The Chinese Motorcycle

[CharlesHarris]

When bugged in here we amuse ourselves by shooting small .22 and .32 pistols and revolvers in the cellar, then emptying the lead out of the bullet trap, melting it down to cast more bullets to reload the empty cases and shoot again in a few weeks. An environmentally friendly, if not politically correct "closed loop recycling system" which keeps all that nasty toxic lead out of the landfill!

I found a use for the cardboard shipping tubes which the eau di vit of my ancestors from the Outer Hebrides comes packaged in. Fillling the tube with shredded junk mail and water, letting the paper become saturated and the cardboard tube slightly soft, it is the ideal "simulated small farm varmint" for testing the effectiveness of your small-caliber garden vegetable protector. As MB knows, flat-nosed home-cast bullets are much more destructive than the round-nosed factory assembled ones. Young groundhogs at this time of year boned out and treated like weiner schnitzel with a green watercress salad, "ramps" and fried potatoes with cool lager is a springtime tradition in Appalachia.

[Mortblanc]

I do much the same except off the back porch into the bullet trap at 20m.

Most of that is pellet rifle but some is .22 and .38.

Those pure lead pellets make dandy shotgun slugs.

I shoot the pellet pistols and the .177 down the hall into a bullet trap that hands on the end wall of the house during winter boredom.

The temps hit 80f today and I could not stand being in lock-down for another minute so I went for another little ride. A little windy but not too bad. As soon as we are out of the frost at night trend I am getting the big bike out and going for a real trip. I'll bet I can ride across the U.S. and never get within 6 feet of anyone.

How do they handle that on the Continent? 2 meters? How confused are the little Brits that have been raised metric and isolated Imperial?

[Mortblanc]

The Chinese motorcycle has been painted!

I could not stand the neon green Kawasaki imitation any longer and went at it with a rattle can. Several of them in fact.

It is still green, like is listed on the registration, but they did not specify what shade of green.

I now have a bike that is forest green, with hints of dark earth, and matte brown, with all the bright work painted.

Yes I camo painted the little beast.

I also stuck a new Makuni carburetor on it.

The original carb was proving tricky. You could tune it to run perfectly at 7 am when the temp was 8 degrees and when temp ran up to 30 you had to tune it again. That was proving troublesome since in my climate it can be 10 degrees at sun up and 40 degrees at 5 pm.

The new carb has ended that problem.

The little bike has spoiled me too. It is much easier to ride than my big bike and it's making me consider trading the RE, which weighs 200K, for something lighter. The size of the China bike is about perfect but it need a bit more punch and as expected, the quality is not what I would like.

It is not falling apart, but it does not have the precise handling characteristics expected of a quality bike. I fear the shocks came off something Barbie and Ken once owned. It bobs and weaves and bounces and taking curves at any speed is more of a Zin exercise than riding skill.

[Skean Dhude]

Chinese stuff is known for its poor quality, low performance and price. But in many cases the price is what matters. I have several low quality tools rather than one expensive high quality tool as the expensive ones still break or get lost/stolen. With spares I can at least carry on.

In this case it is especially true if you have the skills to work on your bike.

[Mortblanc]

You need the skills to work on your own bike anyway, no matter where it is made or what the brand.

Shop time at my local dealer is billed at $110 per hour with a one hour minimum. That would be about 90 pounds I guess.

Fortunately I have been riding the RE for a year and a half and it has needed no attention other than oil and filter changes which I do myself.

The China bike has required "piddling". I have been informed that some people do not "piddle" very well and must pay others to "piddle" for them.

Once I had piddled with the Chinese carburetor until I reached my zone of frustration I decided that buying a $50 carb was cheaper than paying $110 for someone else to tell me not to expect my piece of Chinese $#!t to work properly after they finished.

I have found, like many others, that the quality of Chinese products is directly related to who is doing the final QC.

Every Japanese motorcycle maker has at least one model that is produced in China, Harley is having parts produced in China and all of the BMW 800 series motorcycle engines come out of China.

Almost the entire automobile electronics systems world wide are produced by China, or have bits made there, then are branded to the respective firms. Imagine my shock a few years back when I discovered that the replacement control module for my Ford truck was branded Mitsubishi and stamped made in China!

Primary problem being that here in the states nothing is being shipped from China at the moment. All of the tool outlets are empty, all of the motorcycles and scooters have sold out with no replacement shipments in the flow, fireworks got scarce this past holiday. Sporting goods stores have bare shelves with no optics or electronics being replaced.

I am sure the computer and electronic suppliers are in the same situation.

I was also informed by my local cable company, which provides my internet service, that they are completely out of repair/replacement parts for the home internal systems because nothing is coming in from China.

Everyone can rag on Chinese quality all they want but half of their life is dependent on parts made in China that they do not even know exist.

[Skean Dhude]

Agree about being able to fix your bike but simply being able to fix something isn't the same as being handy and adapting thing to work.

Chinese quality output varies but something made in china for a chinese style market isn't made anywhere near the quality that Ford, Harley, BMW, etc. demand. I'm not surprised that so many things have Made in China printed on them. It will be interesting seeing how it goes when manufacturers start bringing these outsourced components back home.

[Pete Grey]

(16 July 2020, 19:54)Mortblanc Wrote: ................Imagine my shock a few years back when I discovered that the replacement control module for my Ford truck was branded Mitsubishi and stamped made in China!...........

Back in the 1980s we ran two pickups, a Ford Ranger and a Mazda B series. Apart from the name branding they were identical, we used the Mazda dealership for servicing as they were half the price of Ford.

As for chinese quality, i’ve had a look at a new chinese MG, not impressed, everything seemed light weight if you know what i mean, not solidly built.

As for electronics you are correct MB, we are now dependent on China.

For three decades they have been working towards this, deliberately keeping prices low tempting greedy western manufacturers to have goods made there and now we are reaping the rewards.

This is how the Japanese were able to take over the motorcycle industry, then the automobile industry. The Chinese have learnt well.

Now i read that they control 90% of the rare earth metals essential for electronics, solar and battery industries. How could our governments be so short sighted ?.

[Mortblanc]

They hold 90% of those elements as scrap to be recycled, as well as having "bought" several small but strategic third world nations that were rich in those minerals.

They do know very well how to use the innate corruption of the 3rd world to their advantage. If you pass around a little cash you get unlimited access to resources and basically free labor, while the western world is choked to death economically by "climate change politics".

If you look at the list of nations that officially backed up China in the UN over their recent atrocities in Hong Cong it reads like a list of "nations we bought" for the Chinese government.

[Pete Grey]

(18 July 2020, 21:51)Mortblanc Wrote: If you look at the list of nations that officially backed up China in the UN over their recent atrocities in Hong Cong it reads like a list of "nations we bought" for the Chinese government.

Our enemies friends are our enemies, so why should we help them ?. Stop all aid to these countries.

[Straight Shooter]

Well I suppose we could slap some tariffs or sanctions or even both ? You know ....as we do in the west .....if that fails then it’s war boy Bach ! ........ no country is without sin But some are more sophisticated than others....they have had loads of practice after all .