Mordeth,
Is this your ex-bike?
tw.f3.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/c19451475
That’s his bike alright. Seems to me he sold it to a dealer.
Was that your Suzuki Supermoto, that I saw yesterday in Hsinchu with racing tires at the dealer?
Looked like it had a good ride behind it!
The guy told me he was a dealer. He’s also the only person to have phoned me…and he gave me my asking price. So it’s all good. He probably doesn’t plan on anyone buying it…he’ll probably just ride it and if someone wants to pay more than he did for it…then why not turn a profit? That’s interesting though.
I wish. I’m waiting until mid-Dec to buy mine. That’s the best time to buy a new bike. Dealers need to sell all there current years model before January 1st, or else they will need to pay for another year of taxes. So most dealers will sell there current stocks of bikes at really discounted prices, or at cost to save them from losing money. Plus, most Taiwanese rather spend more to buy the newest model, rather than save money on last years model, even though nothing has been changed, maybe except for color scheme. Last September I was going to buy the ZX-10R, but everywhere I checked was asking $550,000, in Dec I got it for $510,000. The price went back to $550,000 in January. I just hope I can hold out for two more months. I’m already starting to miss not having a bike.
That’s the bike alright…although it seems that a few parts have been removed…I don’t see the steering damper and the rearsets, and the original exhaust is back on…so, he may have taken off some parts and slapped them on his bike…who knows!
Cheers
[quote=“skylarkpuma”]That’s the bike alright…although it seems that a few parts have been removed…I don’t see the steering damper and the rearsets, and the original exhaust is back on…so, he may have taken off some parts and slapped them on his bike…who knows!
Cheers[/quote]
I didn’t notice that…good eye. So if anyone wants to buy my bike for 30k more with about 40k less in mods…then give the guy a call.
I used to ride Kawasaki sportbikes in the states. ZX-6Rs. Little cheaper than the comparable Hondas but wtf in taiwan…everything is so expensive here for real motorcycles (more than 100cc)…
Is there massive “luxury” taxes and import fees that you have to pay to buy a good 600cc or larger bike?
In the states, TW$250,000 can get you a very good 600 - 700cc sportbike but here it seems like everything is TW$550,000 for any bike larger than 200cc…So I guess that is why people here get an 1100cc or 1000cc…
Please provide some info as to the pricing issues here…A 600cc is still less pollution than a car and only fractionally more than a 60cc scooter so the pollution argument of “big” bikes seems weak…And since Taiwan is a WTO member, these skyhigh taxes/fees seem out of line with world trade agreements…
i would say the big bike manufacturers didnt lobby respective govt’s that much for wto tariff reductions. given they make so much money here out of scooters and that those wealthy enough to buy a big bike dont give a shit about 600k or 1.5m for a bike, i would argue the bike co’s simply didnt care if tariffs remained high.
then again tariffs may not be the issue it may be local taxes that are the big deal. if so wto really has its hands tied.
Hey there,
Prices here are definetly higher due to tax barriers imposed by the local government! Maybe our fellow forum user “Plasmatron” can shed some light on the breakdown of fees charged here. I remember that he posted it somewhere ebfore but I couldn’t find it.
The real motorcycle market here is new and the current low brow government is always finding ways to make money through restrictions and huge taxes…I’m sure that WTO is keeping a watchful eye and will soon be dropping the hammer on Taiwan’s sleazy business practice.
Not only the taxes are a problem, it’s EPA as well. They impose all kinds of ridiculous standards on new bikes…The new Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5 (california model) took many months to pass the emissions test…it kept failing over and over…I’m sure that this bike didn’t pollute more than a 125cc scooter…but, again, it’s typical of the uneducated peasants running the show at the EPA…Just take a look at every blue truck and those huge dump trucks…those things puff out more smoke in a second than a new GSX-R will in one year!..completely upside down if you ask me!
Cheers
Thanks for the info about govt. and EPA practices here. Sounds like a new cycle is going to have a hard time passing emissions stuff. I hope plasmatron can provide some info about fees/taxes/import levies/local taxes/EPA costs/etc. for motorcycles. It just seems ridiculuous to have these sky-high prices for motorcycles that put out very little pollution compared to many other vehicles.
If they have problems with EPA stuff they should just price gasoline higher (it should probably be about 5-10% higher just for market forces). And keep the vehicles and cycles are market prices. At least a person can control consumption of the vehicle/cycle once they buy it, as opposed to raping them on the purchase of the thing. After all, spending money on vehicles and cycles, TW is aiding consumption to help the economy.
the taxes on big bikes (hereafter referred to as bikes) are like every other idea the Taiwan
Thanks for the breakdown, plasmatron. Sounds like greedy you know whos…
Funny, in a country where personal savings rates are about 23% (really exceptionally high), personal consumption only grows around 2.5% (very low for an economy in taiwan’s position)…
…and now, i know the answer why…the politicos just want taiwanese to finance huge US current account deficits so Americans can consume more and live the good life…while taiwanese have to pay 97% more for something while they earn about 60% less than Americans…
i cannot believe the people stand for this…I am not saying save 0%, or consume at a 10% rate but 97% more than european prices is crazy…i guess i will not be getting a motorcycle here…and it is a shame…hell, how do people here afford a 600cc…i am making a very high wage compared to average taiwanese and i will not pay a price 100% more…
Problem with second hand bikes are they have been owned by "first time’ owners who are Taiwanese-a race never known to take care of their vehicles.
But how much “taking care of” does state of the art sports bike really need? Realisticaly someone could buy a 600cc sports bike never change the oil…etc. And maybe instead of seeing 100,000km on the odometer…it would only get to 60 or 80 thousand. Most second hand bikes here only have a few thousand kilo on the clock…and as long as they changed the oil (and even if they didn’t) there can’t be too much wrong with the bike.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe this is known as “Protectionist Tariffs” on imported goods.
Doesn’t have a damn thing to do with “…finance huge US current account deficits so Americans can consume more and live the good life…” Its the Taiwanese gov’t way of keeping the domestic market non-competitive.
This is also why the island 'scooter makers have ‘export’ and ‘domestic’ models. Along with a few other island mNUFcturers.
And it sucks.
Yes, it is protectionist tariffs…but its result on trade and capital accounts (total is the current account) results in consumption being restricted and since business investment is not enough here to soak up all domestic savings…that savings goes other places…like US goverment bonds and assets to pay for Americans investment and consumption…So by making your citzens have to pay very high prices for goods that are cheaper on the world market you are encouraging them to save…but if your economy does not need all of the savings for investment…then it goes somewhere else…so others can consume and invest more than what they have…
nothing wrong with this situation, until someone decides they want to change their behavior…
[quote=“onedude”]Yes, it is protectionist tariffs…but its result on trade and capital accounts (total is the current account) results in consumption being restricted and since business investment is not enough here to soak up all domestic savings…that savings goes other places…like US goverment bonds and assets to pay for Americans investment and consumption…So by making your citzens have to pay very high prices for goods that are cheaper on the world market you are encouraging them to save…but if your economy does not need all of the savings for investment…then it goes somewhere else…so others can consume and invest more than what they have…
nothing wrong with this situation, until someone decides they want to change their behavior…[/quote]
Too complex for me. All I heard was blah,blah,blah,I like gay porn, blah,blah,blah. And I’m pretty sure the “I like gay porn” didn’t come from you. It might be me projecting. In which case I need to do some self contemplating.
Hey…hilarious,
…mordeth…
Just a quick question…do cars have the same tariff/tax/epa structure as the motorcycles (since almost all cars have more than 600cc engines and are made overseas: just like the bikes)…or is that a question for plasmatron…or the car forum…if so i will move the question to the car forum…
[quote=“onedude”]…do cars have the same tariff/tax/epa structure as the motorcycles (since almost all cars have more than 600cc engines and are made overseas: just like the bikes)…or is that a question for plasmatron…or the car forum…if so I will move the question to the car forum…[/quote]The Vroom, vroom forum’s for cars, motorbikes, lawn mowers and anything else that goes vroom really. Even a bicycle as long as you make a vrooming noise when you ride it.
You might like to check out this thread, which has information on motorbikes and cars:
[Anyone ever try importing a bike/car from overseas?