Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Hello all! My girlfriend and I are no strangers to riding in challenging and foreign places, and also skirting the law at times (we once drove a 40 year old motorcycle from India to Spain with fake papers the whole way). We just sold a little 150cc bike that we spent 3 months on in Indonesia and now we now want to buy a motorcycle in Xinxiang and spend a month or so driving around. So...how stupid would this be?
I have no China license (but an international one I do have). We are on tourist visas. The plan was to buy two 50cc bikes (we heard that for those you dont need a license or papers). The alternative would be to buy a 125cc and ride two up, but then there is the issue with license plates and registration etc. The problem with the 50cc idea is the minimum speed limit...or is that a problem?
Another problem is that I read on a post here that there are no motorcycles in Urumqi? Is that right? That was where we planned to buy the bike.
So, thoughts on all this? Are there lots of police checking documents? Is it true with a 50cc we would be in the clear? Any reports on riding in Xinxiang? Any ideas at all how we could have some sort of a quasi-legal moto adventure in any part of China?
Thank you for your ideas and thoughts!
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
I am a little worried about you. Xinxiang is a random urban area in Henan province of no particular interest to motorcyclists; Xinjiang is an enormous province of China to the west full of interest. My worry about you maybe mis-writing a little J is that you are painting China with a wide brush without attention to detail. You might be able to ride a 40 year old motorcycle through Xinjiang with fake papers and have no problem. But, you also might not. You might instead be grabbed by one of the 10,000 military police that the People's Liberation Army recently marched down the streets of Urumqi in a show of force against Islamic terrorism in the province. You will be entering what is regarded (perhaps wrongly) as the most dangerous, most strictly governed province of China, where beards on men have been banned. I have no personal experience in Xinjiang, and I am desperate for a MCMer to come on here, tell me I've got it all wrong, and give us all a safe route to explore that wonderful place. But, it is not a place to assume you are just going to hippie-motor it on through with no complications. Please find people who live in Xinjiang right now who can give you a sense of what's going on, and plan very carefully. I wish you nothing but safe travels.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
stevenade
I am a little worried about you. Xinxiang is a random urban area in Henan province of no particular interest to motorcyclists; Xinjiang is an enormous province of China to the west full of interest. My worry about you maybe mis-writing a little J is that you are painting China with a wide brush without attention to detail. You might be able to ride a 40 year old motorcycle through Xinjiang with fake papers and have no problem. But, you also might not. You might instead be grabbed by one of the 10,000 military police that the People's Liberation Army recently marched down the streets of Urumqi in a show of force against Islamic terrorism in the province. You will be entering what is regarded (perhaps wrongly) as the most dangerous, most strictly governed province of China, where beards on men have been banned. I have no personal experience in Xinjiang, and I am desperate for a MCMer to come on here, tell me I've got it all wrong, and give us all a safe route to explore that wonderful place. But, it is not a place to assume you are just going to hippie-motor it on through with no complications. Please find people who live in Xinjiang right now who can give you a sense of what's going on, and plan very carefully. I wish you nothing but safe travels.
Epic post!
Momo034, it's nice to go through life thinking the rules don't apply to you. You will have no problem doing what you want to do... getting illegal bikes, riding with no license or insurance, etc. It will all be fine, until you get stopped by the police or scratch some locals car and then... it won't be so much fun. What you do reflects on those that live in China and many don't take things like illegal travel lightly.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
stevenade
I am a little worried about you. Xinxiang is a random urban area in Henan province of no particular interest to motorcyclists; Xinjiang is an enormous province of China to the west full of interest. My worry about you maybe mis-writing a little J is that you are painting China with a wide brush without attention to detail. You might be able to ride a 40 year old motorcycle through Xinjiang with fake papers and have no problem. But, you also might not. You might instead be grabbed by one of the 10,000 military police that the People's Liberation Army recently marched down the streets of Urumqi in a show of force against Islamic terrorism in the province. You will be entering what is regarded (perhaps wrongly) as the most dangerous, most strictly governed province of China, where beards on men have been banned. I have no personal experience in Xinjiang, and I am desperate for a MCMer to come on here, tell me I've got it all wrong, and give us all a safe route to explore that wonderful place. But, it is not a place to assume you are just going to hippie-motor it on through with no complications. Please find people who live in Xinjiang right now who can give you a sense of what's going on, and plan very carefully. I wish you nothing but safe travels.
Thanks for the concern Steve, all of which have been duly noted. We also have our doubts of whether this is a good idea, hence my post here. We are just trying to gather info about what the situation is in the area to make a decision. We actually are in contact with several locals in Urumqi since yesterday, all of which have told us they think exploring the area by motorcycle is a great idea (and said the motorcycle ban only applies for the center of the city, a small area) and seem to think that the risks are not so great (of some hassles perhaps, but nothing too bad). That being said, even as locals I dont always trust their advice. I think our plan is to try and get a bike that has legal papers and plates, maybe find someone who will "rent" theirs to us... and as for the china license thing just wing it. I dont think that is such a terrible misstep (I have a license in my homecountry and an international one, I wouldnt be surprised if most provincial police dont even know that an international license is not valid in China). Anyways, we will see. We will feel things out once in Urumqi and decide if it makes sense. Will report back here on how it goes.
And ChinaV, I dont mind playing by the rules. If there was a way to do this the right way we would do it for sure. But as you all know China makes it impossible to drive in the country while on a tourist visa. Some rules I dont break....speed limits are there for people saftey, I never break those kind of rules, but my driving is of no harm to you or anyone else, simply governments imposing restrictions that do just that...restrict, they might have their reasons but I am free to challenge or disagree with those reasons. I am also a sane adult, aware of the risks I take. I alone would suffer the consequences and punishments if my card is pulled. We are free to chose our own path. But thank you for your concern.
By the way, for anyone reading this post who might be interested, there is a great blog about a couple traversing China on a little toy motorcycle, flying under the radar. Its a fun read: http://www.bugsonmyboard.org/2015/10...through-china/
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Quote:
Chinese has rules and some order and follow it! Stop this nonsense talk illegal blah blah
Get your shit together and do it correctly
You need this like I've done several times
Idiots like you make foreigners all look like shit here.
Easy Tiger ...
What he does I don't think it reflects on you or me .
Read this link ....
By the way he had some help "ME"
http://advrider.com/index.php?thread...-asia.1208680/
Skip the first few pages, and read about China.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
I am not sure about Henan Province but I do know that 49cc or less bikes are legal without a license in a lot of provinces, including mine. You just need the certification showing its < or = to 49cc. Every province is different though! I am one of the assholes that road dirty for a year. Never had a problem because the bike had a plate. I am lucky my first accident happened three weeks after i got legal... You never know? Good luck though!
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Hey, thanks for that link Prince! Just read the whole thing! Very helpful. So basically, seems I could buy a bike that is new and be legal on it for 30 days, which is exactly the extent of my visa and the duration we wanted to travel :)
So that solves that problem. Just the Chinese license missing which I don't think is that big of a deal, I can just show my international one and play dumb and I think it will be fine, and if not whats the worst that can happen? they confiscate my shitty $500 bike....they get a new bike to ride away on and I have a new story to tell.
But I was thinking I might even look in to getting a license if it is not so hard. I read one thing online saying it is easy as going into an office, paying $50, taking a super easy theoretical exam and then you get it the same day. If thats the case I might just try and do it.
Anyone want to share their experiences gettting a China drivers license?
And thanks for chiming in Asymptomatic with the confirmation of the 49cc rule. But we realizes Xinxiang just doesnt have enough provincial roads to make that feasible, there is only bigger highways.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
momo034
and if not whats the worst that can happen? they confiscate my shitty $500 bike....they get a new bike to ride away on and I have a new story to tell.
A fine, some jail time, and instant deportation.
The drivers license thread is 65 pages long with 644 replies...because it's nearly impossible to get a DL in China without jumping through a lot of hoops.
Just get a cheap bike and drive illegal, sounds like what you're going to end up doing.
and it XinJiang not Xinxiang :gun_bandana:
Have a safe trip and share some pictures with us.
Cheers!
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Hi MoMo
And welcome to MCM
Members are correct here about not having a Chinese DL.
I think it's fair to say that I have toured more then most on here all over China in the last 8 years clocking up well over 150.000 km just in china.
And in those 8 years I have been stoped 100s times ,and only once which in fact was only 3 weeks ago that if my documents was not 100% in order I think I would of been in deep shit.
Even in my early days when I had a fully legal bike but had not obtain my Chinese DL .
I was involved in a crash and still was not a problem not having a Chinese DL.
But that was on that day when the wind was blowing in the right direction.
I was lucky.
Now IMO the best solution is to fly into Beijing or Shanghia and you can obtain on the same day a provincial driving permit.
Link .....http://motorhome-china.com/report_dl.html
But I think it's only to be used for the Beijing or Shanghia area's.
But having this is better then nothing IMO.
Now if you can start your trip from Shandong province ,fly into yantai I will pick you up at the airport and take you to my local motorbike dealers (friends) And sort out a legally plated and insured bike.
I am due back in Shandong in about 3 days time but will leave the area at the beginning of July.
Quote:
saying it is easy as going into an office, paying $50, taking a super easy theoretical exam and then you get it the same day.
MOMO NO MATE DON'T HAPPEN AND DON'T TRY?
All members here mean well but some get over excited.
So listen to ALL advise posted and make up your own mind what is best for you ?
But remember even the guy I posted the link to was not total volid of problems.
Good luck
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Momo
Xinjiang has always been a rather somewhat difficult place to travel in. Since the start of the year it has got harder in the last month it has become even harder.
" We actually are in contact with several locals in Urumqi since yesterday, all of which have told us they think exploring the area by motorcycle is a great idea (and said the motorcycle ban only applies for the center of the city, a small area) and seem to think that the risks are not so great (of some hassles perhaps, but nothing too bad)"
Emm at present the locals that I know aren't saying anything or say "yeah everything's good. Can't talk now looking forward to speaking to you when you get here"
Now is not the time to do anything in the big X anything vaguely outside the law.If it ever was at all.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
There you have it NZB can sort yon out with a legal plated insured bike and sort out the DL you need for a small fee.
It cost what it cost so listen to his advise but IMO his post is a bit condescending.
But help from guys like him is what you need.
And to start of in Chengdu you can't find a better place.
Good luck.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Again, thanks for the advice Prince666, That is cool that you can get a license while at the airport in Beijing, Maybe we can make it so we fly through Beijing, and thanks for the offer to help if we were to pass through your neighborhood. Problem is we are just short on time. My girlfriend can only get 30 days with her passport and we had carved out 30 days for our china/xinjiang time with an outward flight already booked. But we were denied our China visa last week due to having lots of strange stamps in our passports (they particularly didnt like that we had been to Tajikistan), we re-applied but and got it the second time with the help of an agent, but we lost 5 days, so now we only have 25 days. Needless to say it's not much time to do everything right. But the Beijing airport idea could be do-able.
To add to all the complications of this I am realizing that it would be very hard to see much in Xinjiang in such a short time without using the toll roads, which apparently isn't possible on a bike. It is all getting a bit tricky, we are still considering options but starting to include defeat as one potential option (which would mean using public transport). We'll see.
And yes, BidDano, I agree, just cause a local says it doesnt mean its true, half the time they have no idea what the real situation is, but it was just one bit of info to add pile to be digested.
And NZBrake....lets see, so far since I posted this you have called me an idiot, a self-entitled hippie, and lazy, all because I asked for some information and advice. Thank you for your offer to help in Chengdu. I will pass. I would like to say "I will take all the help I can get", but I have self respect and limitations.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Hi MoMo
You can ride on the toll roads in Xinjiang province ?
Well let's say when I entered China from Kazashan I needed to go to Chengdu and like I always do it just skip on and try to skip around all the other toll booths.
It's wasn't till I got caught in a big line of cars at 1 toll booth when a police officer told me a can just ride through this gate ok ?
So maybe bikes are allowed on the toll roads.
NZB means well so don't be too hard on him IMO , we just get a lot of nobs come on MCM taking about I am going to do this and that and I don't care a shit.?
Take it from me the best riding in the whole of China is Yunnan and Schiuan province.
Why do all the bike tours who ride up from Thailand only stay in these areas ?
Because it the best.
On my way back to Ya'an which is 200km south of Chengdu for more riding .
This time I am leaving my over weight CFmoto 650 TR-G and just ordered a new Honda CRF Rally from a dealer in Chengdu.
Hope to be around that area from mid July till the end off October.
If you are about drop me a PM
Good luck with your trip I am sure you will be fine.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
prince666
Hi MoMo
You can ride on the toll roads in Xinjiang province ?
Well let's say when I entered China from Kazashan I needed to go to Chengdu and like I always do it just skip on and try to skip around all the other toll booths.
It's wasn't till I got caught in a big line of cars at 1 toll booth when a police officer told me a can just ride through this gate ok ?
So maybe bikes are allowed on the toll roads.
NZB means well so don't be too hard on him IMO , we just get a lot of nobs come on MCM taking about I am going to do this and that and I don't care a shit.?
Take it from me the best riding in the whole of China is Yunnan and Schiuan province.
Why do all the bike tours who ride up from Thailand only stay in these areas ?
Because it the best.
On my way back to Ya'an which is 200km south of Chengdu for more riding .
This time I am leaving my over weight CFmoto 650 TR-G and just ordered a new Honda CRF Rally from a dealer in Chengdu.
Hope to be around that area from mid July till the end off October.
If you are about drop me a PM
Good luck with your trip I am sure you will be fine.
Thanks, I think we decided to just go and see how things are. We are staying with some locals through couchsurfing, we will ask questions and get a feel for the lay of the land best we can and just play it by ear. But more and more we are thinking it might not be worth it all. If we had more time Im sure we could figure something out, but time is not on our side.
I was actually already in Sichiuan province some years ago, and rented a motorcycle way up in Litang. AMAZING place. We roda from Kyrgyzstan to Spain some years ago though and so this time around we are quite keen to see Kashgar and around just because it kindof picks up the silk road before where we started on it. And I think its a good move to leave the 650 for something smaller. I have been on a steady downsizing mission for many years realizing more and more that smaller is better. Thanks again for the help, I will post here if/when I have anything interesting to say. Love the quote
Ride safe
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
"The plan was to buy two 50cc bikes (we heard that for those you dont need a license or papers). The alternative would be to buy a 125cc and ride two up, but then there is the issue with license plates and registration etc. The problem with the 50cc idea is the minimum speed limit...or is that a problem?"
You can ride on the toll roads( well depends what's happening and who you come across and what sort of day they are having)with a big M/C in Xinjiang. Small M/C no. Why would you. Most are vehicles are doing 120kmh + on the toll roads. You don't see much on the toll roads and on a small bike all you would be doing is looking in your mirrors for that dimwit texting while driving at warp speed who couldn't give a dam about you. Back roads are the go you will see more but it will easily double triple your travelling time. Xinjiang is a huge one of the biggest provinces or in this case autonomous regions in China. The problem being there are vast distances to travel between the sights you want to see.
"Another problem is that I read on a post here that there are no motorcycles in Urumqi? Is that right? That was where we planned to buy the bike.i n contact with several locals in Urumqi since yesterday, all of which have told us they think exploring the area by motorcycle is a great idea (and said the motorcycle ban only applies for the center of the city, a small area"
True Motorcycles are banned in Urumqi not true that it is a small area. Urumqi is a real big city. Of all the places I wouldn't go to in Xinjiang Urumqi is on the top of the list. The road out is the only good thing about that place.There is a used vehicle market in Urumqi however and you could pick up a MC there. Take a local with you otherwise you'll be paying more than double and they will tell you what you want to hear ie do I need rego,insurance and license. No you'll be good to go as they take your money with a smile.
"So, thoughts on all this? Are there lots of police checking documents? Is it true with a 50cc we would be in the clear? Any reports on riding in Xinxiang? Any ideas at all how we could have some sort of a quasi-legal moto adventure in any part of China?"
Yep check points all over the place especially now. 50cc probably denote within a week being Chinese and all. Don't know about the rest of China but quasi-legal moto adventure in Xinjiang you have picked the wrong time
" I wouldnt be surprised if most provincial police dont even know that an international license is not valid in China)"
You wouldn't be the first westerner to pull out a international driver license and plead ignorance. They mighten know what it is but they know that the only legal car/M/C license in China is a Chinese one.
"By the way, for anyone reading this post who might be interested, there is a great blog about a couple traversing China on a little toy motorcycle, flying under the radar. Its a fun read: "
Yep people ride or try to ride through under the radar quite abit just don't hear much about the ones who don't make it.
"So basically, seems I could buy a bike that is new and be legal on it for 30 days"
Basically that's for the Chinese to say purchase a vehicle from one area and transport it back to there home. It's a rather grey area and I wouldn't be testing it in XInjiang but hey up to you.
" But I was thinking I might even look in to getting a license if it is not so hard. "
I wouldn't bother trying to get it in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is a special place and it is unique with vast mountain ranges with peaks in the 7000mtr(many haven't been summited) range and two of the largest deserts in the world with at least 13 ethnic minorities groups the culture and food you won't find anywhere else in China it's well worth a visit but.Attachment 19339
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Hi NZB
At times I want to scream as well and "maybe" MoMo could have worded his post a bit better to start off with.
But I like to think that us member here on MCM don't let matter like this get under our skin and that we all try to help and give the best advice we can?
I am not saying you are wrong in what you said but MoMo like me and you wants to just ride?
We need new member on MCM with new RR so let's as all try and keep the member we have and encourage new members to constitute new post and threads.
On my way back to Longkou from Pingyao, just stop for petrol at a service station on the Toll road, so I post later about the CRF if you don't mind.
Have a good day.
MoMo hopes all works out and enjoy China, but be careful it's very dangerous on the roads here ok.
Re: Riding in Xinxiang with no license....how stupid would this be?
Hi all, for those interested I just posted a little report from a 3 day ride we managed to put together. Short version is that it was amazing. Sometimes its good to be a hippie. Thanks for those who offered respectful advice. Here is a link to the report: http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ip-in-XinJiang
