My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
In the summer of 2006 i came to china for a month and it was during my two weeks in Xiamen that i saw my first CJ. “A boxer-engined, WWII sidecar? Here?!?” Then next day i saw another one, and then another. Though i had never heard of these before, i knew it was to become my life goal to own one. I immediately got to work. I did my research, found a job in Suzhou, went back to Ireland to get my stuff and say farewell to all my loved ones, then left with a one way ticket to China. 5 months of saving later, I was the ecstatic owner of my own CJ750. I named him Wolfgang.
Almost 3 years of ownership later, I thought I’d do him justice and do a little write-up about him. There’s already a butt-load of literature out there about these bikes, so I’m just going to put up some pictures and talk about a few little modifications I made.
With the sidecar off. I rode it like this for a week in the days before I had my XTR. It was a lot of fun to be back on a real motorbike, but for sure it doesn’t handle the best. I found cornering takes a lot of concentration.
Spare pertrol can. The bike will only go about 5-10km on reserve, so after getting stranded a couple of times I got this. The luggage rack is also great for camping trips.
Mountain bike rack. I got a machine gun rack and welded these 3 bits of stainless onto it. Very simple mounting system but works very well. (Note: this doesn’t work on most mtb’s, mine is a downhill bike with 20mm bolt-through axle)
Solid wheel for the back. The back wheel gets tortured on my bike, because I usually like let the sidecar lift up in the air as I make right turns. After two years of getting my back wheel re-spoked bimonthly, I finally got this. No more problems now.
Passenger air horn. I’ve had my air horn for a long time now and it’s saved my arse more than once. The red one you see in the picture though is a recent addition. It’s connected to a manual (not electric) pump that I installed inside the sidecar. The passenger can now use his foot to honk at people. The girlfriend loves it!
You can pick one up here.
Knee boards. They look ugly as poo but they’re essential in the winter. They create a bubble of warm air around each cylinder head that keeps my legs and man parts warm.
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Thanks for sharing that Felix :clap::clap::clap:
I've never been crazy about sidecars, but the mountain bike setup has got me thinking :naughty:.
Cheers!
ChinaV
03-04-2010, 05:15 AM
DanKearney
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Felix,
Great photos. Would love to hear some CJ travel stories. If there's one good thing about hacks, you can cram a lot of camping gear in there. Tell us where you've been.
Cheers,
Dan K.
03-08-2010, 09:06 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Hi Dan
As i rarely get more than a week's holiday at a time, i haven't managed to go very far on CJ yet.
In 2008 i rode out to taiping lake in Anhui province for may holiday (pictures in first post), then to 1000 islands lake in zhejiang for october holiday. Both trips were around 1500km, ridden with 3 or 4 sidecars, and lots of fun.
Last year for may holiday, a group of about 20 sidecars from suzhou circled lake Taihu. This was a 300km ride and took 2 days. Not really my idea of a riding holiday, but enjoyable nonetheless.
For October there was also a trip organised to the mountains around wenzhou in the south of zhejiang, but i decided to take my XTR and give my sister a chance to discover the sidecar. I didn't do the whole trip with them as they were much slower...
Other trips i do are usually little weekend trips. I did a write up about my weekend in sheng si islands, and i've spoken about Anji in a couple of places too. Those are my favorite places to go when time is short. The rest of mileage is just from driving to work everyday....
03-14-2010, 09:23 PM
CrazyCarl
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Felix,
Great pics and interesting story. You got any China grand-tour plans?
CC
03-15-2010, 04:04 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
I have dreams, but no plans... 4 weeks holidays a year isn't enough for that kind of riding.
One day though, i would love to convert the sidecar into a sleeper/camper device. It would sleep 1 and have a semi-rigid tent structure that folds down for travel. Yeah, that would be the sh*t!
03-29-2010, 03:38 AM
felix
Another argument for sidecars
Say what you will about sidecars, they're certainly handy for hauling big heavy things:
The place is an abandoned quarry about 10km from suzhou. The water is clear and nobody knows about it!
The boat was bought on taobao for 3400 RMB including the motor. The motor is a little 3.5hp chinese 50cc 2 stroke. It all fits in the sidecar and takes about 20 mins to set up. Next weekend, lake Taihu!
03-29-2010, 12:32 PM
davidqc
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Awesome pics. Very inspiring stories. Gives me an even greater lust to travel China. :thumbsup:
03-29-2010, 03:20 PM
CrazyCarl
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Geat pics and I would have never imagined carrying an inflatable boat and motor in a side-car! Mad props to you and your lady for really getting the most out of the vehicle. :clap:
Regarding embedding YouKu Videos, ask and ye shall sometimes receive. :icon10: Instructions on that are here:
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Thanks for the comments guys, and the help CC. I edited my post to embed the video.
03-31-2010, 11:37 PM
Andy Hird
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Hi Felix,
Great story and pictures....it looks like you are living life to the full out there in China :thumbsup:
Why the move from Ireland to China ? and what do you do for a living there ?
Those sidecars are popular with some of the Fellas on the BMW GS website I'm a member of, would you mind if I posted a link of your post on it ?
Cheers
Andy
04-01-2010, 08:54 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Hi Andy,
No problem at all, post away!
The move to china, like i said in the first post, was mainly to get one of these sidecars. I had to have one. I also wanted to see something different from europe, so china seemed like a cool place to come. After that i just never left...
I studied industrial design in college. When i got here i found a job in a taiwanese company designing street furniture and random stuff. I was a bit bored but didn't see it as a career move, just a way to be in china. Last summer though i quit that job when something more interesting came up, still in suzhou. Now i work for a swedish company called Lelo, designing luxury sex toys. Yes, it's as fun as it sounds.
04-01-2010, 09:44 AM
Andy Hird
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Hi Felix,
Thanks Mate :thumbsup:
LOL !!:lol8: That does sound like interesting work !!
What CAD package do you use for your product design, Catia V5 ?
I'm in a similar type of work myself. I work for a Composites Aerospace company as a Design Engineer we use Catia V5....although I don't design anything as interesting as luxury sex toys :lol8:
I'm currently designing a composite aircraft fuel tank. We do some very interesting stuff at our company.....UAV (Unmaned Air Vehicles), Submarine Sonar Arrays, Nuclear Submarine Propullser Ducts, Rudders and Bowplanes....that sort of stuff, mainly in the defence sector.....sounds interesting, but I'd much rather be riding :scooter:
Cheers
Andy
04-02-2010, 02:45 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Sounds like some cool projects to work on! UAVs are sweet. I do most of my design work by sketching, then do the modelling and detailing in Solidworks and rendering in Hypershot, to end up with something like this:
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Bloody hell, make us feel inadequate why don'tya?:lol8:
04-02-2010, 07:19 AM
Andy Hird
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Better not show this post to the Missus, she'll get rid of me for one of your "toys" :lol8:
Love the picture of Wolfgang carrying those plants....it reminds me of when I was a teenager and couldn't afford a decent bike. I had a Honda C90 and had to use it for everything.....I went and collected the family Christmas tree on it one year from the sawmill. I put this netted 6' tree on the saddle and sat on top of it and rode home. It was only a short distance, from the sawmill to our house and very rural..... I thought a Copper will never see me.....but sure enough one passed me as I was riding home !! The look on his face was a picture ! :lol8:
Cheers
Andy
04-06-2010, 01:45 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
I would have loved to have seen that! Although after a few years in china, i must say it probably wouldn't impress me quite as much anymore. They get very creative over here too!
04-14-2010, 06:24 PM
euphonius
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Speaking of hauling things, you don't have to have a sidecar to haul a bicycle.
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Nice! I've often thought about how to mount my push bike onto a motorbike, but never considered having it that far back! You'd want to make sure you don't forget it's back there (in traffic)
Quarry location in your inbox
04-15-2010, 05:10 AM
TexasAggie
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Felix,
Great pictures. Let me know if you ever make it to Nanjing area. I seldom have more than one or maybe two days free in any single week but it would be nice to try and ride out to meet you if you are close. (I must admit I am now pretty much only a fair weather rider) Between my old cj and my soon to be JH600, I should have something running and capable of meeting up with you. It is great to see people do get off the pavement here every now and again
DT
04-15-2010, 05:16 AM
euphonius
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Thanks for the quarry coordinates, Felix, and also the nice thread. I too look forward to meeting up and riding with you, Aggie and others in our expanding circle of MCM members in eastern China.
cheers
04-16-2010, 08:14 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Hi DT, for sure i'll give you a shout if i'm in the area for a weekend. I sometimes go up to yizheng, right close to nanjing, as that's where the galaxy dealer is. Keep in touch, and good luck with the new bike acquisition!
Euphonius, it does indeed look as though we have more and more in this region on MCM, meeting up for a ride will be in order soon!
04-19-2010, 10:06 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Another wee sidecar update with pictures of this weekend. I've been riding the CJ solo for a couple of weeks now and am enjoying it more and more. It's been almost two years since the last time i removed the sidecar; i'm not getting the knee down in the corners just yet but it's more fun now that i have a bit more confidence in my riding.
Our local CJ guru Mr Wang organised a weekend trip for the sidecars up to jiangyin. I had stuff to do in wuxi the first day so went for a ride on my own, it also gave me a chance to go ride some parts of taihu that i seldom go to. Later in the day i rode to join the other for the evening and ride home the next day.
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix
Now i work for a swedish company called Lelo, designing luxury sex toys. Yes, it's as fun as it sounds.
Jesus, Felix. I don't know how I missed this reference to your current job. So you are saying, even when you are not on the bike you've got something vibrating between your legs. What are the qualifications for your R&D staff? Oh, never mind. Yes, you have one of the most interesting jobs in China. Maybe anywhere.
bzzzzzzzzzzz
09-13-2010, 08:58 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Ha ha, yes, riding motorbikes is part of some research i'm doing on the long term effects of intense crotch vibration. For the R&D staff, experience is more important than qualifications. Luckily i have both.
Here's another pic of my bike. I got some new exhausts for it, adds a tiny bit more power but mostly they sound heavenly! Much deeper than the standard ones and a bit louder, but not offensive like straight pipes. Just right. They're hand built by Mr Wang.
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Where's the sidecar??? Is it possible to just pull it off and ride as a solo? Doesn't it have a square-profile rear tire? That must be crazy when cornering! I'd think that would provide some very unsexy oscillations, rather than soothing vibrations!
cheers
09-14-2010, 01:36 AM
felix
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Yes, i love to ride it solo sometimes. I'm enjoying it now that i'm still in suzhou, because when i move to shanghai i don't think i'l be able to do that anymore.
The standard square profile tires are indeed horrible to corner on, luckily that's an easy fix: put round ones on! I scraped pegs last week for the first time!
09-15-2010, 12:02 AM
Lao Jia Hou
1 Attachment(s)
Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China
Hi Felix
Those are great pics - thanks for sharing.
I noticed that you do not have any mirrors mounted - is this because mirrors are useless on a CJ750 due to the vibrations?
Every motorcyclist has to use whatever parts are readily available, so I have an idea for you ...
Perhaps if you crafted a new set of "counter-harmonic-vibration" mirrors?
Because the new mirror stems have built-in speed adjustments, you can ensure that your mirrors are always crystal clear by finding the correct vibrating speed to counter the bike's vibrations.
Here's a pic of the left & right mirrors ... with the nifty little handlebar mount.
I suppose one downside is your mirrors might be subject to theft, especially in areas with a high female population.
