May Day 08 ride

Just got back from a 4000+ km ride from Beijing to Huang Shan in Anhui Province, then stopped in Shanghai for the MotoGP race before heading back to Beijing. Yanbao BMW put on a nice party in Huang Shan at Taiping lake for all BMWs and Chang Jiangs.
We started out taking route 106 out of Beijing, with about 25 BMWs on Monday morning. By mid day I was having some ignition trouble so I couldn't keep up with them. As it turns out I stayed about 4 hours behind the rest of the BMWs for the entire trip down to Anhui.

The roads from Beijing, through Hebei, and Shandong are busy and full of trucks, cars, lawn tractors, and bicycles. But they are smooth and you can make some good time. But once we crossed over into Anhui, the roads turned a mess with big potholes, broken cement, stretches of dirt road, and just flat. So nothing to write about here. I did come across a bridge that was out so had to take a ferry across. With my bike and a couple other small motorcycles, that was about all it could hold.
But once I got past Liangjiou (sp) the roads got very smooth and the scenery changed from flat to mountainous. The place Yanbao picked out was just great. Nice hotel on the shores of Taiping lake. All the roads around here were freshly paved, no traffic, and lots of twisties. There were about 50 BMWs and one local CJ750 when I got there. I had to leave early but they expected another 50 bikes the following day.

Looks like you had a lot of fun! Do you have some more pics?

I left Huang Shan heading for Shanghai to catch what may be the final MotoGP race in China. Again from Huang Shan to Ningguo the roads were just about perfect., freshly paved and lots of mountains. But once past Ningguo and crossing into Zhejiang the roads got full of trucks and other vehicles and the quality of the roads went downhill fast. So it was just a slog into Shanghai. I got lucky though in that route G318 went straight almost to my hotel. The closer I got to Shanghai the worse the traffic was, but I did see quite a few sport bikes also heading to Shanghai for the race.

The race was held in nice weather for a change. A little rain on race day morning but by the time the big bikes fired up the track was dry. Rossi did it again leaving everyone but Pedrosa in the dust. Then about 5 laps from the end he left Pedrosa too. He had enough time that he got off the bike and sat on the put wall waiting for the other bikes to come across the finish line. This was the 3rd time I rode down for the MotoGP and sadly it is probably the last race to be held in China. The track has seating capacity of over 100,000 and I doubt there were 20,000 people in the stands.
Monday morning, another nice day and the slog homeward. And each time I head home from Shanghai I end up on a different road. Took a ferry this time to Nantong, and from there an uninteresting ride home through Jiangsu, Shangdong to Beijing.
Regds,
Jim

That's a great experience and all the whole way on a CJ as well. I give you guys much credit for riding those bikes long distance.

The Shanghai MotoGP looked like it could have been interesting for photographic reasons but I'm sad to hear the attendance was so low. China's motorcycle market is strong but under developed. I figure the companies will have to learn the craft of "creating a market" of their own.

Did you get your ignition problems fixed? What did you all do for hotels and food?

Spectacular photos and congratulations on such a long and bum-numbing ride!

Did you ride a Chang Jiang type of bike? They have them here, I believe they are somehow related to old WW II BMW's which were then built in Russia and also produced in China. I pal of mine just bought one that looks like yours, it's a 650cc I think.

Would love to hear more about the trip. Accomodation, ease of travel, weather conditions, any techincal/mechanical problems?

Cheers

Pete

Hi, No actually I was riding my 1969 R69S with a Dong Hai sidecar. I rode this bike around the world in 2004-05 (which is how I got it into China), then rebuilt and repainted it exchanging the Jawa sidecar for the bigger Donghai hack. Yes, with enough playing with the advance and the gap even I got it fixed finally. The problem is not helped by the fact I was running 10:1 Venoila pistons which require 97 octane gas which is not available in the countryside. I'll switch back to the 9:1 before I make any more long distance rides with it. I've ridden down to Shanghai for the MotoGP in previous years on my BMW powered CJ, but this year I figured to go in comfort on the Beemer. Hotels and restaurants are plentiful everywhere in China so I just stopped before nightfall, and stayed the first night out in Jinan, the 2nd night out in Hefei, the 3rd night out in Lujiang, the 4th night in Ningguo, and the 5th, 6th, and 7th nights in Shanghai. Then on the way back I stayed the first night in Yancheng, the 2nd night in Tai An and home the 3rd night.
Regds,
Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

That's a great experience and all the whole way on a CJ as well. I give you guys much credit for riding those bikes long distance.

The Shanghai MotoGP looked like it could have been interesting for photographic reasons but I'm sad to hear the attendance was so low. China's motorcycle market is strong but under developed. I figure the companies will have to learn the craft of "creating a market" of their own.

Did you get your ignition problems fixed? What did you all do for hotels and food?

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Hi,
No, I wimped out and rode my 1969 BMW R69S this time. I'm getting soft in my old age I guess. The Chang is built on 1938 BMW R71 tooling so it is kind of a distant relative to the BMW. The Russians got ahold of the tooling first and sold/traded it to the Chinese in 1957. The Changs are all 750cc but the Urals up until recently were 650cc. Other than my points ignition the ride was trouble free. Oh, I did have 2 blowouts, one on the bike rear tire just south of Jinan, and one on the sidecar tire in Shanghai. I carried 3 spares with me. Also in Hefei, a Santana turned sharp right and nailed the left side of my bike. Not much damage and when the cops arrived he told us both (the car driver and me) to leave immediately, so no real harm done. The weather was just about perfect the entire 10 days. Ran into 2 five minute rain showers, one on the way down and one on the way back. One bridge was out in Anhui province so I had to load my bike onto the smallest ferry I've even been on to ride across the river. I'm planning 2 more rides this summer, one to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, and one to Yinchuan in Ningxia province. There is supposed to be a big Bikeweek Rally in Yinchuan sometime this summer.
Regds,
Jim
www.mycj750.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by petedeuxwheels

Spectacular photos and congratulations on such a long and bum-numbing ride!

Did you ride a Chang Jiang type of bike? They have them here, I believe they are somehow related to old WW II BMW's which were then built in Russia and also produced in China. I pal of mine just bought one that looks like yours, it's a 650cc I think.

Would love to hear more about the trip. Accomodation, ease of travel, weather conditions, any techincal/mechanical problems?

Cheers

Pete

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Looking good. Sounds like it must have been a great ride.

What do you know about the Donghais. I've always been interested in them. It is scary the amount of tech that's in them for an old Chinese bike. Also didn't the Chinese have some Zundapp copy before the CJ?

The Dong Hais were made in a very small production run (compared to the CJ) and were based on what I believe was the 750 cc Triumph of the day. So it is a scary thought of the Chinese copying an even more unreliable bike that the BMW/CJ copy. There are still a few around and my bike has a Donghai sidecar which I love for it's room, looks, and weight. There is a guy in Beijing who specializes in the parts supply and even has a few of them for sale. He has a site on Yahoo groupsm I believe called The Donghai Experience or something close to that.
Regds,
Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Supersignet

Looking good. Sounds like it must have been a great ride.

What do you know about the Donghais. I've always been interested in them. It is scary the amount of tech that's in them for an old Chinese bike. Also didn't the Chinese have some Zundapp copy before the CJ?

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A couple of thigs I left out.
There seems to be a serious diesel shortage down in Shandong, Anhui, and Zhejiang. many stations that had no big lines of trucks had no diesel at all. The ones that did have diesel had long lines.
The expressways are pretty strict about no motorcycles (or sidecars). I got spoiled up here in Beijing where a bike can go anywhere. I tried about a dozen times to get on an expressway and no way was all the reply I got.
Had a minor accident in Hefei, when a Santana suddenly turned right and hit me. The driver right away called the cops, and when the cops arrived they looked over the damage (big dent in his car; bent mirror and horn on my bike), and told us both to beat it. Whew!
97 Octane is almost unheard of in Anhui, still pretty rare in Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. I found one station that had it (My R100S motor with 10:1 Venoilas required it) and at first they refused to sell it to me. Only after I explained that my motor was a BMW and needed it did they allow me to purchase 97. They were directing me over to the 93 octane pump.
What is it about strangers and clutch levers. Almost every time I was off the bike some stranger would walk up and give the clutch lever a few tugs. Normally I wouldn't mind but my clutch cable is good for about 200 pulls and I must have wasted half of those with people pulling the clutch lever. Geesh!!!
If you ride through Jinan the city center is to be avoided at all costs. They have got the entire city torn up. On the way back to Beijing, I paid a taxi driver to lead me around the outskirts of the city. It cost 70 RMB and took about an hour but was well worth it. On the way down I went through the city, took about 2 hours and beat the living crap out of me and the bike.
The cops on the road are really pretty friendly.

Riding a bike which requires 97 octane in China is some fancy footwork! How well does it run on 93?

The fuel problem in China has the potential to be pretty crazy. Lots of truck still run overloaded and poorly maintained so I'm sure they're not making fully efficient use of the fuel.

I was in Jinan to visit the QingQi factory a couple months ago. The traffic there was nuts. Like you said, the roads in town were all torn up, but even the one's that weren't torn up were too small for the amount of cars they have. The pumps in the cities are more likely to have 97 though. Hmmmm...

Any more news/thoughts on your book plans?

CC