Jonway V-5 YY400: A Chinese Take On An American-Style Cruiser?

The bike looks almost like a Harley-Davidson Street Glide with the iconic batwing fairing and panniers

When you think about American-style cruisers, the first brand that comes to mind for most people is Harley-Davidson, others may even know Indian Motorcycles with their scout lineup. But very few will think about Jonway. 

Jonway is a Chinese bike maker that manufactures American-style cruisers. Some may call them a straight up copycat that’s been making copies of iconic American cruisers bikes from manufacturers like Indian motorcycles and Harley-Davidsons. Recently we came across one of their offers, the V-5 YY400-9, which looks very similar to a Harley-Davidson Street Glide.

The Jonway V-5 YY400-9 is what the Americans would call a bagger. Bagger motorcycles are ones that come with large fairings, panniers and top-box. The Jonway V-5 ticks all those boxes.

Coming to the engine, the Jonway V-5 YY400-9 is powered by a 400cc, liquid-cooled V-twin engine which produces 38.7PS at 9000rpm and 28Nm at 7000rpm. The engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox and gets a slipper clutch as standard. 

There’s also a variant with a 250cc liquid-cooled V-twin engine, which makes 25.1PS at 8500rpm and 28Nm at 6500rpm.

Underpinnings wise, the bike gets an inverted fork and twin shock absorbers. It rolls on 16-inch alloy wheels with 120-section front and a 150-section rear tyre. Braking duties are handled by twin discs at front and a single disc at the rear, with dual channel ABS as standard. 

The bike, true to its bagger nature, comes with a large fuel tank with a capacity of 18 litres. The bike has a kerb weight of 209kg. In terms of dimensions, it has a wheelbase of 1420mm, a seat height of 710mm and ground clearance of 140mm. Lastly, in terms of features, the bike gets a semi-digital instrument console.

The Jonway V-5 YY400 seems like a more affordable entry-point into the bagger lifestyle, however with its sale currently limited to its home-country, the rest of us will have to stick to the proper American or European baggers. Well, at least we can ride assured they have undergone stringent quality checks.