Bart Sanders in the Netherlands

Although the main focus lies on army motorcycles built before, during and just after WWII, our Chang Jiangs were accepted to participate. So, my youngest son Reinier and I decided to join the large Saturday ride. The camping ground and start of the tour was located in a small village called De Harskamp which lies in one of the largest forest areas of The Netherlands called De Veluwe. Not coincidentally, many Dutch army units have their barracks in this area. So, optimal conditions for prolonged drives across the country on unpaved roads, open for general traffic."

Six young reindeer jockeys entered the cave without any fear and with almost no light, these six brave men ploughed their way through large mega-structures inside the cave in order to discover the six big wooden crates. After some time, they knew they had found their reindeer, nicely tucked away inside these boxes. But, how to set them free, how to unleash the ancient powers residing within their bodies? Shhhh, be silent! - all men kept their breath as one could hear the water dripping down in the cave - now, indeed a sound could be heard..... a dark and humming noise was coming their way! What to do now, would their beloved reindeer be in danger? The sound was becoming very loud now and even the bravest were showing pale faces. Suddenly, an intense stroke of light entered their corner of the cave and the sound was almost unbearable. A big four wheeled monster drove slowely towards them and all could see two giant teeth coming out of the monster, pointing directly towards their crates. Would the monster start to eat their wooden crates and the reindeer inside of them? This cannot be true! The six brave men reacted immediately and within seconds each of them stood next to his crate, ready to defend it with his life! But, lo and behold, the monster gently lowered its giant two teeth and started to slide them under one of the crates! Very slowly it then raised its ugly head and moved one of the crates around the cave's corner. The beam of light was now pointing away from our men and the monster quickly moved away. Our six adventurers were flabbergasted! The humming noise was heard again and again the monster picked up one of the wooden boxes and moved away. Our men now had understood, that it would be wise to follow the monster once it came to pick up the last crate and so they did. The beam of light was showing the way to our brave men and after a while they exited the cave to enter a beautiful meadow surrounded with large trees completely covered in ice. The sun lit a deep blue sky and their six wooden crates were standing on the meadow. Already six little gnomes had started to remove the wooden walls of the boxes. Within minutes each of the six brave men could now see their own reindeer appearing in full glamour. With great respect and gratitude, the little gnomes were thanked by our men. The reindeer were now shining brightly in the cold winter sun and each owner caressed his new reindeer with great affection. Each of the reindeer jockeys started to lead his ride into the forest and it is said that each of these men lived happily ever after."

Summer 2006 is as good as one imagines a good summer to be, so we decided to realise an old plan of ours. This was the perfect weather to make a round trip along the Baltic Sea shores, or parts thereof, on a motorbike!

And because our CJ750 M1 has proven to be reliable, we had no problem in loading up our camping gear on the sidecar unit and my wife's BMW R65 and use these motorcycles as our means of transport for what turned out to be a vacation trip of almost 2300 kilometers!

We drove diagonally in a northeasterly direction through Germany in 250 to 300 kilometer intervals and used small and very affordable hotels for the night. Only using the so-called "Bundesstrassen" (so NO motorways!) and driving with speeds of 80 to 85 km/h, we reached the Isle of Usedom on the third day where we put up our tents on a little camping ground near the Baltic Sea.

We realised that this was a far better way of travelling, at ease, with no stress and with all the time in the world to enjoy the countryside you are passing. To put it another way, Kameraad Chang forced us to use moderate speeds, but it very quickly became a new and very pleasant way of travelling. These country roads are not jammed with traffic and very often we were the only road users for longer periods. What a luxury!

The Baltic Sea throws her waves on the wide and white beaches of Usedom with water temperatures of 21 degrees Celcius! The Isle of Usedom has made a remarkable comeback as a beach holiday resort. Once very chique and fashionable at the start of the 20th. Century, World War II and the periods thereafter left their marks on essentially very nice houses, villas and surroundings with beautiful Art Deco and Jugendstil architectures. After 1989 the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) and West Germany were reunited and very quickly the restoration and rebuilding of the classic Baltic Sea resorts like Seebad Ahlbeck and Seebad Heringsdorf were undertaken.

Now, 15 years later, we experienced modern and elegant sea resorts having a unique atmosphere and accomodated in historical, century old buildings and infrastructures. Highly recommended!

But after a week or so we decided to move on and cross the Baltic Sea with the ferry from Rostock to Gedser in Denmark. We drove some 200 kilometers to get from the Isle of Usedom to our camping in Nysted, on the Danish isle called "Lolland". We could plunge into the Baltic Sea some 50 meters from our tent and experience water temperatures of 26 degrees Celcius. Not bad after a hot day of driving around the north German and Danish countrysides!

Of course we did not only drive our bikes, we did lots of other things as well. Some of that can be found in the images.

Finally, our three weeks of holidays neared their end and we used the same low paced, but very pleasent routine of driving some 200 kilometers, check into the next inn or hotel and keep on enjoying our de-speeded and de-stressed vacation.

As for the bikes, the R65 was virtually un-present and performed like expected. Of course, we were curious how our Kameraad Chang would perform on such a long trip. In short—very good. Every now and then some extra SAE 30 oil to keep the engine pleased, checking the spokes and a one time small adjustment of the clutch cable. That's it.

The organisation was overwhelmed: We had an increase in participants of 50% over last year and welcomed three CJ750s, (one M1S OHV, one M1 SV and one M1M SV solo.)

Arriving on Friday evening, the weather forecast promises blue skies and 30°C, whoopee!

Nino Carboni just arrived on his solo - which is in fact a sidecar outfit, but temporarily relieved of its sidecar burden.

On Sunday, Gé Joling was desperately seeking.... fuel! And finally found one of the few gas stations in our hills, running on his last drops of gas

Our Chang Jiang 750 M1 clocked 5027 km this weekend, 14 months after getting the road license.

Meanwhile, Kameraad Chang overlooked the situation in a sovereign way, knowing that it uses the superior four-stroke design, at least by concept that is. Cleaning the few components solved the problem inside the little NSU and we continued our first spring ride out!!"

1) This small traffic accident clearly shows the superiority of the three-wheeled concept over the four-wheeled one...

2) Winter Wonderland!

3 & 4) These old borderline roads make beautiful landscapes.

5) The inevitable snowball fight is imminent.

Yesterday we organised a ride in what proved to become a ride in real winter conditions. Still, we did it and with great fun!

Background: One of my customers from the summer 2005 shipment of Chang Jiangs is not only addicted to (classic) motorcycles but also an off-road Yamaha XT500 expert. Henno van Bergeijk decided to put his expertise into real practice and signed up for the world famous Dakar Rally, 2006 edition. On a... Yamaha XT500 of course! (Have a look at www.xtgoesdakar for more details.)

One of the preparation stages for this great event is a Prologue Racing Event in rough terrain conditions. On December 10th. this Prologue for the Dutch Teams took place at the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard, not far from Eindhoven in The Netherlands.

Having received a personal invitation from Henno van Bergeijk to come and be part of this racing event I called up some fellow Chang Jiang afficionados and yesterday we went to the Eurocircuit. In this time of the year we can already have real winterly conditions and that's exactly what happened! Basically good weather but with temperatures at around 0°C, any fog results in nice white landscapes and Father-Christmas-like figures on strange black & white sidecar outfits..."

Have a look at the images!

1) We are warm, but a hot cup of chocolatemilk is more than welcome!

2) Roel Hendrickx and Lu Wang drive all year through! Mrs. Lu Wang tought my son Reinier the correct pronounciation of "Chang Jiang" during the day.

3) Icy cold? Not really!

4) A short stop in a beautiful white landscape

5) Legs & body wrapped in a blanket and good clothing. Winter cannot harm Reinier!

6) Arrival at the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard

7) One of the motorcycle participants to Dakar 2006 in his timed racing lap

8) Same for racing trucks who play an important role in the Dakar rally. They carry a lot of spares for many racing teams.

9) The Yamaha XT500 from Henno van Bergeijk after his Prologue racing day

10) Basically the original frame and engine, but with modified and modernised suspension parts.

This bike (it's a sidecar outfit really) has been rebuilt and checked in the process by the proud owner Peter Markus. End of November we will know if the registration and approval officer decides to give it a license plate. I think he should!"

Nino Carboni's M1M has a large oil sump. It's from the shipment of CJ750s earlier this summer.

Joris is one of Bart's buyers, seen here after unpacking and making his bike ready for official licensing and road registration. Rotterdam-Boles is one of many locations within the biggest harbour of Europe—Rotterdam.

"Yesterday I worked on the bike so that I could check its functions when really driving. These bikes are more like car kits—still a lot of work—but it's part of the joy!

So at 1900 hours or so I was ready. Lo and behold, not dissatisfying at all! Still in its first five kilometers you can feel the engine really pull—no mechanical noise except for the usual. Reverse works fine (we bought M1s with reverse gear, deep sump and bigger pump from Li Yan.) Gears shift good and noise-free after a firm kick on the pedal. Only the front fork decided to suspend its action until the last kilometer, then it started telescoping. No headlight because when I put it in, my circuit stops working... You see, still some work ahead."

The happy young man in the sidecar is Reinier, by the way.