China's Longest & Best Motorcycle-Friendly Tracks/Trails

They say the best roads in California are DIRT!
There's also the Continental Divide Ride stretching from Canada to Mexico.
And from Eastern to Western US runs the TAT.
Australia has miles upon miles of motorcycle tracks.
Canada has its logging trails.

But what are China's longest motorcycle-friendly tracks and trails?
Where can the best stretches of back roads, fire trails, dirt roads be found?

Below are examples of US/Aussie tracks, but what are the Chinese equivalents?

California Back Roads
http://www.totalescape.com/active/wheelz/bkrds.html

The Great Continental Divide
http://www.twotaildog.com/Motorcycli...vide_Intro.htm

The TAT (The Trans-Am Trail)
http://www.transamtrail.com/about/

Australia's Victorian High Country

Click here for landing page that has the entire series: http://www.soku.com/search_video/q_Y...ry Test Part 2

Variations of this topic have been brought up in other threads before, but without resolution.
There was a discussion on mapping tracks and sharing tracks with Roads2Go (great site, but maps fail to load here in China).
The alternative (albeit inferior site) is Motowhere, which I recommend for us to use for this thread purpose.

Rules:
- Please don't use this space to share your favorite tarmac stretches.
- This thread is for dirt, mud and water-crossings only.
- The longer the better (200km+ stretches).
- Trail to be "ride ready". This means no machete needed!

G'Day,

Greater Moganshan area has a few good trails (dirt / gravel) and will try to map them later this year, quite sure we will spent a few weekends out there with bikes and families again in 2012.
Moganshan, easy getaway from the big city called Shanghai.

Picking up a Garmin GPS next month and mapping (way-points) should be easy as afterwards.....

Thanks TB. This will be useful.
I've only hit the tarmac thru Moganshan -Fun twisties on the way to Anji. These trails sound great too!
I assume these are a few kilometers long, and perhaps with some interconnecting trails that can make the rides a bit longer, correct?

Moganshan will be fun (especially given it's the best thing that's the nearest to Shanghai), but I have this topic out with some of the China adventure bikers to seek out much longer off-road tracks for us. We're ideally looking for 200km+ trails. Do these exist in China? Where?

Watching that video you have made me homesick.

All dirt and no tar that's difficult.What about something like this this road/track goes from tar to dirt and back again.

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/t...mas2011033.jpg

Ali to Lahsa but hurry up they are in the process of taring it now.

Thanks Bigdamo. Glad I was able to bring back some good memories for you.

While this road (your above photo) looks tasty, it's not exactly what I'm looking for. If I am going to put my bike on the train and fly halfway/all the way across China I want true trails or tracks, rather than roads that have these accompanying electric/telephone polls.

Where are China's trails and fire roads?.............Still looking!

15 weekends and 1000 kilometers of enduro riding with andy74rc and richardktm 99% of these tracks are dirt. We ride almost every Saturday for ~6 hours and usually average ~75 kilometers. After 100 kilometers of off-road riding, your arms and legs start to feel like rubber bands.

http://www.contactdi.com/2012/enduro/IMG0734.jpg


I really like the idea of a "Trans China Trail". I can see our trail map expanding every weekend, eventually it would be interesting to attempt a Guangdong crossing via dirt roads.


Cheers!
ChinaV

Thanks ChinaV! This is great.
Will have to come south some day soon to check this out.

- Any tips on "finding" this tracks?
- Would like to explore/discover the Zhejiang tracks hidden off the tarmac but need to know where to start looking. After this, we can begin creating a ZJ trail map as well.
- If this were to workout we'd just have to continue thru to Fujian then we just may have Shanghai-Guangzhou linked. Yes, the beginning of a "Trans China Trail"!

* Let's all keep asking around to see what the longest stretch of continuous China Trail around.

MotoKai just wondering do you plan on taking your Jailing JH600 on these single track trails ?

So are you looking for something like this.

http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/t...-5-09204-1.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigdamo

MotoKai just wondering do you plan on taking your Jailing JH600 on these single track trails ?

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Yes. Will put something like the TKC80 on the JH600 and have some fun.
What I'm looking for are off-road tracks similar to the dirt, hard-packed mud, gravel, roads which I've already had the JH600 on - see here:
Suzhou Tank Grounds
Inner Mongolia Tracks
Yunnan 214 Under Construction for 300km and this fabulous road
And there's Barry's Mohe Water Crossing

Confess that I'm not looking to take the JH600 on trails like this - posted by ChinaV:
Rock Trails

Still in search of The TCT (Trans-China Trail)!

Western Sichuan province, days 9, 10 and 11 of this ride report:

The rewarding us with punishment tour

It was all dirt until the end of day 11, about 500km of tracks through some of the most incredible landscapes i've seen. Some passes well over 4000m, all surrounded by t*betan culture. Pretty epic.

ChinaV, do you still have the gps tracks hosted somewhere online?

http://www.contactdi.com/2010/may/may_2010_h111.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by felix

ChinaV, do you still have the gps tracks hosted somewhere online?

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This is the dirt portion of those 3 days.

http://www.contactdi.com/2010/may/dirtmap.jpg

No idea how long this will stay dirt, judging by the paper maps I've seen and Google maps, a road will be built here eventually.

Start at Luguhu lake and go North, a few kilometers west of the intersection of the pink and green lines, there's a gas station, the only one, and it's not really a station, just someone's house, so you will have to ask a few people to find it.

You really should have a small dual-sport to enjoy this. A JH600 could do it with a good rider and TKC80's, but I don't know if going it alone is a good idea. There are a few spots that could be a real handful on a big bike with limited suspension.

Here's the track.

Cheers!
ChinaV

I don't remember which of these roads were dirt, but Chinabiker took me on a lot of nice trails when I visited Beijing. I'm sure he has plenty of dirt tracks surrounding Bejing.

http://www.contactdi.com/map/bj_map.jpg

Cheers!
ChinaV

Thanks ChinaV, hopefully someone will put those tracks to good use before it's too late!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by felix

Western Sichuan province, days 9, 10 and 11 of this ride report:

The rewarding us with punishment tour

It was all dirt until the end of day 11, about 500km of tracks through some of the most incredible landscapes i've seen. Some passes well over 4000m, all surrounded by t*betan culture. Pretty epic.

ChinaV, do you still have the gps tracks hosted somewhere online?

http://www.contactdi.com/2010/may/may_2010_h111.jpg

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Might find it a touch difficult riding there now and in the for see able future.Same goes for the Big T.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigdamo

Might find it a touch difficult riding there now and in the for see able future.Same goes for the Big T.

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To the west, you have "the circuit", Lijiang, ShangriLa and eventually Litang, everyone uses those roads and they're well stocked with checkpoints. Most of the roads out of those areas head to trouble spots, so it wouldn't be unlikely for people to get refused.

Read into this what you want, that Sichuan track we posted has almost no civilization at all, you will need a tent, food and water. From what I remember, there's very little chance of getting a 4WD through there.

And remember, Felix is a slave driver, I think he made me ride like 13 hours every day with only 1 pee break, so it could take longer.

......and one landslide could have you back tracking for days, so beware in the wet season.

Cheers!
ChinaV

And don't forget to bring spare fuel if you don't have a big tank. We spend two days without finding any, i remember being very worried at times because we didn't know where we were going and wouldn't have had enough petrol to backtrack out of there.

I doubt you could have troubles with authorities along that track as there's nothing out there. You might run into blockades when you arrive back into 'civilisation' (very relative term here) at the northern end but by then you've already completed the best ride of your life.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

Felix is a slave driver, I think he made me ride like 13 hours every day with only 1 pee break...

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Didn't you recently make me ride half the length of vietnam on a broken foot in the rain on christmas day?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

To the west, you have "the circuit", Lijiang, ShangriLa and eventually Litang, everyone uses those roads and they're well stocked with checkpoints. Most of the roads out of those areas head to trouble spots, so it wouldn't be unlikely for people to get refused.

Read into this what you want, that Sichuan track we posted has almost no civilization at all, you will need a tent, food and water. From what I remember, there's very little chance of getting a 4WD through there.

And remember, Felix is a slave driver, I think he made me ride like 13 hours every day with only 1 pee break, so it could take longer.

......and one landslide could have you back tracking for days, so beware in the wet season.

Cheers!
ChinaV

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"To the west, you have "the circuit", Lijiang, ShangriLa and eventually Litang, everyone uses those roads and they're well stocked with checkpoints. Most of the roads out of those areas head to trouble spots, so it wouldn't be unlikely for people to get refused."

I'd say it is highly likely people will be refused entry this time.My friend went back home to Sichuan for Chinese new year she said that all the government heavy weights were called back from holidays early to fix the situation there.She said the gov is extremely nervous about the situation there at the moment.

"there's very little chance of getting a 4WD through there."

I used to think that there is alot of places where a 4WD can't go where a bike can go.I have since changed that view after I saw 2 4WD go down and up a rock garden that made your photo of the rock garden were you are bull dogging your bike down look like a walk in the park and they didn't even have to use mr winch.Will this happen in China. Some of the 4WD here are set up for it plastered with discovery channel stickers on them so I guess there watching what other 4wd are doing in other parts of the world.

From what I gather the world press is extremely keen to get in there to find out what is going on so I wouldn't put it past one of them to take the Sichuan track in.Call me paranoid but.

Here is one of my favorites sorry wrong country.http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=90327

So i am curious, what was the estimated time to do this particular loop. Looks really cool, I wanted to do something in Inner Mongolia, but have not been able to line up anything or get any direction from several different websites. I am thinking just buy a couple of bikes and get them delivered here-Beijing and when my brother gets here in September we could just pick up this very nice looking route to spend a week on. Thanks for the map very nice to see someone has done it and now I am excited to find out more. Marty

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

I don't remember which of these roads were dirt, but Chinabiker took me on a lot of nice trails when I visited Beijing. I'm sure he has plenty of dirt tracks surrounding Bejing.

http://www.contactdi.com/map/bj_map.jpg

Cheers!
ChinaV

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by scratchndent

So i am curious, what was the estimated time to do this particular loop.

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It was a six day ride, each color track is one day. We didn't ride too aggressively, and had to deal with setting up and re-packing camping gear every day, so I think you can manage this in a week quite easily.

Cheers!
ChinaV

ChinaV, Thanks for that, is there a thread on here somewhere that talks about where you stopped for gas and that type of thing? Would like to see what you saw on the trip. And also, suggestions on bikes that will make the trip, I was reading an earlier post about the guy on the shineray, he seemed to have some issues-new motor, due to some bad mechnic'in. I am 6'2 and about 195. We dont need big and flashy just reliable and fun.............and repairable at the end of the day. I havent had time to look does the site have alot of guys from Beijing out here? I wouldnt mind hooking up with someone and talking about rides. I plan to buy 2 new bikes and then sell the one my brother will ride after it is over, keeping mine, so I will want something reasonably long lasting. Have a great day!

scratchndent

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

It was a six day ride, each color track is one day. We didn't ride too aggressively, and had to deal with setting up and re-packing camping gear every day, so I think you can manage this in a week quite easily.

Cheers!
ChinaV

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by scratchndent

ChinaV, Thanks for that, is there a thread on here somewhere that talks about where you stopped for gas and that type of thing? Would like to see what you saw on the trip. And also, suggestions on bikes that will make the trip, I was reading an earlier post about the guy on the shineray, he seemed to have some issues-new motor, due to some bad mechnic'in. I am 6'2 and about 195. We dont need big and flashy just reliable and fun.............and repairable at the end of the day. I havent had time to look does the site have alot of guys from Beijing out here? I wouldnt mind hooking up with someone and talking about rides. I plan to buy 2 new bikes and then sell the one my brother will ride after it is over, keeping mine, so I will want something reasonably long lasting. Have a great day!

scratchndent

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There is a ride report posted here by chinabiker and a photo album here from me.

We rode BMW's, chinabiker rode his and I rented one from the dealership in Beijing. Plenty of nice bikers up in Beijing, I think they hang out a place called Frank's when they're not riding.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Guys - Still looking for the TCT (Trans-China Trail).....

See this video repost of Australia's Victorian High Country.
I'm searching for trails like this (not roads) in China

Click here for landing page that has the entire series: http://www.soku.com/search_video/q_Y...ry Test Part 2

Perhaps some MCMers who also frequent the Chinese forums can ask around?