Strange little Chinese bike

Alzero

Alzero

Hero member
Location
DaNang Vietnam
One thing is for sure: they aren’t copying anymore!IMG_0367.jpegIMG_0366.jpegIMG_0365.webp
There is also a 500cc version without the weird front end, as well as another 700cc V-4 bobber type. All unique designs seemingly not derived from anyone else.
 
Last edited:
Apparently, it's a bit of a trend; there is a Yank bike being made that has a similar look. It's created a bit of a controversy, tank slapping a young lady bike blogger into a big crash with some not-so-good injuries. It's also got a leading link frontend.
 
Jimmer said:
Not sure I’d buy a bike called a Benda 😂
Click to expand...
Or Napoleon Bob!

But if we were to retire here in DaNang I’d be tempted, I’ve never exceeded 55kph on my ADV 160 so a 250 is plenty big enough. I think there is a passenger seat that folds out from under the main seat, unless that’s the 500.

It must be the 500, don’t see any rear pegs.
 
Last edited:
piranha-bro2 said:
That is a nasty, outrageous crash. What a total shize box that bike must have been.
Click to expand...
That crash produced a knee injury, and those take months to recover from, guess how I know. There were a few bikes that ran leading link frontends as solos back in the day, including Greeves MX bikes, so they're not inherently unstable. That's the go-to design for Sidecar outfits. But calculating and arriving at an appropriate trail number plus enough steering angle, and that last bit has proved problematic, plus being structural enough to take loads is pretty important even for so-called artistic bikes, whatever that is.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
That is a nasty, outrageous crash. What a total shize box that bike must have been.
Click to expand...
The Janus is IMHO a gorgeous looking bike with an infinite number of colors and appearance options. Given the stability of the Earles forked BMWs I’m shocked to see this. Someone got the geometry very wrong….. A a former owner of a Computrack franchise, I’d love to see if anyone has ever had theirs measured.
The build a bike app on their website is a great time waster.
 
An omen for the internet set...forget about recording content and keep on acquiring real world
experience on a motorcycle. These people are so brain-washed into fooling their "smash the button
and subscribe to my channel" selves that this time they lucked out by not ending up in the ICU or
the morgue. Sadly there are thousands of bloggers that believe they are existing in rarefied air with
no idea of how unqualified they are with their belief in self-absorbed selves. This girl even after the
fact has no idea of how the get off occurred and I think is still focused on the "product" and the
number of views. ps. don't believe the "expert advice for the cause as proffered by a law firm"....
Lord Give Me Strength !
 
An unrecoverable tank slapper is pretty much always down poor frame and steering design. It can be exacerbated by worn or underinflated tyres, flex elsewhere in the frame, worn bearings, road conditions and a heap of other things. But if the bike's design is sound in the first place, it should be able to tolerate deviation from optimum conditions. I suspect that the Janus bike is poorly designed from the start. Just looking at the thing my impression is that the primary design objective is that it's a style statement. Maybe second on the list is production cost (not reflected in the high retail price though). It's a conglomeration of mis-matched parts in a spindly frame. Good engineering is somewhere well down the list of design criteria, if it appears on the list at all. It's basically poorly designed and a cheaply made piece of shit using 1930's technology that they sell at a premium price. It baffles me why anyone would buy one.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Style.
Click to expand...
The same thing that has been selling choppers and now bobbers for decades. People have made a lot of money over the years selling parts to make your HD even less enjoyable to ride…..

As for the Janus being cheaply made everything but the engine is American made at American labor rates. Even with non-union Amish workers that will not be inexpensive.
 
My family of four and I have been cruising around on two scooters at a few spots on Bali. 125 Honda Vario, a 125 Yamaha Nixio or some name like that. As per your Vietnam experience we rarely see more than 40kph. Up here in Sidemen I rented two Varios and the one I had, with 23yo daughter on the back, was an absolute horror. I realised as soon as we reached the potholed, heavily trafficked steep roads that it had zero front fork travel; it was locked solid! Took it straight back and got another, also pretty shabby, but at least the front went up and down!

And today, on these tiny windy super hilly roads I heard a big thumping V-twin and a guy in a suit went past of a shiny black top-of-the-line hog! probly one of those 1900cc things. Totally out of place and by far the only bike above about 250 we've seen in nearly a month here.
 
To be honest, some of those woman blogger vids have been great. She had done a lot of Cop style slow speed training on 800lbs bikes that included hundreds of hours of her training to pick up Harleys on her own, and some Adventure training and riding bikes with seat heights that she struggles with at her height. She's done some pretty long trips as well, so she does have some credibility, plus it encourages more women to ride. However, that Janis vid is pretty cringy. My last Tankslapper was last year's very sudden front tyre deflation at 100kph. For about 10 seconds, I was thinking, Why was my bike feeling so odd? It was suddenly losing steering feel, and then it hit me, the tyre was deflating. I managed to avoid touching the brakes, which would have ended very badly, steer into and out of the slides and with a hugely puckered arse and lots of luck, avoid the surrounding cars. No idea how that happened, and eased to the side with a series of big steering inputs off the expressway without crashing my brains out. Absolutely not fun.
 
Dellortoman said:
An unrecoverable tank slapper is pretty much always down poor frame and steering design. It can be exacerbated by worn or underinflated tyres, flex elsewhere in the frame, worn bearings, road conditions and a heap of other things. But if the bike's design is sound in the first place, it should be able to tolerate deviation from optimum conditions. I suspect that the Janus bike is poorly designed from the start. Just looking at the thing my impression is that the primary design objective is that it's a style statement. Maybe second on the list is production cost (not reflected in the high retail price though). It's a conglomeration of mis-matched parts in a spindly frame. Good engineering is somewhere well down the list of design criteria, if it appears on the list at all. It's basically poorly designed and a cheaply made piece of shit using 1930's technology that they sell at a premium price. It baffles me why anyone would buy one.
Click to expand...
Looking at the video again, it certainly was NOT a tankslapper. The handlebars stayed in the same straight ahead position the entire time, no oscillation of the steering whatsoever until it threw her off. In every tankslapper I’ve seen and the two I’ve had the handlebars began to shake from side to side becoming more violent very rapidly. I don’t see that here at all.

I wonder if the oversized aftermarket windshield was the cause? The entire bike began to lean back and forth while pointing dead ahead and with zero movement of the bars. The bike has a rigid rear suspension so there couldn’t have been any input from the rear as long as the tire was inflated.

I encourage you to replay the video paying particular attention to the handlebars. It sure looks like they never moved until the bikes goes over onto its side. The machine for some reason just begins to rock from side to side while steering straight ahead. Very odd.

The bike weighs 120kg and I doubt she was much over 50 kg more. I wonder if the big plastic bubble just overpowered it?
 
Last edited:
True, Alzero. It's not a tankslapper. Looks to me like an oscillation set up by the rear wheel. With each oscillation getting bigger it self-energises until the front and rear wheels are basically heading in different directions, resulting in the front end folding under.

Definitely not a tankslapper. Had one on my modified SF. Had fitted 17s combined with a pair of Marzo M1Rs that had been bought new but ransacked by someone at Gowanlochs before sale ... no rebound damping whatsoever. Came overr a crest and the bars immediately swung so wildly back and forth that all four Brembo pads and pistons fully retracted ... no brakes! Fortunately the front end self-righted, but it was definitely the scariest moment I've ever had on a motorcycle ... there were several cars coming up the hill towards me.
 
Last edited:
Early on in my ownership of my 3c I had another slapping experience. The road, Princess Hwy, heading to the turnoff for the Snowy Mountains Hwy and Brown Mountain, was a bit damp. I was in the process of passing a line of cars travelling a bit slow and at approximately 140ks needed to pull back in from the pass, that's where the double yellows started and I gave the bars a bit of a hard flick to cross back into the left lane, that combination of agressive flick and crossing those damp painted lines set off the tank slapper. It went into 3 or 4 full lock back and forths before setting down. I was a new owner, and this Laverda was a lot more powerful than the Triumphs I had owned, and I learned there was a limit to traction and bad things happened very quickly if you rode like a dickhead. I pulled over and had a little rest after that. Needed that rest stop a couple of times over the years. Live and learn.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top