There are many stories about the CJ750 bikes. As there is one factory still pumping out these bikes officially and many other none official factories, the stories can vary greatly as does the quality. It's fairly common knowledge that the new ones are a very poorly made. So why is this? When Mao started production many years ago, these bike were made for a function. They where required to drive great distances through cold, hot, wet or dry conditions. Not to mention off road and covered in mud. Now as there were not too many motorcycle workshops in china , they made these bikes to last. How to tell the difference you ask? Well there are a few tell tale sighs. Most commonly is the quality of the engine block itself. We conducted a very scientific test with a 10 pound hammer back a few years ago. We had just had a guy arrive with a bike which was 8 months old with a cracked bore. When we lifted it out of the frame we could actually feel that it was lighter than the older engines. I put it down marked and X on the good side of the engine and let loose one hell of a swing with my main tool of trade (the 10 pound hammer). I managed to knock a clean hole through the engine the size of a US trade dollar. We changed over the block to an nasty old oil covered 40 year old engine block. We mark the same spot on the block and let loose another hearty swing. We check it and I had dented the outside however no internal damage was done. No happy with the result I swung another 6 times and only managed to dent the block. It was clear that the old metal during China's mechanical revolution were far more Superior to the cost savings and corner cutting metals used today. This methodology applies right across the bike to its frame and chassis. This is the reason we only deal with the vintage stocks.
Another important point to note is that if you buy a new bike and export it overseas, it will fail every testing requiement needed to register it. Only if the bike is vintage can the bike get around the ususal testing and fall into the "old timers" class. I have been told that the new factories can supply vintage documents but I can not see how this is possible without any hanky panky. The bottom lines is that if you love repairing and working on bikes then a new one is the go, however if you want a bike that has been fully rebuilt, has all the upgrades, imporvements and will give you a minimum amount of trouble, then go with the real old timers.
