Chapter 173: Progress in Civilian Products

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The maiden flight had been completed smoothly and beyond expectations. The funding for the subsequent research and development had been secured, and they had also successfully established contact with the military over the Super Seven project. Every project at the base was moving forward rapidly. The engine department’s core powerplants were undergoing constant testing as well, consuming fuel every day on a scale the base had once never even dared imagine.

At this point, Yang Hui had little else to do. He needed to inspect the base’s civilian project. Although the sidecar motorcycle engine was rather old, it would be the base’s first attempt to enter the civilian piston-engine market, so it was still necessary to keep a close eye on it.

Hongdu had been quite accommodating. The technicians sent there by the base had been given thorough, hands-on instruction. Since the base was only working on engines rather than complete vehicles, there was no serious problem. Without competing in the complete-vehicle market, Hongdu’s attitude was essentially: if you wanted to tinker with engines, then go ahead and tinker.

The civilian-engine technical team was quite capable. Several months had passed since they had returned from Hongdu, bringing with them several engines donated by Hongdu as well as the base’s discarded sidecar motorcycle. They had set up shop in an abandoned hangar and begun their work.

When Yang Hui arrived at the project team’s quarters, he was astonished for quite some time. One side of the old hangar was piled high with parts. There were completed engines, as well as a sidecar motorcycle without an engine. The other side was lined with office desks, where the technicians were working on their designs. They seemed to be working with remarkable enthusiasm.

This was typical garage culture—or hangar culture, which was perhaps more fitting here. In any case, a hangar sounded far grander than a garage, so these entrepreneurs had a considerably higher starting point than most.

Standing at the entrance, Yang Hui could faintly hear the sound of hammering from somewhere deeper inside. He had no idea what they were doing, but that did not matter. He needed to find the technical director he had personally appointed. None of these men handled administration; they were all technical specialists, and with only twenty or so of them, a single team leader was more than enough.

“Excuse me, comrade. Where can I find Director Ding? I need to speak with him.”

The person in charge of modifying the motorcycle engines was a man surnamed Ding. Yang Hui had searched for a long time before finally finding him. At first, locating someone at the base who worked on motorcycle engines had seemed nearly impossible. The base specialized in aircraft—who there would know anything about such machines?

Yet perseverance had paid off, and Yang Hui had managed to find just such a person. As it happened, this man had been working on sidecar motorcycle engines at the base all along.

Ding Lei was a local. He had joined the base when it was first established. At the time, he had not even graduated from middle school. He had been recruited to handle the base’s logistical work, chiefly the maintenance and servicing of its sidecar motorcycles.

The 750 sidecar motorcycle was notorious for its many problems. Calling it the queen of the shed would not have been an exaggeration. Whatever trouble a motorcycle could possibly develop, the 750 seemed capable of producing it sooner or later.

There was a saying that, although somewhat exaggerated, made the point well: if someone served as a motorcycle soldier in the Republic’s army for two years, that was all the experience he needed. After discharge, he could open a motorcycle repair shop. During those two years, the sidecar motorcycle would have developed practically every problem a motorcycle could develop, and the soldiers themselves would have had to fix them all.

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The saying was exaggerated, but it at least demonstrated that the sidecar motorcycle did indeed suffer from an abundance of minor faults. Ding Lei had maintained every sidecar motorcycle at the base for more than a decade. He knew the machine inside and out, and there was no one at the base better suited to the job.

Although Ding Lei had not even finished middle school, he had attended quite a few of the training courses offered by the base. Technically and theoretically, he was therefore fully competent. Entrusting the sidecar motorcycle engine project to him was a suitable choice, and Ding Lei had not disappointed Yang Hui’s expectations.

“Oh, Secretary-General Yang, you’ve arrived at just the right time. Our project has reached the point where we ought to report our progress to you. We’ve been back from Hongdu for quite a while now, and we’ve spent a great deal of money. We ought to have something to show for it.”

Having results was certainly encouraging. Yang Hui was merely unsure what those results were. It was somewhat surprising to see them produced so quickly.

“What results? Tell me about them. It would be even better if you already had a finished product. Isn’t that what we invested all this money for?”

Ding Lei led Yang Hui over to one of the desks. He rubbed the engine oil on his hands against his work clothes twice, then pulled a stack of documents from the cabinet beneath the desk. There was no physical prototype yet, but they did have documentation and schematic drawings.

“Take a look. This is the design I’ve been considering. We haven’t modified the engine itself yet. Our technical foundation still isn’t mature enough, so we decided to make some changes to the transmission first.”

Was the 750 fuel-hungry? Absolutely. Where did the problem lie? The biggest issue was the engine itself, but the transmission was another culprit.

Such a massive fuel guzzler had only four gears, one of which was reverse. How could anyone put up with that? With a transmission like this, it was no wonder the 750 consumed so much fuel.

Ding Lei removed the simplified transmission-design drawing from the documents and handed it to Yang Hui. He did not know whether Yang Hui could understand the transmission. After all, aircraft engines and motorcycle transmissions were quite different. Fortunately, anyone with a mechanical background could understand a schematic drawing.

Ding Lei began explaining the design:

“Actually, we have to thank that French friend of ours. He was very interested in our sidecar motorcycle. When he rode in one, he couldn’t understand why it was so incredibly noisy. During our conversation, he learned where this model came from and introduced us to BMW motorcycles in Europe. He told us that BMW transmissions already had far more gears than ours.”

At this, Yang Hui suddenly remembered the Frenchman who had installed CATIA for them last time. Thinking back, the man had turned out to be quite helpful. He had revealed some valuable information and given the base’s motorcycle-engine team an important nudge. They really ought to thank him.

“Not bad. Go on. I’m listening. It looks as though it may be feasible.”

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“We knew the transmission had to be modified, but we didn’t make any major changes. We simply changed the four-speed transmission into a five-speed one, adding one forward gear. We wanted to be cautious and take things step by step.”

Adding only one forward gear was not exactly revolutionary, but considering that this was their first improvement, a conservative approach was necessary.

“All right. That should work. How far along are you with the modifications?”

As for their progress, they truly could not afford to rush. The project had appeared rather suddenly, and no one at the base had ever worked on anything like it. The personnel were still becoming accustomed to one another and had only just begun to understand what the project involved.

These problems had been troubling Ding Lei. There was simply no way he could handle so much on his own.

“Secretary Yang, you really can’t hurry us on this. Everyone has only just figured out what we’re dealing with. This is our first time doing anything like it, so we really need more time. Given our current situation, we’ll need at least another year.”

A year was not an especially long time, but they could not afford to wait. The domestic motorcycle industry was about to explode. If they could not bring out a good engine soon, they would miss their chance to profit from the coming boom.

“I understand, but we can’t wait that long. If necessary, I’ll authorize you to recruit people from outside. Find skilled sidecar-motorcycle repairmen like yourself—the more experienced and proficient they are, the better. But the total number must not exceed twenty.”

Yang Hui had no idea how difficult it was to find skilled motorcycle mechanics at that time. Those with real expertise were either employed by state enterprises or public institutions, handling maintenance and repairs, or they ran small private repair shops. They were all doing quite well. Why would they be willing to come to the base to work on engines? They were no fools.

Ding Lei did not know any of this, but his first impression of Yang Hui’s proposal was that it was worth trying. What he could not have imagined was that this attempt would truly lead him to a very valuable find.

To be continued.