All The Dope On This Chinese Honda Rebel Rival

With COVID-19 now wreaking havoc in other parts of the world, the global spotlight has shifted away from China a little bit. But a little bit of recent bike news emerging from the nation is about the launch of a new 300cc cruiser from local manufacturer Benda. Here’s everything you need to know about the bike:

Who? What?
Before we tell you about the bike itself, let’s bring you up to speed on the manufacturer. The Jinjira is made by Benda Motorcycles, which is part of the Benda Motor Group. Well actually, the full name is Zhejiang Changling Binjiang Motorcycle Co. Ltd. (Benda Motor Group), but they probably had a hard time fitting that on the fuel tank so they just stamped Benda.

The company has been around since 1994 but it only caught our eye recently with models like the Asura 400, a parallel-twin streetfighter with a single-sided swingarm! In the sea of sub-standard offerings coming from the red nation, Benda actually seems to be churning out products of reasonable quality.

Milwaukee In Miniature

So now coming to the bike itself. This butch 300cc cruiser with chunky proportions looks very much like a baby Harley-Davidson. We like the metallic inserts on the fuel tank and airbox, and the contrasting engine covers look pretty neat too. Another highlight are the Thruxton-esque bar-end mirrors but with all the brushed metal seen on the rest of the bike, we wish the exhaust system looked a little more special.

V for Victory

The motor that feeds into the mundane exhaust system is a 298cc liquid-cooled V-twin which puts the Benda up against the Honda Rebel 300 and Hyosung GV300S Bobber. Power output is a reasonably healthy 30PS and though there’s no official word on torque yet, we expect this engine configuration to deliver a sizeable dose. It’s mated to a 6-speed gearbox and this being a cruiser, drive is sent to the rear wheel via a belt drive. The belt itself seems to feature Continental branding so obviously this isn’t an entirely Chinese affair.

Feature Frenzy

This is an area where Chinese bikes have never fallen short in the past, and the Jinjira doesn’t disappoint either. It packs in high-quality components like an aluminium upside-down fork and safety is guaranteed by dual-channel ABS. Benda has also given it LED lighting all around and a neat little fully-digital instrument console.

Pricing, Variants, India Plans?
The Jinjira has already been launched in China and is available across two variants. To know more about the differences between them and how much each one costs, you can head here. As for India plans, the company has no network here and hasn’t expressed any desire to set one up either, so it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see the Jinjira on our roads anytime soon.