Hello, my fellow readers and riders! Welcome once again to this fountain of knowledge. Grab a seat as I pour out my elixir of ever sweet knowledge from the bowels of experience. As crude as that might sound, this isn’t a script. I should keep that in mind. However, it is my hope that you are well and keeping safe and sanitized. Good? Great! Now that salutations are out of the way, let us get into it, shall we?
This week I had the pleasure of sitting and riding on the mother of all copycats, a Chinese bike from a company that has created replicas and the Frankenstein of bikes, Jincheng. I’m not throwing shade or anything but if you doubt me, google Jincheng 180 and Kawasaki Ninja 300 and tell me if you can physically tell them apart. Have I got your attention now? Still not convinced? Good. Let me get out my geek glasses and uniform, you’re in for a good treat.
Jincheng motorcycles made their first appearance, correct me if i’m wrong, mid 2019. Since then, I believe that they’ve sold a lot of motorcycles. Well first and foremost those bikes are pretty sweet looking and most important they are affordable. Their prices are like a thousand shillings for every cc (Cubic Centimetre) of engine the bike comes with.
The bike I had was 180 cc and it literally costs Ksh 180,000. Apart from the price, the bike is a real looker and definitely a head turner when silent of course. If you were to place it next to a Kawasaki ninja 300 R, you can easily fool someone that they’re the same bike. From the fairings to the dash to the handle bars to the headlights. Jincheng literally made and exact copy of the bike. The real difference comes from under the hood, as they say. I wonder why such companies aren’t sued for making copies.
The bikes comes with a 180 cc 4-stroke single cylinder engine and a six speed gear box. The engine doesn’t have an EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) system, rather its carbureted. The bike also has a fuel capacity of 16 litres which seems to have a hole because the engine is quite a guzzler especially on the lower rpms, but it might have been the bike I rode… but I digress. Have any one of you who own a Jincheng experienced this? The bike comes with 110/70/17 tires at the front and 140/70/17 at the back. That’s it. Shocker, I know.
There isn’t a lot of information out there about this bike. If you happen to google it, you’ll only find videos and Facebook posts, excluding mine, from the time you’re reading this or watching the review I did on YouTube. Jincheng Motorcycle Kenya are the dealers of these bikes.
Get ready, this might upset some people…
Here is my honest opinion about the bike. If you take any offense to this, I have no words for you. I had the bike for the better part of the day and it really isn’t a bad bike. I mean, it’s nowhere close to the Kawasaki line of bikes or any Japanese bike in that matter, but it’s not bad. It could make some major improvements on its engine and everything else but it’s a Chinese bike after all. They aren’t quite known for making things that last. I will start with the things I didn’t like about the bike.
Kicking things off is the fact is that its a big rip-off and a replica of the Kawasaki Ninja 300R. I mean how lazy can the manufacturers be. Why cant they be like Zontes and make a Frankenstein of a bike like the Zontes 310x which is basically a few bike designs combined into one. The designer was probably rushing to a deadline and just copy pasted the designs, and in order to avoid a lawsuit, they slap a 180 cc engine in there. Bravo, hats off to you guys.
Secondly, the carburetor on this bike needs to be replaced. The owner of the bike has been having issues with it as it has been burning more fuel on the lower speeds, below 60 kph. This has caused the bike to have a hard start, due to the flooding of the carburetor. Another thing that seemed to have an issue is the air filter. It seemed somehow faulty, but nothing a new aftermarket air filter cone can not fix. The owner prompted to get a universal carb to see if the problem would stop. I’m yet to follow up. The gauge cluster showed all it was required to show except for a temperature light which was weird since the bike is air cooled.
Third note is the gearbox. I get what they were going for. If you’ve ever sat on a 600 cc and above bike you know the awesome feeling you have when you click into gear. The whole bike vibrates like a Mexican bull desperate for release in a quest to kill the El-Matador. This bike however does that without the feeling. Its like when you’ve been chasing a girl and when you finally get her the urge dies and the sex becomes boring. You ask yourself, why waste so much energy? The gears on this bike are hard, you really have to use more pressure on downshifting than is normally necessary.
The engine really comes alive at higher speeds. It seemed more relaxed and at peace. The sweet spot of this bike is around 5000 to 6500 rpm, from 4th gear upwards. Another downside of the bike, are the brakes. Horrible but you can live with them.
Fourth on the list is the overall build quality of the bike. For the price, it’s not a surprise really. I saw a post a while back about a certain Jincheng that was involved in a crash. The front forks formed an L-shape whilst the rest of the body sustained minimal damage. That must have hurt. If anything this bike is not meant to be pushed. But the bike does do well in the following category.
Finally the good stuff…
I took the bike to all the kinds of terrains I could think of. I took it down a rough road, some pavements, some tarmac and my best place, some twisties. All I can say is that she didn’t disappoint. In any case that’s where she seemed to feel more at home. On the twisties. I took her down Tigoni road and veered into a private road I know that has some nice twisties. Like I said, the sweet spot is at 5000 to 6000 rpm, best for taking turns. The weight of the bike was superb while taking corners. She begged to be thrashed around like the naughty girl she is. She did what I wanted her to.
Let me stop there lest this becomes word porn. The tires were sufficient enough for me to lean and not fall or skid. They played their part well and for that I am grateful. Another thing that Jincheng did well was the addition of frame guards, which come stock with the bike. It’s a nice feature which shows that they care about you not damaging the bike. Because their parts are expensive or so I’ve heard. That’s it! That’s the good thing about the Jincheng 180R. Need I say more?
So who is this bike mostly meant for?
I’d highly recommend this to someone looking to get a sports bike and is a beginner. Get this bike, beginner in motorcycle racing! But is it really a beginner bike? Yes. I’ve touched a lot on the things to look for in a starter bike. Check out my YouTube channel Rico the Gear head for more.
With a lot of modifications, like changing the brakes, modifying and reinforcing the chassis, swapping the brakes, the tires and the engine, you can actually have a good bike. If you’re looking to get a track bike and you don’t want to spoil the one you have, get the Jincheng sports bike and use it to get better on the track. When you feel confident enough you can use a powerful bike to win those cups.
If I were asked to rate this bike, I’d give it a 6.5 out 10. Now, for the million dollar question. Is the bike really worth it? Yes, yes it is. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on the bike and my review? I know I haven’t compared it to other bikes in it’s class on this article but you can watch the YouTube review and find out more.
Stay Safe, Ride Safe.
Hey there Rico.
Since you are in Nairobi and have better access to many more kinds of bikes there, would you kind enough to start doing ADV reviews, especially the Jincheng 250cc dirt looking bike and any others you can get your hands on.
This article was informative and well worded. Keep it up.
A very good review.6.5 rating isn’t enough for me to buy one.8 n above.thanks.someone said it jas a 150cc engine no ukweli?
hello everyone
yes jincheng have a 150 cc bike and before you jump the gun. take the bike for a test ride, also consider other bikes like the zontes 200j, benelli 250 dayun dy 200j etc.
i will try to get my hands on as many bikes as i can.
explain to more of vibration issue…..what does it mean please
explain to me more of vibration issue…..what does it mean please
What about the speed and stability?
Dlad to hear all this,,,would you advise me to have a jincheng 180 cc for a start?
🤣 🤣 🤣 Nilibuy 150-ej that looks like suzuki gn250 I can complain that much though ilikuwa no fault mingi Kawa lights am planning on changing the 150cc to 250cc suzuki soon
🤣 🤣 🤣 Nilibuy 150-ej that looks like suzuki gn250 I can complain that much though ilikuwa no fault mingi Kawa lights am planning on changing the 150cc to 250cc suzuki soon