SJBikes Jinlun JL125-11

Taken from jinlunowners website written by Paul Mannering

When you and your other half are expecting your first born count up all the horror stories you are told about lengthy labours, non existent pain relief remedies and whatever they do with those sink plunger things. Look at the glee in the eyes of those recounting the stories and then ask If it was that bad, what on earth possessed you to have another one?

Dont get me wrong, I am not belittling the severity of childbirth, and before any sharp objects are aimed at my anatomy I want to make my point clear.

Speak to any main Motorcycle dealer, any of the larger bike shop and they will all tell you a similar story. Eastern imported bikes are rubbish. The steel used is inferior quality so they rust quickly, the finish is poor, the reliability is bad and when you try to undo one of the bolts to change an exhaust or whatever, the soft bolts will snap and youll be resorting to drilling it out and itll cost you twice as much and no-one will service it and on and on.For some manufacturers this may well be true. But the Jinlun IS different.

See the similarity?

So far the best selling of the Jinlun range and currently the No 4 best selling cruiser in the UK (regardless of size) is the JL125-11.

Let me say from the off, these bikes are BIG bikes. They look big and the dimensions are, wellbig. Consequently they are not the fastest of 125s out there. They handle well and are easy to control at low speeds but you will not be breaking any speed records. Having said that, if you are going too fast people wont be able to see you anyway!

So if you are new to bikes or coming back to them after a break and you want something different to the many cloned sports 125s out there this is the answer. If you are built for comfort rather than speed, these are for you. If you are a poser, this is what you want. The retro 50s 60s style means that all of you who had a poster of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape on your bedroom wall when you were 15 will be drooling at them. The spirit of Marlon Brando will be tapping you on the shoulder in his Wild One leathers and winking.

OK enough of all that. Whats it like to ride?

The first thing you notice on this bike is the level of comfort. The suspension is fairly soft and the seating position is low so your feet can go flat on the floor giving you confidence to sit and rock it about. Get the feel of it.

There is quite often a little bit of play in the throttle but you soon learn where it starts and stops and this is not really much of an issue. Everything else from a controls point of view is exactly where you would expect it.

The bike usually starts first time from cold with the choke full on and warms up so that it runs on idle within a minute or so and you can then turn the choke off completely. Idle speed need s to be a little higher than you would think otherwise it can suffer from a flat spot on pull-away.

Pull away is not particularly fast but you have to keep reminding yourself that this is, after all, a heavy 125. Top speed on the flat is around about 65 at a push but it may take a while to get there. Once it does though it performs with very little fuss or worry. If you are always doing this sort of speed though you will find that fuel consumption suffers.

The Speedo drops back quite quickly on the inclines and you will need to get used to dropping down the gears to maintain speed sometimes.

The heel and toe gear shift can take some getting used to if you are used to riding other kinds of bikes and I have to say that the transition from 1st to 2nd can sometimes be a little half hearted when you use the heel. As you are then pushing the transmission a little more to gain speed as a rule at this stage mine had a tendency to pop out into neutral. As a result I found that I often used the toe to drop her into 2nd and make sure she stayed there.

The Air filtration system can require some attention. Make sure you keep the air filter (located just at the base of the fuel tank under the seat) clean. This can seriously harm performance of the bike overall.

The only other downside I found with the 125-11 was some niggles with the electrics. The main fuse went and I got through two main headlight bulbs and one sidelight bulb. The cut out switch from the stand that stops you pulling away with the stand down also didnt like the wet weather. Almost every time I was caught out in the rain I ended up at the side of the road until I disconnected it.

All of the issues are minor though and the bike is so very easy to work on that you dont mind getting a bit of dirt under the fingernails every now and then to resolve a problem. Oil changes are a doddle and you can service the bike yourself very easily.

Overall this bike runs well, performs better than expected and puts a large smile on your face and a small dent in your pocket. Best of all though is the general reaction it gets from onlookers, including other bikers, even those on big bikes like Harleys and the likes. They generally stop and compliment the bike and look surprised when you tell them what it is and how much you paid for it.

At a basic cost of about 1000 brand new this is an excellent introduction or re-introduction to the world of cruiser Motorcycles.