Greetings from Beijing!

**AndyCCAA** · 12-01-2013, 10:52 AM

Hey fellows,

I'm a German studying in Beijing for a year. Since I'm in the process of obtaining a chinese driver's licence i also stumbled over this board during my research - thank's a lot for all the useful information i already found!

Back home i got a Suzuki GSR600 and i really miss driving. So i thought about combining my travels in semester break in Jan/Feb or after my studies in july with biking. Travelling for 2-4 weeks by bike, maybe with a tent, sounds like the perfect way for me to both see a lot of this country (probably more than by public transportation, especially less "mainstream tourism") while also curing my cold turkey

Buying a bike is out of question because of the plate issues and my limited time for selling afterwards, so i'm looking for rental only. Already got in contact with ridechina, seems like a decent business with good bikes (Jialing 250 or 600 seem like exactly what i'm looking for) at fair prices. If anybody has additional hints for me where to get good bikes (legally!) or information about common and reliable models (don't know much about the domestic bike market) i'd be happy to here about.

Other more general questions:
What are the best places to go to for late january/february? So far i only looked into the southwest but i'm not that familiar with chinese climate.
What is the situation with TAR, is the "only with guide"-policy still in place?

Thank you! If you got any questions about me feel free to ask :)
Cheers,
Andy

**bikerdoc** · 12-01-2013, 01:29 PM

Hi and welcome... to get your juices flowing pay a visit to this thread on motorcycle rentals and tours and for riding ideas check out Amy and Bucks the great ride of China

**Lao Jia Hou** · 12-02-2013, 01:18 AM

Andy, welcome to MCM & Beijing

Buying a bike is no problem, as you will be in Beijing > 6 months. Have you just arrived in China? Or are you leaving China in February, and the bike tour is the pre-departure fun? One problem, however, is the price of 京A plates (currently around 60,000 rmb). However, if the main purpose is to tour around, you can acquire a 京B plate for a few hundred rmb. Another problem would be the illegal bikes, which have illegal plates (impossible to make them legal).

A B-plated bike should not be difficult to sell afterwards. Whether you buy new or used, the bike will be used when you are finished. Also, B-plated bikes are a little easier to sell because potential buyers do not have to come up with the extra 60K rmb. If a buyer wants an A plate, he/she can simply switch the B plate, after acquiring the A plate in the secondary market.

If the plan is to tour late January/early February, you have to head into the far South for warm weather. That would mean shipping a Beijing-plated bike, either via train or truck. That can get a little expensive, and risky. You might want to search around for bikes-for-sale which are already down South.

Cheers

**AndyCCAA** · 12-02-2013, 05:30 AM

Thanks for the responds.

@bikerdoc: that's the thread that made me find ridechina :) Most links are about guided tours though, not about rental places. But i should probably just contact them and ask about renting.
The tripreports are really great, can't stop reading.

@Lao Jia Hou
I'll be in beijing til end of July. February is an option because we got semester break till early march, july would be pre-departure fun.
Didn't know B-plates where that much cheaper. nevertheless, with buying i see too many problems:
-No use to have a bike in beijing in february because of the weather & transportation issues you mentioned
-Hardly any time to sell if i tour in july
-no safe place to park since i live on campus (on which only electric scooters are allowed)

Another question about the vehicle registering: Can i just buy a B-Plate in beijing, take it with me to wherever to buy a bike and then just put the plate on? I just assumed there would be paperwork to be done in beijing to register the vehicle, but then again their system is so diffrent to what im used to :)

ridechina makes a good impression on me, just wanted to know if there are other rental companys around with good reputition. Simply don't want to end up with a bike in bad condition putting me in uneccesary danger or having to pay unrealistic laowei-prices ;)

**Desmo** · 12-02-2013, 09:05 AM

Welcome!

"Another question about the vehicle registering: Can i just buy a B-Plate in beijing, take it with me to wherever to buy a bike and then just put the plate on? I just assumed there would be paperwork to be done in beijing to register the vehicle, but then again their system is so diffrent to what im used to :)"

Well, here in Beijing you cannot plate anything that is not new, as I understand. With the plate, there is a little "blue book" that is the registration of the bike, in it comes a picture of the bike and all legal details like chassis number, and, I guess, engine number and things like that, therefore you cannot separate this two things unless you send the bike to scrap, get some paperwork done, etc... After a quite difficult and tedious procedure, I understand that you are allowed to legally transfer the plate to another bike, but I also heard that it is not 100% guaranteed or problem free. If you take the risk of taking the plate with you to another province and use it on other bike, you will most likely end up riding an illegal bike, which, in case of accident will bring you A LOT of trouble. I personally wouldn't recommend you doing this, but it is totally up to you.
If you are going to ride it elsewhere, maybe you should check that place's market, as it probably will be cheaper and easier, if not, you can always buy some cheap rides, usually up to 150cc here for around 5K up, a Jing B plate is cheap and would let you ride everywhere outside the 4 ring road. There are lots of nice mountain roads out here and the traffic inside the 4th is pretty aggressive and dangerous...

**Desmo** · 12-02-2013, 09:07 AM

I forgot to mention that different provinces in china have different policies and regulations about motorbikes...

**AndyCCAA** · 12-02-2013, 09:22 AM

"If you are going to ride it elsewhere, maybe you should check that place's market, as it probably will be cheaper and easier"

Do you mean i can just buy a plated bike where ever and ride it legally? I thought i had to transfer the plate to my name and that this would only be possible at my place of residence. Guess i still haven't understood everything about the plates/registration ^^ Is the plate registered to a specific vehicle AND a specific person or just to the vehicle? (I mean, in terms of surveillance, speed traps ect registering a plate to a vehicle only wouldn't make much sense)

As said before, i actually don't want a bike for within beijing/daytrips around beijing but for a longer tour to experience some other areas of china. So it doesn't make much sense to buy anything here for me.

The more i try to learn about buying the more problems i see, i guess i better stick to the inital plan of renting :D Thank's for your hints on transfering plates in beijing though anyway.

**SabineHartmann** · 12-02-2013, 12:31 PM

The plate belongs to the vehicle, that is why you can say: it was not me driving/riding the car/bike and somebody else can pay the fine. (Of course, you will pay that person)

**AndyCCAA** · 12-02-2013, 01:36 PM

But still the plate got to be connected to somebody (guess the person who got the plate in the first place)?
Doesn't really answer my question though: Is it possible to buy a plated bike without having to do any paperwork at my place of residence, supposed you find a seller willing to do so (&if it is common practice)?

I'm really sorry if i ask stupid questions answered several times already, tried to search the board but only got to threads about transferring plates to your name or getting new plates in the first place (both things i do not want to do since they would require me to do it in beijing).

**Desmo** · 12-02-2013, 02:25 PM

I don't know how "legal" it is to buy a bike and not to transfer it to your name. I know that you can do it, people do it with illegal bikes, meaning that those plates and the registration are both fake, altered or who knows. If you want to do it just understand that in case of an accident you will be FULLY LIABLE, even if it is not your fault, and your insurance will not cover the expenses, of course not to mention the legal actions you would be facing.
I think you are totally right about the registration, meaning that you have to be registered at the nearest police registration office within the area you are living.

Sabine, I think you are wrong, if the bike is not registered to your name the police can't fine you unless they stop you, and if they stop you, then you wouldn't be able to say that it was somebody else driving. They simply cannot find you if your vehicle is not registered in your name and residence, right?, that is why people hire agents to help with the procedures and paperwork, legwork, etc. Again, that's only if you want it legal.

There are some posts here about registration agents, maybe you can contact one that can help you to solve your concerns

If everything is registered properly, even if you are riding outside your resindence's province, you should be ok, unless you are riding on a highway (most of them are forbidden for motorcycles) or in a city with motorcycle restrictions.

If I were you, I would make a list with more or less the places you want to visit and let the people that post in the forum tell you about the possible restrictions you may face, users here are very glad to help.

Cheers!