[quote=“joesax”]
For me, I think a reasonable 400 would be great for Taiwan’s roads and I would neither want nor need anything bigger… [/quote]
agreed 100%… 400cc is just the thing for taiwan… a Honda CB400 would be a wonderful bike for Taiwan, more than enough power for anything Taiwan has to offer, outside a track… my only concern lies in the V-Tech system… a wonderful and effective system from Honda for getting better power across the entire rev range from a smaller engine, but an extra set of valves and cams for inexperienced taiwanese mechanics to try and deal with could lead to expensive headaches come the valve reset service at 32,000km…
I’m interested in that. The crucial process seems to be the ‘type approval’ or whatever they call it, where they approve a bike for Taiwan’s roads. Isn’t that hideously expensive for a single import?
If you know about this process I’d be really interested.[/quote] [/quote]
yes, they really are little sods about the licensing process, but luckily there’s ways and means of laughing them off… here’s the lowdown on the import process as clearly as anyone will tell me after 2 years of research…
I feel it’s split into 3 main phases, so I’ll describe what I know in three parts:
1.) Getting the bike to Taiwan:
first you need to find a dealer that does international sales… most will give you a price EXW, which means “ex-works” ie. crated and ‘maybe’ loaded onto a truck outside their warehouse and from then on it’s your responsibility… some may offer CIF pricing, which is “cost, insurance, freight” ie. the price you pay gets it delivered to the port of your choice, but that’s expensive… regardless make sure they quote you the price for direct export via a bonded warehouse to be sure your not paying any taxes to the country of origin… for shipping you can get a freight forwarder to deal with it for you, presently i’m checking to find out if it’s cheaper to ship a whole 20’ container with one lonely bike in it sea freight, or just air freight the crate…
2. Getting the bike through customs:
i’m waiting for the chimps at the customs and immigrations dept. to get back to me with regards what specific paperwork is required, although I’m fairly sure certificate of origin, Form A, and/or Bill of Lading will be enough to silence their insatiable lust for beurocracy… currently import duty for “heavy motorcycles over 249cc” is 24%, add 5% VAT to that and the government tax thugs will be placated… btw, this is all imposed on the value reflected on the air waybill, and like all things in taiwan a well timed hong bao can see a zero being “accidentally” knocked off the total 
this process is best handled by a customs broker who know the lay of the land and have the guan xi to smooth the import process… play your cards right and you will have yourself a brand new shiny bike, and a fist full of documents to say that you’ve paid your dues to A-Bian and his cronies, and let no man claim otherwise… these will be important later…
3. Getting those much sought after yellow plates:
a fairly simple, yet financially daunting process… admittedly it’s the part i am least clear on, but let me tell you what i know… you need to present said tax documents to prove that you’ve paid your dues and the bike didn’t “fall off” a container ship in Gaoxiung, as many big bikes in taiwan do… that then grants you the privilege of paying a further NT$49,000 to have some grunt shove an emissions probe in the exhaust to make sure it complies with Taiwan