Road-trip advice

[euphonius]

...As we know in China, things take forever to accomplish and lots of bureaucracy, paperwork, money, greasing the gears, etc. This isn't to say that registration is impossible, it's just very arduous and time consuming. It would be incorrect to even hint at the fact that getting something done in China is simple.

Dear Steve, again with all due respect, this is one great self-delusional heap of nonsense. In the three years you've been engaging in "full-blown illegal law flaunting," which really is the only way to describe what you are doing (and recommending), I and dewsnap and barry and pat and motokai and a couple dozen other riders have gotten legal motorcycle licenses, some having had overseas licenses and others starting here in china from scratch, and bought and registered motorcycles in a half-dozen or more cities. In each instance, the majority of the time required has been that needed to figure out the process, but once that was discovered the actual process was anything but "arduous and time-consuming". My license took me two tries, each involving a couple of hours primarily because of the long metro ride to the testing center, and my registation took me the better part of one afternoon. Soup to nuts. Legal. No "greasing of gears" or bribery or other shenanigans. A relatively straightforward, simple and convenient process that anyone, even you, could accomplish in the right frame of mind, which seems to be the actual problem here.

Again, in your three years of dithering and telling yourself how hard it is to get things done in China, everyone else seems to be getting along just fine. Standing in line with everyone else and getting legal.

In my case, I first need to get an actual motorcycle license, and back home is the best place for that. Right now I have managed to get a car drivers license which also took ages, and the details would be too much to get into.

I'm starting to get a sense that your problems getting licensed and registered are entirely of your own making. You want a license and a 沪C plate, just go do it. You'll need a bit north of $1000 for the plate, at last check. Everything else just requires that you show up and pay a few kuai, like everyone else here does. It'll take a couple of weeks, max. Not a year or three years or a decade.

There is more to learn here, actually unlearn, when I go back home and do the motorcycle tests and safety courses. If all goes well, more bureaucracy will be involved to transfer the license to a Chinese one in addition to my existing car license. Then there are issues with housing registration, and the location of the new house I moved to which should be valid since it's outside the middle ring road.

Huh? Unlearn? Er, like I said, I'm getting the feeling that your obstacles are all in your own mind. You need to get out of the echo chamber.

I sincerely hope that no one in this forum accepts your view that there is any "necessity" whatsoever to ride illegally, because there is none.

I'm not trying to be a prick about this, but I do care about newb riders and want everyone to enjoy a rich and satisfying experience while motorcycling in China, including you. Which will be my last word on the subject.

Ride safely!