cchina184

I have never seen Rotopax in this country, but it might be a bad idea anyway depending on where you mount it.

Any weight hanging off the far rear of the frame will eventually crack/break the frame as it bounces up/down countless times riding along.

It happened to my Dtracker and my friends' KLXs which have a similar frame style but of stronger steel.

My topbox on my old scooter almost ripped through an entire steel bracket over 4 years.

Looking at photos of a CRF frame, I don't think this will end well long term.

Maybe check a CRF forum and see what other owners say.

The attached pic is what I was thinking about. I ride off road mostly and by myself. For a girl there are probably better choices but it’s just my thing. I would like to carry a 1.75 Rotopax on a rack and also a little gear (5 kg) in case I get stranded (which has happened) in the middle of nowhere. I see pics of “adventure” riders on CRF 250’s with the things loaded to the gills. Your take on this would be that a loaded bike on rough terrain will eventually suffer a subframe failure. The trails that I use are rough. They will shake the gold out of your teeth. So is there a solution? Or have I bought the wrong bike? I could load the old Chinese clunker I used to ride with a pile of stuff and other than making crappy handling even crappier it worked ok. But it finally shot craps (in the middle of nowhere) and I thought I would get something a little more refined and hopefully more reliable.

I recently bought a CRF/M and have been trying to find a well made rack and a Rotopax gas can that I can mount on it. Does anyone know who in Thailand might sell these?

I am trying to find detailed provincial maps of Thailand which show all of the back roads that are maintained by government at some level. The uitilty companies use them but don't sell them for some reason. Does anyone know where to buy them?

Thank you all for the information. Looks like a trip to Chiang Mai will be necessary. Long drive for me but worth the trouble if I can get these chair seats and backs rewoven. I don't know where Bikers Corner is located. Does any one happen to have gps coordinates?

North East inside corner of the moat. No gps needed.

Thank you, Dante99. I will look on google earth to see if I can find it. Could you tell me why it is called Biker's Corner? Do a lot of bikers hand out there?

Thank you all for the information. Looks like a trip to Chiang Mai will be necessary. Long drive for me but worth the trouble if I can get these chair seats and backs rewoven. I don't know where Bikers Corner is located. Does any one happen to have gps coordinates?

I am trying to find someone who can re-cane the seats and backs in some old teak chairs. They are done using the hole to hole caning technique, unfortuntely the method requiring the most skill and time. The closest place I have been able to find is in Singapore. I would like to find something closer.I have read there are craftsmen who can do this in Chiang Mai but I have not been able to locate them.

Any help out there, guys?

Having lived in China, US, and Thailand, I prefer the US for making money, Thailand for spending it and quality of life, and China to visit when it's too hot here. I worked for 10 years in the US, lived like a hermit, made enough to not have to work any more living in Thailand. By living a sequestered life in the US, I was able to avoid the ever present hostility toward foreigners who are not white.

the cia tortures people. naw, say it ain't so. nobody gives two hoots in hell anyway.

Lucky them, am I right in thinking that Brits (or any other farang) cannot drive from Thailand to China?

it's doable, but requires major guanxi.

i opened an account with bangkok bank new york (can do from here with a little trouble) the tfr to my bb acct here is free. currency haircut reasonable and visible. way better than what my u.s. bank was taking out in fees and dollar conversion, plus treating me like a mushroom.

life happens

then you die

what, me worry?

Not so much crazy as remarkable. My soi mutt eats everything from road kill to the snakehead carcasses my neighbors throw him and has not had a sick day since he showed up here a few years ago. Wish I could be so lucky.

wow, what great advice. works for girls too i might add. unlike a lot of my friends, i love this place just like it is, but i miss a market down the street that sells household ammonia and arrid extra dry. you know you're sick when you dream about buying these two things.

happy as a clam with my 3.0 4x4. good passing power, easily pulls an enclosed metal trailer i use for hauling motorcycles around and camping, and generally does all the stump pulling stuff i need done around the farm. could not ask for a better truck and gets pretty good kpl if not driven too hard.

Had an eye done at Tongren in Beijing about 2 years ago, about 12000 baht equivalent. 1st rate facility.

But what I did find here, much to my delight, is the new cars and motorcycles made here are cheap compared to back home.

I bought a locally-made pick-up new and I didn't think it was very cheap. I also had to work quite hard to get a discount worth having.

Guess it depends on where you're from. About 10-15 percent lower than same for me at home. The young lady I dealt with at the Toyota place made negotiation a piece of cake compared the wall of predatory creeps I had to deal with the last time I bought a Toyota at home. I felt like a lamb chop at a wolf convention.

I had same problem. Thought about same solution to no avail. Now just keep air low and use electric blanket I bought online. So far so good. Sounds silly, using electric blanket here, but it was a cheap solution and I don't give a rat's behind about silly.

I've met quite a few asthmatics here. There is a reason why doctors send asthma sufferers to dry climates, not the tropics. This may have something to do with it. All my family and friends with asthma are sick right now.

I rollerblade on rural sois and if you think BKK dogs have attitude, skate a km in my boots. I have four lines of defense.

1. The Thai way, nice and friendly, dog kibble, in a plastic bag tied to my hip. This will usually keep all but the most aggressive mutts busy checking it out for long enough to make it more work to chase me than they deem it's worth, then they go back to licking what they lick.

2. Ammonia and water in a spray bottle on stream adjustment. It takes one bad puppy to want any more of that.

3. For that one bad puppy, industrial strengh pepper spray with 20 foot stream, like used by hikers for grizzly bears in U.S. national parks. It usually backs off grizzlies if you have decent aim, the eyes and nose the best targets. If it's you or them, let 'em have it. Do NOT end up on the ground with dogs. You will definitely get hurt.

4. A hockey stick. Used to carrying it any way. Also helps as brake on hills and support when I have to walk on my skates though rought stretches. I haven't had to go beyond the ammonia so far.

Also, I have had rabies prohylaxis at a local hospital, same as vets and high risk animal handlers get, $15, a bargain. And I only foamed at the mouth for a few days. Friends didin't even notice the difference.

Don't really think the loc al constabulary would appreciate my skating around with a glock on my hip, so will stick to 1-4 above unless I get taken down. On the ground, on skates, with snapping dogs, no fun. So a no. 5 may have to be added. But so far, so good.

I have a 3.0 Toyota 4x4 and really love it. Gets 28 mpg (had to convert to make sense to me) but I don't drive it like I stole it either. Goes through just about anything save quicksand. Pulls a trailer with ease and has room for most of the junk I carry around. I read the reviews before I bought it, and some said that it seem a little outdated. I'm not sure what they meant but they have obviously never driven a Ford 250 4x4 with its legencary log truck ride and horrible reliabilty ratings. Happy as a clam with this Toyota and there seem to be quite a few of them on the market right now.

oh, most certainly, colonization is all the rage these days. i'm sure the thai will welcome their new lords and masters with open arms and huge smiles.

Just had a cargo trailer built in Udon Thani a few weeks ago. Happy as a clam with it. Pulled it 650 km home behind a Hilux without a bobble. Extermely well built and sturdy, with motorcycle cradles built in and a fold down door/ramp to make loading a breeze (and prevent any embarrassing videos like those which appear on youtube almost daily). Recently had it licensed, only the second trailer of this type ever to be licensed in my backwoods part of the world. Does exactly what I need it to do.

Anyone know of someone in the Lopburi area who could teach an English speaker how to read and write Thai? Or, some type of learning program either online or computer generated.