Has anyone thought about or rode across China? I live in China though i'm a Westerner, and have rode across Yunnan above Vietnam, which was an amazing trip!
Depends on what you mean. Bring your own bike to china: not many have accomplished this without an official (and expensive) guide. Buy a bike in china and ride around seems to be easier. Search this forum, there are a number of Ride Reports.
Yup, mychinamoto forum is exceptionally good. I think CrazyCarl (admin) is on here as well, but maybe I'm getting people crossed up...
The best motorbike of China made is JH600. It's quality is ok, I bought a new one, ride it for 9000 KM without any trouble until now. The point is it is much cheaper then BMW or KTM, maybe only 20% to 30% price of BMW or KTM if you buy one in China. It is easier to sale JH600 when you finish your trip in China. email to me if want more information. daviddong@163.com or chinese.dongwei@gmail.com
I've lived in china as well, i think the most reliable bikes over there are Yamaha Ybr's and Honda CB 125/150's. Reliable and easy to get parts. Not sure about the JH, i think most shops don't have spare parts for that brand.
acquiring a bike is one thing... Once that is solved, the next problems arise: get a drivers license and register the bike... I guess knowledge of chinese is a pre-requisite if you want to obtain a drivers license... after all you need to pass a test (theoretical test). Regards
I have legal license in China and it wasnt easy. After a 3 month struggle they let me come with a translator to do the writing test. As for plating your new bike, dealer can help you in most cases but in smaller cities its hard to find dealer which has bikes other than 125cc's
I just toured north china alone by motorcycle in October 2013. Here are some pictures from this trip.
I agree with you first. 125cc or 150cc motorcycle are populor in China, so no need worry to fix it on the road. I rode 125cc motorcycle to Lhasa Tibet in 2008, from a city to another city, it cost 2.5 days at that time. but the same road and same weather, it only 1 day when I rode JiaLing JH600 in last year. Yes, most shops don't have spare parts for that JiaLing Jh600, I got the spare parts from factory only cost 3 to 4 days by mail when I in city. Actually JiaLing is the biggest motorcycle local brand in China. JiaLing JH600 is design for Chinese military, factory don't sale it to common people at beginning. It is expencive for common people, it cost about 17 months salary for Chinese common people. The price is why it not populor in China.
easy or hard to sale bike depends on the price. Here are some populor forum for Chinese motorcycle fans http://www.moto8.com/forum-724-1.html http://motorcycle.sh.cn/ You can try to sale your motorcycle in the forum if you can read and write Chinese.