WingNut

Just wondering if anyone has any experience collecting a Thai passport from the Department of Consular Affairs office in CW? Are there normally long queues and waiting times to pick up a passport? Or any other things one can do to save time when picking it up? The passport is ready. So it just needs to be collected. I just want to make sure I go about it in the right way so I don't waste time making any mistakes. Thank you.

Pathetic.

The Indonesian tire brand I was referring to is called Corsa. Those are the ones I'm using and that I really like.

I'm not sure if Big Wing works on any bikes that are smaller than 500cc. They may also not stock any parts for bike models that they don't sell. But you can check with them first. You can send them a text via LINE directly to their service department. Their LINE ID: bigwingbkk You can also call the service department at 02-790-3940.

When I bought my Honda 250 they came with IRC. Hardest and most slippery tires I've ever drove on. Awful in my opinion. I now avoid them like the plague. Since then I've had a set of Michelin Pilot Street tires on the bike. Not so outstanding either. Overpriced in my opinion. Then I had a Thai brand on the bike for a while, which was very inexpensive but really grippy and I liked them. Eventually I had to replace them, but they were no longer available. Now I've got a set of Indonesian tires I've had on the bike since late 2021. They were also very inexpensive. I think I like these the best so far. They have been on the bike for almost 3 years now and, if they are still available in the future, then I'll probably go with those same tires again when I need to replace them the next time.

Thanks for the insight on the Brembo fake fluid. I discovered that Motul and Shell both have their own official stores on Lazada. So presumably nothing fake from them. Dot 4 fluid is around 200 Baht for half a liter from either of those two brands. Motul also offers an LV Dot 4 fluid, which has lower viscosity and possibly better for ABS systems. It also has a higher boiling point than the Honda Dot 4 fluid. Higher boiling point might also be advantageous in a hot country like Thailand. Yes, Big Wing is good. Mechanics are good and aren't hacks. They know what they are doing from my experience. Labor isn't cheap though at Big Wing like it is at the other small Honda dealers. Big Wing charges 535 Baht an hour for labor. So they might let you bring your own fluid because they will still make a few hundred Baht changing it out for you. When they changed my oil, oil filter, brake fluid, and coolant back in 2021, they charged me 800 Baht just for the labor alone.

I just found my receipt from the last fluids flush they did in 2021 and the coolant sold by the dealership is also 60 Baht a liter. So not worth buying it elsewhere I think. Maybe I'll just take it from them again I'm thinking. But 600 Baht for half a liter of Honda Dot 4 brake fluid is too much when I can buy it myself for around 100 Baht. I will likely order half a liter of that Brembo Premium Dot 4 fluid I linked above and use that for the brake fluid flush.

Thanks, I wasn't aware there are fake plugs for sale on Lazada. I see now that most of the Lazada sellers are selling the NGK plugs for 300-360 Baht each. Can I assume those are real? Also, I want to do a fluids flush soon on brake fluid and coolant. The last time Honda charged me 600 Baht for half a liter of their Honda branded Dot 4 fluid, which seems expensive. And I forget how much they charged me for the coolant they used. This time though I want to buy the fluids myself and only pay them for the labor as I think it will work out lower cost that way. I think I'll need .5 liter of brake fluid again. Would either of these 2 Dot 4 fluids on the links below be good? https://s.lazada.co.th/s.pZAlV https://s.lazada.co.th/s.pZAMX Also, for coolant, I believe I need around 2.5 liters for my bike. I also read that I need an ethylene glycol-based coolant that is silicate-free and designed for use in aluminum engines. I'm not sure, but I've seen Honda branded coolant for about 65 Baht a liter on Lazada. Will this one on the link below work? https://s.lazada.co.th/s.p0Z0w

Thanks. I don't know much about plugs and batteries. The plugs they put in were from the Honda dealer. So I assume they are up to snuff. But if it makes a big difference, then I'll go for iridium plugs next time. The ones they put in there this time are the Denso U27FER9 plugs. For my bike, I think the Denso IUH27 Iridium Power plugs would work too, but not sure about availability of those in Thailand. The NGK Iridium IX CR9EIX plug would also fit my bike and they are only 100 Baht each (or less) I think. So I will go for those the next time they are due for replacement. On the battery, I put in a FB FTZ10S battery, which was the one recommended to me by the dealer. FB is an aftermarket battery brand made in Thailand, but seems quite reliable. I'm not sure if any Lithium Iron Phosphate motorcycle batteries are available here. I doubt it. They would probably be quite expensive though if they were available because seemingly not much market demand. So, on batteries, I think I'll stick with the one I have in there and replace it every 2-3 years as recommended. They are only 1,500 Baht a pop.

Finally got a chance last night to take the bike out for a full send after the spark plugs were replaced and after I dropped in the new battery a couple of days ago. The power is amazing now. I think there might have even been some low-key spark plug issues for 5-6 years already because there were times when I would be driving at higher speeds, get on the throttle, and then there were some slight pauses in acceleration. But all of that is gone now. In the past I had thought that maybe the acceleration delays were occurring because I was trying to accelerate too quickly when in higher gears and with low revs. But I realize now that this wasn't the issue at all.

Thanks. They wanted around 1,700 Baht for the OEM part, plus labor to install it. So that's why I passed on it. Mainly because the starter works perfectly and so I didn't see any reason to replace the relay. Perhaps the mechanic was misunderstanding my ailing battery as being a starter relay problem when he first started trying to diagnose the problem. And in the end he also confirmed the relay is still working fine. Thankfully I've never had one go dead, but I agreed with him that if engine power problems persist in the future that we would replace it next time. If all goes well, the new FB FTZ10S battery I ordered will arrive tomorrow and I will install it straight away. Then hopefully the bike will be fully running perfectly again. ✌🏼 The most expensive part yesterday ended up being the oil filter which they charged 600 Baht for. It takes a 15410-MFJ-D02 filter. I checked on Lazada and it would still be 500 Baht if I bought one myself.

Yes, thank goodness, not a pricey repair compared to all the other things that could have been much pricier. Thank you also for the additional info. Yes, it seems spark plugs can be very delicate. In Thailand they can also corrode very easily or get moisture inside and then they won't fire properly. I guess in the future, if something like this happens again, first move is to change spark plugs and then go from there. I think also good to be sure you are using quality plugs. I think the Honda dealer put in Denso branded plugs which they only charged 98 Baht each for plus labor.

In the end I picked up two new helmets. I got an HJC i10 Robust for myself. Really nice helmet. Superb build quality. I got it for 4,700 Baht on sale and it is Snell approved. I also picked up a REAL Raptor as a second helmet for female passengers. Also caught that one on sale for 1,500 Baht. Overall it was good timing when I picked them both up because there was that 7-7 sale going on. Think I'm sorted now.

UPDATE: Well, I think the idle and power fluctuation issues have been resolved now on the bike. But not without a bit of drama first. I had made an appointment with the service center at the dealer to look at it as I had mentioned above. So the night before the service appointment I started the bike up, after it had been sitting still for 4 months, and I took it out to put some air in the tires and go for a quick ride to make sure it was still running well enough to get it over to the dealer in the morning. Well, it started right away on the first press of the starter, so it was looking good, but then the engine seized on the Don Muang highway in the middle of nowhere and I had to get a flat bed truck to come and pick me up and take the bike over to the dealer at around 1AM. Maybe I'll do a separate post on that later. Anyway, turns out it was only a spark plug issue. They changed all 4 plugs and now it's running perfectly again. They also thought that the starter relay might have had a problem, but I talked them out of changing that part because the starter never had any issues in the past and so we just went with the spark plug change. I also had an engine oil change done and the oil filter changed. The oil in the bike was practically unused but was getting old. so seemed like a good idea to change it. The mechanic also recommended I change my battery because I was running an inexpensive RR brand battery and he said that the battery wasn't really holding a full charge and was also fluctuating on power. So he suggested I change to an FB. So ordered one from Lazada (at 1/3 the price of the dealer) and it should arrive within 2-3 days. I've got the bike parked now and I won't drive it again until I swap in the new battery. Other possible causes of the problem came up during discussions with the mechanic. He had thought maybe the clutch had burned out and was slipping, but the clutch is fine. Also, he was going to run some pressure tests on the fuel system to see if maybe the fuel injectors, the fuel pump, or the fuel filter might be gummed up, but after we changed the spark plugs it seemed like all the problems went away. So most likely there aren't any problems with the fuel system. I'll try and drive it more often now and see how it goes. Hopefully with the new spark plugs and the new battery all those issues I was having will now be a thing of the past.

All the helmets being discussed here are either ECE 22.05 or Snell certified.