Buying a bike in south China

Hi everyone

Here I am, having managed to get myself some extended National Day holidays (2 weeks and a half starting Sep 22), and I'd like to ride in South China, that I still havent visited since I settled in the country.

I could ship my Jing A on a train and have a legal ride there, but I reckon it would be too expensive (already cost me 700+ from Qingdao to Beijing when I got sick during my Shandong trip).

So I'm thinking, fly to a provincial capital (Kunming, Nanning, Guiyang, whichever is the most suitable) and buy a bike, preferably second hand; ride it and sell it before flying back to Beijing. What I have in mind is a chinese 150 or 200cc, not especially dirt bike as I will ride on national and provincial roads mainly. If anyone has a bike he or she doesnt use often, I could also rent it, and of course pay for maintenance or any damage that may occur.

I have a driving license, only thing I miss is the bike. If I cant be 100% legal and insured, then I'll still do it, but the more legal, the better.

Also, if u know a dealer u trust, thats good too.

Thanks folks!

dear French_Rider, in my opinion you should use your free time to get a holyday job. 700+ RMB from Oingdao to Beijing is a little more than nothing. take your Jing A and ride! what ever you will find on the road will be beautiful and fine!

I shipped my Jialing to Guiyang from Shanghai, 2000km, and it's heavy at 205kg. price was quite reasonable at under 600rmb.

i agree with Sabine; you should save yourself a heap of trouble and just get your legal bike down to wherever you want to ride....

cheers

@ Euphonius: thanks for the point, but Beijing is way up north compared to SH, and I'm afraid that round trip shipping btw BJ and south china will be expensive enough to make it worth financially to just buy and sell a bike down there

At the same time, and its a point I should have mentioned about my bike shippin from QD to BJ, on the ticket for "weight", they refused to consider the actual weight of my bike, i.e. 150kg, but instead took the engine CCs, i.e. 250, of course ending up in higher shipping price, 740 rmb for 880km.

I'm gonna go to the shippin department at the BJ train station and see what they tell me. But if they tell me its gonna cost me 3,000+ RMB just transporting my bike round way, then obviously I will be buyin a bike there

And @Sabine: thx, I think I already am aware that I will find cool landacapes down there, thats basically why I'm heading there..

Hi French_Rider,

I'm based down here - though dont have personal recommendations...

Here are some infos about the Kunming market --> http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...hlight=kunming

The used bike market I'm aware of is on QianXinLu, just north of RiXinLu (25.002628,102.709551)

Have fun!