I brought my Chinese bicycle back to Europe..

[Scoobyqueen]

It is a black old-fashioned bicycle.

[adrianlondon]

No ;) I didn't see anything exciting enough to buy. The top of the range bikes appeared no cheaper than buying in the UK, and the trendy very old Chinese bikes just looked like they'd fall apart, and I could buy a cool looking one from Amsterdam instead.

I'm posting here only because I have just brought my bike from London to Stuttgart. I took it on British Airways, who make no charge for bikes. (There's no such thing as a standard charge in the airline industry!) I had to twist the handlebars through 90 degrees and remove the pedals. They would haev preferred it if I'd wrapped it in something, but then they would probably pick it up and throw it around. So I just gave them the bike "naked" as it were, so they could wheel it places.

It arrived in Stuttgart in perfect condition. Of course, this is a short flight, but it's not the time in the air which will cause any damage.

[Scoobyqueen]

they got more for their money)!

[adrianlondon]

Huge servings of mediocre food ;)

I digress ...

The trouble with cycling in Stuttgart is that it's in a valley. Once or twice a week I've been cycling to work, in a village 30km away, and it's a horrible uphill climb to start the journey. Of course, payback is on the way home where I can freewheel most of the way back down to where I live.

I digress ...

I wanted to get one of those Chinese registration plates for my bike, but when I was in Beijing at the latter half of 2006 I was told they'd been discontinued. Pity. If anyone has one of those (they're about 10cm by 3cm rectangular metal plates), please hang on to it for me!

[Jockster]

i wanted to get one of those Chinese registration plates for my bike

I got one, yellow plastic one (with matching key chain) in Hangzhou in 2004. My dad's happily using that bike back here in Finland now...I never considered the registration plates a rarity

[cdn_in_bj]

the bicycle does not fit in the taxi and there is only one sort of taxi in Beijing

Getting off topic, but they've actually started using London-style taxis here. I have yet to see one in person but apparently they're meant to help disabled people. Anyways, I'm guessing that a bike might be able to fit into one of these (maybe our UK members can comment).

[adrianlondon]

A normal sized bike would fit in a black cab. If you prepared it before hand (handlebars twisted, pedals off) then it would fit in a hatchback if you sat in the front. Or it could stick out the back of a boot hopefully without falling out.

However, the airport isn't that far away from the centre of Beijing. Obviously with luggage it'll be tricky, but if you made one trip with luggage you could then cycle to the airport if it really became impossible to cab it there.

I used to ride quite regularly from BNU to the 798 art district (and back, obviously) but then I had a whopping THREE gears on my bike.

[Scoobyqueen]

It has now been five months

[adrianlondon]

They're only designed to be ridden at 5km/h. If pedestrians aren't overtaking you then you're going too fast. Don't forget they also fall apart if you attach any sort of light, or wear a helmet.

[Lu]

How do you know how many kilometers your bike has gone?

For the rest, it sounds like that bike won't last much longer. No bell is not a big problem, but when the pedals are falling off it's time to stop riding it I think.

[flameproof]

There is always doubt in Chinese quality. But I always thought bicycles they should do very well. How wrong I was.

I have one Chinese bicycle. It's now riddled with rust.Of course it's partly my fault, I mean, how could they know that I use it outside? One brake handle broke. Front gears don't work, not all rear gears work. It's a cheap bike - but even that was too expensive.

On my other bike (KHS, western made, no rust after 5 years) I bought a mountain bike tire in China. The rubber became brittle after a few month. Nuff said.

Here in Hong Kong the China bikes retail around HK$500 - and they are crap. Around 5000 I see some nice models. Seems many locals go for 10,000 and up. My little local shop round the corner has many expensive stuff and a few bikes over 30,000

[Scoobyqueen]

How do you know how many kilometers your bike has gone?

I use a Garmin when I cycle

[Scoobyqueen]

could buy a cool looking one from Amsterdam instead

I just found out by chance that Dutch people have a joke about their bicycles getting stolen by Germans

[Lu]

Heh, yeah, that's a very old and lame joke. I haven't heard the version that they all pedaled back to Germany on stolen bikes, but apparently they did take a lot of bikes from the Dutch.

Off topic, but good story:

My grandfather actually got his first bike from a German. The German was riding the bike when the bike broke. He saw my grandpa, and beckoned him over: Hey you, fix this bike for me. My grandpa went off with the bike and fixed it, but the German never came back for it.

That's probably one of the reasons I find that bike joke so lame.

Scoobyqueen, I don't know where you live? Can't you find an old second-hand bike for little money?

[chenpv]

I guess scoobyqueen got one of those '凤凰's or '永久's or '飞鸽's. Those are indeed good stuff, if you ask me.

[Scoobyqueen]

Lu I like your story about your grandad.

[Lu]

Nah, I don't think it was a matter of guilt. My guess is it's just because the bike was broken, and then the German couldn't be bothered to find the kid he gave it to (my grandpa) and just stole another, or he was sent to another place and got another bike there. I guess we'll never know :-) (Story took place during WW2, I didn't mention that part.)

The Dutch would yell to a German: give my grandfather's bike back! but they would say it in Dutch so I guess the Germans never get it. Funny, Dutch also joke about German caravans (they're huge!).

And yeah, buying a bike takes time. Good luck with yours.

[gerri]

Shoutout to flameproof: KHS!

Finally I'm not alone... not so sure about the "western-made", it's actually a Chinese (i.e. Taiwanese) company. I got mine in the US in 1994, and except for the usual like break pads (and its Rock Shox), it's still the same bike, and going strong. Of course, I don't bike too much. And I'm way off topic here.

I see all different kinds and makes here (Hunan), but won't be getting one. Hence, no taking back. I just found a nice antiques (or "antiques"?) market, though, and would be tempted. I just don't know if the "anything made before 1911 is antique and mustn't leave the country"-rule is really being implemented (but I guess that should be a new thread, too?)

[Lu]

I've never owned a Taiwanese bike, but from what I know they are quite different from Chinese ones. Major bike brand Giant is Taiwanese, and there are some more important bike brands from Taiwan. I think China has a long way to go before it will produce anything like that, the two Chinese bikes I have briefly owned were pretty much worthless.

[imron]

anything made before 1911 is antique and mustn't leave the country

Don't worry, most of those "antiques" were probably made in last couple of years/months anyway