BEIJING and the plate numbers

[euphonius]

Hey, Chinabiker. quick question. I'm planning a first ride up to beijing this month, and would like to know what kind of welcome my JH600 and I will get there. Restrictions inside any of the ring roads?

thanks!

[chinabiker]

Hey, Chinabiker. quick question. I'm planning a first ride up to beijing this month, and would like to know what kind of welcome my JH600 and I will get there. Restrictions inside any of the ring roads?

thanks!

The Rule is:
Jing A plated bikes can go anywhere in the city unless particularly forbidden by signs, e.g. 2nd ring, 3rd ring
Jing B as well as non Jing registered bikes are not allowed inside the 4th ring road (side road of 4th ring road excluded)

Practically, I've never seen police checking between 4th and 3rd, and you can see many bikes actually not allowed there.
Not seen many forbidden bikes inside 3rd.

I think on a legal JH with Hu plates you won't have a problem, as this rule is only to block the farmers from riding their crappy bikes into the city.

You are very welcome with your JH to join us for a BBQ and beer, or better a ride

[PandaBeat]

China sounds like a very problematic place... you can't drive your motorcycle across the whole country? if you get a plate from place X you can drive only there???

damn

[euphonius]

China sounds like a very problematic place... you can't drive your motorcycle across the whole country? if you get a plate from place X you can drive only there???

damn

PandaBeat, Actually, though it's pretty bad here for motorcyclists, it's not THAT bad! Once your bike is licensed in any city, you can ride it anywhere in China -- anywhere where bikes are not banned or restricted, that is. Some cities are completely off limits, including Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong, next to Hong Kong. But those of us who ride here generally feel free to ride most anywhere. Last week I rode right through the heart of Hangzhou, which is supposedly a restricted zone. I passed tons of traffic cops, and none lifted a finger. If they had, I would have said simply, "I'm passing through, and if you can kindly direct me on my way I'll be out of town as fast as I can." Fact is, a big Chinese city is about the last place you want to be spending time on a motorcycle. Isn't that true most anywhere?

Where are you based?

cheers

[euphonius]

Aha, now I see from a separate post that you are based in Uruguay.

Nice showing in the World Cup!

[PandaBeat]

PandaBeat, Actually, though it's pretty bad here for motorcyclists, it's not THAT bad! Once your bike is licensed in any city, you can ride it anywhere in China -- anywhere where bikes are not banned or restricted, that is. Some cities are completely off limits, including Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong, next to Hong Kong. But those of us who ride here generally feel free to ride most anywhere. Last week I rode right through the heart of Hangzhou, which is supposedly a restricted zone. I passed tons of traffic cops, and none lifted a finger. If they had, I would have said simply, "I'm passing through, and if you can kindly direct me on my way I'll be out of town as fast as I can." Fact is, a big Chinese city is about the last place you want to be spending time on a motorcycle. Isn't that true most anywhere?

Where are you based?

cheers

Well that's not THAT bad indeed... but why are some cities "banned", like Guangzhou?

Aha, now I see from a separate post that you are based in Uruguay.

Nice showing in the World Cup!

hehehehe, thanks!!! we're very proud and still in awe of our team's performance, they arrived yesterday and almost 1 million people went to receive and honour them (and we're only 3 millions!)

[euphonius]

Well that's not THAT bad indeed... but why are some cities "banned", like Guangzhou?

Government officials, whose power is absolute and unchecked in China, can make these decisions for whatever reasons they like. In Guangzhou's case, the argument was made that motorcycles were unwelcome because 1) some criminals were using them for purse-snatchings, 2) riders were driving them on sidewalks and other inappropriate places, creating safety hazards, 3) the motorcycles were often in poor condition, and caused pollution, 4) officials prefer cars and don't like the appearance of motorcycles in the city's streets.

Needless to say, criminal and other anti-social behavior is not the fault of the motorcycle, or of law-abiding motorcyclists, and a simple system of safety inspections and enforcement could have been implemented to weed out substandard bikes. Numbers of bikes could be controlled through heavy registration fees or other administrative measures, as is done here in Shanghai where I live.

Ultimately, however, the reason for the ban, in my humble opinion, was an unchecked authoritarian impulse on the part of the government, which is loyal only to China's ruling C*mmunist P*arty, not to the city's people.

/RANT

[chinabiker]

Well that's not THAT bad indeed... but why are some cities "banned", like Guangzhou?

The biggest pity is that they actually only want to get rid of the unsafe, polluting, uninsured, crappy suburb and farmer bikes. Unfortunately the majority of all bikes fall in this category and therefore the rules and bans.


Some reads about this topic in addition to what euphonius wrote in anger

http://www.itdp.org/documents/Guangz...015-Sep-08.pdf

http://motorcyclebloggers.com/2006/1...angzhuo-china/

[euphonius]

Some reads about this topic in addition to what euphonius wrote in anger

Gee, chinabiker, I thought I showed remarkable restraint!

E

[bikerdoc]

PandaBeat, Actually, though it's pretty bad here for motorcyclists, it's not THAT bad! Once your bike is licensed in any city, you can ride it anywhere in China -- anywhere where bikes are not banned or restricted, that is. Some cities are completely off limits, including Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong, next to Hong Kong. But those of us who ride here generally feel free to ride most anywhere. Last week I rode right through the heart of Hangzhou, which is supposedly a restricted zone. I passed tons of traffic cops, and none lifted a finger. If they had, I would have said simply, "I'm passing through, and if you can kindly direct me on my way I'll be out of town as fast as I can." Fact is, a big Chinese city is about the last place you want to be spending time on a motorcycle. Isn't that true most anywhere?

Where are you based?
cheers

I also agree that it's not that bad with a motorcycle here as the rules are somewhat flexible, which works both ways and while it is often a source of consternation and frustration it can ironically be a savour at times - TIC! Likewise I have ridden through Hangzhou many many times, on a number of different bikes, from my wee JinJian 125 StarTrek scoot, my CF250T scoot and also my Dragstar 1100... not one time have I been stopped. I've also been there when there are plenty of traffic police around. As usual they tend to look the other way. One time I did ride up beside a police officer at an intersection in XiaoShan (other side of HZ bay) on my CF250Tand the cop spoke to me in quite good English informing me that motorcycles were forbidden. Honestly I can say I never knew that and had/have ridden through there many times on my way to get to/from HZ. The cop was polite enough to inform me of an alternative route when I asked. It only was a small detour anyway. To this day I still don't know where exactly in that town bikes are not allowed as I've never seen any signs. I've also ridden on occasion through Ningbo city but I've done so carefully. No point to push the envelope.

I ride though HZ mainly as its has to be ridden through to get from where I live in Zhejiang to Shanghai or vice-versa (which I've ridden many times over) and also since I like to go visit the motorcycle market in Hangzhou just to see with my own eyes what there is in the market place. Since things do change rapidly.

These city bans though got me thinking, with the new Piaggio MP3 300 hybrid I was thinking how that might go, in cities where petrol propelled/motorised bikes are forbidden (like Ningbo city centre et al) yet allows electric scooters - that'd be an interesting proposition since one could ride into the city using the electric motor as needed and then revert to the petrol motor outside such boundaries. This has made me think harder about the possibility of importing one. That plus the fact that I have spent two days now reading loads and loads of users reviews/reports on these Piaggio 3 wheelers. Aside from the F650GS/G650GS and KLR650... too.