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