newbee

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02-26-2009, 12:01 AM
flyingtiger

newbee
Hi folks
First time on the site. Kind semi retired and with a place down in Sanya. Will be lookin for a cickle next winter but got few questions about China. Would preciate yer sperience.:mwink:
- is it illegal to buy a second hand bike in China as some web pages have said
- Can I buy an XL or XR 650 Honda in China? Is it made here or in Japan and imported?
- What provinces allow bikes that big to be registered? Hainan is only 250.
- What cities can I not ride a bike through?
- There are no Honda shops in China so where would I find a Honda?
- Some people say you can buy a bike but not a plate. What about that?
:goodtime:

Thanks
02-26-2009, 05:08 AM
ZMC888

Quote:

is it illegal to buy a second hand bike in China as some web pages have said.

You can't change the name of registration, this is because the cops want an easy job, but I doubt it's illegal. As far as we know a bill of sale is an agreement of change of ownership. But who knows? This is China :lol8:

Quote:

Can I buy an XL or XR 650 Honda in China? Is it made here or in Japan and imported?

They don't make XL or XR 650's here yet, but actually they make some similar bikes such as the Jialing 600. If you wanted a Honda you'd need to buy one that would have plates if it had been legally imported or without plates if it had been illegally imported from Hong Kong. Although you'd be very lucky to find one. (hens teeth)

Quote:

What provinces allow bikes that big to be registered? Hainan is only 250.

You'll find that that is probably wrong and that you can get something bigger than 250 registered in Hainan, but it's very uncommon. Many other provinces will allow a bigger bike to be registered with a ton of money and paperwork if it's been imported officially or a Chinese made bigger bike you can hassle the dealer/factory to register it before you give them any $$$. The process then becomes much simpler :lol8:

Quote:

What cities can I not ride a bike through?

Little bits of lots of cities. Most of some.

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou etc. Bigger city usually equals more restrictions.

Caution cynical rant ahead:lol8: ...............

The culture here is that cars are just plain wonderful in every way, they give you status keep you dry in the rain cool in the summer and warm in the winter. You can transport your family and friends around and generally impress everyone. So who would want a bike? Bikes? They get in the way of our car and if it goes faster than a Volkswagen Santana that must be dangerous and annoying, plus people who are poorer usually ride bikes. So we should find a way to legislate them off the road despite the fact that they hardly use up any road-space and use far less fuel than a car.

Quote:

There are no Honda shops in China so where would I find a Honda?

There are Honda dealerships but they are all joint-ventures with Wuyang or Sundiro and they only make small bikes up to 150cc. You'd need to find something imported.

Quote:

Some people say you can buy a bike but not a plate. What about that?

Some areas are restrictive on registrations for bikes some unofficially imported bikes from HK can't be registered, and some people who live in the countryside don't care about paying for registration or insurance.
02-26-2009, 05:35 AM
chinabiker

Name of rego change is possible

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZMC888

You can't change the name of registration, this is because the cops want an easy job, but I doubt it's illegal. As far as we know a bill of sale is an agreement of change of ownership. But who knows? This is China :lol8:

Name of registration (for a bike) can be changed and it has been done:
- foreigner -> foreigner
- foreigner -> Chinese
- Chinese -> foreigner
- Chinese -> Chinese

It is only possible if you have the green book, the "Motor Vehicle Register Certificate" (MVRC).
I think they introduced this doc sometime around 2002 - 2004. All vehicles, for which ownership shall be changed and MVRC is not available, the current owner has to apply for one first.

But, as 888 said, TIC. Every village has different rules :lol8:

Andy
02-26-2009, 05:40 AM
ZMC888

Oh, it can be done! I learn something new everyday!

I doubt the cops in my area could be bothered to actually change it though, unless you had a baijiu dinner with them. :lol8:

Although you probably need a residency visa to put it into your name.
02-26-2009, 05:46 AM
chinabiker

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZMC888

I doubt the cops in my area could be bothered to actually change it though, unless you had a baijiu dinner with them.

A "Liquid Lunch" would be better I suppose :lol8::lol8::lol8:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZMC888

Although you probably need a residency visa to put it into your name.

That's for sure.

Andy
02-26-2009, 02:11 PM
flyingtiger

residency visa

:naughty:

My wife still has a Chinese passport and we own a condo in Hainan. Is that enough to get me a resident visa? What are the requirements?

We are only coming once in the winter for now.

Getting back to the Hong Kong Honda imports, what % duty would need to be paid if I were to go that route? Is it a simple procedure or have they conviluted it so much that I need a broker's assistance?

Oh ya, one more law that I heard about is that vehicles (of any sort?) can only be registered for a maximum of 12(normal) or 15 years(BMWs) before they won't register them any more. If this is true, in a small hicksville town I understand that you could buy yourself a registration but what about bigger towns?

And lastly, this Jialing 600; I guess the advantage of it is that parts are available but is it anywhere near as good a bike as its Japanese counterparts?

Thanks Marty

:scooter:
02-26-2009, 04:36 PM
ZMC888

Quote:

My wife still has a Chinese passport and we own a condo in Hainan. Is that enough to get me a resident visa? What are the requirements?

To get a resident visa you need to be working in China. Either as an English teacher locally, for a big multinational company or for a foreign government.
So if you are happy to do maybe as few as 12 hours a week for a school for a year you could get a residency visa (usually you need two years teaching experience and a university degree, but some schools have connections and some regions don't enforce the rules harshly). Or if you have worked in business, and you know some businesses you could pull in some favors and get on the books of a business.

I don't like the system at all, but no residency visa means no Chinese driving license (and they won't recognize your home license or international driving permit as valid), and no chance to register the bike in your name. Being married entitles you to stay in the country for up to one year as a visitor without working, which renewable, but you loose certain rights compared with residency.

Quote:

Getting back to the Hong Kong Honda imports, what % duty would need to be paid if I were to go that route? Is it a simple procedure or have they conviluted it so much that I need a broker's assistance?

I'm not sure whether any bikes are actually legally imported through Hong Kong legal into China. All imported bikes (such as BMW's and Harleys) end up being twice as expensive as they would be 'on the road' as the country that they were manufactured in. We think that the few domestically made bikes of a reasonable displacement over 250cc end up 25% more expensive on the road than the original purchase price.

Quote:

Oh ya, one more law that I heard about is that vehicles (of any sort?) can only be registered for a maximum of 12(normal) or 15 years(BMWs) before they won't register them any more. If this is true, in a small hicksville town I understand that you could buy yourself a registration but what about bigger towns?

Never heard of this...don't know...if you buy Chinese it probably won''t survive that long! :lol8:

Quote:

And lastly, this Jialing 600; I guess the advantage of it is that parts are available but is it anywhere near as good a bike as its Japanese counterparts?

Well I think it's probably an inferior bike to a good western bike, but when you realize the way things are here (I've been riding 125-150cc bikes for years), anything with a few more hp than a regular bike will make you drool, even if you wouldn't look twice at it in a western dealership.

For example, I ride this.....
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...28875_3613.jpg
(Sundiro) Honda CBF150

Would like to buy this.................

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...95944_6639.jpg
Asiawing Spark 500

And if I lived back home would be riding something like this........

http://www.motoinfo.it/immagini/nuov...aCBF600N-g.jpg
Honda CBF600