American motorcycle journalist checks out China
By Ch uck Clayton
Photos by Sharon Clayton
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M
ay 1 9~ 1 8, 1990 - We gained a
day this morn i ng, a seco nd
sunrise, returning to sweet Land
of Libert y on China Airli nes. Three
weeks in the Peoples Rep u bli c of
Chi na answered all of the questio ns
we had ab out the most popu lous
na tio n on earth. Mainl y, I think the
read ers of Cycle News want to know
what motor cycles they make a nd ride
in Chin a; what is th ere of motorcycle
spo rt and a ny p lans to co m pe te
throughout the world ; a nd wh a t abou t
touring China o n mot orcycles?
Our ba nd of six Ame rica n mot orcycle zan ies were Fra ncis " Flash "
Go rdon , a foul -wea th er fis herma n
from Massach usetts. Loya l Truesda le;
legenda ry sales man , race prom ot er ,
H oll ywoo d personality. Me, chairman
of a so mewha t smaller
P,uu:b~h:s:h:in:g_~~!!!1."-:=~:
'
(Above) A day 's
production 600 Model As
- await eager
buyers. Since
China does not
yet h ave time
paym ents, all
deals are cash .
(Left) Chinese
factory humor.
UFGNIX is
Xing Fu's aircooled works
250cc MXer.
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em pire than the lat e Malcolm Forbes
a n d part-time inventor look ing to
drum up interest in a non-polluting
mo tor for Chinese bicycles. Sharon,
av id trav eler a nd camera woman. Cora
Wong. China-born a ristocr a t, gr ew up
in Canada a nd U.S., bil ingual bu sinesswoman. And our leader, fearl ess
as ever Ken Maely, engi neer, designer ,
bla cksmith, maker of the fin est flat
track hot sh oes in the world, who had
told us, " You will love China."
Part I: The Chinese Motorcycle
Industry mid- 1990
ith over one-billion population,
Chi na is the wor ld's number o ne
market for two -wheel vehicles.
Simple, single-speed bicycles dominate the st reets and park in g lo ts.
H undreds of millions of bicycles sti ll
provide the basic transportation , and
as a resu lt the people are in very good
physical co ndition. But tha t may be
changing. At Shanghai Combustio n
Engine factory, I was shown a new
clip-on bicycle motor that they are
starting to manufacture in a joint
venture wi th Honda. As you migh t
W
Four n ew
Xin g Fus to
test. Ken
" Ambassador
of Good
Thrills"
Maely is a t
right.
··'; le~x~p~e~ct~fr~o~m~t~h~e~companY
Soichiro Honda , who began with by
founded a
clip-on bicycle motor 45 years ago, it's
a pip! I nea rly for got abo ut m y mo tor
invention when I saw it. I arranged
to bu y a pre-production unit (it is d ue
