China by Sidecar! (Help Requested)

**dkoerner** · 06-15-2010, 04:58 AM

Hey all,

Looking to make a 17 day tour of rural china by motorbike early august and am looking for affordable (and as reliable as possible) transport for four riders. the idea is that we can share riding time with two sidecars, but I've read too many stories of Chang Jiang 750's that fell apart and died after just a few hours, and would like to find two bikes from a reputable and affordable supplier.

Can we buy a used bike and resell to owner as opposed to renting bikes? Or buy and then sell in a different city? Can any of you point me towards someone we can talk to? The plan is to enter via HK and get our licenses converted to mainland in Guangzhou.

Suggestions and ideas from all of you are welcome on how we can find bikes, please! I'll post a big trip report with pics of what we see and everyone we meet along the way! :)

How can the four of us get the most out of this great opportunity to explore China? *Note: we will be taking someone who speaks Mandarin chinese.*

Thanks,
David Koerner

**ChinaV** · 06-15-2010, 05:20 AM

Hi Dave,

Welcome to MCM. There are almost no rentals here, and you can't purchase or get licensed without a residency permit. Sorry for the bad news. If you really want to make a tour, I would suggest contacting one of the tour agencies, as they can get you onto bikes with the necessary documents. Other than that, use the search engine and dig deep. There's plenty of info here about what you want to do, but you need to make some decisions about how far you're willing to go and at what expense.

Cheers!
ChinaV

**chinabiker** · 06-15-2010, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by dkoerner

Hey all,

Can any of you point me towards someone we can talk to? The plan is to enter via HK and get our licenses converted to mainland in Guangzhou.

David, if you manage to convert your license in Guangzhou, we would all like to hear about the how to

Contact Christoph at hiddenchina.net and tell him I sent you. He may be able to arrange that for you.

**dkoerner** · 06-24-2010, 12:14 AM

Thanks Andy!

We contacted Christoph at Hiddenchina.net and he is looking into getting sidecar bikes shipped from Beijing. We may have to fly or take a train to Beijing to pick them up instead of buying in Guangdong.
Is there any way to buy or borrow bikes for money and then give them back? Is there a better place to buy the bikes then Beijing? We just want a good deal on two strong bikes.

Already planning which roads to take! Touring China is going to be so much fun!

**andre555** · 06-24-2010, 03:11 PM

Hi David,

checkout Yangtsepete and his China Sidecarrally http://yangtsepete.com/
I went with him for 9 days from Guangxi to Yunnan, marvelous!
He is organising trips with the CJ750, maybe he can sort you out as well.

André

**chinabiker** · 06-24-2010, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by dkoerner

Thanks Andy!

We contacted Christoph at Hiddenchina.net and he is looking into getting sidecar bikes shipped from Beijing. We may have to fly or take a train to Beijing to pick them up instead of buying in Guangdong.
Is there any way to buy or borrow bikes for money and then give them back? Is there a better place to buy the bikes then Beijing? We just want a good deal on two strong bikes.

Already planning which roads to take! Touring China is going to be so much fun!

There is jimbosidecar from this forum in Beijing who runs a CJ shop, specialized in building BMW engines into them. I can image that he is willing to do this.

**Lao Jia Hou** · 06-25-2010, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by chinabiker

There is jimbosidecar from this forum in Beijing who runs a CJ shop, specialized in building BMW engines into them. I can image that he is willing to do this.

Jim's BMW-powered bikes are definitely "strong". The only way to go.

Having personally ridden a CJ750 24 HP and a CJ750 32 HP (the two engine choices from Changjiang) for several years, I will attest to the fact that a lot of your "Touring Fun" time will be fixing the engines (especially the 24 HP). Murphy's Law will be at play ... it will always break down in the middle of nowhere, without a safe shoulder to pull off onto, pouring rain and about to get dark. I rode one 24 HP I owned through much of the north (Heilongjiang), summer and winter, and I don't recall ever doing more than 20 miles without some "issue". Then I switched to a 32 HP, and my fortune was probably doubled to 40 miles without an "issue". I learned all of the swear words in Chinese for the sole purpose of "talking" to my 24 HP & 32 HP CJ750s.

I second Chinabiker's advice - get a BMW powered CJ750 if you want to have worry-free fun riding.

**dkoerner** · 07-02-2010, 08:03 PM

@ andre555: Thanks, but Yangtsepete was unfortunately unable to help (referred me to someone else that referred me to someone else). Also, we would like to explore China on two bikes without guides. China is such a beautiful and amazing country, and one of the great things about motorcycling is that you can see a peaceful road going off to the right and take it, or explore an interesting part of town a few hours longer, instead of hurrying from place to place. We don't want to push the bikes or ourselves too hard.

@chinabiker: Contacting jimbosidecar now. @LaoJiaHou: Great Comment! We are trying to find two CJ750 bikes with the 32hp BMW engine, but I have been warned that some sellers provide CJ's that are not true 32hp. We have not yet found a seller with a good reputation and a fair price.

Does anyone know a CJ seller we could try? Anyone selling or renting good 32hp bikes? Know someone willing to loan us their CJ for $ and two weeks of use?

-David
熊大卫