Yunnan Ride 2010

Days 5 -7: Shangyuan - Gengma - Dali - Kunming (G214, S314, S319, G214, S224, G56)

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:clap: GREAT VIDEO - GREAT RIDE :clap:

Thanks for posting. I experienced once a similar rock-slide, not as serious as this one though. How did you get through? Any issues on the JH6oo, except for the "bad gasoline" hick-ups once and a while? How did the bike survived the train transport? I heard they are not always very gentle when handling things...

Can't wait to see more pictures - hope you will post some more...

Cheers,
AW.

Hi Motokai,

Thanks a lot for posting this, great vid and pics, but mostly what a ride! You covered an awesome variety of terrain there in not so much time, you should be well proud of yourself! How long did you wait after those rocks had finished falling before braving it through the gauntlet?

I'm also interested in knowing how the steed held up to the journey. That must be a respectable amount of mileage you have on it now!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pfaelzer

.....I experienced once a similar rock-slide, not as serious as this one though. How did you get through? Any issues on the JH6oo, except for the "bad gasoline" hick-ups once and a while? How did the bike survived the train transport? I heard they are not always very gentle when handling things...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by felix

.....How long did you wait after those rocks had finished falling before braving it through the gauntlet? I'm also interested in knowing how the steed held up to the journey. That must be a respectable amount of mileage you have on it now!

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Thanks guys!

Rock Slide
As the rock slide wasn't an act of god, but related to the road construction, there was a greater sense of predictability. But as you can see by the guys running thru there without vehicles - you couldn't waste time. So after an hour of waiting due to the "danger time", "the fall" and "the clearing by the bulldozer" - ride past it as fast as you can :riding:. By the way, while the bulldozer was clearing the rocks, a boulder (the size of my front wheel) came down the mountain and crashed into the bulldozer. There was so much force, the bulldozer rocked back and forth after being hit, but didn't tip and the driver wasn't hurt.

JH600
The pride of the ride is the JH600 herself. Have now nearly 6000kms on the amazing little Chongqing beast.
Train transportation was first class! Friendly, reliable. They sort of handled her like a cow in Kobe, Japan.
The ride was mostly smooth - couple of burps of bad gas, but less troublesome than during the Anhui ride in Oct, and Yunnan was 600km longer (it's all "E" gas in Anhui, so maybe that's the difference?).

You're right Felix - lots of different terrain and road surfaces, and she's not equal on them all. With the CQ stock tires, she thrives thru the twisties on the blacktop/tarmac. She was also magnificant on the dirt & hard-packed mud trails like these (S214 NE of Jiancheng):

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On the hard-packed mud, she was like a flattrack racer, sliding and broadsiding the corners, as flattracks don't use knobby rear tires either. Since I was on a solo-ride, I had to seek out an artist rendition of me riding from the local Hanizu (ethnic minority people): :naughty:

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So the JH600 can be fun off-road too, provided there's no wet mud, sandy conditions, and hard bumps.
Wet Mud: Where are the knobbies when you need them? The CQ stock tires make wet mud feel like ice. You struggle to keep her from going sideways.
Sand: In soft dirt/sand/gravel, there's no grip with the CQ stock tires. You have to bring your speed down so slow to keep her upright.
Hard Bumps: I must have skipped the suspension modification section of Pfaelzer's epic My new JH600 posting. On long rides with bad roads, the stock "highway suspension" will exhaust you physically.

Your rides are proving to be a fine adjunct to the wealth of material on the JH600. I hope the 'factory' reads and listens and realises it has a good machine many people are willing to work up, and importantly trust their life to on longhaul trips. Maybe some of the newbies will start to realise you can get a few chinese bikes into good shape with a bit of work and some are pretty good from stock. I would change that front mudguard though, dangerous on those muddy tracks.

Pfaelzer - Based on my ride comments above regarding tires, how do you like the Heidenau K60s?
How would you compare these with the JH600 stock tires on different surfaces (highways, twisties, dry mud, wet mud, sand)?

Pfaelzer's Heidenau K60s
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MotoKai,

Good topic. I'm up to 8k on my stock rubber, and definitely needing an update.

Have you got a local source for those Heidenaus? What else is available inside China?

cheers

I don't think those little hairy knobbies on the edge will do much, might sweep the driveway for ya before you leave ... and they go faster with red stripes, everyone knows that!

I had the same size tires on my F650, which I recently sold because I couldn't afford decent tires every 90 days :lol8:. How you can possibly get 8k kilometers out of rubber in China simply amazes me :eekers: :bowdown:

Those Heidenau K60s are sweet, but they do run about $275.00 USD for a set. I've never seen anyone in China or Hong Kong with them. What I have seen are a fair bit of Pirelli MT90 S/T, Metzeler Tourance, Michelin Anakee, and Bridgestone Trailwing / Battlewings. Seems that the recent shindigs in Shanghai and Guangzhou have stopped the regular importers from bringing stuff in, so it's a tough time for good rubber in China right now. Word in the GZ MC market yesterday was that everything should be normal again after CNY.

When things are normal here, Bridgestone is one of the most popular brands you will find. The Trailwings have good grip on the road and seem to do OK on hard packed dirt, venture into the mud and you will probably refer to them as deathwings. The Battlewing is just plain awesome on the road and also does OK in the hard pack and mud (my preferred V-Strom tire). I do like the Metzeler tourance, but beware, the idiots ordering them have a tendancy to mix radial fronts with non radial rears or vise versa...not how I like to roll.

Never got a chance to try the stock JH600 rubber, but it's probably going to be the most reasonable thing to buy as they are available on the local market and the price is low compared to the ¥2000+ for any of those I mentioned above.

Whatever you get, be sure you find a place that can mount and balance them. The JH600 isn't a little 200cc farm vehicle, proper balancing is actually important.

Cheers!
ChinaV

The K60s are 135EUR in Germany incl. VAT. They are great for on and off-road, no big difference to the TKC80s, however, the Heidenau tires last longer. Both are hard to get in Asia, and even you could get them in HK, Thailand or Korea, there is still the trouble to bring them into China.

MotoKai, seems like you got two choices, wait until CNY has passed or go through the hassle of import...

Cheers,
AW.