How Not To Get Ripped Off:

These points have been painfully learned by many CJ750 riders over the course of years in Beijing from dealing with unethical shops. There are many good shops, and there are a few shops that have extremely questionable practices along with some sleaze bag individuals. Sometimes it depends on your luck whether you get a good CJ750 or good maintenance work, sometimes you just have a natural lemon and then there are times when you can get really screwed. It depends on how much research you do, how much you checking out the market and community, going to the right or wrong shop. Not doing your research is asking for regrets.

I recommend that you look for shops that has lots of Chinese riders going to them and we repeat this very often, DO NOT BUY AN ILLEGALLY REGISTERED CHANG JIANG 750 SIDECAR. This means a CJ750 with fake plates. Legal Chang Jiang 750 sidecars with Beijing plates are available. From meeting with the foreigners that I know that have illegally registered CJ750 sidecars, a legal one from a reputable local shop would have been much less expensive, a new Chang Jiang 750 with legal Beijing “Jing A” plates list for only about 40,000RMB and pre-owned registered in 1997 sidecars with expired plates start at around 5,000RMB. If a shop insist that it is OK to ride one, then you should ask them to give you a letter with a company seal stating that they will be 100% responsible for any liabilities that occur, because the insurance policy that they give you will not cover your ass. Also it is smart to check if the shop is licensed to do business.

Get an itemized estimate for how much your repairs and maintenance will cost. Make sure its printed, we have seen some really wild prices and incredible reason that absolutely makes no sense. For full restorations some over runs may occur as the amount of work can only be determined when the Chang Jiang 750 is all taken apart. Make sure it is itemized.

Anyway, after many conversations and stories of how some of us riders have been ripped off here, we have decided to add this page in to give you some clues on how they work and it would really be neat to let us know your stories too, you can email it to us at cj750net@gmail.com. We are sure that you will find some of the info listed easily identifiable.

Hebei Plates:

Be wary of shops that tell you they can get you plates that are good for anywhere but Beijing. They might show you insurance documents or even get you a blue book. If you do not have the CJ750 properly registered under your name with valid documentation, most likely your CJ750 may be of questionable origin. We know of many people that have bought CJ750 sidecars with fake plates, paying more than double the price of a legally licensed Beijing "Jing A" plates and to top that off get into an accident and have had to pay out tens of thousands of RMB. It is beyond comprehension why one would buy such a CJ750 with fake plates and documentation when legal ones are highly available. They are illegal, and you risk much liability riding one and also liability to all those that ride with you. If your CJ750 has fake plates, I would recommend you return your CJ750 to whom ever you bought and get your money back or call the police. There are legal Hebei plates, make sure you get yours from a reputatble dealer.

Legal CJ750 sidecars are available in Beijing. Registration only takes about two days. Insurance is only 400rmb for third party coverage of 50,000RMB. Do not fall for the “no problem” answer. Buy a CJ 750 with legal Beijing plates!

You can read more about buying a CJ750 in our Buying in Beijing FAQ.

M-5 Wheels:

There are faulty M5 wheels in the market that can cost you your life. These wheels have an hairline fractures in them from poor aluminum injection. Originally the M-5 wheels were made under stringent QC by Jim Bryant however another dealer went to the factory and got all the rejected wheels and flooded the market with them. In 2008 I towed two crashes from these bad wheels and also have seen many collapsed wheels. If you want to use M-5 wheels make sure that you get the original good ones from Jim Bryant directly. If anyone else offers you them, they are playing with your life!

“Vintage Parts" and "Genuine Parts”

Normal every day parts sold as antique, genuine, original, or unique parts…and price of the con:
400RMB for a 75RMB fender
800RMB for a 20RMB timing advance lever
150RMB for 5RMB spark plug cables
1000USD for a used 6V 32 hp engine, actual cost is less than 150USD to convert the engine, and a new 12V 32hp engine cost only 500USD

There are loads of old parts available in Beijing especially PLA parts, check around do not be a victim of some fancy story about how old things are or about original parts and that every one else has fake parts, there are many old parts from military storage in Beijing and are considered normal parts, most local dealers do not differentiate these parts and most of the shop will not disappear.

“1960’s Chang Jiang 750 sidecar”

Pre 1960’s CJ sidecars with type 1 engines, sleeved frames, and Ural sidecar frames and are commonly known as M72. Pre 1970 CJ750 sidecars have different frames and sidecar frames so it is very easy to identify, especially because they have many Russian parts or M72 parts on them. Check out the M72 section on our site and you will see the differences between 1960’s versus later parts. Being old does not mean its of better quality. If you are paying for a 1960’s Chang Jiang you should get one. Many export CJ750 sidecars are from the 1980's and 70's. Rarely are there any 1960's sidecars left. I have seen a few riders paying tens of thousands of RMB for what they thought were a rare hard to find vintage CJ750.

“Original or hard to find”

There are rumors that local Beijing shops sell Chang Jiang 750 sidecars and parts that are fake and that there is only one dealer with “original, genuine, authentic” Chang Jiang 750 sidecars and parts. Do we smell something here?

To quote an e-mail I received: “If someone thinks that there is only one person that has real Chang Jiang 750 sidecars and all other Chang Jiang 750 sidecars are fake, there is definitely some wrong logic there.” China made over a million of these vehicles, and many of these bikes are sold as scrap metal. We have a standing offer to anyone that can bring us a “Fake” Chang Jiang 750 sidecars for us to compare to the ones we have we will give them 10,000RMB.

“Exclusive”

There are quite a few dealers in Beijing that have contacts with getting PLA CJ750 surplus sidecars. Access to Chang Jiang 750 sidecars is not exclusive and there are many of these PLA Chang Jiang 750 sidecars around, especially in junk yards outside of Beijing. Most of the CJ750 in junk yards are in terrible condition unless you buy direct from the military. The military unloads hundreds and thousands of these as surplus every year. Do your research, check around. If someone claims to have exclusive PLA contacts, and if you believe it you are going to get suckered!

“Broken Transmission Gears”

Many Chang Jiang 750 sidecars have gear slippage which sometimes is quite normal. This usually can be fixed by adjusting the two gear screws behind the transmission. In most cases you do not need new gears! Unscrupulous shops will tell you they replaced your gears when all they did was adjust the two screw in the back of the transmission.

You can tell a shop that does this by the fact that they will not immediately work on your Chang Jiang when you are there, or hesitate on giving you a time when they will work on it. It takes less than 2 minutes to do a transmission adjustment. They can immediately adjust your transmission screws to allow you to see if it can be fixed without being taken apart. This job is done by adjusting the screws and looking at the amount of travel of the gear shift you can basically tell if something is wrong. If they do not have two minutes to check your transmission out when you are there, go somewhere else.

“Bad Piston Rings”

Chang Jiang 750 engines are very sensitive machines, and it is quite normal that the engine will be out of tune either because of timing, valves or carburetor adjustment and will run terrible. Unscrupulous shops will charge you for taking the engine apart and replacing some parts when all they did is adjust your timing and carburetors.

You can tell this by when you bring your bike to the shop and the guy will just tell you to leave it and he will fix it later. What the shop should do is first check the adjustments to make sure it is all correct and then you take it for a drive to see if there is really something wrong with the engine. You can usually tell the shops that do this when you request them to tell you a specific time that they will work on your Chang Jiang and you want to watch them do it. Again checking the carburetors should take no more than five minutes and if the shop you are at will not do it infront of you, go somewhere else.

“Tightening of Bearings”

Many Chang Jiang 750 sidecars will have some front wheel wobble; it can be corrected by tightening the main bolt on the fork on the tree mounts, it may also be from wheels that are not true or the tires are not mounted properly. Unscrupulous shops will tell you that they had to replace the fork, or tire, or some parts, when all they did is tighten the triple tree mount fork bolt.

This process of tightening the bearings under the triple tree mount takes about 30 minutes. If a shop asks that you to leave it behind to be fixed tomorrow, ask what time so you can watch it being done. If the steering bearings are replaced, it should be no more than 100RMB.

“Bad Clutch”

Your Chang Jiang 750 is not accelerating properly and jolts when you let the clutch go while in gear. Most likely it is the clutch actuator; it’s a flat quarter wheel with bearings and rod that pushes the clutch plates apart. It can be taken apart from the back of the transmission and replaced in about 10 minutes. When the clutch actuator is worn out, you can feel the vibration on the clutch lever, the bike will not accelerate smoothly or will not go into neutral and engine will go dead cause it cannot hold the clutch open.

Unscrupulous shops will tell you that your clutch is bad and charge you hundreds or even over a thousand RMB to replace it, when it is only 50RMB job. I have seen many friends fall victim to this. It is not easy for a Chang Jiang 750 clutch to go bad, however the clutch actuator wears out frequently.

“Clear coating existing paint”

We have seen many bikes that went in for a paint job and the shop just basically clear coated the bike with lacquer. This happens mostly on black paint jobs. You can tell by the finish and also underside of the CJ750. This kind of paint job will last a few months and it will start to crack and fade. For pin striping, some shops will just tape on stripes, clear coat over it and tell you it’s a new paint job.

To avoid this, ask for paint job that is different from the original paint such as some pearl dust. Check the undersides and also underneath the screws and bolts. Make sure your bike is taken apart to the last piece and sand blasted clean before its painted.

Website Dealers:

Make sure your dealer is an actual shop that you can visit and they actually have customers. We know of many people that have bought a CJ750 from a website dealer only to find that there is no after sales service. This is really unfortunate because not only did the buyer pay an extremely high price, most shops will be very reluctant to work on it knowing that the buyer spent lots of money to buy it from the virtual shop and now wants it fixed without spending any money.

Ways to not get ripped off:

• Go through our site and real all the details.
• Visit many of the shops, and get a fair price.
• Be wary of fancy stories of how old something is or of its origins, there are many old parts in Beijing coming from PLA storage everyday.
• Request that the shop you have fixing your CJ750 give you a time that they will work on it so you can actually watch them take it apart.
• Beware of the bait and switch technique especially when you are buying an old Chang Jiang 750 or M72.
• Get a CJ750 from an actual shop, you’ll know where to find them if they rip you off.
• Do not buy a illegal CJ750, any CJ750 without Beijing “Jing A plates”
• Look out for rust and dull paint spots (spray paint from can to cover rust or damage)
• Pay for your CJ750 after the title has been cleared and transferred.
• Make sure that the frame is not bent or damaged.

Some information to help you understand the shops and what they do:

If you bike is going to be repainted:

The process of painting the CJ750 properly will require all the parts be taken apart. Some of these parts will need to be replaced after the bike is painted such as screws, wiring, rubber parts, seats, seals, etc.

The chrome on some parts such as where the handlebars are mounted may fall off.

Replacing seals:

All Chang Jiang 750 sidecars leak oil, so replacing a seal may not guarantee 100% that it will not leak again.

Wheels:

The wheel may become un true after being ridden. The rims are too soft and Beijing has some rough roads. If you want a perfect wheel go with aluminum ones or alloy rims.

Cylinders and Pistons:

Newly installed cylinders and pistons need to be broken in properly; if not there can be some serious problems such as excess wear on cylinder walls. We have seen guys that get their engines rebuilt and immediately start hitting 80KM on them with no break in time. Patience will pay off, ride slowly.