City Guide - Chinawide

Hey all -

I've been riding since my arrival here in China with traffic practice in Korea, Taiwan, Thailand & Vietnam as preparation. Even so I built my China riding prowess in stages beginning on a pedal powered bike, to e-bike - 110cc postie bike to my current ride - a Zongshen 250 RX3 (right now I am eyeing the new Benelli Trek 500).

In my time here I've been spending most of my summers riding around the country and getting varied receptions depending on where I wind up.

I was hoping we could share our combined experience and local knowledge of riding conditions and particularly on the different regulations and reception from police.

Here's my contribution... I hope we can keep this as a sticky and have members add to it and update it
JIANGSU PROVINCE

NANJING - Bikes are supposed to be banned but you do see them around - and the police don't seem to be concerned. Some petrol stations in the inner city will not sell to unlicensed bikes.

YANGZHOU - In the city proper - motorbikes are banned - but you so see riders going through every know and then. They do not allow registration of new bikes in the two most populous districts and petrol stations have been instructed not to sell to unlicensed bikes (many still do). There are no motorbike stores worth the name or mechanics for that matter.

JIANGDU - Really just a continuation of Yangzhou - and Jiao Tong have been seen enforcing riding rules with increased vigour. Still - there are many bike stores - on the west end of G328 with good mechanic workshops on Longcheng Rd.

ZHEJIANG - No issues here. Lots of bikes around and no interest shown by police. Some well stocked bike stores on Mengxi Rd with helpful staff and a mechanic & workshop nearby.

TAIZHOU - No issues with police or petrol stations.

LIANYUNGANG - No issues

CHANGZHOU - No issues

WUXI - No issues with police - but there are some petrol stations in the centre of the city that will not sell to motorbikes.

SUZHOU - No issues. Supposed to be some well stocked bike stores - but haven't come across them.



ZHEJIANG PROVINCE

HANGZHOU - Bikes are supposed to be banned - but I've never had trouble before and after the G20 Summit. In the build up apparently they would seize anything that looked slightly wrong.

WENZHOU - No problems that I've encountered

QIANDAOHU - I was there when the G20 was about to start and had nothing but problems with petrol and police - a policy I was told was province wide at the time. I couldn't get fuel anywhere and had cops called out everytime I tried. I've been to Hangzhou since and I'm sure that there would be no problems now.


SHANDONG PROVINCE

QINGDAO - Bikes are supposedly banned but police don't seem to care. Petrol stations have a weird policy that won't allow you to fuel up directly (because that's how explosions happen. Er der). Instead they make you pump petrol into purpose provided kettles and use those to fill up. Not really a problem, but why?

A good collection of bike stores, parts and mechanics along the west end of Jiushui St.


ZIBO - No problems


ANHUI PROVINCE

HEFEI - Motorbikes supposed to be banned - but didn't have any problems

HUANGSHAN - No problems


FUJIAN PROVINCE

FUZHOU - Motorbikes are banned and they are supposedly so rigid about I didn't even want to try. No bikestores - no mechanics. You have to leave town to find them along the G324 slightly south of the city.

NINGDE - No problems

QUANZHOU - No problems

XIAMEN - Two different districts and different rules apply... There's the tourist strip along the west and south coast of the island - and bikes are tolerated there. There is ONE petrol station along that coastal road that sells petrol. In the city proper - bikes are banned and no petrol station will sell to you. I had mine siezed by cops and had to pay a fine and produce all my paperwork to get it back.

LONGYAN - No problems - lots of motorbikes around licensed and unlicensed with a number of bike stores along the main drag.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Metalmonkey

Are you based in the east coast area? You get about a lot..

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Hey MM - I'm in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. Spent my holidays over the last few years going up and down the coast.

I'm looking at heading west this summer. Anyone got any advice or rides to recommend generally in Sichuan and Gansu?

Specifically - the Gansu highways heading to the Mogao Caverns?

Shichuan is nice place to ride and so is Yunnan


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for sharing... this idea has been tried about a dozen times since MCM started. Forum software is not made for this kind of information sharing, a wiki is better suited to the management of ever changing information. Keep posting your ride reports with maps and pictures of your journeys. Even if we sticky this, it will die.

Quote:

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FUJIAN PROVINCE

FUZHOU - Motorbikes are banned and they are supposedly so rigid about I didn't even want to try. No bikestores - no mechanics. You have to leave town to find them along the G324 slightly south of the city.

NINGDE - No problems

QUANZHOU - No problems

XIAMEN - Two different districts and different rules apply... There's the tourist strip along the west and south coast of the island - and bikes are tolerated there. There is ONE petrol station along that coastal road that sells petrol. In the city proper - bikes are banned and no petrol station will sell to you. I had mine siezed by cops and had to pay a fine and produce all my paperwork to get it back.

LONGYAN - No problems - lots of motorbikes around licensed and unlicensed with a number of bike stores along the main drag.

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Ah the G324, my mother road. I am very familiar with all the coastal cities of Fujian. Fuzhou actually is bike friendly outside of the 1st ring I think. My friends and I were almost literally knocked off our bikes by aggy Fuzhou Police for riding right through the center of town.

Quanzhou and Zhangzhou downtown are technically banned. Xiamen Island is banned, but there's a thriving and diverse riding population in these three cities, which are culturally linked and will soon become one megacity. HOWEVER, I would avoid this area in the leadup to the BRICS conference in September, as literally thousands of angry out-of-town police are out on the streets giving riders headaches.

If you are ever in Fujian, play around in the mountainous interior. The mountains around DeHua in Quanzhou county are gorgeous, and I love the road from Xiamen to Sanming. It's really a lovely province, especially when you consider that before the modern era it was almost impossible to travel through due to being thick with mountains and forests filled with tigers. There's a gem of a beach town in Dongshan in Zhangzhou county that is worth a ride. And of course the Zhangzhou Nanjing Tulou are a UNESCO site that is best explored by motorcycle and really is one of a kind.

Zhejiang, Ningbo. Bikes are supposed to be banned within the 2nd ring road of the city. The area has just been extended.Attachment 19308