http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10678959472
clegg if you are looking for some better ones , these are not bad quality, just dont set fire to them.....
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/...0e31d839_z.jpg
201 by johnnyfast, on Flickr
Printable View
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10678959472
clegg if you are looking for some better ones , these are not bad quality, just dont set fire to them.....
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/...0e31d839_z.jpg
201 by johnnyfast, on Flickr
The bags were no problem at all! My legs fit right around them, which in turn prevented some sliding around. The only thing is that they had two big plastic clasps that weren't very comfy for my but, hence the adjusting. The middle was felcro which made the seat a bit harder but that was no problem at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by fahni
Shame that the exhaust burned through one of the bags and my favourite pants....
Thanks for the feedback on the saddle bags. I have seen them on Taobao and am thinking of getting these cheapos first before I find time to produce my own ones. Was already wondering how they will hold up against the exhaust. You put some wood to the back of the left bag?
The thing with those bags is that they don't have a hard cover, so they kind of fold around and thus make contact with the exhaust. We ented up putting a thin wooden sheet inside the bag to prevent it from folding. It wasn't ideal, because it only worked (keeping the wood in place) when the bag is a bit stuffed and thus putting more tension on the seams (which had already started tearing). If I'd known before, and had time I probably would've made little holes in the corners of the wood and then sown it to the inside of the bag to keep it in place. But how much Macguyvering is acceptable with sadle bags (or anything for that matter)?
With the QingGi the exhaust is quite high up and exposed, I don't know how that is with other bikes, so maybe it's not a big problem on others...I think a criteria for the next set will be that they have hard covers...
Day SIX → To Yin Xian
Okay, so I've been asked to take over writing the report. I'll do my very best to make it entertaining and legible, but you'll have to forgive me for not adding all the roads for I didn't pay much (read: ANY) attention to them. I also hope that I'll be able to decipher Clegg's terrible hand writing and short hand...
(Clegg made a note of the following road: 328...)
On our way the next day we soon went looking for off-road opportunities. Personally I find straight roads boring and the more bored I get the more my sore buttocks bothers me. Unfortunately the county-side didn't give any except for endless fields of crops. We did find an enormous rock, of a small but very good road (with corner mirrors!), which we climbed. After descending the bolder we continued on the road further and further up a mountain. Suddenly the road ended on a small plateau with a restaurant (of all things to find on a mountain). The family running it offered us an apple (one of those apple-pear things) and shade for a rest.
The woman was cleaning freshly slaughtered chicken and on inspection of the disembowelled corpses we saw an egg yoke. We asked what that egg yoke was doing there and she explained that the chicken was making an egg before it was killed but wasn't finished. I'm telling you this because of the conclusion: which came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken!
Okay, back to to riding. After we finished our apple-pear things we hopped back on the bike and drove back to the main road. After a few miles we found another lovely looking road, but it was closed and the guard wouldn't let us through. We would probably have raced through if the opening between the lever and the guard house wasn't so narrow we almost got stuck, giving the guard to run up to us shouting from out of nowhere.
So on we went to Yi Xian only to be welcomed by hotels who wouldn't take us. Tired, overheated and immensely grumpy I persuaded Clegg to haggle for a room in an expensive tourist hotel. The asking price was a staggering 488 RMB, my personal hero got it for 180 RMB! The room was nice but no different from the cheap ones...
It occurred to us that the whole town is stupendously expensive after a disappointing dinner of three plates (one of which was almost inedible) for 80 RMB.
Still not willing to give up hope for relaxation and fun we went for a massage, we got a good one, and more beer. We found a great little terrace on the side of the river, where we were chatted up by a group of kids under the watchful eyes of their mothers. Clegg was so elated with the town showing us it's (affordable) secrets, he bought fireworks and set them off somewhere in the centre at two in the morning.
Back in the hotel we drifted off into a deep sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows, only to rise the following morning covered in little spots that where so itchy I thought I'd go mad! There must've been bed bugs in the bed, there you go for getting a tourist hotel! I have to admit I don't do very well in the morning, growing attached to the bed within a second and having to separate from it not helping my mood for the better. The bed-bug-spots made it worse and so did the breakfast, thank god there were boiled eggs!
Day Six when Clegg dropped the bike and I had a good laugh
http://i.imgur.com/tmWDfh.jpg
Big Rock
http://i.imgur.com/BiV61h.jpg
Clegg taking a piss of Big Rock
http://i.imgur.com/YUjlih.jpg
The nice road up the mountain
http://i.imgur.com/fIU3Ih.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/L0hnFh.jpg
In the background: the woman with her dead chickens
http://i.imgur.com/nwKYEh.jpg
And the fireworks, because we're oh so very very happy!
http://i.imgur.com/MXpfth.jpg
Day SEVEN → To Shitai
After a breakfast of two boiled eggs and some rice gruel we went for a ride, objective: find off-road fun! We found a small area where Clegg could drop the bike again, other than that no luck.
When we got back there were three police cars parked in front of the hotel, so as casual as we possibly could with wet washing in our arms we packed up the bike.
By now we really felt a bit sick of the mountains (Mind: The Netherlands are very flat and I like it that way!) and we just wanted to get out.
The road was narrow and Clegg was racing, flying through it and in turn scared the living daylights out of me! After what seemed like an eternity I gave a yelp (as he calls it) and made him slow down (for some reason dashing of the side of a mountain and crashing to his death hadn't occurred to him being a possibility).
Around four o'clock all the dragonflies came out, hundreds flying in battle formation, bouncing off our helmets, forcing us to close every bit of our gear that could be closed... The invasion has begun!!!
We had a break at the shore of the river we'd been following and made a dam (Clegg is not very good at this) with the river stones. A refreshing dip, juice and some tofu later we were back on the road.
Further on the road became broader and better paved, cutting its way through the mountains, forming cliffs searing up from the sides of the tar. Here high speed was exhilarating!
At about 25 km (according to the signs) from Shitai I spotted rubber dingies floating in the river and I shouted “Iwannit! Iwannit! Iwannit!” It turned out to be “wild” river rafting (in a dingy?), it wasn't very wild, but great fun. Peddling the thing in any (wanted?) direction seemed almost impossible...so we mostly swam, much to the surprise of the river faring and shore-bound Chinese especially since I had refused to wear my life vest. Four km downstream, a dingy filled with water, at the end of the dingy route, it turned out that the 80 RMB entrance fee didn't include a ride back up, so we walked (by road a mere 1 km) too cheap and principled to hash up the 10 RMB taxi fee.
After this wet adventure our hungry bellies made us practically fly to Shitai, where we easily found a hotel, good food and a massage.
By now our shitty saddlebags were falling apart, quite literally...
Some pics of yixian
http://i.imgur.com/c2naI.jpg
our hotel grounds, probably worth 488
http://i.imgur.com/EHSv0.jpg
MY house
http://i.imgur.com/pFQuq.jpg
Me posing
http://i.imgur.com/NKAVq.jpg
Not so cool
http://i.imgur.com/gkq3f.jpg
Off-roads
http://i.imgur.com/60pgn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7a4G1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/L3W70.jpg
As Liza said we had kindof tired of the mountains at this point but had were pretty soon back in the zone. The road to Chizhou was the best of the trip. Nice big roads sowly winding through the mountains. No real tight corners, perfect for beginners who have not yet satiated their need for speed
http://i.imgur.com/9CPXI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LWLkf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fSXsG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ptNIF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vTDYE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RfJWJ.jpg
Cool rope bridge
http://i.imgur.com/ZXb7N.jpg
Where we stopped for a dip
http://i.imgur.com/FbSE4.jpg
When we got back to the bike the villagers had dutifully gathered to have a look-see. Check out this little kid
http://i.imgur.com/H5aQX.jpg
Coming tomorrow: The Last Straw (blood and mechanics) and Redemption (Best city in China)
Bear in mind max speed, two up, on the qingqi is 110-120kmph so not as dangerous as it sounds... on the bigger roads at leastQuote:
Originally Posted by MissRose
sounds like a good ride so far :-)
so im guessing you are brining your laptop with you all this way? and dropping it x amount of times? damn.
i am planning a trip over the winter (new year holidays) but a camera and some paper will do me, then write about it when i get to my destination (1,000k away + getting lost = 2,500km)
Hey man. Never seen you on the forum before. Where you plannin to go for your trip. We did the same with the paper actually, we wanted to travel as light as possible. Back home now doin the ride report from notes and pics. Would've done it in hotels along the way but forgot the camera cabels. Our trip after we modified (will post the route at the end) was 1400 on paper, ended up being 2000 with offroad and being lost almost every day. Just got oruxmaps on my phone now tho so that'll never(rarely) happen again.Quote:
Originally Posted by lightend
yeah, i have been on a few times but as i live out of the way and tend to stay away from bigger citys, i am withdrawn from english contact (which is crap as my chinese is crappy lol) (but its the way i like it)
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%E...&t=h&z=6&via=1
i will be riding this route (without gps) i expect it will take around a week (due to crappy chinese and no gps)(plus me being a floppy dick and getting lost)
i do like ot read ride reports but never really comment on them, much better to just read and get lost in my imagination, I hope all goes well for you in shanghai and you drudge up as much information as you can remember about the ride you had :-)
take it easy bro
Cool, looks like a nice route. I would advise you take a trip into the mountains around huangshan tho. Particularly that s325 i think it was from my last post. Also it would be worth your while gettin a gps. The stock gps in my phone was indespensible. Phone was less than 2000, and i bought it just for that reason and have been learning ever since all the great things i can do with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by lightend
Day 8: To CHizhou
In the morning on a supply mission (namely tape for our rapidly deteriorating saddle bags) I was amazed by the power coming from the little QingQi. She was very happy to be unburdened so I suited up and took her back the same route we came for one last burn around that brilliant mountain road, we would be leaving the mountains today. I decided to head for one of the scenic spots I had seen posted on the way in. The turn-off for the spot coincided with an exact loss of road. The road was basically a relatively flat layer of rocks two lanes wide. On another bike I may have passed it up and dreameded forever of the wonderful sights in store for me at niubi something-or-other, on the Enterprise however it was another chance to go where no man has and we tore accross them rocks like-it-aint-no-thing. Felt like I was driving sideways most of the time. Very entertaining, something which niubi was not. At the end of the road was a line of shops and small restaurants, I had to laugh. There was no amazing scenery, just a pitstop for travellers to unload some of their money on the local industry before going back on their way. Hit some more offroad bits and pieces, as you do, on the way back to the hotel.
The plan was just to get out of the mountains and then doss around off-road on the way back for five more days or so. We were already battling with waning enthusiasm and a desire to get the most out of our trip when the last straw was lain. While Ms. "Sugar and spice and all things nice" Clegg amused herself taking pictures of dead animals and insects I was a little overzealously attacking a grass mound when I dropped the bike, this time on my leg. The fore-pegs gave my leg a pretty respectable gash, the one of the rear pegs had warped its holder and was hanging limply. All this aside the bike wouldn't start! I was beginning to see that the QQ was not indestructable after all. While trying to flag down some help on guy stopped in a small (empty) pick-up just up the road and we couldn't believe our luck. He took off before I could reach the truck, leaving us to muse awhile on the finer points of a "communist" society. I would take a paper tiger with a pick-up over a comrade with an acute sense of self-preservation anyday. Anyway eventually I caught a lift into town and brought a mechanic back with me, he did some fiddling and bending, tightened the rear brake (this is important for later) and sent us on our way... no charge. Up to this point we had not paid for any repairs on the bike.
We were pretty broken by this little mishap and vowed to ride the 318 all the way home. No more stop off's. Then we rolled into ChiZhou. This is the single best city we have ever been to in China. Medium sized, clean, cheap. We stayed two days. Rode around the various sights that were on offer. We highly reccommend this city to anyone travelling in the area.
After ChiZhou since we were already on the G318 (600 or so km from Shanghai) we decided to see how fast we could make it home (or how fast we could make it back there next time). It was a great big straight road with perfect tarmac except for two inch deep squares cut out here and there for no apparent reason. These can be dangerous when you're taking a corner at speed. Anyway we got lost and our hopes were shattered as we realised that the 318 turns into an expressway for a couple of long strectches. Negotiating the country roads ate up much of the day and our enthusiasm and by the time we reached ChangDe we decided to call it a day and make shanghai in the morning.
Here's one drop step-by-step
http://i.imgur.com/LLfPt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IrOPF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WxQdK.jpg
That drop gave the qinqqi it's first visible damage. (It's a mess now, I have vowed to get a new body kit and never drop it again)
http://i.imgur.com/6ZIRF.jpg
Grazing on the mound that was to break us
http://i.imgur.com/vccWI.jpg
Road from the morning... what fun!
http://i.imgur.com/tUMe0.jpg
One from the dead stuff collection
http://i.imgur.com/UZTzI.jpg
Our hero
http://i.imgur.com/mYgh7.jpg
We found this little starlet dancing the night away in the club we went to in ChiZhou that night... only in China lol
http://i.imgur.com/r7v7X.jpg
Brave man to do everything on paper.. that's what smartphones are for... if you plan beforehand and upload some maps onto a server you can access them from anywhere from any smartphone or computer, The info is all here on MCM, but I'll detail it when I finally wrap up the Fujian ride report..Quote:
Originally Posted by corporal_clegg
This thread just keeps getting better and better. What surprise lies around the next corner???
Looking forward to my first trip to Chizhou...
thank you thank you!
Lol, what are smartphones not for? I'm still upgrading my whole life into smartphone format, no more bits of paper, in fact no more books at all, no pen in my bag at anytime.... By on paper i meant in the planning stages tho.Quote:
Originally Posted by Serpentza
This reminds me of a great quote by some football manager about one of his players, maybe somebody can give credit, i can't remember the names or the exact quote.
"On paper he's not such a good player but he 's much better on grass."
sounds like a Steven Gerrard type
The needle and the damage done
http://i.imgur.com/lZFH5.jpg
Great hotel with boss in ChiZhou, very helpful and nice
http://i.imgur.com/vG4qk.jpg
Pics from CHiZhou
http://i.imgur.com/1alBi.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4mudq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/sFlGQ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Mew4H.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/meRVP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/P9TvI.jpg
ChangDe wasn't a great place in any respect but the people were very 友好。Some guy invited us back to meet his wife and kid. No pics of that tho.
Hold my baby
http://i.imgur.com/Ft8mw.jpg
In planning the trip we had been working under the assumption that we would certainly take a fall at least once. On the last leg of the ride having not really come off yet the time was well nigh. Were made all the more aware of it by the incessant rain. Less than 200 km from Shanghai as I was braking behind a car that was turning left another car decided to turn left too and swung into my braking distance. A combination of water, lack of experience/space and a very tight rear break slammed all three of us on the wet tarmac. Luckily we had full gear on. Liza's wasn't tight enough on the knees so she was hurt a bit but she's had worse of a push-bike. All body parts in check we grabbed our stuff off the road. Relieved to be unharmed, tho a little shaken we sat a moment, something buzzing in our peripheral hearing about 110 and police. I went back to the spot to take a picture of the bike and move it off the road while the offending driving was waving his phone around witth 110 on the dial screen. I was telling him we were ok and there was no need for that when he pointed to some damage on the back of his car, I hadn't even felt it hit. I looked from the spot on my bike where my license plate is supposed to be to the car and back to the bike and realised that we had a problem.
We set the bike up and were ready to just take off but a crowd was surrounding my escape route and, no matter how many spectators i told to piss off, more arrived and there was no way out. We had to talk. He reckoned the damage was over 2000 worth. He called a mechanic from accross the road and told him to tell me the same. Right in front of me, even tho I spoke to him in Chinese he went ahead and tried it anyway. The mechanic told him 1000 and then told him to tell me 2000, I was standing right there. Idiots. Anyway, we gave them what we had on us (the lower figure), there was much argueing and interception of key turning and eventually I told him we were on our way to Shanghai to go home (he thought I meant abroad) and he let it go, we were happy to be out of there. I think he was happy with his money too. Damn Chinese love to make a scene tho don't they.
We stopped to get something to eat and gather our wits and turning a blind corner back onto the G318 we found a car driving the wrong way right into the radius of my turn. I tried to swing it back out but lost grip again and crashed into his front bumper as we slid. He tried half heartedly to tell us we were driving too fast (which we weren't) while Ms. Clegg unloaded all her fury at the last driver onto this guy. Wasn't much to argue about tho. We broke his front fender. We just told him to go and we regathered strength. It was still raining and felt very dangerous but we wanted home so bad we pushed on.
We stopped for a toilet break and as I stopped the bike in a bit of mud we all knew we were going down but I did nothing to stop it. To add insult to injury Ms. Clegg was accosted by a swarm of mosquito's as she squatted. 15 bites in the time it takes to take a leak. Then she had to sit on the bike all the way home, poor girl.
Finally just to top it off we almost got slabo'ed by some young girl who hopped the barrier in the middle of the road and, without lookin, took off running across the huqingping toward her mother on the other side. Luckily we missed her. She would've been a perfect end to our day, trip and time in China. We couldn't have been happier to be home.
You know they say all's well that ends well but the opposite is not neessarily true. Can't wait for the next trip
Thanks for reading
p.s. She still rides with me, if you can believe that
Me taking my bike from the crash site. You can see his bumber kindof coming off. He left his ar right there in the middle of the road the whole time. Unbelievable
http://i.imgur.com/8Mk2A.jpg
Me partaking in one of the last bit's of bona-fide nature before shanghai
http://i.imgur.com/1bfs5.jpg
We stopped outside a Chevvy shop and they invited us in for tea. Only in China
http://i.imgur.com/dEc6d.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bLiFd.jpg
I'm FEARLESSS! not....Quote:
Originally Posted by corporal_clegg
Well written Corporal, sir! But I think you could've made it a bit more exciting with some suspence!!!!
And also, all you guys reading, all three times I landed on my knees...!
When it rains it pours eh? Well done for pushing through that nonsense at the end, I find that being nice to the arsehole drivers really disarms them and the public around them, as soon as they see a foreigner "attacking" a local, they all gang up on you and soon there's a mob, be nice, smile and try to act like bad luck has just befallen you both (without admitting guilt or placing it), that way things work out smoother.. In China you have to expect every single driver to drive like shit and be unpredictable, that's the only way you can avoid this sort of thing (and then it'll still happen to you anyway).
Great report clegg and missrose, cheers for writing it up and sorry i didn't see it til now. Proper troopers the pair of you, good to see that crashing 20 times a day hasn't put you off biking. If you're ever planning on selling that bike on this forum i'd probably create a new alias though...
Hehe, slabo is now a proper word for hitting someone crossing barriers to throw themselves on oncoming motorcyclists? Reference, and a bad memory for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by corporal_clegg
Hit two cars in a day and continued riding .. hats off to that, balls of steel indeed ..
Good thing you got off lightly and you only have to deal with broken and bent metal instead of bones.
Slabo, you know you've arrived when your name becomes a verb -- even if it means "colliding on your motorcycle with a jaywalking pedestrian and being held responsible for it!"
And "slaboed" has a better ring to it than "naimed"...
Aren't you supposed to be on a plane soon?
Thanks, but I have to admit that now I'm really scared shitless in traffic! Mountains and off-road no prob, but meandering through Shanghai traffic terrifies me! Will keep hopping on tho because otherwise there'll be no end to it! I'll try and keep the balls of steel in mind next timeQuote:
Originally Posted by slabo
Cheers!
I prefer to keep them in my boxers.Quote:
Originally Posted by MissRose
Haha! well, since I don't have real balls, being female and all, my balls are proverbial... hence keeping them in mind.... right? right!
If my balls are on my girlfriend's mind, does that make them proverbial too?
Clegg, sorry for turning your rr into a thread about my balls...
First, no you're not sorry!
Second, I don't know....But it wasn't Cleggs balls of steel, they where mine so yea they're proverbial!