Mordeth/Sax etc. maybe you can help me on this one.
I have a chance to get a hold of a large jap bike (1100cc) 1980’s model with no plates. I believe it was registered at some time before the whammy-mammy slammer ban on big bikes.
I need plates to make it road legal.
This bike is near perfect–needs a little work.
The owner is in married/kids/job prison so he can’t ride.
This bike is too good to walk away from. I got it in a swap for an old scooter of mine.
Other than switching plates any suggestions?
Again no chance of getting previous paperwork or import slip.
Ride illegally is your only option. But I’ve heard that the cops are coming down harder on unplated bikes now that legal ones are available and they WILL take it away from you if you get pulled over. There’s a reason why you were able to swap an old scooter for a near perfect 1100cc bike.
There again, if they DO impound it, all it cost was the price of an old scooter, so maybe its worth the risk.
That they didn’t offer any amnesty to owners of illegal imports when the law changed, should tell you that they never will. In short, you’re S.O.L. Have fun with it until they take it away, or give it to me to play with.
From my ignorant point of view, very slight to non-existent.
You don’t get deported for traffic violations. The ones who DO get deported are the ones caught riding stolen bikes.
Disclaimer: This is just what I would do. I am not promoting any illegal activities. Doing what I would do may cause you legal problems if caught. Please just read this as my opinion not as a suggestion. Is this ok mods?
I would get a cheap old model plated bike, like a CB400N and just stick the plates on it. Cops seldom pull over older model big bore bikes with plates on them, because they figure most would have plates from before the ban. I sold my 1981 CB400N 2 years ago for $120,000. Should be cheaper now though.
Thanks (To ya all),
Kawirider–I’m doing the same thing actually with another bike (sorry mods…victimless crime )
I want to do everything legal…AS I DO WITH EVERY ASPECT OF MY GOD -FEARING LEGAL-SPEED-LIMIT- ABIDING LIFE (disclaimer)
I got my eyes on another big bike with plates so might as well do that. Guess the cops only care if your insurance and plates and registration.
I’ve been deported from another asian country before so I guess it would be a cool way to go. Deported for having fun. Bike’s NOT stolen.
Too bad the legal way is so unreasonable we have to do things illegally.
Story of the R.O.C. I guess.
Back home in the USA we can just register it as a salvaged bike providing it meets all standards…guess that would make too much sense here where the Govt. wants everybody to consume unto death. Putting up non-tariff barriers…and hoping everyone will buy a new crappy local scooter every 1.6 years.
Sheeeettt!!! I’m getting long winded on the soap box…
didn’t know I knew so many words… :braveheart:
I use to ride a plateless 250 two-stroker. I found a junked 150 bike…and put those plates on it. Was stopped by the police who ran the plates a few times…I just told them that the bike belonged to a friend and I didn’t know his Chinese name. But this was before they had legal “big bikes” and might not work as easily now that they are craking down on them.
I also see alot of the locals riding bikes with homemade plates…speaking of which…I just got my first speeding photo in the mail…hmmm.
I went to the DMV hoping to run the engine number and find the original plate number…no way they told me. Couldn’t find the plate numbers. Couldn’t register it as a salvaged bike either.
I went to the “Big Boss” desk he laughed at the absurdity of Taiwanese laws and said: " Sorry that bike doesn’t exist"
Being somewhat of an existentialst motorcylist I took this to mean
“Ride free and prosper just don’t get caught–life, law and meaning are an illusion”
I used to ride my (pre-legal) 750 with homemade plates. I just put my office phone number on there so if the cops had any problems they knew where to get a hold of me
The couple of times I got stopped they seemed to think that was a reasonable gesture on my part and waved me on my way and added that my idea was better than putting another bike’s plates on, which they had a dim view of…
It was really bloody-minded (love Brit slang) of them not to allow owners of illegal imports the chance to register them.
[quote=“Mordeth”]Ahhh, yes but the majority of illegal imports were stolen…kinda hard to register a stolen bike.[/quote]Ah, well if you mean by that the bikes here were being stolen and moved around, yes. There were guys bringing in bikes stolen from Japan, but used bikes are so cheap there it was hardly worth the effort. The cops here were in direct contact with Japanese authorities and claimed to be able to track them back there anyway. When my bike was taken I couldn’t report it as a stolen vehicle with it not being rego’d, but as a household effect, giving them the engine and chassis numbers.
Before the big bikes became legal I was at a local “big bike” shop when he got a shipment of new bikes. They were all second-hand…and they were all missing the ignition cylinder…every one of them. He ordered in new ones from the companies…and voila…ready to be sold. Kind of ironic though…stolen from Japan…shipped to Taiwan…then Taiwan contacts Japan for new ignition systems…and Japan sells them…Japan (Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki) must have gotten hundreds if not thousands of orders for ignition systems from Taiwan…but oddly enough only one or two orders for actuall bikes…you’d think they would’ve caught on.
[quote=“Mordeth”]Japan (Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki) must have gotten hundreds if not thousands of orders for ignition systems from Taiwan…but oddly enough only one or two orders for actuall bikes…you’d think they would’ve caught on.[/quote]Well, seeing as it was illegal to actually ship whole bikes here, maybe not. Obviously the Japanese knew something was up to go and set up a system the Taiwanese police could check the engine numbers.
Even funnier is the idea that bikes were being stolen once in Japan, shipped here. Sold and stolen several times by the same group of ‘dealers’, and when too hot to sell in any of Taiwan’s cities, shipped to China… The idea that my Yamaha is being used as a farm implement by some fuckwit aliuzai amuses me not in the least.
However, there is no reason whatsover in the world that a legally imported bike can not be registered EXCEPT that the Taiwanese government are arseholes. It’s that simple. Bike bought legally in Japan, legally exported, legally imported to Taiwan, import duty paid, but cannot register the bike for plates in Taiwan.
from what i hear it may actually be possible, providing you can provide all the micky mouse documents that the taiwanese want, the kind that no country in the world issues, and are willing to pay the NT$80K+ emmissions (read: hong bao) test…
Actually, I have been told you can export the bike if you have the import tax receipt, and re-import it, do the bonkers tests, register it and get plates. What a palaver. So, for a three year old (or whenever the yellow plate regulations came in) bike worth, say four grand sterling, you could make it legal for about, oh, four grand sterling (!)
I’ve heard the same Plasma (and Hexuan). Well, “second hand” (aka crashed) big bikes are coming to the market pretty quickly at more reasonable prices, so in true discombobulated Taiwan style, we will all soon have affordable big bikes that would most like be write-offs in other fair lands.
)
and added that my idea was better than putting another bike’s plates on, which they had a dim view of…
