China’s motorcycle industry has come such a long way in a remarkably short time. It wasn’t even 15 years ago when most riders would consider a Chinese motorcycle only as a last resort. Now, they’ve gotten so good that some people cross-shop Chinese bikes with the motorcycle establishment. One of the newest bikes to come out of China is a real oddball. This is the Bashan BS1200-G, and it’s a motorcycle that tries its hardest to be an old Harley-Davidson. It doesn’t have a rear suspension, isn’t very fast, and even uses an engine that’s basically a modernized version of the Harley-Davidson Evolution.
One of the neat things about the Chinese transport industry is how the vehicle type approval process works. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) requires manufacturers to request government approval for every new model. You cannot sell a new vehicle in China without this approval, and you even need to get facelifts approved. As contributor Tycho de Feijter has written before, this is an artifact of the old Chinese planned economy.
Every month, MIIT publishes a list of the latest type approvals, which includes photos from the manufacturer. The great thing about this is that you can check out a new vehicle before it even goes on the market, and sometimes before it’s even announced. That’s the situation with the Bashan BS1200-G. This bike that’s trying so hard to be a Harley-Davidson was just approved for sale, and honestly, it’s weirdly pretty awesome.
What’s A Bashan?
The Chongqing Astronautic Bashan Motorcycle Manufacturing Co. isn’t exactly a well-known name here in America, or really much of the world. Yet, it has had a presence here for quite a while. The company was founded in 2002 and, despite having “Astronautic” in its full name, Bashan has been just a motorcycle company right from its start. Exports to Europe began in 2005, and Bashan sent motorcycles to America not long after.
Early Bashan motorcycles were usually 250cc dual sport bikes and scooters. In 2018, I bought a brand-new 2008 Bashan MC-16-150T scooter. The original owner rode it three miles home from the dealer, put it in his garage, and then didn’t touch it again for 10 years until he moved out of his house. I got it running with nothing more than a new fuel tank and a new carburetor. Total cost to get it running? $40. That’s how gloriously cheap Chinese bikes used to be.
My scooter was hilariously low-buck. The plastic was similar to that of a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy, and the chrome was fake through and through. Chinese bikes from this era broke a lot, but you could repair them with duct tape and a hammer.
The Bashan of today makes four-wheelers, gas motorcycles, electric motorcycles, utility trikes, tillers, generators, and small motorcycle engines. Really, the BS1200-G is just a perfect example of how far this company has come. But it still has some of those weird Chinese moto quirks.
American Looks, Maybe An American Engine
The Bashan BS1200-G is sort of an anachronism. Some Chinese motorcycle brands have been obsessed with the past of American, British, and Japanese motorcycles. As a result, motorcycle designs are coming out of China that haven’t been used by household moto brands in years, if not decades.
This is immediately apparent when you examine the BS1200-G’s chassis. There’s a springer fork up front. No mass-produced motorcycle that I can think of from a brand outside of China uses these forks. Springer forks date back to the 1900s, were popular until about the 1940s, and were reintroduced by Harley-Davidson in 1988 and again in 2008. Harley’s springer forks made their final appearance as a production feature with the 2011 Crossbones. Today, springer forks are more of a thing on custom bikes.
The frame is a steel double-cradle affair. It’s simple, classic, and works. But what’s interesting is that it terminates at the rear wheel without a suspension. That’s right, this bad boy is a hardtail! That’s another anachronism. There are hardtail-style motorcycles in production today, but they have hidden rear suspensions. This Bashan does not. It’s a true hardtail, which means you have nothing but that thin saddle and its springs as your rear suspension. Add in the springer forks, and I cannot imagine that this cruiser would be a comfortable ride by any nation’s standards.
The rider who has it the worst is the passenger. Amazingly, this thing does have a passenger seat bolted to the top of the rear fender. Your poor passenger has nothing but a thin slice of foam and tire sidewall as their only suspension.
The most interesting part of the BS1200-G is probably the engine, because it’s using a pushrod 1200cc V-twin from Shineray, the motorcycle brand that currently owns Italy’s SWM.
This engine, which made its debut in 2022, is suspiciously similar to the Harley-Davidson Evolution engine that powered Sportsters and Buells for decades. Coincidentally, 2022 was also the final year for the Evolution engine.
The Shineray V-twin has a similar aesthetic to the Evolution, right down to the cooling fins. But then there are the traits that are identical between the two engines, including the oil filter location, plus the 88.9mm bore and 96.8mm stroke. Also similar is the output. The Shineray V-twin makes a 60 HP and 67 lb-ft of torque, which is low by today’s standards, but was on par for old Harley. For comparison, a Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight’s Evolution made 67 HP and 73 lb-ft of torque.
This engine is also used in the European market SWM Stormbreaker V1200 (above), which looks like a Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight.
There are some differences between these engines. The Shineray has a 9.1:1 compression ratio and is Euro 5 emissions compliant, while the Evo runs a 10:1 compression ratio and isn’t Euro 5-compliant. Shineray has never said one way or the other about how its 1200cc mill came to be, but it’s pretty much a continuation of the Evolution engine, even if it isn’t based on one.
Despite the retro build, there are some modern bits, including fuel injection and dual-channel ABS. The bike is slightly longer than an old Sporty with a 63-inch wheelbase and an overall length of 91.3 inches. Yet, it weighs slightly less than the old Sportster at 540 pounds. The Sportster had a 58.9-inch wheelbase, an 85.2-inch length, and a 556-pound weight.
Put it all together, and Bashan basically created an old Harley-Davidson Sportster that’s just as slow as the Harley, yet likely more uncomfortable. At least you get a pair of 5.00-16 retro-style tires to hopefully provide something resembling damping.
It’s Silly, But Maybe In A Good Way?
Bashan has taken prototypes of this motorcycle onto the Chinese motorcycle trade show circuit since October 2025 and appears to be gearing up to put this on the market. Sadly, since MIIT often publishes type approvals long before manufacturers begin marketing, we have no idea where Bashan will want to sell these things. But bringing them to America would make sense. Bashan already sells motorcycles in America, and there’s probably a niche market of people who want a bike like this.
Personally, I sort of dig it. I think Bashan BS1200-G nails the vibe it’s trying to go for while being sort of stupid. Someone, or multiple people at Bashan, really decided to make a motorcycle with basically no suspension. Then there’s that engine that’s suspiciously like an Evolution. I wonder if Evo engine mods fit on it? Could I make it as powerful as my Buell? The more I think about it, the more I want to giggle.
This bike is part of why I follow the Chinese motorcycle industry. Lately, it seems like Chinese motorcycle companies are building silly bikes just to show they can. Does the world need this? No, and it doesn’t need Great Wall Souo’s flat eight motorcycle either. But I’m happy they exist because they at least seem fun.
Top graphic image: Bashan
So FYI Shineray didn’t just “rip off” the engine, they actually bought plans and supposedly some tooling from Harley. They were able to get it past Euro-5 regs, which Harley claimed they could not. As I recall Uncle Tony’s Garage did a video about this.
I just wanna say props to whoever came up with the thumbnail that says HARDLY lol that’s gold
“BS1200-G”
What a bunch of…BS…ha ha
I don’t see a damper on that front end. They were putting those on Springer forks since I think the 40s, so you can still have your old-school tech and at least a little more comfort/control. But if you’re riding a hardtail I guess the discomfort is the point!
I really don’t see the market for these in the US. In my mind, the people that yearn for these style bikes would not be buying a Chinese ripoff.
Surely it would look better with “Astronautic” in some suitably archaic font on the tank?
Sorry, I only have eyes for the Stormbreaker.
“This engine, which made its debut in 2022, is suspiciously similar to the Harley-Davidson Evolution engine that powered Sportsters and Buells for decades.”
It’s Mandrin for potato, potato, potato…
I think it looks cooler than a harley. The harley scene has so much gross baggage. It’s got a post apocalyptic look going on. It’s dumb. I dig it.
Harley Davidson is for those who want to be seen as badass.
As a copycat wannabe machine, this thing is for those who will be seen as a dumbass.
“Happy Father’s Day, honey. Look, I bought you a motorcycle, like your friends have!”
It’s similar to the Chinese fake VW Beetle, or a Panasaonic boombox. Nice try, kinda close, like watery soft serve instead of real ice cream.
Kids: “Mom, can we have Harley-Davidson?”
Mom: “No. We have Harley-Davidson at home.”
At home: Bashan
Harley Davidson is for those who will be seen as a dumbass.
FIFY
I always owned Harleys because my dad was in the auto business and we were brought up to buy American. But I never thought of myself as a badass, nor did I buy into the lifestyle. So, take my comments with a grain of salt.
Personally, I think this bike is pretty cool. But it’s basically a toy. You can ride decent distances on a hardtail, but you won’t be happy doing it. And I imagine that when it inevitably breaks, parts sourcing will be tough.
You can pick up a lightly ridden used evo sportster for $3k all day long. I imagine this will cost at least 5k. I would rather buy the sportster and spend a couple grand on upgrades.
Are those bias-ply tires?
Bashan says they’re radials. But I wouldn’t expect much grip.
I’ve had a few Bashan bikes over the years. They along with. Shineray have been sort of mid teir China bikes. Big displacement American style bikes was bound to happen from the Chinese. The Japanese did it the Chinese will too. I doubt they will bring many if any to the us. It’s more of a I want a Harley in this county but it’s too expensive ok I’ll buy this Busan.
So many of the Chinese engines are sort of hybrid clones. So this being an evo with a mix of maybe something Japanese I could see. I seem to recall at one point shiney ray and Harley had some kind partnerships or Harley was using them as a supplier. Maybe mid to late 2000s.
Zongshen has a jv with Harley too. There is another swm / Anderson/ harley connection with them in rotax. In that Zongshen has been making rotax clones for years. There is at least one company bringing them in the us and has gotten them a level of faa certification.
Its hard to be impressed by a bike that is essentially a 1950s Harley made in 2026. I see this thing as equivalent to a cheap home-built fiberglass & plywood replica of a prewar Mercedes-Benz on an ’80s Cavalier chassis. Not great to look at. Not great to drive. The antithesis of authenticity. Whats to like? At least cheesy home-built replicars are built as a labor of love. This is a cheap, cynical ripoff intended to make money off suckers.
I also don’t feel great that the engine is a ripoff of an Evo. So many commenters on this site prattle on about how China is “eating our lunch” when it comes to manufacturing. I imagine it is easy to produce stuff when there is no translation for “intellectual property theft” in Mandarin.
I have been making an effort the last few months to be more positive and not say anything at all instead of being negative, but I have to say I hate this bike and wish it didn’t exist. It is less a tribute to classic bikes and more of an homage to what is bad about the world in 2026.
I hate to say it, but reading about this bike kind of ruined my day.
Right! What’s with all the commenters getting boners for China lately?!? IP theft, low wages, questionable quality, and human rights violations and more. Does not make sense to me. ‘Influencers’ maybe?
I am less upset by this bike than I am the fawning over China that has become so common lately. When I was in college it was trendy to take a utopian view of Europe with an implied attitude that America sucks. Recently it has become trendy to take a utopian view of China with the same implied America sucks attitude. I see where the negative aspects of Europe are less obvious and severe, but for the life of me I can’t understand how people ignore China’s problems and how they blatantly compete by a looser set of rules.
I respect China’s propaganda game, though. It is very effective. Either that or China’s propaganda teams have infiltrated the Autopian comments section.
Propaganda or not, I want me some megawatt charging from BYD.
We are lucky to get a consistent 150kW here in the Northeast US.
At least the Chinese citizens are getting healthcare and pretty good public transportation from their authoritarian government. What are non-billionaires getting in the US from our authoritarian government?
Diabetes and crippling debt.
Maybe those things are worth the mass surveillance of the population, the low wages and poor working conditions compared to the US, and that it’s all built on mass intellectual property theft from other nations.
Or maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to glorify China.
Oh, the low wages and poor working conditions are coming for us here in the USA too. Can you not see that this is what the Peter Thiels of our society have planned for us? We have not yet reached the level of mass surveillance practiced in China, but it’s on our horizon too. Did you miss noticing the large numbers of brown-skinned folks (some of whom were actually citizens) being picked up and jammed into unmarked vehicles this year? How about the inhumane treatment of said persons in holding facilities? China-style authoritarian rule is coming to the USA, if those in power continue to get their way.
My message was “let’s not unduly glorify China”, not “everything is hunky-dory here in the US”.
The US government has a plan to surveil our poop to narrow down on drug users. Just saying. Also, Flock cameras and Palantir.
I am continually stunned how much difficulty people have seeing past “cheap” or “free”.
“I am continually stunned how much difficulty people have seeing past “cheap” or “free”.”
Wait, there’s more?
Having worked for multinationals manufacturing in China for more than 20 years, I can tell you that the “low wages” thing is a myth. 38hr week, with time and a half and double time penalty rates for overtime. Paid sick leave, paid annual leave and public holidays, paid maternity leave, company contributions to social insurance (health insurance, retirement benefits, housing fund etc.) Workplace safety regs are based on EU standards. Minimum wage varies accoding to location, but as an example, if the lowest level of income to survive (cover all daily necessities) is CNY2000, the minimum wage will be CNY3500, and the lowest tax bracket will start at CNY5000. Yeah sure, occasionally there’ll be a company abusing the system, but you can’t apply that across all of China any more than you can say that Amazon forced workers to piss in plastic bottles, so all companies in America are doing it. The difference is that for serious labor law violations, the Chairman of the company WILL go to jail.
The questionable quality you mention isn’t because they can’t make good quality, it’s because they’re only getting paid to make crap. Walmart sends a buyer in, who says “We want a set of 5 screwdrivers with a custom case and we’ll give you $2 per unit for 100k units per month.” No company can use top quality materials, meet the price target and still make a profit, they have to use the cheapest materials they can find. Walmart doesn’t care, they’re selling it for $15 and China gets the blame when it breaks.
So many people’s idea of China seem based on conditions decades ago.
I am genuinely sorry. I really am. I never intend to ruin someone’s day. As someone who has owned Chinese bikes off and on for 8 years, I thought it was cool, so I wrote about it. No propaganda, no funny business. But I might have judged poorly. I will consider this in the future when thinking about writing about a Chinese vehicle.
NOOOOOOO!!!! Please don’t change what you write about, at least on my account.
Your article was excellent (as always), came from a place of enthusiasm (as always), and was unbiased (as always). You owe me no apology.
You (and anyone else writing anything read by the general public in 2026) are going to piss people off periodically and most of the time (like this time) it will be due to something unrelated to what you wrote. The other 99.9999% of stuff you write is interesting and fun to me.
Like I said in my follow up comment, I was most triggered (to use the parlance of our times) by the ridiculous fawning over Chinese products and unecessary negativity toward America I have read elsewhere and in the comments section here.
We can have both things. I love Mercedes’ writing and respect her lifestyle and how she has to cope in this less than joyous time. I can also be sick to fuck of China reverse manufacturing everything, using cheap/slave labor and selling products that are remarkably subsidized by the govt. also as a Milwaukeean ripping off Harley pusses me right off. Even though I don’t like their cycles, they havre actual labor practices
I am bothered by the recent China worship more than the bike itself because there is about a 100% chance this bike sucks to ride. This bike is the Harley equivalent of the $5 “Rolex” I bought on ebay. I would be shocked if anyone who rode this thing for five minutes confused it with a Harley built after the AMF era.
I am unapologetically a Harley-Davidson fan. I like the aesthetics and history of the brand, but more than anything I like that they make damn good bikes. Modern Harleys might look like relics from the past, but they don’t ride like it. I don’t think a lot of people realize how good modern Harleys are, which itself is a testament to the work the engineers in Milwaukee are doing (incidentally, I am a former Milwaukeean).
But I will be pissed specifically at the bike when China makes a better ripoff.
Funny you should say that about HD. My oldest brother (now deceased) started all of us 4 boys on motorcycles. He had Nortons, triumphs and an actual Vincent Black shadow We had a silly HD 50 and The Italian HD sprint. And a succession of Suzukis. Hondas. A Kawasaki in there somewhere and then went directly to BMW’s. The same older brother was a BMW snob till he won an HD is a church raffle in his home town in CT. He totally loved driving it to work in Hartford at UT. He was an aeronautical engineer. His bookend brother the youngest has 3 Beemers. One of which he was gifted by his oldest brother. R90 in that beautiful pearl white. He tells me it rides like shite compared to his newest toy. A GS1200. My current bike is a specialized Como 3.0. Top speed 20 and you have to pedal. The roads are to effing crazy to motorcycle anymore. If you haven’t been back here in awhile it will surprise you to know we are now sort of a hip and trendy city plus the new ish HD museum is genius
Also a (Milwaukee) close suburb guy here I agree!
I do feel for you, but from an international perspective you have China going to undeveloped countries saying “We’ll build schools, hospitals, roads and rail networks for you, and in exchange, we’ll share in the development of your natural resources.” whereas America is still saying “Give our corporations access to your natural resources or we’ll bomb the crap out of you and overthrow your government.”
Added to that, you have the US President doing his absolute best to piss off the entire planet (including some penguins, for reasons nobody can figure out!) All this does generate a certain level of negativity, more against the American government and businesses rather than people, fortunately.
And also, I’ll remember in the future that you (and presumably some of the other writers) actually read these comments. I’m sorry for writing such a negative response when it was not necessary or helpful.
Aw, it’s okay! I’m still sorry though, if even for whatever inconvenience you felt. Either way, you have a deal, I won’t change a thing! 🙂
China is going to re-invent the “death wobble”! Yay.
The passenger seat gets even weirder and less comfortable looking when you spot where the foot-pegs are for it. Yeesh. I’d love to see a picture of someone riding this with a passenger.
It’s ok, they’ll be launched at the first pothole.
Is anyone going to make a build quality joke vs old Harleys? Does this need a gallon of locktite to stay together?
Played rugby with a surgeon who rode a hardtail springer hd. Nice guy, ghastly bike. He gave me a ride home once on the thing. Terrible experience. Next time he offered I thanked him and walked home.
Please tell me what position the surgeon played? He was a back???
Hooker
Now I have that Weird Al song in my head:
“Like a surgeon, hey
Cuttin’ for the very first time
Like a surgeon
Here’s a waiver for you to sign
Woe, woe, woe”
I agree, looks fun and silly in the right way; definitely would ride it. Also, 60 hp is perfectly cromulent for most things short of a gold wing in the motorcycle world. I don’t think it’s fair to imply it’s lacking in power just because we have quite a few options with truly ridiculous amounts of power for mere mortals (see any liter bike, hayabusa, H2, etc.).
Agreed. 60hp is more than sufficient for highway speeds on a full-size motorcycle, depending on its tune: it might even ride far better than bikes with more hp.
I’ve happily ridden bikes with far less power and far more. 60hp is perfectly cromulent.
I probably was being a bit mean to the engine. One of the criticisms of the old Sporty was its large engine, yet low output, especially when compared to metric cruisers of its day. My old Sportster was undeniably slow.
On the other hand, you’re right, 60 horses are just fine!
nah its pretty fair to be critical of just 60hp out of a 1200cc lol. my triumph t100 had a 895cc twin and made 62. i always felt the 1200cc HD’s sportsters should have been pushing 80hp.
I always did kind of think it was another fail on Harley’s part to now upgrade the basic sportster with Buell-learned techniques to get the same 100HP out of the 1200. High-compression pistons, better cams, High flow heads, along with lighter flywheels seemed like a no brainer, even if they has reserved it for something like maybe the XR1200.
Yeah, Yeah, I know the XR was at least up around 90, but still.
I don’t know, 60 HP from 1200cc isn’t great. We can argue all day long about whether it’s enough, and a big V twin is not the correct design for actual HP (Torque sure, just no revs, too much reciprocating mass)
That’s why inline 4s with 2/3 the displacement make more power easily.. It also depends on weight, in my limited experience Chinese motorcycles make up for poor alloys with more material (meaning mass) something Harley did as well.
The 1993 Sportster weighs something like 100 pounds more than the same year Monster, and was down some 20 HP, with 300 more CCs. (I chose 1993 as it was the first year of the Monster and lowest HP)
I think horsepower wars are silly and power far from the end all, but at some point you’re being almost intentionally inefficient.
Well, there’s the first problem: you need to stop comparing Harley-Davidson against Honda or Yamaha.
can attest. my ’96 KE100 had 11’ish Hrsprs and i could hit 60 with a tailwind (at high school weight lol) but it was more comfortable at 45/50mph sustained. my ’06 t100 felt comfortably solid cruising at 70/75 with more umph if i needed to get out of a situation and i thing they were rated around 62hp?
Once, you would likely ride it once. I can say from experience with a paughco rigid frame running an actual Evo 1200 Sporty motor, the experience is not great. Probably worse so with the state of most roads and those gawd awful rain grooves.
It is kinda cool. Triumph and Royal Enfield probably make more rideable modern classics. Practically, hardtails should be reserved for mountain bikes. I’m weird, so the latest Chinese bike I want (and will never get) is the Benda 250cc boxer electric hybrid, the P51. It’s cool and bizarre all at once!
The other day coming home from work, I saw a man driving a HD with ape hangers down a residential road.
He looked to me that he was in his 60-70s, and looked like the expected demographic (though, cleanshaven).
This man’s hands were positioned at roughly head-level, struggled to maintain any sense of low-speed control, and would likely put any young person’s hands/arms/shoulders to sleep from lack of bloodflow – let alone the age of it’s riders arteries.
I’ll never understand apehanger handlebars. Not only do they look uncomfortable, they’re objectively terrible for control – there’s a reason they’re not legal in most places.
Anyhow, this is kind of how I feel of hardtail motorcycles. Hit that bump mid-turn, and it’ll shake you sideways. And, yet, it’s somehow a desirable trait for a motorcyclist that’ll ride on the 8-perfect-weather-sunday-afternoons.
Are those men in their 60s, with disposable income enough to buy a 30k bike for a handfull of rides each year, going to justify buying a brand that it’s Harley?
And are those riders, who are are looking for something else, going to go out of their way to buy a hardtail – even if it’s lower cost?
I’m not thinking that’s a profitable market in the US.
Are the ape hangers to impress the ladies or intimidate other men or both. /s
Apehangers are great on 20″ BMX-sized cruiser frames since you don’t care when you’re a kid and when you’re an adult and you have a banana seat too, the grips are at a reasonable height.
Scaling that up to a Harley size makes it dumb. But it does put the guy’s muscular (bare, unprotected) arms on display for all to see. That’s probably it. I’ll just keep mine on the Schwinn Stingray.
I can’t see something like this doing well in the us. A basan 250 is maybe $600 in China and maybe $1800 in the us. This thing would probably be at least $5k in the us. Not sure an importer would even bring it in.
Maybe they will put feelers out to see if they can make some money.
It’s market will be places people want an American looking bike but don’t have access to them / at a price they can afford. Maybe a $2k to $3k bike in the Philippines, Vietnam or Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.
I agree this wouldn’t work in the US. If you want an affordable bike here that looks American and doesn’t suck, the Honda Rebel 500 is solid choice. It has slightly less power and would cost a little more than a Bashan, but it would be a much better bike. It would also have a suspension, which is nice.
Tons of barely used cheap Harleys too. Or the Japanese American style bikes like star, or Vulcan. Or even a another American brand victory/ indian.
I think part of the reason the Chinese dual sports and Enduros do decently is because people want a new old Honda. And those older Japanese bikes have been beaten up and still want more then what they paid for them. Street bikes don’t really have that issue.
I don’t even want to image a hardtail on the tortured New England roadways. My spine fractured just thinking about it.
I don’t want to imagine a hardtail even on “smooth” concrete over expansion joints.
The epitome of suffering for fashion.
It’s like buying knockoff Adidas training shoes. They look almost the same, but are uncomfortable as hell, and don’t last.