Overandout

Just to answer the OP's question, at Big C, On Nut, (3rd floor, just next to SCB bank) there is a stall for issuing vehicle tax open from 9.00 to 17.00 every Saturday.

Very handy. Managed to get my inspection, compulsory insurance and tax renewed in 3 hours on a Sauturday morning. I wouldn't have been able to do that in my home country!

Just a bit of info on getting the "car passport" in Bangkok as I have just done this today.

Firstly, the document is actually called an International Transport Permit and is in the form of a little purple booklet.

In Bangkok this can only be obtained from DLT at Chatuchak, not at sub-offices.

I needed to present the Blue Book, my passport (and copy of main page and visa) and my work permit (and copy of main page plus address page).

Cost was 55 THB and that part of the process took about an hour.

During this process they repeatedly told me that I should renew my tax at the same time, but I couldn't because my car is old and needs an annual inspection and I had traveled there by BTS. The result was that the validity of the International Transport Permit is only up until my tax runs out, which is in three weeks time. This is no bother to me as I only plan to go to Laos for one week and will be back by the time it expires, but f you want to get a Permit valid for a year, you will need to renew your tax at the same time (and do the vehicle inspection if required).

Once I had the International Transport Permit I was sent to the vehicle inspection building where they charged me another 25 THB for a Vehicle Inspection Certificate, written in Thai and English stating that the car had been inspected and deemed roadworthy. This certificate also logically expires with the current inspection and tax.

All in it cost me 80 THB and I was out in about 90 minutes with both documents.

I am happy because for me this is fine, but I am posting this so that others who want the documents to be valid for a year are aware that you will need to renew the annual tax and inspection at the same time in order to get one year validity.

http://www.kkpc.co.th/contact-1-1/

I use this company in Bangkok. Cheap, fast and they do speak English. 500thb rear wheel and 200thb for handle bars is what I paid a couple of months ago.

And it was for my Multistrada..

Did you prep the wheel yourself? That would explain the big difference in price too.

You should post a photo, put the other side of the story, so to speak.

But closer inspection shows that the surface of the coating is uneven and dappled

Ther uneven is probably the casting surface. Did you prep the wheels yourself?

It is an industrial place as you know. They will have sent the wheels out for blasting and then painted them. If the surface was uneven before then...

Yes I can see where the powder was a tad lumpy.

When they are on the bike and you stand back in bright sunlight can you see it? probably not.

If you were buying a Ducati would you get on your knees and inspect the powder coating on the wheels?

No, I didn't prep the wheels. They told me that they would blast them (I didn't understand what process would be used though unfortunately). I assumed that they would probably do a better job than I would (and they probably did, I just think that someone else probably would have done beter still).

To me it looks like the coating that is uneven, not the surface of the casting beneath, but I'm no expert. I would be surprised if the wheels themselves have that texture, especially given that it is not uniform.

On the bike of course, they will look fine.

But yes, if I was having very expensive superbike wheels coated, I would inspect the work closely, and I would expect better.

I had the wheels of my RGV coated in the UK a few years back and the quality was much better, but it could be that the Suzuki wheels were better quality metal to begin with, and it certainly did cost a lot more than 42 quid!!

You pays yer money, you takes yer choice, as they say.

That additional shim looks like its simply a scrap piece of steel. Utter bodgers. Lucky your so diligent. Have a good look for the any other additional "shims" , and ensure you dont inadvertently transfer it / them. Great to see its progress.

A lot of work for not a lot of bike.

Ha ha !!

I like that! If I had a worshop I would write that above the door!!

Thailand.... Zen and the Lack of Motorcycle Maintenance !!

Wheels back from the powder coaters:

I also had to get the old cush drives machined out of the rear hub and the new ones pressed in.

So I will get some new tyres and the chassis will then be able to be rolled around.

So when it finally leaves my balcony, the engine will need to be more or less ready to go in, so the good engine goes up on the bench:

While the old engine with the bent valves sits on the floor... giving up any bits which may be of use.

First donation is the clutch. I have no idea if the clutch in this engine is OK, but the one in the running bike was slipping like hell, so it's worth a try to swap them over:

Then I turned my attention to the top end. Checking the valve clearances on the running engine showed that they are all needing adjustment, but worse was discovering that the valve timing is out by one tooth! I had been riding it like that for over a year!

Anyway, seeing as I needed to change shims, I thought I would salvage the shims from the old non-running engine.

Here are the shims that came out of the exhaust side (look closely at the one on the right):

Yes, it had been packed out with an additional "shim" under the bucket!!

Now I wonder if the other exhaust valve was also "adjusted" in the same way in the past and it had fallen out, causing the damage that bent the valve....

Got my wheels back from KKPC last weekend.

Not a bad job. Not great either.

At first glance they are nice:

But closer inspection shows that the surface of the coating is uneven and dappled:

In a few areas there are signs of bubbling:

Anyway, for my project it is fine and for 2,300 Baht I am not going to complain, but if I had taken a 3,000€ set of Marchesinisfor a Ducati down there, I'd be pretty píssed off!

On the subject of racing, watched Hickman win the Macau GP yesterday, its a trip worth making, great atmosphere, and well organised. Only a couple of hours from bkk, easy to get around.

Must have been fun. I seriously considered going but really I could only justify either Macau or Sepang MGP and Sepang won. In the unlikely event that I am still in Asia next year I'll go to Macau.

I read that Stoner is signing to be test rider for Ducati when his current contract with HRC expires, with possibilties of wild card rides....

So much post-race whining going on that he realises how much he misses it?

But I know read the scoreboard it's all over.

Is it?

I know it is unlikely after they rejected his stay of application of the penalty points, but what happens if the CAS decide in the formal hearing that Rossi should not have been penalised with three points for Sepang?

The penalty point system is by season, so they cannot "give them back" for 2016, they would have to make some kind of compensatory award...... Rossi would have started 14 places higher up the grid.

I cannot see how that can decide a different outcome, but what would they do?

Well done Lorenzo,great ride from Rossi and Lorenzo.

Honda's lacked spirit..

Dani didn't lack spirit, but Marc was never going to let Dani through….

Despite Ono's best efforts ....

Yep! Home, showered and a pint of Bombardier Glorious English beer in hand…. I can do no more!!

Just realised that I didn't set the dvd to record the races... hope I get back to All from Khao Yai in time....

My predictions:

(Largely agreeing with Bluetongue) I think that Rossi will make a fast and spectacular charge through the field until he reaches the likes of Crutchlow. At which point he will get stuck somewhere around 6th - 8th. I think he will deal with the Suzukis and the EspP quite easily though.

Marquez will crumble like a caerphilly cheese and will crash out all on his own.

Dani will win the race.

I am going to sit on the fence with regards to Lorenzo and who will take the title !!

I was shouting for Danny from the stands of Sepang 10 days ago, I will be shouting for him from the sofa in Singapore on Sunday, much to the dismay of wife and kids.

My situation is almost identical!!

Except that my elder son (7 yrs) will be shouting along with me from the sofa in BKK, as he did from the grandstands of Sepang, but to the dismay of the three yr old and my wife !!

Lets not forget that the Moto 3 race is as equally as important as the Moto GP race this weekend!!

When was the last time that 2 classes had their championship go to the last race?

Lorenzo has made a bit of a fool of himself in all this if you ask me.

Rossi and Marquez are hardly making the sport look good, Lorenzo is rubbing salt into the wounds.

Shame Dani can't win it this year really, he's the only one that is coming out of this looking like a professional sportsman.

Anyway, I actually hope that Rossi does have to start from the back, firstly because he should take his penalty and secondly because it will be great to watch him carve his way through the pack!!

No Overandout I must disagree. Danny Kent was far and away the best rider for at least the first half probably a bit more. As Kent's confidence and performance has dropped off Oliveira is certainly making hay I don't think he's any better, also the bike has improved, ie Binder is doing much better and also Hanika when he stays on

Don't get me wrong Bluetongue, Danny certainly has been the best rider so far, hence he has more points, but Miguel has out-classed him since he has returned from his injury.

Yes the KTM has improved, but that doesn't mean that Oliveira is only winning because of the bike.

Anyway, we will know who has been the best over the entire season in 10 days time!!

I liked this quote from another poster on another forum: "The title is Kent's to lose, and it looks like he is trying everything to do just that".

As much as it pains me to say it, but Oliveira looks the better rider.

I don't think Kent has changed the way he is riding in a concious way, he is simply letting the nerves get to him.

The incident with Antonelli in Aus and the running wide at the last corner in Sepang are classic nervous failures.

The worry is that even if his nerves hold in Valencia, there are too many variables around, other riders, the weather, mechanical failures etc....

Of course if Jorge or neither of them finish then Valentino would be champion. Anyone want to take odds on that.

Anyone remember Capirossi / Harada in 98?

I am on several motorcycle sport forums, and on nearly all of them the concensus is that Valentino over-stepped the mark and people are genuinely disappointed with him, but it didn't seem that the majority of Malaysians have that sentiment, or they didn´t yesterday at least....

I have a lot of Spanish friends (I lived there for nearly 10 years) and there is a huge sense of disappointment amongst the Spanish fans.

Many of them were fans / supporters of Valentino, even shrugging off and sometimes laughing about the Gibernau incidents, but the comments I have read on Spanish forums and in the press and on Facebook seem to show that according to the country where the biggest percentage of the population follows motorcycle sport, a hero has fallen.

A message sent to me by one of my friends says "we have lost a legend".

Just got home...

Wow!

I too was really disappointed not to see Kent crowned, but as someone in another forum said: He seems to be looking for ways to lose it... I hope he doesn't let the pressure get to him (again) at Valencia.

Something tells me that Rossi won't be getting a very warm welcome from the Spanish fans!!

I wanted to see Rossi claim a tenth world championship, but not like that.

So the project moves on!!

Now that most of the engineering has been done to get the rolling chassis in a state to be assembled, I set about putting the main parts together, making sure that they are all clean and painted

First up was the frame (my proposed colour scheme won’t fit well with a black frame, so I have painted the frame spars an aluminium metallic):

Then the yokes (now painted black) could be fitted:

Then I started fitting other ancillary bits to the frame (I started sorting through all the parts at this point to work out which was in the better condition of all of the duplicated ones):

At some point I will have to move the bike off the balcony and down to the car park, so I want to fit as much as I can onto the frame before-hand.

Then I got to the point that I needed to do a trial fit of the suspension and wheels before sending the wheels off to be painted.

Forks and swing arm in:

Wheels in:

As you can see, when the rear wheel is fitted, it is obvious that the rear end is too high, the massive gap between the wheel and mudguard shows it clearly, but also note how far off the ground the side-stand is… when resting on the stand the bike is at about 30º off vertical!

The front end is more successful, particularly the bracket for the brake calliper which was made for me by my, now regular, local engineering shop!!:

So, back to the back end…

The shock that is fitted in the picture above is a YSS shock that was fitted to the donor bike (the one that came with the NSR Pro Arm) and is the only one I have with some damping… It seems to be a CBR 150 shock as the length (hole to hole) is 260mm.

Unfortunately, a standard length CBR shock is always going to raise the rear ride height because the shock mount on the swing arm is higher in relation to the spindles (wheel and swing arm pivot).

Here you can see that the actual difference is about 12mm, but not in an entirely vertical plane (nor exactly in the plane of travel of the shock compression) but it gives the idea that in order to compensate for the different swing arm geometry, the shock should be about 10mm shorter than a standard CBR shock.

I did also have this YSS shock that was given to me with the donor bike;

and although it is leaking, it is about 5mm shorter, so I fitted it to check the effect and it made a big difference, but not enough. So I am on the look out for a 250mm shock to fit.

Getting a bit fed up with chassis modifications and suspension woes; I decided to do something more rewarding, so I split open the two tail lights and used the best and cleanest parts from each to build up a new light unit.

Pretty pleased with that!