250cc max?

[Dieselrunner]

Why is it that 250cc seems to be the biggest motor that China bikes come with? I've looked on Alibaba and it looks like larger cc engines are available but you never see them in the states. EPA or price the reason???

[ben2go]

Emissions testing are harder to pass is what I have read on other forums.

[culcune]

I am not sure if the quality is there. We had a batch of air-cooled 400cc Xingyue bikes that were also sold under other brands (including Pitster Pro) that looked great, Xingyue never fixed the issue, and never sent them anymore, either. One ray of hope is the 450cc engine in the SSR motorcross bike which I believe is the Zongshen engine which will find its way into the Zongshen 450cc adventure bike.

Also, keep in mind that the vast majority of the engines we have been getting are similar to (we tend to call them 'clones' but they really aren't )Honda CG125 engines. Where we are in size is pretty much the extent of how large they can go.

As far as emissions go--since the brands have been renewing their certificates year after year, that is the vast majority of what we are getting. It is easy to renew rather than start from scratch.

[culcune]

There was a ray of hope I forgot to mention; on the 2017 EPA/DOT certification list, Shineray got their 400cc engine certified. It was supposed to be for the upcoming Genuine-branded street bike. However, on the certificate, it left room for Shineray's 'GY' model. GY is the designation for Chinese dirt bikes. That didn't mean that the bike was coming, but since it uses the same engine as the street bike, it was certified. Someone could, in theory, import the Shineray X5, which is their adv-style 400cc bike.

[culcune]

SRM USA, Inc. Chongqing Shineray Motorcycle Co., Ltd. P. R. China Chongqing Shineray Motorcycle Co., Ltd. P. R. China NA COR 50S 4 1 2 GAS 397 TBI G400A, G400C, G400CR, G400S, XY400-C, XY400GY-C

The last model that falls under the certification is the 'XY400GY-C' which would be their dual sport model. Again, does not mean that Shineray will bring this model, but only that it is certified. One of the G400 models is probably the Genuine bikes, so if they sell well enough to keep renewing the certificate, someone (maybe even Genuine) could become enterprising and sell a 400cc dual sport in the US