Hi. I've been posting on the forums for a while now and have been a lurking member since my plan to come to China first started forming in my mind.

Last month, I bought my bike and have been crazy busy since then. Busy with class, busy riding, busy fixing the bike. It's a China bike and, of course, problems have risen. Fixing has been fun. Finding the tools at the Yantai tool market, very exciting place. Shopping on Taobao for new stuff and replacement parts. Also, I bought quite a bit of riding gear on the site and haven't really been disappointed yet. Got my helmet, gloves, and helmet cam online and all showed up being of acceptable quality. Also picked up some body armor because I couldn't find a jacket with sewn in protection. The armor would be overkill in Canada, but here, it seems just right.

A bit about me. I'm from Alberta Canada. I am here to learn Chinese and paying for it by teaching English. I've have been planning to come to China for a long time. And it feels really great to finally be here doing what I came here to do. So..Here is the bike.



It's a 230cc dualsport made by Jialing. It was 13500元. I didn't barter down from the list price on Newmotor. It's fully registered, though registered to the shop owners name. The insurance company made a big stink about putting my name on the insurance, but I said it's a no deal if my name isn't on the insurance, at least. The owner proved to be a decent guy and did all the work for me. Probably because I paid him about 3 times what the insurance and registration are worth to do it for me. I figured the price would buy his loyalty and it did.

I drove it off the lot, and had my first drive a few weeks ago. Yantai has amazing mountain paths that wind over and around all the coastal mountains near the city. It makes for some great riding just outside my backdoor. Like within 500m, I'm climbing a mountain road.



That night, I was coming to a stop near my house. Just as I put my foot down to stop, my brake lever went loose. My brake hose blew. It had been rubbing against the tire and had worn through. Rode home and to the shop the next day without a front brake. Owner was sorry it had broke and replaced it for free. He did the work himself even though he employs two mechanics. This impressed me until I saw the quality of work he was doing. He had no idea how to bleed a brake. He routed the hose inbetween the forks and the frame so that a tight turn would cause the hose to be squeezed. I said thanks for the free hose and ran to the tool market to buy the tools I needed to fix the bike myself.

Here is a picture of a "yantai" (smoke tower) on a mountain in Yantai.