Chinese bikes in Africa
 

I'm looking for some advice on which Chinese-brand bikes are common in Africa. I realize that the brands change from country to country, so just throw me some names. Also, has anyone seen anything bigger than 250cc coming from China? Do any of the brands have 400cc dual-sports on the market?

We're planning a trans-Africa ride and want to do it on Chinese bikes (long story why) so we're researching the market.

Chinese Bikes in Africa
 

Hi

I am currently riding a Jincheng 150 trans Africa solo.

My route from Nairobi went across Uganda,DRC, CAR,Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin and am now in Ouga heading for Mali tomorrow.

I cannot recommend the Chinese option highly enough if taking the road less travelled. If you are planning on sticking to tar roads a bigger bike would be more comfortable.

But, where I have been the Chinese option has many advantages. Strength, weight, spares everywhere, mechanics everywhere, cheap to buy, cheap to service and cheap to run. Also, because you are on a local bike there is better communication.

In northern DRC Chinese motos are basically the trucking system. They load them with 350kgs plus and cover some of the worst tracks on the continent....you have to see it to believe what they do with them. If they can do that carrying a traveller with some luggage is a breeze !

My Jincheng is kind of an Enduro type but Congolese go for small Haojin 125 at about 800 US new. They change them after 18 months. Dont think they do a 400, at least I have not seen any in Africa. But my 150 is adequate and if you have long stretches on tar you can change the sprockets to get a bit more speed...but I havent bothered.

I am pushed for time right now but could tell you a lot more when I get to Bamako.

Maybe pm me and we can skype at some point ? You are on the right track !!

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Richard.

I can recommend cheap Chinese machines but always look for a brand new or with a minimal mileage motorbikes. If they are maintained probably they will run and run.......... and people will smile when they see you. :)

I did Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on "Honda" Win ~100cc and The Gambia on Lifan 125-3 High Speed. Its quite easy to find spare parts for Chinese bikes in Africa. However in some regions life is very basic so you should buy some basic parts before leaving big cities if you can.

I think that something like 125 - 250 should be maximum (60-80kmph) what you need for Africa.... or just take BMW 1200 RRRR for a blast trip 200kmph ;))))

ps. One tip: riding during extreme temperatures like 45C can kill your bike so check oil and do not over heat the engine. My piston exploded last time in Gambia due to heat (one valve was blocked and the piston was hitting it).

+1 for using a chinese bike, they are pretty good and cheap for travelling. As said, every country has it's own makes, some very funny like 'keweseki'. In Mali I drove on a 'super nr 1' but most the majority drives on a ktm 'power K'. (there's 4 in the picture)
The bigger 400cc's I haven't seen, they go up to 200cc. Just go to any African city, look up the bike market, and then choose, you will not find much info over the internet about reliability on these bikes as most of the users have no acces to the internet. Price in Bamako was about 750$.
@Oceanjoy, that's a daring route you took, would love to read up on your adventure.
http://i61.tinypic.com/o8t7nk.jpg

Chinese Bikesh
 

Hi Menoto,

Further to my last.

For dual sport/enduro type try..
Jincheng
Li Fan
ShineRay
Jialing

For regular type bikes...
Haojin
Boxer
Senko
KTM..not the Austrian one !

Or the top of range option (IMHO) is to go Yamaha AG 200. Built as farm bikes for Aus/NZ but also for African market. Only Churches and Governments have them though. You can buy 5 chinese for 1 Yamaha !

My bike currently suffering from heat problems.....over 40 degrees and 600 km days on tar. That is one weakness with air cooling but only if you have to rush and in hot conditions.

My bike is caying me plus 40 kgs with ease , and cruises at 70_75kph on tar all Day, subject to heat. Off road is where they excel though.

It would be interesting to know your route and timescale.

Cheers.

hi i am living in Tanzania and I ride Toyo 150cc trail. its second hand 6 months old, 1700khm and i paid 1 million tzs. bargin. There about 1.8 million new cheers

Chinese bikes
 

Another one to look at is.......

Chongquingdonghong marketed in Maroc as Docker.

Ive heard a few positives about these Chinese bikes. Are there any good avenues to follow in terms of securing a bike before arriving at your destination (Nairobi for me), or is it best to arrive and hunt for a bike from there? Cheers
Matt

For normal type bike have a look at the bajaj boxer 150 bm,
Sold in a lot of African countrys.
For big bikes you have to put down serieus money in africa.
Found this youtube video Fanny especialy the music behind it:funmeteryes:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TUEUxryanqQ
Good luck!

Sorry this is the link of the boxer bike,
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=udzLa6WXnpI

Chinese Bikes
 

Hi Matt,

If you are going to Nairobi, Chris at JJ's will buy the bike and prepare it for you.

The Jincheng 150 which I got from him took me 15,000 km from Nairobi back to UK going west across the continent.

I re-engined in Morocco for £220, including taking out the original and fitting the new one !

Cheers.

chines shit
 

i would never buy a chines bike any thing made in china brakes and then brakes again and again thats a fact iff yuo ar smart buy a second hand honda 250 yuo can find this bikes sheap 1000 us change the piston rings and goo yuo buy a chines bike and yuo whil spend alot of time and money in repair shops around africa
:stormy:

So excited I found this thread, as buying Chinese was my plan! (Like MennoMoto, there's a long story behind this decision)
Any idea on what's available in Mozambique?
Or would it be cheaper to buy in SA?
For spares, based on typical problems with these bikes, what spares should I buy?
Tires? Are people buying Chinese too?

Thanks!

Great thread, I am currently planning a 3 month solo ride starting in South Africa up to Uganda and down again :)...it is such a hassle to ship your own bike so I would much prefer buying one in South Africa and then sell it or donate it after. Had not considered a Chinese bike, so great reading all the positive experiances. As I am not much of a mechanic it is good to know that the locals know the bikes in that regard :thumbup1:

hey guys,
i like this thread...
buying a bike is one thing, but what happens next?
anyone any information about registering the bike for example in Kenya and take it to other countries?

I stay in Uganda a lot and have an MTR125 (same as a Senke CG125, which is a copy of a Honda CG125) and agree with most of the other posters - they are good, CHEAP bikes.

The big lumps (engine, wheels etc) are very strong but the fiddly bits (chains, wheel bearings etc) tend to be cheapy stuff that needs replacing more often than on a German/Japanese bike. But spares are everywhere and every village seems to have a bike mechanic so it's not a huge issue.

I paid $400 for my indeterminate-aged bike. They are available new for around $900. Secondhand Japanese bikes are available here but are MUCH more expensive, and not necessarily more reliable - they will have led a hard life and may not have been serviced and repaired correctly.

I quite like the idea of riding around Africa on a bike that cost the same as a pair of tyres for a BMW GS!

How about paperwork?
 

Hey guys,

Very interesting what you did Oceanjoy :)

I'm also a big adviser to buy local cheap bike :)

Question is about the paperwork, howdoes it go to
1) register the bike in Mombasa? DO you need to be resident there in the first place?
2) once itis properly registered, how do you get a carnet? do you need any in that case?

We will be following your comments with great interest!

Gautier

A friend of mine runs a few Jialing bikes for him and the supervisors on a farm in Zim. He runs them for a year or two the replaces them - that has worked well - they have not had big issues.


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indian bike
 

Hi,

I'm travelling since a couple of months on a local bike as well. It's not a chinese one but an indian one called TVS. It's 125cc and i just passed the 10.000km without any big problems.
I think regarding spareparts you might be better off with the boxer or Haojin.

My bike is registered in Congo and i got a carnet issued for it in germany.

Let me know if you need more info.

I will be flying into Cape Town the middle of December. I am trying to find a reputable chinese motorcycle dealer there, can anybody recommend me one.

I would love to be as best prepared before I arrive so I don't spend a lot of time looking for a dealership when I get there. I hope to get a dual sport/enduro type chinese bike.

cheers

Try the Wilddogs forum, and far more traffic for South Africa

Search the Gumtree and OLX.za classifieds, tons of bikes advertised and you will get an idea of the brands on offer.

However, a word of advice : not all Chinese brands are equal. Do your homework on which manufacturer made the bike you are looking at and do some googling on its reliability and capabilities.

For example, I had a 200cc Zhongshan dual sport in the Philippines, which is the most fun per $ bike I have ever owned. Rebranded in Philippines as a Motorstar MSX200II, but sold by Zhongshen as a 'world bike' in 150cc and 200cc versions in other countries.

You want to check availability in other countries, if parts and support is an issue.

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Nextlife, if you have you mind set on Chinese then I would recommend looking at "Motomia" dealer in Cape Town.
There are a bunch of other chinese bike dealers - they all just rebadge - so not sure what brand of bike it really is.
Anyway Motomia seems to have the best quality. I would not bother looking at other dealers. Indian made Bajaj can also be found but are scarce.
Second hand to be found in the R7000 - R10000 price range ($550 - $800).

Have you thought about a second-hand low km's JAP bike instead?
Yamaha or Honda 125cc. You can get many good ones in the R10000 to R15000 price bracket. ($800 -$1200).
Going JAP would be my advice if budget allows.

Earlier this year we completed a 20.000km trip across South America on brand new 200cc Chinese motorcycles.

We counted about 110 failures in 5 months. 30% of the time we spent looking for spare parts an getting the frame or engine mended. If you are not familiar with how to fix regulator, ignition, carb., or changing a piston I would recommend buying a proper bike.

However, (like mentioned earlier) maybe not all Chinese bikes are like ours.

Interesting thoughts, folks.

I rode the wheels off a Lifan GY-5 (200cc enduro) in Canada for a year and change, and then got a Konker KSM200 (a Quinqui copy of the DR200) for another year. Both bikes were stone reliable.

Since then, I've often wondered if this was the best way to travel developing countries; it's all you see on the roads in the Caribbean. If you were really ambitious, you could even pony up the dough to buy a Honda CG125 motor to drop into some of these chassis, I'm sure.

I also wonder how much sense it would make, if you were shipping a bike, to purchase a DR200 and then just repair the odd broken bit with Quinqi parts along the way.

I think if I was headed down to the bottom of South America, I'd be very tempted to fly to Mexico and buy something there for the rest of the trip.

Also note that some posters pointed out Indian bikes can also be affordable alternatives, although I personally have no experience with them in Canada.

I'd consider a Sym Wolf 150, too -- I think they are fairly common around the world, and fairly affordable, and pretty reliable (made in Taiwan, not China). I think if I was buying a new bike in Canada to ride south, it'd be high on the list.