The New CJ650

[bigheadsnake]

The news of the new CJ650 Sidecar first came out 2 years ago in 2016, every sidecar fans in China was looking forward to it, and in this January, the sidecar was finally published to.
After 3 months waiting, I got this bike at the beginning of April, and trailer it to register.




After the registration, I ride this sidecar for hundreds of kilometers, in the city and on the Highway. There's a picture of it at the suburbs of Beijing with my dad's JH600B-A, you can easily tell the difference of the dimension of them, the new CJ650 is wider and lower, and the Jialing looks much stronger and bigger.



We can see it more clearly when they are on the same trailer, although the new CJ650 is wider and the trailer can hardly load it but it looks much smaller than Jialing.




After several times of riding, the battery of it had run out, so I had to start it with my own Jialing bike.




So after hundreds of riding experience, I do can summary some advantages and disadvantages of this model.

First, there's still some small problems like some other Chinese bike, as far as I got, there's

The handlebars* cannot be locked, the nail cannot be inserted correctly, but the bike shop said it is the*assembly issue and can be easily fixed.
The oil indicator is not working properly and shows randomly.
The trunk is hard to close and the locker of it finally broke, I had to make one by my own.
Well, some of the problem I mentioned above may not be the common problem, but then I want to list some bad riding experience.

There's NO REVERSE GEAR!* Which makes you so hard to park in the city, and you will never want to park it on a down slope road if there's no ground ahead, it can be hardly pushed on a slope.
The turning radius is very large, honestly it cannot be a problem, but it has*NO REVERSE GEAR! If you want to make a U turn and can't finish it one-time, get off the bike and push it, great experience when there's a big traffic. If it equipped with a side-wheeling turning system like Jialing, it could be much better.
The*spring-seat chair is not very comfortable, shaking strongly when the suspension works. I'd rather like the normal seat.
The minimum*ground clearance is too short for a sidecar which makes it can't go off-road.
The braking system works well but when you make a panic breaking, the sidecar slides to the left, very serious.
The sidecar body is too small and too low, not very comfortable for a adult man to sit in it, only fit for women and chaildrens, and the suspension of the body is not working very well, it jolts strongly when the road is tough.
The quality of the engine is not so good that some of them will leak the engine oil or the coolant.
The gearbox is not designed for a sidecar, it's a copy of CF650NK Streetbike, what the factory does is to make a big chain wheel to gain more low torque. However that makes the 6 gears unnecessary, I ride it 10km/h on first gear, 20km/h on second gear and 60km/h on 6th gear, after 60km/h to more than 130km/h, 6th gear at all time. 4 gears is enough in this case just like the Jialing sidecar.
Still, there's some good points of it.

The power is pretty strong, the engine from CF MOTO is 52kw, 62Nm, much stronger than Jialing even Ural, it can easily get to the speed of 100km/h.
The combined breaking system works fine most time, where you press the brake pedal, the all 3 wheels will brake at the same time. However, in a panic breaking, it's not very*effective and the sidecar slides to the left.
It looks good.
After spending more than 64000 RMB on it, I still think that the Jialing JH600B-A sidecar is the best sidecar in China.


My JH600B-A


My CJ650

[bigheadsnake]

Just copied from my own blog, like to share it here.

[Weldangrind]

Welcome!
Thanks for sharing about both of your bikes. I can see where the Jialing is the superior bike, but I love the classic look of the CJ. I've wanted a CJ750 for a long time.

[Emerikol]

It looks a lot like the Urals. I'm perfectly happy with my Ural, and the Ural is ok'ish doing about 70mph on the highways. The weak link in the Ural's top speed is actually the final drive. It's a shaft drive, so everything is whirring around at right angles. There's an aftermarket final drive that will handle more power and a higher top speed, but it's sever thousand dollars, and not really worth it, IMHO. Also, once you get going too much faster than 70, things can go very bad very quickly. Personally, I ride the Ural because I want t enjoy the ride, not because I want to set any speed records. I'm happy for you to have a unique bike like that, I'm sure it's a real head turner. Happy riding, and be safe!

[cheesy]

That Jialing looks like a beast. Is that a radiator on the front of the sidecar?


Is there an adjustment to balance the brakes on the CJ? I ask because it is possible to do on the Urals. The CJ is an interesting rig but the lack of a reverse gear would take some of the fun out of it.

[bigheadsnake]

Originally Posted by cheesy

That Jialing looks like a beast. Is that a radiator on the front of the sidecar?


Is there an adjustment to balance the brakes on the CJ? I ask because it is possible to do on the Urals. The CJ is an interesting rig but the lack of a reverse gear would take some of the fun out of it.

Hi，cheesy

Yes it's a oil cooler on the front, but it's not enough pressure to fluid so it's always cold, useless.

The factory told us there's two ways to adjust the breaks
The first one is to adjust the camber and toe angle, there's a manual on it and every model has its unique value, riding at 50kmh and release the handlebar, if the sidecar go straight, it's will be fine.
The other is to adjust the pounds of the calipers, if there's one break to control two or more wheels, change the calipers or break pad may increase or decrease the break force, it's very diffcult it balance the 3 breaks.
Finally, without a side break, the bike can never break straight ahead because of the inertance.

[cheesy]

Thanks for the info.
I think that there should be some kind of proportioning valve between the motorcycle brakes and the sidecar brake to eliminate that problem.
You would be able to adjust the brakes to compensate for the load you are carrying in the hack.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by cheesy

I think that there should be some kind of proportioning valve between the motorcycle brakes and the sidecar brake to eliminate that problem.

There was an anvil-simple device like that on the early Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable. It used a rod that pointed at the rear control arm (since they had independent rear suspension), and as the suspension compressed, it pushed on the rod and allowed more brake fluid pressure to the rear wheels. IOW, if you loaded up the trunk with luggage, the valve would be opened more for improved rear braking. If there was only one person in the car with nothing in the trunk, rear brake pressure was minimized. It was a good system that provided consistent braking, despite load. Something like that could be adapted to a hack.

The option would be to use an adjustable proportioning valve, like that which Wilwood makes. You could adjust it according to the load in the side car. Some panic testing in a deserted area would help you dial it in.

[roundhouse]

Cool. thanks for sharing. I have no desire to have a side car but the bikes looked cool.

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

There was an anvil-simple device like that on the early Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable. It used a rod that pointed at the rear control arm (since they had independent rear suspension), and as the suspension compressed, it pushed on the rod and allowed more brake fluid pressure to the rear wheels. IOW, if you loaded up the trunk with luggage, the valve would be opened more for improved rear braking. If there was only one person in the car with nothing in the trunk, rear brake pressure was minimized. It was a good system that provided consistent braking, despite load. Something like that could be adapted to a hack.

The option would be to use an adjustable proportioning valve, like that which Wilwood makes. You could adjust it according to the load in the side car. Some panic testing in a deserted area would help you dial it in.

Exactly what I was thinking, Weld. Summit Racing carries Wilwood and also their house brand version, which is about half the cost of Wilwood. Couldn’t get the link to work.