Motorcycle Upgrade this October

Today's weahter: High = 30 Low = 21
Sunny

I will soon be selling the Yamaha 125cc bike I've been riding around for a year now, and will arrange for that in June once I've finished using it for my little fuel business (see last post)

Currently I've got a small scooter for zipping around downtown now and will basically keep that scooter for awhile as a transitional vehicle. Meanwhile, here's the game plan:

First, need to replace the lost Chinese car drivers license from Suzhou, then convert to a Shanghai license. All has to be done rather quickly. After that, go back to Vancouver for the summer and obtain a Canadian motorcycle license. That license will return with me to Shanghai next year where I'll get it translated at a local office here. With that document in hand, plus my car license, I'll convert it into a motorcycle driving license. This may very well involve having to take another 100-question multiple choice test at the Shanghai office. If so, will have to book ahead.

All of this has to be done in conjunction with my residents permit in the passport, and registration of address with the police. There are certain deadlines and time limits here which are rather complicated to get into, but I've got it figured out. Since I'm also going to be moving out beyond the middle ring road, this will help for eventually registering a new bike with legal Shanghai C plates

Once the motorcycle license is in hand, the next thing will be to go shopping for an upgraded motorcycle, and I'm certainly going for a 250cc model or higher. In other words, I want a bigger bike. Could very likely be a Regal Raptor 250, a Yamaha YBR-250, or a Suzuki varation. A Kawasaki would be the ideal model, but they are not yet available in China.

The general idea is that the newly upgraded and registered bike will be used for weekend fun trips to different cities, etc.. while the scooter stays in downtown Shanghai for zipping around. It is more convenient to use the scooter for the city, as you don't have to bother shifting gears, it's lighter, etc.

The scooter would stay unregistered. The new motorcycle would also have a larger gas tank and would also assist in fueling up my scooter downtown. On a related note, this fuel business could be expanded since a legally registered motorcycle with legal plates would have no problems getting local fuel at the pumps.