The Chinese Jinlun 125cc Cruiser Motorcycle

This is the Chinese 'Cixi Kingring Jinlun JL 125-11' to give it its full title. The bike is a 125cc twin cylinder low-down cruiser style bike and resembles a Harley Davidson at a distance although it's Hardley A Davidson.

The Jinlun JL125-11 is quite an attractive machine to ride, it is fitted with stylish aluminum alloy wheels, twin exhaust, panniers, crash-bars, windshield, spot lights, immobilzer and alarm, two-tone paint, wide profile tyres (for a 125), wide forks and heavy yolk, deep and heavy chroming, remote start, sissy bar, and laser engraved VIN number for added security. All of these features are standard with this bike except I think for the windshield and crash bars. The motorcycle is great value for money and it stands apart from all others in the 125cc range.

Cixi Kingring Jinlun make this bike in a wide range of colors too. Solid red, red and silver, solid black, black and silver, orange and silver, blue-ginko, amethyst, solid yellow, yellow and silver, solid blue, blue and silver, solid white, solid silver and the list goes on although you will have to check with the dealers for availability.

Below are some of the colors available for the Jinlun JL125-11

The bike is great fun to ride, a cool "head turner" with people always asking me questions about it, more notably from non bike riders..." Is it a Harley? " and they are often surprised when I tell them its a Chinese bike that I initially paid £999 OTR brand new in June 2007.

The price of this bike is going up and fast, its now about £1350

The Jinlun JL 125-11 is a full sized bike and is ideal for a novice to get practice and training on before venturing onto a bigger engine machine. I have been riding this motorcycle over a 2 years now and have clocked up nearly 15000 Km's and a whole load of biking experience. Riding a motorcycle is a serious business and if you ride sensibly you will generally be safe.

Some experienced bikers who have been riding for years tell me that the day of coming off my bike will come, as it eventually & inevitably happens to all who take to the saddle, oil or grease on the road a turn or island bend, wet manhole covers, wet leaves and other road debris, tiredness, a sudden lack of concentration or a distraction and of course careless motorists to name the major causes.

Update: Well yes it happened, I came off on a wet road when the front wheel went into a shallow undulation filled with mud and wet leaves, the front wheel snaked all over the place, the bike just went down and I crashed and slid into the center of the road. Battered and bruised but all my heavy duty bike gear saved me from any serious damage.

There is the danger element in most motorized pursuits though and it should not deter the rider from getting on his bike.

I have recently added some extra chrome trim and a pair a gauges - Rev counter and Volt meter - they were a bit fiddly to fit and it took 1 ½ hours, the wiring loom is within the headlight dish and even though I dismantled it all there was still not enough room to get my fingers in to tighten bolts and get the ignition lights back in the cradle, bit of faith and patience helped in the end !

In the image below, the engine is ticking over at just under 1500 rpm at 14 volts charge.

The visible key fob below has the alarm, immobilizer and remote start on it.

The bike rides, handles and feels like a much bigger machine, it takes corners well although you cannot bank it over too far as the footplate will graze the ground. Actually, I must admit to shaving off a few millimeters of Chinese foot plate steel and raising a few sparks once or twice.

U-Turns are reasonably easy with this bike just as long as the road that you choose is quite wide, as the turning circle is equally quite wide. The Jinlun JL125-11 is a heavy bike with a small engine, so its not the best power to weight ratio combination for doing tricky maneuvers. A good U-Turn though does illustrate that you have complete control over the motorcycle.

Whilst talking about motorcycle control, I was in a situation some time ago where I needed to execute an emergency stop on a wet, dark, poorly lit local road. Initially the traffic lights that I was approaching were on green, I had to wipe off rain water that had collected on my visor stopping me from seeing practically anything and when I looked again the lights were on red !! I was traveling at about 35 mph almost on top of the lights so I slammed on the front brake....She braked in a straight line and pulled me up surprisingly fast due to the relatively large front disc brake and caliper, quite big for a 125.

The bike only skidded about the last 3 foot on the front wheel, I didn't skid out into the Junction and the bike didn't 'snake' about. So I can say with confidence that the Jinlun's braking efficiency is....well....er....efficient !

Here is the Full Specification of the Jinlun JL125-11

Dimensions: Length: 2210mm -- Width: 810mm -- Height: 1090mm -- Wheelbase: 1410mm.

Ground Clearance: 140mm.

Dry weight: 135Kg.

Max Load: 150Kg.

Max Speed: 72mph.

Tyres: Front 110/90-16in & Rear 130/90-15in

Final Drive: Chain.

Brakes: Front Disc & Rear Drum.

Engine: 124.08cc JL2444FMI series.

Engine Configuration: 4 Stroke Twin Cylinder.

Max Power @ 10500 rpm: 11 bhp.

Compression Ration: 9.4 to 1

Max Torque: 8.5 Nm @ 9000 rpm.

Max Output: 8.4Kw @10500 rpm.

Engine And Box Lubrication: Combined Compress and Splash.

Ignition System: C.D.I electronic.

Kick Start: N/A.

Cooling: Forced Air.

Transmission: 5 Speed. 1 down < 1st - 4 up (through neutral) 2nd > 3rd > 4th > < 5th

Clutch: Manually operated perpetually wet multi disc.

Battery: 12V @ 7 Amp Hours.

Fuel Tank Capacity: 10 Litres including reserve.

Engine Oil Capacity: 2.2 Litres.

Reserve Tank Design: Split Seam

Average fuel consumption 60 to70 mpg Urban - 70 to 85 mpg cruise.

Note: Fuel consumption figures vary quite a lot and are dependant on how a bike is ridden. viz: getting into top gear as soon as possible can increase fuel consumption quite dramatically, with the extortionately hyped up price of fuel these days this is an important factor !

Motorcycles leave a very small "carbon footprint" and are economical, they don't create traffic congestion, they don't need a whole lot of parking space, they don't (statistically and logistically) kill other road users or pedestrians in accidents, they don't wear the roads out and are generally no hassle what-so-ever but the Government still won't do anything to encourage more riders ??

Vince Lewis MAG affiliated member.

The bike is chain driven and uses the traditional cruiser system of a rocker pedal to change gear. The gear range is 1 down toe and 4 up heel, giving 5 gears altogether.

Update: I have cut the rear rocker pedal off and just use the front lever now in the traditional way of toe down and then toe under and lift up to change gear, its a lot better too !

The Jinlun JL125-11 has no kick starter but relies solely on the electric start, I had a break in the ignition circuit not so long ago but it was so easy to bump start, place into 1st gear, hold the clutch in and push forward whilst letting the clutch snatch out fast and up it starts. Get that clutch lever back in sharpish though or you will be off up the road when your not ready. Bump-starting a car is not as easy as this, another thumbs up for bikes !

The Jinlun JL125-11 is a pleasure to ride, its engine is quite responsive for its small capacity of 125cc and as its a twin cylinder it produces a bit more torque and bhp than a single pot. I weigh 240 lbs -or -17 stone and the bike will reach 72 mph flat out down hill with the wind and a prayer behind me. Most times though the bike will cruise along happily at 55 mph.

In the image below is a photo of the right hand side of the engine and as you can see there is a lot of chrome.

Speed is not the essential element when riding a custom or I would have chosen a sports bike and joined the budding Mr. Valentino Rossi's amongst us. As it is, I am quite at ease just riding around taking in some of the countryside and fresh air.

The sense of freedom that I have always heard that bikers enjoy can be fully exonerated. Its hard to explain or express the freedom and satisfaction unless you have sat in the saddle, revved up the throttle and set off down that long and winding road with the bugs splattin in ya face and the wind a rippin under ya lid !

The only incidents, glitches and problems I have had with this bike are relatively minor and here they are:

The inner speedometer cable snapped due to ill fitting of the final speedometer drive on the front wheel. The inner clutch cable snapped due to being initially fit too tight. The 15amp ignition fuse blew...twice. The left indicator switch has a tendency to fail at times. The gear selector didn't select 2nd gear as the selector rod had come undone and I had to dismantle it all and re-assemble it, I find that this selector has to be checked at regular intervals.

The cheap Chinese light bulbs for the spot lights and main beam blew in quick succession. Many bolts and screws around the engine were loose and needed to be torqued up properly. I have lost a main bracket securing bolt somewhere as this wasn't torqued up properly either.

The fuel gauge is vastly inaccurate and the bike will cut out if you do not release the vapour lock in the fuel tank by taking the petrol cap of before you ride. There are two small holes on the under side of the fuel cap and I often blow some air through them to clear them out a bit, I find that this helps quite a lot.

The Jinlun's fuel gauge is encased in a high quality chromed plastic surround that is ideal for customizing with an avatar of your choice, just cut n fit. I found a nice Confederate Skull image on the internet that I covered in beta blocker suntan lotion to stop it from fading in the light. Some Jinlun JL125-11 owners actually put their road tax disc in here as its an exact fit !

Nothing really serious then that cannot be fixed with a pair of pliers, screwdriver, spanner and some patience. You have to be a little mechanically minded with a motorcycle but you don't have to be a rocket scientist.

There are no major problems inherent with this bike, the Jinlun's Engine is actually based on the tried and tested Honda design. I will say here that I have found this bike to be very reliable, with a bit of choke it starts every time from cold.

And remember, if you do get flat battery with a bike like this, they are very easy to bump start, so no worries.

Overall its a lovely 'out of the box' custom cruiser with no real issues and a bike that will give the trainee rider a lot of fun whilst learning the fundamentals of controlling a relatively large and heavy motorcycle. If maintained properly and looked after the bike will give many years of reliable use. I regularly service it with an oil change at around every 2500Kms and she just keeps rolling along !