higgy88

You may want to try Chiangmai University, Faculty of Agriculture, Highland Coffee Research and Development Center.

Highland Research and Development Center

The project was originally started with help from the UN to give the Hill Tribes a good alternative cash crop. This page is pretty old, but I can assure you that they are still there and they do sell their products, which is 100% arabica and (usually, but not always) excellent.

If you can´t find a particular vehicle in the gasohol 95 list, you may be able to find it in the gasohol 91 list

here But then again you may not.

I like yoghurt, the eating kind, and usually buy the duchie brand at the big c in lamphun. A four pack sold for 38 baht, but in one day the price went up to 50 baht. I stopped buying it, and apparently so did a lot of other people, and apparently no one bothered telling the buyers, because their cooler filled up very quickly with just about no more room for anything else. There was dutchie yoghurt everywhere. They then lowered the price to 45 baht, which made a very small dent. Finally the lowered the price to 39 baht and I, along with others, started buying it again, so they again have some more room for the milk and butter. I suspect the price will go up again, but not all at one time.

Thanks for posting that Priceless, interesting!

It doesn't say where in Chiang Mai the measurements are made though. Din Daeng is an area of Bangkok with quite heavy traffic, so a reasonable equivalent in CM would be the Rincome intersection, Chang Phueak Gate or so.

If you want an exact location in CM, look at the data from Uparaj Collage (Yupparaj Wittayalai School) located almost in the center of the old city, right across from the three kings monument.

Tywais,

For whatever it is worth, Shell Thailand has a limited warrantee where they say they will pay for any repairs that were caused by using their gasohol, and they have a list on their website identifying which cars they will cover. You may want to visit their website shell.co.th to see if your car is on their list.

For whatever it is worth, there were many pre-´90 vehicles that were gasohol compatable, but I can´t say what the Japanese may or may not have been doing during that time.

Also, gasohol is more suseptable to water contamination, but IMO there is little chance you will find any vehicles that can stand up to any more than trace amounts of water in the fuel. Right now you are probably not going to have any problems with that, but it will be a much different story when the rains start. If I had a choice between getting 95 benzene from a station in a flood prone area, or 95 gasohol from another station, I definitely know where I will be buying my fuel.

So they are finally bringing 91 gasohol to market. Good. I´ve been waiting. Fuel prices are much too high and I am hoping to save a little more money. How much cheaper was the 91 gasohol from the 95? I assume about 1 baht a liter or so, and every baht helps.

Here is an old thread I dug up for you on buying riding gear in Chiangmai. You may want to read through it. dress for the fall, not the ride

1st base, you really need to learn about power/engine speed curves, and what that red line actually means. The red line simply means that you have the potential of completely destroying your engine. Your peak power point occurs well before the red line, and for maximum acceleration the peak power point is where you should be shifting. You get to know that point by the feel of the bike. Rather than just going as fast as you can, learn the feel of the bike.

1st base, I´ve been reading your posts in this thread with some interest, and I thought I would throw in my 2 cents now. You´ve got the right ideas, to learn as much as you can and do the necessary work to get to your goal of riding your friends R1, but I think you still need a little work on your attitude. You are right on when you say that avoiding a accident is the name of the game, but going faster and putting the problem behind you is only one way to avoid an accident. Sometimes going slower and stopping is the best way. There are as many ways of avoiding an accident as there are getting into one. You also mentioned that being alert and aware of everything going on around you is more important than experience, road conditions, etc. My advice is don´t underestimate anything. And to go along with that, absolutely never overestimate your ability to deal with anything. When you get back to Canada, you may want to consider taking a good motorcyle riding course. In the US, there is a motorcycle riding course sponsored by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. I had taken this course back in the mid-80s after riding for a good number of years, and of course thought I knew everything. When you teach yourself how to ride, you can easily develop some bad ideas on how to best handle abnormal and emergency situations, and I learned a hel_l of a lot from this course. I don´t know if Canada offers something like this, but you may want to check it out when you get back. You are probably not going to find any good driving or riding courses here in Thailand, and IMO many accidents here are caused by people just no knowing how to drive or ride because they have never been properly taught.

As far as statistics on accidents in Thailand, I don´t know if there is anything broken down between cars and motorcycles, but I do know that Thailand has had the (dis)honour of being the number one in the world for the number of traffic fatalities per vehicle mile (taking into account the number of registered vehicles on the roads and the average number of miles driven). Doing a quick google search, this is the first link that came up http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-97606013.html. I do remember reading the report in the Bangkok Post, which was done by a British firm contracted by the WHO, but I don´t remember their name. You can do your own searching if you want to find out more. But no matter how you look at it, Thailand is a very dangerous place to drive, ride, walk, or just stand on the side of the road waiting for a bus.

Good luck.

Higgy

This is what I wear,

http://www.dragginjeans.com.au/

Kevlar jeans, k-shirt and gloves

Luckily I haven´t put them through ¨the test¨ myself yet.

Their web site says that their products are sold at Power Station Motorsports in Bangkok.

Thank you.

Time is something I have a lot of.

Answers is something I have very little of.

Sounds like you are talking about the Chabad House,

City Life Chiangmai

and they do in fact serve kosher food.

I do agree with you Mapguy, but....

I had lurked on this forum for a year or more before I finally joined. It was an excellent source of information. My occassional post is usually ignored, but with a couple of teenage children I have gotten used to being ignored, and I know I can get verrry boring. Now, there are a h_ll of a lot more members and a much more more diverse group of posters, and I find reading Thai Visa much more entertaining now than it used to be. I actually like it when a couple of posters start going after each other. But then again, in my younger days I liked going to the MIS (Michigan International Speedway) just to see the crashes. Just goes to show we get our entertainment in different ways. I also think the moderators do an excellent job of acting as the referee and keeping the fights clean before they finally break it up and stop the fight. Of course sometimes it is a bit disappointing when they do that because it was just getting good.

Hi sbk, I have an old computer, 400 hz pentium 2 with 320 MB RAM, and I had been playing around with different distros. Both my computer and I have liked xubuntu the best so, I have been using that for the last month or so. I´m a newbie with linux, but have had surprisingly very few issues with it. It has immediately recognized 2 different MP3 players (sorry no ipods), 2 different flash drives, an external hard drive, and a digital camera. The only issue I have had is the way it handles deleting files from the flash drives. This is a know bug from reading their forum, and the easiest workaround for me is to just move the file to the hard drive first and then delete it. Piece of cake, and I think it will do just what you want especially if it is an older computer.

Yup - highly recommended

Also recommend that once a month or so, you leave the UPS unplugged from the supply, but with a table lamp plugged in the back to drain the battery and prevent "charge-memory"

If you try it by leaving the monitor on, you'll probably find the UPS won't keep the monitor powered as the charge-memory is too high a percentage of the battery. Use a low drain appliance like a table lamp to completely flatten the battery and remove the charge memory.

What's charge memory? If the battery is X% charged and the power disconnects, then when the power reconnects, the battery metabolism believes that the remaining charge level is the totally drained state. E.G. (in simple English) if for the normal load you put on the UPS, you would get 20 minutes of power, but the battery is only half charged when the power goes out, then when the power comes back, your UPS will set itself up as a ten minute battery - same thing happens with mobile phone batteries and lap-top batteries - especially lap-tops if you always run them with the main plugged in.

It's a simplistic explanation but the easiest to understand. Different battery (and UPS) chemical-types react slightly differently.

Cost me two monitors here before I learned the lesson to get a UPS.

Just for the record, UPSs use the same sealed lead acid batteries the same as cars and motorcycles, at least mine do. The charge memory problem is not an issue with lead acid batteries and I know of no one who has ever discharged and then recharged his car battery once a month. The charge memory problem was a big problem with the first generation Ni-Cad batteries, a smaller problem with the next generation Ni-MH batteries, and a minor problem with the current generation lithium batteries. I have 2 UPSs, one 9 years old and is on its 4th or 5th battery, and one that is 3 years old which I have just put in its 2nd battery. I would not buy a new UPS just because it needs a new battery for the same reason I would not buy a new car or new phone just because it needs a new battery.

I do know one person who did not use a UPS and had to replace his power supply after about a year.

I asked this same question specifically about music to a friend in the US who is an attorney. I had spent about 2 years digitizing my entire music collection, not a small amount, which in itś original form came in LPs, 45s, cassettes, and 8 track). His answer was that it depended on the laws that were in place at the time and in the country in which the recording was made, as well as the laws that were in place at the time and in the country where the recording was sold, assuming it was sold legally, so there was really no way he could give me a definate answer and that basically it would not be a problem if it was just for my own use. I had made a number of CDs for him as a gift, and asked him what if I give this music away. He laughed as he accepted my gift, saying ¨just don´t give it away over the internet¨.

It´s been a number of years since I last bought a new helmet, and after reading this thread I think it´s time that I bought a new one. In doing some searching for good brands, I came across this article. If you have the time, go through the whole thing thing because I found it very interesting.

motorcycle helmet design, blowing the lid off

As far as the Thai brands go, it looks like only Avex has a web site. I couldn´t find anything for Index.

Avex safety helmets

I have the manual in English, well sort of. Actually it is a photocopy of the manual that had been marked up (also in English) with what I assume to be future changes, and it is 6 years old when the phantom first came out with the 200 cc 4 stroke engine. Anyone interested or is it too old? If anyone is interested Iĺl check it out to see if I can get it scanned or something so I can post it rather than sending photocopies to people. Itś about 100 pages.

Nice bike for the price. I think theyŕe selling for upwards of 86K baht here in Lamphun but I haven looked lately. If you can get a new one for 83K, grab it.

Safe riding George.

higgy

A staggered bank V 5 Honda! Amazing! I can't get the VW link for some reason (typical bad internet tonight and it keeps timing out) but no matter. No arguement from me as to whether or not it is a real V configuration. I will eat whatever amount of crow you wish to serve. I guess I've been living in this cave for too long. Rather than crawling back in I should stick my head out a little more often, and take a good look around farther than to my local Honda dealer. My Phantom is still a little shyt shaker, but I love her just the same. Much better than my Honda Dream, which is what I first got when I washed up on the shores of Thailand. What I would do if I only had more money!?

Thank you very much boys. I stand corrected and with your permission I would like to retract that statement. However, I still stand by my statement that internal combustion engines with odd number of cylinders pose much more complex dynamics than engines with even numbers, produce much higher second order vibrations that must be addressed and controlled, and in general are much more difficult to design. And they are limited to only the inline configuration (If you can find me a V or opposed 3 or 5 cylinder engine that actually made it into the production stage for commercial use then I'll retract this statement too and go back into my cave). Engine design has been going on for the last 100 years, with many different designs and configurations over the years with varying degrees of success.

As far as the OP wanting to get more kick out of his 200 cc single cylinder honda, from what I can remember way back in my good old days, the biggest single cylinder 4 stroker was a 500 cc Norton. These single cylinder bikes were known as "thumpers" because (I was told as I never actually ridden one) the rider could actually feel each of the power strokes as he rode down the street. So, do you guys know of bigger ones and/or have any other comments on single cylinder motor bikes? My phantom is a nice bike, for what it is, but it is the only single cylinder bike I have ever ridden and as I said I really don't like the vibrations and I can see trying to get more power out of it is only going to make it worse.

I've been riding my phantom for 6 years now. I got one of the first ones after they came out with the 200 cc 4 stroke (I believe the 150 cc 2 stroke was discontinued at that time). When I first got it I also wanted it to get a bit more of a kick out of it, and like you I talked to a number of people about what I could do. The end result was I did nothing and just accepted the bike for what it is, and I am very glad that I did as I now have to get it inspected every year in order to get my annual sticker. My biggest complaint is the vibrations in the handlebars which tend to put my hands to sleep. And by trying to get more power out of this bike you are going to make the vibrations even worse. It's still just a one cylinder engine. There is a very good reason you don't find big bore single cylinder engines, and you do not find any engines with odd number of cylinders ( 3, 5 or 7 cylinders) and that is because of the vibrations. My solution was to leave the wife at home.

I would have to do in near future as XP dies. They can kill XP and force exspense upgrades and I won't care.

Mainstream support for XP continues until 2009, with extended support and security upgrades available until 2014.

Yea, right! I believe this the same as I believe that MS supported my Windows 98 with extended security updates until I think last year but I really don't rememeber what they had claimed. What I do remember was the last security update I was able to get from MS for my legal Windows 98 was in 2002. Unfortunately, I bought my Compaq in Thailand with Windows 98 pre-installed at the factory by Compaq, and when I tried to use windows update all I got was a window saying they no longer supported the Thai, Hebrew, Arabic, Slovakian, and a few other editions I really don't remember the whole list. The reasult was simply no more security updates for me because I was being punished by MS for the actions of others. I now also have an HP with Windows XP, also pre-installed at the factory which I also bought in Thailand, and I have no reason not to think that they won't do exactly the same thing to me again. Will I actually get security updates until 2014? I have no idea. They have shown me that they can and will do anything they want anytime they want. I am now in the market for a new computer to replace my 10 year old Compaq, and I decided to say goodbye to MS. It's time for me to move on. What others will do is completely up to them.

It's available almost 10 days earlier than planned (roadmap was oct. 26th).

But as usual the ISO CD is still not available in Thailande at http://mirror.in.th today.

The quickest download I could get was from Taiwan http://ftp.twaren.net/Linux/Ubuntu/ubuntu-cd/7.10/ (more or less 120kbit/s)

I downloaded it last night from the Thailand link on the Ubuntu mirror list here ubuntu download mirrors

I've never used linux before and was waiting for this to get my feet wet. I'm in the market for a new computer and I just do not want Windows anymore. I will be turning over my Windows XP computer to my to my two kids so I won't have to fight them anymore. I've been playing around running it from the live CD today, but will really have to wait until the kids are back in school to get into it. I may be on this forum asking alot of questions, but the ubuntu forum is just jack full of good info.

higgy

I have found over the years that, in general, making modifications to the engine to produce more power usually resulted in both short term performance improvements and long term durability problems. To specifically address boring out the 200 cc to 250 cc, I have no idea if it is safe to do this, but you need to be very careful about the cylinder wall thickness. If it is made too thin it's going to start cracking and your engine will be history.

I recently bought a new Honda Phantom (I really like it!) and it has been suggested that I use only the synthetic oil like Mobil 1. I am not much of a mechanic or anything like that so I dont know. How much more expensive is it? Is it worth it? Why?

This question is a minefield. Ask 10 people you will get 10 different answers. Don't put synthetic oil in your bike until it is well broken in.

Read this Motorcyle Oils Shell Rotella (Rotella here is called Rimula) Ultra 5W-40 is a favorite with m/cyclists. The 40 is the important number in this group. As we don't experience any low temperatures the "W" Winter rating is meaningless.

Snippits from above article.

You don't need to buy expensive "motorcycle" oils

It is not recommended to use some car oils in motorcycles ie Mobil1 because they contain friction modifiers. As your clutch runs in an oil bath it will not like friction modifiers. Motor cycles use the same oil for the gearbox so are hard on oils with low shear qualities.

You will not get 10000 kms between changes from synthetic oils and semi-synthetics are a waste of money.

So yes a synthetic oil will give you better protection. At a price. Like everything you get what you pay for.

VN, Thanks for the link. Very interesting reading. I was quite surprised and a bit unnerved when the author talked about how badly the automotive oil had degraded after just 1,500 miles. As a long time motorcycle rider, I have almost always used good quality automotive engine oils for my bikes, but this was well before the introduction of energy conserving oils and the phase out of ZDDP as the primary antiwear additive. I never had any oil related problems, but I did change the oil at the recommended intervals. I did some googling on the subject and found this site. motorcycle engine oil

which was written by a retired chemist from a major oil and chemical company in 2002, and he has a very different opinion. But then you did say ask 10 people and you will get 10 different opinions. I definately agree on that.

A snippet from his article;

Will changing the oil even more frequently, like every 1,000 miles, prolong the life of the engine?

Not very likely, because even at 3,000 to 4,000 miles, the oil and additives are not degraded very much. Changing more often just wastes money.

As far as my 6 year old 4 stroke 200cc Phantom, it was also recommended that I use synthetic and I did, but only once. I didn't really see much benifit other than doubling the time interval between oil changes. I think Mobile One is excellent, but I decided that it really wasn't worth the extra cost for exactly the same reason I bought a Toyota Vios for the wife rather than a Mercedes Benz. But to each their own. I had been buying my own oil and giving it to the shop when I went in for service, but the last time I just decided it wasn't even worth doing that anymore and I just had them put in their Honda 4T OEM oil. It's competitively priced, meets all of the JASO specs, and they have a straight 40 weight which I like because there is really no need for a multigrade oil here in the land of hot and hotter. Cheers.