Motorcycle touring

I’ve run against a few souped up Dio’s in the past year. One girl had the requisite spinning kick starter(annodized blue, of course) and the exposed variator(annodized blue, natch). Looked like a 50cc…Green plates…

We took off when the light turned green and she ripped ahead. At 40km, i swept up to her side, and she gunned the accelerator again and kept pace with me until around 80km. I don’t know what kind of modifications were made, but that thing sure was fast. I’d love to get one as a weekend ride to race around town. :sunglasses:

-chris

See, that’s where a scooter and a non-full face helmet is better (I have a helmet with visor that covers the ears, but not the chin.

Keep right hand on throttle. Can also use the breaks (ABS means will brake both, so no worries).

Reach into pocket with left hand, pull out smokes, and shove a fag into your mouth.

Put the fags back and pull out a lighter.

Pull the visor down a bit to shield against the wind.

Light your ciggie.

Brian

My friend’s can do 140 for a few seconds, then breaks. I don’t want to tell you how I know that.

Plasmatron; how fast did you do the Taichung-Puli run on the 136? As you know I’m pretty sedate - a bit of a fogey really - but I want to know what the young folks can get out of their bikes these days.

Are you sure you mean ABS? Sounds like you mean linked brakes; that is when you pull the front brake lever, the back brake is also applied a bit, and when you press the back brake pedal, a bit of front brake is applied as well. That’s a very good safety feature in itself.

Real ABS would be a superb thing to have on any bike, but is prohibitively expensive for small bikes. You can get modules with ‘ABS’ written on the side that fit inline with the brake fluid cables, but actually all they do is limit the pressure that can be applied, which might prevent a skid but does so by reducing your braking capacity.

Then you sound like a suitable tour partner for me :wink: . I’m very interested in Michael’s run over from the Beiheng to Neiwan. I was up at Smagusa (sp?) on Saturday and passed the turnoff that takes you over to Balin. Sounds and looks really good.

SBS I think. Simultaneous breaking system.

Front break applies some rear, but the rear doesn’t apply front.

Brian

[quote=“joesax”]
For me, I think a reasonable 400 would be great for Taiwan’s roads and I would neither want nor need anything bigger… [/quote]

agreed 100%… 400cc is just the thing for taiwan… a Honda CB400 would be a wonderful bike for Taiwan, more than enough power for anything Taiwan has to offer, outside a track… my only concern lies in the V-Tech system… a wonderful and effective system from Honda for getting better power across the entire rev range from a smaller engine, but an extra set of valves and cams for inexperienced taiwanese mechanics to try and deal with could lead to expensive headaches come the valve reset service at 32,000km…

I’m interested in that. The crucial process seems to be the ‘type approval’ or whatever they call it, where they approve a bike for Taiwan’s roads. Isn’t that hideously expensive for a single import?

If you know about this process I’d be really interested.[/quote] [/quote]

yes, they really are little sods about the licensing process, but luckily there’s ways and means of laughing them off… here’s the lowdown on the import process as clearly as anyone will tell me after 2 years of research…

I feel it’s split into 3 main phases, so I’ll describe what I know in three parts:

1.) Getting the bike to Taiwan:
first you need to find a dealer that does international sales… most will give you a price EXW, which means “ex-works” ie. crated and ‘maybe’ loaded onto a truck outside their warehouse and from then on it’s your responsibility… some may offer CIF pricing, which is “cost, insurance, freight” ie. the price you pay gets it delivered to the port of your choice, but that’s expensive… regardless make sure they quote you the price for direct export via a bonded warehouse to be sure your not paying any taxes to the country of origin… for shipping you can get a freight forwarder to deal with it for you, presently i’m checking to find out if it’s cheaper to ship a whole 20’ container with one lonely bike in it sea freight, or just air freight the crate…

2. Getting the bike through customs:
i’m waiting for the chimps at the customs and immigrations dept. to get back to me with regards what specific paperwork is required, although I’m fairly sure certificate of origin, Form A, and/or Bill of Lading will be enough to silence their insatiable lust for beurocracy… currently import duty for “heavy motorcycles over 249cc” is 24%, add 5% VAT to that and the government tax thugs will be placated… btw, this is all imposed on the value reflected on the air waybill, and like all things in taiwan a well timed hong bao can see a zero being “accidentally” knocked off the total :sunglasses: this process is best handled by a customs broker who know the lay of the land and have the guan xi to smooth the import process… play your cards right and you will have yourself a brand new shiny bike, and a fist full of documents to say that you’ve paid your dues to A-Bian and his cronies, and let no man claim otherwise… these will be important later…

3. Getting those much sought after yellow plates:
a fairly simple, yet financially daunting process… admittedly it’s the part i am least clear on, but let me tell you what i know… you need to present said tax documents to prove that you’ve paid your dues and the bike didn’t “fall off” a container ship in Gaoxiung, as many big bikes in taiwan do… that then grants you the privilege of paying a further NT$49,000 to have some grunt shove an emissions probe in the exhaust to make sure it complies with Taiwan

Sandman,

Not sure where you were so I’m not sure what to say…Mr. He was with you though, correct? He lives a couple of blocks from me so let me check it out and get back to you… Beihen rocks for motorcycle touring!

Plasmatron,

The only way my spouse will give the green light for large displacement is if it’s totally legal…So, anything other details (Especially for that F----g EPA test) would be appreciated by many here besides myself. Your lonely bike in the container may have lots of company if you can figure out how to do it!

I’ve seen some wicked fast Dio’s as well. One of them blew the socks of my RZR a few years back. Was so disgusted I spent 10,000NT plus on high-performance engine hop up so that would NEVER happen again! It didn’t :smiling_imp:

I’m perfectly happy on a 250 2-stroke when I’m at speed in the mountains. But, at 42, man my back gets sore…A CB 400 or 600 is more than enough for Taiwan. I saw a CB 400 in Chungli for 340,000NT out the door. If you can knock a hundred grand off that, I’m sure a LOT of people would be interested…What were you looking at cost-wise to bring in your 600?

Smoking while riding? Well, not in the safety course, but have you ever had a better smoke? Oops, I can think of at least one better time :wink:

Taipei to Ilan is a nice ride, I forgot the road number but just went through Hsiendien and kept going. Did it early evening - very quiet and took less than 2 hours. The gravel trucks were generally very courteous.

Does anyone know where you can get a SYM 150 scooter modified in Taiwan to improve performance?

Hi there,

Who likes to join me on a short motorcycle trip (2-3 hours) and a 2-3 hour hike tomorrow Sunday Octobre 19?

Starting from Sanxia (Taipei County) over the mountain back roads to Fushing. Having lunch at the Swiss village restaurant. Than going on to Tashi for a hike up White Stone Mountain. Returning to Sanxia via Ingge.

If weather permits.

I know it’s a little late to ask but you never know how the weather will be.

I would like to meet in Sanxia near the Enchu Gong hospital close to SanIng the freeway exit at around 9:30 AM.

Please let me know tonight befor 11:30 PM.

Bottleneck

Great idea, Bottleneck. Let us know how it goes. I’m down in Taichung and taking it easy this weekend so can’t join you, unfortunately.

Tonygo, re. your question; substantial modifications are illegal and it’s very important to preserve the status of this website by not sharing illegal information. However, as your profile says you live in Banqiao it is possible that one of the Taipei residents here may send you a Private Message.
BTW, I’ve found the same with gravel trucks - they can be very courteous.

Sandman; I hope we can go for a nice fogeys’ jaunt one of these days! By the way, had you ever considered getting a bigger back sprocket on your Dragfire? That would give more grunt in the midrange with a bit of a top speed sacrifice. That’s how my FZ’s set up and it’s good for the little twisty back roads around here. Sometimes I take the bike up concrete or even dirt tracks, and I can use that ultra-low first gear for getting up things.

Well, jus let me know here or in a pm.

Basically, I would meet in the morning in Sanxia because that’s probably the best for all. Not everybody lives in Taipei.

Around Sanxia there are a few nice trips to make.

The bike for Taiwan is the latest Bonnie. I’ve seen one in a showroom and it is the embodiment of elegance, nostalgia, and restrained performance. Around $450k, and at 790cc, hard to tax. Stop, Look, and Listen.

WTF is “restrained performance” ?! Time for bed.

Hmmmm… that Bonneville looks lovely on the website ( triumph.co.uk ). If you got one in Taiwan, you would be very special and those in the know would consider you some kind of a god.

I believe that modern Triumphs have a lot of Japanese parts and a new-fangled thing called ‘quality control’. This was not the case in the old days. Riding and maintaining old Triumphs must be right up there with trainspotting as quintessentially eccentric British pursuits.

I think my brother bought a Triumph 250, made in about 1970, because it looked great and the price was OK. After it had spent six months in pieces on his bedroom floor, then he’d taken it round a lot of continental Europe for two months only to have a load of things break again, he must have been reconsidering his decision.

It seems that one aspect of Triumph quality control; that to do with their riding apparel, may still need some work. I recently bought a Triumph Raptor mesh jacket. The basic design is great; The mesh fabric is Cordura; a very abrasion-resistant fabric. It has CE-approved armour in the elbows and shoulders. The mesh makes it plenty cool enough for everything except stoplights, when in the middle of summer I think it will be a bit hot. Still, ‘a bit hot’ has to be better than ‘a bit smashed up’. A guy in a sister school recently spent two days in hospital and a few days off work with a broken shoulder from a riding accident. If he had been wearing a jacket like mine, this probably would not have happened.

Anyway, this OEM product is pretty good, except that the press studs/poppers at the high wrist and biceps which tighten the sleeve to hold the armour well in place, keep coming undone. I’ve been looking all over for an email address to let Triumph know about this, but I can’t find one.


2300 CCs is what I really need. Come the revolution, this will be the new Maobike.

My above-mentioned brother and I are meeting up in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand this coming weekend. We’re going to rent motorcycles and spend a week doing a tour of the northern hills, towns and villages. I’m really looking forward to it.
(If anyone fancies doing the same thing; there’s a good website on the topic at gt-rider.com/index.html
I don’t think that site’s been updated for at least a year, so I’ll let you know how accurate it still is when I get back. The general tips and tour suggestions should be valid for a long time though.)

Anyway, I want to take some biking gear over there for my brother and I to use. My concern is customs; will there be any problems either with Taiwan or Thailand customs taking stuff out or bringing it back in? I plan to take;
Two helmets; one very new, one used-looking
A U-lock, also used looking
A magnetic tank bag, brand new
My Triumph jacket and my AXO protective trousers, both pretty new-looking.
My RS-Taichi gloves, already looking a bit used.

The tank bag and the Triumph jacket are both imported into Taiwan - I’ll have a look for the customs slips.
The new helmet, the trousers and the gloves are from the big-bike store in Taichung - they didn’t give me a reciept at the time but I guess I could ask them to write me one if it would help.

I know this kind of belongs on the legal forums but I thought any answers people could give might help other people considering biking tours in other countries.

Thanks!

is a nice bike shop like this siamsuperbike.com/

clean friendly professional. not out to gouge you like every other shop on the street. look at those low prices. would it be difficult to purchase used in Thailand and import using the abovementioned practices? would it be better to import from japan?

-chris

Joesax: ah… Thailand… what a place… much envy going out to you for your upcoming trip, sounds great!.. as long as you make a big deal about declaring the items of significant value both on the way out of taiwan, and into Thailand, and as long as you bring them back with you, I doubt there will be any significant hassles at customs…

Maoman: 2400cc hehe… i sat on that bike at the Triumph stand at the Milan International Bike expo last month… it really does re-define “excessive”… you could elbow gravel trucks off the roads with that thing :sunglasses:

RE: www.siamsuperbike.com … well, reasonable prices for used bikes i suppose, but they seem to have very few late model bikes in stock other than the Hayabusas which are just ‘not’ suited to Taiwan… as for whether it’s a good idea to import such bikes from Thailand… well, yes and no… dealing / importing used bikes is a very risky and/or tricky business for 5 major reasons:

1.) unless you, or someone you trust implicitly actually goes in person to check out the bike/s from top to bottom, you just never know if you’re going to get a lemon… with parts and servicing for big bikes being very expensive in Taiwan, it’s doesn’t make financial sense to get a “fixer upper”…

2.) the price you’ll pay will be approx market value for the country of origin, but since it’s second hand (or older), will unavoidably include local taxes… since it’s a used product you will not be able to claim these taxes back on export, also once you get it to taiwan you’ll be taxed on total value, in effect paying tax on the tax… this is not good…

3.) to import a used bike, you need to provide proof of previous registration in the country of origin, and cancellation of said registration… these documents will in all likelihood need to be “authentificated” (sic) by the taiwan trade and cultural office in the country of origin… the beurocratic imps who staff these kinds of offices both in other countries and in taiwan strive constantly to take ignorance, incompetence and inefficiency to new heights… this is not good either…

4.) once you get the bike here, there will be confusion from the customs people since they don’t usually deal with these types of import processes and documents, this will be construed by them as a potential loss of face, when taiwanese beurocratic imps (see above) perceive a potential loss of face from having no idea what to do, they usually react by declaring whatever you want done impossible, illegal or non-existent and throwing red tape at it until it goes away… this is really not good…

5.) for similar reasons to those outlines in point 4, the license application process could become very tricky indeed… not to mention the fact that a used bike may not even pass the EPA test…

as usual i’ve only really emphasized the potential problems, get it right and if you’re lucky you could get a really good deal and a great bike, but just to make you aware of the pitfalls…

on the topic, this clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html#4 is an excellent guide for what to check when buying a used bike… follow these guidelines and you won’t go far wrong…

-plasmatron

Ok, so nobody wanted or could join me on the planned short ride along Sanxia’s mountain backroads last weekend.

Anyway I’ll try again to gather some people for the same ride (motorcycle/scooter) this weekend, Saturday or Sunday.

Plan is to start at around 9:00 - 9:30 AM from Sanxia driving to Tashi for a hike on White Stone mountain, returning via Ingge to Sanxia late afternoon.

We can have lunch between San Min and Fuxing in a place called Swiss country village with a nice outdoor terrace overlooking the mountains.

After the hike we can drive along Shimen reservoir and stop at a place (Lakeside hotel) overlooking the lake for afternoon coffee/tea.

Good opportunity to meet new people and see other places!

Interested? Let me know here or in a PM

Bottleneck

After your useful and detailed exposition of the big bike import process, I was expecting you to come up trumps and you have.

Just a couple of points;
I’m pretty much a novice to international air travel - I think this will be my sixth return flight to anywhere. When you say declare stuff, do you mean actually going through the ‘something to declare’ channels? And do you think that I should take receipts and customs slips where they exist?
Thanks again.

Odds and ends;
Bottleneck’s riding/hiking plans sound great! Riding and hiking are two very different and complimentary ways to see some great countryside, and if you can combine them together on one trip that’s even better (plus you’re getting some exercise so you needn’t feel guilty about just sitting on the bike all day).

Maoman, that thing looks amazing, but to flick it through city traffic you’d need balls of steel - as would anyone who got in front of you!
I had an evil thought. What do you think the biaochezhu scooter boys would make of you on that thing as they pulled up at the stoplights? Maybe, they’d try to race you! You’d be laughing all the way home.