we'll make a big meeting one day;)

[euphonius]

Dear thedannywahl,

Welcome to MCM and welcome to the Jialing brotherhood. You'll be forgiven for passing up the chance to buy the JH600; Hey, there's always next year! Think of it this way: As your wife grows bored of riding pillion, she can inherit the JH150GY-3 and you can graduate to the big thumper....

Meantime, congratulations on choosing the little Jialing, and for the good fortune of being in this forum where there's a rapidly growing body of expertise about that bike, as you've already begun to see.

Given the fact that your bike does not exist without pictures, let's see some snaps of your young steed in action, and we'll be looking out for those pix of your wife doing her solo training rides...

cheers

[thedannywahl]

What chain did you replace with? I'd rather do it early on rather than waiting to stretch/snap the factory one.

[thedannywahl]

Dear thedannywahl,

Welcome to MCM and welcome to the Jialing brotherhood. You'll be forgiven for passing up the chance to buy the JH600; Hey, there's always next year! Think of it this way: As your wife grows bored of riding pillion, she can inherit the JH150GY-3 and you can graduate to the big thumper....

Meantime, congratulations on choosing the little Jialing, and for the good fortune of being in this forum where there's a rapidly growing body of expertise about that bike, as you've already begun to see.

Given the fact that your bike does not exist without pictures, let's see some snaps of your young steed in action, and we'll be looking out for those pix of your wife doing her solo training rides...

cheers

Well the pics are on my wife's phone... And I'll definitely get some when I pick it up this week ;)

How did you know I've been teaching my wife to ride? Using my friend's R9 in our basement... not quite the same, yet!

[filipu]

http://trade.taobao.com/trade/detail...50979159661865 this one

if tripodometer is what i think it is, Jailing has it. It doesn't have fuel level meter.

[fahni]

and no gear indicator!

[fahni]

http://trade.taobao.com/trade/detail...50979159661865 this one

the JH 150GY-3 has the 520, right? I still use the stock chain (even replaced it with an original stock) and had no problems so far. Did 9000 km on my first one. Just need to clean and lube it regularly and keep it tight on the sprockets...

[thedannywahl]

well I made it home with the bike. if you're interested in seeing the Beijing/Tianjin countryside in second great behind overweight trucks then I highly recommend taking the G103! I won't be going that way again myself.

it was a great ride, nice to be back on a full size frame again, that's for sure.

so here's a couple of pictures of the bike back in the basement at home and one of my way too hot winner riding gear. I took a few tool and a little bottle of beating lubricant with me and did a ~30-point inspection at the dealer before I made payment. only problems were 1) right side plastics were basely attached, like they were thumbed on and forgot to get tightened. and the brake fluid fit the front brake was low. fit those fixed and I was off.

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[thedannywahl]

I wanted to report back with my impressions after 500Km. I know that's not a lot, but with the crazy weather this last week, this bike has seen a lot already. I also wanted to share some photos of Tianjin after the flooding

Likes:

This bike is powerful (even for a 150) it has a good cruising speed but if you need to throttle it it responds well and the pace picks up immediately. It's comfortable too, took me 4 hours to come back from Beijing last week and I was less sore when I got home than I normally am from my 30 minute commute on my old bike.

This bike is a work-horse. After the floods I had it in some deep mud, deep puddles, and long long stretches of deep flooding. You just can't stop this bike. I had it in flooded areas up to the foot pegs and thought for sure I'd drown it, but every time it choked I'd just feather the clutch and rev it a little bit to breathe and keep going.

This bike is stable. Despite having semi-road tires (not slicks, not knobbies) the traction, and the "feel" of stability is 100%. I've only been able to spin the rear tire one time, and that was trying to pop it up the curb out of 20cm of water- and it still had enough grip to do it. Tight leans don't feel wobbly at all in high or low speeds.

This bike is lean. I'm sure I saved over an hour just in a 300m lead-up to a massive flooded section on the wai huan xian (Tianjin's Ring Road) yesterday by lane-splitting through the parked traffic. I was never worried about not making a corner or bumping anyone.

Dislikes:

The starter/ignition system on this bike sucks! For a cold start (engine, not weather!) I'm always afraid I'm going to either kill the battery or flood it before I actually get it started. Warm starts are fine, and once it's running it runs great.

The chain is crap. I guess this makes it 2:1 for stock chains. It's only been a week and this thing is so stretched and worn out I can't believe it. I've decided to just wait out this nasty weather and swap it for a nice new one rather than trying to service this one to restoration.

Pictures:

I know Beijing got all the headlines for flooding, but at least they have a drainage system! Hebei and Tianjin got it pretty bad too. These are from yesterday morning and the flooding has been there since the first major storm. The problem is that everything naturally drains to the low-point, but those low points don't have anywhere to drain. Also everyone's running pumps like crazy, but they're just pumping it up to higher ground where it's re-flooding somewhere else.




This is after I popped the curb to take the picture - add another 9 or 10cm and that's how deep the road is. Problem is, even though side streets aren't flooded, this is the major road you need to cross a split-highway to access the Ring Road. Which of course led to 2 things: 1) lots of stuck cars 2) lots (more than usual) driving the wrong way down roads.

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The view from my apartment as of Thursday, been like that since Sunday. At least it's below the sidewalk now

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The outer ring road choked down to 1 lane. Hard to tell but Lane 1 is about 3" deep whereas Lane 4 is quickly about 12-18" deep depending on the spot. For the main in-town highway it's not looking so good!

Overall:

I love this bike. This is exactly why I've never been able to stray away from dual sports - and why I wanted this new one. I'm extremely happy that it's as tall as it is as I surely would have drown another motard or my other bike. It has it's flaws, but it's also probably the cheapest dual sport that you can get, and there's nothing a couple hundred RMB can't fix.

I'm just sad I missed the opportunity to take the picture of the guy trying to pull his CB400 through knee-deep mud, but I was too busy riding through it!