Mini-RR: China

"G.T." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Our trip to China went very well except for Kimberly losing her Teva down
the train toilet (as mentioned in the "Death to the derailleur thread"😉,
and us getting dropped off the bus an hour and half from our hostel in
Tunxi.

We rented bikes a few times, anything from old-style Flying Pigeon
clunkers to current city-bikes to low-end one size fits all Giant URT mtn
bikes to a fairly decent generic aluminum hardtail with Shimano Altus
shifters.

In Pingyao we rode out to a monastery with a British couple, Ant and
Lianna. Ant flatted on the way out and someone pumped up his tire while
we were walking around the monastery. I had to take a leak myself:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/bathroom.jpg

Ant's tire went flat again minutes after leaving the monastery so I told
him to ride it into town flat since the bike had steel rims and extremely
thick tires. The tire and tube survived well but because of the
additional rattling the fender which had been held on with one bolt soon
fell off.

Ant strapped the fender to his rear rack and we rode on looking for the
first bicycle repairman. Ant and Kimberly with Lianna hidden behind Ant:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/flat.jpg

Roadside repair shop:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/repair.jpg

If it was one of the other more popular tourist towns we visited I'm sure
we would have been raked over the coals with the bill but as it stood he
only charged Ant 5 yuan (65 cents). That was for finding the puncture,
patching it with a freshly cut patch, inflating the tire, and digging
through his bolt can to find three bolts to replace the one fender bolt
that we lost on the road. What a deal.

The other place we rode a lot was Yangshuo. This is the nicest bike I
rode on the trip along with the most beautiful area we visited:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/yangshuo_mtn_bike.jpg

I saw a couple of roadie groups in Beijing and a mtn bike group in
Yangshuo but the bulk of the cyclists were riding just to get home, or to
get to work, or to cart around their work.

--
"All my time I spent in heaven
Revelries of dance and wine
Waking to the sound of laughter
Up I'd rise and kiss the sky" - The Mekons

Good stuff. More pix? $0.65 for patch and bolts? No wonder everything's
made in China now. Give it 10-15 years and labor will be more in line with
the rest of the world.

Gary

"GeeDubb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Good stuff. More pix?

I've got a ton of pix but not much more that's bicycle related.

Quoted message said:

$0.65 for patch and bolts? No wonder everything's
made in China now.

Yep, I swear every item we bought the week before the trip was made in
China.

Quoted message said:

Give it 10-15 years and labor will be more in line with
the rest of the world.

Yep, just like India's outsourcing.

Greg

"G.T." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"GeeDubb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Good stuff. More pix?

I've got a ton of pix but not much more that's bicycle related.

Quoted message said:

$0.65 for patch and bolts? No wonder everything's
made in China now.

Yep, I swear every item we bought the week before the trip was made in
China.

Quoted message said:

Give it 10-15 years and labor will be more in line with
the rest of the world.

Yep, just like India's outsourcing.

Greg

has their labor rates gone up yet (out of the loop, here) or were you
implying that India's labor will go up to match the rest of the
industrialized world?

Gary (curious)

"GeeDubb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"G.T." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"GeeDubb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Good stuff. More pix?

I've got a ton of pix but not much more that's bicycle related.

Quoted message said:

$0.65 for patch and bolts? No wonder everything's
made in China now.

Yep, I swear every item we bought the week before the trip was made in
China.

Quoted message said:

Give it 10-15 years and labor will be more in line with
the rest of the world.

Yep, just like India's outsourcing.

Greg

has their labor rates gone up yet (out of the loop, here)

They've gone up tremendously and other countries are starting to fill in the
low-end now.

Greg

G.T. said:

Our trip to China went very well except for Kimberly losing her Teva
down the train toilet (as mentioned in the "Death to the derailleur
thread"😉, and us getting dropped off the bus an hour and half from our
hostel in Tunxi.

We rented bikes a few times, anything from old-style Flying Pigeon
clunkers to current city-bikes to low-end one size fits all Giant URT
mtn bikes to a fairly decent generic aluminum hardtail with Shimano
Altus shifters.

In Pingyao we rode out to a monastery with a British couple, Ant and
Lianna. Ant flatted on the way out and someone pumped up his tire while
we were walking around the monastery. I had to take a leak myself:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/bathroom.jpg

Ant's tire went flat again minutes after leaving the monastery so I told
him to ride it into town flat since the bike had steel rims and
extremely thick tires. The tire and tube survived well but because of
the additional rattling the fender which had been held on with one bolt
soon fell off.

Ant strapped the fender to his rear rack and we rode on looking for the
first bicycle repairman. Ant and Kimberly with Lianna hidden behind Ant:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/flat.jpg

Roadside repair shop:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/repair.jpg

If it was one of the other more popular tourist towns we visited I'm
sure we would have been raked over the coals with the bill but as it
stood he only charged Ant 5 yuan (65 cents). That was for finding the
puncture, patching it with a freshly cut patch, inflating the tire, and
digging through his bolt can to find three bolts to replace the one
fender bolt that we lost on the road. What a deal.

The other place we rode a lot was Yangshuo. This is the nicest bike I
rode on the trip along with the most beautiful area we visited:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/yangshuo_mtn_bike.jpg

I saw a couple of roadie groups in Beijing and a mtn bike group in
Yangshuo but the bulk of the cyclists were riding just to get home, or
to get to work, or to cart around their work.

Nice. Yangshuo looks rad.

I gotta bring that bathroom pic to work tomorrow. I was just telling a
coworker a couple hours ago about it. Forget about Bird flu, Lord only
knows what's living in that "bathroom."
--
Slack

G.T. wrote:
<snip cool trip RR>

That was great. Thanks for sharing.

Matt

MattB said:

G.T. wrote:
<snip cool trip RR>

That was great. Thanks for sharing.

Matt

Yeah man, make sure you drop the link to your full trip report.

JD

G.T. said:

Our trip to China went very well except for Kimberly losing her Teva
down the train toilet (as mentioned in the "Death to the derailleur
thread"😉, and us getting dropped off the bus an hour and half from our
hostel in Tunxi.

We rented bikes a few times, anything from old-style Flying Pigeon
clunkers to current city-bikes to low-end one size fits all Giant URT
mtn bikes to a fairly decent generic aluminum hardtail with Shimano
Altus shifters.

In Pingyao we rode out to a monastery with a British couple, Ant and
Lianna. Ant flatted on the way out and someone pumped up his tire while
we were walking around the monastery. I had to take a leak myself:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/bathroom.jpg

Ant's tire went flat again minutes after leaving the monastery so I told
him to ride it into town flat since the bike had steel rims and
extremely thick tires. The tire and tube survived well but because of
the additional rattling the fender which had been held on with one bolt
soon fell off.

Ant strapped the fender to his rear rack and we rode on looking for the
first bicycle repairman. Ant and Kimberly with Lianna hidden behind Ant:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/flat.jpg

Roadside repair shop:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/repair.jpg

If it was one of the other more popular tourist towns we visited I'm
sure we would have been raked over the coals with the bill but as it
stood he only charged Ant 5 yuan (65 cents). That was for finding the
puncture, patching it with a freshly cut patch, inflating the tire, and
digging through his bolt can to find three bolts to replace the one
fender bolt that we lost on the road. What a deal.

The other place we rode a lot was Yangshuo. This is the nicest bike I
rode on the trip along with the most beautiful area we visited:

http://homepage.mac.com/getosx/China/yangshuo_mtn_bike.jpg

I saw a couple of roadie groups in Beijing and a mtn bike group in
Yangshuo but the bulk of the cyclists were riding just to get home, or
to get to work, or to cart around their work.

Good one.

I first visited Yangshuo in 1993, rattling out into the countryside on
an old Flying Pigeon. I bet it's changed a bit since then. Oddly
enough, an ex-girlfriend is now living there and working as a climbing
guide: http://www.chinaclimb.com/info.html

Pete

Quoted message said:

G.T. wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I saw a couple of roadie groups in Beijing and a mtn bike group in
Yangshuo but the bulk of the cyclists were riding just to get home, or
to get to work, or to cart around their work.

I participated in what I believe was the second MTB race in Beijing in
1992 or 1993. Back then, there were almost no "real MTBs" in the
country, but a small group of hard-core riders showed up with shocks
and nicer bikes than the reasonably nice Fisher I was riding. Seeing
a "roadie" was like spotting Sasquatch.

Quoted message said:

I first visited Yangshuo in 1993, rattling out into the countryside on
an old Flying Pigeon. I bet it's changed a bit since then. Oddly
enough, an ex-girlfriend is now living there and working as a climbing
guide: http://www.chinaclimb.com/info.html

THAT brings back memories too - I hooked up with a climber I knew from
the 'net, and went out looking for somewhere to climb. I saw a
likely-looking place on a (bad) map about an hour north of Beijing,
and we drove up... wow. There were miles of vertical walls between
100 and 400 feet high, all of it unclimbed. We put up a few first
ascents, no doubt (every time we climbed!).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

Quoted message said:

I first visited Yangshuo in 1993, rattling out into the countryside on
an old Flying Pigeon. I bet it's changed a bit since then. Oddly
enough, an ex-girlfriend is now living there and working as a climbing
guide: http://www.chinaclimb.com/info.html

Yeah, there are a couple of climbing clubs there now and it's so western
now it feels like one is hanging out in Yosemite except that the
topography is quite different.

Greg

--
"All my time I spent in heaven
Revelries of dance and wine
Waking to the sound of laughter
Up I'd rise and kiss the sky" - The Mekons

G.T. said:

Our trip to China went very well except for Kimberly losing her Teva
down the train toilet

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. I gotta get me to East Asia one of these
days...

CC