Thought I'd post a couple of pics from the weekend A swiss couple stayed on the same campsite. They were touring on a couple of chang jiang machines. a previous 6 month trip had been from Switzerland to Istanbul and then up to Finland. Amazing what you can achieve with a little determination (and a stack of spares)
Wow, I respect their determination. I wouldn't travel long distance on one of those machines. not unless I had a spare parts bike in that steel box...
Wow...they definately can't be in too big a hurry on the old Flatheads. What a great adventure that would be.
That is amazing. I would be worried about doing trips like that even on a new bike. Wonder what languages they speak.
A friend has a CJ sidecar rig. It has over 40k kilometers on it. It is a daily driver, year round, in Maine. It will cruise at 60mph, all day long. If they are built right, they will go well. Current wisdom (or CJ documentation) is incorrect as to piston clearance. Current documentation says .003in piston clearance. That is too tight for a sidecar rig. Since CJ's are mostly current production R71's, you should look to the R71 documentation for the correct piston clearance. R71 documentation says .003in for solo bikes, .006in for sidecar rigs. My friend has built several flathead CJ's. All will cruise at 60mph all day. A well built CJ can be as reliable as any 30's era technology can be. My friend would not hesitate to start up the bike tomorrow and head for California.
A friend of ours son got one w sidecar for use in Seattle. After two accidents one minor and one broken femur he decided it was not a good city bike. Also not being very experienced didn't help.
Is this Chris, AKA Immulman? He's a very knowledgeable guy. He's helped me out a lot over on Russian Iron. BTW, depending on the piston, you can reduce the bore clearance. The old Chinese and Soviet pot-metal pistons will expand a lot more than modern alloy pistons. I'm running a set of Silv-o-lite Nissan pistons in my M72 at .003, and no seizing issues.
Neat pics, thanks for posting! I bet that side car pannier box set up is bear resistant. Not sure I could fit in there though....
MotoJ, That is correct. I have ridden Immulmen's rigs and they go very well. He really knows what he is doing.
