Dutchbike

@dutchbike

The TZR cafe race is a way cool idea. I like it very much.

Thanks,the whole story ( and more pics) is here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/566437-yamaha-tzr-150-cafe-racer-project-completed-a-story/page__hl__+tzr%20+cafe%20+racer#entry5449767

Last bike in Holland: a classic Yamaha XT 600Z Tenere ( would love to have this bike in Thailand)

Bikes in Thailand: Yamaha TZM 150R / Honda NSR 150SP & Kawasaki KLX 250

A "project"bike in Thailand: Yamaha TZR 150 "cafe racer"

Ä happy owner on the beach.

One question: is it possible to leave Thailand at let's say Poi Pet and re- enter at a different crossing ( Hat lek, near khlong Yai) ??? So i can make a bit of Cambodia round trip, visit the temples at Angkor Wat and the beaches at Shinoukville.

Thanks for your good report and tips, I'm planning a similar trip and was looking for the right info.

Poi Pet: that's the border crossing near the Rong Kluea market right? ( at Asian highway 1)

Last friday i did my 3 months visa run to Cambodia ( Chong Chom) and asked ( or better my wife) the officials what needed to cross the border by bike, the anwser was: it's not easy and they even didn't bother do explain what i would need. so i guess i better take the same border as you.

From what i've heard it's not allowed to drive with your headlight on in the day, so i have to make a switch.

Picture taken at the Thai - Cambodian border near kap Choeng.

With the birthday of my now still 7 year old daughter coming up, I'm thinking of spoil her with a mini bike, She likes papa's bikes and loves to go out on a ride ( as a pillion)

I hope i can turn her into a though biker girl so in the future she can join me on my rides.

At the local Big C i see those mini cross bikes for sale, branded GPX ( Chinese) for around 19 K baht.

I know, Kawasaki got top quality mini bikes but hey i don't want to overdo it.

Are these GPX's any good? just for occasional funrides ( to start off in the back of the garden) and later on a bit on the backroads.

Anyone here have any experience with them?? They look like simple designs, as long as the engine is good i would be happy. The rest i could maintain myself.

Thanks for any advice.

Since i want to keep my TZM stock and more or less original ( i bought it new a few months ago) it looks like i'll have to go with the OEM tires.

The ones on my TZM are just dried out.

B.T.W Kiske that's a serious project you got there going on, swingarm ( from which bike??) different bodywork.... please show us the progress.

Anyone know when the 2012 Chiang Mai bike is taken place?

I've red somewhere that it's starts 8 december but there's yet very little info to be found.

Thanks for the advice, i narrow my choice to IRC , I've checked the irc thailand website and i can find 3 options.

First the NF 42 & NF 48 the OEM tires for TZM but since the TZM originates from the 90"s and that tires as well, not very up to date technology

Second the RX-01R serie ( fitted on the CBR's 250 and Ninja 250"s)

Front: 110/70-17 m/c 54S RX-01F T/L also in W/T ( don't know what that stands for different pattern??)

Rear: 130/70-17 m/c 62S RX-01R T/L (also in W/T)

and Third the iZ 003 ( the "only for racing" tires)

Front: 110/70-17 mc 54S

Rear: 140/70 -17 mc66S

A few questions: will those wider tires ( 130 or even 140) fit on the stock rims ( front MT 2.15 and rear MT 2.50) on the IRC website stands that for a 130 youl'll need a MT 3.50 rim and for a 140 a MT 4.0

in front for a 110 a MT 2.75 or MT 3.0

and will a 130 or 140 rear cause any clearance issues??

and finally: KRS1 you wrote those iZ 003 handel different, in what way?? ( with road use) and when caught up by rain are they dangerous in the rain or with a slower pass exceptable??

I want to change the tyres from my Yamaha TZM 150.

Any recommandations on what i could use?? and.... which are easy availble in Thailand.

it's now fitted with the OEM tyres: IRC front 90/80-17 46S

IRC rear 110/80-17 57S

Both tubeless.

I'm looking for multi purpose ( dry and wet) tyres, for all round riding, i've got no Rossi aspirations, so a combination of sport-tour would do fine,.mayby a bit wider in the back.

Thanks.

Next week i have a job interview, for a possible job in sales ( the company, based in Thailand, sells worldwide there products mosltly through there websites)

The job would mean handling the orders from the webshops, anwsering questions from customers, giving info on the products, and providing after sales service.

So a basic sales job,

To be good prepared for the interview i would like to know what's the average salary for a Farang working in a job descriped above.

So if the question "what would you like to earn"would come up I can give a well thought over anwser.

Thanks in advance.

You traveled before by bike?? rent a bike and take it on a few daytrips, ( 200-500 km) then you should get a good idea of what it is to be on the road.

We traveled before by Honda phantom 200cc in Chiang May mountains and 300 km a day was not a problem, but passenger was feeling uncomfortable in spine. I think cruiser is not good for offroad and we want to try enduro. We are only beginners and we are afraid to pay a lot of money for a bike, because we might not like off road trips.

The more reason to try out ( rent) a off road bike,but i think 2 up on a small off road bike on a multi country trip is just asking to much.

Mayby an option is to travel with 2 bikes???for solo riding with luggage that kind of light off roaders are well suited, and you will enjoy the off roading much better.

I drive a KLX 250 on and off road ( also longer multiday rides) but i would never consider doing the same rides with a pillion.only an occasional ride to town My wifes honda click is more comfortable with a pillion then the KLX.

When you want to travel to Cambodia were the roads are quite bad a solo driven off road bike would be perfect, you will spend quite some time standing on the pegs.

Here's some inspiration if you want to create a comfortable ride

cool ride!!!!! i like the colorscheme

Congrats and enjoy

So you want Goldwing comfort on a 250cc bike??? A part of traveling longer distances on a ( almost any) bike is a bit of discomfort, that's also part of the "charme" of traveling by bike.

When you find a cbr 250 uncomfortable, then i really don't know what you should choose.

You traveled before by bike?? rent a bike and take it on a few daytrips, ( 200-500 km) then you should get a good idea of what it is to be on the road.

Difficult , alomost any off road bike is not that comfortable for a pillion ( except mayby the BMW GS Honda Transalp,Yamaha super tenere's etc) and taking luggage and building a extra construction on the back well that would put quite some stress on the frame not to speak about the handling.

Those 250's or 200's in Thailand just have around 20 hp and even when you would buy a second hand KLX ( much better resalevalue) it's still a 250 and for 2 up + luggage not a ideal bike.

You wrote you would like to travel also off road but you also write you would want to change the tyres if the bike you buy would have off road wheels?????

I think you will have to reconsider your plan or raise you're budget.

Good luck.

Nice report

Nice ride, I will have to try it

I also am a numbers guy, Average speed ? KPL ?

How often did you have to fill up ? range ?

Ryan still didn't wrote his report on the lIfan cross 200 thread, he had a nice App on his phone ( my tracks) which recorded all the data.

My (oldschool) statistics:

Day 1 550 km

Day 2 160 km

Day 3 450 km

I filled up 8 times, ( mostly around 3 / 4 liters the fuel thank of a KLX holds 7.7 liter) I could have done with less, but those stops,where multi purpose

The KLX 250 did on this trip an average of 35 km a liter, we cruised between 80 and 90 km/h.

Real curious which colors will be availible in Thailand, I assume one off the lime green ones ( have to see the Special Edition in real life) the basic lime green is real nice ( a bit like the 2008 model)

and mayby the all white one?? it will be a difficult choice.

I guess the remaining "old" models will be hard to sell now the news is out. ( problaly explains why my Kawa delaer didn't have any Ninja 250 in his showroom when i was there a few weeks ago)

Kind of decided to save money for a ER6 but a recent 1200 km trip on my KLX 250 made me realise that a 250 is a perfect bike for Thailand, with a Ninja 250 you got enough "power" to cruise between 110 and 140,it is comfortable, got good fuel economy, and stunning looks.

In Holland i would never consider buying another 250 but here in Thailand a 250 is enough for me .

About the ongoing battle between the CBR 250 and Ninja 250: IMO you can't really compare these bikes, ok there both 250's , but totally different concepts CBR more touring, Ninja more sporty, and not to speak about the difference in price.

A Ninja 250 is far more exclusive then a CBR, and also the fact that all those moneycollectors ( loansharks) drive CBR's is one of the reasons i never would buy one.

Contact Marty from Chiang Rai Saddlebags, he made this one based on a Kawasaki rack ( see pic) but far more pratical.

http://crsaddlebags.com/

I fitted a Leo Vince enduro slip on type:3545 ( which a friend took for me from Holland) on my 2011 KLX

I didn't change anything ( airbox /EFI) and the bikes runs well with it. according to LV there should be a slight improvement on power and torque, but the soundtrack is sooooo much nicer then the stock exhaust. (the main reason i've changed the slicencer)

That "popping" with a cold engine sounds familiar ( i even had it with the stock exhaust) .

Other mods i've made are: Zeta carbon frame protectors, acerbis handguards, and a custom made rack.

Leovince Dyno klx 250.pdf

Everything is possible even fitting a V8 in a motorbike.( Boss Hog)

But to anwser the OP's question fitting a 200cc 4 stroke ( the lifan 200cc honda XL based engine would be a nice choice for a cruiser) of course you will loose topspeed and topend power but gain in torque ( what you want on a cruiser) I've red somewhere that a new crate Lifan 200cc engine was about 10.000thb.

But fitting it on the Phantom is quite a job, changing the engine mouting points on the frame ( proper line up of the frontsprocket- rearwheel) this means welding on the frame, so that has to be repainted.

Changing the main wire harness to make the connections with the new engine, and numerous small modifications. Since the OP only drives bikes, he will have to find a good bike shop which could to the job, and there's the issue with the paperwork, the green book has to be changed with the new engine number,i guess not easy to get that done.

so it's better not to attempt such a job, better save up some money, and trade it in for a 4 stroke cruiser.

With changing sprockets you can get better response, with a smaller rearsprocket, you can stay longer in the same gear, but when going uphill you will have to drop gears as soon the road goes up, a bigger rearsprocket means you will have to shift quicker through the gears,but you will have more power in the same gear ( rpm) then with a smaller rear sprocket.

A NSR ( detuned) engine just isn't the best engine for a cruiser.

Always funny to see those Honda specs from the NSR: 39.5 hp Honda really exagerated those figures, about 30 hp is more realistic.

2012 ZX150 (KRR) 2stroke. Similiar look to the ninja, but faster.

ahhhh, look at that cute lil bicycle frame...

NSR 150sp owner here, and I do love this bike for its grin factor, proper 17 inch wheels, 2-smoke hooliganism, and how easy it is to embarrass 250 four stroke 'sport bikes.'

Hey, we should all go in, design & fab up a bottom end kit to join two or three NSR/KRR top ends together to build a fire breathing sleeper.

And we end up with something looking like this:

b.t.w nice bike that Mito

Now that we are talking about 2 strokes in general, here a few pics from my favorite 2 stroke of all times

the Kawasaki 750 triple. a.k.a. the Widowmaker.

Never owned one and problaly never will.

When i started riding bikes in the 80's those Kawa's ( and Suzuki's GT's and Yamaha's RD's) where already a dying race. A bit of a revival with the RD 350 LC and later the RD 500LC, Honda NSR 400, and Suzuki gamma in the late 80's. But the golden age of 2 strokes roadbikes ( in Europe) where the 70's