T_Dog

Been getting in a lot of dry rides and thought maybe this thread had run its course. The last week sure has felt like the dry season is on the way.

The Sunday Cycling Club took a leisurely jaunt up to Wat Doi Kham and the new pavement is very nice. Makes the downhill more dangerous though as the bumpy sections would make one slow down. Now it is just smooth and fast sailing all the way down, but watch for those corners! Here are some photos.......

I would not worry about the small current draw as a charged and working battery would handle that for weeks. I would first suspect a bad battery (even new they could be bad) and then barring that, I would have the charging system checked. The voltage measured at the battery terminals once you start your car should be more constant than what you are seeing.

Sincere condolences to his family. My wife and I had the good fortune to run into Ken several times in his last few months. As many have said here, he was a great guy. Clear skies to you Ken.....

It is so frustrating not being able to ride in the center of the lane because oncoming vehicles want to overtake and will do so even when you are occupying the lane. It's move over or die.

Been many years since I took the driving test, but doesn't Thai law say that bikes are normally supposed to stay over on the side of the lane?

All vehicles must keep to the left lane unless passing. Nothing in the code about position within a single lane. If I am on the big bike then I am going car speed and I am constantly passing slower bikes thus I am in the middle of the lane. (Plus the bike lane is to narrow for a big bike going car speeds.) What I'm talking about is when an oncoming car or truck sees this they will still pull into your lane to overtake making you move over.

In Thailand, if you are on two wheels you will have cars pull into your lane to pass others. This is just the normal deal. The surprise factor comes in if you are on a limited visibility road like the 1095 to Pai and enjoying yourself when all of a sudden there is a ton of onions on a truck on your lane and on your shoulder. Happens all the time.

I asked that same question on that YouTube link and never got an answer. I've ridden down from the viewpoint several times and don't think that is the trail, but I might be wrong. The viewpoint trail is very rutted and you need a true downhill bike to really enjoy it. I hope we can solve this mystery!

Here in my moobaan which pretty much has houses under construction all the time the workers who make concrete walls and sometimes smooth them out to almost glass smoothness is amazing to me. Other walls they leave with a rough texture...all depends on the appearance desired. But its a simple process which uses fine cement with very little to no fine sand, simple smoothing tools while smoothing with water being applied, etc. They have it down to an art. They built a bathroom next to the soccer field about two years ago, just made the inside and outside concrete walls really smooth instead of also painting them, and it's never had algae. Now, if they had also painted the walls I'm sure the paint would have black and green streaking/algae all over the place by now.

Pib.... I agree, the pros really know how to do a great job. Hopefully someone that has actually done it can tell us how they do it. I know it involves the right mix and then waiting a certain time before doing the final finish, but the devil is in the details on this one. A lot of modern houses have that look now in Thailand and I like it as well.

Here are some photos from my weekly "stay-in-shape" ride. Some of the trails are like tunnels this year from all the rain. There are many tracks like these in Northern Thailand and it is just a matter of going down them to find out which ones are not dead ends. Once in the woods, the only person I saw was a mushroom hunter.

beautiful tracks T, where is this place?

I pop on down south about 20 km to the road that leads to OpKhan National Park and the waterfalls, but before I get there, I turn north at a Royal Project and do these tracks and two hill tribe settlements until I come out at the Samoung Road. About 5km of the Samoung road and I go over the back road of Doi Kham (which you know!) to get back home. Some day when you have a full morning, let's do it. It is no harder than climbing Doi Suthep, but it does take longer.

Here are some photos from my weekly "stay-in-shape" ride. Some of the trails are like tunnels this year from all the rain. There are many tracks like these in Northern Thailand and it is just a matter of going down them to find out which ones are not dead ends. Once in the woods, the only person I saw was a mushroom hunter.

Forgot to add.... no numbers on this as it was a lean needle. Fatter all the way down.

Does the wear on that needle go completely around ?can't tell in the pic. The needle i changed says C 32 A at the top, any chance you can still read the number on yours?

Im pretty sure my slide and rubber diaphram are still good, but now im wondering since our bikes have similar mileage whether i should change it out. Not having any throttling issues though.

KRS1... No, the wear does not go all the way around. It is asymmetrical wear at both the flange and down the taper. There is a definite ridge that you can feel down the taper.

The slide diaphragm was in good shape, but there was a lot of wear on the sides of the slider itself. 900 baht to replace it but the tech recommended it so I went with it.

As I said earlier, the throttle fidelity is much better, and I had a chance to drive it hard this afternoon. It seems to do better at the top end as well. I don't think a worn out needle valve vibrating around does anything for performance! I would recommend doing this for any CBR-150 right at 30,000 km to avoid these problems. So far, this is the only weak point of the engine I have found. We've taken a lot of trips up North two-up, hitting the revs hard all the time up in the mountains where you have to. Great little engine.

Here are the photos of my problem needle. The offending wear is located about 1 cm from the flange end. The retainer area near the flange is worn as well, asymmetrically. This was a used needle put in about 5 months ago.

Sure is nice to have the engine running with nice throttle response fidelity again! The surging and dying just above idle made maneuvering in traffic a pain. I am sure it would start to vibrate at that RPM, mess up the mixture/fuel flow, and cause the problem.

One could always take the back route via Samoeng as a last resort... not a great idea in the wet though.

I bet it is a mess this year with all the rain. We took it back from Pai in the dry season last year and choked on dust. Surprising amount of traffic on that track. Still had to go around many ruts left over from the rainy season.

LJW... Enjoyed the story! Nothing like getting off the beaten path. I get up that way mountain biking and motorcycling occasionally so if you have a map or GPS coordinates of where the road starts, send them along. Always looking for new areas to explore.

Just been in touch with Aya Travel as I'm wanting to go to Pai tomorrow and they said there's no problem with the road. They use that route on a hourly basis.

I got to the landslide about 2 minutes before it started. That was at 1:30, here is a photo I took at 3:30pm on the 28th. At this point it was still active and moving.

TrippRitter: Great photo! The TV footage showed it coming a long way down the mountain. Wet landslides like that are really dangerous and they do keep moving for quite a long time. Anyone have any information on when the road might be open so we can get this thread back on topic?

Cant seem to find jets for this carb, have a source? I want to try raising the needle again with a different jet.

The rapping sound for me sounded a lot like the rear foot pegs rattling! Give it a touch of throttle when parked and let it go back to idle. As it returns to idle, you can hear a low pitch buzz, more like a rapping from the chain.

Not sure what Nayom Pannich put in but that would be one source. Some of the racing shops around Chang Puak Gate area should have them in stock too, but sometimes used.

I had a needle break off a few months back, but it must have passed all the way through like a good little grape seed! The one my old mechanic put in was a used one as it was the only one he had that had that gave a lean run on the flats so it didn't get too rich up in the mountains where we like to take trips and where he engine really saps out if you don't jet it right. If I can find the needle I'll try to get a photo. Your advice to replace that 80 baht item occasionally is spot on.

By the way if you are over 30k, you have probably replaced the cam chain by now. Hard to hear the "rapping" sound of an old chain until someone points it out, but a new chain takes care of it in case you haven't done that yet.

KRS1... Remember my "above-idle" rough running problem? I checked all the seals and the vacuum safety valve and they were fine. I noticed a lot of wear on the needle valve and I wanted my usual shop to dig into it but they insisted I needed a whole new carb at over 4000 baht. Took it to Nayom Pannich in CM and they replaced the needle, seat, and slide body so I am back in business. Turns out the high vibration in the engine wears those parts out over time. (I have over 40,000 km on the odometer.) I've had four good years with my old shop but I think it's time for a change!

I was just going to leave for Pai, can anyone give more detail / confirmation?

You might want to give the Highway Police a call as they should have the latest information.

Player.... sarcasm is lost on you ? I only eat 1000 B lunches 1-2x /week, tops !

I'm glad the OP only cut the payment by 1000 B vs accepting nothing and then paying HER 1000 B. Wouldn't it have been much better to say "I gave her 500 OFF" ? Instead of simply "I gave her 500" ? Not everybody can write clearly...

Overall I give the OP a pass for just being a nice guy in a good mood. We've all been there.

I agree it was not clear. One problem I have that the font on my (24") Mac in miniscule and i often have great difficulty reading what i have written I've just measured the 'n', it's 2 mm high!, that ,combined with mutlifocal lenses make for interesting compostions sometimes!

MSG.... Hit the COMMAND key and the "+" sign and you can make your screen text bigger.

I give you karma points for coming up with a nice agreeable solution and maybe you even made some friends in the process. Good job. I had a lady hit my motorcycle last year when it was parked at Miguels and the whole staff saw her do it. Broken clutch lever and she denied hitting it although she was still yakking on the phone when I knocked on her window. After a long exchange, she threw a few hundred baht out the window and drove away. Your situation was much better.

Channel 3 News is showing video of a sizable amount of dirt on the road to Pai. Might be closed for 2 or 3 days as they wait for the dirt to stabilize and then clear it off the road. Lot's of landslides up toward Chiang Rai as well but no major roads closed.

we just had an exstension on the roof of our car port about 6ft.we had 2roman pillars built 2.4mts.they were inserted into 2female round concrete blocks 2ft into the ground,the base of each one fitted on top,then the mould for the pillars fitted into the footings and concrete was poured in cost 1500bht each+labour.5mts.do seem a long way up.

That sounds pretty interesting. Do you have any photos of the base socket you could post?

Just a caution to others, the ignition barrel on the CBR has a slide over protection, which can be opened by using the end of the base of the key, I never slide it across to lock........yesterday I went to UOB bank on Suk Soi 25, right by the Glashouse building, parked the bike amongst about 5 others on the soi, trotted off into the bank. Five minutes later come out, put key in ignition, wont turn, take out key and inspect Ignition, some plank had taken a screwdriver (or similar) and hit it very hard, smashing the ignition barrel to bits, key wont turn, not happy. So i turns round to Somchai the security guard, who at best is never ever going to be more than 20 feet from the bike, "did you see anything?"

Nope

No ignition, no bike!, ring up Honda in soi 71, they cant collect the bike as they dont have the facility, no ignition barrels in stock, have to order, price 2475 baht.

Thankfully a motorcy taxi bloke pushed me all the way home, I WILL be using that lock facilty in the future

No other bike I was parked with was tampered with, just mine

Glad they didn't get it! Is it a new one or the old version?

Just got back from Wat Doi Kham and they are re-paving the road. I would say they are about 80% done so avoid it for the next week as the old pavement is covered with oil and tar in preparation for the paving machine. Even the shoulders are oiled so it is a bit difficult to get around the last kilometer that is prepped.

How about a hiker's potato? Hot baked potato, slice it and put in cheddar cheese, a few slices of ham, butter, salt, and mustard. Wrap it back up and take it to the mountains.

The garage on Nimenhemin Soi 15 is surprisingly inexpensive considering their location. They even do house calls when your car won't start. They would handle basic stuff just fine.