Motorcycle Maintenance

Today's weather: High = 21 Low = 12
Sunny

This weekend was pretty relaxed after the most hectic week! A good time to head for the famous 'Zhaoji Lu' motorcycle / scooter market and do some maintenance on the bike.

This is the place where Shanghai's scooter and motorcycle riders converge, and it's the shop that can do just about anything for you. Business has understandably been slack in recent months due to the fuel restrictions. Read about a month back where the Shanghai authorities issed a regulation where unregistered bikes or out-of-town bikes cannot get fuel at the gas stations anymore.

The way to deal with this is head for gas stations that don't have the ban. These are of course found in the suburbs, but as we discovered on the weekend, they needn't actually be that far out! There is a station that will fill bikes only 5km from the scooter market.

Another option is to head for the private gas stations, i.e. the ones that are not the red SINOPEC brand. These private stations, like TOTAL or EASYJOY have an unspoken deal where they still refuel your bike if you agree to purchase goods at the convenience store.

Of course, there is also the underground market for fuel which has recently emerged, and the guys at the scooter shop will no doubt hook you up. Basically it involves a guy who legally fuels up a large van and then siphons it off to customers at the scooter market.

Alternatively, if you want, you can buy fake license plates from them in order to get fuel from the downtown SINOPEC stations which would otherwise refuse a fill up. Most of the attendants just take a look at the license plates if they see one, and don't ask for other documents. This could easily change in future if the sales of fake plates continue to be brisk, as they have been.

Personally I just go to the suburbs as it makes for a fun ride anyway. For example, the last few unsuccessful attempts to head to Wujiang and replace a drivers license were also a great chance to fuel up. The tank can hold enough gas to last 500+ km so it's worth it.

While at the scooter shop, along with the customary oil and filter changes, a washup, and some general repairs on the brakes and clutch levers, they also suggested I shorten the chain and get more efficiency. I tried this and it makes a world of difference! There is much more tightness in the riding of the bike, and it feels like more horsepower has been added to the 125cc engine. Actually that has not happened, but the efficiency has gotten a lot better and I can accelerate and change gears a lot more easily.

This motorcycle riding hobby is now turning into an obsession and I've got a long-term plan to be squeaky clean legal by the end of this year.