The new Zongsen Carrera, impressions after driving 500 kms.

 

The new Zongsen Carrera, impressions after driving 500 kms.

 

1.                 Looks.

It looks pretty nice like a modern adventure bike

2.                 Quality Control

Has a decent quality fit and finish, much better than my Chinese made 2016 XY400 or 2017 Sinski 250. Paint quality, speedometer, RV mirrors, footrests, plastic fairings etc. aren’t outstanding but of a semi-decent quality. Chinese are learning and improving fast.

3.                 Engine.

It has an air cooled Zongsen 250cc, OHC with 2V, carbureted engine and a balancer shaft. The specs are as follows,

·         Type: Single-cylinder, 4-stroke, freely revving.

·         Air-cooled.

·         Displacement: 249.9cc. 72x61.4mm

·         Power: 18.7 HP.

·         Torque: 18-19 Nm

·         Starting: Electric only

·         Ignition: CDI.

·         Transmission: 6-speed.

·         Reliability: Widely praised for being durable and easy to maintain. 

 

4.                 Vibrations. OHC and the balancer shaft control the vibrations very well. Probably the balanced frame must also be contributing as this is probably the least vibrating single cylinder bike I have ever tried. The water cooled 250 Zongsen engines in my other bikes aren’t as smooth, though much more torquey.

5.                 Fuel Economy. With ordinary fuel in the first 500kms it gave fuel average of around 27-28kpl in city drive.

6.                 Transmission. It has a 6 speed transmission enabling it to climb well in the first gear and make the bike smooth and easy at high speeds in the sixth.

7.                 Brakes. Front and rear disk brakes give reasonable stopping power, nothing outstanding but better than the local 150s.

8.                 Suspension. Long travel front suspension isn’t upside down but works OK. I am sure the covering rubber boot would help it’s longevity. Rear monoshock works well making it reasonably comfortable.

a.                  Seat height. At 860mm it can be a bit challenging for those standing 5.7 or less. The rear monoshock is adjustable so it should be possible to lower it.  

9.                 Seat. Is OK although a bit hard.

10.            Chain sprockets. Surprisingly it comes with a 428 Chain and 14x46 sprockets. This would make availability easy but needing adjustment and replacement more often.

11.            Lights. LED lights all around are excellent making auxiliary lights unnecessary.

12.            Boxes. A 45liter top box and 2 side boxes are of good quality plastic and size.

13.            Crash bars and other accessories. High quality crash bars all around should be protecting the fairing. Hand guards, USB charger, skid plate come in handy.

14.            Reliability. Carreras are popular across the world including Europe, Africa and Latin America where it is known for its reliability and robustness. Reviews are available on Youtube.

15.            Availability of spares. The ZS PR250 engine is being used in Lahore for many years and is known for its toughness and longevity. It was imported by Mian Waqar of Sleeper engines and we had a difference of opinion as I preferred water cooled versions due to their better low end torque. But I understand that simplicity, lower price and ease of maintenance makes this air cooled PR250 a good choice. The engine spare parts are easily available in Lahore so should not cause problems.

Chain sprockets are also available without much hassle due to being 428.

Finding body parts would be a problem and forming owner groups would help. Once a certain number of bikes get on the roads I am sure importers would fill the gap. 

16.            Price. Zongsen Carrera 250 was launched for around 600k by New Asia. Interestingly all the new Chinese cars and motorcycle brands are being catered by 3 wheeler manufacturers.

Prevalent prices of other comparable bikes are as such,

a.                  Zongsen RX1 200cc. Marketed by Super Power, 800k.

b.                 Honda CB150F without accessories. Around 500k

c.                  Suzuki GR 150 without accessories. Over 500k

d.                 Benelli 250. Over 1500k.

e.                  Morbidelli 250. Around 1500k.

This makes the Carrera an attractive offering.

 

 

17.            Negatives.

a.                  Engine power is low, lower than my bigger bikes or even the water cooled ZS250s.

b.                 Imparts feeling of a cheap bike.

c.                  Air cooled.

d.                 Carburetor.

e.                  Small chain.

f.                   Smaller tires.

g.                 Spoke wheels.

h.                 Monoshock which is hard to repair/work on.

i.                   Wish it had a kick starter.

18.            Positives.

a.                  Monoshock.

b.                 Controlled vibrations (probably its strongest point).

c.                  Fully loaded. Only needs cigarette lighter and a tank pad.

d.                 Over 200mm of road clearance.

e.                  Competitive price.

 

 

Final impressions.

After using it for 3 weeks my observations are as follows,

It does not compare with the bigger Japanese bikes that feel and ride much more solid, are comfortable and more powerful.

At the same time it drives much better, is more comfortable and powerful than the locally made bikes.

 

2 interesting observations,

·                    Does everything well but nothing extraordinary.

·                    Its weaknesses are alsso its strengths and vice versa.

 

a.                  EFI vs. Carburetor; EFI makes combustion engines fuel efficient giving improved performance on climbs as compared to carbureted engines but are much more difficult to work on. I have seen EFI problems in the best of cars and motorcycle brands needing high tech expertise and parts that can take time and need transporting the vehicle. The carburetors on the other had are easy to work on and Pakistani mechanics everywhere can comfortably repair/adjust them. This makes the Carrera less fuel efficient but more reliable for far off places in Pakistan.

b.                 Air-cooled vs. water cooled. Water cooled engines are much more powerful and keep the temperature in check. Air cooled on the other hand tends to heat up on climbs when the air flow reduces further losing power and heating even more.

On the other side water cooled engines have coolant, hosepipes, clamps radiators and cooling fans that must be running perfectly all the time. A single breakdown can overheat the engine and cause major damage.

This makes Carrera not as good on hills as water cooled bikes but more robust and reliable as it has fewer complications and parts that can break down.

c.                  428 chain vs. 520. With a 250cc engine a 520 chain is expected but Carrera has a 428. 428s being smaller and weaker need more frequent adjustments and replacements but then 428s and its sprockets of all sizes and shapes are easily available in Pakistan.

d.                 Spokes vs. alloys. Alloy wheels with tubeless tires get flat less often and are easy to plug whereas spoke wheels are not. However alloy wheels can crack and can’t be repaired as the spoked wheels. This makes Carrera less suitable for the city and highway travel but more suitable for off-roading and travel to remote places. Personally I would take an alloy wheel driving to Islamabad but a spoked going to Karambar.

Take your pick.

e.                  Weight. At around 130kgs it doesn’t give the feel of a big bike but rides much better than the local bikes of similar price range. On the highways weight helps stabilize at speeds but can be a nuisance on off-road making raising from falls difficult. No wonder I can’t take my Honda NC on off roads as even the best riders fall and I am hardly a biker. Had the Carrera been heavier I wouldn’t have bought it.

 

I feel Zongsen Carrera would climb nearly all the mountains I can go, cross the off roads I might encounter, cruise at 100kph easily and would be easily maintained unlike the bigger bikes. I remember importing a simple rubber carburetor/engine insulator for my XR650 that cost me 40k with a lot of hassle. The same part used in Carrera costs 200 and is easily available.

 

To sum it up, it comes with nearly all the attachments I need, does everything I ask, is reliable, easy to maintain and inexpensive, it fills nearly all the boxes of my considerations.

Although it is no match to my Honda NC750, XR650L or SRE300, it is most suitable for traveling in Pakistan and I would prefer to travel on Carrera over all others. It appears to be the most suitable (not the best) bike for Pakistani travellers and best value for money.

 

In the end I would like to request the sponsors of New Asia, Mr. Ramzan and Ali Ramzan, not to increase the prices. Enjoy smaller profits and overtime this policy would profit more, establish your brand/goodwill and create a flourishing spare parts business. Within no time New Asia would be competing or beating the big international brands. Sudden increase of prices would hurt this positive hype which might die down as fast as it rose.

 

Having said that I don’t think boycotting Carrera would help achieve biker’s objectives. It might appear as bikers are punishing New Asia for marketing Carrera 250 for 600k while others were offering lesser bikes for 800k. We can’t and shouldn’t penalize someone for bringing better products at reduced prices.

 

I hope you found it useful.

 

Fi Aman Allah

 

Dr. Omar Khan

1-1-26

The Opium Wars: The Worst Unrecognized and Unrepentant Crime of Human History

 

Dr. Umar Khan

khanmomar@hotmail.com

Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.

30-8-25

 

 

 

 

The Opium Wars: The Worst Unrecognized and Unrepentant Crime of Human History

 

“Death of a young man due to accident or disease is a tragedy but addiction to narcotics is a far greater one.” 

 

In the eighteenth century Britain had effectively subjugated significant portion of the globe. The massive and wealthy India was under its control impoverished and destroyed by brutal looting and pillaging enriching itself in the process. Then after a small hiccup of Napoleanic wars Britain became the unchallenged world power extremely powerful and rich subjugating vast countries that would provide men and resources for further wars The never ending wars by the Brits started that are still continuing. British violence had gone berserk by the nineteenth century.

 

Now it was the turn of the world’s most populous and rich country, China, whose immense riches were to be grabbed. Some avariciousness.

This rapacity made Britain sell opium to the Chinese who had banned it due to a very high percentage of opium addicts with awful effects on economy and every other aspect of society. After trying to end opium trade for many years peacefully, the Chinese turned assertive enforcing its closure and this caused a series of Opium Wars, one of history's most brazen and destructive crimes, a state-sponsored narcotics operation enforced by naval gunboats. The British Empire, in this context, was the Pablo Escobar of the nineteenth century, operating on a global scale with a royal charter.

 

The Poisoned Trade and a Resisting Soldier

 

Opium, grown in British-subjugated Bengal of India was smuggled into China on an industrial scale, creating a cycle of addiction and silver drainage that crippled the Chinese society and economy.

 

Lin Zexu was the soldier appointed to resist this crime. Appointed by the Emperor in 1839, he acted decisively, His approach was methodical and decisive consisting of:

 

a.      Domestic Crackdown: He first targeted Chinese opium dealers, smokers, and corrupt officials who enabled the trade. He implemented rehabilitation programs and harsh penalties for users.

 

b.     Confrontation with Foreign Merchants: He arrived in Guangzhou in March 1839 and immediately blockaded the foreign merchants in their factories (warehouses). He demanded they surrender all stocks of opium and sign bonds promising never to trade the drug again.

 

c.      Destruction of opium: Lin Zexu seized 1.2 million kilograms (approx. 2.6 million pounds) of opium. In a massive public works project lasting 23 days (June 3 to June 25, 1839), he had the opium dissolved in water, salt, and lime in trenches and flushed out to sea at Humen Beach. This act was a powerful symbolic victory.

 

d.     Diplomatic offensive: In a remarkable diplomatic move, Lin wrote an open letter to Queen Victoria of England. Appealing to moral reason, he questioned how Britain could permit such a harmful trade and famously asked, "Suppose there were people from another country who carried opium for sale to England and seduced your people into buying and smoking it; certainly your honorable ruler would deeply hate it and be bitterly aroused." History I silent if the letter never reached the Queen as there were no replies.

 

In summary, Lin Zexu's role was that of a principled and determined official who took drastic action to eradicate the opium trade to save his nation from social and economic collapse. While his campaign failed in the short term and led to a disastrous war, it established his enduring legacy as a Chinese symbol of the fight against drugs and foreign domination.

 

He understood the human cost, and in his righteous fury, he dismissed the British as an "insignificant and detestable race, trusting entirely to their strong ships and large guns." He reasoned that: “A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! Our purpose is to eliminate this poison once and for all and to the benefit of all mankind.”

 

Britain’s response was not introspection, but invasion. The might of the Royal Navy was deployed to protect the "right" of its merchants to earn colossal profits by making a nation addicted to narcotics.

 

A contemporary analogy by David Mitchell makes it brutally clear: "It would be like the Colombians invading Washington in the early twenty-first century and forcing the White House to legalize heroin. And saying, 'Don't worry, we'll show ourselves out, and take Florida while we're at it, okay? Thanks very much.'"

 

Even in Britain, voices of conscience cried out. Future Prime Minister William Gladstone denounced it as "Palmerston's Opium War... A war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I do not know and have not read of." His protest was in vain and history books didn’t blame Palmerton or Queen Victoria for this colossal crime. The strangest heinous crime with no parallel in the known human history.

 

Historian Julia Lovell reflects on the psychological effects on such aggressors, noting how "war guilt" can lead to blaming the injured party and persisting with violence. China was not just defeated; it was humiliated. It didn’t end up there and China was further blamed for resisting free trade of narcotics.

 

The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) formalized this humiliation, the first of the "unequal treaties." It forced China to cede Hong Kong, open five ports to foreign trade, grant extraterritoriality to British citizens, and pay a massive indemnity. More opium wars were forced upon China with even more indemnities, killings and humiliation. Shockingly the destitute, abjectly poor Chinese were paying indemnities till the start of the Second World War.

 

The century of shame had begun, culminating in later events where foreign powers, having set up a puppet government in Peking legitimized virulent racism, loot and humiliation of the Chinese at every opportunity. Signboards were put in public places restricting and equating Chinese with dogs, less than humans in their own land.

 

The Chinese government and society were destabilized causing the Taiping rebellion resulting in over 30 million deaths. Millions more died in famines like the great famine of 1876-79 when tens of millions perished. Although there is no conclusive study but the estimates of direct and indirect loss of lives due to the drug pushing by the British Empire tops a hundred million, an absolutely massive tragedy.

 

The damages were catastrophic. In China, addiction ravaged the social fabric, causing incalculable suffering, deaths, and instability. The nation was carved into spheres of influence, its sovereignty shattered. The collective trauma of this subjugation fuels China's foreign policy and national psyche to this day.

 

Worst of all the national self-esteem of the Chinese, just like Indians, was demolished. More than a century later during my childhood the Chinese were known and ridicule as useless addicts good for nothing. It took China many more revolutions and loss of life to come out of this calamity and claim its place in the comity of nations as a respectable nation.

 

But this crime had another, often overlooked, victim: India. The British monopoly on opium forced Indian farmers to replace food crops with poppy, directly contributing to famines, including the horrific famines of Bengal. As Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali, the First Prime Minister of India's Provisional Government, astutely observed, the British were sea-wolves, and “The difference in modern times is the refinement of hypocrisy which sharpens the edges of brutality.” India was made both a weapon and a victim in this criminal enterprise.

 

A Crime Without an Apology

 

The Opium Wars were not a historical anomaly but a calculated act of narcoterrorism for economic gain. The suffering, death, and instability they caused, the residual national humiliations that linger, and the sheer moral bankruptcy of the act mark it as the historical crime that most demands an apology and repentance, maybe compensation too.

 

Heroes and villains of this crime must be identified and our history books corrected for the future generations.

 

The roles are starkly defined: Lin Zexu, the official who stood for public health and sovereignty I an absolute hero of the decent humanity.

The British government under Queen Victoria, which, when presented with a plea for basic human decency, chose instead to accumulate more wealth irrespective of its catastrophic effects on hundreds of millions is a vicious villain.

 

This particular tragedy speaks volumes about the legitimacy that we impart on pursuing national interest irrespective of scruples, an unqualified moral bankruptcy.

 

This is a chapter of history that stands as a permanent stain on humanity, a testament to the fact that the greatest crimes are not always committed in the shadows, but sometimes in the broad daylight of imperial policy. If there was ever a need for national apology and collective guilt, this crime was one of most deserving. We can start by calling Lin Zexu and universal hero for resisting and condemning Queen Victoria for promoting narcotrafficking.

 

 

 

 

khanmomar@hotmail.com