Two new riders in SH soon..

[milton]

Howdy Slenderman.

I own a X2X with a Hu C plate. I commute with it to work at the heart of Shanghai deep inside the inner ring around Jingansi 静安寺. With at most 200 rmb penalty a pop, I can afford a lot of tickets with the cost differential between Hu A and Hu C (just did the math: 625 tickets for the life of the plate). Since it is a Shanghai plate, there is no danger of getting confiscated like those out of city plates. As far as the appreciation of the plate goes, recently my Hu C just tripled in value, more than Hu A in multiples. So far I have over 6K on the clock and not once stopped by the traffic cop yet.

Enough of this poor man's justification for a Hu C.

I have been having great fun with my X2X. It is narrow, similar in width to a bicycle, with those side reflectors way high above the side mirror of most passenger cars, I can pass through just anything in downtown Shanghai. It is so much nimbler and easier in handling than my other bike JH600. However, this fun comes at a cost. It is definitely not the most comfortable bike, especially for longer trip. The longest trip I did so far is a 1200 km trip to Anhui last October. The last 400 km was just brutal. All of us X2X riders are pretty much standing on the bike to avoid any contact of our sore butt against the hard narrow seat. So far no one seems to know how to alleviate this pain in the ass on the X2X.

As far as the quality goes, keep an eye on all the screws, nuts and bolts and make sure they stay on for the first couple of weeks, during which I had many parts falling off from it. However, nothing Loctite can't fix. I did have the benefits of my friend Master Eric's mechanical skill to fall back on, who personally baptized the whole bike with Loctite for me. After that "reassembling" break-in, it seems to run fine now. Also, I first bought the more expensive model with a set of "drifting tires" and smaller rear sprocket. I'd suggest strongly not to adopt that type of tires, which are simply too drifty for me and performing extremely poor in rain. I replaced the whole tire set, sprocket and chain in 2 weeks.

Welcome back to the biker scene. China is an incredible place to explore on motorcycle. You will have lots of fun.

[Ischel]

Hi all together,

I just want to jump on this train, as my situation is quite similar with Slenderman's.

I came to Shanghai about 8 months ago (incredible how long it is possible to survive without riding a motorbike). Yesterday, I finally managed my driving license and now I am facing all these practical questions. I looked up already several threads but I must admit, there are still some questions left related to license plates and bikes.

We are living in Gubei, between Middle Ring and Inner Ring. Now my questions:
1.) What would be the legally correct plate? Is a 沪C plate correct.? Will it allow me to get home 24 hours? I know that I ma not allowed to get to downtown with a C沪 plate, but it is not my intention at all to go there with the bike
2) What are the options beside a 沪C plate when living in this area and when I want to have my bike parked in our compound?


The next challenge is of course the bike itself. I have been looking around a bit shortlisted some potential options:
CF Moto 650 NK, Jialing 600 with sidecar, Shineray 400 or any medium sized Japanese brand
Where are the relevant delaers: For CF Moto, I found one at the end of Wuhzong Lu, in Slenderman's message there was the Shineray dealer mentioned in Pudong, who alos had a Jialing 600. Is there any other dealer here in Puxi for those Chinese brands. I heard about this delaer for Japanese brands close to Beixinjing subway station. I would prefer a dealer who talks at least some English (my Chinese is not existing) and who might also help me to get the correct license plate (see my question above)

Thx in advnace for some advice and hope to see you soon somewhere on the road....sometimes in a pub would also be okay.

[Slenderman]

Thanks MotoKai!

[euphonius]

Hi all together,

I just want to jump on this train, as my situation is quite similar with Slenderman's.

I came to Shanghai about 8 months ago (incredible how long it is possible to survive without riding a motorbike). Yesterday, I finally managed my driving license and now I am facing all these practical questions. I looked up already several threads but I must admit, there are still some questions left related to license plates and bikes.

We are living in Gubei, between Middle Ring and Inner Ring. Now my questions:
1.) What would be the legally correct plate? Is a 沪C plate correct.? Will it allow me to get home 24 hours? I know that I ma not allowed to get to downtown with a C沪 plate, but it is not my intention at all to go there with the bike
2) What are the options beside a 沪C plate when living in this area and when I want to have my bike parked in our compound?


The next challenge is of course the bike itself. I have been looking around a bit shortlisted some potential options:
CF Moto 650 NK, Jialing 600 with sidecar, Shineray 400 or any medium sized Japanese brand
Where are the relevant delaers: For CF Moto, I found one at the end of Wuhzong Lu, in Slenderman's message there was the Shineray dealer mentioned in Pudong, who alos had a Jialing 600. Is there any other dealer here in Puxi for those Chinese brands. I heard about this delaer for Japanese brands close to Beixinjing subway station. I would prefer a dealer who talks at least some English (my Chinese is not existing) and who might also help me to get the correct license plate (see my question above)

Thx in advnace for some advice and hope to see you soon somewhere on the road....sometimes in a pub would also be okay.

Welcome Ischel! Outside the Inner Ring (Zhongshan Lu) you should be fine with a 沪C plate, and, as Milton has explained, have little risk of serious misfortune if you only occasionally venture downtown (though why would you?).

Though you may see the odd Jialing in Shanghai shops, there is no official dealer here. That's not to say you cannot buy from them, but you may not get after-sales support. There is, however, a reliable broker who will assist in your purchase from the factory in Chongqing and capably manage your warranty support and service. PM me for details.

cheers!

[Slenderman]

Hi milton, Thanks for your info!

The 沪C plate sounds to be the way to go. I'll put my registering in Suzhou plans on ice!

I also had the impression that the X2X is a pretty compact bike. Tall and slender.. perfect! Of course I didn't ride one yet but I can imagine it handling great.
For the butt problem on long distance trips.. I don't expect too much comfort. But will certainly try some longer distance anyway.. if you find something to improve that, let me know. Of course I'll do the same if I figure something out.

Thanks for the hint about the screws and bolts! I'll keep that in mind!

As for the wheel set up:
I thought of getting 17/17 but try to get some dual sport rubber.. something similar to a Avon distanzia (only cheaper!)
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/r...5829037336.jpg
Has anybody something in mind that would fit that bill?

Should be nice for tarmac and not having me stop at the first bit of dirt rode!
(maybe later when my bank account recovers I could add a 21/18 set to swap)

What size sprocket did you end up with? Torque/end speed OK?

Looking forward to having a moto under my butt again.. but first the driver's licence test of course!

Howdy Slenderman.

I own a X2X with a Hu C plate. I commute with it to work at the heart of Shanghai deep inside the inner ring around Jingansi 静安寺. With at most 200 rmb penalty a pop, I can afford a lot of tickets with the cost differential between Hu A and Hu C (just did the math: 625 tickets for the life of the plate). Since it is a Shanghai plate, there is no danger of getting confiscated like those out of city plates. As far as the appreciation of the plate goes, recently my Hu C just tripled in value, more than Hu A in multiples. So far I have over 6K on the clock and not once stopped by the traffic cop yet.

Enough of this poor man's justification for a Hu C.

I have been having great fun with my X2X. It is narrow, similar in width to a bicycle, with those side reflectors way high above the side mirror of most passenger cars, I can pass through just anything in downtown Shanghai. It is so much nimbler and easier in handling than my other bike JH600. However, this fun comes at a cost. It is definitely not the most comfortable bike, especially for longer trip. The longest trip I did so far is a 1200 km trip to Anhui last October. The last 400 km was just brutal. All of us X2X riders are pretty much standing on the bike to avoid any contact of our sore butt against the hard narrow seat. So far no one seems to know how to alleviate this pain in the ass on the X2X.

As far as the quality goes, keep an eye on all the screws, nuts and bolts and make sure they stay on for the first couple of weeks, during which I had many parts falling off from it. However, nothing Loctite can't fix. I did have the benefits of my friend Master Eric's mechanical skill to fall back on, who personally baptized the whole bike with Loctite for me. After that "reassembling" break-in, it seems to run fine now. Also, I first bought the more expensive model with a set of "drifting tires" and smaller rear sprocket. I'd suggest strongly not to adopt that type of tires, which are simply too drifty for me and performing extremely poor in rain. I replaced the whole tire set, sprocket and chain in 2 weeks.

Welcome back to the biker scene. China is an incredible place to explore on motorcycle. You will have lots of fun.

[milton]

x2x comes with standard 52 key rear sprocket, unless you opt for the 17/17 tires, which needs a 46 key sprocket instead. You can get after-market sprocket replacement for 60 and 49 keys respectively. As I mentioned, I didn't like the more expensive 17/17 setup, so I replaced the whole assembly to the standard 21/18 setup with 52-key sprocket and dual-purpose tires. The tires are inexpensive but versatile and I like them a lot. The tire pattern looks like:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...id=13355367971

The sprocket delivers lots torque but limited top speed. I am tempted by the 49-key "improvement".

I quite enjoy riding my x2x. If you want to test ride it in order to make up your mind 100% before its purchase, maybe we can work something out. PM me.

[Slenderman]

At the store they told me SM and Enduro would cost the same. I read before already that Enduro would be 1000rmb cheaper. I'll have to double check that.
Depending on what tires they have there I guess I'll go for the 17/17. We'll see..

Thank You for your offer! Very much appreciated! I'll contact you when I have my licence.

[Slenderman]

From Noob to Noob: Welcome Inschel!
I guess the thread should be called "Three new riders..."

Well done on the driving license! I hope I'll have mine soon.

Did you have any trouble getting it? Or was it pretty much like in this step-by-step on shanghaihalfpat.com? (still up to date?)
Could you do it all in one day?

http://www.shanghaihalfpat.com/conve...iving-license/

Hi all together,

I just want to jump on this train, as my situation is quite similar with Slenderman's.

I came to Shanghai about 8 months ago (incredible how long it is possible to survive without riding a motorbike). Yesterday, I finally managed my driving license and now I am facing all these practical questions. I looked up already several threads but I must admit, there are still some questions left related to license plates and bikes.

[euphonius]

Surely you guys realize that a normal C1 driving license is NOT valid for riding a motorcycle. You MUST have a C1E (car and motorcycle) or C1D (car, motorcycle and sidecar) or, as we recently learned from Shandong, an E license (motorcycle only). Ride with only a C1 and you are not legal.

Several MCM members in Shanghai have recently gotten motorcycle licenses, and they've reported their experiences in the sticky thread Getting a Chinese Motorcycle License. As ChinaV noted, if you start with the C1 license you make it substantially harder to add the motorcycle endorsement; many places require you to wait a year before upgrading. (In the Chinese mind you are probably actually downgrading when you get a motorbike license!)

Ischel, it would be great if you could post about your licensing experience in the licensing thread I mentioned above. The situation is fluid because the process recently changed, and the procedures for applicants who cannot read Chinese are very much in flux.

Thanks!

[sandor]

Hi,+1 for the noob train (i hope it is not full yet ;-)).
i got my Chinese DL in February. i am about to buy a moto which also needed to commute to work as for Milton. i wanted to have an XTR250ADV (with rollbars and box brackets) but neither MCM-ers nor Jeff from the CFmoto shop suggested it. I have two Shineray options now: small X5 (250cc, air cooled, 19/17 tyres enduro), but i guess it is a new modell (at least i could not find any info on the net except two pics) and i do not really want to be its testpilot. Other option is the x2. i have doubts which tyre set to choose as the factory 21/18 knobby tyres are not so good for tarmac. As Milton pointed out 21/18 dual-purpose tyres are availabe like for 19/17 enduros (small x5 has also Kings tire) then it could be a good option...


i hope we all can ride soon

small X5:
IMG00583-20130310-1647.jpg IMG00567-20130310-1602.jpg

the bests Sandor