JonnyF

Sounds like a really good idea, well done Honda.

Yamaha also have a training school on the BangNa Trat road, about 10km before the BangPlee industrial estate on the left as you head out of Bangkok. Looks quite a professional setup with a big riding area etc. Never see many people in there though.

Some good points. Interesting how all the high tech fuel efficiency of the Honda seems to be countered by the Elegance being lighter. Sometimes the simple things are the most effective.

I still use my 4-5 year old air-cooled Nouvo MX for short shopping trips. I wouldn't replace it as it does the job and it's still fine mechanically and cosmetically but if I was looking at a replacement I'd go with the Elegance. These scooters are just convenient tools - so for me the cheaper and simpler option is better. As people have said, any local can fix a carb. If you're doing high mileage or touring then I'd look at a totally different type of bike anyway. For short trips the simpler, lighter, cheaper Elegance is adequate IMO.

Best check the date of the article I think

Nice idea though

I've got a pair of Hornee Kevlar jeans (Australian company I believe). Look like normal jeans and I use them for short trips on my GSXR. Bit heavy and a bit hot but good peace of mind for short hops around the city.

Against a car like that you're right, you need a modern litre bike to compete on an open stretch of road. Once you hit a bit of traffic the contest is over.

I was recently tailgated fairly aggressively by a Mercedes AMG on the long open 344 between Ban Bueng and Klaeng on my GSXR 600. I took it to around 200-220 for a few minutes and then decided to let him go. About 2 minutes later the traffic stacked up behind a truck and I blasted by him. It must have taken him 5 minutes to get round that mess, anyway I never saw him again.

It must loosen your teeth driving those things over the Bangkok potholes. Doesn't seem to stop them though - saw a Porsche 911 on my way home a few minutes ago. Lovely car (but overtook it on the 250!)

I read the three motorcycle track review, and I wonder about one thing... how much hours/days/months/kilometers experience you have on all motorcycle models.

It's too simple as you think, because you own a Kawasaki Ninja 250R you could race on a Honda CBR250R and actual can compare lap times. (sorry I not know if you own a Kawasaki Ninja 250R, but it's just an example). Motorcycle suspension is as personal as a fingerprint, I can tell that even in the MotoGP, two identical Honda race bikes have different suspension settings... completely fine-tuned to the rider.

I could be wrong, but from the way I read the post it seems that the compression dampening was set too soft. Not really surprising considering that a large expat was riding the bike rather than a Somchai of 1/2-2/3 the weight. I don't remember reading that preload was adjusted on the CBR, but I'd imagine that someone that spent what they did on the mods for the Ninja would have adjusted that setting and a 300km CBR may not have (and that could have been part of the issue also if the suspension was not allowed full travel).

Dave, I ask this as a serious question - have you looked at the 2 bikes side by side?

I'm not talking about the fairings or the gauge cluster, I mean the things that matter. The forks, the swingarm, the brakes, the shock. Have you compared them? I have, and it's no surprise that the reviewer rates the Ninja as far superior (I doubt 300% as well - but he was making a point) on the track to the CBR.

And let's not forget that "everyday riding" involves going around corners and stopping, not only overtaking Fino's from 3000 rpm in sixth gear.

Any update today, re the big bike offers and prices.....many thanks

Just a word of warning, just because it's at the show doesn't mean it's for sale in Thailand. They had a 2010 ZX6R there last year, wouldn't take a deposit and told me it would be here in a few months. It never arrived.

I'm hoping the Z1000 won't be the same story. I probably won't buy it anyway but I think it would do quite well at the 500k baht level. Until it's for sale in the showroom I'd take what the sales guys at the motor show tell you with a pinch of salt.

Inteesting to see Mbox's pics from the motorshow, with a CBR with touring screen. Looks very similiar to the 150's. Will probably head up on Satuday so will try to get info and more pics.

Judging by the frame, that IS the 150 isn't it? The 250 has the more tubular frame I thought?

Lovely bike, I've been toying with the idea of getting one since I sat on the one at last years BKK motor show. Just don't have enough time to ride to justify it at the moment. Congratulations!

Just asking here since i am dumb... I paid 104k for my bike... The ninja is 147k... How is that 30 percent? Good report though- hope the owner of the ninja was not upset with you... And that you are ok... Good luck this weekend...

I paid 139 for my Ninja - that's pretty close to 30%. It's gone up since then, same as the CBR seems to be increasing in price weekly. Only difference is Kawasaki did it over the table and Honda did it under the table. Who would you rather deal with for the next x years?

Good honest review and lends support to what a lot of us have been saying for a few months that the CBR is a good value commuter bike with some fairings attached - whereas the Ninja is more of a sportsbike. Not only the engine, but the whole package.

The high quality dealer support network from Kawasaki vs. the price gouging/incompetent servicing from APe Honda is the icing on the cake for me but I realize that's subjective - you pay your money and you take your choice. For some it's worth the money and for some it isn't - same as most things.

Once again, I should clarify that I'm not knocking the Honda I'm just calling a spade a spade. Sorry if that offends.

No, I'm not keen on that one - I meant this one...

Thanks for the pics.

Anyone know what that Honda Dax looking thing is? It's got BigBull written on the case which I assume is the manufacturer but I've never heard of them.

^^ Yes there's a few about. None that get rid of the entire section though. All just start under the stock rear light.

Get rid of that who section, get in a piece with new rear light under the seat and have it looking like:

I think it might take more than removing the tail section to make your CBR look like the heavily modded/photoshopped version of how the CBR "should" have looked. And even if you could make it look like that, it would still be a sheep in wolf's clothing with that little single cylinder hiding under all the plastic.

You are absolutely right Johnny! Why the fupp did I buy a CBR sheep for my 10km commute, around town use and 3-4hr trips in the mountains when I could have had a 300kph wolf? I wish you'd have posted here before I'd bought it so I could have seen the light and then spent more than double what I did on a bigger, faster and thirstier bike!

Why do some 'big bike' owners see the need to knock and mock other bike owners so much? It's my first bike and is absolutely perfect for what I use it for! Like many bike owners I may well move on to bigger and faster bikes in the future or I might not, either way I won't prowl bike forums taking the piss like you and some others seem to enjoy doing.

I actually agree with your point about the suitability of the bike. If you re-read my post you'll see that it was 100% accurate. Nothing wrong with using a CBR250 for a daily commute because it's extremely well suited to that. I sometimes use a KSR110 for trips through heavy Bangkok traffic because it's so well suited to it. I also ride a Nouvo to the 711 so I'm not biased towards big bikes, neither am I taking the piss. The CBR is however a sheep in wolf's clothing whether you like it or not so I don't see the harm in stating it. You could say the same about my KSR. I accept that my KSR is a bit weak but I like it anyway because it looks good and it's fun. It seems like you have the same realistic attitude to the CBR so good luck to you.

^^ Yes there's a few about. None that get rid of the entire section though. All just start under the stock rear light.

Get rid of that who section, get in a piece with new rear light under the seat and have it looking like:

I think it might take more than removing the tail section to make your CBR look like the heavily modded/photoshopped version of how the CBR "should" have looked. And even if you could make it look like that, it would still be a sheep in wolf's clothing with that little single cylinder hiding under all the plastic.

That Z1000 is nice, I'd rather see the 2011 ZX10R though. Anyone know if it's going to be at the show or subsequently sold over here?

The show starts on Friday (25th) I think.

I would guess kwaker consider ZX10R too high tech for the Thai market, and consider Z1000/Ninja1000 to sell better and at a lower price

They've sold the ZX10R here for the last 2 years, although not in large numbers as far as I can tell. The 2011 is a big step forward from the 2010 model and also a bit smaller and a lot lighter, which is why I'd be interested if it's brought over. Maybe better to go to Red Baron though, I'm guessing the 2011 from Kawasaki will be restricted same as the 2010 was whereas RedBaron's bikes are full power and their mechanics are used to working on sportsbikes.

That Z1000 is nice, I'd rather see the 2011 ZX10R though. Anyone know if it's going to be at the show or subsequently sold over here?

The show starts on Friday (25th) I think.

That's okay, by time it takes the ninjette to downshift it'll be eating pretend sportsbike smoke.

And God help it if it's 2-up. Being humiliated by a fino can't be much fun.

Not everyone finds themselves in the wrong gear regularly. I suggest you learn to read the flow of traffic around you and put yourself in the correct gear well in advance. This will help you in terms of using engine braking as well as accelerating. It applies to all bikes, not just small bikes like the Ninja and that legendary "torque monster", the mighty CBR250.

Bikes are more reliable than they used to be in the 60's and 70's, you won't break it by riding it over 3k rpm (although that extra 20 baht a week for gas can really add up over the decades).

The 1050 is a lovely bike, where did he get it from? Import it himself or buy from a dealer in LOS?

Not sure about all the hen-pecked stuff though. It's his money, he earnt it so he can buy whatever bike he wants, why try to hide it? Doesn't make sense to me.

Or just rent a little auto like a Mio for the day. Give him 10-20 minutes to get used to it and he should be fine, especially if the electric one is (relatively) big, fast and heavy.

If I was you I'd get the er6n (or the 650R if you're going to be touring). I had the same dilemma deciding whether to upgrade from the Ninja 250R when the er6n was released and decided against it - but if I was buying new now with the extra choices available to me then I'd go for one of the 650's for sure.

I'm sure that's the real reason that objective metrics have the 'race' so close....I'll agree with you that subjective comments such as "frolicsome little motorcycle with cool styling" and "elicting more toothy grins" or "might be the best two-wheel thing" should be ignored, comments like "you can cruise at 3500 RPM in top cog" (try that on your Ninja) and "not only does it keep up...it actually ekes away from it corner by corner" are simply items that can not be brushed off as sheeple fodder...

And btw, if the 2x displacement four strokes consumed the same amount of fuel and had much better torque across the board what was wrong with running them against the smaller 2T?

I really don't get the obsession with cruising in top gear at 3500 RPM. It's a sportsbike not a diesel van, why would I want to cruise "corner by corner" at 3500 RPM when I have 6 gears and a redline way above 10k RPM?

btw, motorbike racing is classed by cc (250 class, 500 class etc), not fuel consumption and torque curves - you don't see a "36 kpl" class do you. The problem was that the manufacturers were giving an unfair advantage (double the cc) to the more expensive "latest technology" bikes that they wanted to push to the consumers and the bike publications predictably backed them up with their reviews at the time. Not so off topic when you compare the new CBR250 vs the old one i.e. producing an inferior bike and then trying to pass it off as the latest and greatest technology (with the help of bike reviews using meaningless phrases like the ones you quoted above).

Cycle World magazine just did a comparison of the US versions of both bikes in the April 2011 issue. Although they do like the Ninja a lot, they gave the overall edge to the Honda. They especially liked the user friendly torque curve and handling of the Honda. I personally think the Ninja has a definite edge in the looks department, but would probably go with the Honda based on what I read in their comparison test and the lower price of the Honda. In the past, I have always picked Kawasakis over Hondas when actually buying.

I've read three comparisons now and the only one which gave it to the Ninja was sponsored by Kawasaki

Very few of the big publications independent. Normally their reviews are based on which manufacturer pays them the most advertising dollars. Just because a magazine isn't owned by Honda, doesn't mean it isn't "owned" by Honda.

Thought this was common knowledge? This is a global bike with massive investment (much of it in advertising) from the largest bike manufacturer in the world - what do you think the magazines are going to say?

Same reason the 4 strokes were suddenly so "superior" to the 2 strokes in all the major Motocross publications back in 2004, despite them blowing valves all the time, having lower power to weight ratio, being heavier, more expensive and needing twice the capacity to compete with the smokers. Why? That's what the biggest hitting manufacturers were pushing. And the sheeple lapped it up.

Just wait (not long now!) until your favourite 250 riders are riding thumpers - they'll be the best design known to man! Better than the 2 strokes, even better than the inline 4's! Bike devolution led by Honda's profit margin. Let's all get behind it

Blatant scam, surprised he's still trying it on here. What a wanke_r!

http://www.ip2location.com/free.asp will tell you the location from the IP

I've seen very clean NSR's for 15-20k. In a couple of years if you look after it then I'm guessing it will be worth about the same as it is now or maybe a couple of thousand less. Spares are available and very cheap. The new FI CBR150 is nearer 80k as far as I know so it's going to be a long time before you make that 60k difference back on gas savings. Also the NSR150 makes more power and will be a more fun ride (assuming you're not averse to riding at high RPM's to make that power). I believe the insurance is the same but it's only going to be a few hundred baht either way anyway.

The notion that a well maintained 2 stroke is unreliable is nonsense. I think Thanh (sp) from the forum has done tens of thousands of kms on his 2 stroke, and I'm always seeing the 20 year old Kawasaki 2 strokes bashing their way through Bangkok with a gas canister on the back and the token old guy smoking a cigarette up front. If they were that expensive/unreliable then I don't think you'd be seeing this.

But not the SP.

I saw clean SP's for under 20k when I was looking 2-3 years back on Phuket. Not on the farang websites but just parked up on main roads or in mechanics shophouses with a sign on them. They looked good aesthetically and even if they had mechanical issues it would have only taken a few thousand baht to sort them out. Just have to keep an eye out and take your time.

I've also seen them advertised for 30k or even more on bahtsold, TV etc. but I'm not sure if people are actually buying them at these prices.