Chang Jiang 750 Solo bike

Hey all,

Not sure if it's the right place to post about this, but didn't find a thread about it elsewhere in the forum.

As you know, I just got the Honda Shadow 150. I've been looking for quite some time at the Changjiang 750 bikes, but solo, not sidecars, maybe not to ride in and out of Shanghai, but to ship to France to ride on the nice countryside roads there.

If some of you guys have some experience about those bikes (once again solo bikes, not sidecars), please post to know what to expect / look for, how's the ride with 1 of those ?

I guess : rather poor handling due to the old design (but it's only for easy summer rides...), quite bad reliability so need to have quite a strong mechanical knowledge, etc. .

Thanks in advance ! :thumbsup:

I rode my original Chang as a solo for a while up in the North of China (Heilongjiang). More out of necessity, as I removed the sidecar one day and couldn't get it back on, properly. Moving the battery onto the solo bike was easy (duct tape is magical stuff!).

The solo handled better than the sidecar rig, of course, but still has the same "things happen slowly on a Chang".

There's a guy in Beijing that does some interesting stuff with solo Changs, and he ships them to Europe. Might be a good resource for you ...

http://www.4444-chang-jiang-design.com/

I rode my CJ solo last year for a few thousand km and loved it. You don't ride it like a sports bike but that's not to say it's not fun, just remember it's not the same braking distances. I don't have experience on a hundred different bikes so i can't be very objective about it, all i can say is i had great fun even on twisty roads!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/...ce2e3ae3_b.jpg

A few more solo pics in my CJ thread here.

Thanks guys for the reviews. I went yesterday afternoon to the Chang Jiang sidecars shop on Hami lu. They have great bikes, but not too impressed by the "problems" linked to the plates if I'd consider riding one in Shanghai : waidi plates, can only drive in Pudong or outside Shanghai, and in theory the plates are only for sidecars, not solo bikes, so it would mean having to explain all this to a cop in case of control, blablabla...
That's the main reason I took the hu A plates for my Honda, so I could ride it wherever I want without having to dodge cops...

I've been in that shop quite a few times, and, though your mileage may vary, I've found them to be contemptuous in the extreme of China's motor vehicle code and of their own customers. They openly and actively assert that 1) foreigners cannot register a motorcycle in their own name in China (but it's no problem because we can get you some non-Shanghai waidi plates), and 2) that riding with non-Shanghai waidi plates is "no problem" for foreigners. Their business seems to be built almost 100% on the gullibility of foreigners who are (sorry CJ fans) lusting after the nostalgia and alleged "cool" of a crappy, failure-prone, jury-rigged and commercially unsupported antique motorcycle.

I'd give wide berth to the Chang Jiang sidecars shop on Hami Lu.

cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by euphonius

I've been in that shop quite a few times, and, though your mileage may vary, I've found them to be contemptuous in the extreme of China's motor vehicle code and of their own customers. They openly and actively assert that 1) foreigners cannot register a motorcycle in their own name in China (but it's no problem because we can get you some non-Shanghai waidi plates), and 2) that riding with non-Shanghai waidi plates is "no problem" for foreigners. Their business seems to be built almost 100% on the gullibility of foreigners who are (sorry CJ fans) lusting after the nostalgia and alleged "cool" of a crappy, failure-prone, jury-rigged and commercially unsupported antique motorcycle.

I'd give wide berth to the Chang Jiang sidecars shop on Hami Lu.

cheers

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Hehe, I like that.
That was the story they gave to me the last time I went there (6 months ago). Yesterday the girl at the shop saw me coming with my Hu A plated Honda so she didn't dare tell me that foreigners cannot register a bike in their own name or that it's ok for foreigners to ride with waidi plates in Shanghai...