Newbie in Shanghai !

Hi all,

I'm quite amazed to have found such a community, exactly what I was looking for ! :icon10:
I'm in the process of buying a small motorbike, a Honda SDH125 A, my first 125, and maybe to join you guys in trips around Shanghai to start with, before considering longer trips in China.
I live near Jing'an in Shanghai, and I do have quite a lot of questions for you gals and guys if you're kind enough to reply :

- the bike I'm buying is a 2nd hand, and the current owner doesn't have licence plates. I want to ride with plates (even waidi, I dont care), driving licence & insurance, but it seems quite hard to find a place where they can help you to get waidi plates if you're not buying a new bike. Went to the CJ sidecar shop, but they cannot help either. Does anybody know how I can do and the prices ?

- with waidi plates, could anyone confirm that I cannot ride in the inner ring (neihuan gaojia, or waihuan (A20) ?) except the evenings after 8pm and on the weekends ?

- for trips to Suzhou, Taihu lake, Hangzhou, what are the best routes I can take (except expressways), not too crowded and quite nice to ride on ? I'll take whatever pieces of info you guys can share ! :riding:

Thanks in advance for any replies I could get, have safe rides for the October holiday all !

Fred

Just DON'T buy it UNLESS it's super cheap. NO licensece plate indcate some "hidden" story: stolen / Police confiscated bike from wrecking yard "backdoor" ...

Thanks for the concern, but naaah, his story seems to check out, as it's the same on different forums, he is a foreigner not living in China, just bought this bike in another province in the middle of a Europe-China trip. The bike has only 4,000 km and he has the purchase certificate. He did the 1,000 and 3,000 km maintenance at Honda dealers. His brother leaves in Shanghai and kept the bike for now.

Thanks again anyway. ;-))

A small bump on this thread...
I searched and found some answers on this forum, but I still have quite a lot of questions (being a newbie and all :-) ) and Ithink this forum is perfect for them.

One more : could you guys in Shanghai tell me where to find protective gear : helmet, jacket, gloves, pants (or knee protection) and also back protection. Until now I only found the CJ sidecar shop with limited options for helmets and jackets, but no back protection...
Thanks again !

Hi Fred,
Dragonriders on Wuzhong road has some decent gear. You can get Nolan helmets (only ones I've found that fit my Canadian noggin) and some good jackets and such at not too expensive prices. There are also a few places at the shops on Jiaoji Lu off Xincun Lu. I bought a leather jacket there that actually fit me, and then got a friend to send me some "real" pads for it from Canada. Xincun Lu is a fun place to go take a look for a day anyhow, highly recommended. There is both really expensive gear and the fake stuff.

I'm a newbie here too. I found a lot of good stuff here:

http://www.suite101.com/content/its-...-market-a88899

Sorry, a repeat. Nuhaus just mentioned it. =)

One more Shanghai shop to recommend is Shanghai Qiyi Motorcycle Accessories Ltd
上海骑翼摩托车用品有限公司
It's at 513 Wenshui Lu (may be Wenshui East Road) up in Hongkou District.
虹口区汶水路513号

Simon Wang aka Wang Anyun (王俺云) is the proprietor with his wife, speaks only a little English.
+86 21 5538 6591 x608
+86 130 6268 8803

They are good people -- very knowledgeable -- and serious riders.
good luck

Thank you guys for the info, will go take a look at the Qiyi store today. Nuhaus, do you have the precise address for Dragonriders on Wuzhong lu ? I did a quick search, but found nothing...

Does anyone know if Shanghaifingers is still an active member here ? I left him a message as it seems he has "guanxi" to get bikes with waidi plates in Shanghai, but no answer yet.

Cheers,

Fred

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred

Thank you guys for the info, will go take a look at the Qiyi store today. Nuhaus, do you have the precise address for Dragonriders on Wuzhong lu ? I did a quick search, but found nothing...

Does anyone know if Shanghaifingers is still an active member here ? I left him a message as it seems he has "guanxi" to get bikes with waidi plates in Shanghai, but no answer yet.

Cheers,

Fred

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Just went by Dragonrider on the way home. The address posted on the wall was 2632.

Excellent, thanks Nuhaus.

Update, as it may help new members too in the future : went today to the Ducati store (113 Chengdu bei lu, near Weihai lu), I expected it to be expensive for bike gear, but I didn't expect it to be soooooo expensive...
I guess it's normal as it's imported, but RMB 4,000 for boots, or for a jacket ? Nooo way....

Will update when I go to Qiyi store tomorrow.

nice find, please ask if they have a taobao shop, for those of us not in Shanghai.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by euphonius

One more Shanghai shop to recommend is Shanghai Qiyi Motorcycle Accessories Ltd
上海骑翼摩托车用品有限公司
It's at 513 Wenshui Lu (may be Wenshui East Road) up in Hongkou District.
虹口区汶水路513号

Simon Wang aka Wang Anyun (王俺云) is the proprietor with his wife, speaks only a little English.
+86 21 5538 6591 x608
+86 130 6268 8803

They are good people -- very knowledgeable -- and serious riders.
good luck

---

Tried to get ot this store today, walked maybe 2km on Wenshui lu, Hongkou district, impossible to find a number 513... Mainly big companies there, and the number jump from 451 to 575.... I'm fairly confident I was on the right street (only one Wenshui lu, especially in Hongkou district !), did you guys go there recently ? Could you give me some information to find the place ?

Will call them next week too, to try to know more.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slabo

nice find, please ask if they have a taobao shop, for those of us not in Shanghai.

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The girl at the reception of the Ducati shop told me they don't have taobao account, but they can send the parts all over China if needed.
Her email : qa at ducatichina.cn

Dear Fred, Damn, now I remember having the same experience. It's definitely in Wenshui Lu, but I'm pretty certain now that it's in WenShui EAST Lu. To get there you go east from the North-South Elevated, not west. You'll pass one of the two BMW Motorrad dealers in Shanghai, and keep going. It's on the north side of Wenshui Lu, still under the elevated highway. It's been months since I went there, but they were doing pretty well and I think they should still be there.

If it does turn out to be Wenshui East Road, please urge Simon and his wife to fix their web page. The error appears in both Chinese an English.

good luck.

Hehe, perfect Euphonius, it seems right according to what I gathered looking at Google maps. I've never understood why they would have a 513 Wenshui dong lu and also a 513 Wenshui xi lu, except to confuse us... ;-) Thanks anyway, I will go there this week when I have more time.

I allow myself one more question, as I saw you're doing some trips around Shanghai and sometimes using small dirt roads : I went to the Yamaha store yesterday and fell in love with their YBR 125 G (with "trail" or "cross" tires) : http://www.yamaha-motor.com.ph/produ...5g/colors.html this seems perfect for the kind of trips I have in mind, would you guys recommend it, for example trips to Moganshan with a little "off-road adventure" ? ;-)

My main worries about the tires is that I would of course use them 99% of the time on asphalt or concrete :
- grip : less surface contact should equal less grip on asphalt / concrete, especially when wet, right ?
- wear : running on those surfaces will wear more quickly those kind of tires, right again ?


On a side note for the guys in the process of buying a Suzuki with yellow Shanghai Hu A plates : at the Yamaha store (555, Zhongshan nan lu, near Xiaomuqiao lu), they say they can have those plates for RMB 43,000, at the buyer's name, and I could sell them back the plates and the bike when leaving China. It's worth considering, as their bikes are beautiful : YBR 125 or even better : YBR 250.

Last i checked, the YBR 125g was 10,500 rmb with fuel injection. Hard to find the 125 with fuel injection, but i saw it once in Kunming. As for slipping, I had the same worries when i first bought my bike Shineray GY200XY-7. I've slipped a couple of times, but never dropped the bike because of water. The bike weighs ~150kg so it's very easy to hold it up with just one hand. Once I had a small skid on marble and was able to recover! Bikes 250cc and smaller are very forgiving. I suppose the YBR 125 is even lighter as it has a smaller engine. They don't have a 250 offroad version :rolleyes1: Checkout tokyokid's trip from Shanghai to Berlin, two up, on a 125 ybr!

Update !

After some weeks of delay, I finally passed the medical check-up at the end of December in Hami lu, it's so funny there... 9 buildings, you have to queue in 1 just to pay and get the ticket to queue in the 2nd one... Then medical check-up, struggled a bit as usual on the colour vision test (where you should see numbers within "bubbles" of colour, don't know why I always struggled with this one, I can see the colour perfectly though, strange...), had to turn the pages myself to convince the old lady I was good to go, she looked at me not too impressed but finally applied her seal on the paper, sigh... :-))

Then today was the traffic rules examination, score a beautiful 100/100, perfect score, yeaaaah ! ;-)) The exam room is the first example of strict abiding by the rules in China, and I've been here 8 years... Video camera on each table, camera for al the room, the guard cannot even come next to you to help you configure the computer in English, whoah...

Now next is the real exam on the bike, which should be done in the following weeks.
Bike is already selected, the Honda-Sundiro Shadow 150.

I'll keep you all informed when I finally can steer my way into Shanghai traffic on my new beautiful shiny bike... ;-))

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred

struggled a bit as usual on the colour vision test (where you should see numbers within "bubbles" of colour, don't know why I always struggled with this one, I can see the colour perfectly though, strange...)...

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Not to worry. Chinese drivers are all color blind when it comes to those red-yellow-green thingies up on poles at most intersections.

Hehe, true, true...

Oh by the way, went twice to the Qiyi shop on Wenshui lu, thanks for the tip !
Last time I bought a Dainese Barcellona jacket, black, for only RMB 580. When you check the Dainese website, they're selling those for 160 Euros...
Will maybe pick up some Xpd X-Tank shoes there too this weekend.

Glad you were able to finally find the Qiyi shop. Simon and his wife are good people -- who actually ride motorcycles.

cheers

Congrats. I just went through all of this a few months ago. Good luck on the riding instruction part. Darn cold these days though.

Hey thanks Wrangler.

BTW, what are you supposed to do during the riding test ? I looked at where they were doing, but could not make any of it :
- ride on elevated rails for 2 meters
- ride on bumpy portion for 5 meters
- turn around and come back ?

I was amazed at the "bikes" they use for the instruction... 80cc engine, old, rusted and dropped like a million times... ;-))

http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/showthread.php?1850
80cc??? Isn't it a legend Jialing JH70 (Almost like Honda CD70) :lol8:

I took my instruction in Hongkou. First, the bikes they provide are absolutely crap. You have to keep adjusting the idle speed. The company that made them, I can't remember which one, closed long ago. However, they are light and easy to ride.. once you get it started.

There are actually 2 tests. You have to take the tests separately. This is required. Supposedly the total time for the instruction and the 2 test is 2 months. The first test is to go between four metal poles spaced about 2 meters apart. At the last pole, you circle back within the area designated by the painted ring. You cannot touch any pole with your bike or part of your body. If you do, you supposedly fail. However, during the test the instructor just calls you to the back and redo the test after everyone is finished. Your test will go much smoother if you give the instructor a red envelope (100rmb) is enough. It's not required but he will be appreciative (especially since it's close to CNY), and he would pay more attention to you.

For this test it's just best to go a little faster. It's actually easier to maneuver between the poles and circle back if you go smooth and slightly faster.

The second test has five parts to it: First, you have to go between 3 sets of free hanging poles, about 1.2 meters space, which again, you can't touch. Second, you have three rails in succession in front of you that go a few meters to the right behind each other. You only have to go over the first two rails. Both wheels need to get onto the rail and you need to maintain balance. If any wheel slips off, you fail (and retake after everyone else is finished). The trick is to get onto the rails slowly but as you get past the halfway point, if you start feeling a little off balance, add gas, and it will help to straighten you out.

After the rails you are required make a sharp right within some painted boundaries then follow a windy path.

The final part is to go up a hill, stop midway, and then start from a complete stop without rolling backwards. If you roll backwards on the hill you fail (or retake). The trick here is to shift to first gear BEFORE you go up the hill. This way, when you stop, you are already in first gear. You fake the motion of switching gears and then add gas (while you right foot is still lightly on the rear brake. There will be an instructor on your LEFT side watching you so they can't see you applying the rear brake pedal while applying the throttle.

All of this, in my opinion, has nothing to do with safe riding or offers any practical instruction for riding in Shanghai...

Hope this helps Fred. All of the points for taking the test were told to me by my "instructor" who was much nicer to me after I got him a gift voucher...

Guys, I am so glad I got my license in the US last year. Not only did I not have to put up with this utterly nonsensical test, but I also had the privilege of taking a proper rider safety course, passing of which meant I didn't have to take a road test with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Sounds like it saved me a ton of trouble. All I had to do was provide a notarized translation of my California motorcycling license and take the written exam here.

:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
I do bow down to anyone who aces a perfect 100 on their Chinese driving exam. How'd you get your mind to think so non-intuitively and illogically?? :lol8::lol8::lol8:

Whoah thanks Wrangler, I did not even see your reply, didn't get an email notification this time...
Thanks again, it does help a lot.

I spent 1 hour on the bike this morning (aargh... cold....) for the 1st time at the Wubao lu center, the slalom is a piece of cake, but I have some trouble to keep my balance on the part where you have to go really straight on a 15cm wide rail for 3 meters without falling on either side... Do you experienced guys have some tips for me to improve at this part ?
The bike are like those : http://www.honda-sundiro.com/pro/sho...=114&ClassID=5 so not possible to press your knees against the tank for a better balance. Is there something I should do with my upper body, or maybe look farther away, not directly at the front wheel, to keep my balance more easily ?

About what you wrote for the uphill start : how can you "fake" the gear change with the left foot and at the same time apply a little bit of rear brake with the right one when you're stopped, all that without falling of course ? How many feet do you have ?? ;-))

About the "gift" part, it's well noted. I will bring something to him next time, try to give to him discreetly when nobody is around... Any tips for that too ?

Thanks again for your help !

Fred

Hey Fred,

For the rail its best to have both wheels be in a straight line as soon as you get on the rail. Once on the rail your body needs to be relaxed, but non-moving, other than the throttle. Once you start microadjusting the handlebars, you wobble and it becomes more difficult to keep in a straight line. When you are at the halfway point, give the bike some gas so you pick up speed. This will help to straighten you out and get across the last half.

Regarding the gear change, these are the steps I learned:

1. Change to first before you get on the hill.
2. Brake and come to a complete stop and put both feet down with your right hand on the front brake.
3. Shift or fake shift the gear to first and put left foot down.
4. Lift your right foot and depress the rear brake and hold.
5. Engage the gears and add gas while lightly depressing rear brake still, till you are moving.

For the gift just put in a plain envelope and pass to him folded. Even better, buy a carre four or tesco or lianhua market gift card and pass to him. It's more discreet and he can't immediately tell how much it is. =)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fred

Whoah thanks Wrangler, I did not even see your reply, didn't get an email notification this time...
Thanks again, it does help a lot.

I spent 1 hour on the bike this morning (aargh... cold....) for the 1st time at the Wubao lu center, the slalom is a piece of cake, but I have some trouble to keep my balance on the part where you have to go really straight on a 15cm wide rail for 3 meters without falling on either side... Do you experienced guys have some tips for me to improve at this part ?
The bike are like those : http://www.honda-sundiro.com/pro/sho...=114&ClassID=5 so not possible to press your knees against the tank for a better balance. Is there something I should do with my upper body, or maybe look farther away, not directly at the front wheel, to keep my balance more easily ?

About what you wrote for the uphill start : how can you "fake" the gear change with the left foot and at the same time apply a little bit of rear brake with the right one when you're stopped, all that without falling of course ? How many feet do you have ?? ;-))

About the "gift" part, it's well noted. I will bring something to him next time, try to give to him discreetly when nobody is around... Any tips for that too ?

Thanks again for your help !

Fred

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Thanks again Wrangler !

I'll add one more question : the bike I was practicing on today didn't have a clutch lever on the left handle bar, it was an "automatic" clutch, you could change gears with the left foot without it.
From what I can read, you had a real bike with clutch lever on the handle bars.
So I wonder in your example, what's the point of changing the gear from 2nd to 1st before climbing the hill ? My meaning : when you're stopped half-way through the hill with the front brake engaged with your right hand, and the clutch pressed with your left one, you could change gear to 1st, then put the left foot down, press the rear brake with the right foot, disengage the front brake, then slowly disengage the clutch with your left hand while giving some gas, and off the rear brake when starting to move, no ?

Isn't that what you're really supposed to do anyway, on the test and later in the streets ?

Sorry my mistake, you aren't using the same bikes we were using. The ones we were using were complete crap. The whole point was that if you tried to change after you stop on the hill (which is what they taught we were supposed to do - I know, doesn't make sense) you risk not being able to shift to first gear on the hill, and you could be stuck trying to start from second or third.

I told you to change before the hill because the distance on my course, from the base of the hill to where the instructor is standing is under 10 meters. So if you change to first they could hear you. All of this has nothing to do with real world riding in Shanghai (but neither does most of the course).

When I get back to the US I plan to take a course as Euphonious did. BTW, I got a great book called "Proficient Motorcycling". Quite a good read.

http://www.amazon.com/Proficient-Mot...5869077&sr=8-1

Good luck!

Yes, I have this book too, a must read. I know people who read it once a year during the winter break, not to forget important advices.

After I get the bike I plan to find some place where I can practice for hours the real driving skills (emergency braking, avoiding techniques, etc.), also in order to get to know the bike better.
What I find the most amazing is that it seems that I will always practice and do the tests on bikes without a clutch lever on the handle bars, how's that for learning to ride a motorbike ? ;-))
Needless to say, I will train by myself... ;-))