new in changsha

[bigmonkey]

hi, i just moved to changsha and i'm very interested in riding a light motorbike

i have experience with 125cc scooters but never driven a manual one


hope anyone can give me some info, thanks

[felix]

hi bigmonkey welcome to china! what kind of bike you into? Street, dirt, cruiser, touring...? Have a look around the forum, there's loads of info about bikes, as well as the legal issues with riding in china. Have you already got your chinese driving license?

[bigmonkey]

Hi, Thanks :)

i will get my chinese car drivers licence soon, probably this week. haven't yet asked about the motorlicence yet, but my friends told me it's not so difficult to get.

i'm interested in riding tours, with my girlfriend, so i guess that leaves out the dirtbike.
i also don't like racing bikes.

i would like to have an allround bike, but not sure which one.
Maybe start with something like all the chinese drive around with, you know the red ones

[felix]

Quick advice: try to have the motorcycle license added to your car license at the same time. Car is C1, get them to add an E or a D to that, it should be much less hassle to do now than to try to add later on.

E is for motorbikes, D is for sidecars but also includes motorbikes so is a good one to have to keep your options open should you decide you like sidecars!

As for the bike, those red ones that you see everywhere are fun to start on. There should be loads of second hand ones with plates in changsha for a few thousand RMB. One thing to remember, a lot of those bikes have gearboxes that aren't international standard. On a normal gearbox you pull the shifter up to up gears and push down for down, these ones are reversed. The other difference is that they can cycle through gears in a loop, rather than stopping at the top and bottom like a normal gearbox, and also have neutral in a different place. eg:

Int. standard 1>N>2>3>4>5

Some 'red bikes' 1>2>3>4>5>N>1>2etc.....

It's not a big deal, but it'll be something to get used to used to if you move on to a bigger bike later.

[bigmonkey]

I asked before but they said they couldn't add the motorcycle licence, also the licence is now in process so i can't ask it again.


But i heard that if i already have my car licence, getting a motorcycle licence isn't so complicated.


i'm not sure yet if i want to buy a 2nd hand as new ones are also around 4000-5000 RMB, rather pay a but more then that it breaks in 2 pieces while driving


Good to know about the gears, i now have to study the specific chinese words when i'm going to the shop, cause i've never driven manual before :)

[humanbeing]

1>N>2>3>4>5 国际档: REAL Suzuki & clone | OHC Honda .. | Jialing... | Dirtbike | Yamaha use standard
5>N>1... 循环档 : OHV (VERY easy to tell from left side / http://www.motorfans.com.cn/bbs/t_654939.htm ) CG125 clone just like those "Taxi" | Supercub like bikes
Rotary to standard is EASY (2 parts difference ONLY) if u had DiY skill http://www.wretch.cc/blog/vmax66123/6813011
That TWese blog site "Walled" in mainland China

[bigmonkey]

very interesting
i remember seeing the jialing and also haojue or something like that
i prefer on of those famous chinese brands


i think i can get used to both kind of gears