Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Sorry for the late notice. I randomly get the green light from my wife to disappear for a day, and sometimes it comes with little notice... :rolleyes1:
When: Planning to be on my way out of Beijing by 10:30 or so... back before dark.
Where: Meetup near Wudaokou area (possible alternate meetup spot depending on which direction we're going).
Route: Undecided. I'm quite sophisticated in route planning: I look at the map and I go where I see tiny squiggly roads and lots of elevation change :icon10:
Let me know if you wanna come along! It's going to be cold, but at least it should be dry... and much less windy than today!
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by
cryptographicide
How did the ride go?
Not bad... I left around noon (a bit later than I wanted to) and got back just after dark. I took the expressway half way to huairou, then backroads into town and got a late lunch, then headed up G11 to S310 in the hills above huairou to make a loop back into huairou. The loop will be fantastic in the summer... but it was very cold and the S310 was mostly frost with ice in the shaded areas and some snow and slush... I made it through alright going pretty slow, but I won't be doing this one again in February! It was so cold that about halfway into the loop I went into "get home" mode and skipped checking out a lot of little side roads and villages that I would normally explore.
Then on the way back my motorcycle started sputtering badly, so much that I couldn't get it to go much faster than about 60km/hour, so I couldn't take the expressway back into Beijing. Not sure what's up with the bike... will look into it tomorrow. It feels like an electrical sputter to me... like the ignition is intermittently cutting out. *sigh*
So, a long, slow-going ride back to Beijing to end my day.
About 250 km altogether. If I get my bike sorted out I might get out for another ride this week.
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
I had a similar problem happen to my intruder on a highway in California last summer. Really scary time with a few semi's right behind me going up a hill. The bike starts sputtering and backfires a few times. So I kick the battery case and it jumps back to life. At the top of the hill, the problem ended up being simply a loose screw on the battery terminal.
I hope the troubleshooting goes well.
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Well, I took the bike to the shop today and the shopkeeper (mechanic?) initially drained the float bowl and told me that there was a bit of water in the gas causing the problem. Fair enough, I guess... so I took the bike to the gas station and filled it up (it was on reserve) and it still sputtered quite a bit. I brought it back to the shop and the mechanic shotgunned the CDI box... so I tried it again and still no change. At this point, I decided to leave the bike there and take a taxi home because I don't have time to watch him work, lol. Besides, I know mechanics don't really work well when the customer is over their shoulder.
It's these situations that make me miss living in the States with my own garage and tools. Now I'm anxious about what he will discover as the problem. The bike has less than 1000km on it right now, so I'm not too happy. Oh well... so it goes.
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by
galenernest
Well, I took the bike to the shop today and the shopkeeper (mechanic?) initially drained the float bowl and told me that there was a bit of water in the gas causing the problem. Fair enough, I guess... so I took the bike to the gas station and filled it up (it was on reserve) and it still sputtered quite a bit. I brought it back to the shop and the mechanic shotgunned the CDI box... so I tried it again and still no change. At this point, I decided to leave the bike there and take a taxi home because I don't have time to watch him work, lol. Besides, I know mechanics don't really work well when the customer is over their shoulder.
It's these situations that make me miss living in the States with my own garage and tools. Now I'm anxious about what he will discover as the problem. The bike has less than 1000km on it right now, so I'm not too happy. Oh well... so it goes.
Sad to hear about your bike first the rear brake switch and now this in less then a 1000 km makes you wonder what eals will go wrong. My faith in Chinese made bikes is 0% hope it's all sorted out
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by
prince666
Sad to hear about your bike first the rear brake switch and now this in less then a 1000 km makes you wonder what eals will go wrong. My faith in Chinese made bikes is 0% hope it's all sorted out
It's alright; I'm in one sense frustrated to have an issue with such a new bike, but in another sense I'm happy to discover the machine's weak links early on during the warranty period. It's a cheap Chinese bike, so I can't complain too much... we all knew going in that it wasn't going to be a perfectly smooth experience, right?
Besides this glitch, I'm very happy with the bike's performance. And, it did get me home. I'll give the little bike credit for that, at least. While it's in the shop, I'll take it as an excuse to swap the rear sprocket for a smaller one; the engine has more than enough power to handle slightly taller gearing and that would make a good difference on the expressways. More speed will definitely make for safer traveling... as it is, the little 150 cruises comfortably at about 80km/hour, but that's too slow to feel safe. I can wring its neck and get up to about 100 km/hour, but I know that the engine bearings won't tolerate that kind of abuse over a sustained period of time. Taller gearing will be a real benefit for this bike! I'm thinking of going down by two or three teeth on the rear sprocket to see what change that brings about.
And I hate Chinese drivers!
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
Change the front spocket 1 up should be the same as 2/3 down in the back you will off course lose a lot of NM and I an not sure if the little 150cc will have the power to push you over the 100 km but give it a go what have you to lose! I have losted hart with Chinese made bike but glad to hear you are still happy with the bike and as you said the cost was not that great !!
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
I picked the bike up today. The mechanic said that he found a loose wire... actually I'm not exactly sure what he said, but it sounded like either a loose wire or a bad wire. Crossing my fingers and thinking about another ride this week... :)
Re: Beijing ride Monday Feb 23
This is certainly a common remark concerning simple Chinese motorcycles: give to the engine a few thousand kilometers time to break in. I am confident that you will feel the difference.
About rear shock absorber you mentioned in other thread: have you checked to see if there is Schrader valve? Maybe you do not have enough pressure.
