He Sank Four Times. Seventeen Years Later, He Broke a Guinness Record on a Motorcycle.

Just after 11 a.m. on October 25, on the Jinjiang River in Mayang, Zhang Xue twisted the throttle and the blue MX450 shot into the water.

The moment the front end hit the river, the front steering ski cut the surface. The deep-lug rear tire bit into the water and paddled backward. The lift generated by the bike's speed held the body up. The motorcycle did not sink. Someone on the bank shouted. The engine drowned it out.

The Guinness certification team stood on the bank with timing and distance-measuring equipment. Zhang Xue completed the first section along the river. The bike leaned into the turn, and the ski left a trail of water as it steered. Seven turns, eight sections, no stops in between. After 40.74 kilometers, he released the throttle. The bike slowly sank into the shallow water. He stood up, water to his waist. Applause started on the bank. He wiped his face and walked toward shore.

The previous record was 31.8 kilometers.

Seventeen years earlier, in 2009 in Wuyi, Zhejiang, 22-year-old Zhang Xue was still a motorcycle assembler. He welded sheet metal onto ordinary motorcycle wheels to make a hydroplane board and tried to skim 26 meters across the water. The first time he entered the water, the front end dipped and both man and bike plunged in. The second time. The third. The fourth. His farthest run was 20 meters. His mentor stood on the bank shaking his head, saying he was "like a lunatic."

Zhang Xue later recounted what he had thought at the time: "I didn't believe I couldn't get past it. Even if I failed this time, I'd keep doing it… one of these times I will succeed."

The 2026 MX450 was not that sheet-metal contraption. R&D engineer Deng Liansong said the bike was built on a standard motorcycle frame and powertrain. It was fitted with an amphibious glide-ski kit for off-road motorcycles, given an enlarged fuel tank for range, and waterproofed. Running on water depends on hydrodynamic lift generated at high speed, the same principle as water skiing. The rider builds kinetic energy during a land run-up. After entering the water, the front steering ski acts as a water rudder, and the partially submerged rear wheel paddles water to provide thrust. Release the throttle, speed drops, lift disappears, and the bike sinks.

The team spent five months preparing for the challenge. Buoyancy structure, waterproof sealing, and power matching were revised again and again. During tests at multiple bodies of water, they narrowed the buoyancy skis and added stabilizing tail fins. Turning on the water was the hardest part. The entry line, body weight, throttle control, ski attitude, and speed loss on exit each affected whether the bike could stay on the surface. Any mistake in the seven turns would have ended the challenge.

Zhang Xue was born in 1987 in Tianjiawan Village, Jiangkouyu Township, Mayang. He dropped out of school at 14 and became an apprentice in a motorcycle repair shop. He later worked as a full-time racing rider and in technical positions at motorcycle factories. Repair, modification, manufacturing. He went through the whole-vehicle R&D process one by one. He founded Zhang Xue Motorcycles. In 2026, Zhang Xue Motorcycles competed in WSBK for the first time, taking the runner-up spot in the WorldSSP riders' championship and third in the manufacturers' championship.

The day before the challenge, the Huaihua Party Secretary met Zhang Xue in Mayang and appointed him Huaihua cultural and tourism promotion ambassador. Mayang holds the titles "World Longevity Town" and "China's Rock Sugar Orange Capital," and the county has 56 centenarians. On the day of the challenge, Mayang promoted the tourist route "Zhang Xue's Hometown · Longevity Mayang."

Zhang Xue motorcycles had previously carried the logo "Mayang traditional brown sugar." After the first WSBK win in March this year, brown sugar stock that had been planned to last a year sold out in three days. This time, the MX450 added the county's digital mascot, "Orange Dragon," bringing rock sugar oranges and the Mayang dragon boat onto the course. After the challenge, Zhang Xue donated the MX450 he had ridden to Mayang County.

At the donation, the bike stood on the bank, Jinjiang water still clinging to it.