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CHANG JIANG 750 MOTORCYCLE HISTORY 长江750 摩托车 的故事
The CHANG JIANG 750 motorcycle is the Chinese clone of the Russian M72, who itself is the clone of the BMW R71. After the Russian copied the R71 and used it successfully during world war II, they sold a couple of M72s to the Chinese during the fifties. Then, in 1957, the Chinese started their own M72 production under the name of CHANG JIANG 750. The early CHANG JIANG 750 motorcycle production was made by the GUO YING GAN JIANG JI XIE CHANG. The early production was using a lot of Russian M72 parts such as fenders, frames, wheels, ignition keys, switches ,etc…. Even some complete Russian made M72 were recalled CHANG JIANG 750. Some had the Russian engine changed to a Chinese made one. As a tip to recognize Chinese made casing from Russian ones, the Russian made casing is smoother than the Chinese one. Some little differences also can be noticed on bike’s frames, sidecar’s frames. Chinese made front fenders are a little different from Russian’s : The brackets hold with bolts and screws where the Russian made ones hold with rivets and are in 1 piece. In the sixties, the factory name changed to a new one : GUO YING CHANG JIANG JI XIE CHANG, to be then at the end of the seventies reattached to the airplane manufacturer, GUO YING HONG DU JI XIE CHANG, known in the nineties as NAN CHANG FEI JI ZHI ZAO GONG SI, and today as JIANG XI HONG DU HANG KONG GONG YE JI TUAN. Till the end of the seventies all Chinese CHANG JIANG 750 series were mainly powered by 6 volts engine of 2 types : the CHANG JIANG 750 TYPE I engine, close to the R71 and M72, easy to recognize with the dipstick at the bottom of the engine, and the CHANG JIANG 750 type II engine. In 1966, the Chinese came out with the type II engine, easy to recognize with the dipstick at top of the engine. The production of the type II engine started in September 1966. From September 1966, all engine manufactured from the serial number 661802 and after are of the type II. The general use of the type II engine instead of the type I, started in 1972. Due to a large production of parts and engines at this time, the type I engine was still use till 1971 on new bikes, although his production stopped in 1966. Spares for type I engine were still produced till the seventies. Type I engine had the same gear box than the M72, when type II engine had a new model. A lot of bikes with type I engine had their type one gear box changed for a type 2 gear box. Bikes with type I engine had progressively their engines changed to type II engines for maintenance, convenience of spares and technical reasons. In 1969, CHANG JIANG 750 bikes had already had some technical changes, mainly on sidecar frames, switches. About gas tank : NO CHANG JIANG 750 MOTORCYCLES HAD A CHINESE BUILT IN TOOL BOX GAS TANK BEFORE 1970. By the end of the seventies the Chinese started production of OHV 30 horse power engines. But only a few of these engines are visible today. In 1980 the Chinese built the OHV, 30 horse power, 12 volts electric. Flathead engines came to 12 volts only in 1986, as the gear box with reverse. In December 1980, they produced in small quantity an engine called : CHANG JIANG 900 engine. The 900 cc OHV engine was an answer to the acquisition by the armed police of BMW motorcycles. Only a few bikes and engines were produced, probably no more than 10. Today only three of these engines have been found. Since then, the Chinese CHANG JIANG production has grown to many different types and models. Many other manufacturers also produce the same bike under other brands : XIANG JIANG, SHANDONG, CHANGHONG, GUANJUN, FENGTONG, SHIHU, HONGYANG, etc… Besides the older manufacturer : JIANG XI HONG DU HANG KONG GONG YE JI TUAN is another main one, the NAN CHANG CHANG JIANG GONG YE GONG SI. This factory was first producing parts for the JIANG XI HONG DU HANG KONG GONG YE JI TUAN. Then at the end of the seventies they start producing complete bikes. At the end of the nineties, the NAN CHANG CHANG JIANG GONG YE GONG SI produced a series of bikes of good quality. They were using to build these bikes old new PLA stocks of parts. The bikes had nice sixties main frame and high quality 6 volts PLA issue engines from the seventies. Now days, many problems appear : Parts missing, quality problems due to the use of cheap parts. After the opening of China, and the right to everyone to open his own private business, many small factories start producing cheap quality parts at low cost what affected the CHANG JIANG 750 quality. At the LONG RIVER MOTORWORKS, our first aim is to share with others our passion for the CHANG JIANG 750 motorcycle. We also work to preserve the CHANG JIANG 750 originality. As we always say : “ A CHANG IS STILL A CHANG, EVEN IF YOU PUT BMW LOGO ON YOUR TANK !” “THERE IS NO SHAME IN RIDING A CHANG JIANG, IT IS EVEN
A PRIVILEGE !”
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