Shaanxi n00b with photos (and questions!)

Brilliant.
You sure you don;t have psychic ability?
Not far from what I already have planned ...
I will teach western magickal tradition on a lecture tour, meeting scholars and young female acolytes on the way.

I will thus get an introduction using connections to a small town Chief Of Police and he can do all the arrangements for me for M'bike.
Any spare time from teaching the acolytes 4th degree sex magick will be spent passing on my wisdom and sharing beers with fellow MCMers.

Having proven my credentials and fertility and magickal guanxi to the aforesaid CoP
I will happily marry his ugly niece and bring her back to Oz.
There I will sit for 6 months of each of my remaining years with hands contentedly crossed over my growing Buddha belly and contemplate the huge pile of firewood, the rusting remains of the Kinlon and lots of fat, naked kids playing in the gleaming UV light.

The other six months will be spent back in China while 侄女丑 shows off her shiny yellow gold jewellery and coral bracelets to many relatives. And I still sit, and smile and get fat and ride my motorbike.

heaven reaches earth and the righteous man is content

Excellent post Lao Jia Hou :clap:

I think one thing that needs to be clarified is the duration of stay vs the length of visa. You can get a one year multiple entry visa, but the duration of stay is not going to be more than 30 or 60 days I think. So regardless of business, or tourist visa, if your duration of stay is not over 90 days....no C1E license?

Do I have that correct?

Cheers!
ChinaV

ChinaV - good point of clarification.

It is increasingly common for visas issued outside of China to have a "maximum stay" of 30, 60 or 90 days, within an overall visa limit of (for example) 12 months. The visa might also have 1, 2 or Multiple entries allowed within that 1 year period, but each stay is for a maximum duration of 30, 60 or 90 days.

It is my understanding that your duration of stay (i.e., the 30, 60 or 90 days) is the criterion used by the Traffic Management Bureau in determining whether you are eligible for a regular Chinese driving license.

Visas issued within China do not have that "maximum stay" limitation, but that discussion is an entirely separate can of worms.

Back in 2005, when I first acquired my Chinese Driving license, it took me about 3 weeks. Most of that time was waiting for an available exam spot. I have heard that, in Beijing, it still takes about 3 weeks - assuming you already have a MC endorsement on your home license.

Lao Jia Hou,

Thanks for the detailed explanation, it confirms all the research I've done.

That is the situation I am in, I have a 12 month, multiple entry L (tourist) visa, which allows a maximum stay of 90 days. Every time I arrive, we go to the PSB and register and I get my temporary residence permit.

It is interesting that you say visa's issued in China don't have the maximum stay limitation. Of course I'm sure the situation gets even more complicated when you start talking about visa extensions, etc.

If its not already, Visa issues should be their own thread along with the "How to get your license" thread.

Hey guys,

So, I've been getting out and about a little, and getting used to the bike, and I have a few questions. (I'm a car guy traditionally, but have no idea about these crazy 2-wheel'd things!)

So, my CBF-125 has front drum brakes, not discs, and they suck. I mean; suck-suck.
The rear is also a drum, but it seems to have about 3-4x the braking power of the front one. I know the rear has engine braking, but this even happens in 5th gear (not much engine braking up there.) Just today I was on a (rather steep) hill, and the front brake would hardly hold the bike. Applying just the front brake fully hardly bleeds off any speed (70kph -> 40kph in about 4-5 seconds.)

While the lever "feels" to be "biting" from about half way through it's throw, the lever is touching the handle and thus, can't be applied any more.

At the moment, any sudden stops are a bit hairy. Like I say, I'm a car guy used to 4 chunky brake discs and some heel-and-toe'ing to slow down, so maybe this is normal for these bike things. I just don't get the difference between the front-rear drum strength. Applying the rear brake will scrub off loads of speed, but obviously when the weight transfers to the front of the bike, the rear wheel locks up pretty easily.

So, two questions:
1- Are all front-drum brakes like this, or should they be even strength?
2- If all front drum brakes are like this, how easy is a front disc brake conversion? I know there's a version of my bike with a front disc, I've seen a few around. I've thrown Honda Integra rear disc brakes on a Honda Civic before no problem - you can do basically anything to a 4-wheel'd Honda with a 12 and 14mm spanner, but these 2 wheel'd things, I don't have a clue. Car discs and brakes both use hydraulic system with master cylinders, etc... but, I don't even know if a bike (as small as mine) uses hydraulics or cables.

Thanks guys,
While I'm not ready to say I love 2-wheels more than 4, I never would have considered a motorbike before - but now; I'm loving it! :)

Hi Vtec,

Before you go converting anything, your front brake shouldn't be that shitty. Drum brakes aren't great but they do work ok. Have you checked simple stuff like if the cable is tight, or if the brake shoes are worn? If you're handy with a spanner you should have no problem pulling the front wheel off and having a look at the brake shoes inside, or even have a mechanic do it, to see if they need replacing. Sometimes even if there's material left on the pads they can become polished and have no friction at all, if that's the case then sand them down a bit with some sand paper to roughen the surface and see if that makes a difference. You can also sand the inside of the drum on the wheel to roughen that surface too.

If you do want to convert the front to a disc, you'll need new front forks (which have mounts for the brake caliper), a new wheel (which has mounts for the disc) (and an axle for the new wheel) and a hydraulic brake system (lever + hose + caliper assembly). It's a bit of an endeavour but if you have money and time to throw at the bike you'll definitely notice the difference.

Good to hear you're enjoying the world of half-cars!

I second to Felix that the front brake need inspection, the brake level shouldn't goes all the way down touch the handle bar. As I read somewhere, front brake provides as much as 70% of stopping power, it is crucial for emergency stop. But most of 125cc bikes, even equip with disk brake--single piston--don't have enough force to lock up the front wheel.
I've been thinking upgrade my little Suzuki to this floating disk system.
Attachment 4849
Attachment 4850

Thanks guys!

I don't think it's a problem with wear, as the bike only has 300kms on it. I'll try adjusting the brake cable and see where that gets me. I'm not after super-brakes, so it seems like just getting the front drum working efficiently will be enough. :) However, upgrading seems like a good way to get my hands dirty (although perhaps a waste of money that the Mrs won't understand.) ^_^

another way to improve the feel of drum brakes is to increase the diameter of the cable . you will find it may be only 2mm and can be changed to 3.5mm.

also as felix said reduce the freeplay as much as possible and deglaze all the friction parts

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zhu

another way to improve the feel of drum brakes is to increase the diameter of the cable . you will find it may be only 2mm and can be changed to 3.5mm.

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+1

Thin cables have elasticity, as well as stretch. It is worse with twisted cables, although twisted are much less prone to breaking.