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  1. #1 QianJiang 150-19A 
    C-Moto Regular lobotomous's Avatar
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    After 2 months and 3,000km of ownership it is time for my report on the QianJiang 150-19A.



    The strange transformers insignia:


    Buying and Plating:
    I looked at several options. I am very grateful to all the posters on the forum for advice about buying and plating, but found it quite frustrating to locate a reliable dealer in BJ. Either I couldn’t find this information on the forum or it doesn’t exist. Finding a dealer is a chicken and egg scenario – now I have the bike I have come across lots of bike shops around 4th ring road, but prior to that, they were impossible to find.
    The first shop I found was east of BeiYuanLu North, which had a good, cheap selection. I was torn between the QianJiang and the Honda RR150, which has been discussed elsewhere on the forum:




    This is undoubtedly a better machine, but I was after something that felt more authentically home grown. The QianJiang is also better looking in my opinion. While I love the colours, USD forks and tank styling, I also liked the no-nonsense wheels which appear to have come off a locomotive (also slightly wider than the Honda), and the fact that it retains some less flashy elements such as twin shocks, rear drum (which I prefer on a bike this size), and a kickstart – all of which the Honda has done away with.


    (Sorry I don't have a good normal shot of the bike, but there are others elsewhere on the forum)
    While I liked the shop’s price, I didn’t like the fact that it was so far away from me, and their very basic workshop – i.e. greasy patch in front of the shop with assortment of hammers.
    I also found a guy from bj.58.com/ in South of Beijing who was selling a very low mileage (<1000Km) example with legit A plates for a great price. After a test-ride I was decided, but despite my appeals, he was reluctant to sell it to me as he was convinced that I (as a foreigner) was unable to complete the transfer. In the end, and running out of time, I went to Beijing Riders. They had the bike and could help me plate it fairly reliably. I paid a little more for the bike, but by that time I had no other options, and thought the fact that they were near my work was more convenient as there was lots of to-and-fro during plating. My experience with them:
    To be clear, BR is not a bike shop. It is web-based service run by a couple of Ecuadorian guys, Freddy and Paul, linked to a shop in N. Wangjing. I admire their entrepreneurial spirit and they are perfectly honourable in their dealings, but the fact is that BR is not their main occupation and it proved very frustrating raising them on the phone when I really needed help. When I ran into problems, therefore, I was dealing solely with the shop. The shop itself is not bad. The guy I dealt with was efficient and communicative, although it was tough going with my basic Chinese skills. Likewise their mechanics were generally OK. There are at least 2 idiots there who are no help at all, but that’s not a unique situation. The thing that really annoyed me was after having handed over tens of thousands of yuan for the bike and plate, one of these guys still tried to stiff me for 20-30¥ on a disposable lock.
    The plating took a while and was very frustrating, although not the fault of BR. I live in a diplomatic residence. These places issue their own residency forms. I had experienced a similar problem when getting my license. The office wouldn’t accept these forms. So down to the PaiChuSuo to get a more ‘official’ one. I had to do this twice for my licence. When it came to plating, they didn’t like the fact that it was hand-written. Back to the PaiChuSuo. While I can see the printer and the forms in front of her, the ***** behind the counter refused to issue one as I lived in a diplomatic compound!! Back again to plead with them. Still no luck. As a last resort, my wife offered to go and organize it. My wife tends to get her way. No luck. In the end I waited a day, went back when different staff were on duty, went with a nice letter (dear honourable PaiChuSuo) and a jacket and tie, and they agreed to write one. TIC.
    Eventually I got the plate.

    The riding:
    Everything workd well out of the box.
    The gearbox is not too clunky and has a round-the-world pattern (i.e. N-1-2-3-4-5-N-1-2-3-…) which I like. The brakes are fine for a bike of this power. The commute seemed pleasant enough. It wasn’t until I took it out for a spin in the hills North of BJ that I really appreciated the set-up. When I first looked at the bike in detail, I was alarmed to see that the down tube stopped at the engine mounts. i.e. the engine is a structural component. I had never seen this on any of my other bikes. The frame that was there also looked flimsy compared to what I am used to. I have now seen similar configurations on many Chinese bikes, but whatever they have done, they have done it right, because this bike is perfectly stiff enough and so well balanced it feels built for cornering. Of course there isn’t much power there, but it is perfect for the city and there is plenty to get up and down the hills. The rubber is a Chinese brand called Cordial, which seem sticky enough. Any views on these or replacements when the time comes would be welcome.
    Some of the components look very cheap. When I first saw the wiring, it reminded me of the sort of thing I have seen inside kids’ toys, but overall the bike is better than I had expected. I am very happy with it so far.
    It is also super-cheap to run. The manual gives an MPG of 81, which is quite impressive. On my trip with Filipu, I was regularly getting up to 90, and this was on lots of uphill and flat-out sections. It also reckons to hold 17l of fuel, which is nearly 4.5 gallons! This means a range of 500Km before you even need to look for a filling station.
    Time will tell how reliable it is, but I plan on riding it through as much of the winter as I can bear, so we will see.


    The modifications:
    Nothing major
    A very chunky Luma lock
    Crappy taobao alarm
    Decent spark-plug
    Crappy taobao iphone bracket
    Charging circuit to main ignition switch (thanks to this forum for the info)
    This shows the cable emerging from the instrument cluster. The adapter plugs into this. I also have another plug that is gummed up with hot glue - hey presto! a (slightly more) weatherproof connector.





    Enhanced horn (more below)
    Ubiquitous Adlo Box (more below)


    Adlo/Ikea hack:
    Most top boxes have limited options for tying down other luggage, presumably the basis that they don’t want to encourage over-loading. But touring always requires some additional bags. I had some nice stainless and nylon marine fittings that I was going to fit to the Adlo box until I came across these in IKEA:

    They are SÄTTA kitchen door handles. They come in packs of 6. Very cheap. Turns out they make ideal budget Adlo fittings. Not only can you tie things down to them while still being able to access the box, but they make an over-loaded box easier to shut and easier to carry if you remove the whole thing. If you also put hooks on the inside bolts, you can stretch shock cord to fix things to the inside lid, which can be useful.

    Enhanced horn:
    The stock horn is really too ‘polite’ for Beijing traffic. This upgrade has a little more authority and while not ear-splittingly loud, it now sounds like a car. Taxis especially seem to take notice now where they would ignore the old horn. Please note that this mod requires a relay circuit and fuse as it is now drawing 8A.






    Help:
    I would be grateful if any forum members could direct me to the following on Taobao or other online source:
    Front brake pads
    A decent chain
    A decent sprocket set
    I am thinking of playing with the ratios. The current configuration is 15:43 teeth. The front spocket doesn’t look as though it has a lot of room, but I believe the tuned version of the bike has 40 teeth on rear sprocket. Any links to suppliers would be gratefully received.
    Last edited by lobotomous; 10-15-2011 at 07:31 AM.
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  2. #2 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    Danger, Will Robinson! Lao Jia Hou's Avatar
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    Hey LBTM:

    Thanks for doing this - I've been quite curious about these bikes. The Adlo/Ikea tip is really clever - looks good and it is a definite improvement for securing additional bags. The horns are a must for any bike in China.

    I agree re the rear drum on a small bike. The difference in stopping power is negligible - only 30% of a bike's stopping power is in the rear, and a rear disc's gain on a light bike is only about 10%, therefore the overall increase in emergency stopping power (this would be the maximum gain) is about 3%. A few years back, Yamaha issued a technical paper on rear discs, even going as far to assert that the only reason it does rear discs on <650cc bikes is because of customers' expectations & beliefs.

    The RTW gear pattern is a love-hate thing, in my case. One of my bikes has it, and I am constantly screwing up my shifts. But it is good to keep me thinking about gears.

    Again, thanks! Hope to hear more about your experiences with the bike.
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  3. #3 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    C-Moto Regular lobotomous's Avatar
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    Thanks LaoJiaHou,
    Very interesting about the brakes. I hadn't heard that before. It just always seemed sensible to me when the rear brake is not doing so much work then you want something that is maintenance-free, particularly as the rear wheel seems to get muddy and oily very easily.
    The gear pattern is only usable on this bike as it has a digital gear indicator. Without this, I would be looking for a 6th gear all the time - one of the reasons I might play with the ratios when it is time for a new chain+sprocket.
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  4. #4 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Qjiang has been an interesting one to watch since its acquisition of Benelli. There's all these empty promises of a 600cc inline four, but in the mean time this 150 is definitely an interesting proposition. And in my opinion by far the best looking bike in its class in china!

    Thanks a lot for taking the plunge and writing about it here. It sounds like a treat to ride. If our dear Ekki does indeed get one of her own next month, i'll try to steal it off her and post my thoughts in this thread.

    Last thought: that transformer style QJ logo is a genius marketing move in china. I suspect it alone will be responsible for at least half the sales.
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  5. #5 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    STILL AMIDST THE TRAFFIC. Ekkicore's Avatar
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    it's getting a bit chilly here in Xi'an now, but the damp weather isn't putting a damper on my spirits! I'm almost 100% prepared to buy the bike as soon as I get my salary, but there are two things that are making me hesitate:

    1. if I buy from a dealer here in Xi'an, would it be more difficult for me to get it plated in Beijing after I ship it back home? I plan on getting a Jing B plate (wanna move outside the 4th ring road to give me an excuse to ride everyday!), but if the bike wasn't purchased from a dealer in Beijing, how do I go about getting it plated?

    2. the rotary gear system.. i remember someone here warning me against purchasing a bike like this when i first signed up on this website.. is it really that big of a deal??

    if someone here can convince me that it won't be too troublesome to get my new Squeazel a pretty little Jing B necklace and that i won't accidentally kill myself with this gear arrangement, then this bike will 100% be sitting in my carpark this time next month! :)
    DJ | Promoter | Photographer
    my photography on Flickr.com

    QJiang 钱江龙 QJ150-19a (AKA SQUEAZEL?!)
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  6. #6 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    C-Moto Regular lobotomous's Avatar
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    I have been meaning to reply to your query on about the different models: "19A and 19C"
    It seems that the C has some cosmetic changes and is slightly more tuned:
    A. 8.2Kw = 11.0HP
    C. 8.7Kw = 11.7HP
    There is some good user information on Motorfans.com, but struggling with googletranslate a bit.
    They seem excited about the D model which is tuned to 12.9HP, although it looks as though you have to have have flat paintwork and not the great metallic colours on the lower models.
    I only noticed recently that the bike is being marketed as the 钱江龙 - the QianJiang Dragon - a venerable name for a future classic!

    Regarding plating, I leave it to other better informed members to advise.
    I think that if you have the FaPiao then a JingB plate should be possible. I would take care not to do any modifications before you do this plating, though.
    Regarding the gear system. I have accidentally slipped into neutral a few times, but this is not a big problem. Overall, I like it, as you don't always have to move up and down the gears in traffic. The digital gear indicator makes it easy to check where you are.
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  7. #7 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Having had a chance to ride Ekki's QJ 150 yesterday, here are my thoughts.

    Out of the box i'm pretty impressed, you get a lot of bike for your 8000 RMB. First it's really is great looking bike, i stand by my previous statement that this is the best looking bike in its class in china, by far. The finish is very good, that deep Benelli green metallic paint is just glorious you can notice the attention to detail everywhere on the body. This is no parts-bin bike, everything was designed for it and fits well, from the indicators right down to the fuel petcock. The level of equipment you get is impressive too, i wish my bike had a handlebar mounted choke lever and a fuel gauge in the dash board. I also wish my bike had a 17L tank...

    I didn't get to open it up, just a 20min ride through some heavy traffic. The bike is very well balanced, the seating and steering feel neutral and it happily tips into corners. All the controls are easy, the clutch is light enough, the front brake (which has an adjustable lever) only needs two fingers. The rear drum brake is perfectly adequate, i'd go so far as saying it's better than the rear disc on my Qingqi which just locks up as soon as i touch it, which is useless. I'd happily trade some braking power for a bit more feel. The power is what you'd expect from a simple 150cc engine like this, nothing spectacular but enough to have fun with at lower speeds.

    I don't dislike the RTW gear pattern, in fact in traffic it's quite handy to go into neutral straight from 5th. You can get used to either easily, but i'd hate to have two bikes with different patterns and constantly have to readjust.

    Overall i'd say it's good bike at a great price. If they made a model with a bigger engine there would probably be one parked downstairs at my place!
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  8. #8 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    C-Moto Guru MotoKai's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by felix View Post
    I also wish my bike had a 17L tank...
    17L? How did they get it up this amount when the tank cover looks relatively small?
    Did they adopt the Buell "fuel-in-tank" concept?

    1 FUEL IN FRAME (U.S patent 6,484,837): Unlike traditional motorcycles, which have a fuel tank sitting atop the frame and engine, Buell and his team spent more than a decade devising a way to distribute the weight of the fuel (as much as an additional 50-60 lb.) throughout a production feasible aluminum frame. The idea was to have at least one hollow beam that could be adapted to hold the fuel, along with a separating wall between the beam and the steering head. "The idea really came about while I was racing at Daytona and when I came in for refueling and left the pits the bike transformed from this light and agile machine to a big fat whale and it took me two laps to get used to the additional weight and that got me thinking what if there wasn't a gas tank and the weight of the fuel could be better distributed throughout the frame," Buell says. The change created another advantage for cooling the Harley V-Twin motor by allowing the space for the gas tank to be used for the plastic injection molded airbox, providing an enormous amount of cooled air directly onto the engine.
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  9. #9 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    C-Moto Noob alex.c's Avatar
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    Hi every one i'm new on this forum and i'm very happy to find it !! i live in Beijing and i just bought a 钱江龙 QJ150A in gry color !!! very happy till now is my second bike, looking for people for small trips around Beijing
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  10. #10 Re: QianJiang 150-19A 
    C-Moto Regular lobotomous's Avatar
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    Congratulations alex.c! My 钱江龙 still going strong. I hope yours gives you as much fun.
    Look forward to meeting sometime.
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