Quote Originally Posted by Jonsims View Post
Sabine.. The riding a jialing is like trying to have sex with a limp dick.. Lot of potential, no performance. As far as purpose built bikes go they are boring boring boring. Thus saying, the company is still going and I know a couple guys who have done a lot lot lot of miles on them. They are accountants in government departments by the way...
The CF will probably be a good bike.. Though probably not as exciting as the jialing, but probably more reliable. Apart from the 250cc scooter, the road bikes and the touring bikes are small. The road bike is not bad.. lots of shanghainese have them but the touring bike really does look rather sad and thrown together. As far as engineering goes, I'd put my money on the CF.. but at the end of the day you have to put your ass on it and ask yourself is it right for you.
Not to get into a dueling dual sport flame war about the Jialing JH600A, but in my humble (and biased) opinion it's far more than a limp dick boring accountants' bike. Believe it or not, it's thoughtfully engineered, far better built and designed than the Xingyue frankenbike that ChinaV has described, and for most of us who own them it's been quite reliable -- apart from the legendary ECU stalling problems that appear to have affected just one year's production run. Those of us with the JH600 made prior to 2011 have had little or now stalling problems, and those with the JH600A from 2012 forward are similarly unaffected. Those who got the 2011 model suffered badly.

I've ridden very few bikes in my life, so my range of comparison is basically my 2010 JH600 and my 2000 KLR650. Both are dual sport thumpers. Both get me from point A to point B, with huge enjoyment in between. The JH600 is relatively heavy, just shy of 200kg, and this means its power and torque must work harder to put it into play. The KLR at 170kg is a gazelle by comparison, and being carbureted rather than EFI'd seems to make it much more responsive. But both bikes will do 120-130kph on the expressway (a big asterisk in China) for hours and hours without breaking a sweat.

I'm delighted that we are starting to see more choices in the China market -- Benelli/Qianjiang, CFMoto/Chunfeng, and, soon (fingers crossed), Triumph at favorable-duty made-in-Thailand prices. But when it comes to mid-sized dual sports (i.e., 400-800cc), the Jialing remains a very good and reliable choice. You can, as many of us have, ride most any road in China, including dirt, mud, sand and gravel roads, with little fear of failure, and tons of riding enjoyment. It's not a kilobike or pocket rocket, but, with apologies to Jonsims, I don't turn to my motorcycle for thrills that might be compared with having sex. (Plenty of better options for that here.) But for the sheer joy of being able to go just about anywhere, even up small roads and even trails, without giving up the ability to cruise effortlessly at speed down the open highway, there's really no rival to the JH600. Yet.

cheers!