From a teenage dropout chasing a TV crew by means of chilly rain to a world champion motorbike producer, Zhang Xue’s 20-year journey proves that cussed ardour can transfer mountains.
by sportswriters Dong Yixing and Shen Nan
BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) — In a wet day in 2006, 19-year-old motorbike mechanic Zhang Xue rode 100 kilometers by means of muddy mountainous roads in China’s Hunan Province, shivering in soaked garments, to intercept a tv crew.
He simply needed one probability to show he belonged in an expert motorbike racing group. They laughed at him. He crashed. But then he bought again up.
Twenty years later, Zhang Xue made a reputation because the founding father of ZXMOTO, after considered one of his bikes secured two victories on the Portuguese spherical of the Superbike World Championship (WSBK) on March 28 and 29. The Chinese model broke the decades-long monopoly of Ducati, Yamaha and Kawasaki.
How did the world see Chinese bikes earlier than these victories? “Maybe there was no impression,” Zhang instructed Xinhua days after the win. “Do you understand? Your existence or non-existence feels the same to them.”
THE TEENAGE OUTCAST
The 2006 footage that includes him chasing the van has exploded throughout Chinese social media. “I’ll do anything. Wash clothes, cook, fix bikes,” Zhang pleaded into the digicam, figuring out the opposite riders laughed at him.
In 2023, he contacted the tv station and requested for the unique footage. When requested why, he replied with a single phrase: advertising and marketing.
The advertising and marketing labored. That footage turned an abnormal man’s epic battle right into a legend – with out it, no underdog story, no breakout consideration.
Zhang’s story begins in a crumbling mud-brick home in rural Hunan Province, central China. Born in 1987 to divorced dad and mom, he was stuffing plastic sheeting into cracks by age 10 with a youthful sister. He dropped out of college at 14 to work in a restore store, sleeping lined in engine grease, saving each single yuan.
“I never thought about changing careers,” Zhang stated within the interview. “I never had the opportunity to change careers. And since I could still do this thing, I just kept doing it.”
That apprenticeship gave him one thing no engineering diploma may: he noticed each potential method a motorbike breaks. “I know which structures fail most often. When I started building my own bikes, I knew exactly which designs to avoid.”
Around 2009, Zhang had moved to Zhejiang to work at Apollo. There, he discovered to experience like an expert, entered numerous beginner races, and gained just a few trophies. A China Central Television program filmed him making an attempt a water-crossing stunt twice. He failed each instances and injured himself.
But he instructed the digicam: “Even if I don’t succeed this time, I’ll keep trying. Maybe not next time either. But eventually, I will.” The identical present additionally captured him dismantling an engine after which reassembling it blindfolded in simply over an hour.
THE DREAM THAT GOT AWAY
In early 2013, he arrived in Chongqing, the guts of China’s motorbike trade, along with his spouse Chen Xingyi and simply 20,000 yuan (about 2,900 U.S. {dollars}). He went straight to the elements market, blew his total financial savings on parts, and assembled a motorcycle in his personal imaginative and prescient. He posted his progress on on-line boards, grew to become a minor celeb in China’s motorbike circles, offered his first bike, and constructed a greater one. Later that 12 months, he joined Huanghe Motorcycle, serving to develop the 250X and 300X. In 2017, he co-founded Kove Moto.
But the cash by no means lasted. “From the moment he started making his first product in Chongqing, we were borrowing,” Chen later instructed Jiemian News. For 5 years, the couple borrowed from family members and associates, totaling a number of million yuan.
Chen saved a meticulous ledger, marking every debt with a checkmark as soon as repaid. They by no means defaulted. Spring Festival, when money owed are historically settled, was the toughest time. If that they had cash, they paid. If not, they begged for extensions, or borrowed once more, or offered spare elements.
In 2018, Kove Moto launched its first manufacturing bike, the 500X, promoting 800 items that 12 months. “That was when Zhang started to made 10,000 yuan a month,” Chen stated. “I finally felt our life was improving.”
Zhang by no means gave up his personal racing dream. In 2023, he led Kove to the Dakar Rally, turning into the primary producer ever to have all its bikes end on the primary try. That identical 12 months, at China’s Taklimakan Rally, he raced himself. Midway by means of a stage, an off-road automobile clipped him. He was knocked unconscious, and suffered a fractured finger. He wakened and nonetheless completed the day’s stage.
But time catches everybody. In the Xinhua interview, requested if he has any private racing objectives left, Zhang shook his head. “Personally, no. Unless there’s some senior category or recreational class I can join.”
Then why not race anymore? His reply was brutally sincere: “No, it’s that I can’t run anymore. You ask a 40-year-old track athlete if he still competes. What can he say?”
So is he a sportsman or a businessman? “Half and half. Deep down, I wish I could be a pure rider. But realistically, I have to feed all these people. If I don’t make money, everyone starves. Then would I still have a bike to ride? Could I still race? No.”
THE ENGINE THAT COST EVERYTHING
At Kove, Zhang needed to construct an in-house engine, whereas his companions needed to promote present fashions and depend income. When they balked on the threat, Zhang borrowed 10 million yuan (1.45 million {dollars}) from the corporate personally, promising to repay each cent if it failed. The engine labored, however the stress did not go away.
In March 2024, Zhang resigned from the corporate he constructed, strolling away from substantial fairness. “After careful consideration, I have decided to pursue my own path among the stars and the sea,” he wrote on social media.
He began ZXMOTO inside a month. Within a 12 months, the corporate unveiled its first manufacturing mannequin, the 500RR, and started deliveries. By the tip of the 12 months, its output worth reached 750 million yuan (104 million {dollars}).
“We’re professional, we’re efficient,” Zhang stated. “Our company only holds one regular meeting every two years. Any problem that comes up, I can be at the site immediately.”
Just earlier than the 500RR launch, nevertheless, the corporate practically died. It was February 2025, one month earlier than the scheduled launch. Zhang couldn’t pay March salaries.
“I borrowed from my landlord, from my friends, from my suppliers,” he stated. “If I knew you, I’d ask you too.”
He scraped collectively the cash, paid his individuals, and offered the primary batch of bikes. The firm survived. When requested if that counted as an enormous issue, Zhang shrugged. “Not really. You just figure it out.”
Gao Yang, who joined the corporate after being recruited personally by Zhang, described the work atmosphere with a mixture of admiration and exhaustion.
“He’s very intense. He’s in a battle every day. One time he called me at 2 a.m. When I got to the office at 8 a.m., he was already sitting there,” Gao recalled.
But Gao additionally famous Zhang’s uncommon willingness to alter: after seeing a news story a couple of CEO who paid fines for yelling at workers, Zhang introduced he would do the identical for every outburst. “So far, no one has had to pay yet,” Gao stated.
THE BIKE THAT WON
The motorbike that conquered the Portugal circuit, the 820RR-RS, is sort of similar to the bike prospects can purchase for 43,800 yuan (6,361 U.S. {dollars}), a fraction of the value of its European and Japanese opponents.
Zhang pointed to 2 core strengths that got here straight from his design philosophy: light-weight and efficiency setup. That focus gave the 820RR-RS its edge on the observe, permitting Debise to outbrake two Yamaha rivals and energy out of corners with superior low-end torque.
The manufacturing bike that prospects purchase shares these identical elementary traits, constructed not as a race particular however as a machine designed to win from the bottom up.
French rider Debise, who piloted the bike to victory, recalled his first impression in a web based interview with Xinhua.
“From the first time I rode it, the feeling was great. Even with European or Japanese manufacturers, the first test you always have some problems. This time we didn’t have anything.”
Debise admitted he confronted criticism for breaking his contract with one other model to affix an unproven Chinese group.
“I didn’t reply anything. I just waited until now to win the races. Now I make people shut up and prove that Chinese motorcycles are very strong.”
And what satisfied him? “Zhang Xue himself. I wanted to race with this team and nobody else. He does this more for passion than for business.”
THE GLOBAL AMBITIONS
The victories lit up China’s motorbike market. Pre-orders for the 820RR surged 200 p.c in three days. Dealerships reported being flooded with inquiries, a livestream drew 6,000 viewers and restricted version merchandise additionally offered out.
“The sales impact has been very noticeable. That’s why we race,” Zhang acknowledged. “But honestly? I didn’t know we would win. I didn’t know it would bring this much traffic. I didn’t even know if I would earn back the money I spent.”
Next 12 months, Zhang plans so as to add Dakar and MotoGP efforts, the place a single race can price as a lot as a whole WSBK season.
“You have to sell so many motorcycles just to earn back what you spend on racing,” he stated. “It’s too hard to calculate, so I just don’t calculate it.”
For Zhang, the victory is about a couple of firm’s success. Currently, he estimates Chinese manufacturers maintain about 20 to 30 p.c globally, although domestically they’ve already dominated with at the very least 80 p.c of the market.
“Within the next five years, Chinese brands will capture 50 percent of the global large-displacement motorcycle market currently held by international brands. Maybe even 70 percent,” Zhang made no small predictions. “We have stronger performance, better quality and higher cost-performance ratio.”
He can also be reasonable in regards to the gaps that stay. When requested why he did not use a Chinese rider, he was blunt: “Because our Chinese riders aren’t fast enough yet. There’s no training system. There’s no racing culture.”
His firm has launched a assist program providing a a million yuan annual prize pool for younger Chinese riders competing internationally. He hopes to ascertain a full youth academy when annual manufacturing reaches 100,000 items, which he expects in two to 3 years.
Has he ever needed to surrender up to now 20 years? “No. Never.”
His recommendation to younger individuals from nowhere? “Figure out what you want. Be really clear. Then go after it like crazy. That saying online, that some things are impossible no matter how hard you try? That’s not true. If you want it badly enough and you work hard enough, you can achieve it.”
When requested what the 19-year-old model of himself, the one chasing that tv crew by means of the rain, would ask the 39-year-old champion, Zhang paused, his eyes glistened with tears.
“That hypothetical doesn’t really work,” he stated. “But if he met me, I’d tell him to just keep doing what he wants to do. Just keep going.”