Wong!

Not a lot in it.

CB650F

CB500F

Unless you weren't actually talking about the CB1000 and meant the CB1100...

Which, is indeed the best looking bike on the road today. Shame I can't afford one.

Thailand and India have already a free trade agreement, the only downside is that motor vehicles are on the exception list, therefore the import duty is and will be for as long as motorcycles are on the exception list 60% import duty (this is without Excise and Interior tax and VAT)

Thanks for that. So 60% + excise,int tax & VAT

Still a Duke 200 retails with reg in India 60k-69k baht

So with the Duke 200 60k> 249k= 315% increase & that is based on

"retail" India. KTM Thailand does not pay retail I'm guessing

Yes I think they may have a bit of profit there

Which is expected & fine but theirs is over the top & not doing

KTM's exposure in Thailand any favors IMO

If it's anything like beer taxes, it'll be [COST] + [Excise] then [C+E]+[iNT TAX] then [C+E+IT]+[VAT], so it's a fair bit more tax than one initially thinks.

^ Agreed also.

LL2 (I think) said that Honda will be offering very reasonably PX deals for an upgrade to the 650. Hopefully, they'll still be offering it in a year or two when you're a more competent rider and for me, it'll take me that long to convince the missus I need a 650.

Maybe Honda are only going to sell it in America???

That's what I was thinking. Looks dreadful like most American auotomobilia.

.... They will release the bikes in March though:(...

Which if the history of other manufacturers is any indication, could mean May or June. Was the release of the 500's on time? I don't recall.

I think so. The Beginning of March or maybe a bit earlier. I collected my 500F on April 1st and this was the 2nd or 2rd batch of bikes they had in.

I saw an orange and black Z800 the other day (first time I'd seen one in person) and I thought it looked great- way better than the pics I'd seen.

Agreed. It looks OK in real life, but like a kid's toy in photos.

Keep the 500 for the city.

Buy a car so Thai business people stop laughing at you.

Rent a house near work so you don't have to live in a shoe box.

^ Perversely, I usually always prefer a naked bike, but I really like the 650R.

Many people on other forums in Thailand and UK have reported serious problems with new CB500 F and model variants regarding , excessive oil loss at high speed due to engine breather problems , seems a design fault some ownners have almost run the sump dry of oil on long hard fast runs , also the valve service high cost required at 1st service has annoyed many people , spares availablity for the 500s at Thai honda dealers has also been a issue ..

usually Honda are exemplary but sometime they get it wrong , remember the early VFR chocolate cams.

A handful of people have reported a number of different problems but never seen any reports about the engine having breather problems.

Some quick prices from the official release:

1.5L 5MT Ambiente - 669K

1.5L 6AT Ambiente - 709K

1.5L 6AT Trend - 759K

1.5L 6AT Titanium - 829K

That top 1.5 model seems a bit pricey, considering the engine, though a good one, is nothing new. Wonder what the Titanium 1L or diesel versions will go for? Probably the AWD diesel version will be prohibitively priced for the class?

I very much doubt you'll be able to buy a diesel here. For some reason diesels are for trucks only. I guess the meddling govt has something to do with that.

I am upset about Honda releasing this bike; I love my CB500X but having purchased it in August it's disheartening that for only 50% more money I could have gotten a bike that's twice (?) as good. At least I can console myself that the X is really good for where I live and perhaps a couple of years upgrade.

I'm happy to keep my 500F for at least another year, but it's good to know that we do now have a choice when we get to the point where we're looking for a change. Maybe Honda will be making VFR800s in Thailand by then. That would be nice.

It's an odd looking bike for sure

I wonder if they will open BMW dealer ships around the country as Ducati and Big Wing have done?

Not much point of having one if you have to go to Bangkok for each service.

Yes, they are. The Udon one is being built at the moment.

I guess Kawasaki are going to have to lop 50k off the ER6N and Ninja 650 or no one in their right mind would go near them if those Honda prices turn out to be correct.

^ I saw a chick on a Z250 on Saturday. That worked for me.

Seems like a good bike for the money. It makes the pricing of the CB650s even more interesting.

For me, I prefer the torquier Honda, but can understand others wanting something a bit peakier and ABS is another reason why I prefer the Honda. The Cycle News article compares pricing and specs with the outgoing 600 Hornet, which in 6 months time will be meaningless.

I wish Benellii would do something about than plate from a WWII tank that they're using as a sump though.

BMW are looking at india or thailand as a production site

I was told by a manager at Nataporn (Honda, Nissan & BMW franchisees in Udon) that BMW have confirmed they will start producing motorcycles in Thailand in the next few years. The new BMW showroom in the city is currently under construction and will sell both cars and motorcycles.

I don't know if Honda Big Wing is the same? I hope not.

Udon seem OK.

We always use the Honda dealership on Hangdong Road for everything to do with our CRV.

Expert, friendly service that goes above and beyond with a very comfortable Customer Lounge. On top of all that, the prices are very reasonable.

I didn't know Honda made a CRV bike...

This is the 2nd Honda dealer in town with bad to non existent service. Is it the same where you live?

Yes. The 'normal' Honda (and Yamaha et al) are typically Thai.

And cb650f colors.

Yellow one looks nasty!

Tri color with gold rims looks the best for me.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I'm hoping the yellow looks better in the flesh - I've always like yellow vehicles.

I'd also try to get black wheels if I got a CBF - not a fan of the gold ones.

From that angle it looks like the cheap and nasty CB500.

When it comes to making mid-sized naked bikes Kawasaki have Honda's design team cleaning the toilet in Kawa HQ at this current time.

I wouldn't have a Kawa if you paid me. Watch their mid-sized bike sales figures fall through the floor over the coming year.

When I go England I always a buy a car that was built pre 2000, or preferably pre 1998

A big difference between pre 200 and pre-war.

Not really when it comes to repairs and their cost, the big changes arrived around the turn of the millennium when all the high tech crap arrived. My 206 1.9d has no turbo, or inter-cooler and very little in terms of electronics, okay it's a Peugeot, so things go wrong, the central locking has problems, but I figured a way around it, the indicator switch was fixed with a rolled up piece of paper. But new tyres are just 35 quid each and it does 80+mpg, cost me only 450 quid to buy 125 quid to insure, cheap almost trouble free motoring, that gets me where I want to go. So, I will get my money back when I sell.

This is what I want from a bike, cheap relative trouble free riding, with the knowledge that when things go wrong it can be fixed, if not by me, by a Thai mechanic with his 3 spanners. A modern bike sounds like a sewing machine and has as much character.

It also seems these old bikes are reliable, more so that modern machine, if you read many of the first hand accounts of owners here, so maybe many of these improvements they have made, aren't. There is no shortage of bullshit when it comes to the modern marketing men, after all they convince millions of us daily that MacDonalds is real food..

Good to see you want to buy a Honda and not an Enfield.

When I go England I always a buy a car that was built pre 2000, or preferably pre 1998

A big difference between pre 200 and pre-war.

So, you've bought a new one then?

Probably a one-off from the factory for Honda to see what it looked like.

Or maybe Somchai put a 650 on the Wave production line and it got Wave Blue by mistake?