QianJiang 150-19A

[lobotomous]

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.