Hi,
I’m looking to move to Taipei from New York in the next few months. Although I’ve read a lot about the scary driving in Taipei (but then again, I’m from NY…), I’m considering buying a motorcycle there. I have done a lot of searching online for sites that sell real motorcycles, not scooters, and I have yet to find anything. Can any of the users here recommend a good site? Also, what does a decent used bike run in Taipei? I’d like to keep my budget around $3000 US (90,000TWD). Thanks.
[quote=“Multiracial Man”]Hi,
I’m looking to move to Taipei from New York in the next few months. Although I’ve read a lot about the scary driving in Taipei (but then again, I’m from NY…), I’m considering buying a motorcycle there. I have done a lot of searching online for sites that sell real motorcycles, not scooters, and I have yet to find anything. Can any of the users here recommend a good site? Also, what does a decent used bike run in Taipei? I’d like to keep my budget around $3000 US (90,000TWD). Thanks.[/quote]
whereabouts in NY? 
ruten.com.tw/
The site is in Chinese though.
How big do you want this bike to be? ccs I mean
There are many motorcycle stores that sell second hand bikes. They buy bikes at a cheaper price, take them apart, clean the insides, replace what is needed, spray them over so they look almost perfect. I bought a 150cc for NT30 000 two years ago and it hasn’t given me any problems. I would rather buy a bike from a store, not through a private sale, because stores usually give you free maintenance if anything breaks within the first couple of months.
Once you are here, just walk around local bike shop streets and look for your best deal. Here is a link of what to expect from a store. If you can read Chinese, the yahoo auction website is pretty good for finding exactly what you want. Here are bikes available here. There are also BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG bikes, if you’re into those I can search around and see if I can find some stores.
tw.user.bid.yahoo.com/tw/user/Y6 … 513175&tp= you can click on the type of bike you like to see the individual bikes they have for sale. I think those mini ones at the top are all new.
New Rochelle, NY (Westchester), but I’m originally from the Bronx.
[quote=“jdsmith”][quote=“Multiracial Man”]Hi,
I’m looking to move to Taipei from New York in the next few months. Although I’ve read a lot about the scary driving in Taipei (but then again, I’m from NY…), I’m considering buying a motorcycle there. I have done a lot of searching online for sites that sell real motorcycles, not scooters, and I have yet to find anything. Can any of the users here recommend a good site? Also, what does a decent used bike run in Taipei? I’d like to keep my budget around $3000 US (90,000TWD). Thanks.[/quote]
whereabouts in NY?
ruten.com.tw/
The site is in Chinese though.[/quote]
I’m looking for about 250cc, not looking to drive on the highway (for now), but when/if I am, a 500cc bike or more is required, right?
Thanks for the link, Battery9, I’m wondering if they have something like the Kawasaki Ninja…I’m perusing the site now. Can’t really read chinese though.
550cc minimum. (I’m in the process of researching a bigger bike.)
You could also try searching Yahoo auctions or Ruten to get an idea of what’s out there… not usually a good place to buy though–overpriced imho.
tw.search.bid.yahoo.com/search/a … =&ei=UTF-8
Here are some Ninjas, they are pricey though…there are other crotch rockets around for cheaper. Don’t get excited about the cheaper things on the Ninja page, that is for modifications, paint jobs, engine parts etc.
Buying used motorcycles, not scooters, for a reasonable price in Taiwan is “bad news”. I recently settled on buying a scooter after I gave up on buying a decent “real” motorcycle for a reasonable price. I have owned 3 used motorcycles (BMWs) in the US and beleive I could buy everything I found here in Taiwan for half the price in the US. The additioonal “bad news” is that about have of the bikes I found did not have tiltles.
Mike
[quote=“Multiracial Man”]I’m looking for about 250cc, not looking to drive on the highway (for now), but when/if I am, a 500cc bike or more is required, right?
Thanks for the link, Battery9, I’m wondering if they have something like the Kawasaki Ninja…I’m perusing the site now. Can’t really read chinese though.[/quote]
250cc bikes are limited here in the Wan. There are not too many to choose from. You choices really are only the SYM T2, Kawasaki Ninja, Honda Hornet, CPI SM, and an old Yamaha FZR with an SRV250cc stuck into the original engine case to pass registration. We have talked about all these bikes on here a million times, so make sure you search a bit first before asking. 