Guide on motorcycle license and plates in Beijing

DISCLAIMER: I am only sharing my experience here and in no way am I an expert in this area. what worked for me may not work for everyone. I am referencing some websites in this guide, but in no way do I endorse them or guarantee that they will be of use for any purpose. So please don't hold me responsible for you actions. This guide is only a reference. I am only trying to help.

I know a lot of people have asked about license plates and how to buy motorcycles in Beijing so I decided to write this article. I have gone through the process and I hope this basic guide will help answer your questions.

Foreigners can buy legal bikes and legally register them under their own names in Beijing fairly easily and the process takes only 1 day after you buy the bike. Foreigners can also get a motorcycle license fairly easily as well. It should take about 1 month or so depending on how quickly you can schedule your test with the DMV. let me go through this step by step.

1) Where to get your motorcycle license in Beijing

To get your motorcycle license you need to take a motorcycle class. It is not really a class, but here is the whole process:

What you will need for the license application:

- valid passport (2 photocopies)
- valid resident visa valid for more than 90 days (2 photocopies)
- valid registration form of temporary residence (2 photocopies)
- 5 x 1-inch photo with white background
- health check (see below for where to go and get this)
- 1,560 RMB registration fee (if I remember correctly)
- Application form (they can fill it for you)
- Choose a Chinese name (it’s more convenient as most places use Chinese)

Step 1. Do a health check. This can be done at any hospital. There is a hospital right across the subway stop near Lao Shan training school. I did it there before going up the hill to the school. Go directly to the 体检中心 (ti jian zhong xin). They will look at you to make sure you are not missing a leg or an arm, ask to see your passport and one 1-inch photo, make you read a number or two to see if you are colorblind, give you a slip to pay 10RMB at the cashier. You go back, you pick up your health certificate and you on your way. I recommend you do it there because it is always pretty empty so you don't have to wait. Didn't try other hospitals so don't know if it is the same elsewhere.

Step 2. Go to Lao Shan training school ( www.lsjx.cc/ ). They are on the west side of Beijing. copy this address 北京市石景山区老山西街15号 and paste in on map.baidu.com and you should know where it is. This is the only place a foreigner can go for motorcycle license. I recommend you take the subway line 1 there. When you get off the subway, just take a cab or ride the two-wheel or 3-wheel motorcycles waiting in front of the station. 5-6RMB one-way for two-wheel or 3-wheel. I suggest you ask the taxi or bike to wait for you or it may take you a while to find one to go down. The school is up the hills. Just give the office them the papers I listed above and they will help you fill the application form. You pay and they will call you in 2 days to schedule a time to go to the DMV and schedule a test.

Step 3. When they call you they will tell you to go to the DMV at a certain time. Just show up there at the arranged time. The place is right at the southwest corner of 十八里店南桥 （shibalidian nan qiao). Again, copy and paste on map.baidu.com to see location. This is the place where you take your driver's test and also where you will process the motorcycle plates (see below). Once you are there the people at Lao Shan will help you schedule the test and pay for it. You will need to come back at the designated time to take the computer test. After you pass the computer test (if you don't, arrange to take it again), give the papers back to Lao Shan so they can arrange a driving test for you. In the meanwhile, you can go to Lao Shan to practice the test course before the actual test. They won’t teach you how to ride a motorcycle, so find someone to teach you or read a book on riding a motorcycle. After you complete the test, you should get your license in about 1 week.
While you are at the DMV, buy the test booklet/traffic guide book. The English version cost 90RMB and contains all the possible test questions.

NOTE: it’s about the same procedure for a car driver’s license if you don’t already have a license from overseas. The classes for cars are more expensive and take longer but you can use Lao Shan training school. If you already have a license from overseas, then it is a lot easier, you just have to take the written test and you get your license a week later. Of course, you still need the documents as listed above.

1) Where to buy a motorcycle

There are several ways you can buy a motorcycle. You can look for shops that sell new or used motorcycles or you can buy them directly from the owner through websites such as bj.58.com/danche/ which list a lot of used bikes. It's best if you have a friend that understands Chinese go through the site with you. You can also see www.cj750.net for CJ750 bikes. I don't know them personally but they seem highly recommended by a lot of foreigners in Beijing. Whatever you buy, make sure they have all the proper paperwork and include a Jing A or Jing B plate. I will explain the plate type below.

Jing A plates can ride almost anywhere in Beijing except for within 2nd ring and certain restricted areas. Jing B can only ride outside 4th ring. You will see people riding with all types of plates or without plates at all, but they are illegal and risk getting their bike confiscated or being arrested. It goes without saying that Jing A plates are much more expensive than Jing B.

If you buy a new bike, make sure that the bike already comes with a Jing A plate and that the plate can be transferred (过户） to your name. Beijing technically no longer gives out new Jing A plates. So some people buy bikes from a dealer and the dealer says he will help apply for a Jing A plate, but it may never happen or take months because he himself needs to buy a plate from someone else first and transfer to you. Unless you buy from a BWM, Harley Davidson official dealers who all can get Jing A plates (but will cost you a leg and an arm, and they are still transferred from existing bikes), be careful when you buy a new bike.

Beijing does not make a difference for how big a bike is. As long as it is 50CC or above, then you need a license. It is the same license for all bikes. Same for license plates.

Now, if you buy a used bike from someone who already has a Jing A plate and all the proper paperwork, below is what you do to transfer it to your name:

Step 1. find the bike that you want to buy, make sure they have all the paperwork and can过户. The owner may have to have the bike inspected and have insurance before the bike can be transferred. I suggest you let the owner pay for all costs before transfer unless the bike is really cheap. Then a few hundred yuan won’t matter.

Step 2. go to 北京花乡旧车交易市场 which is a second hand auto market at the North West of 花乡桥 on the south 4th ring. Again copy the name to map.baidu.com to see the location. This is where you process the 过户 which is technically where the seller transfers the bike to your name. You will get an official invoice which says the bike was sold to you. After the bike is transferred to your name, pay the owner. He should give you all the paperwork required to process the license plate as described in step 3.

Step 3. with the invoice, all the other paperwork and the bike, go to the DMV at the location described early (十八里店南桥).

Step 4. Once you are at the DMV, you need to get the bike checked first. This is done in the office inside the parking lot at the right of the main gate. You tell them you need to 过户 to a foreigner (外国人）。 They will check the bike registration number, take a photo of the bike and ask you to take off the license plates. The cost is 20 RMB. For transfer to foreigners, the plate you currently have need to be changed to a new one. You can borrow tools (screwdrivers) from them with a deposit of 100RMB which is returned after you return the tools. Should take about 1 hour or less. After it is done, they will seal everything in an envelope and give it to you.

Step 5. Once you got your bike checked, you take the envelope and your old plates and head in the building in the Foreign Affairs Office. It is on the left side of the building. Have your paperwork checked there at the counter to make sure everything is in order. Once they have checked and the papers are OK, they will tell you to go to windows 18 to hand over your old plates. After you hand over your plates (they will NOT give you a receipt), go back and fill in the application form for plate transfer. If you don't know how to write Chinese, ask some of the staff in the main lobby to help you fill it. Then you go to the counter in the Foreign Affairs Office again and give them the requested paperwork. They will need to see your original passport (make 1 photocopy) and registration form of temporary residence (make 1 photocopy). Once you have handed in the application with all the required paperwork, they will process it immediately. Within 1 hour, they will call your name and give you the new plates (with screws) and the papers back with your name on it. I was told that Foreigners get black plates with white letters, but mine was yellow which is the normal color for locals.
Voila! you are officially a legal owner of a Jing A motorcycle. Happy riding.

A note on illegal bikes and license plates:

China has a lot of illegal motorcycles that are smuggled in, usually bigger transmission sports/street/touring (Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati, BMW). They are not registered and cannot get a legal plate. They will usually carry hebei plates or no plate at all. If you buy them, ride them outside of Beijing and don’t get caught or the bike may be confiscated. Beijing is not too strict on motorcycles or helmet rules, but don’t drink and drive. They are very strict on drunk driving.

Drive safe and hope to see more motorcycle friends on the road.

Feel free to copy and post this on other sites. The more the better so that more foreigners can read it and don’t have to look for ages for this information as I did.

Hello, Thanks for such a detailed guide! Really useful!
I am currently undergoing this whole procedure.

Me: Student residence permit, which is good until the end of Dec 2010; German dl for cars, not motorcycles

Health check: did it at the hospital at the BaJiao Amusement Park subway stop (at the LaoShan driving school). despite what the first nurse said, it can be done on the weekend, costs 10 RMB and is ridiculous, if you have at least one eye. Wink
My advise: directly go to the 体检中心 , which is on the first floor in the building in the west and enter the main gate on the west side.

Enrolling: got all the documents stated above and had no problems

They called me two days after and made an appointment to meet today at the 车管所 at the ShiBaLiDianNanQiao.
No problem, except I was waiting at the wrong building. The Foreign Affairs department is on the left side of the main building.
I wanted to ask, if I can transfer my German dl for cars at the same time, when taking the computer test for the motorcycle. They said, if I did the car dl transfer first, it would only cost around 200 RMB, but I would have to wait for the motorcycle license for one year. If I did it the other way round, I would have to pay around 8000 RMB!!! I asked why. The answer: it's the law. Me: 没有逻辑！ Could anyone explain this rule to me?
Now I have an appointment on the 18th this month. They only make appointments during the week, not weekend. If you can't show, you have to come in person and change the time of the exam. A phone call is not enough.

Then the woman from Laoshan asked me to come to the school at least once to try the bike and the course. Otherwise I would not pass the driving test. And I could only come during the week in the morning. So I would have to ask for leave again! Weekends or evenings are not possible.
So I want to ask you guys. Do I really need to go there? What will the driving test be like? Do you need to understand their instructions? I speak basic to intermediate Chinese, but I don't know the right terms for motorcycle parts, e.g. clutch, gear. (I don't know how to drive a motorcycle yet, but I will buy one this weekend and learn it by myself - I know, not legal.)

What is your experience? I always welcome more information. Smile
Thanks a lot!

hi, good job so far. Yeah, the 1 year rule sucks. This is to prevent new drivers from killing themselves I guess. They want to make sure you live past the first year or don't kill anyone before giving you another weapon. I am waiting for 1 year before i can get the 3-wheeled motorcycle added to my license.

Here is a little description about the road test:

You need to go to the training place at least once. This is special treatment for foreigners because as far as I know they require the locals to go 3-4 days prior to the test. When you go there, you can use the practice bikes they provide. If you feel comfortable after the first day, then you can sign a document in their office and they will schedule you for the road test. You can practice again the day of the test prior to the test. the test is held at 9am. They will require you to show up at 8am on the day of the test. You can practice until the officials arrive.
When you show up for the practice day, ask who the trainer is (Jiao Lian 教练) and he will walk you through the test course.

Test day
on the test day, you can practice till they start. They will ask you to line up and calling names. Just listen for your name and let them know who you are. Foreigners' documents are in envelops as opposed to everyone else who are in plastic covers. If you are white (as Caucassian), then the trainer will know who you are. They will go by row, wait for your turn.
After you are done, simple go to the officials, get your papers and sign a few papers and you are done. They will let you know when you can go and pick up your license, about 2 weeks.

Test course
The road test is a joke compared to what I went through in Taiwan for my motorcycle license. The test course is composed of 4 parts which you do in one run.
part 1: You first start and go up a little bump then down.
part 2: after the bump, you do a figure 8 which test your handling and turning skills. This is the most difficult part so practice this one a lot more than the rest.
part 3: after the figure 8, you go to the bottom of a very small hill, you stop at the bottom in first gear, then continue on, make a U turn from the top and go down the hill. It will be obvious when you see the course.
part 4: after you come down the hill, you make a right turn, go straight, make a U turn again at a cone and go back to starting point.
It should take you about 2 minutes or less to go through the course. It's not very big.

How do they score you?
if you don't fall off the bike or go out of the practice route you are OK. The officials will look from inside their car which is like 20-30 meters away and sometimes don't even look because they are busy processing papers for other people.
I saw some guys run off into the grass, another guy startled his engine at part 3, and they all passed. Technically, everyone that can get the bike moving passes. So relax and don't be nervous. It's really easy to pass.

Recommendations
1) Try different practice bikes while you are there and remember the one that you feel most comfortable with. The bikes are really old and beat up. So some of them are really hard to ride. You can choose to use the bike you practiced on for the test. Write down the bike number plate just in case you forget.

2) Only in step 3 of the course where you need to stop, you go to 1st gear. For the rest of the course, use 2nd gear as the throttle is a lot smoother when you are in 2nd gear.

3 Bring some water. It's really hot these days and there is no place to buy water there.

Hope this helps.

A few minor corrections:

1) Jing A plates can go anywhere except ON the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ring Roads, at any time, and not on ChangAn between 0600 and 2200 hrs. You can ride on the access roads next to the Ring Roads.
2) Jing A and B plates are in limbo right now because of China 4 emission rules that came out on July 1. If you want to see an extensive discussion (in English) of Beijing biking, plating, etc, visit the My China Moto forum. Lots of highly experienced expat bikers there.

www.mychinamoto.com/forums/forum.php

3) Small motorized bikes require a blue plate (same rules re "A" and "B"), although nobody is really sure what the cut-off is (including counter people at the Traffic Management Bureau). I've been told 45cc, 100cc and 125cc, and I've asked LOTS of people in the police and licensing departments. BUT, the 50cc bikes definitely require a blue plate. 50cc and under do not require the motorcycle endorsement on your license, but they do require a driving license (strange logic in the rules).

4) Do NOT drive without a proper license! There are several cases of people being immediately jailed for 7 days & thereafter immediately deported for no license. There are even a couple of Youtube videos about these unfortunate souls' experiences (although, frankly, they are 100% at fault). In fact, the police will sometimes look the other way if you've no plate or an expired plate BUT have a driving license. If you get into any form of accident without a driving license, you are in very serious trouble. Emphasis! VERY serious trouble.

5) Do NOT use fake plates - that is absolutely the worst thing you can do. Better no plates than fake plates. You are really asking for trouble with fake plates. The police are computerized and it is very easy to check to see if your plate is fake. I've gone through many police checks and they have these nifty little handheld computers that can check your plate & driving license in seconds. I own four bikes, all with legal "A" plates. The police are always extremely polite to me, but I've witnessed some real nastiness with people that show up with fake plates.

6) The days of "white face immunity" are over. I see road checks inside the 3rd ring road at least once every two weeks, and they are always confiscating bikes & taking people away.

7) If you are buying a bike in Beijing, GET HELP from a seasoned expat. There are many scams going on targeting foreigners because they know most foreigners don't have a clue about how this all works (again, visit My China Moto for help). There are also unscrupulous foreigners ripping off other foreigners re motorcycles.

It is correct, most Hebei plates are fake, but some are genuine. Get help from a seasoned expat (I also own 2 Hebei plated bikes, for specific reasons).

All said, and despite owning several legal motorcycles, I rarely ride in the city because it is so damn unsafe. However, Beijing has some of the best mountain riding around just outside the city. Really pleasurable. Get to know some expats on My China Moto and you'll be more than welcome on joining in on weekday and weekend rides.

Always wear a high quality helmet.

There are a couple of fake 京A plate motorcycles currently being advertised for sale on The Beijinger. Both are for used bikes at prices OVER the price of a brand new bike. Also a couple of fake Hebei plates being offered as legit. Bizarre. Buyer beware!

The black 京A plates that you used to see are being phased out. All larger cc bikes now have yellow plates with black numbers. A foreign-owned bike will start with the numbers 47 (e.g., 47nnn). The smaller cc bikes are blue with white numbers.

In Beijing, a motorcycle plate is valid for 11 years. So, if you are buying a used bike, watch out for how many years are remaining. If it was first registered in 2001, for example, the bike MUST be destroyed in 2012. There is no way to renew or extend the 11 period. When you destroy the bike (through the police department), you get a stamped form that allows you to use your plate on a new, approved bike, for another 11 years. Go to that MCM website "biker" mentions for further information.

The vast majority of sidecar bikes are 1997 registrations, so they have expired plates (expired in 2008). There are a few exceptions with 2004 and 2005 registrations.

Since July 1, A and B plates have not been issued because of the discontinuance of an "approved list" of motorcycles that meet the new emissions requirements. A new list was supposed to come out on August 1, but it has been delayed to September 1, and may be delayed further. Some dealers were given a temporary reprieve to clear out existing stock - they are being allowed to issue A and B plates for one week only (ends August 20) and only for in-stock bikes. If you get one of these bikes, and pay for an A plate, you will get the full 11 years.

An 11-year A plate is currently running about 8,000 rmb through the agents that manage these things (you can find the agents everywhere, including taobao, but a decent dealer will just pass its the actual cost to you). Paying any more is pure profit for the shop. Harley, for example, used to charge 18,000 for an A plate (pre July 1). It was 10,000 of pure profit for the dealer. Disgusting. There is so much B.S. that whirls around the expat community about motorcycle plates.

I am not sure how much a B plate is, but I have heard it is much less.

I was at Laoshan today for the practise. I was a little bit late (didn't get much sleep lately and the snooze button was just so tempting this morning... Wink ). Anyways, I arrived there 45 minutes late, but it wasn't a problem - just embarassing as I hate to be late.
Around 50 people were already there and divided into two groups: around 35 in the group for normal motorbikes and around 15 in the group for sidecar motorbikes. (I was the only foreigner, yayyy...)
There are two training grounds for both groups very close together. The course for sidecar bikes goes like SetthaLee already described:

Vegass wrote:

The test course is composed of 4 parts which you do in one run.
part 1: You first start and go up a little bump then down.
part 2: after the bump, you do a figure 8 which test your handling and turning skills. This is the most difficult part so practice this one a lot more than the rest.
part 3: after the figure 8, you go to the bottom of a very small hill, you stop at the bottom in first gear, then continue on, make a U turn from the top and go down the hill. It will be obvious when you see the course.
part 4: after you come down the hill, you make a right turn, go straight, make a U turn again at a cone and go back to starting point.
It should take you about 2 minutes or less to go through the course. It's not very big.

I only want to add some hints.

part 1: Use enough gas and speed. Lots of people stalled the sidecar right at the beginning.
part 2: It's pretty narrow with the sidecar, so don't be too quick in order not to go into the grass.
part 3: There are two lanes going up the hill. Sidecars use the left one. You have to stop in the beginning incline of the small hill. Use enough gas in order not to stall the engine. On the way down there are 3 or 4 yellow circles alternately on the right and left side of the paths. You should go over them with your front wheel in order to go down the hill with your sidecar still on the concrete. (The instructor will tell you that as well.)
part 4: Only here you shall use the second gear. Kick the swing pedal on the rear end while holding the clutch. Don't go too fast in this section. You have to slow down before the cone and the front brakes are really bad.

General hints:
- The steering of these bikes is really wobbling. Be sure to have a strong grip.
- They only have two sidecar bikes and they are both very uncomfortable to ride, you should practise with both and then decide. I liked the one with the ignition switch on the headlight better although the steering was even more wobbling.
- Make sure to be in the first gear at the beginning by kicking the left swing pedal a few times on the front tip. Don't worry to accidently get into neutral. This can only be done when you hold the clutch and use a lever on the lower right side near your leg. You have to pull it back till the end and then forward one click. But the instructor told me not to do that during the road test, but just turn the key to shut it down. Otherwise someone coming after me could be confused.
- Don't go too fast. Only in the last part you shall use the second gear. And as the front brake is not really working well, I wouldn't recommend record time chasing during the actual road test.
- When you are there on the practise day, you may want to think about pretending not to understand too much Chinese. Otherwise you will find a lot of new friends, who want to know everything about your home country, your attitude towards China, exchange business cards, etc. Not that I don't like to share my wisdom and ideas Big Grin , but the time might pass by very quickly and before you know, you have spent 3 hours talking and 4 minutes on the bike...
- time: 8.30-11.30am

So much for today. Friday is the road test. Keep your fingers crossed please! Smile

I already had one of those blue plated under 50cc little scooters and never had a problem with them.Actually i'm not even sure if the police realizes that its a motorbike.
(I have a car DL but not a motorbike one. also its for my country not international, not for china)

I was planning to get a "real" motorbike when I had the chance and recently one of the bike repairmen that I know got a bike like I wanted, with a Jing B plate, so I bought it.
I was still thinking that I'm safe cuz i'm a laowai, and also some other information i got from other people (like you can just change your car DL and police won't care if you use a motorbike)

However, after seeing the recent news (i don't know if you've noticed the amount of police around recently. They have decided to tighten up the security, and while I was just thinking like "hey man this is China it will just take 3 days to end" it's still pretty tight) and doing some research in the internet I've decided to get my license ASAP.

For now I'll just be using my little, childish "scootery the scooter" and apply for a license( I ll change the car license AFTER i get the bike one) however I'll share my experience with all the procedures with you guys.

I had the road test last Friday (one week ago) and passed of course (我太得意了， 哈哈).
I showed up at 8am as I was asked to (NOT late this time). Some people were already there and sheltering under the trees as it was raining. The instructor came late and we helped him to get the bikes from the garage. We took turns practising. Some of them had been there every day, others - like myself - just showed up for the mandatory training session and the actual road test. At 9.30am the "officials" arrived in their car, but didn't even bother to get out. Everybody was lining up and we started to run through the course.
Only one unlucky guy didn't pass. But he was smart enough to stall the sidecar bike at the hill, where you have to stop first and then go up (Step 3), then he couldn't manage to start the bike by button and wanted to use the kickstarter (which is on the left side of the bike). He didn't pull the brake handle and the bike was rolling down the hill towards another sidecar, who's rider was already waiting. The instructor and another student ran to help him hold the bike and of course he had the full attention of the crowd and the officials. Poor guy...
Anyways, everybody else passed. I only saw one girl stalling her bike once, but that didn't seem a problem - she also passed.
After the run and handing over of the bike to the next student we stood in line at the officials' car, wrote down our names and we were done. On my documents they added an "F" before my passport number. I asked, if that is normal (F for foreigner?) or not. They told me that they will check this matter, but I could also pick up my driver's license like everybody else on Saturday 18th.

While the instructor hold a little speech, I was taking some pictures of the test ground (with his permission Smile ). So, here they are for your reference:

The test course. You start at the right hand side at the small hill/bump. In front of the trees you can see the figure 8 for normal motorcycle riders. Behind the trees is the figure 8 for the sidecar riders. The group and the two sidecars. The instructor giving a speech to the crowd.
Other nice-to-know information:

- I read on my documents that the valid period of the driver's license is just two years. And it has already begun, when I passed the computer test. I hope the extension won't be a problem. Does anyone have some information on that?

- The instructor told me that the school really raised the prices for foreigners. And he said that recently more and more foreigners would call and register for a motorcycle license. (Maybe this thread has something to do with it. Smile )

- At the street going to the school, right before the steep hill - there are two shops for motorcycles. One just has dirt bikes, which will never get a legal plate. But they also sell a good variety of helmets. Got a new LS2 helmet there for 400RMB. The other shop is more a repair shop, but they had a nice new Zongshen 250 with new Jing-A plates there for sale. The guy asked 17,000RMB.

- One of the students was there with his bike/scooter - a newly bought R9 with new Jing-A plates. He told me, he got the plates just the day before - on September 2. Now I am wondering, if they extended the time for Jing-A registration or could he do it after August 31, because he bought the bike earlier maybe. Anyways, he confirmed the price - it cost him 8000 RMB and he did it himself.

So, I will pick up my license on the 18th. Still keeping fingers crossed. Nerd