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  1. #1 My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    In the summer of 2006 i came to china for a month and it was during my two weeks in Xiamen that i saw my first CJ. “A boxer-engined, WWII sidecar? Here?!?” Then next day i saw another one, and then another. Though i had never heard of these before, i knew it was to become my life goal to own one. I immediately got to work. I did my research, found a job in Suzhou, went back to Ireland to get my stuff and say farewell to all my loved ones, then left with a one way ticket to China. 5 months of saving later, I was the ecstatic owner of my own CJ750. I named him Wolfgang.



    Almost 3 years of ownership later, I thought I’d do him justice and do a little write-up about him. There’s already a butt-load of literature out there about these bikes, so I’m just going to put up some pictures and talk about a few little modifications I made.

















    With the sidecar off. I rode it like this for a week in the days before I had my XTR. It was a lot of fun to be back on a real motorbike, but for sure it doesn’t handle the best. I found cornering takes a lot of concentration.





    Spare pertrol can. The bike will only go about 5-10km on reserve, so after getting stranded a couple of times I got this. The luggage rack is also great for camping trips.





    Sidecar headlight. Useful for driving on country roads at night. Cars coming your way know how wide you are and don’t try to bully you into the ditch.







    Mountain bike rack. I got a machine gun rack and welded these 3 bits of stainless onto it. Very simple mounting system but works very well. (Note: this doesn’t work on most mtb’s, mine is a downhill bike with 20mm bolt-through axle)





    Solid wheel for the back. The back wheel gets tortured on my bike, because I usually like let the sidecar lift up in the air as I make right turns. After two years of getting my back wheel re-spoked bimonthly, I finally got this. No more problems now.







    Passenger air horn. I’ve had my air horn for a long time now and it’s saved my arse more than once. The red one you see in the picture though is a recent addition. It’s connected to a manual (not electric) pump that I installed inside the sidecar. The passenger can now use his foot to honk at people. The girlfriend loves it!
    You can pick one up here.







    Knee boards. They look ugly as poo but they’re essential in the winter. They create a bubble of warm air around each cylinder head that keeps my legs and man parts warm.





    Mileage so far.





    Never go anywhere without these…





    …or you’ll probably end up getting towed.

    That’s about it, thanks for reading! If I think of more I’ll add it later.

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  2. #2 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
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    Thanks for sharing that Felix

    I've never been crazy about sidecars, but the mountain bike setup has got me thinking .

    Cheers!
    ChinaV
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  3. #3 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    C-Moto Senior DanKearney's Avatar
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    Felix,

    Great photos. Would love to hear some CJ travel stories. If there's one good thing about hacks, you can cram a lot of camping gear in there. Tell us where you've been.

    Cheers,

    Dan K.
    Dan Kearney - Black Hawk, Colorado, USA
    Zongshen RX-3 - Zongshen TT250 - Ural GearUp Hack - Honda CT110
    Ural M70 Retro Solo - BMW R100R - Royal Enfield Bullet 500
    http://dansmotorcycleblog.blogspot.com/
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  4. #4 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Hi Dan

    As i rarely get more than a week's holiday at a time, i haven't managed to go very far on CJ yet.
    In 2008 i rode out to taiping lake in Anhui province for may holiday (pictures in first post), then to 1000 islands lake in zhejiang for october holiday. Both trips were around 1500km, ridden with 3 or 4 sidecars, and lots of fun.










    Last year for may holiday, a group of about 20 sidecars from suzhou circled lake Taihu. This was a 300km ride and took 2 days. Not really my idea of a riding holiday, but enjoyable nonetheless.










    For October there was also a trip organised to the mountains around wenzhou in the south of zhejiang, but i decided to take my XTR and give my sister a chance to discover the sidecar. I didn't do the whole trip with them as they were much slower...














    Other trips i do are usually little weekend trips. I did a write up about my weekend in sheng si islands, and i've spoken about Anji in a couple of places too. Those are my favorite places to go when time is short. The rest of mileage is just from driving to work everyday....
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  5. #5 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Administrator-tron CrazyCarl's Avatar
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    Felix,

    Great pics and interesting story. You got any China grand-tour plans?

    CC
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  6. #6 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    I have dreams, but no plans... 4 weeks holidays a year isn't enough for that kind of riding.
    One day though, i would love to convert the sidecar into a sleeper/camper device. It would sleep 1 and have a semi-rigid tent structure that folds down for travel. Yeah, that would be the sh*t!
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  7. #7 Another argument for sidecars 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Say what you will about sidecars, they're certainly handy for hauling big heavy things:













    The place is an abandoned quarry about 10km from suzhou. The water is clear and nobody knows about it!

    The boat was bought on taobao for 3400 RMB including the motor. The motor is a little 3.5hp chinese 50cc 2 stroke. It all fits in the sidecar and takes about 20 mins to set up. Next weekend, lake Taihu!
    Last edited by felix; 03-30-2010 at 03:10 AM.
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  8. #8 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    C-Moto Senior davidqc's Avatar
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    Awesome pics. Very inspiring stories. Gives me an even greater lust to travel China.
    '09 Huoniao (Firebird) HN125-8 motorcycle [eBay bike-in-a-box]
    Aprilia SR50 LC Racing scoot
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  9. #9 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Administrator-tron CrazyCarl's Avatar
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    Geat pics and I would have never imagined carrying an inflatable boat and motor in a side-car! Mad props to you and your lady for really getting the most out of the vehicle.

    Regarding embedding YouKu Videos, ask and ye shall sometimes receive. Instructions on that are here:

    http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...2498#post12498



    CC
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    Adventure Motorcycle Dual Sport News Magazine

    Help support MCM!! Buy "The Return - Riding Western China" DVD! -

    http://www.motocyclops.com/buydvd/

    Personal China travel info, photo and video site:

    http://www.carlparker.com

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  10. #10 Re: My CJ750, or the story of how i came to be in China 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Thanks for the comments guys, and the help CC. I edited my post to embed the video.
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