Hey Maux, I just got my 200GY-7 the other week.



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Living in Chongqing, the guys at the shop just had one sent over from the factory so no assembly was necessary. They did give me a small pouch of basic tools but nothing comprehensive enough for self-assembly as far as I can tell. The price we settled on was RMB9500 (8000 for the bike and 1500 for the registration) after starting at 8800. They didn't have any luggage options available but they said I should go with soft luggage instead of the hard stuff with the stock racks the bike has. I'm thinking about getting some Wandefu cases though (like the ones China V sorted out for his Galaxy), just for the side racks.

I paid about RMB200 to get my New Zealand car and motorcycle license transferred to a Chinese license. My friend sent me through an English version of the Chinese road code. PM me if you'd like a copy.

The bike got a flat tyre within the first three hours of ownership, which wasn't a particularly good start, but after that was cleared up we got along quite well. This is my first dual sport and I find that it handles nicely. It's a little high though. If I was shorter (I'm 5'10"), I would have problems reaching the road safely with my feet. I think it's possible to adjust that though.

I've never owned a GPS before so I had to do loads of reading through MCM and this post from ADVrider.com about GPS units and I found that the safest cheap option is the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx, but that's just based on my preferences and my lack of experience with gadgets. I've been riding with it a couple of times and found that I was riding in places that didn't have roads on the loaded China map that it came with. My unit also doesn't read Chinese characters (as the OS is only in English) so the place names aren't identifiable, but hopefully I can get around that problem by making routes through the map software given with the unit (MapSource). Issues aside, it is waterproof, looks rugged enough to withstand a couple of falls and looks like the right navigator to have on a trip to out-of-the-way places.

I've been told that camping is illegal in China and can bring more headaches than it's worth, and that I could use the money I would spend on camping equipment at truck stops and motels instead of carrying extra stuff around. Apparently accommodation can be found everywhere.

Let us know how you get on.