Quote Originally Posted by Pal View Post
Oh well, remember the old Beijing days with self acclaimed King of the CJ's (GG) and his sidekick Master Donghai (CJ) milking the naive foreigners arriving in Beijing and overseas....
I remember it all too well ... I was suckered by one of the "Kings" back in 2004, paying 18,000 rmb for a brand spankin' "new", super-duper, all the bells & whistles, chromed-to-shit, piece of shit CJ. Then, in about 2009, I had it rebuilt by a newly self-appointed "King" for a f'n HUGE sum of money, including that infamous BMW engine. What a disaster ... sold it almost immediately at a loss (of course) because it was even worse than the original 24HP.

By the way, my 2004 CJ was 100% legal with the proverbial black A plate ... again, 18K for the legal one with absolutely everything. Looking back, however, that 18K was grossly over-priced. How the hell do these dealer-crooks now charge >30K for illegal 24HP ones?

What really amazes me about the local CJ "business" is how these cowboys refused to look at the writing-on-the-wall about their business model. Hmm, let's see ... they take an illegal piece of shit, illegally modify it (usually without any form of even a business license), chrome and polish it until it is pretty (lipstick on a pig), supply fake paperwork (as necessary), and then flog it to unsuspecting "customers" (aka "dupes"). Yup, that was/is a business model destined for disaster.

As for the Harleys, times have also changed and the Beijing shops that are flogging illegal Harleys are having many sleepless nights, and most are trying to switch to legal bikes. What always amazed me was the expat customer of these illegal bikes. Back when there was little chance of being caught riding what was (most probably) a stolen (or insurance write-off) & smuggled bike, expats had no problem purchasing them. But I guess the increasing enforcement has had an impact, especially the stories of arrest, detention and deportation. There are still the leather-clad 1%'rs hanging around who think it is "cool" to ride outside the law, but they are gradually becoming even more of a rare circus act to look at, and laugh at.