andrewrooney

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/more-why-we-shouldnt-have-mandatory-helmet-laws.html

Just for the debate

and last this one looks interesting:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/motorcycles/news/coming-this-fall-the-augmented-reality-motorcycle-helmet-16836594

26% of head injuries are caused by leisure!

I'm going to start wearing a helmet while I'm watching TV or dicking around on the computer.

Not as expensive as I thought. Not actually considering buying one or anything, but they're cool to look at!

^

It's a 'Boss Hoss'- you can get one with a 502.

What do you figure the import tax on that would be?

There is a guy in North Carolina, USA who builds bikes with 427 cu. in. V-8s.

No need to shift, as no transmission.

You can get a 327 built for the wifey too.

Any pictures?

I passed a cop on a CBR 300 today! I saw him as I was coming home from work on Seri Thai road, on my CBR 300. He was having a little trouble lane splitting and got out of the way to let me past. I slowed down to check out the bike and give him a thumbs up.

I have to say the bike doesn't look so great in shit brown with those big huge crash bars on the front

Mine looks a lot prettier

The "R" is a strange choice , would have thought the "F" was more suited to city use. Hope these 275 engines have the valve / cam problems of the 250 engine finally sorted out. Are the BIB being used as test mules to see if this engine is OK ?. .

I'm really starting to think a Honda must have run over your dog when you were a kid or something

I do agree the F may have been a better choice, though.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. So far I'm liking the idea of Ninja mirrors. If anybody has more ideas, keep 'em coming!

I might not respond for a couple days as I'm heading up to Sangklaburi for the weekend but I'll definitely check out all suggestions when I get back!

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I have the 500F and I did read that KTM mirrors fit and are better looking than the stock Honda units plus better vision !

Which KTM model? For the 500F I guess you would fit the Duke mirrors, but for the CBR would the RC mirrors fit? They look nice but I'm not sure if the mounts are the same.

I hated my CBR mirrors too.

This may seem an odd suggestion but the Ninja 300 mirrors. Look stylish, great visiblity, zero vibration at high speeds, can be folded back in heavy traffic and as they are spring loaded you can flip them back out easily enough. I have seen these on a Honda CBR so I know they fit. not sure how much they are though.

Most cheap after market mirrors may look ok but you can't see much and the quality isn't good.

The Ninja mirrors seem like they could be a good option, I've heard of people doing that before. They look good, they look a bit meaner than the CBR mirrors.

One thing I worry about with aftermarket mirrors is vibration, I definitely want something that will stay put while I'm riding.

One of the stock mirrors on my CBR300R is busted. It no longer holds position correctly. Since I'm not exactly in love with the stock mirrors anyway, that means its time to start looking at other options.

I'd like something that provides decent visibility (at least as good as the stock mirrors, if not better), but hopefully doesn't interfere with lane-splitting too much, since I live in Bangkok. If they look nice it's a bonus

As far as I know the CBR 150/250/300/500/650 all use the same mirror mounts. I've read that Ninja mirrors could fit as well.

So I put the question to anybody who owns (or has owned) a CBR or similar: what kind of mirrors do you use?

The police do tend to look at you differently once you produce a Thai license. They realize you're not a tourist. Sometimes when I show them my license they ask me where I work. After I tell them I'm a teacher they let me go.

Probably one of the few advantages to being a teacher in this country

The new ones should be able to run gasohol just fine.

To answer your question though, benzine is still available some places but you have to go looking for it!

One more

seedy no threat.just phuket does not sound like a good place for the faint hearted.

driving here as most likely all of asia feels like going in to battle every time.no copers except at check points .cars passing on the wrong side of road doing 100 a hour.its full battle ready once my helmet goes on.

the truth is there are many things that can be done here to better thailand for everyone.one such would be enforce bike shops.its easy and requires minimal man power like take the copers from the check point scam and have them make sure bike shops are competent renters.

thailand second most road fatalitys in the world per 100,000 populouse.only nigeria has 1 more fatality i read this here on thaivisa so did you all.

I accept my role in the dilema i am in its not me blaming thailand for my problem.i blame a guy from england for that problem.its his lack of respect and responsibility that my 1 year planned holiday ends in 4 months because i will need to go back to california to get new license to drive.

2000 dollar air fare then another 1500 to get to my next destination. That copper cost me 3500 bucks in 5 minutes.

That is who i am blaming and only saying if bike shop had asked me for my driving license it would be a different story.

but then there is the story of the guy who was standing before the judge and the judge said guilty because if you were not here this would not have happened.

so there we leave it again

i would not have rented a bike i would hsve rented a car if the law told me so.

Just a quick thought:

If you were planning to stay here for a year why not get a Thai license?

It can be done in about a day.

Seems like a better option than calling your holiday short.

Nice to know that Harbin Bangkok, a profit making entity, charges white people more than Asians. Boycot this shameless place at all cost! And spare me the 'but Thais earn less than you bogus', cause there are a l8t of wealthy Thais as well.

What is Harbin Bangkok? This thread is about the ice sculpture festival in Harbin, China.

Foreigners are not employed as police in Thailand.

They have no right to take any documents from you, or issue any fines.

Don't be fooled by fake police, if they aren't Thai, tell them to bog off.

Agreed. If one of these volunteer guys tries to push you around, tell him to get a real cop or just get out of your face.

helmet.jpg

Didn't go anywhere too far, just from Nakhon Chaisi to Don Toom and back. Rode back just after dusk, in case you couldn't tell

JUST after dark is the worst time to ride a bike here in LOS.

Yeah, the ride out was more fun. Oh well, washed the bike this morning and wiped up the helmet, no harm done.

I'm still somewhat of a newbie to bikes compared to many on this forum, but I'll throw my two cents in I guess. The same argument applies to cars also, which I have a little more experience with.

A newer, more technologically advanced vehicle will be more hassle-free most of the time. Much less dicking around with carbs etc., just start it and it runs. Plus there are certain technological advancements that have obvious safety benefits such as ABS.

The downside is when something does go wrong, it's much harder to fix yourself. Some problems can require computers or other specialized equipment to fix, leaving you at the mercy of a mechanic.

So, good and bad to it. Another issue here in Thailand is that with Benzene being fazed out a lot of the older bikes are having more problems as they aren't designed to run on Gasohol. This isn't the fault of the bikes, really, but it is a consideration for anyone living and riding here.

It's not too hard. You need your passport, and then some kind of proof of residence. This can be either a work permit, a yellow house book, or a letter of residence from immigration. If you're buying the bike first hand they'll handle all the paperwork at the dealership. If you're buying second hand you should go to the Department of Land Transport with the current owner and they'll switch the green book over to your name there.

I've got one of the commemorative 80 baht notes from the Queen's birthday a couple years ago. I think the in-laws have a sixty at their house also.

Poking around on the internet I don't see anything about a 10,000 though.

I'm with the poster who said it's probably Lao kip

So if the current system encourages vote-buying, and a directly elected PM encourages more vote-buying, what's the logical conclusion here? That in order to stamp out vote buying for good, all future PMs need to be directly appointed by the military?

I am told you can wind the springs down a little and even buy an adapter to lower them further, but I told him to buy a pair of Chelsea boots with a two inch heel and 1 inch sole. He is currently on tiptoe astride the bike, so the boots will probably fix that, plus the bike is new and the suspension will give a little, the seat foam will give a little and when his wife sits on it too, that should do it.

But, like me he is getting on a bit and would the security of of feet flat on terra-fermer.

A really nice bike though for the money, haven't heard anything about it on this forum.

There's been a pretty long running thread about it, and a couple about the CBR as well.

As for me, I've got the CBR300 and I'm really happy with it. Nice and nimble in traffic, and enough power for longer trips as well. Haven't had a chance to ride the 300f but it's basically the same bike apart from the plastics and the riding position.

The cop trying a key in your bike is a bit odd. Sometimes at checkpoints cops will take keys from bikes. Perhaps someone in a bike that looked similar to yours was stopped at a checkpoint, had his key taken, and then pissed off using a spare key when the cops back was turned? Then the cop saw your bike and thought that could be the one?

Sounds weird, but I really can't see why else he would be trying a key in your bike.

I ride a CBR300. In California, it would be a small bike. Here in Thailand, people call it a big bike.

All relative.

I think I've seen 3 of the R15s in the last week.

I can see why the average Thai would pick a CBR or R15 to show off as something similar to a bigbike but not everyone wants or needs a big bike.

I wonder how big the taxi bike market is?

Has to be thousands of taxi bikes in BKK alone never mind other SE Asian countries.

No taxi bike would roll on a CBR/R15.

They simply can't maneuver well in stopped traffic with the extra weight, higher CoG, and much longer wheelbases.

I think in the past the taxi bikes liked the chain drive underbones to save on gas.

I wonder if the PCX gets better mileage with its auto shutdown feature because I see many PCXs as taxi bikes now.

Have you ridden a CBR 150 in BKK?

They acquit themselves very well in the traffic; stopped or flowing. When I had mine there wasn't any underbones who left me behind. The old carb'd models had a width of 675mm and a wheelbase of 1294mm. That's 15mm wider and 43mm longer wheelbase than the Sonic. Not sure how the new 150s measure up though.

I agree that a CBR can move through traffic pretty well, but you can see why an underbone would be better for a motorcycle taxi bike. In totally stopped traffic the smaller size/shorter wheelbase is better for maneuvering between stopped cars (I'm thinking of stopped traffic such as Lad Prao road at 5pm). Also easier for them to take on the sidewalk etc.

Plus the Sonic would have a bigger seat, easier for passengers to get on and off quicly.

Can't really ride 3 up/4up on a CBR either.

As for the dimensions of the new CBR150 I think it's bigger than the old carbed model. Don't know the exact dimensions offhand though.

I see a lot of CBR 150s in Bangkok. A lot of people here want a sporty looking 'big bike' but the 150 is all they can afford. The Sonic was more a hit with the mocyc taxis and street racer kids. Seems like a different market segment to me. Even if they just brought back the 125 version I would think it would sell well. I think the main reason you don't see many Raiders has to do with Suzuki's lack of marketing/distribution compared to Honda and Yamaha.

Then again maybe Honda just figures they have enough models in their lineup already so why bother.