T_Dog

We came home one day to find 4 inch high Baiyoke towers sticking out of the teak floor

I thought termites don't eat teak?

Teak is not their favorite dish but they'll eat it if nothing else is on the menu.

I didn't think they ate teak either, but in the last 9 months they have about completely eaten an old teak chair in the brush at our place. They do indeed eat teak.

When I was a kid growing up we were waiting for fireworks to start in my hometown. Thousands of people were out and an orange ball started hovering about 45 degrees off the horizon. Everyone saw it, and when the fireworks started, it appeared to be trying to dodge the rockets. It was orange in color and would seem to change shape as well as move around. Once the fireworks ended, the clouds parted and there was a bright half moon up in the sky. It still amazes me how it looked orange and move around. Up until then, everyone was convinced it was a UFO. I just checked the moon history and I am pretty sure a moon with 62% illumination would have been visible to you on the 19th of July in Bangkok. The most simple explanation is usually the correct one, so check that out.

12 Northern Provinces ,inc Chiang Mai are officialy drought striken. The dam at Khon Kaen is reported down to 4% capacity ,yes 4%. Little has been said in the media about this situation strange when farming involves a huge number of peoples livelihoods.

Actually there has been a tremendous amount said in the media about the drought. On most on a daily bases I will see an article about the drought in different national news papers and If you follow the Farming Forum on Thia Visa you can see the threads on it. The farmers have not lost sight of it. even in Chiang Mai.

All the resevoirs north and east (Mae On district) of Chiang Mai are at the lowest levels I have seen them in 5 years. Even the small lakes in the CMU Ag research lands have huge exposed mud bars that I've never seen. It will take a lot more rain to get them all to normal levels, that is for sure. And regarding the farmers, I think they are happy to see the rain, especially if it continues.

Thanks for that! Only 5K baht a year? I will definitely look them up.

Thanks again.

We came home one day to find 4 inch high Baiyoke towers sticking out of the teak floor. Somehow they found cracks or other ways to get into the floor from underneath. Company came in, bored several holes completely through the floor and into the dirt and injected poison. They said it only lasts about a year and that the buggers will be back. Termites are amazing insects.

I owned a Stan Stephens stage 2 proddie 350LC back in the early eighties which I used on the road.In it's day that was a quick bike and have I no doubt it would still feel lively today.The problem being it cost me a small

fortune in cranks and bearings.140bhp,would definately be keeping my hand over the clutch on that one,ready for the seizure.

Sounds like you've experienced a seizure. I had a Suzuki 250 Hustler do a quick thunk at about 70 MPH when a bottom end needle bearing failed. Powdered the piston when the parts went up the port and into the cylinder. No warning at all....just a thunk and locked up rear wheel. Getting the case apart was tough with all the bits wedged in between the crank and case. A two stroke can liven up one's life pretty well in a lot of ways!

*enters poo fight momentarily*

Stop making things up, and answer the question of how you can prove the stock exhaust is too small.

Again, just to bring up, I don't think anybody is saying it is too small. Just that the much lighter, bigger aftermarkets give a better performance. Some agree, some don't.

*exits poo fight, with hopefully poo free clothes*

Hey, you hit on a factor that makes a lot of sense! The stock pipe is very heavy compared to my achy-breaky-Faddy. Getting rid of several pounds always makes a bike faster! I'll weigh them in a few days when I put my welded-yet-again over size pipe back on the bike.

Here's a pic of our last trip two months ago. 850 KM with just a day pack and two up. Photo taken on the way to Mae Chaem before we headed east to Khun Yuam and points north. You really don't need to carry much when cruising in Northern Thailand.

Nice!

We're heading up that way tomorrow- BKK-Tak-Mae Sot-Mae-Sariang on day one. Keeping our fingers crossed for decent weather. Happy Trails! Tony

Tony.... Wish we could join you! Last year we took a trip this time of year to Mae Sariang from CM and we both almost got hypothermia about 30 km from our guest house. Luckily a noodle shop, some hot tea, and a short wait for the rains to let up and we were good to go again. Amazing how cold it gets on some of those passes. You will definitely hit some rain up there this time of year, but it should be scenic and green. Have fun!

Here's a pic of our last trip two months ago. 850 KM with just a day pack and two up. Photo taken on the way to Mae Chaem before we headed east to Khun Yuam and points north. You really don't need to carry much when cruising in Northern Thailand.

I exchange my oversize pipe and stock pipe regularly as the welds break on the new pipe, and it "feels" that the over sized pipe gives me better mid-range performance in the mountains. I seem to shift less often when two-up. But... like Lord Kelvin said: "If you can not express the worth of your work in numbers, it is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind." The dyno results would be great to see.

I think Canuck has it right though. Superchargers and turbo's help get more combustion gases into the cylinder. Tuned pipes, headers, and over-sized exhausts help get the exhaust gasses out of the cylinder, as do over sized valves.

The first super-soaker in weeks.... in progress now

Does anyone have their email address by any chance?

No email as far as I know but I have attached their menu and details, and in case anyone asks - I have no association... I am just a customer, but they do deliver

I called them last week to find out their new location, but the lady answering the phone couldn't tell me! Glad to see this thread......

Ratisma, Could you take a photo of the rim where the valve goes through from the inside? Maybe some of us could see something there. From your photos, it sure does look like something is causing stress there. Sometimes narrow rims do not allow the valve stem to seat completely putting a lot of stress in that area.

Rain dance..

erm..Some of you might not guess this if you dont know Korean Stars much..

I get it!

Oh? Here at Nimmenheimen way its POURING down..FULL PELT. Fantastic. Hopefully it'll be heading your way soon.

The clouds got closer, got a little noisy, but still no rain here near the Night Safari! What a difference a few miles of separation makes.....

Well, the clouds over Doi Pui are a "little" dark, but they don't seem to be moving toward town......

It's worth checking out HomePro as well. They gave us a better deal on a Samsung Series 5 TV than Siam TV was able to do. Haven't had to get any service but so far HomePro seems pretty helpful on other things.

Unplug the computer and the phone line.

This is what happened to my neighbours electric meter after a direct strike on the pole.

Astral, Thanks for posting that photo. Very impressive. I used to analyze lightning damage at an avionics company so pics like that are very interesting to me. You can never predict lightning behavior, but disconnecting everything is good practice.

This is probably a dodgy suggestion too, but how about buying several aluminum cooking pans from the local market and securing them above each fixture? It would create a nice air gap, and the aluminum would distribute the heat well. We had blown in insulation in the USA and they put in some commercial versions, but they sure didn't look much different than cooking pans. You can get them almost a meter in diameter.

We are reading ever single report and we are logging all issues.

We will get a software patch from the vendor within a few days, that will resolve most, hopefully all, issues.

Thanks for your patience!

George, It's all working great with FireFox and Safari here on a Mac.

Only minor item is that I changed my avatar last week and yesterday it reverted back to the old one. On the "Settings" page my new owl avatar is correctly shown, but the old avatar appears on the posts.

That's about as attractive as gila monster vomit.

Which by the way is an excellent source of protein...

choudoufu, cobraSN, and el jefe... Thanks for those excellent directions! I've got a rear shock with a slow leak that needs a new o-ring and overall maintenance.

SPIN quoted me 300 baht to re-spoke a wheel.

would that be the labor charge only?

i've got quotes from 800-950 baht to build a wheel with dt spokes,

includes the labor and the nipplies.

That price has to be labor only. He had a good selection of DT spokes and I was surprised he had the length I needed.

cycle service in CM?

i need to have a wheel rebuilt.

any recommendations?

how's the service at TCA? i've had service at velocity - not impressed.

SPIN quoted me 300 baht to re-spoke a wheel.

Regarding forks, I've had Rock Shox, Manitou's, and FOX, and can say that the FOX are absolutely the best. I've got a four year old F100/RLT and a 100 RLC at the moment and they have never needed service except for a bit of air every few months. I also use FOX rear shocks and they seem to need service more often, but not abnormally so.

CobraST, do you have some more specific directions to TCA? I need to check them out. I've been pretty happy with SPIN out on Canal Road near Night Safari, and even yesterday I cruised in there for some spokes as I broke one. They gave me two for free and off I went as I buy stuff there. Nice owner, but the mechanic could be friendlier. (The old mechanic was great.)

I think a "No Rain in Chiang Mai" topic would get more posts. I have to water AGAIN! No rest for the wicked.