Q: Buying a bike in China
 

Can anyone tell me what kind of red tape is involved when buying a chinese bike in China -- license, tax, etc...?

Is renting an option? I have rented in Vietnam and India, and both times the transaction was cheap and simple and required almost no paperwork.

I am keen on picking up a bike in Hong Kong, and riding out to the mainland.

Thanks,

>>CO

If you want to ride in China, you may be better off buying one in the mainland and not in HK. I'm sure Franki will be along to offer his .02.

If you buy new in the mainland you need to work out a special deal with a dealership who will register the bike in another persons name. Registration includes tax, inspections, plates and insurance. Then you and the dude who registered sign an agreement where he basically sells you the bike so you can ride it AND, more importantly, removes him from any responsibility for you and your ride. It sounds complicated, and can be, but usually it's pretty simple.

If you can find a good second hand bike, you don't need to do any of this as they already have plates and such.

When you planning to go?

CC

Thanks for the quick reply. Time for the China adventure is TBA -- this Fall at the very earliest.

Why would mainland be better than HK for buying a bike?

>>CO

Simple. You can't import or ride a bike into China without a permit. Such permit takes 6 months in advance to apply and will cost you an arm and a leg.

You can also rent a bike in China but that means you must return the bike to the same place you got it or pay expensive transport charges.

If you ask for help, you need to explain clearly what your travel plan is as consideration varies.

Carl/Franki -

What would be a good bike to buy for a trip in China? Something they are familiar with, rather than one of my heaps.

I am thinking about starting in Harbin and traveling along the Mongolian Border and down to the foothills of the Himalayas. Probably this summer.

gaspipe

Gassy,

Followed your Jomamma thread on Adv. You're a smart dude.

A good bike for China depends on what size engine you're comfortable riding. Not sure what the moto market is like in Ha'erbin but you could certainly pick one up in Beijing.

If you're okay with a 200cc suzuki thumper you can always get a Qingqi. I put a short review of it up on adv.

If you insist on something larger, and don't mind spending a few thousands bucks then the Jialing JH600 might be your thing. Franki has one of those and can hook you up with any info.

If you're serious about a trip, it would be good to talk. You use skype?

CC

Thanks Carl.

I think a 200cc bike would do the job - it's not about speed, I just need to be able to haul a minimal amount of crap & fuel in what looks to be pretty remote areas. I'll go check out your review of the Qingqi. I'll probably pick up whatever I get in Beijing and have it shipped to the start. I have some amigos there to help grease the wheels.

Yeah - I'm on Skype, although it's been a while. I'll have to dig up my account and I'll PM you an add'y. Much to chat about, if you don't mind.

Bruce

Sounds good. That's what it's all about ain't it? :thumbup1:

CC

Hi Gaspipe,

Beijing is a bad place for bikes and the police is tough.
Ha'erbin is a big city and you can get whatever you need there, including fitting the bike out with luggage frame and reinforcing the bike for your long touring purpose. I can point you in the right direction as and when you are leaving but do allow ample time to purchase the bike and getting it tour ready. It is not that easy to find parts along your route as 200cc bike is considered "Big Bike" in remote part of China.

Franki

enlighten me please
 

I've been looking at China for a year or so (renting buying) but I still don't understand how to get around the drivers license issue. Unless you have a residence permit (which I think requires a business visa) you can't get a license- even then you may have to apply for a test. A lot of work and time. For a guy like me with 6-7 weeks of holidays it seems like a big risk to fly over to China and then hope for the best (maybe weeks of time) regarding the paper work.

I must really be missing something here cause I still see folks planning to or in the process of riding through China. If anyone can enlighten me I'd really appreciate it.

P.S I'm not into organized tours.

Thanks

Please keep posting what you find out. I'll be in India for a few months this summer and then would like to go to China sort of using the wanting to see the Olympics as an excuse. Buying a small bike isn't a problem for me since I'm used to small.

I like that a 200cc is considered large so I'll go from a 40-year-old 250cc to something smaller. Probably makes the same power though.

--Dave

Forget those horrible strokers and consider one of these from
Welcome to CJSidecar!
who will sell you a PLA army bike, bike with side car or a faithful replica of a 1930's BMW. They have showrooms on Beijing and Shanghai and are real bikers so will tell you how it is and not how the authorities would like you to think it is and will even tell you about some great roads/routes.

These bikes are based on the Russian K75 who in turn ripped it off the German BMW from 1939. I will myself be strapping a Ural K75 to the back of my Zil for my trip. They are built for any kind of road or off road conditions and the side car version will have two wheel drive, are rugged in the extreme and will run on almost any kind of fuel. Most of all, they are full of character.

Expect to pay up to £2.5k for a new K75.

or

Try this outfit in Beijing:-
Beijing Sidecar


"Newly registered Chang Jiang 750 sidecars, from Nan Chang, and Hong Yang for registration in Beijing and other parts of China. These sidecars including all documents and fully licensed in Beijing list for only 18,000 RMB (2,250USD).

Basically these new CJ750 sidecars have all the documents needed for transfer of title and will be valid for ten years in Beijing. If you plan to stay in Beijing for an extended period of time of more than 2 to 3 years this is an option to choose from. Do note that the "New" sidecars from Nan Chang are OEM rebuilt from stock parts. If you are in a city outside of Beijing and need to register your CJ750 sidecar, you may need to purchase a "New" sidecar because it will have all the receipts and documents required for first time registration.

Important: Do not buy an illegally registered CJ750. Read our 'Own a CJ750 in Beijing' FAQ about this! Insurance will not pay if your are involved in an accident! Legally registered CJ750 are highly available and check out our prices!

'97 Chang Jiang 750 sidecars are very popular because the license can be transferred and thus are LEGAL. This means the owner will be able to buy insurance and the police will not confiscate your bike if anything happens.

Most expatriates in Beijing stay a year or two, making this the best deal for them. Expats with work visas will be able to aquire black "Jing A" plates. Diplomats buying a legal Chang Jiang 750 sidecar, can have the title transfered and get diplomatic plates. There is absolutely no need or reason to buy a bike with illegal plates or Hebei plates when you can get one that is road legal and most likely at a lower cost. We emphasize legal plates very much because they are easily available and are not expensive. It is NOT WORTH the trouble to own an illegal Chang Jiang 750. If you live outside of Beijing the options may be different. give us a call and we will work it out.

Many of our client's that buy '97 Chang Jiang 750 have them painted and customized to their specifications."

Let just say that China does not have the most formalized legal structure or even enforcement of some rules which are already in place. Essentially, you take advantage of this - just like the locals - by leveraging the ambiguity. For example, since few people here have a concept of standing in organize lines, many will stand in between service counters and simply push their way into whatever on is next - a behavior commonly seen at train and bus station ticket counters. What this means for the foreign rider is to basically get the bike, with plates and registration and simply sit your ass down and ride.

Is it a risk? It sure is, but that's only a problem if you're not okay with risks. In general I wold say, if you're not okay with risk then you shouldn't be riding China anyway. Also worth noting, if you do it this way on a tourist visa, it may be a little better if you ride it with another person.

Carl

Hey CC,

Wanna ride down to Yunnan from March 20-30? I have a few days holiday....

Franki

Wish I could cuz' it would be double good to could run out the QingQi fbefore May. The mountains will still be cold in March. Need to earn money and save up my holidays for the May trip. You still on for May right?

Also, just dropped the bank and picked up a Nikon D300. All I can say is, NICE! Clicky! Clicky!

CC

I am on the May trip. But I though I should give the JH600 another shake down before the May trip and Shangrila sound like a warm enough place to be in March.

By the way, there will be a group of Chinese biker riding from Yunnan to Lao and then Thailand. This will be the first big group tour coming out of China. I think a few years down the road, you will see many of them roaming around SEA on Chinese made bikes.

Not sure why you'd think Shan-ge-li-la would be warm in March but I'm sure you have your sources. I'm also sure you're right about seeing more groups of Chinese riders roaming around SEA and I sincerely hope China will be kind enough to reciprocate the open border policies to motorcycles. What's your take on that? Think it will happen?

CC

Hello all,

I just bought my second bike in Beijing, Honda sdh125-42 v-men (picture) - I could not find any information about it online, so my guess would be that it's some sort of Chinese replica of an old Honda bike(?).

It took me 30 minutes to decide on a bike (the choice was very limited in the shop) and about 3 minutes to buy it. 8500RMB for the bike(6500rmb), B plate(1500, A plate is 8k), helmet(300) and alarm(200), original price was around 10k. No questions were asked about license or residence permit(which I have, having a tourist visa), shop asked money in cash, so had to go to the closest ATM (one of the sellers showed me the way and walked with me :) ).

After I signed the papers I needed to take a taxi to another location to get my bike (I was lucky, the bike I wanted was in stock and I didn't have to wait for 10 days to get it), what's surprising is that I've got money back for the taxi, it was around 40rmb. Couple of guys assembled the bike, checked it and after 20 minutes it was ready.

I drove home on my new bike, and had a little accident on the way, some army car (those don't care much about anything) jumped on the road from a side way, I locked my front brake to fast, slipped(wet road) and fall down in front of the car. My speed was around 30kmh, so nothing happened except a broken light, I called the shop to ask how much it would cost to fix it and asked the guy to pay, he refused to pay so we called the police. I have no plate (yet) and no license... I was damn nervous :)

Long story short, after 1 hour, I go back to my bike with 300RMB from the army driver. Police didn't care about my license or the plate, although they did ask me to provide my home country license(!), which doesn't work in China anyway.

So it's not that bad, buying a bike in Beijing, or driving without a plate ;-)


Carl, what kind of trip are you planing?

David,

Glad to hear you got a bike and happy that you made it out of your get-off without much hassle.

Seems like a whole bunch of fellas are heading towards Lhasa come mid-May or so. Should be dry season and days should be fairly long. After that, who knows. Could be anything!

CC

Carl,

Sounds good, it's just to bad you are in Chengdu and not in Beijing.

Do you know if any of the guys starting their way or passing through Beijing?

David.

Anywhere with no black ice on the road is warm enough for me. It is still early to tell if China will open up the border for international travellers. Treaties have been sign between Laos, Vietnam and China to allow their nationals to cross border with their own vehicles. Plans are already on the drawing board to build super highway linking SEA countries with China. 10 years down the road, anything can happen but I can't wait that long. I will be doing it in 2008 or 2009.

Here is a photo taken by my friend 2 days ago in Yunnan

Biking in China
 

Don't forget your Chinese driving license. Every cities has different procedures to issue them to foreign residents. Non-residents sometimes have to go through driving schools, automobile clubs etc., but it should be possible.
And be advised that most bigger cities ban bikes completely or at least bikes with numbers from other cities. Shanghai has started to expel foreign factory managers etc. for not caring about Chinese law last year (after one drunken, license-free foreigner killed a Chinese bicyclist with his forged-registration bike).

You better stay away from the Chinese East coast, there are too many restrictions.

Carl ('culcune' from chinariders and advrider here), it seems that the Qingqi would be the way to go as far as quality in China. However, 'suprignet' from chinariders just got his way cool Shineray with the big tank and the extra racks. Are you familiar with that bike yet, enough to have someone consider it vs. the Qingqi?

Well look at you and all your screen names!

Supersignet has been helping me set up my new chinese motorcycle forum and he's told me a lot about his experiences on the bike. So far it sounds like a good ride and he hasn't had too many functional problems with it.

I took a tour of the Shineray factory a couple weeks ago and it's a clean facility. The workers seemed to pay at least some attention to details and their marketing as well as RnD seem to be focusing on the off-road segment. Hell, there's certainly enough room in the market for more than one competent bike!

Supersignet put a review and some trip reports on his bike here:

CC

Sdh-125
 

I have just purchased a Honda SDH-125 in Yanji, China. I up-graded from a Suzuki 110. The bike seems pretty good so far, I am still trying to break it in right now and get some k's on it. One small problem is that the seat is designed for Chinese people, my knees don't fit comfortably into the ridge on the sides of the gas tank in the middle of the bike. I also noticed that it feels loose in gravel, maybe it is more of a road bike.

Some friends of mine and I just took a trip in NE china on our bikes to the border of Russia, China and North Korea. If you would like to check out the video, its on youtube.com. here is the link.

YouTube - Hun Chun part 2

Hi,

I have been searching alot on how to buy a motorcycle in china and looks like you guys already have the answer for me. I will be going to china on a tourist visa and i want to buy a motorcycle to travel in china. I dont mind a small cc motorcycle. As long as it has got 2 wheels on it, I am ok.

Do you know how much it will cost?

Can all the paper work be done easily? If yes, how long would it take to just get it done and to go on the road?

Is it possible to ride the bike out of the china?

Where will be a good place to buy the motorcycle?

I will be starting my trip in sept 2008, so I need fast reply. Thank you very much.

Thanks for any information.

Really appreciated it.

I have lived in China a total of 8 years, and the bike situation there is not good. As a visitor you can not buy a bke or get license. An international license in not valid. To buy a bike or get a license you need a residence permit. The alternative is to bring in your own bike through a tour company that will arrange for you to get a temp. license (which you can do alone without official help). Traveling in and trying to buy there is not an option. If someone else has don so and knows a way then good luck.

Within China some citys are now baning motorcycles completely or severly limiting there use, Guangzhou (Canton) is the first to ban then, Shanghai and Beijing restrict their use, others also have followed but I don't know the details. All in all considering that the Chinese are becoming a mojor manufacturer of bikes they are not very bike freindly.

south east asia
 

CrazyCarl;
hello,i plan to travel starting from india>tibet>china>south east asia (i assume driving through myanmar is not possible) by road.after a lot of home work i have dropped idea of self driving my mitubhishi and plan to hire self drive cars in each country.i wish i could do it in my car which i have modifies for long trips.driving , nature photography,feeling nature all along travel,not just visiting famous tourist spots is my passion.
is there still some possibilities that i drive up to india & myanmar border ,then ship the car to thailand which should be not more than 300 kms,then self drive rest of south east asia,
use local trian,buses,and taxis in china
please can u suggest

all china
 

deaninkl
to visit all of china in detail ,will a mix of train,buses and taxi work?

full china
 

deaninkl
how many weeks should i allot to visit full china in detail

No.

China is a big place so maybe about 416 (four hundred and sixteen) weeks of constant travel.

I suggest choosing a few of the places you'd really like to see then covering it in detail. It's unlikely you'd ever be issued a visa that would allow you to cover even most of China unless you special connections. But then again, if you had special connections you probably wouldn't be posting here yeah? :thumbup1:

CC

To Travel
 

China IS a big place. If you want to do it well, and have the money (and all your travel visas) take at LEAST 6 months. CrazyCarl's idea of choosing a few good spots and doing them well, is a good one!
Using trains (and buses when desperate) will be good for travel around the country. Most train stations now have at least one person who can speak passable English. One thing they have here is a SERIOUSLY extensive rail system. Avoid taxis except when going short distances in town or they'll charge you an arm and a leg! Hope your trip is good!

G'Day,

hahahahahaha..... they might rip-off cheap charlie english teachers in ML China...

16 day visa & a chinese bike
 

THE HARD WAY HOME

Read this! 7000km on a Sunik in 16 days!

[quote=CrazyCarl;209485]No.



"It's unlikely you'd ever be issued a visa that would allow you to cover even most of China unless you special connections"

Can i just check what the visa restrictions are for a tourist when traveling around china. Other than Tibet are there any other provinces that require special permits?

The only other province which might require a permit is XinJiang. together though, Tibet (Tibetan Regions) and Xinjian cover a decent percentage of China's land mass and contain a huge portion of it's amazing scenery.

That said, you can get into these regions with a tour group and don't be surprised if they hold your visa for the duration of the trip. Xinjiang may not need any permits whatsoever but you're likely to run into "regulations" when getting a hotel or other place to stay.

C