Saturday 1 September 2012

Chang Jiang CJ750

The bike on the right, Chang Jiang 750, is a bike I've had since about 1999. I used it quite a lot the first six years and was fairly reliable, not like when the first owner had it with a breakdown nearly every trip. Might have something to do with having a bit of mechanical sympathy that I didn't have any major problems. Its been sitting with a cover over it for too long now so this Winter it'll be getting the once over and back on the road for Spring....... well thats the plan.

2 comments:

  1. Iain

    From where I'm sitting it doesn't look very rusty. Why the Chang Jiang as opposed to a Ural, just a case of being in the right place at the right time? I have a romantic notion for these sorts of vehicles for their "character" and simplicity probably not borne out in reality, trust you could prove me wrong? Is the statement
    I used it quite a lot the first six years and was ""fairly reliable"" an understatement. I really need to borrow a Ural on probation for 6 months to see how I'd get on with it. I would certainly have mechanical sympathy for something like that as they're not made for thrashing.

    Terry

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  2. Terry, the pic was taken in 05, since then it spent time in what turned out to be a very damp building at a farm that I used for storage. It should recover from its ordeal, I hope, with out too many problems. As for why the CJ and not a Ural, well as with a lot of my bikes they found me. This one was a problem bike that I was looking at for John Lawes ( importer of CJ ). After sorting out various things on the bike, mainly down to the owners 'adjustments' , it ran well. It was back a few times for a quick look at, but one time he left the bike for about 3 months. I finally got in touch with him to see what was happening, turns out he was thinking of a modern bike and was just about to phone my to see if I wanted to buy it. The offer price being what it was I would have been silly not to take it.
    As for being fairly reliable, it was in a hands on, keep on top of it sort of way, just like an other 60 year old design on machine! What would I change, the gearing, my one is still on sidecar gearing, and will sit at 50mph happily , but feel the revs are getting a bit high. I rode another I was working on and it had the solo gearing and was so much nicer to ride. For modern roads I'd be tempted to go for one of the later Urals, suspension and brakes are so much better, also a bit more powerful motor.
    Maybe one day I'll have the 'open day' at the big shed, but not till I've finished the big list of jobs round the estate , ;-)

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