Riding a GZ in China

[iamcanjim]

Saying hello.

A little about myself. I am a Canadian teaching at an international school in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. I had never ridden either smaller bikes or cruisers before, however, in China you get what you can get.

My bike was a 2006 Suzuki QS150 Cruiser. Here is a pic.


These are common here in China and are probably the most common police bike.



As you can see, it's basically identical to a GZ250 except a smaller bore and only one pipe.

Another teacher at my school really liked the bike, and I wanted a 250, so I sold it and bought a used Honda Rebel.

What a mistake. The Suzuki handled better, was lighter, more roomy and is much simpler. The only advantage in the Honda is that it's considerably faster, and even that advantage would be gone if the Suzuki was a 250.

We have put a pipe, HID's and crashbars on it, as well as quite a few other mods. Lately it's been overheating, probably due to leanness due to the pipe. We will be doing a carb mod to richen it up soon and post our results. MIght even see if we can find a 250 engine.

Keep in mind here in China, the Suzuki GN125 and it's Chinese copies are the most common bike. 150 cc's means it's more powerful than 99% of bikes on the road. My Rebel is seen with the kind of awe usually reserved for big Harleys here. Another thing about the Suzuki is it's legally registered, something difficult for foreigners in this Chinese province. Therefore we will probably try to keep it alive as long as possible.

Right now, piped but not jetted, it will cruise at 100 km/h and top out at 110.

[New GZ250]

Welcome on board, great info you shared! Looks like the internet is alive and well over there. Pictures were great! Thanks and enjoy the Forum.
Canadian Too!

[Water Warrior 2]

Welcome from another Canadian. Where abouts do you originally call home ??

[iamcanjim]

I am originally from Vancouver.

[adrianinflorida]

Hmmm, I'm sort of wanting a set of those hard saddlebags.......

[mrlmd1]

Nice engine and bag guards too. Probably more reliable and much less expensive to work on than a Harley police bike. Here in Tallahassee Fl.the police use big Hondas.

[iamcanjim]

The saddlebags are stock and are keyed to the bike. The bag guards are also stock. The bags on mine have integrated turnsignals.

It would likely be possible to get some. I know I can get the bags/guards in the moto market for 400 rmb (about $85) but I don't know how to get them to you.

[mrlmd1]

Do you have a source or a website to get those hard bags and the engine and bag guards from?

[alantf]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

and the engine and bag guards

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want the engine guard, make sure that it fits! I know from personal experience that the engine guards for the gz125 & the gz250 are not interchangeable. Our local bike shop was sent the gz125 guard by mistake, for my bike, & it would not fit, due to the two bottom fixing arms being a different length, & welded at a different angle. I think it's something to do with the gz125 only having one exhaust pipe.

EDIT :- I've just gone back & looked at the Suzuki picture, & the mountings look COMPLETELY different. Mine has a flat plate (on the guard) bolted to the horn mounting point, & 2 flat arms at the bottom (going each side of the down frame, & held with the bottom bolt that you can see on the down frame) The one in the picture "seems" to be held at the bottom of the down frame only - at two points. I don't know if these two points even exist on the gz. They may be specially for the factory fitted guard.

[iamcanjim]

The Shanghai moto market takes up a city block. It's a warren of alleys and buildings with hundreds of shops, each shop less than 12' x 12'. You can get anything motorcycle related there. However, I don't know where everything is. I just give cash to my 'fixer,' he disappears and appears again later with what I want. Therefore no websites and such.