Whats the fuss, tell me whats a happening!
So you say, whats the big deal? Hey, it's an old motorbike, it looks different but it's slow compared to todays standards, kinda noisey and you have to check it over now and then to be sure all the parts are doing right-- so why get so excited? Here is an article I recently found that really says a great deal about that, enjoy:
A sidecar named desire
A former army motorcycle has become a collector's item on the mainland, writes
David Eimer
Nov 07, 2007
South China Morning Post
Shunyi district is an oasis of calm in the north of Beijing. Home to residential
compounds with names such as Champagne Town, where long-term expatriates and
well-heeled Beijingers live in gated seclusion, it's not the sort of area in
which you'd expect to find a motorcycle gang. But most weekends the streets echo
to the roar of powerful bike engines as the Beijing Dragons gather for their
weekly ride.
A motley crew of businessmen, corporate types and diplomats, the Dragons share
an obsessive love for a piece of vintage technology that originated in Germany
in the late 1930s but is now as Chinese as chopsticks. The Chang Jiang
motorbike, with its distinctive sidecar, was once the primary mode of transport
for police and the PLA. Now, the bikes are playthings for foreigners and
white-collar locals.
"They're just cool. There's no other bike out there built on 1938 tooling," says
Jim Bryant, a 53-year-old American from New Hampshire who organises the Beijing
Dragons. "But the main attraction is that you can go for a long ride and take
your family with you in the sidecar and on the back. My kids love it. A lot of
time we'll be out and we'll almost get run off the road because car drivers will
be trying to take pictures with their cellphones."
Known to their devotees as "Changs", growing numbers of the bikes can be seen
weaving through traffic in Beijing and Shanghai. These are no ordinary
motorcycles. Reminiscent of the old German army bikes that can be seen in
countless war movies, they're fitted with hefty, thirsty 750cc engines. Chang
Jiangs would be illegal under mainland traffic laws, which prohibit bike engines
bigger than 250cc, were it not for the fact that their sidecars
enable them to be classified as three-wheeled vehicles.
For the people who ride them, they're an all-consuming passion. Bryant first
came to China in the early 1980s to open a chain of shoe factories in Shanxi
province. In the 90s, he introduced Subway sandwich shops to the mainland. Then,
in 1997, his wife bought him a Chang Jiang for his birthday and his life
changed. Now, Bryant runs Frank's Classic Sidecars and spends his days restoring
and customising the bikes.
"These bikes are great off-road; you can take them anywhere a dirt bike will
go," he says. They're also safer than ordinary motorbikes. "You get a lot more
respect from other people on the road. [Drivers] know if they hit you, they'll
get hurt, too."
The social side of riding Chang Jiangs is as important as the bikes themselves.
"They're an interesting toy to have, but it's more about the community of people
who ride them," says Bill Eng, who started riding the bikes during the Sars
outbreak and now owns five. "It's a lifestyle for me now."
The popularity of the bikes among expatriates has created business opportunities
for some locals. Zeng Le spent six years working as a mechanic in a factory in
Xiangtan, Hunan, repairing Chang Jiang bikes for the local police. In 1999, he
moved to Beijing and established Luke's Sidecars.
"Each year, we sell between 80 and 120 bikes," he says. "They range in price
from 18,000 yuan for a basic one to 30,000 yuan and up for a customised one."
Zeng's customers are mostly foreigners. He says 18,000 yuan "is a lot for
Chinese people, especially when car prices are so cheap". But more Chinese are
riding the bikes as they learn more about the history of them, Zeng says.
"I think with more Chinese making better money now, there will be a boom in the
number of Chinese buying them in the next three to five years," he says.
Aficionado Ren Guangli says he was drawn to the bike's association with the PLA.
"When I was young, I lived near an army barracks and I used to watch the
soldiers training on the bikes every day," recalls the 53-year-old Beijinger,
who is a mining consultant for the government. "Back then, private individuals
couldn't own them, so I was fascinated. They're very symbolic bikes."
The Chang Jiang is descended from the German R71 motorbike, which was produced
by BMW from 1938-41. The Russian army then acquired the design and made a
version called the Ural. The mainland's police and the PLA adopted the
technology in the 50s; between 1.3 and 1.5 million Chang Jiang bikes were made
at the Nanchang Aircraft Factory, in Jiangxi, between 1958 and 2000.
Production stopped when the PLA switched to jeeps and the police adopted
smaller, more modern Japanese bikes. But large numbers of Chang Jiangs are still
in circulation and their basic designs are simple to fix and restore.
"Because they're so old it's very easy to strip them down and repair them," says
Li Yang, who works at a bank in Beijing. "It's annoying that they break down a
lot, but at least it doesn't take long to get them running again."
Teresa Howes, an agricultural specialist at the US Embassy, has been riding
Chang Jiangs ever since her first posting to Beijing in the mid-90s.
"I got my first Chang in '96," she says. "My ambassador then loved it. He'd pull
over in his big black car with the flags on it and say, 'Miss Howes, that's such
a beautiful bike. Can I ride it?'"
Carla King has taken her Chang Jiang all over the mainland. Her book, Flying
under the Radar, detailing her experiences, will be published in the US next
year. "People were astounded when an American woman rolled into their village on
a Chang Jiang," she says.
King and Howes find riding the bikes liberating. "They're really empowering,"
says Howes. "Coming to China was empowering anyway, but having a Chang just made
me feel really tough."
Now people are trying to cash in on the Chang Jiang craze by opening shops to
sell and repair bikes. "The competition has got really fierce in the past year
or two," says Zeng. "A lot of my mechanics have gone off and set up on their
own. They learn a bit of English and they're off."
But Chang Jiangs are also gaining a reputation outside China and Bryant sees the
potential for exporting them to the US. "The Russians sold 800 of their version
of the Chang, which is far uglier, in the US last year, so the demand for these
bikes is there," he says.
"Every year I take a Chang to the Daytona Motorcycle rally in Florida. Out of
500,000 bikes there, 498,000 will be Harley-Davidsons. But even the biggest,
baddest, tattooed Harley guy will come up and say, `Hey man, nice bike'."