Urgent Help Needed- YBR125K or YBR250?

[foxy88]

So had an interesting day yesterday.. After reaching Yuxi we went to the Yamaha dealer, where there was a YBR250 waiting out the front for us. It belonged to a customer who had recently bought it there, and he had kindly agreed to come around and let me take it for a test spin. Very nice bike indeed, smooth and powerful. Took off from a set of lights, breezed past all the other bikes and cars and was feeling pretty happy with the power level when I realised I was only in 4th, kicked into fifth and could have almost been sitting still, it was that quiet.

Anyway I came back and took Mrs Foxy for a spin as well, she was also very impressed. Afterwards I spoke to the customer for a while, he's a bit of an enthusiast it seems, has a 1000cc Kawasaki among others and goes out with his bike club fairly often, I took his WeChat ID down for future reference. He certainly came across as a bit of a nouveax-riche type, a tuhao as they call them here. The sales people agreed to switch the light up to a HID 6000K, and change the horn for a larger one. They also said the rear suspension can be easily tightened if need be, is still not enough to solve the softness issue if fully tightened up? Also they were sure, as was the tuhao, that it wasn't an issue to register the bike in Yuxi instead of Kunming, that they'd just require my passport and residence permit, and could get it done in a day.

When we got on to discussing price they said they could do it for 23,800, plus their own 500 fee and the tax I'd have to pay for vehicle registration, which at 10% would come to 2,380. I had a complain that the bike wasn't in red, that there's a later model coming out soon, and so on, and detected possibly some flexibility re the final price, so said I'd have a think about it and come back in a couple of hours.

We went for a wander to the local fresh produce market and bought a lot of very good very cheap fruit, all the while I was trying to think what the lowest possible price I could squeeze out would be. On the way back to the store I suddenly got a message from Mr Tuhao, telling me that he hadn't ridden his bike more than 50km, and could sell it to me for 20,000 if I wanted. This was a rather unexpected turn of events, so I sat down with Mrs Foxy to discuss. I was fairly suspicious about his motives, possible problems with the bike and so on.. After a while of messaging him he gave me a call, turns out he has had the bike for less than a month, and I know he has hardly used it as the odo was at 43 when I test rode it in the morning. He had bought the bike for inner-city commutes, as his Kawasaki is a bit too big for day to day, but had decided that he wanted to sell it and get the GWS250 instead, being twin-cylinder, water-cooled and all. This seemed to add up- after the first phone call I had a good scroll through his WeChat profilr and he does seem to have more money than he knows what to do with, as well as having many mates with very large powerful motos. I figure he bought the bike then got laughed at for not getting the racier GWS250, so wants to swap out, or maybe he just found it boring after getting off his Kawa. After some more discussion and thought Mrs Foxy gave him a call back and asked a lot of questions; turns out he's a policeman, and has guanxi so can help me to sort out the registration in a matter of hours, his receipt was written out at 21,800 by the dealer so he would pay lower tax on the registration, and he finally agreed, after a lot of haggling, to drop the price to 19,000. As much as I wanted to, he said don't worry about a deposit, just come back on Monday and we'll get the registration done together, make the full payment and she's all mine.

So I'll be heading back on Thursday, when I'm free. All in all seems like I got really lucky. His bike was shiny new, although I'll give it the once over before payment of course. I got the impression, as did Mrs Foxy, that he's fairly straight down the line. I miss out on the horn and light upgrade from the dealer, but can sort them out myself, and I don't have to pay their 500 yuan fee, as well as lesser tax, and of course a much lower price for the bike. Seems great, no?

Prince as mentioned it doesn't seem to be an issue where I register the bike, I had that confirmed separately twice, more info on that after Thursday though. Ok that raincoat looks like it'll do the trick, will definitely need something of the sort to keep away the chill factor when we hit the higher altitudes, and it's always snugger when two people can share the same blanket

[prince666]

So had an interesting day yesterday.. After reaching Yuxi we went to the Yamaha dealer, where there was a YBR250 waiting out the front for us. It belonged to a customer who had recently bought it there, and he had kindly agreed to come around and let me take it for a test spin. Very nice bike indeed, smooth and powerful. Took off from a set of lights, breezed past all the other bikes and cars and was feeling pretty happy with the power level when I realised I was only in 4th, kicked into fifth and could have almost been sitting still, it was that quiet.

Anyway I came back and took Mrs Foxy for a spin as well, she was also very impressed. Afterwards I spoke to the customer for a while, he's a bit of an enthusiast it seems, has a 1000cc Kawasaki among others and goes out with his bike club fairly often, I took his WeChat ID down for future reference. He certainly came across as a bit of a nouveax-riche type, a tuhao as they call them here. The sales people agreed to switch the light up to a HID 6000K, and change the horn for a larger one. They also said the rear suspension can be easily tightened if need be, is still not enough to solve the softness issue if fully tightened up? Also they were sure, as was the tuhao, that it wasn't an issue to register the bike in Yuxi instead of Kunming, that they'd just require my passport and residence permit, and could get it done in a day.

When we got on to discussing price they said they could do it for 23,800, plus their own 500 fee and the tax I'd have to pay for vehicle registration, which at 10% would come to 2,380. I had a complain that the bike wasn't in red, that there's a later model coming out soon, and so on, and detected possibly some flexibility re the final price, so said I'd have a think about it and come back in a couple of hours.

We went for a wander to the local fresh produce market and bought a lot of very good very cheap fruit, all the while I was trying to think what the lowest possible price I could squeeze out would be. On the way back to the store I suddenly got a message from Mr Tuhao, telling me that he hadn't ridden his bike more than 50km, and could sell it to me for 20,000 if I wanted. This was a rather unexpected turn of events, so I sat down with Mrs Foxy to discuss. I was fairly suspicious about his motives, possible problems with the bike and so on.. After a while of messaging him he gave me a call, turns out he has had the bike for less than a month, and I know he has hardly used it as the odo was at 43 when I test rode it in the morning. He had bought the bike for inner-city commutes, as his Kawasaki is a bit too big for day to day, but had decided that he wanted to sell it and get the GWS250 instead, being twin-cylinder, water-cooled and all. This seemed to add up- after the first phone call I had a good scroll through his WeChat profilr and he does seem to have more money than he knows what to do with, as well as having many mates with very large powerful motos. I figure he bought the bike then got laughed at for not getting the racier GWS250, so wants to swap out, or maybe he just found it boring after getting off his Kawa. After some more discussion and thought Mrs Foxy gave him a call back and asked a lot of questions; turns out he's a policeman, and has guanxi so can help me to sort out the registration in a matter of hours, his receipt was written out at 21,800 by the dealer so he would pay lower tax on the registration, and he finally agreed, after a lot of haggling, to drop the price to 19,000. As much as I wanted to, he said don't worry about a deposit, just come back on Monday and we'll get the registration done together, make the full payment and she's all mine.

So I'll be heading back on Thursday, when I'm free. All in all seems like I got really lucky. His bike was shiny new, although I'll give it the once over before payment of course. I got the impression, as did Mrs Foxy, that he's fairly straight down the line. I miss out on the horn and light upgrade from the dealer, but can sort them out myself, and I don't have to pay their 500 yuan fee, as well as lesser tax, and of course a much lower price for the bike. Seems great, no?

Prince as mentioned it doesn't seem to be an issue where I register the bike, I had that confirmed separately twice, more info on that after Thursday though. Ok that raincoat looks like it'll do the trick, will definitely need something of the sort to keep away the chill factor when we hit the higher altitudes, and it's always snugger when two people can share the same blanket

Great news Foxy......

Now to get the bike in your name you need a chinese NAME???
make sure you put you last name first ....... and best to have it translated when you get you passport translated as well by a official translater .

list of Document needed

1.invoice in your name (chinese)
2. visa at least 6 months
3. police register with your chinese name on it ???
4. passport translated is best and to have your chinese name on this translation ?
5.insurance in your chinese name as well
6. was asked if i had a chinese DL but did not show them mine ..... just think the police man was being nosy....

I think that should be it Foxy how you forgot things and i only done my bike 2 weeks ago heheheh

[Lao Jia Hou]

Great story, and congrats to your lucky outcome!

For extended touring, IMHO, the YBR250 is a better choice than the GW250. I've owned both (in fact, at one crazy point I had five GW250s and two YBR250s - you know, one for each day of the week). Seriously, I had them for different reasons, but it gave me a chance to learn about them. Frankly, they are both great bikes, but I'd take the YBR250 on an extended tour, although the new GW250S (called the Travel Edition) is nice with a more upright seating position, a front fairing, and a couple of other goodies.

An "all-in" 19,000 rmb price for a new YBR250 is a great deal - yup, you are lucky. I am sure you will be very very happy with the bike. It doesn't really excel at any one thing, but it seems to do everything very well for a 250cc class.

A tuhao policeman ... why does that not surprise me?

[ZMC888]

For a nearly new YBR250 19,000 is a bargin!

[bikerdoc]

Sounds like a good deal all round. But TIC, and so with that being said, just keep your ears and eyes open for the unexpected. It's good that the owner is a cop, that will help with the plate transfer process. Keep in mind, that you do need to make sure you sit over the shoulder of all those invloved in the plating process and what not. Make sure that all your paperwork ties everything together as Prince666 states. If that locale only plates vehicles in a Chinese name (then make sure it is your own Chinese name), not someone else's. But, if you do this then your D/L must also show your Chinese name, and consequently the insurance will need to follow the same naming requirements.
As for plating the bike in that town versus Kunming, while convenient and all that do keep in mind that approx 23 months from now, given that the bike has been plated approx 1 month already, you will have to return the bike to that location to complete the inspection. You'd also need to present to that town/city if you wanted to transfer the plate to some other jurisdiction e.g. selling the bike to someone else.

What you could do rather than take a plate from that town now, just do a transfer of ownership and plate to yourself to your location in Kunming (provided that bikes can be plated in the city you reside in). What will occur in this instance is that the Traffic Management Bureau, will take back the current plate on the bike, compile a dossier (file) of the bike and place these into a large brown coloured envelope which is to remain sealed, and issue your bike a paper plate which has valid period of somewhere between 21-28 days from memory (depending on location). This allows you to get the bike back to where you live and present the bike along with that sealed envelope to complete the transfer process and have issued a new (Kunming) plate. It is EXTREMELY important that the envelope is not opened nor shows any signs of tampering, 'cause if it does, the bike will not be plated and will likely remain in limbo land for ever without some serious Guanxi. The staff at the receiving Traffic Management Bureau will be looking very hard at the envelope, believe you me.

The process is pretty simple really just a pain in the proverbial behind, but in the long run it is worth it, since you are able to complete whatever requirements, such as, inspections in Kunming, and importantly, sell the bike from your own home base and complete the formalities there.

[zhu]

Good job Fox , I do love a happy ending.
o

[foxy88]

Great story, and congrats to your lucky outcome!

For extended touring, IMHO, the YBR250 is a better choice than the GW250. I've owned both (in fact, at one crazy point I had five GW250s and two YBR250s - you know, one for each day of the week). Seriously, I had them for different reasons, but it gave me a chance to learn about them. Frankly, they are both great bikes, but I'd take the YBR250 on an extended tour, although the new GW250S (called the Travel Edition) is nice with a more upright seating position, a front fairing, and a couple of other goodies.

An "all-in" 19,000 rmb price for a new YBR250 is a great deal - yup, you are lucky. I am sure you will be very very happy with the bike. It doesn't really excel at any one thing, but it seems to do everything very well for a 250cc class.

A tuhao policeman ... why does that not surprise me?

LJH you must pay a fortune in garage space, did you colour code the bikes so they could match your shirt each day? Seriously though, reading back through your reviews on both of the bikes helped me make a decision, I did try out the GW250 and it was somewhat delicious, but I with the extra weight, forward positioning etc I agree the YBR250 should prove to be a better choice in the long run.

zhu, ZMC, don't want to count the eggs too early, still have a couple of days before I officially take ownership, hopefully it all falls into place though

Doc that info is all fab, appreciate the write up. I think though, all things considered, I'll go ahead and try register in Yuxi for a few reasons- the guy I'm buying off is a copper with guanxi, as mentioned, so that should potentially smooth out any issues; Yuxi is only 60 odd km, so not a major issue to get back down here for check-ups etc; the people at the Vehicle Management Office in Kunming are quite possibly very sick of me, as I made myself a veritable thorn in their rear just a couple of weeks ago until they finally gave in and let me sit for my DL on my P1 Aus car licence, so they might not give me the warm reception I'd like if I come knocking again :P

BTW ZMC a question, noticed on reading soberpete's review you recommended a precautionary oil change after 100km. The bike will hit that by the time I get back to Kunming, which oil should I be using do you think? The tuhao said he only uses Moto, reckons that's the best out, other people have said Yamalube is good...

Spent quite a few hours at the Kunming motorbike parts and accessories market today looking for some helmets, was bitterly disappointed for the most part- the best available seemed to be 140odd yuan no-name or obscure Chinese brands. $10 helmet $10 head anyone? There was also a store specialising in Yohe, which I hadn't heard of but seemed okay, and ran up to over 2,000, was unable to find anything like a good fit though. Just when I'd given up and decided reluctantly that it would have to be a Taobao job stumbled across a neat little shop tucked away in the corner, which was stocking LS2, Tanked and HJC. The owner was extremely helpful and after a lot of fittings agreed to order in a couple of HJC IS-Max's for us, which seem to have a fairly good rep. You blokes up north are spoilt for choice it seems, compared to the backwater that is sleepy ol' Kunming.

Prince you mentioned a HID 6000K might be the way to go with the headlamp, after asking around today I was told LED's are much better, in terms of longevity and power, what do you think?

[prince666]

LJH you must pay a fortune in garage space, did you colour code the bikes so they could match your shirt each day? Seriously though, reading back through your reviews on both of the bikes helped me make a decision, I did try out the GW250 and it was somewhat delicious, but I with the extra weight, forward positioning etc I agree the YBR250 should prove to be a better choice in the long run.

zhu, ZMC, don't want to count the eggs too early, still have a couple of days before I officially take ownership, hopefully it all falls into place though

Doc that info is all fab, appreciate the write up. I think though, all things considered, I'll go ahead and try register in Yuxi for a few reasons- the guy I'm buying off is a copper with guanxi, as mentioned, so that should potentially smooth out any issues; Yuxi is only 60 odd km, so not a major issue to get back down here for check-ups etc; the people at the Vehicle Management Office in Kunming are quite possibly very sick of me, as I made myself a veritable thorn in their rear just a couple of weeks ago until they finally gave in and let me sit for my DL on my P1 Aus car licence, so they might not give me the warm reception I'd like if I come knocking again :P

BTW ZMC a question, noticed on reading soberpete's review you recommended a precautionary oil change after 100km. The bike will hit that by the time I get back to Kunming, which oil should I be using do you think? The tuhao said he only uses Moto, reckons that's the best out, other people have said Yamalube is good...

Spent quite a few hours at the Kunming motorbike parts and accessories market today looking for some helmets, was bitterly disappointed for the most part- the best available seemed to be 140odd yuan no-name or obscure Chinese brands. $10 helmet $10 head anyone? There was also a store specialising in Yohe, which I hadn't heard of but seemed okay, and ran up to over 2,000, was unable to find anything like a good fit though. Just when I'd given up and decided reluctantly that it would have to be a Taobao job stumbled across a neat little shop tucked away in the corner, which was stocking LS2, Tanked and HJC. The owner was extremely helpful and after a lot of fittings agreed to order in a couple of HJC IS-Max's for us, which seem to have a fairly good rep. You blokes up north are spoilt for choice it seems, compared to the backwater that is sleepy ol' Kunming.

Prince you mentioned a HID 6000K might be the way to go with the headlamp, after asking around today I was told LED's are much better, in terms of longevity and power, what do you think?

Hi foxy
Not tried the LED so I can't say but all my
Bikes here and my car all have HID and these
Work fine so I would stick to HID best is 6000K
But 8000K is ok as well, 6k are white and as you
Go up the K the light get more blue but no more
Then 8 K foxy ok

[bikerdoc]

Mr Foxy, I happen to have a HJC IS-Max amongst my helmet stock. It's okay, but I'm a modular helmet convert, and have a number of different brands and models, including a; HJC IS-Multi, Nolan N43 Air, and several Shark Evolines amongst them. The latter are my favourite helmets by far which is why I've three of 'em. For some reviews on the helmets mentioned hit up webbikeworld
The Shark Evoline's offer all the advantages of a 'flip-up' helmet but far more besides. The webbikeworld review of the brand/model provide a pretty good overview so I won't spin/doctor it here.

As to your question concerning LED lights on MC's. The concept works well as applications for park lights, day riding lights, indicators etc. Applications where it's imperative that the MC is as conspicuous as possible and where one is reliant on other peoples ability to visualise you/your MC etc. IMO LED's are great in these circumstances. However LED use for main headlight use are near on worthless/useless, as they put out bright light but have very poor penetration, depth etc. I bought and installed a main LED bulb replacement for the headlight on the CF650TR just as a trial despite knowing just how poor the light would be having read up on the subject ages ago. The headlight LED's weren't cheap either (around 120kuai each - from memory), supposedly something around 100w 4300k equivalent. The install itself was pretty straight forward and painless, as the LED design was a straight bulb swap without any adaptor plates or similar needed. Remove OEM bulb from headlight housing, detaching plug etc, attaching LED, secure, reattach plug.

The LED lights were awfully bright to look at, ideal for day time use - turned on - be seen. But at night the light distribution was poor, depth of visible light was crap, couldn't penetrate anywhere near the distance/depth needed, possibly 5m or 15-foot if that. The lighting provided was just so dangerous, I cut short my night ride and swapped out the lights immediately. Fortunately I'd negotiated with the Taobao seller beforehand to do a trial and if unsuitable return for a full refund. LED's lights were sent back the very next day.

You want kick arse lights, go with HID's (high intensity discharge)... good quality ones. Spend the coin, slim line ballasts, 25w (Lumen's) minimum, 35w if your alternator can handle it, and go for 4300k (Kelvin units) for a more natural white light, but no higher than 6000k if you can't find 4000k or 5000k. The higher you head up the Kelvin unit chart so to speak, the more blue hue the light spectrum gets (yellow light in the opposite direction - down the chart), and white is the ideal light hue for the human eye. Blue looks nice but it produces light that is not particularly suited to the human eye. So go 'white', although there is something to be said for the more natural off-white that Halogen gas (lights) give off, making various objects more discernible in the light given off.

Webbikeworld lighting review

[njbrwn]

Hey doc & prince,
Just had a question re plating, since you already generally went over it. I just ordered a bike yesterday to be shipped to the local dealer (ybr kg, after yalls suggestions). The dealer initially said registration was no issue. However now he's saying that it can't be done because without a Chinese shenfenzheng # the insurance company won't insure me & therefor can't be plated. I said I've heard of a lot of foreigners have gotten plated but he said in jiangxi it wasn't possible apparently. The dealer is a friend of a friend so trust that he actually went through the effort to ask around.
What I'm wondering is how are bikes usually registered if you do it through a dealership? He said he's never heard of it being done and wouldn't be willing to use his name because then any tickets I get etc are his responsibility. I've heard of a lot of people going through this route so I was just wondering how it's done. He said I could register it in my girlfriends name (local here) no problem, but I'm a bit wary of that still and just want everything in my name. I was thinking maybe I can register it in her name first then transfer the plates later?
As for Chinese names my license has my Chinese name so I assume it's a non-issue.
Thanks for all the help! Congrats on the bike foxy, if I could scrap together the extra 10000 would've definitely gone for the 250, seems like a great ride