May Day 08 ride

[Jimbosidecar]

The Dong Hais were made in a very small production run (compared to the CJ) and were based on what I believe was the 750 cc Triumph of the day. So it is a scary thought of the Chinese copying an even more unreliable bike that the BMW/CJ copy. There are still a few around and my bike has a Donghai sidecar which I love for it's room, looks, and weight. There is a guy in Beijing who specializes in the parts supply and even has a few of them for sale. He has a site on Yahoo groupsm I believe called The Donghai Experience or something close to that.
Regds,
Jim

Looking good. Sounds like it must have been a great ride.

What do you know about the Donghais. I've always been interested in them. It is scary the amount of tech that's in them for an old Chinese bike. Also didn't the Chinese have some Zundapp copy before the CJ?

[Jimbosidecar]

A couple of thigs I left out.
There seems to be a serious diesel shortage down in Shandong, Anhui, and Zhejiang. many stations that had no big lines of trucks had no diesel at all. The ones that did have diesel had long lines.
The expressways are pretty strict about no motorcycles (or sidecars). I got spoiled up here in Beijing where a bike can go anywhere. I tried about a dozen times to get on an expressway and no way was all the reply I got.
Had a minor accident in Hefei, when a Santana suddenly turned right and hit me. The driver right away called the cops, and when the cops arrived they looked over the damage (big dent in his car; bent mirror and horn on my bike), and told us both to beat it. Whew!
97 Octane is almost unheard of in Anhui, still pretty rare in Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. I found one station that had it (My R100S motor with 10:1 Venoilas required it) and at first they refused to sell it to me. Only after I explained that my motor was a BMW and needed it did they allow me to purchase 97. They were directing me over to the 93 octane pump.
What is it about strangers and clutch levers. Almost every time I was off the bike some stranger would walk up and give the clutch lever a few tugs. Normally I wouldn't mind but my clutch cable is good for about 200 pulls and I must have wasted half of those with people pulling the clutch lever. Geesh!!!
If you ride through Jinan the city center is to be avoided at all costs. They have got the entire city torn up. On the way back to Beijing, I paid a taxi driver to lead me around the outskirts of the city. It cost 70 RMB and took about an hour but was well worth it. On the way down I went through the city, took about 2 hours and beat the living crap out of me and the bike.
The cops on the road are really pretty friendly.

[CrazyCarl]

Riding a bike which requires 97 octane in China is some fancy footwork! How well does it run on 93?

The fuel problem in China has the potential to be pretty crazy. Lots of truck still run overloaded and poorly maintained so I'm sure they're not making fully efficient use of the fuel.

I was in Jinan to visit the QingQi factory a couple months ago. The traffic there was nuts. Like you said, the roads in town were all torn up, but even the one's that weren't torn up were too small for the amount of cars they have. The pumps in the cities are more likely to have 97 though. Hmmmm...

Any more news/thoughts on your book plans?

CC