Wu Yang Clan

Bikes of Guangzhou

That's Canton for you westerners. Guangzhou is occasionally called the "Five-Rams" city and so it is no surprise that the main bicycle manufacturer here is called Five-Rams or Wu Yang in Chinese. A recent trip to Guangzhou gave me the opportunity to check out some of their products...which offered a lot in the way of surprises.

First off Wu Yang's main business these days is motorcycles, but moto che are BANNED in Guangzhou. It is the equivalent of Harleys being banned in Milwaukee. Electric bicycles are also absent. The hole in the transportation hierarchy created by the lack of motorized bicycles is filled by pedal powered Wu-Yangs.

Most of these were a dark green, where as the Forevers and Flying Pigeons common in Beijing are always black. Also, most of the diamond framed bikes were "Double Bars", meaning that they have two top bars to reinforce the frame. Some times this is called a "pig bar" bike, because supposedly these were designed to carry a pig to market.

Honestly , I don't see how this could work. It would be impossible to pedal with a pig, live or dead on the top bar. Your legs would have nowhere to go. Indeed the usual method for carrying a passenger or any cargo is to put the weight on the package rack. Passengers usually sit side saddle. In any case, I saw more double bar bikes in 1/2 hour in Guangzhou than in my entire year in Beijing.

Finally, While most Beijing bikes tend to be 22" frames with 28" rims, the majority of Guangzhou bikes were 20" frames with 26" wheels.

Lots of delivery bikes. One gentleman was stacked 2 stories high with styrofoam. While it is not uncommon to see this in Beijing, it is usual a tricycle hauling the load. Not a bike.

There were other surprises as well. Check out the pictures. Let me know what you think

Comments

[Andoni]

Hi Jeff,

I may have answer to how to carry the pig.
In old Vietnam war footage you can see the Vietcong and North Vietnamese army porters pushing/walking along the bikes with heavy loads on top of the central bar ( rice bags, etc.), using the bikes as a kind of wheel barrow ( sometimes they would even couple to bikes with a makeshift platform for heavy loads.
Just a thought.
BTW, I love Chinese farm cycles. Thank you for your blog.
Cheers

[mark]

hello!
what are the quality of them like? - i was so taken by the cool Wu Yang bike that i ordered one here in Shenzhen.... have to say was a bit disappointed when me and my Chinese girlfriend tried to cycle off and I managed to damage the pedal (where it joins the crank shaft.. if that makes sense, is now loose - am not that big either). Today I scraped a wall and one pedal is now dangling - thought these bikes would be hard as nails - and am starting to think I might have been sold a fake! What do you reckon?

[JS]

I suspect your bike is OK. Almost all of the traditional Chinese roadsters (and Indian, And Thai and British Roadster) have a cottered crank. The cotter is a little pin of soft metal which is hammered in between the crank arm and crankshaft. They are soft and can deform which makes the pedal shaft flap around like you describe. So if it wasn't hammered in quite right the first time, that might happen as well.

The secret here is to hammer them in, ride for a day or so, and then give them another wrap. DO NOT try to "pull" them into the joint by tightening the bolt on the other side. This does not work and the metal is so soft it will just strip the threads.

In your case I would just go to the nearest street corner bike doctor in Shenzhen and have him hammer it in. Or you can do it yourself. Snug up the bolt and then see how it goes from there.

Even if the street corner bike doctor replaces the cotter, it will probably cost you less than 5 RMB.

As for the pedal, most of the pedals are multi-part pedals and you can tighten these up as well...or have the bike doctor take a look.

Give it a shot, there is nothing to lose.

[Darren Chan]

Jeff, thanks so much for your informative blog. I've been scanning through the entries trying to get my bearings regarding Chinese bicycles. I'm currently in Taishan (2.5 hours southwest of Guangzhou) and have been having a hell of a time trying to find a shop that sells Flying Pigeons. The one bike shop I found carried nothing but Giant.

Did you happen to notice any bike shops in Guangzhou that carried the traditional Chinese brands? I'd settle for a Wu Yang if I can't locate any Flying Pigeons.

I remember reading an entry you wrote regarding the 'stolen bike markets'. I don't think they have one of those here in Taishan, perhaps in Guangzhou?

[JS]

Darren-

I suspect you could find a Wu-Yang, Phoenix or Forever in Guangzhou, although I didn't have time to search out shops. Flying Pigeon would be tougher to find, I'm sure.

I agree that that the traditional bikes are becoming harder and harder to find, but most stores here in Beijing keep a few on stock for the diehards..or the pennyless!

Many of the GIANT retailers are exclusively Giant, so you won't locate an FP there.

If worse comes to worse. Find someone on a traditional bike. Then just offer them 200 RMB for the bike they are riding and see what they say. 200 RMB is very generous for a used bike so they should jump at the opportunity. If not...ask the next person.

[Darren Chan]

Thanks for the tips Jeff! My cousins suggested the same thing, but I've yet to locate a FP in decent shape. Then again 200 RMB isn't all that much when converted to USD. Just don't want to start racking up bikes when one quality unit would do.