New newbie in Shanghai

[braillce]

Just make sure you have a Shanghai yellow 沪C plate. Bikes with an out-of-Shanghai plate run the risk of getting impounded and sent back to its place of origin, as majority of the "Motorcycle Taxi" are plated out of Shanghai and much frowned upon by the Shanghai police, which would cost you a lot more than 200RMB plus the hassle to get it back.

Yes that's what I was told by a moto-shop owner recently.

He added; even with a yellow 沪C, along with the 200 fine, the bike may also be confiscated, u'll be able to get it back after 24 to 48h. But also said u need some real bad luck (or bad behavior) to end up on the cop that'll give u that trouble. Even the 200 fine seemed avoidable with some smiles and a good story.



I said I'd follow up regarding the Suzuki shop Pubei Rd, I got my Raptor regal last Saturday, everything is fine.
It just gets quite hot after a couple hours (cause no water cooling maybe?), nice thing is that even after 5hours driving, the exhaust stays cool, no more pipe burns.

No cop seemed willing to control my papers. But all seems to be there and fine.


Starting driving a registered vehicle in Shanghai brings another question;

Can I get fined by getting photographed by CCTV cameras for speed excess, or passing a red light or driving in a bicycle lane, or on a prohibited-to-moto lane (eg. Yan'an), as there are plenty CCTV cameras and I wonder if they can mail me a ticket thanks to my plate, or if being on a bike prevents from being subject to such infractions?

[euphonius]

Congratulations on getting the new bike! Weather has been perfect for urban riding -- dry and generally warm -- and looks to be good for the next week or so too.

--Did you go for the 沪C or the 沪A? If you got the 沪C, how much did you have to pay and are you confident it will be transferable? Yellow or blue? (I'm thinking the blue plates are used only on sub-50cc bikes, but not certain.)
--Are you getting stopped by cops with any regularity? For what reasons? When you say cops are not willing to control your papers, do you mean they don't ask for them, or just check them and don't take any further action?
--Any issues with buying petrol, especially if you have 沪C plates are are filling up in Puxi/inside the ring?

As for CCTV tickets, I've never heard of anyone on a bike getting one, and I believe I've triggered plenty of camera flashes, sometimes while speeding. But I've never heard that motorcycles are ***exempt*** from camera enforcement.

Many cameras around town seem to be garden-variety "big brother" cameras, which are there to monitor the population and collect traffic data and ***not*** to issue tickets.

Obviously if you are photographed from the front, you cannot be identified since your front plate is mounted laterally. Perhaps grandma now has some face recognition system or maybe scanners that can read your retinas from 20m! OK, your plate can be strobed from the rear, and some of the enforcement cameras do shoot from the rear, whether looking for speeders or red-light runners. But can they read your plate? I do recall that there's a 1000 rmb fine (?) for defacing or concealing your plate, but, hey, a little well-placed mud would look right at home on the back of a motorcycle, no?

Nice to know your passenger is not getting burns on her legs! Hope you can post some pix soon, and not just of your passenger's legs.

cheers

[milton]

Can I get fined by getting photographed by CCTV cameras for speed excess, or passing a red light or driving in a bicycle lane, or on a prohibited-to-moto lane (eg. Yan'an), as there are plenty CCTV cameras and I wonder if they can mail me a ticket thanks to my plate, or if being on a bike prevents from being subject to such infractions?

Congratulations on your new bike. Is it a 250? It is more than enough for riding around this part of China where the highway motorcycle riding is prohibited.
I have nerver heard of any case that a motorcycle is fined due to violation photographed by CCTV. In the past 7 years riding around in Shanghai, I have been ticketed twice, both adminstered by a real traffice cop. So I would conclude that the chance of CCTV giving your law trouble is slim. This also implies that at most traffic lights there is basically no enforcement of traffic laws/violations. This is why the traffic condition is so messy.
I myself do take advantage of this sad situation and justify it for not willing to subject muself to those ungodly number of lights. Although I don't have official statistics, Shanghai, or China rather, must have the highest density of traffic lights in the world. I would exercise extreme caution when passing through any traffic lights. Personally I treat them all as "Yield" signs, regardless if it's red or green.
I frequently tour with whole bunch of Chinese riders, none of us stops for traffic lights. I am not proud of this fact, but you must know of this behavior of other fellow riders (including all other ebikes, scooters, pedestrians, dogs, cats, goats, cows, you name it).

[braillce]

Thanks.
Yea the weather was just perfect.
I took a Yellow 沪A, paid 44000RMB at this Suzuki shop. They buy it 1st and then sell u 2nd hand. I'm supposed to be able to sell it anytime. I was proposed a 沪C in another shop, but it couldn't be on my own name, I had to sign a contract with the owner, and it was 7000RMB. Sounded weird.

Cops used to try to stop me a lot on my previous mini dirt bike, which is illegal, but so maneuverable it's easy to evade them. Now they seem to ignore me on this new bike. They don't ask for my papers. I'll follow up here after i get controlled (successfully I'm sure) by one.

About the petrol, some of my friends had the issue riding scooters with no plate, couldn't get gas anymore.
They still found a few (2 at least) stations in town willing to sell them petrol(93-97). Another friend with a fake plate (RMB20) on his scooter can get gas without problem... That's all I know about the issue.


U wrote: "OK, your plate can be strobed from the rear, and some of the enforcement cameras do shoot from the rear, whether looking for speeders or red-light runners. But can they read your plate?" They sure can, my girlfriend's got a car and plenty of fines from those cameras. Many shoot from behind, and fine for illegal lane change, parking, and other stupid things like this..
But it's a car she's got.
And it seems like very few Chinese motorcycle taxi driver cares about them, but it might very well be cause their plates are fake...

Did u ever got a fine from CCTV?

[braillce]

Congratulations on your new bike. Is it a 250? It is more than enough for riding around this part of China where the highway motorcycle riding is prohibited.
I have nerver heard of any case that a motorcycle is fined due to violation photographed by CCTV. In the past 7 years riding around in Shanghai, I have been ticketed twice, both adminstered by a real traffice cop. So I would conclude that the chance of CCTV giving your law trouble is slim. This also implies that at most traffic lights there is basically no enforcement of traffic laws/violations. This is why the traffic condition is so messy.
I myself do take advantage of this sad situation and justify it for not willing to subject muself to those ungodly number of lights. Although I don't have official statistics, Shanghai, or China rather, must have the highest density of traffic lights in the world. I would exercise extreme caution when passing through any traffic lights. Personally I treat them all as "Yield" signs, regardless if it's red or green.
I frequently tour with whole bunch of Chinese riders, none of us stops for traffic lights. I am not proud of this fact, but you must know of this behavior of other fellow riders (including all other ebikes, scooters, pedestrians, dogs, cats, goats, cows, you name it).

Thanks. Yea it's a 250. I think I wouldn't have minded a 500cc, but the last one was 100cc, and I wanted to grow step by step.

I'm glad u never heard about no one getting fined that way, that's kind of what I wanted to hear.

I always worry too much. I drove 2 minibikes, 1 scooter & 2 mopeds the last 4 years, all without plate or driving license, and treat the red & green lights just like u. Check the left, then the right, scr*w the light. Here, green never means safe anyways. But since I got this legal bike, I'm just scared, since there's a number on its rear and it's related to my name & address.

Thanks for prompt answers, thanks for congrats, it's a big event for me, I worked on getting the license and the savings a long time. I'll put 1 pic when I can, without my GF.

[euphonius]

You can't get more legal than a Yellow 沪A! And it's surely transferable, even to your next bike. Congratulations indeed.

I didn't mean to imply that the enforcement cameras cannot read a motorcycle plate. What I did mean is that if there's a bit of well-positioned mud on the plate, it should be pretty impossible for the cameras to read!

Yes, being legal comes with responsibility; your name and address are indeed linked to the plate number. I'll take that responsibility any time, especially if there's ever an accident. I'm still amazed by the numbers of unplated pocket-rocket scooters that blast at absurd speeds through Shanghai at all hours, with flagrant disrespect for everyone else on the road, including the cops, and not an inkling of care for others or even for themselves. As a law-abiding all-the-gear-all-the-time rider, I would not mind a bit if there were a severe crackdown on these guys.

hope you and the GF both are wearing helmets. ride safely!

cheers

[Wrangler]

See you on the roads! I finally got my regal raptor, with the plates, AND my rider's license. I was wondering about whether I would get a ticket too doing illegal stuff as I have gotten some driving a car but I heard that they rarely give tickets to motorcycles, even with plates that can be seen.

Keep us informed on your bike performance. I got the cruiser version and will be taking it in to add HID lights, and air horn and an alarm. But I have yet to ride it. Out of the country and the physical license doesn't come in till Friday.

[braillce]

Congrats then, the license is a pain in the rear.

Performance is fine by me, I like it cause even with no real moto experience I can drive and stay in control all times.

It's just maneuvering at walking pace and slow & tight turns that are a bit touchy, as the bike's heavy while I'm built like a shrimp. I almost dropped it twice like this... But when driving it's awesome.

Let me know how u find urs, one of my Chinese workmates's got the same as u, just older. I can tell he likes it the way he looked at it when leaving it on the office's parking.

Another thing: where on Jiaoji Rd did u get that pocket alarm beeper u showed me @ the shop, I'm not too much for regular alarms, but that beeper got my attention.

Air horn sounds nice, as regular horn catches no one's attention, no one's. I usually yell in emergencies as I found it to be the only thing that makes pple react, most of the times...

[Wrangler]

You can get the alarm installed at the first shop on the left when you enter the main entrance of the moto mart. It's the biggest ones with a rack of helmets at the right of the store front opening and a long sofa in the store on the left side. Alarm should be 260-270 installed and it's called "Steel Mate".

The place installs new horns too for about 50 rmb. Ask for Xiao Xu.

http://www.steel-mate.com/index1.html

[braillce]

Thanks.

I'll check it out this week end.