Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127264
Fortunately, I brought my tru sty water seat , a comfort gasket between my big butt a nd the Chinese-size a n vil of a seat. Chinese ar e not allowed to tour th eir country Iike we did, so I was p leasa nt ly surp rised th at the Xing Fu was still fairl v co m for ta ble a t th e end o f a 300· kilometer da y. If you wa n t to expe rie nce wha t it was like to ride mot orcycles in th e 1950s, th e Xing Fu is such a ride. Its 250cc mo tor sta rts q uietly with one light p rod of th e kicksta rter. "The n tha t clever lever swings forward to serve as yo ur Ioo tshifrer." I wrote that in 1959. The sa me sh ifter a lso operates th e cl u tch, so yo u don 't even use th e hand clutch when sh ifti ng gears, unless you want to. We found th at it doesn 't matter a t a ll wh at gear th e Xing Xing Fu's fac tory is modern, but some workers sleep on the j ob. Ne w Xing Fu poli ce bike will patrol th e Asian Games th is September. Xing Fu's R&D department constructs special bikes for its customers and the Xing Fu factory race team . China as the new land of opportunity. " T he re ar e thr ee p laces where you can make big mo ney - I mea n Howard Hug hes-kind o f fonun es . " What places? " A place of religious fanati cism , like Iran. Two, where th ere is war, a nd third is a n eme rging modern cou ntry like China." "Of co urse," he drawled , smiling wryly, " T here ar e hardships, bad food [or instance . . . "We eyed th e rem ains o f a sumptuous [east we had just cons u med , and ca ugh t hi s jok e. Xing Fu is a joint vent ure com pa n y with Thail and investors. T he bi ggest p rob - • lem for th em is how to mot ivate workers to pr oduce 'more mo torcycles. " We like to hire motivated workers ," Mr. Luke sa id. In th eir new, modern factory, work pr oceeds at a slug's pa ce. " I a m paid th e sa me if I work hard or not work, " com p la ined one young Xing Fu execu tive. Apparently, the co mpa ny 's incentive plans and recent firing o f 140 emp loyees did not go far enough. " My co ncern is to keep the product improving," said production manager Wa ng Fu Q ing. " My co lleagues say, ' Why ma ke it better when they b uy everyth ing we can make?''' I su re ha ve heard that so ng before. Xin g Fu is ex pe rimenting with new o ld designs from H onda and Su zuki, and Mr. Luk e wa nts his compa ny to build " mo to rcycles or something" of wo rld quality [or export, to earn.hard currency. Wh en as ke d, m y advice to th e Ch in ese manufact ur ers was, "S ponsor more mot o rcycle sport in your cou n try. Racin g is a great mot iva tor. " Th e above is th e fi rst part of a three part series on China. N ext wee k we'll present Part II: The spo rt in Ch ina today . . . Ed itor.