Shanghai to Paris on a GSX-R - ROUFFIAC MICKAEL

[TB-Racing]

Dude, as a matter of facts, bike are allowed on highways.....

G'Day,

Had to go grocery shopping and as they say pictures say more than words took some in the last hour..... enjoy, no further comments!!!!!!

[Jaunedoe]

G'Day,

Had to go grocery shopping and as they say pictures say more than words took some in the last hour..... enjoy, no further comments!!!!!!

yes but you clearly on the sign it is not a gsx-r that is banned... anyway it doesn't look like a sportbike at all, look at the position of the rider !!! :D


one of my concern for this trip would definitely be the maintenance... there is no way i keep my tires more than 4000 km on my fireblade and 6000km on my r1150r, not sure it is that easy to get a spare michelin or bridgestone in kazakstan

[998S]

G'Day,

Had to go grocery shopping and as they say pictures say more than words took some in the last hour..... enjoy, no further comments!!!!!!

A man doing grocery shopping on a Sunday? You just lost all your credibility
Welcome back!

I just went out as well. Bought some popcorn for this thread
2 days not logged in, and 3 page extra with a heated debate, go on. go on!

[Jaunedoe]

be careful when you see this sign........ ==> 2000px-Korean_Traffic_sign_(No_Thoroughfare_for_gsxr---medium).jpg

[Maux]

You could carry a spare chain or pick one up at some point a while before you need it. I don't know if you could carry a spare tire but if you start checking into where they have them you could get them switched someplace in China and ride them till you can almost see the steel but it would risk the tire deforming at high speed, which is dangerous.
You might not be able to find good namebrands but I think you could find something that would fit on your wheels. The worse case scenario is getting stranded someplace and having to find a replacement tire then, but that would probably only set you back a few days at most.

[ZMC888]

"what riding is about" doesn't mean much... I can like to drive the way you do, but i can also like to drive fast, do stunts.

I mean all those circle wheelies and endos are cool and everything, personally though I prefer to drop the front tire down to 17-25psi for rolling endos, and run more teeth on my chain ring for wheelies. Then all the luggage you're gonna need is really gonna effect the balance of the bike when you are wheelieing and you are gonna have to be extra careful when you clutch it up that you don't flip her! Also with those stunting pressures the bike will handle like jello.

[Inspector Clouseau]

FYI you moron:
go have a look on Google map and type shanghai to Beijing...

Plus you're a real idiot, since when there are any red lights on highways...

Inspector Jacques Clouseau: Yes, well, life is not all shoot-shoot, bang-bang, you know... [1968]

[fallwew]

[QUOTE=TB-Racing;39610

[fallwew]

[QUOTE=Jaunedoe;39611

[euphonius]

Shanghai-Beijing 1350 kilometers, that's the direct distance that the high speed train goes. Probably more like 1500 kilometers in 13 hours, on Chinese highways? There's red lights, cars pulling out of junctions without looking shut roads without signed diversions...euphonius how long did it take you? At least 24 hours of continual riding? Or more?

Seriously I've never heard quite so much nonsense in all my life.

First, though I am a frequent poster in this forum, I am not particularly keen to join in this discussion with its disrespectful tone and ad hominem attacks; as far as I'm concerned, these have no place in MyChinaMoto, and I hope that everyone in this thread can calm down and show greater respect for each other.

ZMC888 did ask me a specific question about how long it took me to ride from Beijing to Shanghai by expressway. This is a bit of an embarrassing request, since it's been more than 18 months since I made that ride (in summer of 2010) and I've yet to lay down a ride report. Shame on me! But I'll attempt to answer the question with some context.

I'd taken surface highways to get from Shanghai to Beijing, mainly the G104, and this took almost four days, including some really challenging road and weather conditions in Jiangsu and Shandong. In some places the 104 was completely impassable due to resurfacing. But once in Beijing I was delighted to learn that the expressways were accessible to motorcycles as long as you took a ticket and paid the same rate as cars, so I decided I'd try to make the return trip to Shanghai entirely on the expressways.

I left Beijing mid-morning, and immediately encountered major problems. Though I was allowed on to the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway (京沪高速), I encountered massive traffic jams even before reaching Tianjin, and this substantially slowed my progress. Though carrying wide panniers (105cm width), I was able to weave through the thousands of stalled vehicles and get past the jam, though I lost a couple of hours of riding time. After that it was smooth riding through Tianjin and into Hebei; each toll gate accepted my money and gave me a new ticket for the next stretch.

My Jialing JH600, though a fine bike, is not capable of 270kph; at best she'll do 140 or, riding downhill with a tailwind maybe 150kph. But if I feed her good petrol, she'll purr at 130 for hours and hours on end without complaint. That's 81 mph, which is a very respectable speed.

Unfortunately, I got a tank of bad petrol in southern Hebei, and my bike began complaining badly. It's not pleasant to lose power when you are cruising at 130kph, and at the time I did not know the cause. I started thinking about how to determine whether the sputtering and wheezing might be caused by 1) bad fuel, 2) poor air supply, 3) ignition malfunction or 4) fuel injection problems. I stopped quite a few times, and started calling the Jialing support network (Lao Zhou and Tang Wei in Chongqing, Liu Zhidong and Fan Peisheng in Shanghai and Li Shaoji in Anhui). By now it was afternoon and I was leaning strongly toward poor petrol, but also suspected a bad spark plug or plug cable.

Though the expressway was clear, I was losing time, and once in Shandong I started encountering friction from tolltakers. I was also keen to take the G15 coastal expressway rather than the G2/3 Beijing-Shanghai expressway, and was startled to discover in Shandong that one stretch of expressway linking the two existed only on my map, not on the ground! So somewhere west of Qingdao, I was forced off the expressway and given a lecture by the police there. By then it was getting toward evening, and I wanted more than anything to get back on the expressway. I continued in the direction of the expressway stretch that had ended, but quickly concluded this was a lost cause. So I turned around and headed back to the gate where I'd been ejected.

Fortunately, there was only one entry gate and there were many trucks queued up, so I got in behind a truck and when I got to the gate with more trucks behind me there was no way to turn back. The assh*le cop who had berated and lectured me ran out and confronted me again, straddling my front wheel. We had a long standoff, maybe five minutes, and I explained that due to the trucks behind me there was no way to go back; he'd have to let me through the gate, if only to turn around. Finally, with trucks blasting their horns, he relented, and as soon as the gate went up I blasted into the dusk, not looking back.

Now I was worried that the cops would be after me, but in China there is not (yet) the concept of hot pursuit, and I raced east toward Qingdao. As darkness fell, I pulled into a roadside rest stop and checked into a near-empty motel; they even let me wheel my bike into the lobby. So that first day I rode maybe 7 or 8 hours, with at least an hour of idle time calling around to ask Jialing people why my engine was spluttering.

Next morning I was on the road early, before 8, in confidence that my impudence the previous evening would have been forgotten. But then it happened again. Just outside Qingdao, the expressway ended again! I'd missed poorly marked turn south! So I found myself on the miserable G204 highway, which parallels the G15 expressway. With no help from my GPS, possibly due to the newness of the G15, I lost another hour trying to find an onramp. Once I found it, it was obvious that Shandong was not motorcycle friendly, and the tolltaker waved frantically to make me stop. I waved back with similar enthusiasm, and snuck past the gate.

The next several hours through eastern Shandong were mostly heavenly; great road surface and light traffic -- until I hit another patch of road construction, which forced both southbound and northbound traffic into the northbound lanes, with nothing to separate them but the good behavior of drivers. So it was totally snarled. Fortunately, I was able to weave my way through, but lost several hours. There were many accidents in that stretch. Impatient drivers make many blunders. But the bike can slip through very tight squeezes.

The next challenge came at the Jiangsu border, where two cops ran out to confront me. They asked how I'd gotten on the expressway, and I just said vaguely that it was allowed up north and, so, what's the problem. They took my passport, license and registration and made me wait 15 minutes, but eventually let me through, saying it was best to get off soon.

I continued south on the lovely G15, and worked my way through at least two more major detours, with more accidents and more self-inflicted traffic jams. I got hammered by a massive thunderstorm and lost about 90 minutes sheltering under an overpass. The rain was so heavy, I could not see at all. This took me to late afternoon, still on the G15 but without the toll ticket that would legitimize my presence. After the rain stopped, I blasted further south, then stopped for fuel and food. At the petrol station, I encountered another obstacle -- a half-wit security guard who demanded I leave the expressway, where motorcycles were not allowed. He too straddled my front wheel. So I had to gently drive forward and basically force him to accept that if he didn't stand clear I'd run over him.

This got me to the the final, and biggest challenge of all: The final toll gate before the SuTong suspension bridge over the Yangtze, linking Nantong on the north bank with Suzhou on the south. This truly seemed impenetrable, and it was getting late. Two police stopped me, took my key and started a polite interrogation. Soon we were joined by two People's Armed Police officers; there are PAP on all "strategic bridges" in China, and this G15 crossing is definitely strategic. We discussed the situation for over an hour. They told me that no motorcycle had ever surmounted the SuTong bridge, "not even those four Americans on their Harleys who tried to cross a few months ago -- we didn't let them cross." They had my key, and my ID, and wanted me to follow a service vehicle that they had summoned, saying it would take me to the Yangtze ferry. I protested and protested, saying I was expected back in Shanghai and it was dangerous to ride at night and this would put me at significant risk.

Finally, I relented and agreed to follow the vehicle. We shook hands, took a few pictures together, and I rode off, watching the sun to my right dipping toward the horizon. At the next exit, the service vehicle dutifully exited, expecting me to follow. I really wanted to ride the bridge, so I had to improvise. I stopped, and feigned mechanical problems, thinking someone was probably watching me via CCTV. The service vehicle kept going! I fiddled with my bike for maybe 10 minutes, giving them plenty of chance to come for me. But they didn't. Well, I had no idea where the ferry pier was, so I had little chance but to cross the bridge. I took a ton of pictures, thinking, I'm probably one of the few motorcycles ever to cross this bridge. I'll cut and paste this post into my ride report, and include pictures.

Once on the southern side, I was sure the cops would be waiting. Sure enough, as I rolled into the next toll station, I could see a guy running the entire width of the toll barrier -- maybe 10 or 15 gates. I tool the rightmost gate, which is always wide enough for a bike to pass. The guy stopped me, arms extended in the universal gesture for "halt". Then he saw I was not Chinese, and we played several rounds of charades. He gestured like he was holding a steering wheel, and nodded "yes", then gestured like riding a motorcycle and shook his head "no". I tilted my head to the side, meaning, "I don't understand." We went through this several times. Finally I gestured for him to come over, and said, in Chinese, "Look, I'm going to Shanghai and I'm almost home. Just let me through!" To which he responded: "Why didn't you say so! Go!"

This took me to one more police checkpoint -- the one to protect the Shanghai Expo from tr*ublemakers and t*rrorists -- and this turned out to be a lark. I'll tell that story in the ride report.

And so I was home free. As the sun dropped below the horizon behind me, I rolled into Shanghai, completing what was probably a 12-hour day.

So, finally, to answer ZMC888's question: Total riding time, including brief stretches off the expressway, probably was 16 or 17 hours. My route was not the most direct, but I believe I basically accomplished what I'd set out to do: Ride the entire route via expressway. Had I stayed on the G2/3 京沪高速, it might have been possible to pare that down to 12 a single day's ride. But that would have required perfect weather, no detours or other diversions, no interference at toll gates and a ton of luck. I know plenty of motorists who have driven Shanghai-Beijing in a single day, but it's always a very long day, and cars need not worry about access.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, but at least now I've written (the less interesting) half of my Shanghai-Beijing-Shanghai solo ride report!

cheers!