the "Fantastic 4" will brave an October Holiday Ride!

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after 8 week of hard competition, 4 worriers and 3 Sidecars are left to brave the low temperatures, wild landscapes and what ever will break down along the road, to ride from Beijing to Hohhot, Nei Mongolia.
we will leave on Friday arround 7:00 am and, hopefully, arrive Datong before sundown.
I will try to post some fotos every day, but who nows?
if everything goes well, we will meet Chinabiker and some friends high up in the mountains at Chongli at the 4th day of our ride.
stay alert! and wish us luck!
Sabine (invisible girl)

Haha very nice! Looking forward to the report, you always set a high standard! Best of luck!

Now which one of you has the super bike-mechanic powers?

http://www.theoldbicycleshowroom.co....repair-man.jpg

Good luck Sabine et al.

Whatever happened to Xi'an? By the way, if you're ever interested in shipping sidecars around China via truck, the company I have used several times quoted me 900 rmb one-way Beijing to Xi'an (extra 50 rmb for central pickup or central dropoff), which is a little bit more than I've paid several times shipping Changs between Harbin & Beijing (about the same distance). It seems to be their standard price, as when I shipped my Chang from Harbin to Dandong, I was charged 750 rmb ... Harbin <-> Jilin; 750 rmb.

Anyways, take lots of pics & videos and wear lots of clothes!

Datong, 01.10.10
in the end only 3 left Beijing, one lost cause of sudden sickness. in mind, he is with us! Greetings to Nigel! we miss you!
long way down to Datong, beautiful landscape
Indian Summer!!!
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2 repair stops and heavy rain 3 hours before coming to Datong.
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Hohhot, 02.10.10
we left Datong after a breakfast and hit the road at 9:30 am. one of the finest experiences we have found in this part of the country. 230 km, from the dirtiest coal villages to the unvorgetable mountains, abandoned fortresses and a snowstorm on the peak!!
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now we sit in a 5* hotel, warm again, and we wish a Mongolian HotPot for dinner
tomorrow we will go to the Grasslands

from Hohhot we rode another 100 Km north into the grassland area. blue sky and a very cold wind. another 4 weeks and everything will be deeply frozen. harvest time, the farmers bring in the last potatoes. the mountains are touched with flaming colours and the high mountain peaks are covered in snow.
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tomorrow we will go straight east to Chongli, lets hope, the truck-traffic-jam is not there anymore

(Ps: the barkeeper just learned how to make a strong Grog!)

back home in Beijing! 2 days earlier than planned.

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yesterday morning Erwin felt sick and took an airplane home to Beijing. so it was up to Thomas and me to ride the bikes alone. (do you know the story of "10 kleine Negerlein"? everybody disappears and suddenly you stand on your own.)
somehow, after riding G110, we managed to enter the expressway, good road conditions, perfect weather and not so much traffic. I learned to surf the "Spurrillen" and play hide and seek between the slow trucks.

until 274 Km left to Beijing ....

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the :gun_bandana: green Chang has had problems all the trip and we stuck with a blocked back wheel, some nice policemen helped with the repair and guided us along the way for quite some time.
140 Km before coming to Beijing that damm bike didn`t start anymore. Thomas tried it with new sparks every 5 Km.
with our golden Chang he tossed me to the next gas station which was in Jimingyi. we left it there and rode home in the dark.

05.10.10

Thomas, a mechanic and Erwin just picked it up and now they are on their way to Jim`s Shop.
(Video will follow soon)

I just want to start a discussion:
how far can you go while riding a Chang Jiang? this holiday we learned a lot and we are sure, we will look for another bike to ride the countryside the next year!!

Hi Sabine,

Sounds like your trip ended with a little more adventure than you planned. It seems that some people ride thousands of kilometers on the CJ's without issue, while others are having problems quite frequently. Quite often, it's the little things like a clutch cable or spark plug cap that can be a trip killer. There's something very "romantic" about traveling China via CJ, and although I understand it, I'm just not ready for a sidecar yet, maybe that will change if my family grows in the future.

Looking forward to the video.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

...I'm just not ready for a sidecar yet, maybe that will change if my family grows in the future.

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"if"?:naughty:

Sorry to hear you had so many setbacks, but it sounds like you had a good adventure anyway! 500km in one day on a CJ is very impressive, every part of you must be aching after that!

The CJs seem to be a real hit-or-miss. Mine used to to break down twice a week when i first got it. Now 3 years later, it hasn't had any problems for almost 10000km! For sure it's the only bike i've owned that gets more reliable with age, but i know this can't can't be said of all CJs.

Sabine,

Thanks indeed for posting a very neat little trip. Just goes to show us all how vast China really is. Your team braving the onset of winter up north, and ChinaV, Felix, Motokai and others enjoying radically different geographic and meteorological conditions elsewhere. Glad you all made it home safely, and hope the reluctant Chang was suffering only something minor...

cheers!

the videos are finished and while preparing them I have had time to think about my own question: " how far you can ride a Chang Jiang "?
I believe they have done a fine job on this trip. Sometimes I forget that these bikes are "oldtimer", re ensembled with parts from Europe and China. The only "problems" are sitting on the bikes, because of not so very advanced mechanic skills.
Thomas is always doing a good repair job, but when it comes to the electric part we need help.

so, enjoy our trip from Beijing to Hohhot and back again!

:clap: :bowdown:

Great videos Sabine. Nice to see that you had a chance to drive the other CJ, good job. :thumbsup:

I wish the weather in BJ was like Guangdong, it would be great to have more of your ride reports all winter long. :mwink:

Thanks for sharing and all the hard work!

Cheers!
ChinaV

Nice videos again, great sights.

some day I'll come up there and join you for a ride - on a CJ then - loaded with parts and tools...

Viele Grüsse,
AW.

Sabine,

Soon you'll have enough footage and videos to operate your own TV station!!! You ever though of setting up a perpetual webcasting of your ride reports? That way, anyone could check in at anytime and see a random bit of China. :thumbsup:

CC

I use my Vimeo Channel as such a kind of platform: http://vimeo.com/channels/36881
some month ago I asked my own website provider if there is a possibility to post videos there. I was not satisfied with his answer and it would have been expencive.
so, if you like, check out the Vimeo Channel: riding Sidecars and Motorbikes in China
with greetings from Beijing!
Sabine

Great trip Sabine, thank you for the videos again! The god of repairs can be hard to appease at times. Those were some beautiful blue skies out there, the kind that we forget exist when living on the east coast...

the report of our October-Holiday-Ride would not be finished without the following Video.
because of the bike-breakdown, we missed going to Chongli. at the last day of the holiday we asked Nigel to join in and went by car to this amazing landscape.



(next year 2011 Chinabiker and we will organise a biker meeting up there!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SabineHartmann

... (next year 2011 Chinabiker and we will organise a biker meeting up there!)

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I just had a meeting with the chairman of the ski-resort we are planning to organize the festival - we have a go!