::Wondering Mind::

I posted last week over at beijingdaze.com about the complexities and steps required to procure a driver’s license and motorcycle license plate in Beijing which can be quite a process if you wanna do it all legally… which i did! After a few weeks of trying really hard to procure myself a gas-powered two-wheeler, I finally gave up and went the “greener” route with an e-bike.

The idea has been floating around my brain for almost a year, after reading Kaiser Kuo’s musings about owning an e-bike and how it had put [him] back in touch with Beijing .

I liked the idea of the e-bike for many reasons: ecologically friendly, low maintenance, practical, no legal hassles and generally easy to own. My biggest problem though was the range: Most e-bikes on the market right now have a 30 to 50km range on a good day unless one invests in a lithium ion battery that might cost twice the price of the bike and won’t necessarily work out for the best.

My adventures and roamings through town can be lengthy on any particular evening taking me from the East side of town to the CBD then over to Gulou with a pit stop in Sanlitun, a trip to 2 Kolegas and finally back to the East side of town. This type of Journey adds up to about 60km and I needed a bike that could last the distance.

beautiful on the outside, scary on the inside

My first choice was a Big Turtle King or Da Gui Wang (大龟王). I like the way they look and they’re popular enough that it would be easy to get them serviced anywhere in town. The standard battery comes with realistic range of 30 to 40 Km when travelling at 35 k/h, much less if going faster. Don’t believe any shop keeper that says otherwise. Better batteries are available at a premium with the Lithium Ion option running at 4000RMB for the battery alone but it will last for 80 to 100km depending on the speed you’re driving.

I figured I’ll get one with the base battery and then upgrade as needed after I was convinced it worked. However, a trip to the bike shop changed my mind rather quickly: The big turtle kings are nothing but the shell of the gas powered version that someone took the engine out off and hacked up with an electric motor. They’re literally using fuse switches like the ones outside my door and there are naked cables running under the hood. There was no way this thing is gonna withstand one of Beijing’s famous downpours without electrocuting me… yeah, everyone is riding them but that don’t mean I will.
There is an export model making the rounds around Beijing that should be cleaner/neater but it’s not readily available and will run you 5000RMB minimim with the shitty battery.

Next up were the brand names: Cityfy is had a good reputaion but didn’t make any model i cared for. Yamaha, on the other hand, had just come out with the Metis Max which was a substantial upgrade to the regular Metis series they had been building for years now.

I had seen this model online and it was rated with an autonomy of 80km on one charge. I was lucky enough to be at the shop when someone that owned one came around and i was able to ask them a few questions about it. In a nutshell, of all the options available, it seemed like the one most likely to fit my needs and i got it. Total cost 4000 RMB including registration which was the taobao price.

The bike, or scooter I should say, is quite comfortable and has no problem handling 2 passengers! There are two power settings on it: Low and High. Using the low setting allows you to go at speeds of 25km/h to 30km/h and travel for at least 60 to 70km when riding alone.. about 60 if you have a passenger.
The high power setting brings in quite a bit of zip to the experience and lets you go between 35 to 40 km/h for a distance of up to 40km… this is all on the stock battery!

I’m also a lot more comfortable riding something that I can assumed has seen a semblant of quality control so that the lights and other components won’t fail without a warning! I could have paid a lot less but I’m a firm believer in the “You get what you pay for” motto.. this thing is gonna last me.

I’ve been using this baby for exactly a week and I can’t believe the difference it’s made in my life already: I can go anywhere i want anytime I want without dealing with taxis, crowd on a subway or any of the mafan that has plagued my life over the past few years. I’m also slowly venturing into side roads and back alleys seeing a whole new side to Beijing i never new existed.

now, unto the negatives:

- The battery on this thing is a freaking monster: it weighs in at 29kg… yeah, that’s twenty nine kilograms!
- There is no odometer telling you how much you’ve travelled. you have to rely on the battery gauge and learn to estimate your own distance. I used google maps to figure out how much i travelled on average and keep a cheat sheet as a reference.
- It is no speed demon
- As a brandname, it’s not so easy to mod the bike. local no-names can have tons of addons but the Yamaha might not handle them.
- that’s it

I decided to keep track of distances travelled per day and taxi costs I would normally pay to travel said distance in an excel spreadsheet just for the heck of it and so far, I’ve logged the required amount km I would do on a normal week in taxis! And guess what: in one week, I’ve saved 10% of the bike’s value in Taxi fare! yes, I had no idea I was spending in excess of 400 RMB/week in cabs!
At this rate, I would recoup the whole cost in about 10 weeks. That is not to mention the fact that I am no longer drinking out as much as i used to. 1 alcoholic beverage is all I’m allowing myself at the moment.

Do I have any buyer’s remorse? Nope! I can’t believe it took me this long to take the jump! The battery weight is definitely a pain in the ass and a bit of a concern. So far, I’ve taken it in 3 times and I’m getting used to it but I’d much rather have a 10kg battery. I still look at the Big Turtle Kings with envy sometimes but that more because i like the way they look. If someone were to clean them up and do a neat install, I’d consider switching and getting the extra speed but for now, I think I got the best bike for my needs.

My next mission is to convince bar/restaurant owners to set up charging stations much like they have free wi-fi available. Keep a charger or two handy for those customers that might require a little top-up. It costs less than 1 RMB to recharge the whole battery for 10 hours so think about the extra added value of keeping a customer on a seat drinking/eating while their bike charges. You’d make up that insvestment in a heart beat.

The Silver Daze

I’m also fixing to Join Kaiser in his quest to get a gang together with the sole purpose to keep bike lanes car-free…. I’ll go one step further and say i want them to be pedestrian free as well!!! Those bastards have sent me into fits of road rage cursing at their selfish ways over the past few days… who’s with us?

my oh my! how the mighty have fallen! I remember roaming around the Southeast United States on my Yamaha virago, racing clouds and trucks and what not! Now, I have joined the ranks of e-bike riders in Beijing with my very own Yamaha Metis Max…. more on this puppy after I’ve spent extra time riding it around!

how about that?

I’ve mentioned Beijing Daze quite a few times on here recently and for cause: It’s keeping me busy and distracted but it’s also giving me the opportunity to somewhat get back into the music scene after a long time of absence.

Over the past year, it’s give me the motivation to get away from “expat” Beijing and rediscover parts of the city that i had ignored in favor of the general bar scenes. I’ve also managed to get to know quite a few amazing/great persons hanging out til the wee hours of the morning talking music.

Meeting these musicians comes with benefits, one of which being the ability to secure a shitload of songs that i can share with my readers with absolutely no strings attached. so if you care about live music or want to hear some of what’s brewing in the Beijing music scene, head on over to http://beijingdaze.com/category/freeloading/ and get yourself those mp3 while they’re still up.

there’s rock, bluegrass, country, reggae, etc…. the list goes on with more goodies on the way!! merry christmas!

I had a little chance to catch Confucius (孔子） yesterday at the Megabox in Sanlitun and while i did not necessarily come out of it a better man (maybe the whole patience angle), it was better than expected!

Of course, most people are aware of the controversial decision to pull avatar out or the 2D screen in favor of the local production but more importantly, said local production has been slaughtered by foreigners and locals alike. I heard so much criticism of the movie that made it sound like one of the worst cinematographic products of recent memory.

The prominent Chinese blogger, Han Han (as translated by chinasmack) wrote that :

Finally, I want to say that the movie Confucius, whether it is from the perspective of cinematographic meaning, business profits, artistic merit, what it explores, its educational qualities, its historical accuracy, its entertainment value, its emotional resonance, etc., is completely unnecessary. It is a film that could be completely done without.

what? I mean come on, give me a break! I’ve seen plenty of movies in and out of China but I’m not going into that right now.

Maybe it was a byproduct of my low expectations but I can’t say I didn’t like the movie, at least from my limited perspective as a foreigner. I really wished I could actually follow the whole thing without needed the subtitles as there were times when I caught myself concentrating too much on what was written and forgetting the picture.

so, a few notes:

• I liked that they showed more than just the philosophical side of Confucius. I’m not sure he waged war with such ability but but it was good to see that aspect of his life/personality emphasized. One could even argue it was too much of an emphasis
• Too much politics, not enough philosophy. Then again, that is in many cases representative of the real situation in China even nowdays.
• G.O.L.F: Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden! The one somewhat meaningful female part was more or less meaningless. The empress is assassinated without explanation as to who or why.
• The was a sense of rushing through the story without tying loose ends… a cinematographic equivalent of the Chinese “deng deng deng” or etc..
• Chow Yun-fat did a decent job with the acting.. I honestly like the guy much more so than I like Jackie Chan.
• I don’t see what the fuss is all about either way
• The movie will get a decent reaction from overseas markets. They’r hungry for anything China and Confucius could use some PR. It’s also nice for the general mass populi to get a bit of education and have their stereotypes replaced by others that are closer to reality but nevertheless stereotypes.

what did you think?

This was gonna be year of no resolutions and no wish-lists, just actions and I guess it’s starting on good footing: I haven’t had a cigarette for 36 hours and so for I’m feeling quite good about the whole thing!

I wish I could say that it was some sort of effort but it wasn’t. I was out in the hotsprings with some friends recovering from NYE celebrations when I ran out of smokes and decided to not go and get more. My last cigarette was officially on January 1st 2010 around 9:00 pm

Let’s see how grumpy and bitchy i’m gonna be since tomorrow marks the beginning of my yearly detox week and lord knows i need one this year: The last two months were noticeable in terms of excess: too much going out, too much eating, too much drinking, too little sleep etc… I’m actually looking forward to being creative with my diet again and going for a whole different spectrum of dishes, not to mention experiment with new ones at home and outside.

wish me luck