Greeting from North Central Minnesota

Jakhack · 02-12-2011, 12:19 PM

Right now, it is cold and snowy out, so not much motorcycling, except for an occasional warm day ride with the sidecar. But in a few months, I will get the chance to try out my new 2006 Zongshen Sierra 200. Pictured below - I hope I got the instructions on how to post photos correct...

As you can see, it is still in the shop, in winter storage. When the temps start getting into the 40â€™s again. I will pick it up and start riding.

I used to ride a lot 30 years ago. In fact, I rode two different sidecar rigs year round in Minnesota. We had only one car so I rode the sidecar rig unless it dropped below zero, and then I couldnâ€™t keep my face shield from fogging up. I had to quit riding about 15 years ago when I got what was later diagnosed as adhesive capsulitus (I think) in my hip. The effect was that I could not swing my leg over a saddle without extreme pain. So I sold my bikes and did not ride again for years. Then about three years ago, a friend asked me to accompany him on an extended ride and offered the use of one of his bikes. My hip arthritis had cleared up by then, so I said yes. While a person can swear off a motorcycle addiction for a time, once you taste it again, you are lost. And so I amâ€¦

I hope you donâ€™t mind seeing the rest of the bikes in my stable, but I love them all so here goes:

This is the one that started it all a couple of years ago when I started riding again after a 12 year layoff. I love my 1982 Suzuki GS1100G for it classic styling. The speed and power also helpsâ€¦

My sport bike for solo trips â€“ 1993 Honda ST1100, but it always wants to routinely travel at over 100 mph. So to avoid trouble with the law, it is presently on loan to my son.

The big 2002 BMW K1200LT is for luxury travel or Two-up trips. For reasons that I would rather not go into, when my wife rides with me, I occasionally have not been able to hold the bike up. So I have a Tow-Pac trike kit that I can put on it, which works great. It comes on or off in less than 5 minutes. This is probably the finest bike I will ever own:

The 1996 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 with a Motorvation Formula II sidecar â€“ for occasional winter travel. I can also use it for gravel road and dirt travel. My wife used to ride, but for some reason got tired of falling down. So she wants to try to ride this rig next summer.

I have not owned a dual sport machine for quite some time. Years ago I had a Honda four stroke enduro bike, but I do not remember the designation or year. I had a lot of fun with it on the forest trails around my home north of Brainerd, Minnesota. I have been thinking about adding a dual sport bike for some time, and have a couple of trips planned out in my mind. So I started lookingâ€¦.

I considered a KLR 650 and almost bought a Suzuki DR650. I am partial to Suzuki's, as I have owned four or five of them. But I decided at my advanced age, I needed something lighter and started looking at 250s like the KLZ250. But somewhere I came across a reference to Chinese bikes, and was fascinated by Spudâ€™s wonderful Zongshen photos. I was EXTREMELY impressed by this website and the support information available. You guys know how to do it right!!

By another coincidence I also came across a website of an independent dealer who had some Zongshens so I called and found he had one new Sierra left and wanted to sell it for $900. So I went to look at it, and ended up with the bill of sale in my back pocket.

Regarding the future, I want to take some camping trips on the Sierra, so am looking at building a small light trailer for it and have some ideas of what would work well, be I would be interested in hearing from some others who may have used a light trailer with the Sierra or built a hitch for it. The trailer will be light like a bicycle trailer and narrow so I can still go down some single track forest trails. And thanks for the help and support.

katoranger · 02-12-2011, 12:48 PM

Welcome. Spent a summer working at Gull Lake and the Enterprise rent a car in Baxter.

FastDoc · 02-12-2011, 01:06 PM

Welcome to the forum! I love your collection, especially the old Suzuki. I have a restored 1978 GS750 myself. The side hack is also cool. Everything is! 8)

Enjoy the Zong. it is one of the best 200cc Dualsports of any manufacture, regardless of the country or origin.

As you will soon find out, you have been assimilated. :roll:

Weldangrind · 02-12-2011, 05:09 PM

Welcome!

Impressive collection; I especially like your old Suzuki hot rod. Of course, I covet your Zong.

SpudRider · 02-13-2011, 01:05 AM

Welcome; we are very glad you joined us!

Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself, and thank you for posting the great photographs!

I don't know anyone who has hooked a trailer to a Zong. However, I think I remember a forum member from Ohio, who pulled a trailer behind his dual sport bike on a trip to South Dakota.

I encourage you to post your question regarding trailers, and hitches, in our Dual Sport Forum. I anticipate you will receive several helpful replies from the knowledgeable members who frequent that forum.

Spud

Jim · 02-13-2011, 04:01 AM

Welcome

Nice collection, I've got an 800 vulcan as well.

gyjoe · 02-28-2011, 11:33 AM

Welcome, Jakhack, it's good to have a fellow Chinarider in the northern half of MN--I don't recall seeing anyone else from up here before!

As you can see, I don't post much here but I do drop in once in awhile to see what's new. I think you'll find this group to be one of the friendliest on the net.

I see from the photo of your ST that you made a pit stop in Remer, my old stomping grounds. Rode a lot of the dirt roads and trails around there as a kid on a '74 Honda XL--great place to putt around off the beaten path.

jape · 02-28-2011, 11:04 PM

Not much to add about the stable, apart from WOW and welcome!

Years ago I had a couple of trailers rigged up behind bikes in the Welsh hills. Nothing was ever successful long term as they would fall to pieces or flip me over on bends but did get full-size gas bottles.and such heavy items as sacks of spuds into the very remote areas where even a Land Rover or tractor was too wide to go, up stream-beds and the like.
One friend did persevere, he made/adapted a universal joint into a hitch and in thr decades since then I have see plenty. With modern materials and off the shelf hitches, wheels and suspension available you shouldn't have too much difficulty sourcing or fabricating one.

The hitch, ride height and weight are of course the major considerations. I have seen one wheel and two-wheel versions working well, prefer the two-wheel myself but my brother had a single wheel trailer behind and said it was perfect, tracked like a dream behind him but in the end he preferred panniers, as the trailer would jump and hang and ripped the guts out of the engine, mainly because of varying traction which made the bike work twice as hard off road..

02-12-2011, 12:19 PM	#1
Jakhack Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: North Central Minnesota Posts: 42	Greeting from North Central Minnesota Right now, it is cold and snowy out, so not much motorcycling, except for an occasional warm day ride with the sidecar. But in a few months, I will get the chance to try out my new 2006 Zongshen Sierra 200. Pictured below - I hope I got the instructions on how to post photos correct... As you can see, it is still in the shop, in winter storage. When the temps start getting into the 40â€™s again. I will pick it up and start riding. I used to ride a lot 30 years ago. In fact, I rode two different sidecar rigs year round in Minnesota. We had only one car so I rode the sidecar rig unless it dropped below zero, and then I couldnâ€™t keep my face shield from fogging up. I had to quit riding about 15 years ago when I got what was later diagnosed as adhesive capsulitus (I think) in my hip. The effect was that I could not swing my leg over a saddle without extreme pain. So I sold my bikes and did not ride again for years. Then about three years ago, a friend asked me to accompany him on an extended ride and offered the use of one of his bikes. My hip arthritis had cleared up by then, so I said yes. While a person can swear off a motorcycle addiction for a time, once you taste it again, you are lost. And so I amâ€¦ I hope you donâ€™t mind seeing the rest of the bikes in my stable, but I love them all so here goes: This is the one that started it all a couple of years ago when I started riding again after a 12 year layoff. I love my 1982 Suzuki GS1100G for it classic styling. The speed and power also helpsâ€¦ My sport bike for solo trips â€“ 1993 Honda ST1100, but it always wants to routinely travel at over 100 mph. So to avoid trouble with the law, it is presently on loan to my son. The big 2002 BMW K1200LT is for luxury travel or Two-up trips. For reasons that I would rather not go into, when my wife rides with me, I occasionally have not been able to hold the bike up. So I have a Tow-Pac trike kit that I can put on it, which works great. It comes on or off in less than 5 minutes. This is probably the finest bike I will ever own: The 1996 Kawasaki Vulcan 800 with a Motorvation Formula II sidecar â€“ for occasional winter travel. I can also use it for gravel road and dirt travel. My wife used to ride, but for some reason got tired of falling down. So she wants to try to ride this rig next summer. I have not owned a dual sport machine for quite some time. Years ago I had a Honda four stroke enduro bike, but I do not remember the designation or year. I had a lot of fun with it on the forest trails around my home north of Brainerd, Minnesota. I have been thinking about adding a dual sport bike for some time, and have a couple of trips planned out in my mind. So I started lookingâ€¦. I considered a KLR 650 and almost bought a Suzuki DR650. I am partial to Suzuki's, as I have owned four or five of them. But I decided at my advanced age, I needed something lighter and started looking at 250s like the KLZ250. But somewhere I came across a reference to Chinese bikes, and was fascinated by Spudâ€™s wonderful Zongshen photos. I was EXTREMELY impressed by this website and the support information available. You guys know how to do it right!! By another coincidence I also came across a website of an independent dealer who had some Zongshens so I called and found he had one new Sierra left and wanted to sell it for $900. So I went to look at it, and ended up with the bill of sale in my back pocket. Regarding the future, I want to take some camping trips on the Sierra, so am looking at building a small light trailer for it and have some ideas of what would work well, be I would be interested in hearing from some others who may have used a light trailer with the Sierra or built a hitch for it. The trailer will be light like a bicycle trailer and narrow so I can still go down some single track forest trails. And thanks for the help and support.
	0

02-12-2011, 12:48 PM	#2
katoranger Join Date: May 2007 Location: Altamont, Kansas Posts: 15,103	Welcome. Spent a summer working at Gull Lake and the Enterprise rent a car in Baxter. __________________ You meet the nicest people on a Honda Clone.
	0

02-12-2011, 01:06 PM	#3
FastDoc Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Southeastern Washington desert Posts: 14,761	Welcome to the forum! I love your collection, especially the old Suzuki. I have a restored 1978 GS750 myself. The side hack is also cool. Everything is! 8) Enjoy the Zong. it is one of the best 200cc Dualsports of any manufacture, regardless of the country or origin. As you will soon find out, you have been assimilated. :roll: __________________ Happy to serve.
	0

02-12-2011, 05:09 PM	#4
Weldangrind Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sardis, BC, Canada Posts: 25,977	Welcome! Impressive collection; I especially like your old Suzuki hot rod. Of course, I covet your Zong. __________________ Weldangrind "I figure I'm well-prepared for coping with a bike that comes from the factory with unresolved issues and that rewards the self-reliant owner." - Buccaneer
	0

02-13-2011, 01:05 AM	#5
SpudRider Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Idaho Posts: 25,054	Welcome; we are very glad you joined us! Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself, and thank you for posting the great photographs! I don't know anyone who has hooked a trailer to a Zong. However, I think I remember a forum member from Ohio, who pulled a trailer behind his dual sport bike on a trip to South Dakota. I encourage you to post your question regarding trailers, and hitches, in our Dual Sport Forum. I anticipate you will receive several helpful replies from the knowledgeable members who frequent that forum. Spud __________________ Spud "Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level, and beat you with experience." Mark Twain 2015 Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) 2006 Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra 200) 2005 Honda XR650L 2004 Honda CRF250X 1998 Kawasaki KDX220 Mods made to my Zongshen ZS200GY-2: http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=6894
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02-13-2011, 04:01 AM	#6
Jim Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada Posts: 4,880	Welcome Nice collection, I've got an 800 vulcan as well. __________________ "Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!"
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02-28-2011, 11:33 AM	#7
gyjoe Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Duluth, MN Posts: 230	Welcome, Jakhack, it's good to have a fellow Chinarider in the northern half of MN--I don't recall seeing anyone else from up here before! As you can see, I don't post much here but I do drop in once in awhile to see what's new. I think you'll find this group to be one of the friendliest on the net. I see from the photo of your ST that you made a pit stop in Remer, my old stomping grounds. Rode a lot of the dirt roads and trails around there as a kid on a '74 Honda XL--great place to putt around off the beaten path. __________________ 2006 Lifan LF200GY-5
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02-28-2011, 11:04 PM	#8
jape Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: central vic australia Posts: 113	Not much to add about the stable, apart from WOW and welcome! Years ago I had a couple of trailers rigged up behind bikes in the Welsh hills. Nothing was ever successful long term as they would fall to pieces or flip me over on bends but did get full-size gas bottles.and such heavy items as sacks of spuds into the very remote areas where even a Land Rover or tractor was too wide to go, up stream-beds and the like. One friend did persevere, he made/adapted a universal joint into a hitch and in thr decades since then I have see plenty. With modern materials and off the shelf hitches, wheels and suspension available you shouldn't have too much difficulty sourcing or fabricating one. The hitch, ride height and weight are of course the major considerations. I have seen one wheel and two-wheel versions working well, prefer the two-wheel myself but my brother had a single wheel trailer behind and said it was perfect, tracked like a dream behind him but in the end he preferred panniers, as the trailer would jump and hang and ripped the guts out of the engine, mainly because of varying traction which made the bike work twice as hard off road..
	0