Sables Sinnis Trackstar Experience

[Sable]

I said I was going to give this its own thread yonks ago and the consensus was to put it in show and tell. All my experience with a Sinnis Trackstar to refer people too whenever Sinnis come up.

Part 1 -
About Sinnis
Bike at time of writing
Reasons for buying
My experience and opinion so far

Part 2 -
Positive things
Negative things
Things that what I think are commons issues things

Part 3 -
The customer service experience

Part 4 -
The giant explosiony electrical boom of doom & subsequent nuclear fallout



But first, some pictures :

https://sableyes.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/5/3/11538867/491766536.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7353/8754133091_6d4e61a4ba_b.jpg




Part 1

About Sinnis : Sinnis are Brighton UK based, use Suzuki GN based licensed engines, and sell badged bikes from Quingi. I believe some of their models are 'almost' the same as some other brands (Pulse springs to mind). From what I understand, Sinnis' owner's brother (or another family relation of some sort) is actually over in China land doing the QC. Hence why Sinnis seem to be a notch above the bad Chinese bikes.

My bike at time of writing :

Motorbike Model
Sinnis Trackstar

Age
18 months

Mileage
21,344mi

Max speed during running in : 30mph?
Max speed the bike feels unstrained : 40mph-45mph
Max speed the bike goes : 60mph-65mph
Max speed the bike goes off a cliff : Maybe 85mph-95mph – Untested

My reason for buying

My original reason for buying was I have a habit of having bikes vanish. I live near Hayes End, and anything sporty, supermoto, or off road is taken away in the middle of the night by magic elves who usually leave them in hedges, fields, or piles of ash. I have no garage, so I wanted something cheap to do a painfully long slow trek into work and back every day that did not look like thief bait. The intention of moving home or getting a garage and getting something a bit silly for the weekends at a later date (bonkers 2 strokes appeal greatly to me for weekend fun Smile ).


My experience and opinion so far

I kept the bike longer than intended and it has pleasantly suprised me. I never got a 2nd bike as I never moved to a nice area. I still live in an area where bikes reguarly get taken by the magical night time motorbike pixies.

For the bikes first year it was used pretty much entirely on a run filtering 200 mile a week through London up the A40 & A406. It then got used on a different commute either filtering through town or around the M25.

Outside of commuting, I also took her from Londons Ace Cafe to the main Ace Cafe rallies. Brighton burn up, Margate meltdon, Hastings 1066, Southend shakedown. It has also done a 450 mile run up to and around Norfolk. For a 4 poke 125, its gotten about in the last year!

I have done all my own servicing scince about 4000km (3000 mile?). The warranty is quite hot on services every 2k. I am a mechanical noob and have stumbled through working from a Haynes Manual. It is happy so far.

I treat the bike OK. I haven't given her any ACF50. I ride her daily. I did give her a 2 minute wipe down on the really salty days after journeys (the engine was actually white with salt, I wouldn't leave that much salt on any bike!). I give her fresh oil every 1000km (about £5 of Castrol, 750ml, usually bought in 4 litre bottles). Filters get changed every 2000km (£6 total for a K&N 131 oil filter and foam TNT air filter). I clean her most weekends with a dry cleaning fluid stuff from Halfrauds (Triplewax Waterless Wash & Shine). The original chain was a twat and needed tightening reguarly. About every 300km-500km. You can fit a super HD gold chain and sprocket for £80. When your first chain dies, just get a good one. Up to 21k miles, I had to adjust the valves onces.

I do not rag the feck out of it, but do ride her hard in town and reguarly use NSL roads and motorways.

Original tyres were Kingstones, which lasted 15k (km), and still had tread on them. 250-300km a week of filtering. I fancied a change and was going on some longer twistier journeys last year so changed the Kingstones for Conti Go's. They cost about £90 for a pair fitted. I assume they are called Conti Gos because they like to Conti 'let' Go in the wet. In the dry I did notice a very positive difference though.

Parts are available. A guy I know on Tweeter crashed his Apache, replaced half the bikes disposables, was riding again a week later. I am told for difficult parts you have to wait a week or two. I have had to order basic parts and with 1 exception (see Part 3 - Customer Service Experience) they have all came next day. Parts were rear brake lever, front brake lever, rear rack, and some disposables (filters & such before I hit eBay).

I give the exhaust a quick clean, no scrubbing, and half a tin of Hammerite every 8 months. It doesnt look shabby.

The Haynes Chinese Motorcycle manual is the correct manual for this bike.

Mechanically the only break downs I have had have been punctures. The only issue I have had outside of punctures is an electrical issue, which despite being 1 small wire, I turned into a big electrical explosion of doom (see part - electrical explosion of doom for more details.

I am often up the Ace Cafe on a Sunday, and am happy to come play at weekends to show anyone interested in it. Theres also a lot of A40 riders on BCF, so happy to come out to Uxbridge and show it in Windsor Street (sp?) to anyone considering one.

[Sable]

Part 2


Awesome pic of Lily, the mechanic dog, guarding my bike mid service from ninja cats.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8102/8654991655_97c2a2d74f_b.jpg

Positive things

Good fuel economy
High mirrors give excellent rear view.
Tiny tiny turning circle. (can manage a 7 foot U Turn, literally in a single parking bay)
Ridiculously good looking. S'like a puppy or something.
Wide bars make incredibly easy steering.
Very lightweight.
Good customer service
Available parts



Negative things

The Engrish manual.
Paint rubs off engine a little where boot rubs it. *
Speedo is in MPH/KPH – Odometer is only km.
Sinnis have an overzealous spam filter (being picky! see below). **
Frame welds are a touch messy.***
Chrome on mirrors isn't great.****


* Best fit explanation I have for the missing paint. Not 100% certain though.

** See part 3 customer service experience for details

*** A touch overly critical, the bike certainly doesn't feel like its going to fall apart any time soon. Its entirely looks perspective. Pics available if requested.

**** Not sure if it because of drop or not, but 2 little cracks appeared in chrome of right mirror over winter. Chrome on rest of bike is OK.



Expanded bit :

Paint rubbing off image :

https://sableyes.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/5/3/11538867/4377683.jpg

That image makes it look a lot worse than it is, way the light falls. The rubbed bit is the focused lightest bit, all the rest of the light / white bits are light or dust.



Engrish Manual :

The manual is written in Engrish. I reckon Sinnis could do with converting the manual properly to English as it isn’t long and really does read badly in the badly translated form its currently in. One annoying example, the running in section. It says to keep the bike below 5,000 rpm for the first 800km, but the bike does not have a rev counter and it gives no indication of how fast you can ride in any gear to stay below 5,000 rpm. Not helpful.

There is apparently a tool kit in some sort of box below the seat. To get the tool kit you need to ‘Insert key and lower the panel’ as it says in the manual. Well I have located the box, but no key hole.

*I did eventually figure that out, no keys required you just pull a tab thing and it pops open *


Welds :

https://sableyes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2001855_orig-300x225.jpg

Thats not rust, I have to roll my bike through a quagmire in my garden to park it, its just mud flecks.

https://sableyes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/3385543_orig-300x225.jpg

https://sableyes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/7540279_orig-300x225.jpg



The fuel calculations :

366km = 227 mile
Total fuel capacity - 10 litres
Distance from full tank too reserve - 366km
Fuel used - Shell V-Power Unleaded
Cost of Shell V-Power - £1.429
Amount refueled at 366km - 8.25 litres
Cost too refill after 366km - £11.79
Total MPG - 125mpg

Calculations made on brimming tank and emptying to reserve a couple of times. Journey at time was a commute mostly hovering in 4th gear between 30mph and 40mph not stopping, solid filtering up A40 and A406.



Things that what I think are commons issues things

First issue I and a few others have experienced.

The indicators are basic plastic indi's and the bikes are delivered in crates to the dealers who then check it over. The way the bikes were packed in 2012 when I got mine could cause the front right indicator to bend. Dealers replace this for free, worth checking your indi's are straight if buying from new.

Secound issue is the welds, but someone elses story.

I spoke to a lass on Twitter who had a snapped footpeg weld when she got the bike. I dont have the full story, but sounded like the dealer hadnt even checked the bike before shoving it out to her. Generally my opinion of dealers is that most (not all) are scum and just have pound signs spinning in their eyes. Of all the garages in West London I have seen I only trust 1 to work on my bike (Black Dog Motorcycles in Staines, the dealer that sold me the Trackstar). So yeah, welds, check em.

Third issue is the chrome on the mirrors

Everyone seems to have the chrome on the mirror arms flake, go brown, and look nasty between the 1-2 year mark. The holes are standard 8mm motorcycle mirror holes, so new mirrors are available in a size and shape of your choosing from Ebay or Amazon for under a tenner.

Fourth is the rear light

Everything inside needs tightening up every 10,000km. Its vibratey back there. A few people have commented on the internals of the rear light shaking itself to murder death. I broke my first one having it knocked over in a car park, but when I replaced it, everything inside did feel awfully loose.

[Sable]

Part 3

The customer service experience

So I have said here a few times on BCF about my difficulty contacting Sinnis regarding my Trackstar.

I work in an incredibly noisy environment with a lot of hustle and bustle and simply don’t get the opportunity to just ‘call’ someone and am often on the go. Hence my over reliance on emails and Twitter to do all my communication.

I had emailed them a few times and never got a response. I published that in a few early reviews of my Trackstar.

Skip forward a few months, and I had a issue ordering foot pegs. I left my passenger pegs under the kitchen sink when I abbled one off when I hammerited the exhaust and forgot to put it back on. After 6 months I went to chuck it back on, and after 6 months of sitting in a damp cupboard, it looked pretty brown. Doh! So i ordered a new set. I ordered them the day one of the staff went on holiday. A mistake was made. I did not recieve them. I later found out they were not sent. I called a week or so later and cancelled as I wanted them to take someone to an event. I was rather let down.

Skip forward a bit more. I noticed on their Facebook page they had mentioned one of my reviews and commented that they always reply to emails. So I sent another to see if I could get a reply. Turns out all my email too Sinnis was ending up in their spam box, was happening to someone else that contacted them on FB too. So they just never saw anything I sent them.

A few emails back and forth, and Anthony (the boss I think?) offered to send the set of rear foot pegs I had the issue with free of charge. Thumbs up to Sinnis. He seemed to genuinely care that an issue was had with his company, which is rare now days.

So despite my earlier reviews critism. Credit where its due, if you have an issue with Sinnis and cant get a reply on email, try to phone them or contact them on FB.

[Sable]

Part 4

Really badly overly filtered whimsical picture of the SInnis Trackstar on Love Lane to break up the wall of text.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8248/8599689687_34d3ceebdd_b.jpg

The giant explosiony electrical boom of doom & subsequent nuclear fallout of death (and fried electrics)

So I have been doing all my own servicing and I had a noob moment. My front light bulb popped a couple of times on the trot. I took the light apart and noticed there was an earth wire that went between the main bulb and pilot bulb had no cover on and was a bit burned. Without thinkin I spliced the 2 wires together (yep, 2, you knows what I did there right?), put on a 15amp connector from Wickes, and changed the bulb. Then the front and rear light bulb went. And again. Then the Rectifier went.

I orderd a new Rec for £40ish. Changed the bulbs. Rubbed my chin. Asked BCF 'whats I broke?' and consulted Haynes and Google. Something wasnt right, I looked at pictures and the bike front, nope, somethings not right!

Got the rec, changed it, then turned on my ignition. What followed was a small explosion of a billion fireworks at the front of the bike and avery visible green wire stripped bare pressed against the metal back of the light, spitting out a bajillion sparks in a nuclear fireball of deadly explosiveness. Its about then I realised 'Ooooooh! Those 2 earth wires were meant to be connected to something!'. I panicked, flapped, jumped back, watched the fireworks, bounced forward and hit the kill switch, still sparks! 'Oh right the key!' I thought yanking it out.

Sparks were going for at least 10-15 secounds.

After jiggling wires and getting it back into the light and into the earth connector block, my bike wouldnt start.

Post nuclear explosion of dooooooooooom the following wires needed repair.

Power lead from connector block to ignition
Earth wire from rear brake
The yellow wire from connected to rear light
Almost every wire going into headlight
Something going to something near the battery
15 amp fuse blowed up


I did not find each issue at once. More a new issue every few days for a few weeks post explosion.

I repaired all of them with 15amp connector blocks, 15 in a pack for £1 for Wickes.

I have had no more electrical issues for 3 months scince the last was repaired.

I am guessing it all started with the bare earth wire at the back of the light touching metal. I am however still a mechanical noob, so if that doesnt sound right, feel free to explain what I did wrong and where.

[wr6133]

Nice review . It's good to hear Sinnis are responsive and gave you the pegs FOC

If you are interested this is Qingqi the maker https://www.qingqi.com.cn/en/ I doubt sinnis claim of checking the QC, their bikes are straight from the qingqi catalogue and they import in small enough numbers a white guy appearing on the line demanding to look would likely be told to "ciao ni ma"

[Sable]

I no longer know where that claim came from.

first time I wrote anything about it I had a number if bookmarks on stuff I had found. it was quoted in a few places that someone was doing something with the QC. my PC however blew up beginning of the year and I have been on an android TV stick science so never got back my bookmarks.

had a few googles but Jesus wept searching Sinnis trackster in Google brings up a metric ton of Google spam sites and I've never had the patience to sort through and see what's what and what's right.

bookmarks lost to time.

[wr6133]

[Irn-Bru]

Cool write up but why on earth do you use v-power petrol? £1.42 a litre
____________________
KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[Whosthedaddy]

I've just bought a skyteam monkeybike, but that's a different story, however it was from a Sinni dealer in Southend.

Chatting as you do, he was impressed with the quality compared to others and liked the fact that spares are well sourced and as a consumer he was looked after by Sinni.

Nice little write up.
____________________
Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy

[Sable]

[Sable]

Just after I hit the 30k mark I had another electrical issue. Engine kept cutting and stopping. The non mechanic description of what the issue was is, from the spark plug theres a lead I believe is called the HT lead? It goes into one end of some sort of long unit under the tank. At the other end is a black wire and a yellow wire. The clip holding the yellow wire had lost its bite and kept wriggling lose. I have squeezed it tight with a pair of needlenose pliars, but the edges were whitening, so I am guessing its on its way out.

99p from wickes will get me a bag of the clips, so no biggy.

I have also had a parts issue.

I lost a small plastic bottom bit of my rear light, the white lens going down to the license plate. Just a little bit of clear plastic. to replace it I have to order a whole new rear light.

Also after my fireball of doom I wanted a new headlight bulb holder (bit melted). Again I couldnt order the bulb holder on its own and had to order a whole new headlight.

I have no experience buying parts for other bikes, but was a bit annoyed at having to shed out £20 and £30 for what were little bits of plastic. Do you have to do that with all bike manufacturers? If the bulb holder goes in a CBF headlight do you have to order a whole new unit?

[P.]

You have the cap > HT lead > Coil. Just FYI

Seems to be doing fucking well for 30k

[slowlydoesit]

[Rogerborg]

Great write-up, thanks.

I've had some interesting chats (read: got my ears talked off) at the local Sinnis seller when I was looking at the Apache, and they generally like the bikes and dealing with Sinnis and Anthony.

However, they don't sell the Trackstar any more as they've had too many come back for warranty work.

I don't know the details of what went wrong, and I'm genuinely surprised, as there doesn't seem much to go wrong with them. It may be that they got a few lemons, or you may have got a peach. Also, a 2 year warranty is plenty of time for owners to blow something up.

Undoubtedly a lovely looking bike, and I'd love to have a play on one.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Sable]

There was a dealer in Scotland that had a number of isolated issues. Not sure if it was a bad dealer or bad shipment. I also know no details except it was the same dealer LMG on her got her track star from (Glasgow area?).

I still haven't had my bike services by a dealer scince 4k miles, and my knowledge with bikes is regularly displayed as lacking here, so that's a good sign too. I did take it to have its valves check about 22k because I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. A teeny adjustment every 12k-15k? Again, no idea if that's good or bad.

[Rogerborg]

[Sable]

Not sure Roger, but if they are an honest and upfront outfit, I dont think they are the right ones.

LMG got her bike with a lose footpeg hanger. Sounded like the dealer had not checked the bike before giving it too her. They took it back and welded it on.

I asked Anthony if there were any issues and his reply was something along the lines of there being issues isolated to a single dealer in Scotland. I used MyOpera mail which has now closed, but I might have it saved somewhere. Will check later.

[beardface]

Good write up, ace read
____________________
www.soundcloud.com/bodren

[Sable]

I have snapped the bracket holding the speedo on. Given my history of not being able to buy small parts individually for the bike, decided to fix it with 2 black cable ties. Sorted Could probally get 2 short strips of metal from Wickes, 2 holes, and bend them. Gotta be cheaper than a new speedo. Either £40 or £50, cant remember.

Wondering if the 30k mark is time for minor bits to start breaking. Will see I guess.

Rust is minimal after its secound winter. The kickstand has had some paint come of it and it has gone a mild brown on the bare metal. Should have hammerited it. Doh!

The exhaust.... I have had it wrapped in exhaust wrap this last year with a thin dredges of a can of hammerite on the exposed bit 6 months ago. Re wrapped it this weekend, looked pretty rotten underneath. Has no holes, is not blowing, so a can of hammerite and some fresh wrap, it looks as good as.... Can be expected....

[Sable]

Flux pictures!

Theres some rust on the bit where the throttle cable goes into the carb I think), some on the side stand, and some on the back of the front mudguard. Included larger picture of mudguard to show its only the back bit.

I imagine in the mudgard and sidestands case, I could whip them off, give them a scrub and spray and it would be grand. The bit on the carb, some WD40 and a wire brush maybe?

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5349/13926111199_a944939ed5_z.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7401/13926148728_d1071b973f_z.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/14109689972_0841a311d9_z.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5111/13926143808_679e6d6f09_z.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5234/14089604496_fb156444b6_z.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2907/13926144058_25444db280_z.jpg

[mentalboy]

Good write up.

Quick question you say you've done 30K+ miles but that the odometer reads in KM. Have you converted the miles for us or was this an oversight and you've done 30K+ km? (Which is about 18K miles!)
____________________
Make mine a Corona.

[Sable]

Converting. My brain hates KM.

I had 22,xxxx km on it when this happened :

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=3415887&sid=b9394afd01783911cc946f0893200a9f#3415887

My original clocks stopped working, and I was actually killed in that accident. Also learned to just plough through cyclists if they jump reds.

Current clock is at 28,xxx km.

I have got a generic mini speedo I got when the first one broke thats all in miles. Paddy had one and seemed to think there were OK. Got it when I broke the first one, and ended up fitting a new original sinnis one because the orignal is 5 wires and the mini one only has 3 wires. It baffled me at the time, but I think the extra 2 wires are for indicator lights. Might try fitting that.


Edit :

Cant see a follow up post about accident in that thread. The total damage was bent handlebars and the clocks. The forks I just loosened the bits holding them and sorted twisted the wheel and everything bac in shape by holding it between my knees and wiggling. Forks were just twisted in the brackets(?).

[Sable]

Update with a couple of breakages.

Current mileage 33,500mile (ish). Havant been riding as much as I would have hoped this few months.

3 more things have broken since last update.

1. Another rear light. I think the problem is there is a gap around the bottom lens, so even if it does not fall out, the inside of the light gets wet. My rear light stopped but my brake light worked. It is a single bulb and if I jiggle the bulb, I get the opposite. The bulb holder is obviously corroded. Next rear light I get I will used some sort of rubber seal on the bottom lens.

2. At 33,000 the speedometer cable from the front wheel snapped. I have never lubed it. I have no idea long they are meant to last.

3. I hit a traffic island at 30mph - 40mph because I was going to fast and not paying attention. The hit was entirely on the right foot peg. The part that holds the foot peg to the frame has snapped, so this is a problem. There is not enough room to put a nut behind it so I am guessing I am going to have to get the foot peg welded to the frame. Doh. That is not the foot pegs fault, but the bit that snapped looks awfully corroded on the inside. It did make me wonder if it was on its way out and just snapped out on impact.

On the upside if the foot peg had not come off of the bike, I probably would have. So I reckon it saved me a fall.

[wr6133]

If you don't want to weld the peg you can get universal pegs that have a bracket that can be bolted on if there is space on the frame to fit it.

My Jinluns used to have issues on the rear light that were similar. I solved it in the end by blasting a fair bit of ACF50 in there to stop corrosion and then using an LED bulb which seemed to not care about getting damp.

Speedo cables can be random. My first Jinlun had the original still when I sold it. My second one went through 3 and my current kwak is on its 2nd since I've had it.

[Sable]

There is something for the rear brake behind where the hole is on the frame. I cant even get a nut in there.

The LED bulb sounds like a good idea. I will check Ebay later.

Thanks!