I'm looking into the possibility of renting/buying a motorcycle in Lijiang and riding north through highly rural north Yunnan and SW Sichuan to eventually arrive in Chengdu a couple of weeks later.

Does anyone know about crossing province lines on a motorcycle?

Also, it sounds like the only way this will be possible is if I can get a Chinese license.

Does anyone know if I can get around this in any way by renting through a tour shop or getting a small enough bike?

How big of a bike do I really need for this?

Am I crazy to even consider this?

Crossing province lines is no problem. As long as your papers are in order, it doesn't matter which province they're from. Just keep in mind that bigger cities like Kunming or Chengdu may have restrictions on motorcycles within certain parts of the city, especially motorcycles with plates from other provinces.

Though it would probably be possible to do the entire trip without anybody ever checking your license (I just rode from Kunming to Lijiang and all around Lijiang prefecture without anybody ever looking at my papers), I would not recommend the risk. You can be jailed for riding a motorbike without a license.

You might want to check with this company: www.tibetmoto.de/

If you rent and organize through them, I think there's some chance they may be able to get you a temporary Chinese driver's license. They also rent nice Chinese-made enduro touring motorcycles. But I don't think their prices are particularly cheap.

For going it alone if you get a license, how big of a bike is up to you. It's feasible on 100cc farmer bike like everybody drives in rural villages. But it's nice to have some more power, especially for safely passing slow moving trucks on the rural roads, which are often windy and do not have long straightaways; so you want to get around and back into your lane as fast as possible. I have a 230cc Chinese enduro bike. It's fine for doing some touring, though I sometimes wish I had more power. The 400cc Shineray bikes rented out by the aforementioned company in Dali are probably ideal for touring in this part of the world.

if you have a license in your home country then getting a Chinese one is pretty easy... just need to do a computer test (at their testing center) and run around collectin/doing paperworkg. car + motorbike (C1E) was the easier option easier in KM as the motorbike only option hadn't been translated when I last checked ...but that was a few years ago. I have no idea of the current situation where you are.As was said earlier, they probablly won't check anyway but you'd be in A LOT of trouble if you're in an accident or just pulled over for a routine check. The only time I've been asked to produce my licence and registration was in Lijiang (near Lashi hai).

I think there are parts of nw Yunnan and sw Sichuan that foreigners are not allowed in, pretty much anything close to a border or Tibet, so don't get too rural on your route choices.

Thanks for the tips!

Looks like getting a license is probably a no-go since I'll only be in China for 2 weeks, but Tibetmoto looks promising.

Anyone know any other similar agencies?

@ debaser. Getting a Chinese license the way you state is easy IF you have a visa that allows >90 data entry each visit. So basically a resident permit. You can’t legally get a long term Chinese driving license on s tourist visa.

@hotwater - interesting... never knew that. they didn't even mention that to me... no idea which visa type I had at the time.
@Ert99 best of luck... sounds like a great trip. try to plan it with lots of spare time just in case... they'll stop you from going on most highways on a motorbike and the more rural roadscan be unpredictable. Have you considered a guided tour?