[quote=“Abacus”]You will have no problem buying a 150cc motorcycle for 15-25kNT but you will need to learn how to drive in Taiwan. You don’t go fast in the city.
If you’re in Taipei then someone else can suggest streets to go motorcycle shopping. In Kaohsiung there are 5-10 motorcycle dealers on Jianguo Rd and Jiuru Rd.[/quote]
Oh yeah? That’s good to know. I am in fact in Taipei. I know SOME rules in Taiwan, but not all. My friend has already shown me how to drive in Taiwan. He goes around 50-60 kmh average when driving here in the city. I don’t know if this is slow or fast, but I consider 60kmh to be fast. I say fast because I don’t want an engine breaking down due to the wear on it. Thanks for the suggestions though. I will look into the rules here in Taiwan. If anyone else has any more input, it would be helpful!
[quote=“Evlesoa”][quote=“Abacus”]You will have no problem buying a 150cc motorcycle for 15-25kNT but you will need to learn how to drive in Taiwan. You don’t go fast in the city.
If you’re in Taipei then someone else can suggest streets to go motorcycle shopping. In Kaohsiung there are 5-10 motorcycle dealers on Jianguo Rd and Jiuru Rd.[/quote]
Oh yeah? That’s good to know. I am in fact in Taipei. I know SOME rules in Taiwan, but not all. My friend has already shown me how to drive in Taiwan. He goes around 50-60 kmh average when driving here in the city. I don’t know if this is slow or fast, but I consider 60kmh to be fast. I say fast because I don’t want an engine breaking down due to the wear on it. Thanks for the suggestions though. I will look into the rules here in Taiwan. If anyone else has any more input, it would be helpful![/quote]
it’s not about learning the rules but it’s about learning how/where to look and be safe. for a westerner some rules of the road are strange and difficult to acclimate to. And then there is always learning how to become comfortable on a motorcycle. it’s easy to drive but being able to react instantly (and correctly) when something happens takes time.
50-60 km/h is the right speed to go in the city. You won’t damage your motorcycle by going faster but your chances of an accident increase a lot. My motorcycle will easily do 80-90 km/h but those are crazy speeds in the city.
Learning where to look? Eh? Is this a trick? No one “learns” that. As far as I know anyway, no one really gives a sh** about who is BEHIND them, since so far, I have not seen a single person look at their mirrors. What’s so strange that you consider would be hard to get accustomed to for a foreigner? Please give a couple examples. Learning how to be comfortable on a motorcycle can’t be TOO different than a scooter, right? It’s not as if it takes a lot of skill or a long period of time to get adjusted to, eh?
I do agree with all you said, but need more information / details! Thxxx
Which is why there is such a huge accident rate here.
First lesson, don’t listen or imitate to the locals unless you want to end up broken.
Also look at the other vehicles around you and allow that they can move without you having to swerve. If a scooter is beside you and it is approaching a parked car it will expect you to move to allow it to pass. Slowing down or stopping is not an option as it will simply not notice that there is a car beside you and you can’t move over.
Never get between two vehicles. Always have an out.
The main thing to realize is Taiwanese drive as if they are the only sentient being on the road. Everyone else is an automaton and so never does anything unpredictable. If there was a two meter gap ahead two seconds ago it should still be there even if you spent the last 2 second looking behind you.
[quote=“Evlesoa”]Learning where to look? Eh? Is this a trick? No one “learns” that. As far as I know anyway, no one really gives a sh** about who is BEHIND them, since so far, I have not seen a single person look at their mirrors. What’s so strange that you consider would be hard to get accustomed to for a foreigner? Please give a couple examples. Learning how to be comfortable on a motorcycle can’t be TOO different than a scooter, right? It’s not as if it takes a lot of skill or a long period of time to get adjusted to, eh?
I do agree with all you said, but need more information / details! Thxxx [/quote]
This is exactly my point about learning where to look. You need to pay attention to every shitty alley because someone will come out and do the no look merge. You need to see the car double or triple parked (or the bus in the bus stop) 200m’s ahead and merge into the car lane seamlessly. You need to know what kind of intersections are the most likely to have taxi’s taking high speed right’s on red lights. You need to see the car which will take a left turn in front of you and cut you off. It’s pretty common for intersections to be obscured and you won’t see him until he’s in the scooter lane. You need to see the old man slowly weaving on his bicycle in the scooter lane or the car that will abruptly stop and parallel park. it’s true that most of this is going on in front of you but there are a lot more driving hazards than in the west.
Motorcycles aren’t that hard but it’s more difficult because you are coordinating the actions of 2 feet and 2 hands while keeping track of the crazy traffic around you.
Oh, I understand. Well, that definitely takes practice and no one learns that until they get familiar with driving a scooter. As far as I know, the only sure way to learn this is from experience. No one can possibly explain all of this to me and expect me to remember it without doing it.
However, I now have a better understanding of what you are talking about. Many thanks, guys
As always, any more advice in terms of Eng-speaking mechanics or where to buy a used bike is still accepted!
Sorry to stay on the topic of riding safely, as I’m not sure where you are in Taiwan.
I suggest that you only use scooter lanes when you have to, like crossing bridges or on roads where part of the road is sectioned off just for scooters or when the car traffic is really backed up and it’s the only way to keep going.
I always ride on the left side of the far right lane in traffic. Often I’ll ride in the “car only” lanes. Why? You may have noticed by now the most Taiwanese people are confused by this thing that is called a “turn signal”.
From what I’ve seen, 90+% of the drivers, and about 95+% of the riders don’t bother using them. I often still have to remind my Taiwanese wife to use her turn signal when she’s driving our car. It’s strange, on the freeway
she knows to use the turn signal, but at an intersection it’s more like “Are we turning Babe?”, her “Yeah…”, me “Tick tick Babe. (meaning turn on your turn signal)”. So what’s my point in mentioning this? If you ride on the
right side of the far right lane and there’s a car ahead of you, it’ll probably turn right on you when you think it’ll be going straight. Taxi drivers and those little blue truck are really bad about this, as they will just pull over and
stop suddenly. Instant accident for sure there. This will also help you a lot with what was mentioned above about the “no look merge” as you’ll have a just a little more notice if someone is going to do that or not.
I guess one other thing I could mention is that if you are going to pass someone, don’t take your time about it, just do it a fast as you safely can. On my 250cc scooter, it’s no problem I just have to BLAP my throttle and I get
great acceleration. But on a 150cc motorcycle, you’d better be sure of the power-band of your motorcycle. If you’re cruising and you want to pass someone and the engine is only at about 4000 RPMs, you will accelerate
slowly, which isn’t safe. Drop down a gear and get those RPMs above 6000 RPMs and you’ll accelerate much faster. If you’re still passing and the RPMs are around 7500-8000, then shift up a gear and the RPMs should drop
to about 5500-6000. Don’t worry, from what I’ve seen, these 150 engines here can take a brief amount of 7-8000 RPMs from time to time without problems.
That’s very useful advice, johnledoe. Thanks for that. Btw, I did mention in one of the posts I am in Taipei. Still, your advice is quite useful, especially the dropping down a gear to pass; I never knew this.
Oh, I see. That’s really Odd. In my experience (not in Taiwan, actually) pedestrians always have the right of way, even if it’s a green light for the cars. I suppose it’s the other way around here.
It’s funny, I just saw news a few days ago where a girl got hit because a car didn’t slow down for her. And then some different news of a motorcycle getting plowed by a car; girl didn’t live; albeit the motorcyclist did.
Apparently there’s a new law passed this month (July) where you are required to wear seat belts. Is this true? I was told to do so in a Taxi.
Never obey the laws because they’re the laws, because no one else will. And certainly don’t think that because things are done one way in any other country (even if that’s a sensible thing to do) that the same applies here in Taiwan.
The only “rule” worth following in Taiwan is that everyone else wants to kill you. Drive defensively, not like a local.
