sidecar trips in China

 

Riding Motorcycles in China:

Different parts of China has different rules regarding motorcycles. For cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, motorcycles are strictly forbidden and the police will not hesitate to confiscate your motorcycle. However tour groups with travel permits are allowed to ride through the city.

Northern China has much better roads for riding primarily because it is not as developed and the cities along with the countryside is not as concentrated with people and industry. In the Beijing area, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Hubei, there are many historical sites to visit especially when riding out to Xinjiang, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia the scenery is beautiful. There are many differnt types of roads conditions which can be suitable for cruisers, dual sports or off road riding.

Getting a motorcycle into China

Getting your own motorcycle into China from another country is very difficult due to the documentation required and also it is very expensive to ship the bike back out. For riders that want to do a ride a specific type of motorcycle in China, I highly recommend you to buy one, use it and sell it when you leave. If you are invited for a special event in China, you may get an official invitation letter and also a letter requesting that you be allowed to bring the motorcycle in for official use. For people planning on staying a while in China you may look into buying a large capacity engine bike. If you are here only for a few weeks a more economical solution would be getting a 250cc dual sport for your travels.

Buying a motorcycle in China

For large engine motorcycles there are all sorts of available depending what you are looking for most are not legally licensed. From Harleys, BMW, KTM, Ducatti, Benneli, Augusta, Yamaha, Honda, Bad Dogs, Boss Hogs, Zeros, basically almost any type you want you can buy here. For domestic motorcycles most are 250cc or less with only a few exceptions such as the Jialing 600. Prices for domestically produced motorcycles are usually less than 2,000USD and importantly many of them are able to be legally registered.