Recomendation for Dual-sport Bike for Trip from China to Europe

Want an "easier" adventure? Bicycle it.

A guy I play good ole bluegrass with used to lead bike tours from London -> Beijing. Doable.

I bought a pair of Giant MTBs off a couple of guys from San Fransisco who flew into Urumqi and rode to Beijing. The pair only had a total of 3 flats, and no other trouble.

It can easily fall within your budget, no license/registration/insurance required, and a great adventure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bikerdoc

Kind of related....
http://doherty.net.au

You might be lucky, you might be able to get a DL in 5 days, you might be able to organise to sit the test in fairly quick succession after arrival, you might be able to get a longer duration visa that might then give you the duration of stay that then might make you eligible for a foreign D/L -> PRC D/L conversion, you might be able to find someone willing to sell you a bike and not worry about the plate (actually out of all the might's this is almost a certainty), you might be able to find someone who can fudge you an apartment or some such rental agreement that then, might allow you to go register in the approved PSB that keeps a register of foreigners (given that not all PSB Stations can). You might be able to get a HK D/L just so you might be able to convert that to a PRC D/L... and you might be able to do that without needing to sit a written/computerised D/L test. You might be able to get M/C insurance in your name even if a M/C is another persons name (this is a little trickier to accomplish)... you might be able to accomplish all of this with a dependable/reliable MC on the US$1000 budget you set yourself... - I've my doubts...

:popcorn:

As stated previously and elsewhere PRC is one big country full of little kingdoOms, each little territory, village, district, town, city, province, makes its own set of 'rules' which may or may not be enforced, and then there is the big mother-ship... one set of regulations and rules in one jurisdiction may or may not apply elsewhere.

Kudos to you though if you can pull it all off.

:scooter:

---

Llllooooaaaadddd of might in your post Doc could it be (He MIGHT be just dreaming?)

but as you say good luck or maybe might be good luck :naughty:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=1...1.17.12.oJal2X


or get two of these , totally under the radar

Today arrived in macau. We handed our documents over to CTS (China travel service) and will get 30 day visa tomorrow 4pm. Cost 420 mop each (about $50 USD). Longer tourist visas not available. Will probably start awake all night or find a cardboard box tonight for some sleep :-), don't feel like paying big money for a hotel, more out of principle than anything (were used to paying $10 USD a night for a room). Maybe later well light a fire in a trashbin and fry up some roadkill.

We met a few cyclists in the hostel in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, they cycled across China on the same route. Don't know, cycling never really appealed much, you seem to get kind of stinky and spend all your time cycling, would probably get too temping to just put the bike on the bus.

@zhu well I showed it to my wife. Can't say she was impressed, i won't quote her.. I liked the idea, would take a little longer, but would we really be any better off legally than on a motorbike? Would probably go two up, she doesn't have any road experience. Did you see 'dumb and dumber'?



Still undecided.

I was kidding really but I had a similar bike in 2007/8 they are basically ignored by the cops and can easily cover 200km / day. Yes very dumb & dumber

w
a

The idea definably has some merit. More fun than cycling. Cheap cheap. Do you think the police would really take it easier on us? Any idea about crossing the border? Do they have papers? Take it to pieces and take it in a box? :-)

Yeah you will get a fapio which proves you own it , it cant be registered but it is known as "little guy" .Nobody takes them seriously or pays any attention to them . I would put it on a truck as parts and carry on once over the border. But that's just me..Seems to me the Chinese have a soft spot for travellers on small shitty bikes.

Or this..

http://newcenturypower.diytrade.com/...ngine_kit.html

It turns a bicycle into a primitive motorcycle. Rather have a bike though.

Sounds good. Maybe use one of those for China then get a Ural in Kyrgyzstan to reclaim my manhood :-).

Drinking beer with Filipinos in Sendai square and stealing WiFi :-)

Those are beautiful , got passed by one once ridden by a 68 year old Chinese man . It seized just after he passed me in a full racing crouch . Great old guy and we had a smoke and a chat while he waited for the two smoke to unseize . ..