Our Horses: Feiying's 150-3

Chinese motorcycles are different from their American counterparts in both design and use. The affordable, easy to fix bikes are preferred to the expensive, hard to fix, durable type. Also, Chinese people don't ride their motorcycles fast or long. Mostly, they are around town utility vehicles, used by families to go to the nearby market, or as "motorcycle taxis." Motorcycles are banned from expressways, hence they're built for local speeds. A majority of motorcycles here have 125cc engines. If you don't know how much that is, many Harleys have 1000cc engines, or more. Our bikes have 150cc engines, which still isn't very powerful, but will provide decent gas mileage.

So far we have mixed feelings about our new ride. In the few weeks we've owned them, David's already broke down. When it happened, Feiying was immediately on the scene to mend his carburator. And, the next day they replaced the whole bike with a brand new one, without ever mentioning why. The front tire and its tread seem small, especially considering the terrain we intend to encounter, but the rear more than makes up for it in both girth and tread depth. As for Feiying, we don't know much about the company, or about any other Chinese brand, but from what we've read on Martino's blog, this is the bike for us. Martino rode over 10,000km around China on his Feiying 150-3. That's pretty reliable, not to mention, the sleekest Chinese bike on the road.

These are some of Patrick Martino's thoughts on the bike:
"Examining the bike from the advertisement, a stylish black FY 150-3, I became increasingly impressed. The bike had quality parts including a Yamaha engine, Yamaha shocks, and high quality tires from Taiwan. Better still Yu Jian told me the bike ran on specially designed oil which would last for 5,000 kilometers before having to be changed - a definite plus considering the oil problems I had with my last bike. The bike was also was comfortable to ride and just plane looked cool. It was black and looked like a small Yamaha Ninja. It also seemed, however, a little bit too cool and a little bit too expensive. Plus I had never heard of the brand."

P