By the summer of 2023, there are already signs of a shortage of imported motorcycles in Russia: new batches are not being delivered, the remnants of old ones are gradually being sold, offers on the used market have skyrocketed in price, and official dealers are seriously thinking about curtailing their activities.
This is the result of the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Western countries, which, in fact, put an end to our entire industry built on the sale and maintenance of foreign bikes. Judge for yourself what the scale of restrictions is:
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Japan refuses to sell motorcycles to Russia for more than 600,000 yen (approximately 235,000 – 255,000 rubles), and Europeans for more than 5,000 euros (approximately 280,000 rubles). For such an amount in Russia it is almost impossible to find a decent bike from Japan or Europe, even when buying it from hand, not to mention a new one. Those. it turns out that there is no complete ban as such, but because of the price ceiling, popular brands and models in our country will not be able to enter the Russian market.
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The United States acted much more directly than the Japanese and Europeans: they directly refused Russian dealers to supply any bikes of their own production, in which the engine exceeds 50 cubic centimeters in volume. Whoever is in the subject understands that this is a de facto ban on the export of Harleys from the States to Russia.
Considering the fact that, due to the shortage, any motorcycle junk from countries that have imposed sanctions is already standing as a decent used bike as of February 24, 2022, at the moment it is worth taking a closer look at Chinese motorcycles. At least they don’t bite on the price tag.
Chinese choppers
China has not been successful in designing and manufacturing choppers on its own. Their quality leaves much to be desired, so let’s briefly go over the best replicas of foreign brands.
A balanced option for quality and price
This motorcycle, at first glance, seems like a time traveler who has moved into the future 30-40 years from his time. And indeed it is. The design of the Lifan LF 250 Cruiser was relevant for the late 80s. 20th century: Lots of chrome, distinctive black color, studs, headlight look, fashionable at the time. Who likes biker retro, then you are definitely here.
To understand why Lifan uses a 40-year-old design, you need to know the history of the motorcycle. And she is very uncomplicated.
The Japanese made the Yamaha Virago XV 250 motorcycle around 1988 from Yamaha, which was modern for those years. And it sold well, and the Japanese made a lot of money on it. The Chinese saw this and thought: “Why are we worse?” They took it and copied it. And so carefully that they forgot to remove “ Made in Japan ” from some details.
Seriously, the replica turned out to be very high quality for the money, namely 150,000 rubles. Still, Lifan is not the guys from the garage, but a company with production experience and the availability of relevant personnel. So Japanese reliability has not been destroyed by copy masters from China.
Actually, there is another big plus in the similarity of Lifan and Virago: it will be much easier to find spare parts for the “Chinese”, because about 95% of Virago parts will fit Lifan LF 250 Cruiser .
Also, the bike won’t pull out a lot of money on fuel as it only needs 2.4 liters per 100km. Even if you squeeze everything that is possible out of Lifan, the consumption will still not be higher than 3.5 liters per 100 km.
Fans of tuning Lifan may be interested in its “bare” equipment, which allows you to upgrade it, as far as the owner’s imagination is enough.
During operation, keep in mind that the bike does not have an oil filter, and therefore you will have to constantly monitor the cleanliness of the mesh provided to retain impurities and dirt. Do not neglect this, otherwise one not-so-beautiful day you will have problems with the engine.
Speed and acceleration
About the Stels 400 Cruiser, I just want to say – “mad Chinese” for 167,000 rubles. And it’s not just a figure of speech. In its class of 400 cc Stealth bikes is really a very frisky and dynamic motorcycle, because:
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He needs only 6 seconds to accelerate to 100 km. at one o’clock.
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According to the factory documents, he squeezes a maximum of 140 km. at one o’clock. However, here it is necessary to take into account the lack of an automatic rev limiter in the standard set of Stealth. Those. no one will stop you from driving the tachometer needle into the red range of dangerous revolutions and try to kill the maximum speed of 140 km. per hour set by the manufacturer.
In terms of reliability, Stealth is not much inferior to Lifan. Yes, in Stealth, breakdowns on trifles happen more often. For example, his cables are rather weak, but the engine and transmission fail extremely rarely.
And now about a fly in the ointment in a barrel of honey, and, more precisely, about the brake system. By the way, the Chinese made Stels 400 Cruiser similarly to Lifan: they took and copied the Yamaha Virago XV 400, so the brake system migrated to Stealth from there. But, if the Japanese can still be understood, since in the 80s. Since the 20th century did not yet have modern hydraulic brakes, it is impossible to understand the Chinese. Either they didn’t care about safety, or they simply decided to save money and not bother. So, when you ride Stealth, always remember about weak brakes.
Touring motorcycles
Eagle? Hawk? Or maybe a kite? Yes, no doubt, the CFMOTO 800 MT Touring looks really cool and predatory.
But its benefits don’t start and end with design alone. The 800 cc engine of the bike develops a maximum of 195 km. per hour, so a trip on it is quite capable of injecting adrenaline into your blood.
However, the main advantages of the motorcycle are laid down by the designers in a variety of little things that create a sense of increased comfort for the rider. Here are devices for quick and convenient gear shifting (quickshifters), and heated seats and handles on the steering wheel, and a cruise control system, and wind protection. And since the motorcycle is a tourist one, it comes with several wardrobe trunks with a total volume of 99 liters.
The price of the model is 1,345,000 rubles.