ποΈA 19-year-old boy chased a car for 100 kilometers in the rain. Twenty years later, the motorcycle he built surpassed Yamaha to win the championship
π¬"I told you to come interview meβmy riding skills are exceptional!"
π§οΈIn 2006, heavy rain poured down in Huaihua, Hunan.
π΄ββοΈNineteen-year-old Zhang Xue rode a dilapidated motorcycle, his eyes fixed on the TV station's interview vehicle ahead. He twisted the throttle to the max and chased for over 100 kilometers, for three full hours.
π§Rain battered his eyes so hard he could barely see, his clothes were soaked through, but he refused to give up.
πΊThe production crew thought he was "nothing special" and wanted to leave after filming.
πͺBut this stubborn young man from Hunan wouldn't accept fateβhe fought for another hour of filming time.
πTwenty years later, on March 28, 2026, at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal.
ποΈOn the World Superbike Championship (WSBK) track, a Chinese-made motorcycle crossed the finish line with an absolute advantage of nearly 4 seconds ahead of second place.
πThe next day, it won again, achieving a double victory.
πDucati, Yamaha, Kawasakiβthese international giants that had dominated the racing circuit for decades fell silent.
π₯"I've waited 20 years for this moment... We won!"
π‘In 1987, Zhang Xue was born in a mountain village in Huaihua, Hunan.
π§At age 14, carrying a worn-out backpack, he walked into a motorcycle repair shop in the county town and became an apprentice.
π Every day before dawn, he would get up to open the shop, sweep the yard, clean tools, and disassemble oil-covered engines, working over ten hours a day.
β«The black motor oil under his fingernails could never be washed clean, and wounds on his hands would scab over only to be cut again by parts.
π―What others saw as dirty, exhausting labor, he saw as steps toward his dream.
πHe studied disassembled parts late into the night, even mastering the skill of "assembling an engine blindfolded."
π°With money saved from frugal living, he bought a second-hand motorcycle older than himself, riddled with problems.
π£οΈThis became the starting point of his racing dream.
πOn rural dirt roads, he repeatedly practiced stunts, bruising his body all over. When the bike broke, he fixed it himself, then continued practicing.
πΌIn 2013, 26-year-old Zhang Xue made the most important decision of his life.
π§³With only 20,000 yuan in savings, he went alone to Chongqingβthe city known as "China's Motorcycle Capital."
π₯No connections, no resources.
πThat year, after the Lantern Festival had passed, his wife asked him: "The festival is over, why haven't you gone out yet?"
π€"When a man is asked this by his wife, it hurts his pride," Zhang Xue later recalled. "I steeled my heart and decided to just go, figure it out along the way."
π¨After arriving in Chongqing, he stayed at a hotel above a bank.
π²There was a self-service hot pot restaurant downstairs. The owner looked at him strangely as he dined alone: "You're eating hot pot by yourself?"
πZhang Xue replied: "Is there a problem?"
πLater, he saw online that eating hot pot alone was listed as one of the "ultimate lonelinesses."
π₯But loneliness didn't break him.
π οΈThe next day, he found an export factory and took a public mold motorcycle for modification.
πΈ20,000 yuan was just enough to modify one prototype.
π’He posted the modification process on forums, priced at 14,800 yuan, with a 2,000 yuan discount for on-site purchase.
π΅But there was one condition: cash only, "because I have no money."
π₯More than 30 motorcycle enthusiasts came and gave him money. He received 500,000 yuan.
π"Then I took this 500,000 and finished modifying all the bikes, delivering them to the enthusiasts."
πThen he took another 50 orders, then another 50.
π°In his first venture, he earned over 100,000 yuan.
π«But the model was quickly copied by competitors. "I said, it's over, can't do this anymore."
πTransformation is painful.
π¨Zhang Xue paid 100,000 yuan to a design company for new motorcycle design, but it was only enough for the deposit.
π The design would take a year. He calculated that during this year, he must make money.
π¨βπ»He took on multiple roles himselfβselling bikes on Taobao, writing copy, creating images, handling customer service and after-sales, even managing keyword bidding. He managed to reach number one in the category, "even the official store could not beat me."
πΈAfter earning back several hundred thousand yuan, he finally had money for mold making.
βοΈBut mold making required a 30% advance payment. During the long development cycle, he continued to scrape together money from everywhere.
πThe new bike was listed on the forum. Originally estimated to sell 50 units, it sold out in minutes, exceeding 500 units within days.
π¦But he had no money to stock inventory.
π¬He created a QQ group and borrowed money from enthusiasts, offering a bottle of motor oil as interest.
π€One enthusiast was willing to lend him 400,000 yuan, but he only borrowed 100,000, saying: in case of failure, I can still repay it.
π±Through this crowdfunding model, he obtained hundreds of thousands of yuan in angel investment.
πHowever, after selling seven or eight hundred units of this bike, he frankly admitted failure.
π"The total development cost over 1 million yuan. Now just making one set of body panels costs over 1 million yuan. It was very substandard development."
π§Bikes developed using the cheapest methods had poor quality, received bad feedback, did not make money, and even incurred losses.
πZhang Xue did not evade; instead, he decided to start over.
π’In 2017, he co-founded Kove Motorcycles with two partners.
πIn just a few years, Kove Motorcycles became a leading motorcycle company with annual sales of about 30,000 units and annual revenue of hundreds of millions of yuan.
π€Everyone advised him: While the momentum is hot, would not it be better to make more high-volume, profitable models?
β‘But Zhang Xue made another decisionβto continue independent R&D of large-displacement engines.
π§ He invested all his assets into engine R&D, leading a team of a dozen people, living and eating at the factory, debugging, overturning, and restarting day and night.
π‘"I have a high tolerance for failure, so I never fear it."
πββοΈ"When I think of something, I do it immediately. Even if I make mistakes, I adjust promptly. I don't worry about saving faceβif I'm wrong, I face the error directly."
β¨In 2024, Zhang Xue made a shocking decisionβleaving Kove Motorcycles, the company he built from scratch.
βοΈ"I have decided to resign to pursue my stars and seas," he wrote in his resignation letter.
πThat April, he founded a brand named after himself in Chongqing Liangjiang New AreaβZhang Xue Motorcycles.
π°With a registered capital of 65.4 million yuan, he officially launched an assault on the world top racing circuits.
π―"As long as my products are excellent enough to win championships in all competitions, the 'name' could become a top-tier symbol."
βοΈBut entrepreneurship is never smooth sailing.
π In early 2025, Zhang Xue Motorcycles first model, the 500RR, was about to be released. But in February before that, the company could not pay salaries.
πΈ"I borrowed from everywhereβfriends, peers, suppliers. I even borrowed 1 million yuan from our landlord. In total, I borrowed 7 million yuan to pay salaries."
β³"We had to launch in March. If you don't launch, the company runs out of money. When the capital chain breaks, whether you accept it or not, you fall."
πAfter the March 2025 launch event, vehicle deliveries began, and the company finally caught its breath.
π₯With solid self-developed technology and high cost-performance ratio, Zhang Xue Motorcycles exploded in the market upon launch, with annual sales exceeding 25,000 units, ranking among the top tier of domestic medium-to-large displacement motorcycles.
πMarch 28, 2026, Algarve International Circuit, Portugal.
πAs the finish line lights turned on, Zhang Xue Motorcycles 820RR-RS racing bike steadily held the leading position.
β±οΈThe second place was close behind, yet could never overtakeβ4 seconds.
πOn the WSBK top-level racing circuit, this was not just a time gap.
πFor a long time, motorcycles used in this competition were monopolized by European and Japanese brands like Ducati, Kawasaki, and Yamaha.
π₯Now, a brand from China has forcibly torn open a gap in the landscape dominated by powerful competitors.
πThe next day, Zhang Xue Motorcycles won again, achieving a double victory in the round.
πWhat does leading by 4 seconds mean?
β±οΈIn WSBK-level races, each race usually lasts about 30 minutes, and the gaps between riders are often very small.
π―Most of the time, the gap among the top finishers is within 0.5 seconds, and many races are decided only in the final lap, with gaps of just fractions of a second.
π₯Leading by 4 seconds can almost be understood asβa victory in a different dimension.
πThe championship news instantly exploded across the entire internet.
πZhang Xue Motorcycles Douyin account gained over one million followers in three days, reaching 2.478 million.
π°The 820RR champion model is priced at 43,800 yuan, only one-third of imported models in the same class.
π¦Within 100 hours after the championship, pre-sale orders approached 8,000 units, with national order scheduling extending to the end of June.
π€In the eyes of employees, Zhang Xue is famously short-tempered.
π£οΈColleagues who work with me, I estimate, have all been hurt by me to some extent, because I never speak with mercy.
π―But behind this sharpness lies extreme focus.
π₯I have no other thoughts; there is simply no reason not to do it.
π For 20 years, he has focused on only one thingβmotorcycles.
πThis extreme focus even led him not to obtain a car driver license. Getting a license takes too much time; I just want to ride motorcycles.
π΅His only hobby is riding motorcycles, which he does for his daily commute.
π€ͺNetizens joked: building bikes is not for making money, but purely out of addiction.
βοΈZhang Xue Motorcycles product philosophy can be summarized in three keywords: exhaust sound, horsepower, and lightweight handling.
βWhen choosing a bike, do not you look at these three things? he asked the reporter rhetorically.
πBut in terms of business logic, he made anti-efficiency decisions:
π«Novice riders with less than one year of driving experience are prohibited from purchasing the 820RR; otherwise, relevant dealers will be heavily penalized.
π‘οΈI hope to reduce accidents.
πHe admitted this would affect performance: At least 10% fewer sales. But I do not want this 10%, and the company will not die.
β€οΈAll of this stems from his understanding of motorcycles:
π₯Not Business, But Lifeγ
πAfter winning the championship, Zhang Xue said something in an interview that moved many people:
π¬In the early days when I went to international competitions, people looked at you with disdain. After winning the championship, people speak to you as equals.
πWhen asked if other brands came to congratulate, he said: Everyone in the paddock actually does offer congratulations.
πThis is not just a change in the level of personal respect, but a reshaping of industrial status.
πBehind the success of Zhang Xue Motorcycles lies the profound foundation of Chinese manufacturing.
ποΈCurrently, Chongqing Liangjiang New Area is planning to build a high-end motorcycle industrial park, providing Zhang Xue Motorcycles with a production base of nearly 200 mu.
π§As long as there are drawings, any part on a vehicle, even parts from MotoGP and F1 cars, can 100% be manufactured in China, and definitely not inferior to those from Europe, Japan, or the US.
πWhat the Chinese motorcycle industry lacks is not manufacturing capability, but an experience database. When encountering a problem, the entire team dives in to tackle it. If we cannot solve it in one day, we will in a week; if not in a week, we will definitely solve it within a month.
πAfter winning the championship, Zhang Xue did not stop.
β°A company can succeed usually within those few years; if it does not succeed, giving it 20 years will not make it succeed.
πHe set a 3-year window for Zhang Xue Motorcycles: Starting from today, at most 3 years. If it works, it works; if not, there will be no more opportunities.
πCurrently, Zhang Xue Motorcycles still faces production capacity bottlenecks.
β³The 500RR has accumulated backorders of about 3,000 units, and the 820 series has about 3,000 backorders.
πOriginally producing over 100 units per day, now we can reach over 200, and the second production line is also under construction.
πΊοΈBut greater dreams have already unfolded:
βοΈIn the next 5 years, we will eat up more than 50% of the large-displacement market share of these so-called international big brands.
π£This seemingly radical goal is a challenge letter he issued to himself and to the Chinese motorcycle industry.
πAnd this ambition is beginning to materialize from the racing circuit:
π Next, Zhang Xue Motorcycles will participate in the MXGP Shanghai round in September 2026 and has already begun preparing for the Dakar Rally.
πIn our lifetime, we will go to MotoGP (World Motorcycle Championship).
π£οΈZhang Xue said to media reporters, as if confirming to himself.
π From the adobe house in Huaihua, Hunan, to the podium in Algarve, Portugal, Zhang Xue walked for 20 years.
π€οΈOn this journey, he repaired bikes alone, rode alone, drew designs alone, posted online alone, and built engines from scratch alone.
π Now, his name is engraved on the championship list of the world top-tier competitions.
πThat boy who chased cars in the rain has finally shown the world Chinese motorcycles.
β¨And all of this is just the beginning.
π«Sometimes when you do something, not for the result, but out of passion, the outcome may truly be different.
βοΈβ Zhang Xue