Debise, who won both races in late March, was riding a ZXMOTO bike founded by Zhang, a former motorcycle repair apprentice from rural Hunan Province. The victory marked the first Supersport World Championship win for a Chinese manufacturer and sparked wide online discussion about Zhang’s grassroots rise.
The championship has long been dominated by global brands such as Ducati and Yamaha. Chinese motorcycle makers, once known mainly for commuter bikes, are increasingly using international racing to move into higher-end markets.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Zhang wrote on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, saying the win came from passion rather than a focus on results.
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Zhang Xue with a motorbike. Photo by ZXMOTO |
Born in Yiyang, Hunan, in 1987, Zhang left school early and began working as a motorcycle repair apprentice.
In 2006, when he was 19, Zhang appeared on a provincial TV news program after reportedly riding more than 100 kilometers in the rain to catch up with the production team, hoping the exposure would help him get noticed by a racing team. After ZXMOTO’s recent win, clips of the old program resurfaced and went viral.
Zhang dropped out of school and started as a motorcycle repair apprentice, and later opened his own repair shop. Following the TV appearance, he joined a racing team as both rider and mechanic, and eventually became a motorcycle engineer.
Zhang Xue during the Supersport World Championship. Video from Instagram
In 2013, he moved to Chongqing, a major center of China’s motorcycle industry. There, he began posting his modification projects on online forums and turned his hobby into a business by selling and customizing bikes.
In 2017, Zhang and his partners launched their first motorcycle brand, Kove Moto. In 2024, Kove became the first Chinese brand to win a race in the Supersport 300 World Championship, one level below the Supersport World Championship.
That same year, Zhang left Kove and founded ZXMOTO, named after his initials. Although the company posted nearly 23 million yuan (US$3.3 million) in losses in 2025, its valuation exceeded 1 billion yuan in early 2026.
“I never thought about doing anything else,” Zhang told Chinese media, according to Sixth Tone. “Once I start something, I keep going. Even if I fail for 10 years, I’ll continue. At the core, I simply love motorcycles.”
Asked about comparisons with Honda founder Soichiro Honda, who also began as a repair apprentice before building the world’s largest motorcycle maker, Zhang acknowledged the similarity.
“I think the journey is quite similar,” he was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying.
Looking ahead, Zhang has set an ambitious goal, saying his company aims within five years to take more than half of the large-displacement motorcycle market from major international brands.
