petrol run or blue plate run ?

**VinX** · 01-26-2011, 04:45 AM

Hey Jape,
Did i ever ask you for education or anything ? i'm posting on this blog to share my experience about this problem and maybe find solution. In any case i'm not here to read that kind of comments. I'm in shanghai for a decade, longer than a big majority of foreigners and trust me i know my way here... if beeing polite and nice on that blog bother you then i'm sorry. Of course i do believe IF you were here miracle would happen... Thanks for telling me what LIFE is... lol !
So long mate and take it easy !

**jape** · 01-26-2011, 05:08 AM

Polite is one thing i am not good at, but your style is ignorant mate, forgive my being blunt. You ask simple questions, get suggestions and answers from me and others and ignore them, which is ill-mannered, then repeat yourself. Oh well, you may have been there a decade but you haven't made any friends/acquaintances can get you fuel so you have to use your feet. Poor sod.

I admit, just to piss you off further, I haven't been to China yet; only all of Europe, Indonesia and a few other places here and there in passing while travelling back and forth and a round the world over a few decades. I will see you In Shanghai, on a fuelled motorcycle, within a few months and show you how if you buy me a beer and haven't faded away meanwhile.

**dewsnap** · 02-07-2011, 03:47 PM

Great website. It' been a solid source of info regarding the 'petrol n plates' situation here in Shanghai. I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye to my beloved scooter, so over the holidays i've been asking around with some fairly good results, here's the news. A couple of Chinese guys i know've bought a simple device from TaoBao (19rmb)that pumps fluid from one container to another. These dudes have been siphoning petrol from a scooter with legit plates and sharing it amongst the other bikes. I had a tanks worth from them and it seemed a fairly simple process. Yesterday tho, i was introduced to a guy who can get hold of fake plates. Now, i'm no advocate of breaking the law, but today i bought a blue C plate for 400rmb, and to my delight, my local station gave me petrol again. Success.
Please don't get me wrong, buying fake plates and siphoning petrol are not things i'm proud of doing, but i paid a lot of money for my 150cc Huajun bike barely 12 months ago, and since then the bike has become a real hobby. Finding routes out to Fengxian, Songjiang, and Suzhou has been a blast.
I think i'm just not quite ready to give it up. Ha.

**felix** · 02-09-2011, 04:25 AM

Thanks for posting some info on this. Would be great to modify a bike with a GIANT tank to go and do petrol runs.

The fake plate sounds like a practical idea, but there's always that shadow looming over over you of what happens if you get caught or have an accident that you can't run away from? i suspect it won't be pretty...

**agong029** · 02-09-2011, 06:29 AM

This site has been a great source of info for me too. I just got a 125cc bike not even two months ago when this stupid law was passed. My heart sunk.

My solution: the bike repair shop that I go to said they can get petrol for me. He said he can get me a big bottle for 100RMB that should fill up three tanks. I'd have to take the bottle home and keep it at my place, which I wouldn't mind. I haven't needed to fill up yet, so I haven't tried it, but it sounds like a sound option to me.

The plates are tempting, but yes, if something were to go wrong, I'd hate to be the laowai that's made an example of...

**euphonius** · 02-09-2011, 09:35 AM

Classic case of China's bureaucrats failing to think things through to their logical conclusion. They order petrol stations to stop selling to bikes without local plates. So every mechanic in town starts warehousing large quantities of petrol in dodgy plastic bottles, and unplated riders start storing these in their apartments. Good thing almost all men in China are smokers.

kaboom.

**jape** · 02-09-2011, 10:25 AM

In Aus they are doing it the clever way, putting up the price so it is now 1.37 a litre for 91 octane and we cannot afford to go anywhere! I would be stuck without the bike.

**Jliebregts** · 02-09-2011, 03:18 PM

I actually bought the blue plates today for a cheap price.. Installed it on my bike and it works, no questions asked at the petrol station.. love it :) They actually manufacture those plates in a factory, so they are not stolen. To be honest they tried to stop me a few times in my shanghai bike career but I always got away.. Worst case senario u crash into a car (probably taxi).. Pay the guy a few hunderd and walk away! And if the police shows up tell them u have the papers in your apartment but it's a bit far.. they won't come over

**euphonius** · 02-09-2011, 03:46 PM

You need to be damned bloody careful, Jliebregts. The scenario you've painted is the best, not the worst. The law here is clear: If you are in an accident and do not have proper registration and insurance, you are 100% at fault, even if you did nothing to cause the accident. Some idiot with an illegally purchased but legal license and legal registration and zero driving skills swerves in your path and takes you down, and you are broken and bleeding and perhaps briefly unconscious, and when you open your eyes the cops are there and you are being loaded into an ambulance, it will come as little comfort that you are 100% at fault. That's worst case scenario, assuming you live.

I was taken out from behind, totally blindsided, by an unlicensed motorcyclist while bicycling on (American) Thanksgiving Day, and knocked out cold (alas, no helmet). The motorcyclist could have fled, but had a conscience and stayed, even thought his bike was unplated. The cops were there, and as I slowly cleared the cobwebs and was loaded into an ambulance, the guy who had hit me climbed in and rode to hospital with me. The cops produced paperwork, which he signed, acknowledging that he was 100% at fault. He paid for xrays and a CT scan and other expenses with cash, and accompanied me through a long and painful and brain-addled day. That was a best-case scenario, and it could have been much, much worse.

I'm not saying yea or nay on using fake plates. But please understand the law can and will come down very hard on you in certain circumstances that you cannot necessarily control.

cheers

**chinabiker** · 02-09-2011, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by Jliebregts

.. Worst case senario u crash into a car (probably taxi).. Pay the guy a few hunderd and walk away! And if the police shows up tell them u have the papers in your apartment but it's a bit far.. they won't come over

You're the hero, are you?
Unfortunately not the worst case. Riding on a legal bike, two pints and innocently hit by a Taxi with rider and bike down - no way to run, it was a bit far and they did come over. The guy was "lucky" that he was injured, so they let him go with all the blame on him. Imagine that with a fake plate.
I wouldn't resist to put a fake plate on my bike for fuel, but only for fuel.