Motorbikes / Expressways

[soberpete]

...continuation.

Nobody has posted anything in-between my last post and this one so I can get right down to it:

As soon as the guy (he looked like he was in-charge) saw me ride up to his smokey office building/decorated cardboard box he asked me what I wanted to do; I told him that I wanted him to look at the documents I'd brought with me and see what he thought.
"What documents?" He spluttered. "Some that state motorcycles are allowed on Chinese expressways" I replied. "No, no, no. That's not right" he immediately began say but I simply asked him to have a look; after which he invited me inside to sit down and inhale a days worth of his 2nd hand cigarette smoke.

Another long story short:
He - along with one of his colleagues - seemed to remain indirectly supportive of my claim while blatantly sticking to their old Chinese guns
"No motorbikes on Chinese expressways".

I showed him a number of questions from the national driving exam including the one below:
4.1.2.5 When running on an expressway that has two lanes in the same direction, a motorcycle should run in the left lane.
Answer: Wrong

...to which he said "You see this? It means that motorbikes can't run on two lane expressways".
He had jumped to the conclusion that they can run on four lane expressways but not two lane ones, such as the majority in Shandong.
I told him that his assumption was incorrect and the answer to the question above was equal to stating that motorcycles should run in the right-hand lane while on two lane freeways...

When this attempt of his failed to make me give up he jumped to several other conclusions in a semi desperate attempt to deter me. They failed.

In the end he just said he 'could not' let me on even though he 'wanted; to.
The whole time, his colleague hinted to me that I could just squeeze by the gate and nobody would chase me. They're all too lazy, he said.
On my way out, the boss man had to get the last word in and pulled this one on me:
"How much did your helmet cost?"
"It cost about 200rmb" - A tanked racing, full faced helmet.
"That's not going to protect you! You need a 1000+rmb helmet to get on here!"

"Since when did you become a motorcycle helmet expert?" At least I do my chinstrap up and actually wear it instead of riding around with a 40rmb helmet strapped to the bike.
...and so, with that final put-down, he had won.

[998S]

Well, I will keep following this thread, and I admire your determination.

However, I should agree with the 'boss man' on the helmet: How the hell do you trust your life to a 200 RMB helmet?
Any reasonable thinking can not leave you to any other conclusion, then that 200RMB is not even enough for the material of it.
How can there be any R&D in it?

Happy riding ...

[soberpete]

Well, I will keep following this thread, and I admire your determination.

However, I should agree with the 'boss man' on the helmet: How the hell do you trust your life to a 200 RMB helmet?
Any reasonable thinking can not leave you to any other conclusion, then that 200RMB is not even enough for the material of it.
How can there be any R&D in it?

Happy riding ...

I always felt safe inside this helmet. Ignorance is bliss.
I'm going to begin looking for helmets between 2000-5000rmb right now.
Would that amount of money get me a good one? I'm looking at some Camberg, Bell and Shark helmets in that price range. Any suggestions?

[Fred]

Whouah how can I miss this thread ?

If I knew, we could have discussed about this when we met : we took the expressways twice during our round-China trip : once in Sichuan between Emeishan and Chengdu (the fools had opened the gate on the far right without anyone guarding it, and I was trying to get on this day, just to check how it was : lucky !), and the second time in Qinghai, as they forgot to put a gate when a national road became an expressway.
Both times we were "yelled at" when coming out of the expressway, but who cares... They didn't even want to open the gate for us to get off the expressway, but you just have to wait until a car comes...

The 1st one near Chengdu, we rode on it for 80km, with an average speed of 100 km/h. The second time in Qinghai, for 30km with an average speed of 110.

And with this little experience, my opinion is that :
- if by taking the expressway you're trying to avoid a very bad portion of road (mud, stones, dirt, etc.), then it's worth it to try.
- if not, you'd much better stay on the national and provincial roads : expressway are terribly annoying, it's flat, straight, you cannot see the landscape, it's just mafan...

The fun is on the small roads, even though yes it's dangerous with all the cars, ebikes, dogs, sheeps, etc. . But your best pictures will be taken from the side of the roads, especially in western provinces of China : Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, etc. .

My 2 cents...

[998S]

Would that amount of money get me a good one? I'm looking at some Camberg, Bell and Shark helmets in that price range. Any suggestions?

This is what I mean, how the hell can you survive that with a 200 rmb helmet
crash-beer-china-4-458x305.jpg

All helmets in the EU and US must comply with tests and regulations, and are certified accordingly.
Google a bit, and you will find plenty of info on it.
Then take care your imported helmet is genuine, and has passed those tests.
Guess that is all about you can do on safety, the rest is about fitting and being comfortable.

Eric

[soberpete]

Thanks for the advice... and the pic; it is truly motivating.

[soberpete]

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTMxNTAzMDQ4.html

Hey Fred,
I'm thinking of using a technique from the above video in order to get onto or off of the expressway.
Watch the part where one bike goes over the ramp and one goes under:
They move their body over the left side of the bike and duck down to the height of the handlebar.
Skip to the 00:48 part unless you want to see the whole thing.
Mirror removal would be necessary of course , or some kind of flexible mirrors .

[998S]

From the Taipei Times of this morning:

Big bikers vow to protest if freeway ban not fixed

More than 1,000 owners of large motorcycles vowed to hit the streets on Wednesday to protest against regulations barring them from riding on freeways.

The legislature passed an amendment to Article 92 of the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic Regulations (道路交通管理處罰條例) earlier this year to conditionally allow drivers of large motorcycles — those with engines of 550cc and above — access to national freeways.
However, they can only ride on certain freeway sections and during specific periods set by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The amendment took effect on July 1.
Despite the amendment’s provisions, large-size bike owners still cannot ride on freeways because local governments have refused to open freeway sections for them. An opinion poll by the ministry also showed that a majority of the public do not support the enforcement of the bill.

Former Large Motorcycles Management Association chairperson Chen Li-yun (陳豊運) said the ministry’s argument showed its contempt for the legislature and its intention to
pass the buck to the local governments.
It was also discriminatory to owners of large motorbikes, Chen said.
“We have the same legal status as small passenger-car drivers and should have the same rights and responsibilities,” Chen said. “We just want the ministry to tell us where and when we can ride our motorcycles so as to run a trial of the new policy. How can it evaluate the viability of the policy if we are barred from going on freeways by local governments? We want dignity, not discrimination.”

Chen said more than 1,000 large bike riders would take to the streets on Wednesday and petition the legislature and the ministry.
In addition to properly designating freeway sections where large motorcycles are allowed to drive, Chen said the bikers also wanted to be exempt from having to install license plates on the front of their bikes.
If the ministry failed to take action by the end of the year, Chen said they would take that to mean that all national freeways are open to large motorcycles. They would start riding on the freeways on Jan. 1 next year, he said.

In response, the ministry said the amendment authorized it to evaluate and designate which sections can be opened to large-size motorcycles. However, local governments, bus operators as well as the public have all expressed opposition to the policy’s enforcement.
Nonetheless, the ministry said that it would continue evaluating the possibility of enforcing the policy.

[euphonius]

One "province" down, 34 to go. The 550cc cutoff is a nice line in the sand. I LOVE the idea of a group action and would happily join a "demonstration ride" in the mainland -- if and only if we could guarantee 1000 or more riders! That's a big "if".

cheers

[ChinaV]

"province"

Bwa ha ha

I LOVE the idea of a group action and would happily join

I know just the location in Beijing, it's a square that begins with "T". Worked perfectly for the last group of people that had a gathering there.

Being that the Rep. of Taiwan is at least a decade ahead of China in motor vehicle policy, that should put us all on the highways here sometime around .... 2025 or so.

Cheers!
ChinaV