need advice - looking to buy a cruiser in shanghai

[mintwax]

Hi, I'm a noob...

I got my China motorcycle license when I got to shanghai 5 years ago. But have just been riding my bicycle around, including trips to Suzhou, Zhou Zhuang. 6 months ago I got an electric scooter, a vespa clone (大龟). And that has been fun. In a disney theme-park ride sort of way. Been putting off getting a motorbike because I've heard about the hassles of registration, restrictions, license for the inner ring. Plus, the only bikes I usually see around shanghai are the motorbike taxis. Not interesting. But things changed...

Last weekend i saw a beautiful pearl white Yamaha Virago parked outside of 田子房 on tai kang lu. Called the yamaha dealer on zhong shan lu and they don't sell virago or v-star. They do sell the YBR-250 (天剑王) for 25K RMB. Some imported stuff too but won't have anything until May. (aside: They said that there hasn't been a cc restriction in china for the last 2 years. And he said the fact that BMW, Ducati and HD are all in shanghai is evidence of that.) Plates for inner ring will cost 39K. wowzarus! but if that's the price to pay, so be it.

I'm looking for a domestic-made cruiser type bike, 250cc that looks something like the virago. What are some models that you recommend? Regal Raptor Daytona - is this available in shanghai?

Morris