Bill “Big Bill” Eng is a jack of all trades, but his specialty, where he really shines, is in his motorcycle building and customization businesses based here in Beijing. “Anything that has less than four wheels, I’m involved in,” he boasts.

Despite his current passion, he fell into the business by chance in 2004. At that time, he made a website for a local guy who was running a CJ 750 business, but when the guy took off with all his clients’ money, Bill, an avid biker since age 12, decided to take over.

Since then, he’s opened three Big Bill’s Bikes outlets around Beijing, including two that deal exclusively with CJ 750 sidecars. This bike was originally developed in WWII-era Germany to quickly move troops in and out of cities, and BMW originally made about 30,000 BMW R71s, complete with grenade launchers and machine guns.

Later, the technology was copied by the Russians and named the M72, which later became the Chinese Chang Jiang 750. Today, Big Bill has a few mechanics building the sidecars from the ground up using surplus sidecars and vintage parts from casts and dyes made in the 1950s and 60s.

“They’re very basic, like lawnmower technology,” he says of the sidecars that he sells both here and abroad.

Precision technology or not, these machines have a classic, vintage look and are great for off-roading, which makes them perfect for the weekend camping trips Big Bill organizes.

This doesn’t mean they can’t be fancy, though. Big Bill says many of his Chinese clients want their custom bikes tricked out with luxuries like gold screws. One customer even paid RMB1.5 million to commission the celebrated artist/calligrapher Yang Yan to paint his CJ 750.

While Big Bill’s Bikes motto is “No bullshit,” they’re willing to fulfill a client’s every wish—a business model that must be working, considering Bill has already sold 60 or 70 bikes this year at an average price of RMB30,000-50,000, including those that get exported.

Big Bill also says anyone can join his group, the Gobi Road Bike Club, as long as they follow these two rules: “Your bike has to be in decent condition, and there is no hot doggin’ or riding like a jerk.”

Consider our engines revved!

What: Big Bill’s Bikes，Yard 3, Jingshun Road, 京顺路3号院

Web: www.cj750.net

Email: cj750net@gmail.com