It probably makes sense to do a short term lease/rent in Hsinchu. HSR ticket each way is NTD 290. 580/day *22 working days = 12,760/month. On top of that you have the cost of commute to and from train station, and the time and mental strain of the commute each day. I’m sure you could find an airbnb or even a 4 star hotel and negotiate a long-stay rate during probation.
Yeah a few times per month is fine. But if the OP attempts to do this daily, it will become exhausting. Everyone I know that tries this has eventually given up.
Guy
My 
on the commute: As others have mentioned, take HSR to Hsinchu and then scooter/bike to the science park. It’s a bit far for biking but I will say that on a bike you can get through the obscene morning traffic.
An alternative solution is to look for a room in a shared house / a couch at a friend’s place in Hsinchu, so you don’t have to commute every day. I had a friend that stayed in a spare room during the week and went back to Taipei every weekend until his probation period was over. This gives you the added flexibility of deciding whether to commute or stay the night every day; you do end up basically renting one place in Hsinchu and one in Taipei but Hsinchu rent is cheap so it’s okay.
As long as nobody steals it.
Unfortunately neither GoShare, WeMo, or iRent have a presence in Hsinchu.
Thanks for all this info, that’s quite useful 
To come back to the (orginally separated) topic (that got merged by @marco 
) I am growing actually more and more confused by the motorcycle traffic laws in Taiwan …
I now understand that the “Flowers” road, do not allow motorcycle (although frankly the reason why is beyond me…), but for the other National/Provincial highways is there a difference between Red places (over 550cc) and Yellow plates (250cc~550cc).
Another question on the license:
Since I converted my driving license from abroad I think I have the right to drive the White plates without training “普通重型機車”, and I’ve been told I can go for Large Heavy Duty (Yellow plates?) with some training (without actually having to pass a test?), but here again I am looking for the info on how many hours of training and where… and that’s where it get’s confusing…
Last question on motorcycle, how safe is it to park a motorcycle in Taipei and/or Hsinchu? how likely are bike to be stolen overnite if you park in the street? I’ve read somewhere it used to be quite the issue… but not sure how bad the situation is now.
Thanks,
Mine just got stolen a couple weeks ago. 
I think you need to take a riding course for Heavy bike certification. I believe its a 1 month course (4 weekends? but I could be wrong) Info found at Shilin DMV
ok, answering my own question I actually found a driving school that claims I need only 5hrs practice (can be packed into one day) and pass a small test… sounds actually quite simple 
From other motorcyclists here, is there really a point to a 500cc+ bike in Taiwan though?
Not really. The only National Highway With The Flowered Design Logo That Some People Call A Freeway™ that a red motorcycle can drive on is the 3A/3Jia/3甲 as far as I know. Otherwise there isn’t much difference to a red licence plate and a yellow licence plate. They are largely the same*.
*Disclaimer: This definition of ‘Same’ means same practicality in terms where and which roads you can and cannot drive on. In case anybody here might be confused and suggest that I am calling red licence plate motorcycles and yellow licence plate motorcycles the same. I’m not. I know what engine size is and that the licence plate colour is in relation to the engine size. For practicality purposes driving on city streets and highways, there is very little difference as to where you can go.
Irrational behavior of motorbike riders.
What license did you have converted? Car? If so, no you can not ride a ‘white’ plate motorbike, in Taiwan you need a separate license. You can however ride a ‘green’ one (50cc). If it didn’t change recently.
Provincial Highway Number Three runs fromTaipei to Pingtung. Ask any road cyclist.
I converted a motorcycle driving licence (that was allowing me to ride heavy-duty motorcycle in HK, but since they don’t have a distinction there, Taiwan auto-convert this to the lowest engine displacement only 
)
Seriously? In Taipei?
- (Green Plates) 普通輕型機車 is for less than 50c.c.
- (White Plates )普通重型機車 is for 50＜c.c.≦250
- (Yellow Plates) 大型重型機車-黃牌 is for 250＜c.c.＜550
- (Red Plates)大型重型機車-紅牌 is for 550cc以上
About the test you can check the following prices from the Hsinchu Safety educational center
For Yellow plate 250＜c.c.＜550
7500NT for the training course (32 hours )
the test fee is 325NT + Agency fee 475NT
sources:
大羊騎乘安駕：大型重機考照攻略法
大型重機考照-考照須知-新竹安全駕駛教育中心
臺灣機車
能源種類車牌別
Yep. I’d been parking it in the same place for like 10 years. It wasn’t worth much, but I had an emotional attachment…
Personally wouldn’t recommend riding a big bike FOTB in Taiwan.