License Plate Suggestions and Advice Please

I'm looking to buy a new bike in the next week or two and wanted to get some opinions on the license plate situation. My preference is obviously to be fully legal (or as close to legal as possible) but also want to make sure that I'm not getting ripped off.

Basically, the background is that I'm buying a used Honda Shadow from a guy (my Chinese mechanic) here in Beijing. The bike seems to be running quite well so no problems there. He's also selling a supposedly legit Jiangsu license plate, with green book and all, for an extra 4k RMB. At first this seemed like it could be a little high, but I was talking to one guy with experience in this stuff and he said if it's legit, that's a steal and he'd snatch it up if he could. I then also had a couple other guys come and take a look at the bike, one previous and one current honda shadow owner, to see what their opinions of the bike were. They thought the bike was good but the license plate was a rip-off. They were of the opinion that there was almost no way that a bike like that would have legitimate registration and it was almost definitely a copy of another registration of the same bike. They said I could get the same thing including the book and legit numbers that cops could look up for between 800 and 1500 RMB.

So basically, my question is, what's the best route to move forward? Is there anyway to verify beyond any reasonable doubt that the plate is completely legit, or is it better to just go with the cheaper option that will cover me in 90%+ situations and is likely pretty much the same as what the guy selling the bike is offering?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hello Bejing! Im here in Guilin and when I finally paid for the tax and the insurance and the vehicle check,,even though it was a new moto, and the lic. plate...i had a stack of receipts...ssssssooooooo,,,,, this guy should have the same unless he took it from someone to fix and is turning it around and selling it now.....
I think people buy used motos because the plate is there...all done..much easier...good idea.... but I would make sure it is legal before you buy....or the police will tell you when you get pulled over...
Which means I have a little book i carry with me for each moto while riding....it has a photo of the bike and two cards with it.

Otherwise buy cheap and dont worry about losing it...but you may lose your license.......:naughty:

Hi Bucko

A Su plate will be a cloned plate in 99% of the cases (actually, probably more), and most certainly on a Honda Shadow. The only person being fooled by a Su plate is yourself. The police most certainly know it is not legit. The only question in their mind is ... "is it worth the hassle to run this guy in?" The answer will be obvious if you get into an accident. You've also got the added hassle of explaining a fake/copied plate, as opposed to no plate.

By the way, with minimal effort, one can find the "factory-rep" for fake/copied plates. Going price for plates & both books is currently 170 rmb, including EMS to your door.

Oh, and I just heard today that the "bikes-of-questionable-origin" market in Tianjin has oodles of Shadows for sale.

Good luck.

Ah, great. Ok, so it sounds like it's pretty much the way the other guys were telling me. It'd be nice to have a fully legit bike, but it sounds like, as with most things the current policy won't make it easy, so it's time to go the "next-best-thing" route.

Thanks for the help guys!