So, I was given a load of crap from TECO San Francisco and therefor decided to export my FZ1 out of the USA and bring it here.
It arrived yesterday.
As I had my Taiwan licenses from when I lived here in the 1990s … and as I had my California license authenticated by the TECO in SF … and I believed the idiots there, I thought that I’d be able to get my big-bike license.
I argued and was told due to reciprocity, NO. Taiwanese go to the USA and don’t get their license, so I don’t get one here. I’d love your advice about overcoming this. Especially if there is an office of the TMV which historically has given out the licenses.
As to getting my bike legal … I have subsequently learned about the level 5 emissions standards which it’ll definitely fail. I was told by a guy who processses license plates for some car dealer - and drives a 750 legally - that I essentially have 5 options:
sell it
dump crap loads of money into getting it legalized (which if you don’t know means trucking it to Changhwa - where the ONLY inspection station is nationwide for this sort of thing) - and according to him is basically impossible
get a TEMPORARY license plate, and drive around with it forever. Yes, if the police stop me, allegedly they’ll only fine me for having an expired plate.
make a counterfeit one - and run if I hit a roadblock. I’ve got 2 kids & a wife … and god forbid one of them is with me and I hit a roadblock… as I understand it, then the police confiscate the bike. Nope, not for me.
drive with my California plates. Here in Taichung I’ve seen a bunch of cars driving around with ONLY European plates … no TWNese ones on the front or the back… I’m wondering if I carried my authenticated license info & my title to the motorcycle how long I could get away with it… and is there any difference between #5 and #4?
Well, number 4 (fake plates) is a clear and deliberate deception. Number 5 (US plates) could (just) be down to ignorance, so one MIGHT expect to be hit harder for 4, and MAYBE get some “stupid foreigner” slack for 5, but you’ll still be in violation and maybe loose the bike.
Most countries, including the UK which has no land borders, in practice allow temporary use on foreign plates, but the UK has a lot of foreign vehicle traffic via ferry and tunnel. Taiwan is pretty isolated so, even if its allowed, legitimate temporary vehicle importation and use, (which would give you “background noise” concealment) is pretty unlikely to arise here.
[quote=“Ducked”]Well, number 4 (fake plates) is a clear and deliberate deception. Number 5 (US plates) could (just) be down to ignorance, so one MIGHT expect to be hit harder for 4, and MAYBE get some “stupid foreigner” slack for 5, but you’ll still be in violation and maybe loose the bike.
Most countries, including the UK which has no land borders, in practice allow temporary use on foreign plates, but the UK has a lot of foreign vehicle traffic via ferry and tunnel. Taiwan is pretty isolated so, even if its allowed, legitimate temporary vehicle importation and use, (which would give you “background noise” concealment) is pretty unlikely to arise here.
Not much help. Sorry[/quote]
[color=#0000FF]The only cool thing about using the CA plates … asides from the ability to break traffic laws with (initial) impunity … is that the colors aren’t like some states in the US which are COMPLETELY different from the Taiwan.
At this juncture, I 'll drive it spontaneously.
A buddy of mine - Taiwanese - thinks that it’ll be easier for it to pass the emissions test next year. According to him (he’s pretty knowledgeable) the government is getting tons of negative feedback from the motorcycle manufacturers - as the average MC can’t pass … and it’s clear that the manufacturers are being punished versus the total release of emissions. He thinks that with the financial/political pressure, it’ll get easier & they’ll need to grandfather older bikes in.
Weren’t you the one asking about the pros and cons about importing your bike a few months ago? What happened is pretty much what you were warned about, isn’t it?
Personally, I’d go with the temp plates and trust to luck. I wouldn’t do anything that could be seen as fraudulent, as that just makes it easier for the authorities to fuck you.
As for the emissions testing, maybe you could make friends with a shop that deals in heavy bikes and get them to put the bike through – its far easier that way, but will still cost you a fortune.
(By the way, if you look closely at those “European plates” you’ll see that there’s a legit Taiwanese plate on top of the cosmetic Euro one (they seem to think it’s trendy).
Yes, I was (the) one asking about this. Whether others have asked, I’ve no idea.
I took the information learned here & went to confirm with the TECO - SF. TECO SF informed us that the info from here was wrong - which made me excited of course.
What we didn’t know was the levels of inefficiency of hte people at the SF TECO; the way they mangled my younger son’s Taiwanese passport application, as well as screwing up the paperwork required for my elder son to go to (public) elementary school was amazing. Of course, by then we had serious concerns about the fact that the container (with my bike) had already shipped.
[quote=“sandman”]Personally, I’d go with the temp plates and trust to luck. I wouldn’t do anything that could be seen as fraudulent, as that just makes it easier for the authorities to fuck you.
As for the emissions testing, maybe you could make friends with a shop that deals in heavy bikes and get them to put the bike through – its far easier that way, but will still cost you a fortune. [/quote]
Yeah, I like the temp plates. It’s far more economical on the face of it - and I’m good at begging for forgiveness.
In addition, I’ll put it to the top of my list to make friends with a cop of some stature!
Yeah, agreed. However, I’ve seen several cars with ONLY (fake?) European plates on the back of the car (1 had TWNese plates on the front, and I couldn’t ee the other 2 cars as they were flying down the street).
Just a way off kind of question… I don’t know much about the emission tests for these big bikes, if anything at all, but if they applied these tests to all bikes like my NSR 150, as well as all those nasty scooters, wouldn’t the roads be either full of illegal bikes and scooters or empty as they have all been confiscated… How can a new bike not pass a test… in Taiwan…???
My local bike shop always needs to play around with the mixture on my NSR until it reaches acceptable standards, then he clicks enter on the computer, I get my sticker and then he sets the carbi back to how it was… As for exhuast noise…
[quote=“TaipeiSean”] How can a new bike not pass a test… in Taiwan…???
[/quote]
For brand new production bikes, some models can’t pass stage 5 limits of 0.8 g/km for HC and 0.15 g/km for NOX, which includes cold-testing, and so are no longer imported by the dealers here in Taiwan.
There’s also the issue of import date vs. production date on imported bikes. An imported bike’s “new” date for emmisions’ testing purposes is considered to be the day of import. So if you had a 2006 Suzuki that you wanted to import, it would still have to pass today’s stage 5 standards standards instead of the 2006’s more relaxed stage 4 standards.
[quote=“TaipeiSean”]Just a way off kind of question… I don’t know much about the emission tests for these big bikes, if anything at all, but if they applied these tests to all bikes like my NSR 150, as well as all those nasty scooters, wouldn’t the roads be either full of illegal bikes and scooters or empty as they have all been confiscated… How can a new bike not pass a test… in Taiwan…???
My local bike shop always needs to play around with the mixture on my NSR until it reaches acceptable standards, then he clicks enter on the computer, I get my sticker and then he sets the carbi back to how it was… As for exhuast noise…[/quote]
Could you imagine foreign manufacturers being able to export/sell to Taiwan using the local emission standards? It’s simply to allow Taiwan motorcycle manufacturing mediocrity to continue whimpering along without fear of imported competition.
Ha, thanks MJB… Why don’t they just impose an import duty on the bikes equal to the same amount as what everyone says they need to pay to pass the tests? No idea how much that is but from what I am hearing, it sounds expensive… Should have the same effect in trying to keep the numbers down…
[quote=“peanut”][quote=“TaipeiSean”] How can a new bike not pass a test… in Taiwan…???
[/quote]
For brand new production bikes, some models can’t pass stage 5 limits of 0.8 g/km for HC and 0.15 g/km for NOX, which includes cold-testing, and so are no longer imported by the dealers here in Taiwan.[/quote]
Yes, but that does sound strange. Wouldn’t the manufacturers be concerned that their new bikes are unroadworthy… According to the law… Sounds weird to me…
Sounds like a reasonable answer, though still a little strange for such a new bike to not be able to pass. Thanks…
While some countries have banned the 2-strokes, they are still running wild here, but it is difficult to get a new bike with the latest technology on the road here in Taiwan…
I am not a bike expert so please don’t blast me for my ignorance…
Don’t think my NSR would pass that test if needed though. Should see it blow smoke in the mornings until it warms up. Kind of embarrassing at the traffic lights sometimes, until someone comes along blowing more smoke than me…
And to add to “peanut’s” excellent post … don’t forget the difference between reality & politics (just look at the Chen Shui Bian crap on tv for an example).
The reality - they do not produce EXPONENTIALLY more, nor lineally more pollution vs. other bikes out there. Else, they’d be getting rid of the 2stroke engines on the rooad, writing tickets for all of the vehicles with massive smoke plumes behind them, and converting all of their buses to natural gas (CNG).
for sure rawsushi is right, i have asked many friends about why they dont get a big bike, and they would give the same excuses that you can see in the previous post. they do like them " or it looks like that" they tell me that i have a nice bike, but then they will just get on their scooters and keep driving happily ever after…
its funny to see their limit, i have seen kids spending tons of money upgrading scooters, and dont get me wrong, some of those scooters i would like to have, they look very nice, but lets be real, they would never be able to pass a big bike, not even with 50K in upgrades for a brand new scooter… that is i.m.o…
well… small ppl, small power, small size, small country… i can understand that
Reciprocity is evil. It punishes innocent people for the actions of their governments.
It’s equivalent to saying: “You killed my son! I’m going to punish you by killing your son!”
Anyway, I thought California had the strictest emissions standards in the world. Hard to imagine a bike from California would fail a Taiwanese standard.
the problem with the test is not just the test, i think that bike might pass it after a mechanic here does some “magic” on it, if possible…
the things is the 50 ~ 80K that u have to pay for the test that increases the value of the bike in a dramatic and unwanted way…
i think its better to :
Do the test and be 100% legal.
keep the white temporal plate and be kind of legal (forever).
send the bike back to the US and sell it there, then buy the same bike here…
As for your driving license, just take the local big bike test. You’ve had your white plate license for over a year so you just have to sign up for a big bike course, pay the $5000 - $7000 course fee then turn up for the test.
[quote=“Chris”]Reciprocity is evil. It punishes innocent people for the actions of their governments.
It’s equivalent to saying: “You killed my son! I’m going to punish you by killing your son!”[/quote]
Agreed it’s evil. Less on the killing analogy & more to, [color=#FF0000]My name isn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I didn’t WRITE THE LAWS. So why are you punishing me because my current driver’s license is from there.[/color]
I think you should turn your bike into a track whore. If not just sell it, drink a beer and move on. You can always go for the fake plate, you will probably be fine, but you never know.
Off topic, I was under the impression that you can’t buy a “new” two stroke motorcycle anymore here in Taiwan. So over time they will be obsolete. You barley see NSR’s/RZR’s anymore, they are done for in Taiwan. You can’t even find some of the transmission bearings anymore. If you go out to the race track you can tell that the NSR’s are dying too. A lot of guys are moving to the 4 strokes.
