AllanB

2 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Over quarter of a million of these things sold worldwide and Allan has bought a Lemon.....

Shoulda bought an Enfield.....

So you are assuming that the other 249,999 were all good, bit of a brave call, I'd say, not to say unlikely. Also we haven't actually established the flavour of this one yet.

On 22/06/2017 at 6:20 PM, papa al said:

papa is considering buying a unicycle for training.

For certain members of the public they offer them without a saddle... Check it Paps...respect!

Due to the fact that there is very little exposed steel for the tank bag magnets, have added a couple of simple clips. They unclip very easily for refuelling easily.

Got the frame made up B1500, lightweight but pretty rigid, so no additional bracing deemed necessary (so far) I don't plan to crash, but plan on keeping the frame semi-sacrificial.

The bags cost B300 each including the mods, I want to keep the load down to 5kg each side, using the tank bag for the heavier stuff. If we go past this temporarily, with food, the bags are expandable.

One mistake I made was that I should have made them asymmetric as I only need to clear the silencer on one side, may to a mod??

Need a few more bits of velcro too, but drilled no additional holes. 

16 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

And therein lies a problem. These bikes up to 300cc are sold by any moped 125 scooter dealer. You think they have trained techs and mechanics who can fault find electronics, ecu's, sensors? Shit, I bet they are not even trained to do valve shim adjustments. Cam chain adjusters (common fault) - que? Basically it would be trial by substitution - if they had the parts... More than an oil change and a quick chain adjustment is all they'd do. Then you go over 300cc to the Honda Big Wing dealers - they have the trained techs and grease monkeys - but they aint interested in Hondas below 300cc...

 Catch 22?

Indeed, I took it back to the dealer, while I was collecting the number plates, booked an appointment. The top man took it for a run, declared it was fine but the clutch need adjustment...asked me to do it??

There is no way I am going to leave it with those guys, they will likely take it apart and leave me to reassemble it.

I will be honest I have found no one in Khon Kaen who has much of a clue about bikes. I use a local tyre company to service my trucks, no problems and no rip-offs at all in many years. The guy speaks good English and gets all my business and that of two of my friends.

I have watched and rewatched a number of Youtube videos can see much criticism of the engine. 

51 minutes ago, chrissables said:

Hi Allen, take a look at this video, i know it's the Rally, but he started off moaning about the engine. The comments are in the first few minutes of the video.

 

 

I hope this turns out to be the case, he talks about 300 miles, I am close that in kms already, but will give it 1000km. It is slightly better when the engine is cold and to be honest I have nowhere to go in terms of choice of bike. I do have the re-mapping option and now have a luggage system built too and the bike does look good.

The weather is starting to change, so trips are on the cards, that will get the mileage up.

As I have said, the Lifan was at all wonderful when I got it, some of it down to the poor setup, but that took some running in too and changed after about 500-700km. Just didn't expect it from Honda.

By the way I belong to a number of bikers forums and this easily my favourite, some good advice and trolling has almost disappeared completely, so thanks. 

3 hours ago, canthai55 said:

 

And there lies the rub - in technical conditions, and frequently uphill or on corner exit, the clutch is slipped all the time. Not for long, just enuf to get the rpm back where you want it.

Those with experience riding dirt bikes know this to be the case.

 

I haven't taken it off-road yet, so this isn't a riding issue. On road this is basically a CBR.

I rode the Lifan off-road a lot while they were building the underpass, didn't have need to slip the clutch even two up, the engine chugged away and I simply maintained momentum. That is not to say that I never slipped the clutch on an odd occasion when it was wet, or hilly, but not common practice and certainly not on road.

I tend to feather the throttle instead, to avoid labouring the engine.

13 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

You sound like a right moaner.

 

British? 

Lets clear one thing up, I bought a Seiko watch in Thailand and after a couple of months one of the face markers fell off and jammed the hands. The jeweller glued them back on with superglue, this then happened 5 more times and eventually the watch leaked water.

I contacted Seiko Thailand, they checked the watch and said the gland around the winder was worn due to excessive use...on a battery powered watch?

I contacted Seiko Japan, the watch was shipped there and they agreed with this conclusion and out of the year's warranty, they would do nothing.

It was clear that the seal on the back was damaged due to the jeweller's repeated removal and that I was being bullshitted.

I bought a Casio watch in the UK, as a replacement and after a year the watch stopped, they said they didn't have any batteries and gave me a new watch. Why, because of the consumer protection act?

Not a moaner, I just don't take shit..... most Thais just except their fate.

As I have said I will give the bike time, but I am aware that these complaint processes take a long time. ...It was more than a year before Seiko finally gave me a new watch, which was shipped for the UK.

It the days before 4 stroke Karting, the 2 strokes were rebuilt after every race meeting, so I assume the wear rate was much greater, especially where high performance is a key factor.

The upside is that the 2 strokes were cheap to recon, maybe that is true of your bike? 

13 minutes ago, chrissables said:

Although my model is the CRF Rally, i can tell you mine ran a lot better when run in. Give it time, unless of course there is a fault, which could damage it.

Thanks Chris, I will give it some time, but don't see how this rough running will improve with time. I have set the wheels in motion with Honda, it will certainly take time and if it gets better to the point of being acceptable, I will stop.

 I really hate the attitude of these big multinational companies, especially Japanese companies where the national trait is that complaining is considered a form of treachery. Well I am not Japanese. In the UK we are protected by the consumer act and everyone knows it, in Thailand the seller is king.

Young guys eat shit, drink shit and listen to shit on the TV/radio, they ride way too fast and kill themselves.

Us old guys, who have survived to become old guys..... have learned.

We have seen all this crap before, from the Sinclair (Mensa member) C5 turd, to these CEOs saying and doing what they are told to do. It was all <deleted> back then and still is.

They have had 60 years to develop something decent with a battery and the best they have come up with so far is a milk float.

Now we are told it will all happen soon. Abracadabra........

2 hours ago, MINIMIGLIA said:

I was pleased to get rid of my CRF the vibrations even only 10-15 Kms was enough to give me terrible tingling/numbness in my hands, added bar ends but no better, have a Yamaha Aerox and night and day better for my use as a local runaround.

Just returned from a 40km run and the engine reminds me of my Honda Shadow V-twin, when it started running on one cylinder, due to a float chamber problem..

This is the 3rd new bike I have purchased this year, the Filano was smooth and did exactly what I expected, the Vespa GTS likewise, but was fun too, this is a just a real disappointment. I did a lot of reading over a long period, as soon as I bought the underpowered Lifan 2 years ago and heard nothing bad. Steph Jeavons was the one who really sold me the bike.

So I think I will write to Honda Thailand and see what they have to say.

Was yours the 2017 model with the bigger choke?

PS Can't find any contact email address for Honda Thailand so have started an enquiry the Honda.com

I hate dealing with the Japs, worst still a Japanese product I bought in Thailand. My last beef was with Seiko...that took over a year to resolve. Deny..deny..deny, then ignore.....until threatened with social media stink.

I had an electrical problem with the Vespa in the UK (probably due to the bike sitting unused for 5 months) within an hour they collected bike. They paid for all hotels meals, train, taxi, everything.

1 hour ago, papa al said:

Try riding a friend's CFR/

have friend ride yours 

to rule-out 

rider air error.

√ performance side-by-side.

Love to do that, put the bike on my truck........won't need to go far.

On 01/11/2017 at 2:49 PM, taninthai said:

My crf easy to ride slow ,,,ever heard of slipping the clutch ,,,,,as said this is pure rider error/mistakes

Sorry mate this is complete cobblers. I have an 8 year old Honda Wave with similar power/cc ratio and the engine is smooth (still), the CRF engine is rougher than my Lifan.

Slipping the clutch is no way to use any machine, look at the meaning of the word clutch, it is a device used to shift gears, not a CVT. Indeed look at the material in a motorbike clutch, there is almost nothing there, so abusing it will mean certain disaster.

Maybe I have an engine problem, which was my initial thought...and fear, bearing in mind TIT.

21 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

TG Junior, aka the future Dougie Lampkin....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People with campervans favour these bikes in Europe, they are quite light and work well on the beach, look pretty cool too. People say they are only good for 50mph, but for a fun bike it don't matter. this fad is pushing prices up now..

Our local Yamaha dealer in Khon Kaen has about 50 of these machines in stock, all very old looking and dusty, but with zero km, so new bikes. I don't know why he is keeping them, but this is Thailand.

They are two stroke and being fast and bought for that very reason, they tend to get thrashed, so the kms you have may not be that high.

22 hours ago, madhav said:

There is one type of electric bike that makes sense, one where the electric motor replaces or assists peddling.

My brother in law loves cycling but now has arthritis, so be bought a power assisted bike, he can now go out cycling with his mates and keep up on the hills.

An electric cycle is portable, even foldable and being lightweight is doesn't need big batteries, can incorporate simple energy reclaim, be ride assisted, so the range can be huge.

Now that is proven technology, so it makes sense for the future when the prices come down, or if you need one now.

4 minutes ago, taninthai said:

By the way your talking Sounds like the power of the crf is just to much for you,,,  you already said when you rodecit to pub quiz you opened it up and it was fastreally sounds like you are just riding around co stantly in wrong gear at 1/4 throttle and scared to rev it,bike engines are made to rev high,I have several bikes and none of them will take off quick under 3000rpm in 3rd gear that includes 600cc bikes.

Not too powerful, the point is it is easy to go fast and difficult to ride slow.

I also have a 43bhp 400cc old Honda, but it is easy to ride it slow. The power/torque is a lot more linear.

34 minutes ago, USslugga said:

Thanks for your response AllanB.  Can you elaborate more on this: "With regards to a bike, only pay cash and buy new."  

 

Are you saying that I should only buy a bike in one, upfront payment?  Why do you not recommend paying a smaller amount every month? 

 

True, it will cost more overall, but it will allow you to more easily afford a better bike. 

Well I am old school...don't buy stuff you can't afford..that is my rule and my opinion. As the great prophet George Carlin used to say, "buying shit you don't need with money you don't have."  The entire western world is in deep shit for buying stuff on credit

Buying something "better" when you can't afford it is something of a fools paradise IMO. My first bike here was a Honda Wave 110efi, bog standard, drum brakes, kick start B34k. Mine from day 1.. and we still have it 8 years on, it always starts even after 6 months non use and it still stops as quick as you need. 

At B50k  for a 125cc efi it is not big bucks so why pay more....and there could be hassle from the finance company who "own" your bike.

2 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

My point was anally technical and nothing to do with CRF. Just that EJK for CVT scooters doesn't have a yellow, acceleration setting as it doesn't need high flow low rpm.

Sorry mate I don't understand, no matter........and no offence.

The problem with something like this is that it takes a lot of marketing, in the UK re-mapping is the number one tuning gizmo...other places too no doubt.

An auto scooter is probably not a good application for this product, indeed the people who buy the PCX are not that interested in "sooping" it up (IMO), .....now bikes with gears yes.

Before I buy on the B1200 jobbies, what could go wrong, could it damage my bike? In theory these things shouldn't be expensive, a few resistors, chip and a big of plastic and once the algorithm is written, Robert's your father's brother.

PS Not doing anything until the bike's well run in.

1 hour ago, Beats56 said:

Not a AL Gore fan by any means but EV vehicles will soon be the norm. The majority use lithium ion batteries not lead acid batteries and they last along time and usually have a cooling system to keep.them cool.

Don't be like the guy that use to sell

Horse whips when the new fangled autos showed up. You need to see the writing on the wall.

The reason they are promoting this battery powered crap is because the oil is in the hands of the "wrong" people. So what happens when the lithium runs out, besides when I see a half decent battery powered vehicle of any kind, I will believe it.

Al these people are promising stuff (indeed a complete switch) that doesn't even exist on paper right now. It's called a "prediction."

There will be plenty of time to buy electric vehicles when(or if) they are ready and working, what's the mad rush to be a guinea pig? Being modern at all cost.

Only last week a guy on this forum paid a shit load of money for an electric scooter that won't go up hill. Wake up and smell the bullshit lads.

I rode for a couple of years before taking my test which was very easy, if I got stopped by the cops I just showed them my UK licence and never had a problem. My advice, learn to ride and then take your test when good and ready.

With regards to a bike, only pay cash and buy new. A brand new 125cc Yamaha Filano will cost a little over B50k including everything, it will fit you if you are 6 foot, it has a big seat if you are fat and carry a ton of stuff. Plenty fast enough around town, even with two, economical and we did the Mae Hong Song Loop on ours two up, it was a doddle. To me the Filano is the benchmark, start there and then look at the others.

But....if you live in an area with unmade roads and potholes think about a dirt-bike, but that will cost you more.

The number one riding tip here is, don't do anything dramatic. That means in terms of acceleration, braking and/or change of direction and generally be prepared for anything...watch a few Youtube videos. Might is right...and so are idiots, you can swear at them,just don't hit them.

13 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

You are right. the PCX doesn't have a rich, low rpm high fuel acceleration phase as the CVT takes care of that. That is what need richening up on the CRF

I didn't say that. On full throttle the engine speeds up and the CVT takes that high torque/bhp and gears it down to give maximum traction. This high rpm is less noticeable as the engine is enclosed.

The CRF will do the same (similar) if I floor the throttle and keep it in low gear to high rpm, before I change up. But I don't want to do that.

The Lifan has a flatter torque curve, which appears to be higher at very low rpm, rather like the old British long strong engine did and the current RE Bullets do. That is what I would like to achieve.

I was out last night riding (pub quiz). On my outward journey I was a little late and gave it "some" and the engine was happy... and bloody fast. On the return journey, I thought about the errors of riding fast and rode home slowly and the engine felt, well "rough and lumpy".  

I friend of mine says remapping should fix that........by, as you say enriching the mixture at low rpm.

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

We are talking rideability the torque the engine produces is what it comes from the factory with. Even with EJK. I used to sell them to PCX125 guys who wanted to go faster. Did they ? No. Despite being told.

A PCX is a different animal, the rpm is optimised by the load on the CVT, that is why they are so fast despite the inefficiency of the drive itself. Essentially it is an rpm optimised torque converter, the CRF has a gearbox, so it is down to the rider to select the correct gear to maximises torque from what the engine settings have to offer. So you rev the <deleted> out of the engine, as all the decent torque is at high rpm.

If the engine is starved of fuel to meet emission targets, the low rpm figure will be reduced. In the old days they did all sorts of nasty things, like pumping shit back into the engines, to conform to government legislation. 

Now I am not saying these things work, but in theory they could.

15 minutes ago, Happy Grumpy said:

 

From their advertizing on the page (never believe Thai advertizing.) it says around 10% more fuel efficient, around 10% more power and torque.

 

 

If they are saving fuel, they might just be making it run leaner. Less fuel can actually produce more power and torque and all it does is burn out the piston and engine in general. 

 

 

So to recap, I've no idea, but interested on expereinces or knowledge from people that have gotten one.

 

The EJK is a better, safer bet. But think it is around 7 or 8k baht. Not expensive, but when the bike is 8 years old and only worth around 25k baht anyway, it's of less interest spending 25% of the bike's value on a fuel controller mod that might give it an extra 5% extra oomph. 

First of all these are "best" figures, you don't get more bhp, torque and mpg at the same time. My guess is if the low down torque is improved you need less rpm and therefor better mpg.

At the end of the day you can make the figures do what you want. I had a Vauxhall Carlton 1.8 company car which normally did 30mpg, Crawled around The Netherlands and got 65mpg, same everything, just changed my driving style cause I was paying for the petrol.

That is assuming they are not lying............ not exactly VW are they?

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

The rack on my Indonesian NSR was just mild steal and painted black. It worked fine. Side bars and rear about 20mm x 5mm and ribbing/braces 6mm/1/4" rod. Any local who owns a "gas axe" will be able to bend some steel for you. 

Or you could buy some charcoal, a blower and a leather apron 

 

yes a staidness gate shop will do it but I would stand and watch

Easy to build a "brick shithouse" that will survive a nuclear bomb, I am looking at keeping the weight down to a minimum as we ride two up at 145kg before we start. It is only a 250, so every kilo counts.

Will put the heavy stuff in the tank bag, so each bag will only carry a few kilos, to spread the weight, may even put a rack over the front light. Possibly a bit OTT though.

Anyway we have the thing tacked up, will pick it up tomorrow morning, see if we need any mods, B2000, which is okay.