cj750 sidecar-WWII based BMW R71 and R75 replica for sale

[PeteJ]

A bit more seriously: when they say "can be registered as antique/vintage/whatever", what they mean is that they will provide you via a dodgy agent with a document showing your newly-made Chang Jiang was actually built in 1958.

So beware. Several folk in NZ have been trapped with this dodge, which the NZ rego authorities take as an affront to their intelligence, and rightly so.

That having been said, the product ain't all bad. One of my mates put a motor out of a crashed BMW R90 into his, and got a machine he really liked. The sidevalve CJ donk looks kinda cool in a retro way, but has roughly the same power and reliability as a mayfly.

[Flip]

You are right about the dodgy documents, some of the ohv motors were made up to 2002. I got the original rego documents with mine so I had no problems.

I haven't had this one for long and I am still sorting out the last of the restoration based problems with it. The motor is fine but the bike was put together by an idigit. I got this as a low cost alternative to a Harley WLA which were available but this was only 20% the cost.

It seems that the greatest reliability issue is overheating. These ex PLA military bikes always had throttle stops, which every civilian removes. The std PLA bikes all ran on the needle jet and never got open enough to use the main jet which was actually too small. So they ran very hot if used at high speed and melted the pistons. Easy fix is to re-jet the carbs.

I know personally of 3 other in NZ, and we all share parts and experience. The folk that I know with them all love these funny little bikes to bits. Mine seems to pop along at 80kph ok which is fine for a 30's technology side valve bike with a side car. I don't think it would do this speed with the factory jets for long.

[PeteJ]

I know personally of 3 other in NZ, and we all share parts and experience. The folk that I know with them all love these funny little bikes to bits. Mine seems to pop along at 80kph ok which is fine for a 30's technology side valve bike with a side car. I don't think it would do this speed with the factory jets for long.

There we are - nothing like a report from personal experience.

[Voltaire]

I had one for a while, and have to agree with Flip , as a budget contempory of the WLA it does the job fine. As a touring sidecar outfit it leaves a lot to be desired.
I took my BMW r75/5 Watsonian GP combination to the Elefant Rally and up as far as the Artic Circle in Norway, it was( is) a very good sidecar machine and could cruise at motorway speeds all day long.

As cool looking as the CJ are they are not that great to ride in modern traffic....in my opinion.
My one got sold to a guy in the south to use for war re enactments.....perfect.

[Flip]

There is very few 30's or 40's technology vehicles that are any good in modern traffic, they are all slow and under powered. Some of the bigger American cars are not too bad as are the top of the line OHV Harlie's, but these are all from the very late 40's. My CJ has just started to run very well now that it has 1000 miles on it. Its due a meeting with the porting tool in the very near future, I will get a few more HP from it yet.