ZXMOTO boss Zhang is enjoying the ride of his life

Zhang Xue was moved from cheers, to tears of joy at a live watch party in Chongqing last weekend, as French Superbike rider Valentin Debise made Chinese motorcycle history astride a machine built by the Hunan entrepreneur’s fledgling company.

On the Portuguese leg of the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship (also known as WorldSSP), Debise secured back-to-back victories aboard a ZXMOTO 820RR-RS.

It marked the first-ever race wins for a Chinese manufacturer in the racing series, long dominated by Italian giant Ducati and Japanese heavyweights Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda.

In Race 1 on Saturday, Debise started from second on the grid and went on to claim victory with a commanding 3.685-second margin.

“The gap kept going up and up. It was pretty funny to do a race like this, alone by myself. I felt like the track was all mine, so I enjoyed the race,” he recalled.

In Sunday’s Race 2, Debise briefly dropped to third after a mistake mid-race, but then used the bike’s straight-line acceleration to overtake his rivals and fight his way back to first place and onto the top step of the podium.

Back in Chongqing, 38-year-old Zhang pumped his fists in excitement, and so vigorously that his cap flew off. He then took to the stage, dancing and waving a Chinese flag; acting like a teenager living out his dream.

Which is exactly what he is doing.

His passion for motorcycles goes back to when he was a 17-year-old mechanic in a mountain village in Hunan province.

“Back then, I dreamed of becoming a motorcycle racer,” Zhang said.

In 2003, after finishing middle school, he became an apprentice at a local repair shop, the only way, in his view, a poor boy like him could realize his racing dreams.

In the years that followed, he repaired bikes while practicing his riding skills alone.

“I feel pretty lucky,” he said. “Sometimes having no choice is actually a blessing, isn’t it? Too many choices just leave you confused and torn.”

At 19, Zhang reached out to the crew of a popular local TV program, saying he could perform high-difficulty motorcycle stunts. He hoped that by appearing on television, he might catch the eye of an actual racing team.

The crew came to film him, only to find a teenager on a beaten-up second-hand motorcycle, reeking of motor oil, repeatedly failing as he tried to charge up dirt embankments.

Frustrated, the crew decided to leave.

Zhang chased after them on his motorcycle, determined to show off his skills. He followed their car in the pouring rain across rugged mountain roads for over three hours and 100 kilometers. He performed wheelies, rode with no hands and performed other daredevil maneuvers, eventually winning them over.

To demonstrate his jumping skills, he took them to the mountain trails where he usually trained, only to fall again and again on the rain-slick ground.

When the reporter asked if he was okay, he simply said: “Skill comes from falling. This pain really isn’t anything.”

The entire segment aired on the program Evening News, and, just as Zhang had hoped, a racing team reached out.

“After becoming a racer, my days were all about riding, fixing bikes and race tracks. It was just too good to be true,” he recalled.

But financial pressures and other realities forced him to make the transition from racer to engineer.

In 2013, Zhang, then 26, decided to leave his hometown in Hunan for Chongqing, a city then widely hailed as “China’s Motorcycle Capital”.

At first, he sold modified motorcycles and posted about his modifications on online forums. He quickly built a reputation among the city’s motorcyclists and accumulated enough capital to start his own company.

In 2017, he co-founded KOVOMOTO, which has since become a well-known Chinese motorcycle brand. Zhang, however, wanted to focus on developing and mass-producing high-performance engines — an ambition that required substantial investment. When his partners and investors did not share his vision, he made the decision to step away.

In 2024, he resigned and launched his own brand, ZXMOTO, an abbreviation of Zhang Xue Motorcycles.

“I don’t actually enjoy entrepreneurship,” Zhang said. “I just love building motorcycles. I enjoy the process of developing them.”

Nearly a year later, the company released its first production model, the ZX-500RR. Within just four months, sales had surpassed 10,000 units.

Zhang insists on livestreaming for an hour each week to communicate directly with his customers.

“Livestreaming keeps us accountable. No employee dares to shortchange our customers, because they can directly connect with me. Besides, I need to maintain ongoing communication with our users. At the end of the day, our customers are the ones we really need to please,” he said.

After ZXMOTO’s historic wins in Portugal, clips of Zhang at 19 — helmet on, covered in mud, riding that beat-up motorcycle — went viral.

In the clip, the young Zhang pronounces with unwavering certainty: “Whether you fail or succeed, if you don’t do what you want to do when you’re young, you’ll definitely regret it when you’re older.”

The young upstart, gives a thumbs-up and shouts with the same fiery passion he still has today: “Chase your dreams! Because I dared to be brave, my life is extraordinary!”