Saturday, November 6, 2010

Bikes and Trikes in China


Shelly and I spent three weeks in October travelling around in China. I must admit China was nothing like what I expected. I was expecting scooter and motorcycle chaos like in Bali and Vietnam. Instead, there was only the silent whirring of electric scooters. In Beijing and Shanghai there were almost no petrol diven scooters or motorbikes at all. I assume this was part of China's environmental clean up push.

Brand spanking new scooters in a showroom outside Shanghai.

Roadside scooter park. Almost all the modern scooters - and there were dozens and dozens of makes - were electric.

This electric scooter is kind of styled like a Harley Topper. I only saw three of these on the whole trip.

Electric scoots charging up.

Some of the electric scooters were absolutely basic.

This was a very popular little electric scooter in Beijing. Behind it are typical Beijing taxi trikes.

People had all manner of aftermarket sunshades, windscreens and accessories fitted to their machines.

This lady was riding along with an umbrella fixed to the bike. The fact that it wasn't blown away highlights the fact that most bikes and scooters in China are driven at relatively slow speeds. These machines are not suited to Australian road conditions where a constant minimum speed of 60 kilometres per hour are required.

Wuyang Hondas dominated the market in the south. These are outside Kunming. All domestic motorcycles appeared to be limited to 125cc.

But they don't make the most comfortable bed!

A mixture of old and new in Yangshuo. A Wuyang Honda and a pedal trike. Most bikes had aftermarket legshields added.

A little commercial trike in Shanghai with aftermarket roof.

Shanghai taxi trikes.


A taxi trike motorcycle. The stainless steel bodywork was typically Beijing.

Tianjin manufacture a whole range of trike commercial motorcycles. Guilin in the south-west seemed to have a large number of vendors.

A very battered old commercial trike outside Beijing. Some machines were almost moving wrecks. In the north almost every commercial trike was painted blue. In the south, the market seemed dominated by the red Tianjin commercial.



More commercial trikes doing their thing.

One of the wildest rides of our lives - taxi trike in Xian.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Classic Motorcycles 2011 Calendar


Following the photoshoot with John Branton (https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2010/07/model-behaviour.html), his Classic Motorcycles Calendar for 2011 has now hit the streets. The calendar is really excellent and features great photos of 18 beautifully restored classic motorcycles from Western Australia. My Ariel Leader has been lucky enough to feature in October. Amongst the motorcycles featured are John's beautiful 1936 Harley Davidson VLH, a 1928 Indian Scout with sidecar, a 1959 Ariel Square Four, 1914 Douglas, a 1927 Triumph model N deluxe and many more.

The calendar costs $33 including postage (within Australia).

In addition to the calendar, John is offering a range of other products, including:

Classic motorcycle greeting cards - measuring 117 x 170, these photographic cards feature some of the historic motorcycles photographed over the past two years. There are two series -
  1. Classic card series featuring 12 full landscape images of the old favourites, BSA, Norton, Triumph, Indian, Ariel, Kawasaki and Harley Davidson;
  2. Artistic card series featuring artistically stylised images that capture unique distinguishing features of these bikes.
These sets of 12 cost $36 each or $48 for both (postage $6).

594 x 840mm classic motorcycle posters for $15 each featuring:
  • 1957 BSA Gold Star
  • 1936 Harley Davidson VLH
  • 1973 Kawasaki Z1 900
  • 1926 AJS G6
Stubby holders for $10 each.

To order any of these items you can email John at john@treko@net.au
or send a cheque or money order (Australian dollars only) payable to 'John Branton'
PO Box 525, Kalamunda, WA, 6076

Or now, order online at: http://www.johnbranton.com.au/

Of check out the facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Classic-Motorcycles-2011-Calendar/151140531565714

If you're the owner of an interesting classic motorcycle or scooter John's always on the lookout for machines for future calendars.