Anyone ever bought a bike from Taobao?

[TB-Racing]

ride it unlicensed and unplated like I do my scooter.

another foreign moron that thinks he is above the law while in PRC.....

[ThePope]

Sorry to break the news, but I don't think you'll be getting plates in Guangzhou either. There are some very active MCM posters in GZ, and a lot of this ground about licensing and plating and insurance has been covered in earlier threads.

cheers!

Also, yes I'm aware that the licensing issue has been beaten to death, but I'm still confused! The bureaucracy is absolutely mind boggling...

[euphonius]

Also, yes I'm aware that the licensing issue has been beaten to death, but I'm still confused! The bureaucracy is absolutely mind boggling...

The bureaucracy is what it is. It varies significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If you really want answers, you need to go engage the bureaucracy. Go to the Vehicle Management Bureau in your district and ask. Simple as that.

If your residence permit is in Guangzhou, that's probably the only place you'll be allowed to take a driving test if you still don't have a license. And if you apply in Guangzhou, it seems there's little chance of you getting the D or E endorsement that is necessary for riding a motorcycle. I've always thought there must be some remote suburb of Guangzhou that is still issuing motorcycle endorsements, but the ban there is pretty extreme so maybe not. Your wife's town is an option for registration, if she has kin there who could help out, but if you can't get a legal C1E or C1D license you're still not out of the woods.

Go bang on some doors, and good luck!

cheers

[ThePope]

another foreign moron that thinks he is above the law while in PRC.....

Thanks, you're a real winner... Did I say winner? I meant wiener...

[ThePope]

The bureaucracy is what it is. It varies significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If you really want answers, you need to go engage the bureaucracy. Go to the Vehicle Management Bureau in your district and ask. Simple as that.

If your residence permit is in Guangzhou, that's probably the only place you'll be allowed to take a driving test if you still don't have a license. And if you apply in Guangzhou, it seems there's little chance of you getting the D or E endorsement that is necessary for riding a motorcycle. I've always thought there must be some remote suburb of Guangzhou that is still issuing motorcycle endorsements, but the ban there is pretty extreme so maybe not. Your wife's town is an option for registration, if she has kin there who could help out, but if you can't get a legal C1E or C1D license you're still not out of the woods.

Go bang on some doors, and good luck!

cheers

Thanks buddy, I'm digging right now. I'm thinking this may all be too much hassle for me really. I may just buy this throwaway on taobao and be done with it - stick to the areas around Maofengshan and in Baiyun that I drive around frequently and have never had any problems. At least temporarily...

[ChinaV]

I'm absolutely sure there must be a way to do this. I'm just not sure if I have the energy, patience and fortitude....

TIC... Everything will drive you to the edge of insanity, but you will feel so special when you finally reach your goal.

You will not get a motorcycle license or motorcycle registration in Guangzhou and will only complicate matters if you get a car license. Go to Jiangmen, make friends with a bike shop (hundreds there), file a temporary residence permit, get license, register bike and be done with it.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[ThePope]

TIC... Everything will drive you to the edge of insanity, but you will feel so special when you finally reach your goal.

You will not get a motorcycle license or motorcycle registration in Guangzhou and will only complicate matters if you get a car license. Go to Jiangmen, make friends with a bike shop (hundreds there), file a temporary residence permit, get license, register bike and be done with it.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Wow, Jiangmen, really? ChinaV, Do they sell dual-sport bikes in any of the shops in Jiangmen? I've yet to run across any anywhere I've been around Guangzhou or the outskirts of. Also, my wife is from the Zhaoqing area. I guess that would be a good place to start. Oh well, you gave me some hope! thanks dude!

ThePope

[ZMC888]

The Pope, I'll put in my 2c.

You should be able to get that bike for the price quoted on Taobao, and be fairly safe. Mostly Taobao is a safe place to buy with most sellers with history, and the penny has generally dropped that sending what you should be sending for the price quoted in reasonable time is the best way to make money in the medium to long term. Given your location I'd be tempted to get the bike sent with Chongqing plates the dealer can supply, probably real for that price as around my area they are about 400 yuan, if you decide this route, take the documents to the local Gong An, if they are fake send the whole bike back. That means effectively you're insured for a year and can transfer the bike to local plates if possible, although very difficult without the original persons ID. It's not good after a year, because you need the ID of the person the bike is registered to if you want more insurance.

I don't think TB-Racing is being very helpful with his comment. Many people on here who live in SH and BJ seem to have a zero tolerance for people who are not 100% legal. The reality is 99% of Chinese riders aren't legal. Does it mean you should copy them and openly flout the law? Please no. Or talk about being illegal publicly? Also please don't. But being 'as legal as you can be' is the best policy. If you can get a license you should, if the bike can be plated and insured, it should be.

Really though, many of the laws in China are unreasonable, and it seems that the desire is to keep everyone somehow illegal to keep them in their place and have power over them
A few examples of unreasonable laws....

-You should drive a car at 20km/h through a village. It's unreasonably slow, therefore is always ignored.
-The drink drive limit is zero, not even one beer?
-Foreigners with home licenses cannot use them in China, even though their home driving standards are far higher than China's.
-You can legally buy a Yamaha R1 or Ducati, but you MUST ride it on the sidewalk or cycle lane. And give a bureaucrat one for free if you buy one.
-Complete motorcycle bans in cities and on freeways.
-If you are Chinese it's illegal not to love China.
-Empty intersections with very low traffic levels have lights and cameras.

It's hardly surprising with so many ridiculous and unreasonable laws that people then pick and choose the laws they wish to follow.

[TB-Racing]

Many people on here who live in SH and BJ seem to have a zero tolerance for people who are not 100% legal.

spot on!!! we have our fair share of idiotic morons riding all sizes of motorbikes without rego / driving license in Shanghai and please don't get me started on the underaged teenagers (foreigners) with scooters, dirt bikes, etc. near the international schools. just last week witnessed an accident near the German / French school (Shanghai) that involved a silver Sachs Madass without plates and the teenage kid dressed in jeans / shirt (no helmet) crashing into a taxi......

as stated above. I see people riding motorbikes without the proper documents / plates as IDIOTS and MORONS, just ask them if they would do the same in their home country, no plates - no license = stay off the road and / or ride motorbikes on the track, over and out on this issue.....

[euphonius]

ChinaV's Jiangmen tip is excellent, if you can make it work. It's a city in Guangdong that still registers bikes.

You'll need to establish residency there, which you do with the local police. So you find a friend (someone in a shop?) to work up a document saying you are renting a room from them, and take the paperwork to the police station (派出所) for that district, and have them issue a Temporary Residence Registration for Foreigners for that address. You'll need to bring your passport and the Temporary Residence Registration for Foreigners for your current residence in Guangzhou. Then use the new document to register the bike in your own name and get it insured.

Then reverse the process to "move back" to wherever you are in Guangzhou. You'll be fully legal with a proper 粤 plate (rather than 渝 for Chongqing), and you'll be able to renew your registration and insurance with relative ease.

cheers