Friday, 26 April 2013

Friday bike

Seen this bike before? More than a passing resemblance to the BMW F650 'Funduro', or the Aprilia Pegaso of the late 90s?

This is the Jialing JH 600, built in China. It's got a 600cc 4 valve single cylinder engine and is the first bike built in China with fuel injection. Woooo!

It's in a fairly low state of tune with a claimed 40 bhp and a top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h), although a US journalist could only get 94 mph (151 km/h) out of one during a test ride.

The bike passes the Euro 3 emision and noise test, so could be sold in Europe and the US, but until the Chinese manufacturers get their build/reliability standards up to a level that would be acceptable in the West, it's unlikely anyone would buy one. Judging by this forum they've still got a long way to go.
It's a pity because I could see this as a useful runabout/touring bike, much in the same way the MZ ETZ 250 was in the 80s and 90s. (Back when I rode them.) However, as it stands, I would much rather own a 10 or 15 year old BMW than a new one of these, in the same way that I would rather have a 10-15 year old Honda CG 125 than a new Chinese 'clone'.
Just for mr combo here's a picture of a sidecar version, as used by the Chinese Army.

And a video:





1 comment:

  1. Of course you know that these guys built the engines for BMW years ago and were allowed to use the engine in their own motorcycles.The first time I saw one was in Panama. One of the many national Police forces uses them.
    The're big and not very pretty,

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