Retro is in, and the more retro the better, like this curious “British” café racer from the Far East, the Shineray XY650.
When you see it you can’t help but think that it was made by a couple of lads in a small garage in Brighton, UK, and you imagine them riding it in an old leather jacket, jeans and a Cromwell helmet.
And it is that this Shineray XY 650 has the retro flavor of those British single-cylinder of the sixties, but it is made in China.
With a sporty cut position, it is equipped with a pair of clip-on handlebars, rather low footrests and the seat is located at 800 mm, a retro position, typical of the “ton up boys”.
The single-cylinder 4-stroke cycle engine is air-cooled, has two valves per cylinder, a single overhead camshaft and has a capacity of 643 cc, with which it manages to create 34 hp. They also make it in a 400 cc version.
The starter is electric and kick-as we miss it-, and expels its gases with a pair of chrome exhaust silencers with a very retro design, located on each side of the bike.
In the cycle part, it is equipped with a simple steel double cradle chassis, a conventional double arm swingarm, and has a wheelbase of 1,430 mm.
The Shineray XY650 appears to be made in a garage in a Brighton neighborhood
The suspensions are entrusted to a conventional fork and a pair of rear shock absorbers, how could it be otherwise.
With 18” spoked chrome wheels, it is equipped with a front brake disc -with a 4-piston caliper- and a rear disc brake, the only concession to modernity.
Do not expect ABS because it is a motorcycle intended for the Chinese market, because there they must not comply with Euro 5…
And the instrumentation is hidden behind the classic rounded fairing, equipped with a circular headlight, a pair of small analog spheres with a white background, for speedometer and rev counter, and with a tiny LCD screen.
To top it off, the mirrors are placed at the ends of the handlebars. It really doesn’t lack anything.
You will be curious to know who these Shineray people are… Well, they are the manufacturers of the motorcycles that we know here in Europe as Mash -of which their trail X_Ride 650 is a retro past-. And they are also the ones who have made a V2 engine that looks too much like a Harley-Davidson engine… Now it will sound more familiar to you…
The bad thing is that we won’t be able to enjoy it here, at the moment. You never know…
