London to Mongolia & 3 Years in China

**tombaxers** · 12-27-2010, 04:42 PM

I'm new to these forums so I thought I would give an intro as requested.

My roadworthy motorbiking career started in a bit of a rush, about 7 years ago an internship supposed to be out in NYC for my 3rd year summer holidays fell through last minute (I was at uni at Edinburgh, UK) . Some mates at the time were about to embark on a trip from London to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia in a battered 998cc Suzuki 410 4x4 (the shitboxes that are renound for tipping over). They were 3 weeks from departure and I had a very long Summer ahead of me with nothing left to do. There was no room in their car and I didn't want to drive my own car, so I opted for a motorbike, bearing in mind that I had no licence and no bike at the time, just some very minimal experience with some small offroaders on the farm my parents live on in Scotland. That evening I got on Ebay and found an awesome looking 125cc 2nd-hand Korean cruiser (a Hyosung) in London and dropped the reserve price on a complete whim. The next day I went down to London early doors, did my CBT in the afternoon (for those that don't know a CBT it is the UK pre-test motorbike test - requires L-plates, no motorways, 125cc max etc...etc...basically not enough to drive half of the way around the world) and then went to find the bike owner and pay the rest of the money. The seller was totally dumbfounded and didn't believe me for one minute that my plan was to drive his bike to Mongolia having only become semi road legal 2 hrs before. Nevertheless, I parted with my cash and he parted with his bike... little did I know at the time that I had bought an absolute beauty that I still own 7 years and a hellovalota kms later - albeit now repainted and rebuilt.
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The next 19 odd days were frantically spent getting visas and getting my full motorbike test done and dusted. I passed the full course and removed my L plates 2 days before the off and got my last (for Azerbaijan) visa the morning we left Hyde Park. To say I was a newbie to motorbiking was understatement, to adventure long-distance motorbiking (on a 125cc cruiser) well that was another thing all together and the learning curve was steep. What ensued for the next 6-8 weeks (including the trip home) I could write a book about, but the short of it was that after 17 countries, a lot of amazing places (especially The Stans) & people and some seriously arduous times I fell in love with motorbiking and the open road (or lack of it) in a big way... before finally arriving in Mongolia alone as my friends had completely written off their shitbox Suzuki by rolling it 5 times over an Kazak embankment and unfortunately had to end their trip early.
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Since then I have done a bunch of trips, unfortunately none quite as long (and have been run clean over by a 10 Tonne lorry whilst riding a KTM 540 Exc in Kenya...long story) but I have now lived in China for the past 3 and a bit years where I run an export company in Shanghai.

Until recently I kept a 250cc botched job Chongqing Yinxiang cruiser in Yangshuo, which has been a base for long distance bi-annual trips all over Southern China with a couple of mates, however some pikey b****rd stole this a couple of months ago, so I am now on the market for a 250 in Shanghai and am presently weighing up my options. I reckon it is going to be a close run thing between the following 250 'Sports' bikes: a Regal Raptor, a Yingang, a Qingqi and possibly the Sachs 250 X-Road....suggestions please?

Anyhow, enough rambling. Would be great to hear from any fellow bikers in Shanghai/ Suzhou and the vicinity... once I get the aforementioned bike legal I fully intend to take advantage of the surrounding provinces at weekends and further afield as often as possible.

If anyone wants to know more about any of my long haul trip or longish haul trips in China let me know and I'll share some more photos and info.

Cheers

**tombaxers** · 12-27-2010, 05:26 PM

More pics of China trips etc...

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**jape** · 12-27-2010, 10:45 PM

Wooo, what an intro! Great story and great pics, thanks.
With regard to new bike try China V's thread http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...?2401-Now-what (Eight pages and well worth a read with a couple of good results at the end).
Also the Shanghai guys here have a couple of JH600s. Try http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ighlight=jh600 for a thirty page read with extra links to trips and more ...

**ChinaV** · 12-27-2010, 11:19 PM

Welcome to MCM tombaxers, Hope you will share some adventures, as it sounds like you've done some amazing things on motorcycles. I see Mfpthebronze & Richardktm in one of your photo's, rough crowd

Shanghai seems to have a pretty good size community of bikers, I'm sure they'll be along shortly to say hello.

Keep your eye on this post, the Yingang looks pretty nice.

Cheers!
ChinaV

**felix** · 12-28-2010, 02:24 AM

Wow what an intro to motorcycling! Would love to see more pics of that first trip, especially the stans, sounds epic!

Gizza shout if you want to have a couple of beers, there's a fair few of us here in shanghai!

**Shanghaifingers** · 12-28-2010, 09:45 AM

Shanghai biker saying Hello and welcome to MCM..... Lets Ride..... PM for contact info we can chat over beers....

**tombaxers** · 12-29-2010, 08:54 AM

Cheers Jape, have looked through the pages and see some good stuff. Went to see a Regal Raptor yesterday... very nice bit if kit with a 28 litre tank and decent looking brakes which are oh so important in China so I am definitely swaying towards this.

Have you ever seen the Sachs X-Road 250 around Aus? http://www.sachsbikes.com.au/

I will try and get some more photos up as requested.

**tombaxers** · 12-29-2010, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by jape

Wooo, what an intro! Great story and great pics, thanks.

Cheers Jape, have looked through the pages and see some good stuff. Went to see a Regal Raptor yesterday... very nice bit if kit with a 28 litre tank and decent looking brakes which are oh so important in China so I am definitely swaying towards this.

Have you ever seen the Sachs X-Road 250 around Aus? http://www.sachsbikes.com.au/

I will try and get some more photos up as requested.

**tombaxers** · 12-29-2010, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by ChinaV

Keep your eye on this post, the Yingang looks pretty nice.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Cheers ChinaV, yep I've been following your Yingang build with interest. Looks like a great Chinamoto. I went to see a Regal Raptor yesterday, supposedly the watercooled DD250G that had a 28 litre tank and big front discs like the Yingang. Looks very well built, no sh1tty welding to be found as far as I could see without pulling it to pieces in the showroom.
The only problem I could see was that the coolant tank was incredibly badly positioned and protected by a flimsy piece of plastic. Roads in Yunnan and Guizhou would see the end of that in minutes so it would need a decent Manganese Steel plate bolting on instead for those rougher roads. Otherwise I have been in tough with infamous Jennifer from Yingang as well. They quoted me ¥15K delivered to Shanghai for the YG250NF, does that sound the same as you?

Cheers

**tombaxers** · 12-29-2010, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by felix

Wow what an intro to motorcycling! Would love to see more pics of that first trip, especially the stans, sounds epic!

Gizza shout if you want to have a couple of beers, there's a fair few of us here in shanghai!

Felix in Shanghai ehh... By any chance do you or did you have massive handlebars growing on your face earlier this year? And have you been paintballing and know Kaika? Just a thought, if not my apologies, if so then I know you. Either way I'm down for beers.