The 8-day Yunnan-Guizhou ride report by JINCHENG’s K-CROSS, a new model made up to the National IV Emission standard, attracted the attention of many motorcycle fans. This journey, about 1,500 kilometers in total, has undergone excellent road conditions, gravel roads, and muddy roads full of potholes. There were mountains several hundred meters above sea level in the south of Sichuan and plateaus over 3,000 meters above the sea level. JINCHENG K-CROSS has shown steady performance along the way. A detailed introduction to this all-terrain motorcycle is given in this issue from the aspects of configuration, riding triangle, power, handling, performance on bad roads, highway performance, and braking.

Configuration

K-CROSS is based on the mainstream bionic design and integrates JINCHENG’s own design concept. The motorcycle looks more compact.

The high/low beam adopts halogen light source to provide better lighting effect at night. At the same time, the brighter LED turn signals and taillight provide good warning effects at night.

K-CROSS has received upgrades on the instrument, which is added with gear position display and ABS alarm light. The upgraded instrument has orange backlight, which not only ensures clear reading but also reduces visual interference to the rider during the night.

The motorcycle is also designed with a cigarette lighter port and a USB charging port.

Riding triangle

K-CROSS has a good ergonomic design, and the riding triangle is extremely user-friendly. From the experience of this long-distance test ride, since the handlebars are backward, riders’ hands are relaxed, the upper body keeps upright, and the legs are naturally bent to relax the knees. It is worth mentioning that the one-piece cushion is designed with a small backrest, which greatly alleviates the pressure on the waist during the long journey and significantly improves the riding comfort. Riding about 9 hours a day during this journey, the riders did not suffer from back pain. Therefore, K-CROSS’ man-machine engineering and cushion configuration are really successful designs for long-distance travel.

Power

This long-distance ride from Yunnan to Guizhou was completed by the new K-CROSS. The upgraded K-CROSS is equipped with a 200cc water-cooled four-valve DOHC engine that meets the National IV Emission standard, with a maximum power of 15.2kW/8,250rpm, a maximum torque of 17.1N·m/7,250rpm, a compression ratio of 12.1:1, and a maximum rev of 10,000rpm. It is matched with a MARELLI MIU4 closed-loop EFI system. It has good acceleration performance between 0 and 80km/h. Starting the engine and increasing the rev to 5,000r/min, there is continuous power output. With the increase of rev, the pulling on the handlebar also follows. The acceleration performance of K-CROSS is up to the first-class level among 200cc models in China.

On a straight road out of Luzhou, the riders hit hard on the throttle of K-CROSS when they started out. The rev responded fast to quickly increase to 60km/h, overtaking many vehicles on the road.

K-CROSS’ high speed performance was also impressive. On the expressway outside Jiang ‘an city, the road conditions were good and there were few vehicles, so the riders tested the extreme speed performance of K-CROSS. When the GPS reading was 110km/h, the rev did not reach the maximum power of 8,250r/min. During this rev range, K-CROSS’ vibration suppression is satisfactory.

K-CROSS also performs well on the plateau. Dashanbao top is nearly 3,100 meters above the sea level, while K-CROSS’ dynamic performance there was as good as at lower altitudes.

The fuel tank capacity is 12.5L, the fuel consumption is ideal, and the cruising range with a full fuel tank exceeds 350km. Even for the violent riding test on the mountain road in Guizhou during the return trip, the measured fuel consumption of 100km was only about 3L.

Handling

K-CROSS has a curb weight of 142kg. The light and agile body enables it to travel easily through the cities. For this long-distance ride, K-CROSS was equipped with three boxes to reach a full loaded curb weight of about 170kg. During the peak hours of congested roads, thanks to K-CROSS’ proper design–the width of the three boxes is the same as the width of the handlebars, it did not affect the handling at all, and the motorcycle was still running freely through the traffic flow.

The seat height is 770mm, suitable for most people’s height. Even if the rider is 165cm tall (he can only touch the ground with the forefoot), he can easily handle the lightweight motorcycle.

Performance in bad road conditions

Due to the lightweight body, K-CROSS not only performs well during urban commuting, but also on unpaved roads. On the Dashanbao, it galloped like a wild horse, with three boxed fully loaded.

The front 100/80-17 and rear 120/80-17 wheels with TIMSUN all-terrain tires perform extremely well on un-paved surfaces. The 180mm ground clearance also relieves the riders of any worry when riding on steep slopes.

The adjustable rear central and long-stroke inverted shock absorbers, matched with spoke wheel rims, are effective in absorbing road vibration. In addition, the rear shock absorber is hard enough to ensure that the rear wheel will not touch the bottom when crossing potholes. Therefore, K-CROSS always ensures maximum riding comfort when running on bumpy roads.

Highway performance

On the way from Zhaotong to Dashanbao, they rode onto the Grade 1 highway of Dashanbao–there are many tunnels and bridges, which means much crosswind. The riders only needed to slightly speed down at the tunnel exits to minimize the impact of crosswind. K-CROSS’ high-speed stability was still reliable even encountered with strong crosswind.

On the top of the Dashanbao lies a 20km winding road, full of continuous return and right-angle bends, but K-CROSS showed impressive stability on that road.

Braking system

The front brake is forceful and effective while the rear brake is linear. Excellent brakes coupled with Bosch 10.0 dual channel ABS are especially reliable on the road, and the ABS intervenes at right timing.

K-CROSS’ outstanding braking performance on the return journey was intuitive and impressive. There was a sudden rain while arriving in Jiangjin, and it was easy to have an accident on such slippery wet road, but the experienced riders and high-quality K-CROSS dealt with it with ease.

Conclusion

K-CROSS was proved to be extremely reliable through the 1,500km journey, satisfying the riders with its ability to cruise at high speeds, conquer mountains and sharp turns, and deal with complex road conditions.

K-CROSS is well qualified as a long-distance touring bike. During the test ride journey, the riders could be fearless of harsh road conditions, cope with various complicated environments, and enjoy the ride, concluding a best riding experience. Being such a trustworthy riding partner, K-CROSS deserves the reputation of “all-terrain cannon”. (Source: WeChat: M-INFO)