Capn_jer

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Barry

You're talking about me? :mwink:

Just picked up my Chinese driving license yesterday, a street legal bike is the next thing on my list!

---

Congrats. PM me your phone no and e-mail and we meet up for celebration :goodtime:
I am usually hanging out at Franks, close to Lido :deal:

Capn_jer,

What you don't seem to get is that people are bending over backwards to help you in this forum. And that many of us have decades of experience figuring out how to make shit that's not supposed to happen happen in what remains a police state. As others have suggested, if you really are serious about living, working and riding in China, you could do a whole lot worse than spending some time mining the copious insights that are freely and generously available in this forum, and stop assuming that the whole world turns the same way it does in the US.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Capn_jer

"I've lost two sets of tires at the border..." you said. What's the likelihood of buying good used parts across the border in Lao Cai, Cao Bang or Ha Giang, Vietnam? Surely there has got to be motorcycle shops servicing foreign bikes there. Could one ride across the border, have new tires, chains brake pads installed and then return. Just a thought

---

As for your thoughts about riding into Vietnam to get a tune-up and tires, your premise of course is that you'd be riding your KLR from inside China and that said KLR is all legally plated and insured in China. But the chances of you achieving this status with your KLR are -- as some of our most experienced members have already advised -- virtually nil. Kawi has no dealer network in China, and its bikes are not among the four, yes, four international brands that as of today are legally imported (BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson and Benelli). Unlike Yammie and Suzy and Hondy, all of which have some form of JV or licensed production in China, I don't think Kawi even have a local partner. I'm a KLRista myself, and guess where you'll find my KLR? Yeah, parked at my sister's place in San Rafael, CA. I keep my legal (and remarkably KLR-like) JH600 in my underground garage in Shanghai. Yeah, it pisses me off that what I paid for one new Chinabike and a plate in Shanghai (north of US$11k) would have bought not just a couple but four or five recent-year KLRs or any of a million other wonderful bikes you are so lucky to choose from in the US or pretty much anywhere else on the planet. China is not the rest of the world.

Oh Capn, my Capn, we are not making this shit up just to get your goat. So, if you could kindly park the attitude, and start listening to those of us who are and have been for many years on the front lines of motorcycling in one of the greatest but still most challenging places to ride on the planet, you'll have a much less bumpy ride.

And you'll find that our grumpy old sod Jape is one of the most experienced and resourceful and thoughtful and generous motorcyclists and chinabike aficionados in our forum.

Happy New Year!

Incidentally, here's what a Kawasaki looks like in China:

http://www.tradeeasy.com/photo/selle...2_DSC01044.JPG

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Not nearly as tough as a KLR... and shouldn't they be green :confused1:

Attachment 2895

Cheers!
ChinaV

Hey Capn_jer,

this is by far the coolest(?) entry tread to MCM I ever read (well, except for the one with the pretty disco girl maybe...). I have been off for a while and just saw it this morning. Couldn't stop laughing...

I really do hope you stay with us and share your experience when you come to China. This is going to be great. You will find a lot of help, also here in this forum (provided you study it more), but in the end you have to make your own experience and find out by yourself what works best for you. Most of us have been more or less at the point where you are at now maybe 7, 8, 10 or like me, almost 20 years ago, when I first came to S.E. Asia. We all had to learn it the friendly or the hard way. What you found here so far, is the essence of this experience. If you want to invent the wheel again, I guess we all are interested to see how you are getting around.

So far, I just can underline, what ChinaV and the other guys are advising. After all, here in China there is no reason to ask "WHY?". This is China - T.I.C - that's it. You'll find out once you come here.

My advise for you (only if you decide to maintain the stubbornness): DON'T get a China bike!!!
Try to get you KLR into China, get a bloody nose, loose your dollars, and stay without a ride in China for a while until you get so desperate to ride, that you will do anything to get on a bike, including making a drivers license and getting a street legal bike with all papers. After all, you will then belong to a privileged group of riders, who can travel around on a motorcycle more or less freely in China. This chance is not available easily.
If you haven't done it yet, then it might be a good idea to try and understand more about China, before you get here. This might help.

Cheers and good luck,
AW.

Hello Mr. Pfaelzer, Hey, thanks for seeing the humor in all this. Attempting to put square pegs in round holes seems to suit me. So, is it possible to hand carry, or have one's girlfriend hand carry bike parts thru customs on a return flight from Thailand?

Also should one try to convert a US motorcycle edorsement or just start from scratch in applying for one in China, and which provinces provide for written tests in English?

How good or bad is the frame welding on your JH600? Someone's posted pics of really questionable welding on a China bike.

Hi,
yes, we should take stuff a bit easy. It's about having some fun here after all.

Hand-carrying parts is a va-banque game. They catch you - then you need to pay. As ChinaV said, you even can loose stuff. I had many parts hand-carried into China, but recently they had another change in custom regulation. When this happens, then everything becomes more sensitive - especially when events like Asia-Games are on. Sounds funny, but again: T.I.C. They got me (actually the guy who was traveling with me once at the train station. The guy had as brand-new laptop computer in his luggage - plus the one in his bag, which he currently was using. They didn't like that - took out some list with custom tariffs - finally after a lot of time and patience, we could negotiate the amount, but it was still painful and it was lucky, that one of the officers could speak english - just one example.

Start from scratch - a bit harder but you'll have more fun on the long-term. Guangdong provides english written test formats. I am not sure about other provinces.

I have never heard of frame problems on the JH600. The bike is actually designed as a sidecar bike (check the side-car section here), therefore the frame is strong - but also quite wide. Anyhow, the JH600 is one of the more expensive bikes around here. Depending on your needs (on/off-road, two up,...) there is a choice of other, smaller bikes around. I wouldn't worry too much about the welding jobs. The bikes are usually rather cheap. If something breaks, it can be fixed - with an enforcement if needed.

That "someone" you are mentioning here, is a very quality focused, sometimes picky, but also a very guy... You'll find out.

Cheers,
AW.

More examples of what Kawasakis in China look like...
:lol8::lol8::lol8:

http://www.khi.co.jp/ship/product/up...ship_A5_01.jpg

http://www.khi.co.jp/product/upload_...mg_cp_a074.jpg

http://www.khi.co.jp/product/upload_images/A134_A.jpg

http://www.khi.co.jp/product/upload_images/A105_A.jpg

http://www.khi.co.jp/product/upload_...mg_cp_a012.jpg

http://www.khi.co.jp/product/upload_...mg_cp_a122.jpg

http://www.khi.co.jp/product/upload_...mg_cp_a196.jpg

And finally, here's 30 minutes of twisty video featuring a guy called Big Head riding perhaps the ONLY KLR650 in all China up a mountainside in Quanzhou...

Big Head KLR650 video

IT CAN BE DONE! (Just don't ask Big Head where he got his plate...)