Southern China Loop on JH600s

At the end of March this year I went on a small bike trip from Shenzhen through Fujian, Jiangxi and back into Guangdong through Hunan. For me it was a chance to put my brand new second hand JH600 through its paces but for Motokai it was the start of an epic trip to Guizhou to meet Milton and from there on to Yunnan and Sichuan.




28.3

Arrived at the shed at 9.30 to find a dead battery. There must be something draining power when it's not ridden for a while. It's fine overnight but not for a week, I think I'll have to start disconnecting the battery.

Finally left at 10.30, dropped by Winston’s to pick up gloves and then straight to Huiyang. It was absolutely pissing it down but the waterproofs and boots did a great job. Spent the night in the usual spot and ready to start the trip proper the next day.


29.3

Left at 7.20 and did well until bike konked out at a set of lights in Huidong. It refused to start but luckily there was a pikey bike shop nearby and after a new spark plug and new mirrors I was off again. Great roads for most of the day, even the shitty section before Baipenzhu reservoir has been finished. I was really lucky with the weather, didn't see a drop all day but saw some wet roads so I think I just lucked out.

Revisited the reservoir near Meizhou that Winston and I rode round in 2010 maybe, fantastic stuff. Then rode on to Longyan which is where Winston bought his CB400. I'm gonna go and meet those guys for dinner now and see if I can procure a better spark plug.

500 kms today, 550 total.

Went for dinner and a nightclub with the Longyan crew, got pretty shitfaced and ended up arm wrestling! Went to Xiaohuan's shop and he gave me a hgk iridium spark plug for free, what a champion!


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All loaded up and ready to go

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Northern Guangdong near the Fujian border

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The Longyan bike crew have some serious wheels - CBR

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Ninja 600 streetfighter

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This BMW 1100 was for sale but a little out of my price range

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KTM 640cc - what a great bike for China


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Out with the Longyan guys

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This was the hot DJ at the club

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This dancer wasn't bad either but had a voice like a cat being strangled!

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The morning after the night before and Xiaohuan fixes my leaky drain pug with some thread tape

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This is Xiaohuans shop. If you ever need a guy to fix a foreign or Chinese bike in Fujian he is your man

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His ninja

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A better shot of his ninja, a 600 I think

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Xiaohuan rode with me out of town and then pulled some sick ass wheelies on the ninja!
Check it out on youku:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTcxNjM3NDA4.html

30.3
Got up early enough but decided against the scenic 500 km route to Nanping in favour of a more direct and hangover friendly 307 kms. Hit the breakfast buffet hard enough to skip lunch today then found I was running low on oil. It must've dripped out of the drain plug during the ride yesterday as there was only a little patch under the bike. Went to Xiaohuan's shop and see what could be done and he managed to fix the leak with thread tape. I was able to leave at 10.30 am but not before Xiaohuan put on a wheelie show on his ninja 600 on the outskirts of town.

The rain started at 1 pm and didn’t stop for the rest of the day, there were some great roads and scenery but too wet to enjoy unfortunately. I stopped in Nanping at 4 to fix the broken latch on my topbox then met Craig at hotel he found. We went out and found some cheap places for a few beers and Craig was busy drying out all his riding gear that had got soaked. He was particularly pissed off about the ‘waterproof’ boots he’d been sold in Shanghai!

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At the engineering shop where this guy kindly let me use his tools to try and fix my topbox


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Out with Craig on the first night in Nanping - the girl in yellow had the hots for Motokai and called him over


31.3
We left at 9 ish, and arrived at Chongren in Jiangxi at 7 pm having ridden 420kms. The roads were great all day, mainly fast sweepers and Craig’s GPS tracker logged a max speed of 140. It’s a really nice piece of kit that calls him if his bike moves as well as logging route and riding data.
Craig’s bike had a leaky radiator and he was topping it up all day, we think a rock may have been thrown up and damaged it somehow. My topbox is still half broken and I’ve been trying to bodge on some metal strips to act as a latch.
Google maps took us through some great village roads and a tiny bamboo forest path that was totally overgrown but great fun. We went out for some excellent and very spicy stir fried street food in Chongren and the receptionist seemed to take a shine to Craig. The next morning she seemed to ask to have his babies during check out!

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Craig pulls again! This time with a lady with a rather DPRK fashion sense! :lol8:



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I don't know what to say, I just can't compete with Craig when it comes to his animal sex appeal :thumbsup:


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At a truck stop where Craig bout some fluid for topping up his jialing

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The hotel in Nanping - king of the castle, king of the castle :lol8:



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A spot of lunch Sir?


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My first attempt at repairing the top box. The latch had snapped off and I installed a piece of window frame which wasn't up to the job...


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...so I reinforced it with some steel which kinda worked

1st April

It starts raining as we set off…great. There was a brand new bridge crossing a large river which bikes weren’t allowed to use but the thoughtful local government provided a free ferry which was running constantly. We were the major attraction on the ferry crossing which was fun but things quickly turned sour as the road on the other side of the river was absolute hell. In the end Craig suggested we sneak on the gaosu and I was only too happy to agree. It was tipping down with rain and we knocked off a quick 175 kms before exiting at Pingxiang. After a quick lunch and trouser adjustment we were off again to meet my mate from yingang ‘Bamboo’ who is a first rate engineer and the only man who we thought could deal with Craig’s leaky radiator.
Bamboo lives in Xiangtan just south of Changsha and we were very close in a small town called Zhuzhou when Craig noticed my rear tyre looked a bit flat. After closer inspection it became clear I’d badly dinged the rim in a few places and that we were going to be held up for a while. I managed to beat the rim straight and luckily Craig had a proper spare tube as the one I was carrying definitely wasn’t up to the job. I think we were there for a couple of hours and we successfully halted production at the factory we were using as a rain shelter. The boss and many of the workers came out to watch and were not shy in offering advice, mainly ‘give up, there’s no way you’ll get that back on there!’ Fortunately I did and we continued on to eventually meet Bamboo at about 5 pm. And what a welcome! A big thank you to Bamboo and the rest of the yingang riders who came out to meet us! There were 7 yingang 250 riders in total who were a little disappointed to see I was riding a jialing (what a traitor I am!). The guys were a mixed bunch, a group of teachers, engineers and salesmen who shared a passion for bikes, especially yingang and after taking us out for some great Hunan cuisine we went to Bamboo’s friend’s bike shop. I had mistakenly thought that Bamboo had set up his own shop after leaving yingang but actually he now has a completely different career and was just helping us out of the goodness of his heart. Bamboo and his friend had the JH stripped down to nothing in what looked like record time despite having never worked on one. In fact the fan had chewed a chunk out of the back of the radiator and they took it off to get welded in about half a dozen places. The guys found us a great hotel nearby the shop and really couldn’t have been better hosts. I really can’t thank all the Xiangtan yingang riders enough, beers on me when you come to Shenzhen!!


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Some light relief for Craig - note the odd position of road marker!


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We were already very popular with the locals on this Jiangxi ferry crossing


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But Craig putting in his contacts was possibly the most exciting thing to hit this town in years :naughty:



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Don't you love a river scene? The peacefulness, the clean air ...



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Haters keep hatin', players keep rollin'

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In a hamlet somewhere in Jiangxi




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I've lost some weight recently and the restaurant owner adjusted my leathers while I had my noodles. Honestly that's what happened!


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One of the dents in my rim


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Some gentle persuasion and all was well

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More tyre change action - I hate inner tubes :hellfire:


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2 of the yingang bike club who gave us such a fantastic welcome in Xiangtan


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Thanks for the fantastic dinner guys, I hope to be able to return the favour one day


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Craig's welded up radiator - an very tricky job completed in next to no time :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

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Bamboo and his ride with stainless panniers



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Getting down to it on Craig's JH


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If jialing had a GP team these guys should be in the pits!

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Much laughter at my expense - probably a lack of trousers :lol8:

2

Left xiangtan at about 10 after a great Hunan tapas style breakfast. We were on the G320 all morning and it has to be up there with the worst roads I’ve been on. It was potholed and beat up to shit and went through some of the most polluted villages I’ve ever seen. There really wasn’t any redeeming features. After about 200 kms we arrived in Shaoyang where we went our separate ways after a quick lunch. Craig continued on west towards Guizhou and I sadly started back towards Shenzhen and a date at the office.
What followed was 20 kms of road under construction sludge (yes, it was raining again) and I was lucky not to drop the bike a few times. The road then improved and I completed the 90 kms to Yongzhou in a proper monsoon. I found a pikey hotel and went out for some more spicy Hunan fair, I was invited over for a few beers by some local lads who then proceded to blame me forwasting 10 years of their lives in English classes. I tried to explain the usefulness of foreign trade and investment but didn’t get far so went off for a massage some street barbecue and an early night.



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Some excellent Hunan tapas, who knew?!
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Now I probably shouldn't say too much about this photo but Craig will be the first to say that it's not what it looks like! :lol8:

3/4 - First rode the 400 kms to Ruyuan in Northern Guangdong then back to Shenzhen from there which is about 550 if I remember rightly.


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Southern Hunan


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The next few few photos were all taken north of Ruyuan in northern Guangdong


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Check out my new waterproof overcoat, I bought it in the serial killer shop in Ruyuan :naughty:



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Relaxing with a beer in Ruyuan

I found these huge rubber overgloves in a small shop in Fujian, they were indispensable when riding for 8 hours in the rain
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So this trip was my first real outing on the jialing and it was a real treat to be on the bigger machine. The increased comfort on the long days was noticeable and the extra power really came in handy on the gaosu. I’m really looking forward to the next trip, maybe Hainan before Christmas this year. The weather was absolutely shocking and we got pissed on nearly every day but for me the real story of this trip was the people we met. First, the guys in Longyan – they are a great group and just love their bikes, and what bikes! My eyes were out on stalks and I was having serious pangs of jealousy! On top of that Xiaohuan’s bike shop is fantastic and should be on the map for all touring bikers in China but more on that later. The Xiangtan club were also incredible and Bamboo and the guys really went out of their way to show us a great time and deal with a potentially trip ending radiator leak. For me meeting all these kindred spirits highlighted what it’s all about here in China and that’s what will stay with me from this trip – that and Motokai’s leaky boots!

Craig was talking about setting up some kind of map/list of outstanding bike shops in China which I think is an awesome idea, I’m not sure what’s happening with this but all the guys mentioned above should definitely be on it. I have contact details for Xiaohuan in Longyan and Craig, I think, has the number and address for Bamboo’s friend’s bike shop in Xiangtan. If anyone else has some mechanics that they think are worthy to be added to the list then let me or Motokai know...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by futianshenzhen

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Now I probably shouldn't say too much about this photo but Craig will be the first to say that it's not what it looks like! :lol8:

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They were just wondering if it's true what they say about foreigners - and I had to prove the rumor as fact......

......that we all do carry USD bills in our pockets. (What were you thinking?) :naughty:

As Tom pointed out earlier my rain gear wasn't as waterproof as the police-kit he was wearing (or the serial killer attire he bought on his way home). This meant I needed to carry my cash in my riding pants pockets under my rainpants. Which also means that each time I needed to make a purchase I had to drop my pants (outer layer only of course) to draw some cash. Seemed normal to me until I saw this photo.

By the way, after getting back to Shanghai I took the new boots back to the shop. We put them underwater in the tub for 5 minutes and they were dry on the inside. Seems that the water was dripping in from the top of the boot. I'll need gaiters to complement the nice Italian boots I now love once again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MotoKai

...By the way, after getting back to Shanghai I took the new boots back to the shop. We put them underwater in the tub for 5 minutes and they were dry on the inside. Seems that the water was dripping in from the top of the boot. I'll need gaiters to complement the nice Italian boots I now love once again.

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There is nothing worse than wearing your nice waterproofies all confident as the rain begins, and then feeling water running down your legs and directly into your expensive waterproof boots. How the &#$% does it get in there? Gaiters won't work either if the water is already inside your raingear from somewhere higher up on your body.

cheers

I'm glad to hear your boots are waterproof! I spent 200 HKD on a pair of waterproof trousers and that did the trick, they are rubbery on the inside and I think that's the key

Hi MotoKai and Tom, I am Banboo

Hi MotoKai and Tom, I am Bamboo

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Originally Posted by bmboo

Hi MotoKai and Tom, I am Bamboo

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Bamboo! Dude! Happy to see you on MCM :clap:


Guys, please let me introduce you to Bamboo. For those following the thread, you'll remember Tom's posting here (complete with pics).
Bamboo is ex-Yingang, living in Xiangtan, Hunan - all around great guy who saved my ass during the leaky radiator issue.

Welcome!

:scooter: Thanks MotoMai