racefactory

So I've been away from 2 wheels and English for what seems like an eternity now. Although it's been great here, I'm starting to really miss NZ and riding big time, whether it be going for a trip to the beautiful Coro and belting it around the twisties, or commuting over the bridge in pouring rain to the CBD, I just can not wait to get back over there with you guys. We've really got it so well in NZ, so enjoy it!

Anyway, in the end I found out about the biking scene here and although it's far from the community we've got in NZ I decided to make do and get stuck in. Having only 2 months left here I decided not to risk buying a bike and quickly selling it off but rather to make connections and try find something to rent as far from resembling a GN125-esque chinese crock. The big difference over here is that proper bikes (not 125 drum brake locally made pieces of fail) are all smuggled in, unregisterable and ridden without license plates, thus never ridden into the city center where police are more strict. Hower if you get caught by police in the more outer city areas it usually ends up with a 'What was that officer?', a 100 yuan (20NZ!!) note with a smile and being sent happily on your way. In the end I got pointed to a small bike shop owner a few hundred km's away in a different city who had a CBR250 I could rent from him. I thought to myself that's great! A CBR250, could have some good fun in the mountains here with that. Gave him a call and got told the bikes fine, got no problems, good bike.

So I made my way over to this place, saw a lot of factories... interesting to look and think to yourself this is right where all of our shit is really made. You can't imagine the excitement I had thinking I'd be blasting about on a CBR250 in a country where I hadn't seen anything vaguely sporty on 2 wheels since I got here. I would give him 6000 yuan (about 1200NZ) at first and he'd give me 5000 back after a month and a bit when I give him back the bike. That'll do nicely I thought. The guy's well known amongst all the bike guys here so I could relax about swapping back at the end.

Got to the city and went to find the place. I was kind of keen to hurry up since it was going to get dark very soon and it was already fucking freezing. Eventually the sight of a red NC30 caught my eye and I just couldn't believe it, hadn't seen anything like it for ages. Went over and met the guy, he showed me the little cibby and wheeled it out. Rather tatty but as long as it works I figured it'll do. The guy then told me the battery is actually knackered so we hooked up the jumper leads and the starter motor just kept turning with nothing but a few backfires. A bloody good while later after fiddling with everything possible it eventually it spluttered to life. Shit, I really thought I had come all this way for nothing for a moment. It wouldn't idle for shit but I took it for a spin. Had a thought about it and figured it had good power so it just needed a good carb strip and adjustment. It's dirt cheap for that kind of service over here so I thought I'd just take it and get it serviced when I get back. Turns out the shop didn't even have any gear I could use, let alone buy. I was going to be riding home in my jeans, thin jacket and 2 dollar gloves. Checked tyre pressures and was off!

Roads are totally mad over here and although I'd done my fair share of bicycle hooning and thought it wouldn't be so bad coming back, nothing could quite prepare me for this. Red lights which mean anything but stop, people walking and cycling across the road totally oblivious to other traffic, cars swerving across the roads without a thought as to indicating. Add to all this an endless siren of horns and it's all quite scary- with Kiwi me on my cibby in the middle of it with no license, no wof, no plate no nothing! It doesn't exist! Getting to the outskirts of the city I came across 3 chaps on prototype scooters from the peugeot factory doing a test!!! They don't look too flash in the pictures but they were rather neat actually and looked like they were getting to 100 pretty good! Anyway it was getting dark and I wanted to get on the highway asap before getting lost so pressed on.

The highway will probably always be one of the scariest moments i'll ever have. Thought I was going to die so many times. You're riding at 120 trying to stick behind and hop between these huge fucking trucks carrying god knows what from the factories because it's so cold. It was dark now and bloody smoggy and dusty, less than 100m visibility. I had gloves on but I couldn't feel my hands. It's insane; there are people, 3 wheeled carts and small cars that come out of nowhere dashing across the highway seemingly wishing to dive under your wheels. In braking for these hazards I found out how lacking these chinese plastic tyres were, the front would lock so easilly. I realise what a great thing it is to have tyre safety standards in our countries that keep these death traps out of the shops. The speedo broke which was the last of my worries but then shortly after the mirror just decided to fall off at which point I couldn't help but start to think if the Chinese made some of their own CBR250's! Stopped and went back to find the mirror since I didn't want to to end up paying for it. Found it disintegrated so went back to the bike and warmed myself on various parts of the frame for a while before saddling back up. Had trouble getting it started again and with the huge trucks and other vehicles flying past I just couldn't wait to get back home. Eventually got it started and joined the madness once again. Got to about halfway and stopped to see if I could get something to keep my fucking hands from falling off and any other clothing but I was miles away from anything like that. Just about to get back on the bike and then my heart just sank as I saw fuel pissing from god know's where and what looked like coolant coming from somewhere. This thing was rapidly turning into an expensive paperweight. I just thought FUCK it, I'll be damned if I end up staying out here. Gave him a call again, told him what happened and that I'm coming back to give this thing back to him. Thank god he was good enough to wait for me. Had a full'ish tank so just got on and rode all the way back, not stopping once, literally praying it wouldn't break down. Flashing the lights like a madman and horning endlessly at all the people and shit waiting to jump across the road in front of me. Got back to the shop and thawed ourselves off. Didn't look back once at that bike and went off to find some hot noodles and somewhere to stay for the night.

Result- ended up nice and warm watching chinese TV in a very cheap hotel (less than $20NZ for a night) with a load of hookers knocking at the door since I was probably the only white guy in that entire city. No bike, but a night to remember!

Pics below of the cursed cibbie!!!!