richard_smith237

That shows that you really don’t understand the difference dynamics of riding, gyroscopic stability helps very considerably at low speeds probably from about 5kph and up, so city speeds? Absolutely. What all of our discussion ultimately highlights is that you’ve completed missed the point of what is ideal for a new-untrained rider on Thailand’s roads. You have locked yourself into an opinion about gyroscopic forces of large wheeled motorcycles compared to regular scooters and use this as the only facet to imply larger wheeled motorcycles are better than scooters for a new rider in Thailands. For a new rider any advantage of stability a ‘larger wheeled’ motorcycle brings is cancelled out by the other factors such as gears, clutch, footbrake etc and yes, weight, because lightweight large wheeled motorcycles are not available in Thailand... the Honda CB125R is perhaps an example of one of the lighter ‘large wheeled’ motorcycles available - and thats certainly not easier or simpler to ride than a Honda Click. Additionally, the difference in gyroscopic stability between 14” and 17” rims is not significant enough at city speeds to make much difference.... You have ignored the points such as gears, clutch control, foot braking and the ease of manoeuvrability around vehicles in gridlocked traffic and approaching / filtering through the traffic when approaching traffic lights and junctions. As such, your point is utterly irrelevant to the point of being preposterous. There is no way at all that any ‘real motorcycle’ is easier to ride than a scooter for a new rider. You are on the wrong side of this one, your advice is flawed. Your advice is valid only IF a motorcyclist wants to ride at reasonable speeds outside of the city and towns, between towns, on inter-province roads etc.. in which case a larger motorcycle i.e. 300cc and up is more ideal than a scooter....

There you go. Unfounded generalisations, unless you have a news story for every Thai school, which I very much doubt. This is where you are tripping over yourself... a generalisation is a generalisation for the very reason that there is ‘founding’... its a general statement or concept obtained by inference from specific cases... In this example there are sufficient ‘specific cases’ to form a generalisation about Thai schools that they suffer from poor standards. The generalisation about Thai schools is far from unfounded... almost every day we have a news report about some issue in a Thai school which simply would not be acceptable in a school in the west (UK for example) or at an International school in Thailand.... Absolutely not... but the top end international schools do, and they are the ones I trust. There exists a generalisation about the top international schools in Thailand - they are excellent but expensive because they source highly qualified, experienced, enthusiastic staff - the Thai schools do not.

If someone uses an address on their UK licence when they don't actually live at is committing an illegal act. Liverpool has best answer so far. But I do live there.... I live there for 6-7 weeks per year.... (4 in the summer and 2-3 over Christmas). You really over-egging the pudding with this ‘committing an illegal act’ comment. Your implication is that because I don’t live in the UK all year round that keeping a UK driving licence is illegal... Thus - what is the cut off to consider I’m living in the UK or not ?... as far as the DLVA is concerned - its whether or not I have a permanent UK address (I may be mistaken, but thats as I understand it)/ I think it's the same requirement to keep a UK bank account.

Any post suggesting all of a certain group are bad, good or better are unfounded generalizations. Quite simple. It is quite simple... extremely simple... The generalisation no matter how disagreeable originates from ’somewhere’... Of course, in the woke and modern world we cannot be held to generalisations and I too try to avoid them... .... Yet, when it came to the safety and education of my son - I avoided the ’Thai system’ not only because of the generalisations, but also because the many many news stories and information that supported that generalisation. That generalisation tells me - If a Thai teacher in a Thai school hits my son, the school will do their best to cover it up, ultimately nothing will happen to the teacher, there is no preventative action or accountability. Conversely, I know that if a Western Teacher in an International Kindergarten / school hits my Son, that teach will lose their job and may well face criminal action. Additionally the teacher training for that International teacher is of a far higher standard and they have the tools to handle situations whereby less well trained Thai teachers may resort to acting out their own frustration and even their anger. Now... as a generalisation, I don’t believe it fits all Thai schools and all Thai teachers... but I am not willing to challenge that generalisation when it comes to my son.

I see... So you are saying many ‘farang’ motorcyclists will have a motorcycle accident.... But how is that advice ??.... it doesn't advise them to do anything about the risk, it just some vague statement of risk that you perceive.

Extreme, unfounded generalisations I suspect the generalisation comes from much of the news reporting of events where teacher cut the child's hair, hit them with a rule... and the ‘generalisation’ that seems widespread that Children cannot under any circumstances question the teacher..... While the generalisation may be extremely, while it may be a generalisation from the worst of the news and reports its not a wholly unfounded generalisation. While I never consciously avoided sending my son to a school with Thai teachers - the only schools I considered were those with B.Ed qualified (or above) native English speaking teachers from Western Countries (i.e. UK, Australia etc). Generalisations exist for a reason....

When you have young (or any aged) children at school.... Don’t send them to a place that allows any parent to walk into a classroom on a whim !!....

I can imagine some of the karens telling someone... "Oh no, I couldn’t possibly pay you in cash, I don’t know if you are trying to hide the money from the authorities”..... ... Seriously... some guys need to get over themselves... It's just cash - not as convenient as electronic payments... however, some just prefer cash - nothing criminal or questionable about that.

Do not feed the troll. Having the wrong details on your licence is an offence. It will invalidate your licence and insurance. ??? what do you mean... my UK Driving licence is registered to my UK address, same as my banks and national insurance etc... IF someones licence is registered to an address they are still registered at - there is no issue. Nothing to troll about, its common sense.

WRONG.... its not a matter of that at all... Plenty of Motorcyclists in Thailand motorcycle throughout their lives without an accident. The reality still remains that any motorcyclist could have an accident at any time... and there is definitely elevated risk.... But the statement you have made “Its not a matter of if, its a matter of when” is not factual at all... its just a ‘sound-bite’ some people think seems clever.

I had April insurance - the refused a pay out. Perhaps my fault for failing to disclosed what they called a pre-existing condition within 5 years. Approx 5 years before taking the insurance (about 4 years and 10 months to be precise) - I’d passed a kidney stone... (Scans showed no more evidence of a stone - the passing of the stone and no evidence of further stones was noted on my record). Over 5 years later, half way thought that years April Insurance coverage a routine medical checkup identified another stone. I decided to have lithotripsy to have the stone removed (that failed) - the cost was 130,000 baht, with one overnight stay at Bumrungrad. April pre-authorised treatment and authorised payment on departure from hospital. Two months later I received the bill from Bumrungrad - April had refused payment because a kidney stone was considered a pre-existing condition. That there was proof that I had no stones 5 years earlier, that I had previously had a stone was considered a pre-existing condition and on that technicality they refused payout. I argued that having a broken leg is not a preexisting condition and they can’t refuse treatment for having another, but they still classify a previous kidney stone as pre-existing. A further facet of this: IF April had not preauthorised treatment I would have gone to a chapter hospital for treatment - Thus, not only did they refuse to pay, but I ended up paying for more expensive treatment than I would have had I known they were not going to cover payment. Come renewal, I removed my family and from any cover with April (April International BTW).

My recent couple of fines were from speed cameras.... I wonder how they would go about fining my Wife on her Thai licence ? ... She’s not registered at my UK address (parents address).... but the car is. Thus, could they simply charge the owner of the car in lieu of payment from the overseas driver ?

Oh nooo sir.... thats not the answer.... The answer is to get the Wife to drive !!!... Then I have have a few afternoon ales whenever I want !!!... Over the last 5 years I’ve been fined for 33mph in a 30 zone (3 points each time and £100) - Yes my own fault and accepted, extremely tight margins - I wonder how they’d go about fining my Wife the same. I was actually in back in Thailand when I last received a UK fine through the post. I was in quarantine for two weeks and couldn’t get out to post my DL back to the UK ( they need the original DL ). If it didn’t pay the fine within two weeks it would ‘increase’ (if I’m not mistaken)... Thus, the answer was to claim loss of DL and order a new one which arrived at my UK address (parents) within a couple of days, they then send that off with the ticket and proof of fine payment... IF travelling a lot receiving a fine in the UK can be a proper PITA...

Ah ok.. thats the way I understand it too..... Although, there is some information that outlines we cannot concurrently hold a UK licence and a licence another country... But, that may actually be we cannot hold both a UK licence and a licence from another EU country (this may have changed since Brexit - the actual regulations are somewhat muddy).

And... what happens to the guns handed in at the ‘gun amnesty’ ????.. .... Of course, the BiB re-sell them on the black-market... quite a profitable enterprise !

An iPhone is more than 1000 Euro... easy enough to pay cash or electronic... Its not a big transaction. I received 3 Million Baht in Cash for my previous car... The car before that 2.85 Million Baht in cash... I wouldn’t have cared it if was an electronic transfer - some people just have a greater trust of cash thats all - of course, I went to the bank with the buyer to have the money counted and deposited straight in to my account. Again.... All of this discussion is somewhat moot - paying for ’stuff’ is somewhat different to travelling with it. Strangely, I’ve never transferred money out of Thailand - I’m not sure how convenient that is. Thus, next time my UK account needs topping up it may simply be easier to carry the cash.

At one point, before I had a family I was a bit of a tart.... I used to have a more than one watch... Would travel wearing one and another couple in my carry on... I imagine many others do the same and it won’t be abnormal to travel with $20-30,000 of watches on their person (including carryon)... Then there is the $2000 laptop, iPad, Phone, $1000 emergency currency etc... It adds up... I remember selling my car in Thailand (was going back to the UK for a couple of years)... Sold the car, received cash, changed the Cash to GBP and flew to the UK with the cash that evening... Simple enough (and a lot more than 300,000 baht). Carrying plenty of cash is not abnormal.

Interesting... So theoretically, IF we hold a UK licence, thats the ONLY licence we can hold. Yet, in Thailand, if on a resident visa we must have a Thai Driving licence. Thus in practice complying perfectly with the regulations of individual countries is not realistic... I live in Thailand and have a Thai licence and in the UK and have a UK licence, and when resident in Dubai I had a UAE licence (3 licences in total). Of course... being 100% legal forces me to hand in the UK licence, yet, as a resident of the UK when in the UK I must drive on a UK licence and when resident in the UAE I have to drive on a UAE licence etc... (at one point this year I held resident status in 4 different countries). There is an overlap in what different ‘land transport offices (i.e. DVLA / DLT / RTA) require. Complying perfectly with the regulations in each country is not possible.

Great... Well done... A big round of applause for you, you’ve passed a difficult motorcycle test. At this stage, I’m not sure if your objective is to offer sensible advice to someone who simply wants to legally ride a scooter around town, or to highlight what a great motorcyclist you are.

Where in Thailand can you buy a CB50 or CB90 ???? Does it have ABS ??? No motorcycle with gears and a clutch and without ABS is ideal for a newbie... I understand your point about gyroscopic stability provided by larger wheels, but that really doesn’t matter much when riding around at city speeds. Your advice is more valid for someone who wants to learn to ride a motorcycle and progress through stages to larger motorcycles and ride and explore throughout the country on a larger machine. For someone who’s only goal is to have a motorcycle to ride around town there is no need for anything more than the standard ‘twist & Go’ scooter type motorcycle such as a Honda Click, Yamaha Aerox etc....

It is very dangerous to cross the road in Thailand. A much safer alternative would be not to cross the road or only cross where there is a bridge..... (see, I can make an equally moot and irrelevant comment !). In almost every thread concerning motorcycles there is always someone who pipes up and suggests getting a car because motorcycling is more dangerous in Thailand. A comment usually made by someone with no experience of riding a motorcycle in Thailand. Motorcycling is more dangerous anywhere..... In Thailand a significant amount of risk can be cut out by not riding at night, not riding in the wet, not riding after drinking, not speeding, riding defensively - by applying these ’sensible’ factors we eliminate the vast proportion of risk and remain only exposed to the ‘freak events’ which of course still present and elevated level of risk compared to driving, but place riding a motorcycle in Thailand at a far more tolerable level or risk which is more realistic for the riding many of us do.

Doing something for a long time is not experience.... maybe you have 1 year experience and repeated it 45 times... Agreed.. but only once reasonable speeds are reached... The gyroscopic forces with larger wheels are also something which needs to be overcome when manoeuvring the bike. Thus, smaller bikes are easier to manoeuvre at lower speeds - would have thought you’d know that with 45 years experience. Precisely - Larger bikes require greater experience than scooters because they are more difficult to handle - the Op has no experience. Erm.... 170kmh, really ??? .... while factually correct, who’s riding a scooter / motorcycle at 170kmh through Bangkok or other cities / towns in Thailand ?? - the point you are trying to make is rather daft when considering the Op is new to motorcycling. Well done... but somewhat irrelevant when you can’t fit a larger motorcycle between the cars, trucks, lorries etc in gridlocked traffic.

Outstanding input... extremely helpful.... Its a semi-auto... so if a higher gear is selected too early the auto-clutch engages preventing the stall. In this case it seems the auto-clutch didn’t engage properly, not only resulting in a stall, but the gear engaged and locked up the rear-wheel - just like applying the rear brake full on !!!... Quite dangerous and should definitely not happen. Thus: the fuel suggestion is a valid one (check the fuel filter)... The recommendation to go to a quiet area and re-create the issue is also a good idea. There could be an issue with the auto-clutch itself.

In case you missed it: The possible problem is that the IKEA guys, or any other installation guys, do bad quality work. That is what this discussion is about. DIY slowly and carefully with little experience and with the goal in mind to make something nice for my own home. Or get it done by someone else who's interest it is to get it done quickly, get paid, move on, and never see that installation again. The perfect situation would be to get it installed by someone professional who is proud of his work standards and does a careful job. Finding someone like that, especially in Thailand, is the difficult part. Understood... I imagine mileage varies... First hand recent experience: The IKEA guys installed our Kitchen and did and excellent job. They are familiar with their own kits etc.... someone earlier mentioned that the guys don’t know what they are doing and we could do a better job ourselves... thats not my experience at all with IKEA.

Very strange comment. A scooter is much much easier to master.... Twist and go... no clutch, no gears, no footbrake, a scooter is a lot lighter, easier to handle in traffic. A larger motorcycle with larger wheels is more stable when riding at a reasonable speed and has better brakes etc when riding at speed... but it takes a little time to master, particularly in heavy traffic, feathering the clutch etc...