Cycling in China

[Bachian]

Good day everyone,

My name is Mohsin and I am an expatriate worker living in China for almost 12 years now. I have been a cycling enthusiast for a while now and I see a lot of questions about cycling products as well as general cycling related questions about this place because it is not so easy to get access to non-bias information here. That said, I started a channel and hope that I can assist by providing information about cycling culture here as well as try to review any products which you may be interested in. If this is something you would be interested in, please visit my channel, and or suggest on the forum which products you would be interested in from China. Looking forward to your responses.

Mohsin (China Rides)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMJVRK82e5o&t=615s

[maxim809]

Welcome Bachian! And thanks so much for sharing this.

There is an abundance of information about cycling in Europe, USA, and also Australia. Meanwhile, from my bubble it's really tough to get information about cycling in Asia, especially China. So content like this is really interesting. Personally, I've been craving totally different perspectives on our sport so glad to see a variety. ChinaCycling has done some really good interviews in the past as well which I appreciate.

I'm happy to keep this thread here in Road for visibility, and eventually may move it over to the Bike Travel/Destination regional chat.

[Lewn777]

I lived in Chia for 18 years and cycled the whole time. It's a fantastic place for cycling, wide cycle lanes in the cities and some really inspiring mountain climbs. Being a similar size to Western Europe there is obviously a huge variability from region to region. There are some downsides such as newer town and city development looking incredibly similar, and restrictions on where and how foreigners can live and stay.

[Bachian]

Welcome Bachian! And thanks so much for sharing this.

There is an abundance of information about cycling in Europe, USA, and also Australia. Meanwhile, from my bubble it's really tough to get information about cycling in Asia, especially China. So content like this is really interesting. Personally, I've been craving totally different perspectives on our sport so glad to see a variety. ChinaCycling has done some really good interviews in the past as well which I appreciate.

I'm happy to keep this thread here in Road for visibility, and eventually may move it over to the Bike Travel/Destination regional chat.

Good evening Maxim,

Thank you for your message. To be honest with you, I have never vlogged before, but I am a historian and love cycling, so I thought it would be nice to share my experience with the world because as your know there is little information about these parts in terms of cycling culture. I'll check out the link you sent. Please feel free to move the post to the relevant location as I was unsure of where to post.
I hope you have a lovely day

[Bachian]

Good day/evening to everyone

I hope you had a lovely week. Here I am with another weekly update from China. If you have any questions or suggestions about the content, please feel free to let me know. I want to improve in my videography/storytelling, so any advise is welcome. Have an awesome week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ToBkLv_T4

Mohsin (China Rides)

[alanyu]

I'm a Chinese now working in CH. In Shanghai, no matter before or nowadays, the road is always full of traffic, the bike lane are usually full of electron mobiles, and parked cars, unless you ride to some remote areas. I much prefer cycling in CH than in China, except the brutal two digital grade climb.

[cnishikigi1]

I went to college in Beijing and picked up the hobby of cycling. One regret from my college life was I never climbed 妙峰山, which was a famous HC climb in the region and used to be part of some pro race routes. Back then we would get up at 5 am so that the subway would let us bring in our bikes with front wheels off (sadly, most Chinese public transit prohibit bikes in any case). We would take the train from Haidian all the way to Changping and ride westbounds for the hills. But I didn't keep on riding due to academic stuff or whatsoever. I'll probably be away from my home country for at least 5 years before completing grad school, and I do wish I could be competitive in riding to some extent when I return home in the future.

I agree with alan that urban bike lanes are so stuffed with food delivery ebikes and parked motor vehicles. It is an absolute nightmare to ride these roads, especially if you commute on a bike. It's also extremely controversial in Chinese Internet when it comes to riding on motor lanes. Sometimes cyclists are forced to move there since so many bike lanes are just completely unfunctional. I personally would try my best to avoid this case.

The way to go is probably get out of town. I'm glad we do have many nice country roads that provide really good experiences. I also like it that you can always call a 货拉拉 whenever you come across glitches that you can't fix by yourself, it always works if you're only tens of km from town. (btw 货拉拉 drivers are notorious for aggresive driving styles)

This photo is taken in 2021 at 潭王路. I was riding rim brake back then and the entire bike cost less than $1500. I wouldn't say it was better than what I have now, but certainly a pleaure to ride.

[Bachian]

Good morning all,

This week we climbed Miaofeng mountain in Beijing which is a HC level climb (over 15km in length with an average gradient of over 5%). It constantly rises with parts that are over 25%. The climb also featured in the 2014 Tour of Beijing. What made it worse was it was -5 degrees and we had headwinds the whole day.
At the top of the mountain there is temple dedicated to the Taoist goddess Bixia Yuanjun. The drive to Beijing, the climb and the temple at the end made for an almost spiritual experience. This video took around 25 hours to edit because I wanted to do justice to the experience. I hope that carries over.

Best wishes.
Mohsin (China Rides)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD4dgMVGEdk

[mike]

i really love this post! please continue to post pics. really interested in how cycling is in china, given the cities are way overcrowded for regular biking. like you said, mostly people on ebikes doign their food deliveries or just commuting to work, get groceries, etc.