YipYipYa123

considering that probably will just leave it into yamaha then because i dont really have a spare day to waste at the moment

learning about fork mechanisms and and then trial and error until i get it right ......

i wouldnt have a clue which weight oil to buy or which type of springs to order either without wasting a lot of time doing research

looks like a job for the somchais and it will keep them in beer money for satuirday night and i can get on with more important stuff

prices are a bit weird

ive been using gasohol 95 last few months because its a few thb cheaper in one no-name station that gasohol 93

but in every other famous station the higher octane 95 costs a bit more, like in shell or caltex etc

maybe theres a tax break on the 95 to stop the riots while the benzine 91 is being discontinued ?

In BKK Dr bike does good work ......

hes certaintly not the cheapest but his guys do professional work

and if hes around personally he will standover a mechanic to make sure

its done exactly the way you want it

i got lights fitted last year to a versys and the wiring was so neat and impressive

you would almost think they were factory fitted........and he installed a handle bar switch

to turn them on and off independantly of the other lights if they happen to be too bright

for some conditions

Great stuff gents, I will have a go at it on the weekend or leave it in if I don't have enough time to do it properly

I've never opened or dismantled a fork before so it will be slow and meticulous :-)

Great news if it can be fixed cheaply though with just new heavier oil and bump stopers

Hmm Kawasaki CM have no oil filters in stock for the N250

Say they are back ordered from Bangkok & have no idea when they will get them.

Guess I will have to source some myself aftermarket brands?

Wonder how this all works warranty wise?

If I service myself & keep receipts I wonder if anything should happen ( not likely I think )

will warranty still be honored?

Kawasaki rama 9 are not very strict about the warranty IME

i brought in a second hand er6n that had missed a service by about 13,000km and they were cool about it

manager said dont worry , its still covered by warranty until 24,000km or two years from purchase date

and they serviced it for me and filled in the blanks

My beloved Nouvo Elegance 135 appears to have knackered front suspension

I ride it hard and rarely slow down over speedbumps or holes etc and i have borrowed it a larger friend (hes about 120kg + his wife 70odd kg

who were way too heavy for a scooter but they couldnt ride a big bike with clutch so i let em take it for 2 weeks when they were holidaying in thai

anyways ,

between a year of my wreckless riding and the scooter being way overloaded on many occasions ,we have managed to make the front forks

bottom out now and they go all the way down while braking with just 1 normal weight rider now (90kg)

i checked the seals and nothing (oil) appears to be leaking----- but is this fixable at home by adding new springs or heavier oil or what would i need to replace to get it stiffer again ?

is it something i could fix myself or would it need to go into the dealers

apart from that ,its a great bike and i intend to keep it as my daily workhorse until it dies or hopefully i can see 99,999 on the odometer someday ........

any body know about forks ?

I've ridden many unplated bikes over the years and I haven't had any bother but I'm always really polite and respectful and usually the plate isn't even mentioned

I'd say 90% of the times I get stopped I'm in the central, overtaking lanes and the other 10% are little scammers that would suggest I'm in a lane that's only for buses etc or using the underpass and overpasses

But I never fight with them and always agree I am in the wrong because i made a mistake or didn't see a sign etc

Rarely do I pay more than 200 and usually I will give them extra. 100 each and tell them to have a beer on me after work

I have heard the stories of confiscation but personally never been victim to it or even seen it

I have a good Thai friend who is riding an unplated fazers 1000 and he has paid very little excise and obtained por ror bor on it and he is convinced his bike cannot be taken by police because it's legally imported and has 3rd class insurance

:-)

These threads will never die, some people can get away with it and others can't but I don't advise anyone to ride in a city uninsured, just too many potential problems and a cop every 100m

If I lived in the sticks however, and I got a good deal on a big adventure or dual sport I would snap it up in a heartbeat....

Something like a yamaha grand tenere or a big triumph explorer 1200 would interest me greatly....

Possibly a large cc ktm as well would interest me but at the moment I'm stuck working in bkk so I ride plated bikes only

Even though the daily checkpoints seem to have stopped they could start again anytime!

i would buy it if it covered motorcycles but im sure theres small print that rules out almost any activitie id be likely to get injured while doing ......

even if he was speeding, the money should not go in the pocket of the police, wake up.

I would rather go to the station and pay 10000 bht then put 200bht in his hand.

thats how its bad exactly mrhammer.

every officer must give out about 100 tickets per month ,after that the rest can go in the back pocket

the officer who writes the ticket gets 200 anyway when you pay 400+ at the station

so thats why they dont care one way or the other .....

its safer to give him 200 in the hand if he accepts it ..........think of the wasted time looking for the station

and wasted petrol so its cheaper to accept the corruption .......even it it cost 400 on the spot and 400 at the station

but i suppose that depends on how highly you value your time .......

In cases of domestic dispute, the police officers will do their best to help settle the matter amicably between the two people before it goes down the criminal prosecution route.

That is obviously what they are trying to do.

Stealing my property after we have separated cant really be a domestic matter as it occurred after the relationship ended, and does the Police really have the right to deny me to file charges? I strongly told him that any meting was out of the question as long as no charges was filed.I could accept to withdraw my charges at a later point but to have a meeting with her when the Police so obvious was on her side did not thrill me.

To get it done efficiently you need to bring a thai friend with you to do the talking ,ive generally found for all matters serious a thai is needed to speed up the process or you get palmed off to the tourist police who refer you back to the real police who tell you to report it to the tourist police ........

farang grievances are not taken seriously at many police stations ,maybe in part because they have difficulty understanding what a distressed farang is trying to report exactly or maybe theyre just lazy and think if they ignore it you will go away and they can get back to their television watching ......

i bought a galaxy s3 in MBK last week because i couldnt wait any longer for a nexus 4 and i decided the battery on the htc one X was too small

first thoughts on the S3 is pretty amazing, on a custom rom its lighting fast and responsive

screen and camera is the best ive ever used on a phone

although the phone itself feels so cheap and fragile that the first knock or drop will finish it off ,

its a grey import so no warranty but a hell of a phone for 14k

have ordered a pile of rubber and silicon cases from ebay so hopefully they hurry up and arrive

because this handset feels like it wont withstand a fall and the back is shiny/slippery with no texture like the s2

so it is easy to drop the fcuker

the gf will probably will probably get the nexus if it comes out for around 15k or maybe i can do a deal and she can have my s3

and i will get that

"

Sio you took it for a service already? They told me to come over at a 1000. In regard to the temperature i drove it from chiang mai to chiang rai and it wasnt that hot. Today however i was wearing shorts and noticed the warmth coming out specially on the left side after 5-10mins driving. But it stayed as warmth not hot. I did hear fan working really loud only after i came back to chiang rai and switched on the bike to show to my friend.

Gear changes are so flipping loud though, sometimes however the are very soft and smooth i think it depends on revs i still cannot find the optimum rpms for shifting. I had problems getting into first from neautral since i left bigwing sometimes it wont go down when i press down shift with my foot, i have to either roll bike backwards a bit or apply a bit or accelerator while holding clutch"

from neutral into first,apply normal pressure on the downshift pedal and only hold the clutch 80% in instead of all the way

move it in and out a little and you will find the sweetspot where it should slip/clunk into first

from my 3 x cbr 250's some had the exact same symptoms you describe when new ,its a minor clutch adjustment and mine actually cured itself once i got used to it ,run up some miles and eventually but not yet switch to synthetic oil also made it smoother

if you have time go back in but honda will probably tell you its normal on new engine and transmission ,thats what they told me

Move it in out you mean the bike or downshift pedal?

sorry ,what worked for me is

keep normal downwards pressure on the foot pedal and keep your weight holding enough pressusre on it to downshift

hold the clutch in 100% and if nothing happens (it probably wont ) let it out slowly in small increments 1/8th of an inch each time until you find the exact sweet spot it drops into 1st gear,repeat a few times and youve got it

its annoying for a couple of days until you get used to it then its second nature ,some of my hondas need to be rolling to find neutral also when i pulled up at the traffic lights ,if i stopped completely and shifted up they would go past neutral into second but if i made my shift just as the bike was rolling to a stop i could get neutral every time (some of the old cbr 150's also did this )

my cbr 250s still dont drop into 1st if the clutch is pulled 100% of the way in ,the sweetspot seems to be around 75-80% in and then they drop in to first smoothly when i let the clutch out a little (maybe a half inch or so )

my kawasaki 650s have a pretty noticable clunk into first gear from neutral also + a bit of a jolt ,signifigantly louder and stronger than the cbr250s so i think its pretty standard to get a bit of clunk going into first ,even my suzuki gsx 1255fa clunks into first ...

anyways ,since your bike is brand new ,Honda will probably go over everything on the 1000km service because the break in process is complete and you can work with them to adjust clutch action to your preference and any other niggles that appear can likely be worked out

im looking forward to trying one of these new honda 500's myself but im on the incredibly long waiting list with everyone else

better tyres are a great upgrade from OEM ,followed by better brakes on most bikes but since this is a low cost thread :

buy a proper tyre pressure guage and make sure your running the correct pressures all the time (costs 150 thb for analogue or 200+ for a digital )

DO NOT TRUST GAS STATIONS ,THEY ARE OFTEN CALIBRATED DANGEROUSLY WRONG

if your bike has adjustable suspension ,taking the time to set it up makes a big differnce also ( costs nothing )

buy a quality synthetic oil after the engine is well broke in and use that as it will

iridium spark plugs last forever and are very cheap improvment over stock

same with air and oil fliters ,change em regular ,they are very cheap

buy a big bottle of carglo wax from the big c for 60 thb (bottle lasts ages if you only wax bikes

and they look amazing if you do it properly ) **do not get any wax on your brake discs **

oil your chain regularly ,examine it for wear and alignment and take care to adjust it correctly so it doesnt become slack

put a back off xp bulb in the brake light ,it pulses rapidly 3 times and then stays on max briteness to alert the drivers behind

that you are braking

as already mentioned ,a better bulb in front is great for nighttime visibilty and very inexpensive

a louder horn is also a nice mod ,stebel make them for bikes but any 12v car horn from ebay will work fine and is also much cheaper

another mod i like is a usb charger (190 thb ) in my battery box so i can charge iphones or android phones to use gps on the handlebar mount

im sure theres plenty more but these are the first things i usually do to a new bike

I forgot to mention of the cheapest mods to make your bike more comfortable for those long hauls or just all day cruising around the city

.....is get the seat done to match your ass/weight/riding position etc

On my versys i found myself sliding forwards too much into the tank esp under hard braking (crushed nutz 4tc and constantly having to push myself backwards up the seat ) so i went and had the seat reshaped ,a couple of layers of foam added to make it flat (not sloping downwards ) and also about a bit wider on each side for a larger surface area to support my weight (90-100kg) this made a huge differnce to those all day trips to other provinces and rougher terrain

when they were 3/4 way finished ,they asked me to sit on it and check it feels ok and made final adjustments until it was perfect

then i got the choice of a few differnt materials to re-cover it with ,i went with black perforated leather material and 15 min

later it was finished

total cost was 500 thb for everything and taken about an hour ,definately among the best low cost mods ive made and the bike is way more comfortable now

this is them in action making a ninja seat (not my) ,amazing talent and workmanship for the price of a few beers

"

Sio you took it for a service already? They told me to come over at a 1000. In regard to the temperature i drove it from chiang mai to chiang rai and it wasnt that hot. Today however i was wearing shorts and noticed the warmth coming out specially on the left side after 5-10mins driving. But it stayed as warmth not hot. I did hear fan working really loud only after i came back to chiang rai and switched on the bike to show to my friend.

Gear changes are so flipping loud though, sometimes however the are very soft and smooth i think it depends on revs i still cannot find the optimum rpms for shifting. I had problems getting into first from neautral since i left bigwing sometimes it wont go down when i press down shift with my foot, i have to either roll bike backwards a bit or apply a bit or accelerator while holding clutch"

from neutral into first,apply normal pressure on the downshift pedal and only hold the clutch 80% in instead of all the way

move it in and out a little and you will find the sweetspot where it should slip/clunk into first

from my 3 x cbr 250's some had the exact same symptoms you describe when new ,its a minor clutch adjustment and mine actually cured itself once i got used to it ,run up some miles and eventually but not yet switch to synthetic oil also made it smoother

if you have time go back in but honda will probably tell you its normal on new engine and transmission ,thats what they told me

I remember awhile back a guy getting cut in two by a tractor trailer who was late & going thru after his green went red.

The guy who got hit may have been early off his red light too?

I always think of that when I see guys going when the light is still red.

Sure it looks clear in the direction traffic is "supposed" to come from.

But TIT it is not uncommon for someone to be going down any street the wrong way

I usually also like to let a few scooters go first as bait no matter what after light goes green

I know I am going to sail by them in a few seconds anyway. But I like letting someone else test the waters.

Sorry I know that sounds bad

the amount of times ive witnessed a speeding pick up charging towards the intersection as he sees 5,4,3,2, etc and instead of braking to a stop he puts the boot to the floor and hammers through the intersection

i usually let it go green for a couple of seconds also and then i can take off ,you dont get two chances on a bike vs a pick up so a couple of seconds to wait is nothing

after a couple of hundred of metres i can pass all the scooters safely anyway so there is nothing to be gained and everything to lose by being first off at the lights like a moto gp racer

To be honest, I am more frequently worried about leaving my expensive bike tethered to my cheap helmet.

Yeah & what is up with 1st class insurance only paying like 80% of lost even on a new bike that gets stolen or trashed?

thats for the 1st year

after the first 12 months is up ,they only pay out 60% on some policys sold by yamaha @ (name and shame removed )

I think you mis-understood the location. D-zone is where they sell dianese clothes. They dont sell ducatis only rent them

where is the place that rents ducattis ? i would like to rent one for a day or two

Soi 13 on the 3rd road in Pattaya. It's called D-Zone 2k baht per day.

cheers for the info guys ,i will definately rent one for a couple of days to see how much more fun it compared to the bikes i have now

kawa 650s and a bandit 1255fa

so far i had kinda crossed ducatti and triumph off my list as being too overpriced for what you get in thai + since the new tax kicked in the tiger explorer 1200 and the triumph street triple and ducatti streetfighter(my personal favourites ) etc all got 20% more expensive overnight

but i sure will rent one and see how much fun im missing out on lol

hope its not too mindblowingly amazing or il have to sell the wife /house /kids etc to order one

seen them on ebay for near double the price google announced

but have the thai box shops got em yet ?

even my shitty index helmet got stolen by cutting the straps, of course on a tesco parking lot....

Why not get a carrier box on your'e bike and lock it in there

Because then you look like a dork.

Gotta look kool, man.

Looking like a Dork, whatever that is, isn't going to get my messages home from the supermarket

i can hang about 10 bags from the handle bars ,mirror stalks,rear grab bars and if i have a passenger we can load up the middle of the seat with heavy stuff and hold the rest off the sides.......just gotta use your immagination

if imm alone i can carry about 30-40 kilos of beer shopping in a giant backpack behind me on the passenegr seat

I think you mis-understood the location. D-zone is where they sell dianese clothes. They dont sell ducatis only rent them

where is the place that rents ducattis ? i would like to rent one for a day or two

Got stopped by the cops for jumping a red light

Yes, and?

Please read the rest of the post! It will tell you about the "and."

Yes I did read the whole post, and what I understand you're not happy that you couldn't pay a bribe on the spot. Instead you had to go to the Police Station and pay your fine. I'm really sorry for your inconvenience.

In some countries, you would be without a DL (if youhave one) for a month + fines for this.

in the uk it could be licence revoked for a year if you get 12 points iirc

Previous poster has it right.

There are ticket quotas for individual cops and more importantly for stations.

That's good as I now know I'm doing my civic duty by helping the cops achieve their targets. Heard their cut was 10% of fines, however, not 50. If it was the latter, there'd be no point in taking roadside contributions.

my x gf was married to a cop before i met her and she says he gets half of the money he can earn from tickets ,

so thats why he wouldnt accept the 200 i tried to give him from my wallet because he probably hadnt reached his monthly quota yet

he did motioned to accept the 500 note i had on me but i just smiled and said too expensive and put that back in my pocket

then he smiled and wrote me a ticket for 400 and confiscated my licence

try bribing them with more than 200 if you dont live beside the station and you have a higher chance of it being accepted but again ,they

have to hit the monthly quotas anyway so sometimes bribes just dont work,esp on larger checkpoints where a superior officer might be overseeing things

every cop must give out 100 "official tickets " per month

the rest can go in his back pocket

he gets 200 anyway when you pay 400 at the station so it makes little differnce to him

i was wondering why i hadnt been stopped and fined in ages .........

maybe its time to put that racing exhaust back on ............

whats the waitinig list like on kawasakis thesedays ?