Introduction (Beijing)

[marcwan]

Hey, I'm a motorcyclist (and former defensive motorcycling (MSF anybody?) instructor) living in Beijing now. I used to ride primarily BMWs, and would like to get back into biking here.

I've motorcycled all over the place. You can see a lot of my travels in the older trip entries on http://marcwan.com or from an even longer trip in 1999 at http://europe.lanfear.com

I just got my motorcycle / driver's license here in Beijing, so now I am actively looking to purchase a bike. I'd like to do it 100% fully legally, and would also like to be able to drive inside the 3rd ring road (where I live). And it looks as though I won't be able to afford a BMW this time around (130k RMB for a G800 ??????), so I'm hoping to get a cute little Honda or Suzuki or Yamaha or something.

SO, if you have any recommendations for dealers, agents, or other places that would be able to hook me up and help me through as much of the process as possible, I'd appreciate the ping.

Otherwise, hope to see you on the road. Excited!

cheers,
marc.

[euphonius]

Dear Marc,

Wow! A certified MSF instructor! How about starting a proper MSF program? (I've already contacted them in the past...)

Spend a bit of time in our forum and you'll find lots of answers to your questions. You could do a lot worse than befriending Chinabiker, Lao Jia Hou, Jimbosidecar and a recent arrival called Barry, who just beat you to a very nice Chinabike purchase. And be thankful you aren't in Shanghai!

So what do you do and what brings you to Beijing?

Welcome!

[Lao Jia Hou]

Welcome Marc

I am also a Beijing rider, also a (long, long, ago in a faraway place) MSF instructor, and also an advocate of legal bikes / plates / licenses. By the way, I just heard another horror story from a friend who was stopped without a driving license. You definitely don't want to be doing that these days, so congrats on getting your license! Good show.

Getting a bike will be based on your budget. The cheapest I've recently seen a half-decent "A" plated bike is around 15K (including plate). There is a brand new Jialing JH600, complete with A plate, for sale for upper end 40s, all-in with taxes, etc.

You can see what's around (in terms of A plates) by heading to 58.com (I've filtered a search for you with an "A" plate criterion)

Cheers and, again, welcome!
Richard

[euphonius]

By the way, I just heard another horror story from a friend who was stopped without a driving license.

Richard, details please!

[Barry]

Welcome Marc,

Good to see another BJ motorcyclist joining MCM. As Euphonius already mentioned I've just got my legal JH600 last monday.

As you might have read in other threads here, the few legally imported bikes like BMW, HD, Ducatti, Benelli have 100% import tax!

[Lao Jia Hou]

Richard, details please!

OK, here ya go - I threw it over in another thread.

Not sure if I linked it directly to my post.

[SabineHartmann]

Hi Marc!
maybe I know a nice Bike for you, please send PM
Sabine

[moilami]

Welcome to the forum and hopefully we see some pre-emptive driving/defensive driving etc. discussions in the future.

[felix]

Hi Marc welcome to chinabiking!

I'd be curious to know how much of the defensive riding training from back home translates over to riding in china. It's been over 10 years since i took rider training back in ireland and i reckon i've probably forgotten a lot of it (or it's become second nature). However having done 60,000km in china has certainly taught me a thing or two about defensive riding here, but i wonder how much of that would be relevant if i went home and did a course again. Any thoughts?