JonnyF

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Truth to be told, again, that road rage in Thailand is no different to other countries

around the world and in some cases not as bad,

if you go out there driving with an attitude of Attila the Hun, expect troubles

to find you, you don't have to win every argument and fight, know when

to keep your cool and back out.....

I disagree. I drive daily in Bangkok and I think it's worse here than the vast majority of places. I had an incident on Sathorn about 18 months ago where a car stopped for absolutely no reason and to avoid it I accidentally cut someone else up. At the next set of lights he was out of his car banging mine and trying to open my door to get to me. Worse thing is as a foreigner you can't win in that situation. If you get out and lose the fight you lose. If you get out and win the fight (assuming other Thais don't pile in on you) then you end up on Facebook as the big bad farang and possibly arrested and deported. He wasn't a big guy but for those reasons I chose to stay in the car (plus there was a good chance he was armed - I wasn't).

This wasn't a one off. If you drive here you pretty much have to choose whether to back down or get in a fight on a regular occasion. And this is when you are getting cut up, not when you are cutting others up. Thailand has a very serious road rage issue in my opinion. If it was just fists it wouldn't be so bad but it's often guns, swords, machetes etc. The main problem is that the driving standards and education are very low, the egos are very big and the penalties very lenient. That's a bad combination.

She's good at crying on demand. Reminds me of the time she cried on stage and then the cameras caught her smiling and laughing about 15 seconds later.

I guess this proves that money trumps face in LOS.

The cops are making tons of one and losing whatever they thought they had left of the other. What a debacle.

Once you understand that he'll never face justice, it's quite entertaining to watch the various authorities tying themselves in knots. 

Of course if you are one of the few who still expect any form of justice, I can see how it could be being frustrating, irritating, even disappointing to see these events unfold in the predictable, time honored fashion.

1 minute ago, graemeaylward said:

What does "within July 5" mean? It certainly makes no sense to me and must have lost something in translation!

Sent from my Lenovo A3000-H using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

It's Thaiglish for "they need to pay by July 5th"

Strange the way these articles are worded. Like the most important thing is that the "PM" is satisfied, rather than whatever fake news he's supposedly satisfied with.

2 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

"n one search at Talingchan district, two suspects were arrested for having marijuana in possession. Urine test also showed they were positive for drugs."

Wow!

A real pair of drug barons I'd say.

Yep, feels much safer now Cheech and Chong are off the streets.

I think the sentence is correct. 

I'm not really concerned with whether it's a deterrent or not (I personally think it is, but admit it won't make a huge difference), I just think from a practical point of view execution ensures that they will never be set free to do this again. Otherwise they might be pardoned in 20 years or whatever when it's all forgotten and I'd rather remove that possibility. These guys had just got out of jail and within a few months they'd gone on a mugging spree and killed someone for a phone. There's no doubt as to their guilt, so the death sentence is appropriate IMO. 

Plus the taxpayers money to keep them in jail for x number of years is better spent on hospitals, education etc. 

28 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Sometimes one has to put things in perspective? Clarkson , who some people hate, but has driven almost every brand of car still states that Alfa Romeo is his brand of choice in certain segments, and it is Italian. Why? Because when you drive them  on a sunny day they make you feel happy. Not 100% reliable but who cares? If it is sunny they will strat and purr along in the sunshine. Early morning it is dark, wet and miserable , sometimes they don't start and don't really want to run at all.

 

So coming back to bikes. They can be compares to horses? In a stable one needs different horses for different jobs. Not all horses have the same temperament. Same goes for bikes and cars.  Need to ride into town to go to church? Need to ride to the big city for a business meeting ? You take a different horse than if you want to go galloping around your estate or go in the local point-to-point or steeplechase. Thoroughbreds and racehorses again are a completely different beast.

 

If one wants reliable etc, in a car? Buy a Toyota. Bike? Buy a Honda. Toyotas are very reliable but dull, Hondas for the road are mostly down speced and built for the road. 

 

Just thought of another reliable? bike BMW GS. As Hitler said"If I wanted to go ploughing I would get a real tractor"

 

 

 

Exactly. I've got a couple of old Kawasaki's for riding around Bangkok in the heat, rain, traffic etc. I drive a Honda to work. But when I get up early on a Saturday morning for a blast to Kanchanaburi, Rayong or Khao Yai there's nothing I'd rather be on than my Ducati. 

I'd prefer they stay under Audi. The reliability has improved a lot in recent years but they've still managed to retain the beauty of the Italian design. I've found the servicing to be great, but then I haven't had any major issues in my 18,000 kms so far. Biggest issue was a leaking fork seal at 17,xxx kms but since they are Showa forks I'd assume that would have happened on any bike equipped with those particular forks. Ducati sorted at the 18,000kms service without any delay anyway.

They're doing pretty well in World Superbikes as well. Chaz Davies won both races at Imola last weekend. In MotoGP Lorenzo made the podium at Jerez in his fourth race. Not too shabby for a "non entity" .

1 hour ago, papa al said:

Simple really:

Modified motocy is illegal to ride on roads.

Have you no respect for the law.?

Speed limit is 90.

Okay?

 

BMW F800GS is sold from BMW Thailand with a rear light that has a clear lense. So if you were to then sell it without modifying then you'd fail the inspection (assuming it was the same guy who checked my bike). So not really that simple...

I sold a bike recently and didn't attend the Land transport department to do the transfer because I was too busy at work. I gave power of attorney to the buyer and made a simple sales contract. They transferred me the money in advance on the understanding I'd refund it if the transfer didn't go through for any reason (I am good friends with the buyer's girlfriend and we trust each other) and I gave him the bike, keys, green book etc. to go and do the transfer.

After the transfer was complete they returned the power of attorney documents to me. Went through with no major issues (a minor issue during inspection as the glass on the tail light was white - not red - the buyer sorted that with a red translucent film).

14 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

Whatever, but a dog that can be so dangerous if it "falls in the wrong hands" should be banned anyway, I feel the same about assault rifles being sold in Walmart too.

Good point, I see your logic. With all the carnage on the roads we should ban cars as well. Why go to the trouble of educating the drivers when we can just ban the car and be done with it.

44 minutes ago, lemonjelly said:

I wouldn't advocate owning an animal that could potentially "lose it" and maul someone to death because of an argument/confrontation with a family member..... someone shouts at you and gets mauled by your "family pet", you end up in court trying to work out how much your house is worth and negotiating compensation whilst wishing you'd never owned the monstrosity in the first place.

It's natural instinct will be to protect the owner (like most dogs - not just pitbulls) but if it's trained properly it's not just going to 'lose it' and maul someone to death. Unfortunately, 99% of dogs I've seen here receive no training at all and are just shouted at or left to roam free. Again, not the dogs fault. 

Clearly you don't like the breed and have little knowledge of them, so it's a good job that you'll never own one. But it would be better to educate yourself before you start declaring that knowledgeable, responsible people shouldn't own them. In the right hands they are funny, loyal, playful dogs - their general toughness and lack of fear actually makes them very stable personalities unlike some of smaller, fearful, snappy breeds.

53 minutes ago, lemonjelly said:

Shoot it and be done with it; horrible breed of dog that was bred to fight rather than be a family pet.

Actually they were bred for both, since most fighting dogs lived in very close quarters with the family and had to be able to integrate safely with all of them. However these dogs are extremely loyal and if someone started slapping around the person who the dog considered to be it's owner then of course it is likely to protect it's owner. 

My family has been around the bull breeds since long before I was born and I've had them myself most of my life. Never seen any aggression towards members of the family, and only once saw aggression towards outsiders (when a drunk neighbour became verbally aggressive and then approached my fiance).

99.99% of the time it's case of a bad owner, not a bad dog.

34 minutes ago, ldiablo72 said:

I don't understand why he just doesn't show up. He's extremely wealthy and will get off anyway.

I think that's what will happen if the International media keep onto this and the Red Bull brand and Thailand continue looking bad.

He'll show up, get a suspended sentence due to no previous convictions, plus maybe a fine and a few weeks community service which he'll never attend. Similar to the hiso unlicensed teenager who killed 9 people in the van. 

I guess this potential route is currently being negotiated as the heat rises and the constant running and publicity becomes more inconvenient and damaging.

I went to the new Yamaha dealer at Nawamin to ask about the 2017 MT09 a few months back. I knew more about it than they did, they didn't even know it was getting an update and if it did, whether it would come to Thailand. Someone on another forum was told by Yamaha the new model wouldn't be coming to Thailand at all (I guess so they could sell off the old models).

Anyway, I guessed it would be released here so I gave them my contact details and asked them to call me when they had some information as I'd like to buy it. It was released at the Bangkok motor show about a month ago and I haven't heard a thing from them. If this is their service before they make the sale, I don't really fancy dealing with them after they have my money.  Of course, could be the individual I dealt with or that particular dealer, but it's not like there are loads of them around to choose from. Shame as their MT range is really nice.

I'd probably go for the new cbr1000rr over an r6. I had a gsxr 600 in Thailand for 6 years and liked it a lot, tame down low for city riding, super smooth with a nice hit over 10000 rpm.

600s are a bit high revving for touring though and given the better tech and torque of the liter bikes I think it's worth the extra 100k or so.

Ducati recently reduced their service costs. The non major service for my 899 is around 2500 baht now which is pretty reasonable. 

Of course you never know with a second hand bike so be careful especially in Thailand. . I was at the track a couple of weeks ago and some guy was saying how Thais seem to have issues with Ducati. 20 minutes later a guy there with a 821 started his cold bike and revved it to the limiter on the stand to warm it up. It was like someone running their nails down a black board to me.

Anyway back to the Ducati bashing from people who've never owned or ridden one :)

4 hours ago, moe666 said:

More than likely the small bike is better, Ducati ride 10 miles 10 days in shop

Which model did you own?

Mine has 17,xxx kms and has been in the shop 3 times for the 1000, 6000 and 12000 km service. It is lazy, ignorant posts like yours that make this forum increasingly irritating to visit. 

7 minutes ago, Richard-BKK said:

Lets assume that the Kawasaki Z900 is manufactured in Thailand, the story you read about that the Z900 will be imported as CBU (Complete Built Unit) from Thailand is also strange.

 

While India and Thailand have a free trade agreement, it doesn’t include motorcycles, that means that it will be charged with the full import duty – India has for imported vehicles similar high import taxes as Thailand – so probably not the best option.

 

Other motorcycles we know Bajaj Auto (Kawasaki India) is importing from Thailand are imported as CKD (Completely Knocked Down) this turns them for India customs into imported automotive parts, which are covered in the free trade agreement with India and Thailand… Making nearly import duty free…..

Hmmm, you might be getting sidetracked there. Fact is, nearly every post indicated it was made in Thailand.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=z900+made+in+thailand

12 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Yeah, and there are also still plenty of riders left inc me who don't want all that extra electronic rider aids and ride by wire stuff. More stuff to go wrong, and also why the pre 2016 Speed Triple was such a sales success. Keep It Simple has a lot of virtues...

It's possible it could need repairing at some point. Also possible it could save my life. I almost lost the rear end on my old GSXR accelerating too hard to overtake a truck in the rain. I was able to save it that time without traction control, but who knows what would have happened if I hadn't. I was doing about 120 kph and it was in the middle of nowhere. Personally I embrace the new technology, not only can things like traction control save your life, but quickshifters are awesome fun.

Definitely more hopster than hipster!

Having sat on the bike I think it would be OK for a tall guy. The seat is adjustable and can be moved backwards and the pegs are quite far forward. It's very low, but the position of the bars and pegs means it doesn't feel cramped at all. Quite roomy in fact.

8 minutes ago, Richard-BKK said:

When I enter the VIN of a Kawasaki Z900 I have seen into a VIN-Decoder from one of the many websites, I get as manufacturing location: Kawasaki Heavy Industry Ltd, 1-1 Kawasaki Cho., 673 Akashi City, Japan. If I enter a VIN number from a Z650 I get the address Pluak Daeng, Rayong, Thailand...

 

So maybe the Kawasaki Z900 is not made in Thailand..., I honestly cannot tell for sure

That's strange, if you google "Z900 Made in Thailand", virtually every result suggests that it is. 

Just one example here...

http://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/deccan+chronicle-epaper-deccanch/kawasaki+to+launch+z900+in+india+on+march+25-newsid-65461678

states "It was unveiled at the Intermot motorcycle show in Germany last year and will be imported in the country as CBU from Thailand"

Of course sometimes these websites just copy each others information but it's weird that they all state the same thing. All the first videos on Youtube were Thai as well (short test rides, walkarounds etc.) and they cropped up weeks before any non Thai videos - that is far from conclusive but led me to believe it was in fact made here. I could be wrong though.

On 3/28/2017 at 0:00 AM, MJP said:

Kawasaki Z900. Well regarded.399,000 Baht. 125ps. Best bang for the buck.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

Z900 looks good, but I'd say the MT09 with traction control, rider modes, quickshifter etc. is probably a higher spec for the same price. Slightly less power than the Z900 on paper, but back to back comparisons suggest it feels punchier in real life conditions. It's 17kg lighter as well. 

The MT09 is also made in Japan, as opposed to the Z900 which is made in Thailand.