Some friends here in Shanghai looking to start exporting classic Chinese bikes to America and Europe. In the States we might call them 'vintage' but they've never gone out of use here. I think these bikes a great rides, but not sure what people back home think about them.
So just now I'm just looking for your opinions. We could play up the "Chinese-ness" of them with detailing, or just ship 'em as they're ridden here.
take a look at the style (sold by a different company), and tell me what you think.

I lived in Shanghai for a year back in the late 80's as decadant Western student. Got me an old bike similar to that but way more heavy duty. It was used for heavy transport. Huge rack on back, no cables for brakes - solid steel rod linkage, the thing must have weighed about 40 lbs. Awesome. The momentum and inertia when riding that bike was incredible. I saw guys packing immense loads and towing like a 500 lb bale of hay or something with these while smoking. They had legs like steel. The only shortfall was the crappy cottered cranks. I had to visit the LBS (Old Man with hammer and punch in alley) once every couple of weeks for new pins. Thought about having them welded but the labor costs were minimal and kept the guy in the alley employed. I had to change money in a local coffee shop around there anyway. Gotta love the Black Market. These days I'm sure motorized vehicles rule the road and cyclists are becoming less and less in the big cities. Too bad. Should have seen the locals when I would romp through their village on my Fat Chance. 4 cents/liter for beer! (Ambient Temp only).

So what would a higher quality "Chinese" bike cost these days?

I'm curious too. Shipping might kill this deal. Do they ship by container-load only?

I've always thought such bikes were highly practical.

They have pretty much everything you'd want from in a commuter bike, they're simple and they look easy to maintain. I believe Breezer bikes borrow heavily from them. The only thing I don't like about Breezers is that IMO they're too expensive for the potential commuters/entry-level riders who'd be most attracted to them.

With gas prices so much in the news, more US Americans are thinking about bike commuting, so the time seems right for a bike like this.

I'm guessing these bikes would be pretty inexpensive? What's your ballpark guess at retail price?

Personally, I like the Chinese-ness, but I'm not sure that middle 'Murka would find it very appealing. Probably you should go the other way, and paint them red white & blue!

Kinda reminds me of Worksman Cycles:



These bad boys hail from Ozone Park NY and cost from $300 -$500 depending on the bike.

https://www.worksmancycles.com/
https://www.worksman.com/

that chinese bike is super cool! i dig the way it slopes down on the TT! [er, maybe that's the kickstand's work, but looks cool parked then!]

and what are those drunken angles?! they look like the incarnation of the zany 'touring bike' sketch in (the late) tom cuthberston's 'bike tripping'!

man, i'd love to ride one of those! i'd polish the hell outa the thing, and maybe replace the pleather with some custom brack leather...

I welcome the return of good, dependable nonrocket science bicycles such as these bikes offer. I used to get laugh at when I traded my road bikes for these style of bikes. Now I stand to finally get some respect.

Beware that there is a difference between these bicycles and this type of bicycle. These bikes are modeled on the Raleigh DL-1 tourists of old. The design is far out of date in terms of technology now, but in the right hands a DL-1 bike is highly useful and a blast to ride. I've owned a 1978 DL-1 for almost 2 years now and it's a wonderful rider.

The Chinese and Indian bicycles borrow heavily from this design, but are a liability in terms of quality. They have duplicated the design but with inferior quality steel and so the bikes become somewhat unreliable. There is a proliferation of amateur repairmen on the streets of China and India because of the popularity and unreliability of the cheaper bikes. I've wanted to see a new DL-1 bike for quite some time now, but the Indian and Chinese examples I have encountered fall far short of the old British quality, even in the later series Raleighs from the 70s and early 1980s. If you figure in the shipping cost of these bikes and their weight, I'll bet you can get your hands on a decent vintage Raleigh of the same style that is used but of a higher quality. I landed mine for $120 and, with a little work, it was back in great shape.

I love these old style roadsters but I would avoid paying the high shipping for a lower quality new bike and stalk about ebay for awhile in search of a vintage Raleigh here in the States. I think you'd save money in the long run with the better reliability.

I want one.

Specifically, I want this one:

https://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_s.../indbikes.html



The "Newsboy INB."Reminds me of my old Typhoon.

[whisper]Rosebud...[/whisper]