Hey Folks;
I watch a right smart of the History Channel on the satellite....and anyone who watches the History Channel is going to see lots of World War Two clips.
My favorites are of the huge, long convoys, and if you watch for even a short time, you'll soon see sidecar rigs moving right on along with everything else, tanks, trucks, and so forth.
These rigs almost always have three big, burly soldiers on them, heavily loaded down with stuff hanging from the belts, guns over the shoulders and such like.
One guy will be 'driving' the rig, another will be perched behind him on the pillion, and yet a third will be seated in the sidecar, with a hack-mounted machine gun close to hand.
To look at these rigs, they always look far too small to be carrying the load they have placed upon them. On the other hand, you see lots of disabled trucks, tanks, personnel carriers and other vehicles broken down, shot and blown up, on the sides of the road....but very few sidecar rigs.
Can anyone identify these rigs for me? How about their set-up? How on earth can they reliably carry such huge loads?
Thanks for the info! It should make television, the History Channel at any rate, much more interesting to view.
Sahagan
These are much better. Following the links would be interesting too.
These would be probably BMW R75 or in some cases R71. The R75 has a driven sidecar wheel.
Here in China they are still making them. Powered by a flathead 750cc motor producing about 22 HP but they do have alot of torque.
Go to www.changjingunlimited.com for more information.
Regds,
Jim
Hi Claude;
And thanks for the reply!
After checking out the links, I ended up with another question. Are the BMW and Zundapp using the same engine? I do notice the Zundapp has a really heavy duty looking frame on it....if they don't use the same engine/frame, its pretty amazing that the two different rigs ended up with interchangeability of 70 per cent of parts. Shucks, even same manufacturer, different model makes often have no interchangeable parts whatever!
Catch you later!
Sahagan
Hey Jim;
And thanks! That "....here in China" threw me for a serious loop! And they still make them there? With two-wheel drive, locking differential and all?
I wonder if they will one day be sending them here. I'm too doggoned short for a dual sport bike, too big for a pure woods runner....but I could see myself in a 'dual-sport' sidecar rig real easy!
Hey, keep in touch. I can think of about several hundred questions I'd like to pose regarding the motoscene in China, your role in it, and how things are looking....
Finally, I didn't manage to get that link to work, but will try again.
Have a good one and we'll catch you later!
Sahagan
Hi,
No, unfortunately when the Chinese got the tooling from the Russians in or about 1957 the locking diff was left out. So what we got here is the flathead 750cc version or a 750cc OHV version. But we still have the plunger frame etc... I've brought about a dozen into the states so far but they are hard to sell what with no dealer support and no warranty. But lots of fun and lots of looks. I've been putting BMW motors into alot of them. Makes a real difference in running speeds and reliability.
And by the way I see no reason at all n ot to take the tun off your sidecar and mount a canoe on it. I doubt the weight is much different. Take some pics when you get it mounted.
Geez, got to typin' and forgot the question...
The BMW and Zundapp as far as I know (which ain't much) we both winning bidders for an army spec rig. I think it's like in the U.S. around the same time, some Jeeps were made by Ford, and some by another company. Looked the same and (almost) built to the same spec.
regds,
Jim
Hey Jim;
Let me see now....you've got more than motorcycle on your mind, haven't you? I suspect you're a student of history as well, and interested in all the twists and varieties and reasons and so forth, of the bikes you own and use....right?
And then, here you come along and add another layer of history, by adding those BMW engines. For my part I'm with you a hundred and ten percent. I would urge you to continue reseaarching and documenting the history of these fascinating bikes. For look at how many generations of copying, reverse engineering, political upheavals and all, you've already scoped out.
Ten years ago I needed a good excuse for solo riding while the wife was at work. That was before she understood a body has all the reason in the world to ride simply because its just so much plain fun.
Well sir, the migration from east to west in this nation fell along pretty specific lines. First came your Daniel Boones and Davy Crocketts, explorers, a bit too much into partying and tooling about, and usually running from bad debts. They opened up lots of country. The second wave was usually the homesteaders, an axe on their back and a wife and 12 or 15 kids in tow. They knocked up log cabins and set about living the most spartan lifestyle imaginable in order to make a better future for their families.
The next line of settlement included your crafts, or light industry. You had tanners, sawyers, millers, carpenters, storekeepers and finally, ironmongers.
Well, its hard to find remains nowadays of tanning yards, or sawmills, or grain mills and other suchlike industry. But throughout the country there are many large pyramid shaped old furnace stacks from the iron industry. They dot the countryside on backroads, and down gravel roads, and along waterways. And since they're huge stone structures, they haven't weathered away like wooden buildings and so on.
So I took it upon myself to become an expert in old iron furnace remains. And to date, I've located (some were easy, some only I know where they are today) and surveyed over fifty furnace remains. Some have wonderful stone stacks, some are much more degraded, and some can be found only by digging and stomping through the woods (had a bull attacking me in Tennessee one time while searching and finding the old Rough and Ready Furnace, which turned out as its main product, iron for railroad locomotive wheels. My advice? We all know bulls will attack red, right? Well sir, they'll attack yellow Gold Wings just as readily....you know what they say, a word to the wise, right?).
And everyone of those discoveries made, researched and surveyed from motorcycles. Its addictive and even though Mrs. Sahagan understands riding for the pure pleasure of it now, sometimes even she will say we should go and find another new furnace. And this from a woman who I asked to get behind the Gold Wing on one trip of furnace discovery one day, and push it out of a mudhole while I gassed it right good. Heh, heh, heh! The mud all over the front of her body wasn't nearly so funny as the expression on her face!! And within thirty minutes of that little contretemps, we had spun a 360 in another mudhole, at about 15 mph, the fully dressed Gold Wing tossing both of us off in different directions.
So anyhow, I said all that to say this. Man! I envy you....you've got so much history and so much genuine mystery on every side of you. I wouldn't be able to get off a bike around there long enough to eat. A fellow could spend a lifetime moto-exploring there and never scratch the surface, couldn't he?
Thanks again. Believe me, I'm enjoying the history lesson!
Sahagan
Hi,
Thanks for the post. Your adventures sound pretty tempting to me as well.
You might want to check out www.changjiangunlimited.com. There are lots of pictures from peoples adventures over here. I took my son halfway across China in a Chang 3 years ago. Back then most of the travel was off road so these hacks make decent "dual-sport" rigs.
The history of Chang Jiang can cause quite a stir among different people. Some say the germans sold the tooling to Stalin in 1939; some say the Russians bought a couple bikes and reverse engineered them. There are as many stories as there are people who tell them. But around 1957 the Chinese did acquire the tooling from the Russians, that there is not much disagreement about and have been manufacturing them ever since. The good thing I think anyway is that Chinese are makiing better quality bikes than what they copied from Russia. I liken it to going out in the woods somewhere and finding a factory still churning out Model A Fords. This is probably the last factory on the planet still manufacturing flathead motors as brand new.
My wife gave me my first motorcycle ever, a Chang about 10 years ago and I've been hooked ever since.
Regds,
Jim
Hi Jim;
Well! I finally managed to get the Chang Jiang website letters all lined up correctly. And what a surprise to see the very first thing is a handsome airplane....a bit unexpected that.
And I thoroughly enjoyed the website, particularly Jim Bryant's portion. I could only wish he'd write the Mongolian adventure more completely and submit it to Rider; it would make a fascinating travelogue. And I've seldom seen a more complete photo-gallery of beautiful bikes, works in progress, and the surrounding countryside. My! I do wish I could spend some time in China.
But that CJsidecar in red is awesome....on the other hand, flames on a CJ?
And finally, I'm a bit in the dark as to the 'flathead' you mention. I'd like to know more perfectly what engine that is.
My thanks Sir! for a delightful time. Catch you later!
Sahagan
Hi,
The flathead engine is actually the stock or standard engine that these bikes come with. It's a 750cc sidevalve engine producing about 22 HP. The bikes with OHV motors are all "conversions" taking the 750cc OHV (32 HP) from the swing arm Xiang Jiang frame (kind of a copy of a /5 ) and installing them into these frames (plunger type). If you look at most of the other bikes on that site, you'll see they are flathead motors. I'll try and attach one of my "flatties" to this post.
This May Day holiday (in China this is a weeklong holiday) we'll be riding up to Inner Mongolia and across the grasslands to Datong). I'll try and have someone write up a travelogue about the trip. I'm lousy at that.
Regds,
Jim
Well, I found out I can't post a picture to a reply. I posted a photo album instead with each of my 5 rigs. The first pic shows the flathead motor fairly well.
Regds,
Jim
The pictures of the flathead bike look identical to the GOTO 750. I was offered a distributorship for these bikes in 1997. The only difference I can see is that the GOTO had a series of gold stars on the tank and sidecar. Is this the same motorcycle?
I've never heard of GOTO but if they were made in China, then, yeah they would be the same. Also, I've seen alot of Changs with the 5 stars on the tank and the hack. There is one factory making the bikes but there are hundreds of "distributors" claiming to be manufacturers here. This is typical over here.
Regds,
Jim
