Hi,
No, I wimped out and rode my 1969 BMW R69S this time. I'm getting soft in my old age I guess. The Chang is built on 1938 BMW R71 tooling so it is kind of a distant relative to the BMW. The Russians got ahold of the tooling first and sold/traded it to the Chinese in 1957. The Changs are all 750cc but the Urals up until recently were 650cc. Other than my points ignition the ride was trouble free. Oh, I did have 2 blowouts, one on the bike rear tire just south of Jinan, and one on the sidecar tire in Shanghai. I carried 3 spares with me. Also in Hefei, a Santana turned sharp right and nailed the left side of my bike. Not much damage and when the cops arrived he told us both (the car driver and me) to leave immediately, so no real harm done. The weather was just about perfect the entire 10 days. Ran into 2 five minute rain showers, one on the way down and one on the way back. One bridge was out in Anhui province so I had to load my bike onto the smallest ferry I've even been on to ride across the river. I'm planning 2 more rides this summer, one to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, and one to Yinchuan in Ningxia province. There is supposed to be a big Bikeweek Rally in Yinchuan sometime this summer.
Regds,
Jim
www.mycj750.com


Quote Originally Posted by petedeuxwheels View Post
Spectacular photos and congratulations on such a long and bum-numbing ride!

Did you ride a Chang Jiang type of bike? They have them here, I believe they are somehow related to old WW II BMW's which were then built in Russia and also produced in China. I pal of mine just bought one that looks like yours, it's a 650cc I think.

Would love to hear more about the trip. Accomodation, ease of travel, weather conditions, any techincal/mechanical problems?

Cheers

Pete