Hi All,
I am going to move to Taiwan later this year and would like to be able to continue riding big bikes. I am British but have a Dutch car and motorcycle license. Any suggestions?
Bring money, lots of it.
You might rethink it when you land… seriously the roadways in Taiwan isn’t really conducive to big bikes and lots of nasty accidents because those bikers are driving some insanely powerful bikes too fast on roads not suited to high speed… One on the news where he literally ended up in the back seat of another car and died… He was doing like over 200kph… Remember you double the speed you need 4 times the energy to achieve it, and 4 times the energy when you hit something too.
But big bikes seems to be overpriced in Taiwan…
Thanks, I will take that into consideration. 
Before you come have it (the license) translated, notarized and stamped by the TECO in the Netherlands. It’s easier to swap it for a Taiwanese license. Your International license will only last for one month before you have to get it stamped by the MOTC, and if you actually live here, have your address here you can’t use that.
Yes but what if OP just does the speed limit?
I do agree with the money issue. Plus the whole having to wait a year then having to spend money for classes. -Normally not sure if their license motorcycle license magically transfer to a big one but I’m doubtful.
I did the big bike test here , so if I can be of any help. I cannot afford a big un now , but had one about 10 years back.
Then it becomes pointless to even have them… I mean many Taiwanese have them so they can go insane speeds in the mountains where there are less traffic. But the trouble is, the roads in the mountains tends to wind like crazy and so you can’t really go faster than 60kph safely (and even that’s pushing it). That’s how all those horrible accidents happen because you can’t react fast enough around a bend and cars can’t see/hear them coming.
And big bikes are much more expensive here than back where you’re from, and used ones cost more than new ones because the paperwork to import them is insane.
You should be able to put 2 million on one of them… or at least able to borrow that much, which as a foreigner is rather doubtful.
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Dude quit being such a hater. Taiwan has a wonderful riding scene whether big or small bike. Also some great and inexpensive tracks to ride/race on. There’s plentiful, beautiful twisty roads that riders around the world would long for. Unfortunately most of the highways are cars only so don’t expect to travel by highway on your motorcycle.
Used motorcycles definitely don’t cost more than new bikes. Especially those that are a bit older as they require 2 inspections per year. Sure they are still considering luxury goods so there is an extra tax that bumps the price up compared to most of the western world. Just saw a used Ducati Monster 696 for $189,000nt at a second hand dealer.
As for OP’s question. You’ll have to get a license for a white plate bike first (under 250cc) then after one year you can test for a big bike license. There is no way to go directly to the big bike license unfortunately. Its probably best to start with a white plate because they’re more convenient in the city. Then after one year you’ll have a good idea what will work for you in Taiwan. You can add a big bike to your collection and keep the white plate for inner city riding.
Lately the popular “big” bikes are: R3, cb/cbr650, mt07, ninja 400 just to name a few.
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Don’t you have to take a class before you take the big bike test?
Actually it’s not when you exchange your big bike license for a Taiwanese one, it all depends on what kind of license you have from Europe. But as I posted you need to get it stamped by a TECO in Europe.
(125cc-11kW) A1, (35 kW) A2, (unlimited) A
In Taiwan they had a little problem deciding what to give me as I had a license from before they changed all the above, I had actually a D (Bus), meaning I could drive all vehicles below that A, B, C. In the past they didn’t make a distinction between A1, A2 and A. If you had a car license B, you could drive a car and anything lower than that. But they changed that in 1989. So all licenses from that year and later need to be specific.
The only problem though is that my C and D in Europe are suspended until I do a medical, change of rules.
I thought big bikes are kinda treated like cars, meaning they must park in a car lot, and that they can go on highways as the law treats them like cars… correct me if I’m wrong.
But I’ve heard so much stories of fatal accidents with red plate bikes… because people go too fast on roads not designed to go faster than maybe 50kph.
Highways yes, expressways yes, freeways no.
That’s because scooter idiots got upgraded to heavy motorcycles.
Hence the ridiculous requirements to wait a year on a white plate before you can drive the red plates… But all it did is make them act like scooter drivers.
Thanks for the information but excuse my ignorance, but what is TECO?
I guess there must be a difference for European license. I came from a US license which is equivalent to the Euro unlimited license. For me there was no way around the 1 year wait.
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Thanks for the heads up. 
What do you currently ride, what type of riding do you like?
TECO (Taiwan Economic and cultural office) AKA Taiwan Embassy.
Yea they can’t call it an “embassy” because China would throw a fit. And it couldn’t be called a “Taiwan embassy” but a “Republic of China Embassy” and you can see what kind of diplomatic issue this would cause…