jackjones

Just watched a few minutes of the video. Couldn't make out a word he was saying. Perhaps within his own mind he was making sense. It looked really disturbing and not really fair for anyone walking past to have to listen to that noise. Fortunately he seemed to be mainly shouting at the cars. My neighbour has a dog who seems to bark for no reason but again it probably all makes sense to her. At the end of the day, someone, perhaps even a fellow christian, should take a look at him and see if perhaps he needs some kind of help or guidance or maybe just someone to listen to him.

Wimpy.If you can weld and put the four posts and roof on, then just run a string on the outside of the posts to build the bricks to. They are easy to cut and if you plaster it after wards then it doesn't matter if the bricks are a bit up and down on each course. Go for it.

OP, did you buy a car? Somewhere within the last three pages of comments, many people have actually taken the time to give a few well intended opinions and advice about buying a car. Did it help? Have you decided what to do? I saw an old pickup once and the guy had three cooking gas cylinders tied together in the back and a plastic tube running down to the engine. Seemed a good solution to expensive running costs ( try to get the refills for 200 baht ) and quite flexible really if you could park close to your kitchen.

Phantom? I actually did ride one around the block for a friend because he was worrying about it making a strange noise. It was an experience, is all I can say, although it did feel solid and planted with good balance. I wasn't used to the cruiser riding position. Don't know and didn't really want to know how it would have coped with hills and traffic. But they are certainly popular. Diplomatic answer?

Sorry, I was using a bit of artistic licence about the temporarily adopting Thai kids part. I have never actually and never intend to, talk to any of these missionaries, but have often observed them in Mac Donalds in Carrefour and similar places and they often have one or two thai kids with them ( even before they go shopping, so they are obviously not buying them from the shelves ) Perhaps they are just taking them out for the day to show them what they have been missing by not eating real proper decent God fearing food or maybe they are some sort of missionary accessory, or a device to help ease their way into people's homes. I really don't know. But joking aside, it does worry me. There are some strange people hiding under religious banners.

What an "R's" h..... Thanks for that Dave. The engine in the D - t "r" acker ( sorry, couldn't stop myself ) and KLX are exactly the same. I tried a D- tracker once on a decent run over the mountains. Can't say I noticed that much, if any torque and was more than dissapointed with the lack of speed. The shame of not being able to overtake a really old toyota truck on a long, clear, slight uphill was one of the most depressing experiences of my motorcycle career to date. In my mind I I can still see the woman driver and her two kids looking at me and wondering what I was doing as I sat along side them at 90 kph with the throttle pinned waiting to see if I could crawl past them. I don't think I would have the same problem on the Honda disregardless, of where or how many " R's" it has .

I just feel I might have more respect for the christian missionaries if they would try a more difficult option than coming over here and living in nice houses with maids and gardeners, shopping in high end supermarkets for western food, going to MacDonalds, temporarily adopting some native kids, sending their own kids to expensive private schools and driving expensive cars while all the time receiving a nice salary from home with the promise of more advancement when they return and then trying to convert people from a peaceful and non confrontational religion. It seems to have come a long way from the poor, simple, misunderstood, persuecuted guy in a basic cloth trying by example, to get a unifying message of peace and goodwill to all men over to the masses. I would try to have some respect for these missionaries if they were hungry, thin and barefoot and knocking on doors in say, Afghangistan, Baghdad or somewhere a bit more challenging than Thailand. Just my opinion.

OP? Have you considerd an older japanese car like a Mitsu Lancer, Toyota Corolla or even a Nissan sunny. I am tallking about the early to mid 90's ones. You can pick them up from about 60K onwards and they seem very solid, uncomplicated, easy to fix or improve and reliable and not too much to lose if something really bad happens. I see loads of them still on the road and an Aussie mechanic once told me they were a really good buy compared to the modern stuff. Just a thought.

I paid 190 baht yesterday for a small gas tank delivered from Maejo. (17.2 kilo total gas and tank) Strange how prices can vary so much and yes my Thai wife ordered it.

Can see it now, thanks.

They look good to me in whatever colour but I am still waiting for someone to paint theirs in Castrol Honda colours.

Where is it, please? Sorry, couldn't get the file thingie to download.

Those itty bitty city rats are real pussies. Wait until you get a visit from a rice field rat. They don't even knock, they just come barging in and they cast a big shadow, let me tell you. If it asks for tea, the only reply is " How many sugars?"

Apparently MCN from the UK are at a testing ground at this moment trying out the CBR against the Ninja. They are trying them out on a two mile straight to see how they compare and if either of them can reach 100 mph. The results should be out soon. The comments in the MCN forum under the article were quite funny and one guy said he would buy the Kawasaki, even if it only did 40mph, because the Honda was so ugly!! and another guy asked if they had got the Honda's wheels from a 1980's parts bin. ( cheeky blighters )

I am no expert but I am now driving a diesel engined truck as against the higher reving petrol engines I have had before and it is clear that the power delivery is a lot different in that the power is a lot lower down the rev range. It might be better to choose a nice clear overtaking opportunity and go through in lower revs in fifth and floor it, rather than dropping down a gear and letting it over rev outside of it's peak power area. Just a thought and if you do try it and survive, let us know how it went !! As an after thought, turbos are pretty cheap here in Thailand or as other guys have suggested you can get your present turbo ( if it actually has one ) re- chipped and hopefuly you won't get caught wanting again. Good luck.

Snowflake. That was a pretty impressive ride you did and you mentioned the bike was a little thirsty. How thirsty was it? You also mentioned that you are a fair sized chap. How did the " sports tourer style" fairing work for you as far as deflecting windblast and keeping the rain off? I am saving up for a CBR and I am 6'3' myself, but without too much added padding. It is interesting to see how Honda are marketing the new CBR's in the UK. They are showing pictures of all three of them together, the 125, 250 and 600 all decked out in the tricolour livery and saying something like " welcome to the family." They look great together and perhaps if available here, the 600 might suit your size. Strangely enough, some people in England also seemed to get upset about the new CBR600F being called a CBR because it wasn't as track focused or sporty as the latest RR models and obviously didn't deserve the name, while forgetting or not realising that the original CBR600 was actually called a CBR600F and was seen more as a sporty all rounder, rather than a razor sharp, track tool weapon for real men thing.

In 1983 kawasaki produced a parallel twin 250 producing 26bhp and what was it called? Wait for it! It was called a "Ninja." We may have to accept the name on those lowly 250's and maybe the bigger ones should be called big ninja or boss ninja or something.

Ninja,ninjette,baby ninja. Kawasaki have been using the Ninja name for a long time on a lot of different models infact right back to those old air cooled things of all different sizes and perfomances. So what is a "real" Ninja anyway? I always thought it was something to do with martial arts and personally have always thought it was a pretty silly name to put on a motorbike of any kind. But anyway, maybe Honda and Kawasaki, saying as they actually build and sell bikes, can actually call their own bikes whatever they like, whenever they like. I think it is to help us customers when we go to the showrooms so we know what to ask for. Could we really go to a showroom and ask for a Honda CBR 250, which is actually not a "real " CBR because the name was used on more sportier models in the past and they all had four cylinders and some of them were available in our own countries and some weren't ? Or could we then go on down to the Triumph dealer and argue that their Bonnevilles, Daytonas, Trophies, Tigers and Rocket Three's are not 'real' either? Surely it is only a name and if you are fortunate enough to own a 2011 Honda CBR 250 you can always tell your friends that you have a new 250cc Honda road bike. That shouldn't upset too many people.

What is a "real ride', if 800K in two days on a 250 is a " little ride? " ..... and what is a " real " sports bike? " Do " real " sports bikes have to be big? . Is a NSR 150 SP not a 'real" sports bike?..... and why should someones ego suffer if he is on a 250 and a "real"sports rider on a "real" sports bike, which just happens to be 750 cc's bigger and four times the price, overtakes him ? Just interested, dude. I mean if you write something, be it now or whenever in the past, then you have to be, like, accountable or whatever, yeah? Chill and happy whatever, man.

The truck is very new, so I am pretty sure it is not using water. If the water level was going down, then it would probably be over heating as well? It would also be putting out white smoke and probably wouldn't still be running by now. Ray is talking about black sooty deposits dripping onto his car port. Surely it is unburnt fuel or too rich a mixture? I can't help thinking that if Ray took his truck to another Mitsu dealer somewhere, he would have the problem diagnosed within minutes and then I wouldn't have to worry about it!!

He's right you know. It is unlikely that you will ever get into a top speed contest with a car or truck on a long clear public road, All it takes is a slight traffic jam or a set of lights or whatever and the bike is in another realm. It doesn't really matter if the car or truck can do 250 kph, the bike will probably get there quicker in the real world.

Went there today for the 90 day check in. Arrived at 8.00 and there were already 70 odd people in front of me who had signed some unofficial piece of paper. Just luck that I saw it and signed my name there. Anyway got out within one and a half hours, on a Friday at that, so I am a happy man. Mind you there was a pretty big queue trailing out into the sunshine when I left. Can't help but think the place could be expanded. Seems like a good earner.

There is a guy in Chiangmai who specialises in Hyundais. Apparently he is an ex head mechanic from when they had the dealership here. I have a few friends who have Hyundais and they can get spare parts and any work done with no problems and from what they said the prices sounded reasonable.

Ray,

How is the Triton now? I have been thinking about this black smoke and as far as I know, black smoke means unburnt fuel as against white smoke which would usually mean there is water in the system or even in the exhaust. When you start it up in the mornings, do you just turn the key and just start it straight away or do you wait for the light to go out to show that the glow plugs are warmed up and then fire it up? If you do wait for the glow plugs , then it sounds as though you are getting too much fuel as against air and the mechanics should be able to adjust the mixture or clean the airfilter or whatever. I now have 55,000 kilometres on my engine and it has never shown any black smoke or oily deposits on my driveway. Mind you the other day I accidently knocked it into neutral when I was flying along and I left a decent sized pool of black smoke. It was like something out of a James bond movie except there weren't any bad guys chasing me. Good luck anyway.

Appropriate,

I was reading a copy of the Motorcyclenews paper today and in an article entitiled how to improve performance ... in 12 steps; step number one was about oiling the chain. To quote, " lubricating the bike's drive chain can flow another 2hp to the rear tire - proven on bikes tested on a rolling road dyno. "

You mentioned that you felt a greater difference after doing this on your CBR as against other bikes you had owned. Were the other bikes singles because I have heard that they are a bit heavier on chains and are notorious for flinging off the chain lube. So, checking and oiling the chain as often as possible can't be a bad idea. Anyway, enjoy the bike.