billd766

Not everybody drinks during the day and some of us old men can relax without a drink or a young lady around.

I spend part of my days between the rain on keeping the grass down or out riding my bike or during the rain I am on my computer or reading.

I am 67 this month and I have had my Phantom almost 2 years and was the 4th owner.

The previous 3 pimped the bike by changing the seat to one with leather fringes (which I replaced after 6 months with a stock one from Honda), leather straps on the handle bars which magically fell off when they got close to a box cutter, foot plates front and rear, still there, side panniers and I added a top box.

In the 3 years before I bought it the bike covered about 5,500 km and was clean, shiny and well polished.

In the nearly 2 years I have had it I clocked 31,500 km, washed it quite often, serviced it every 2,000 km and the only problems were a spark plug which died, the main fuse blew and the battery died after 5 years.

Last Friday I drove it 730 km to BKK and back in the same day and it just kept on rolling through the sun, wind and thunderstorm and never missed a beat.

I am hoping to replace it very soon with a Yamaha Virago 535 cruiser as it should give me an extra 20 or so kph for comfortable cruising.

I did look at the new CBR 250 and also the Lifan LF 250 but the Yamaha just appeals to me more than the Lifan and much more than a sports bike.

I don't have the need for speed nor do I need a crotch rocket just something that gets me where I want, when I want and in some degree of comfort, so PauD I am with you 100%.

British Embassy

sure! why the easy way getting the residence certified by a local immigration office? it must be much more fun to travel (perhaps a few hundred kilometers) to Bangkok, doing it the complicated way and pay a multiple of the fees.

But Nam, you forget that we are Brits and must all do our bit to ensure that our local consular officials are able to continue to live in the manner to which they are accustomed.

I am old enough (I think) to remember the times when the British Embassies actually did help British citizens.

I went to BKK and back to Khampaeng Phet yesterday on my Phantom.

730km round trip and it took me 5 1/2 hours to get to Sathorn and 6 1/2 hours to get back including pit stops and the last 130 km I watched an incredible lightning storm ahead of me.

The bad news was that I forgot some rubber boots so I had very wet feet for the last 80 km though my rain suit kept most of the rain off.

I nearly ran into 3 trees which were blown down and covering the motorcycle lane.

The bike never missed a beat the whole way.

I had an ache in my left shoulder probably from changing gear a lot and my a** was a bit sore but it was a good run.

Add a better gearbox where 5th and 6th gears are not overdrive then that would be a better bike.

It was built to spoil a clear run from Bkk,to C.M.,a fly over the boring place would be great.. Traffic is awful.

There is a bypass road coming up from BKK which cuts off the whole city if you are heading to CM.

The weather is a lot like the Uk actually. For 10 months of the year it is so hot and humid everyone tries to stay in the AC (ie inside) then they pray for two months of cool weather so they can sit outside. Some times they don't get it and the whole year is uncomfortable, a bit like the Uk. When they get the two months of cool they go on and on about how great it is, and when they don't they moan about how terrible it is. It's a home from home in reverse. Personally I don't know which is worse.

I'm assuming that you find that most households in Thailand have A/C? This extension is probably in the great minority.

Although I was referring to the expat community I guess you are right that many Thai homes don't have air con. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that must be. Probably a lot like living in the Uk without heating.

I live out in the sticks and have an a/c in each of the 2 bedrooms upstairs.

They are only on for a few days of the year when my wife's family come up from Bangkok.

My son who is 6 uses it a little but complains that he is cold and shuts it off.

The rest of us use fans and while it gets warm at times we can always have a shower to cool down and feel more refreshed.

And no it actually isn't uncomfortable at all really. It is 35 outside and 30 indoors and I am sitting here in a pair of shorts with the fan on the first setting quite comfortably waiting for this afternoons thunderstorm and heavy rains.

In theory it is an excellent given all the access and teaching skills but just as a thought how can you connect perhaps 400 tablets to the internet at the same time?

How big has the outside to be and who will provide it.

CAT, TOT, TT&T and where will they find the bandwidth on 1 x 2Mb landline?

Now imagine 10,000 schools all fighting to get onto the internet during school hours.

If you think that the existing CAT international gateway is big enough now how do you think that it will cope with another 2 or 3 million users in the future?

Also if the school children take the tablets home especially in rural areas how will they connect to the internet.

GPRS/EDGE, 3G, WiFi, landlines.

I use EDGE up in the sticks and when my mate comes over from Denmark both of us have a poor connection if we are both on line.

The price of coffee beans is going up 40% coming month.

More TEA Vicar ??

Only if it is Earl Grey and comes with a copious supply of ginger biscuits.

Chocolate biscuits tend to melt over here and if you put them in the fridge then you have to break them apart.

I couldn't find one in Thailand a few years ago so I bought one in Pakistan while I was working there.

Sadly my wife wouldn't let me put it on the pickup and I sold it to a mate for his truck.

Can you please call me on 0898 131 765 as I am very interested in the bike.

Cheers

Billd

Hi Vincen

I sent you a PM today as you have no contact details.

Come on... Nobody know where to order

Try this link and scroll down to tyres.

http://www.bkkriders.com/shops/index.html

I went to Big Bendum in Bangkok and Ek Pai Boon speaks good English as well.

If you are not in BKK he can send it to you.

If he hasn't got one in stock he will try to get one.

Best of luck.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN DOWNLOAD A WORKSHOP MANUAL FOR THE HONDA PHANTOM T200

Try going to this forum as they are usually very helpful.

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/27-SingaporeBikes%E2%80%A2Phantom-Knights

Or this one

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php/244355-Phantom-TA200-How-to-DIY-Guide%28with-Pics%29-Updated!-13-12-09

PS All capital letters in the text is considered to be shouting and not polite to use. Form me it is no problem.

Cheers

I bought a Kominie rain proof jacket and trouser Size Euro XL down at the Paddock shop in BKK last year for about 3k baht and they are pretty good at keeping the rain off.

The only problem I have had with the jacket was that the zip teeth were a bit fine and the velcro flap holders were just patches and not all the way up.

It cost me less than 500 baht and now it is OK.

Know of an ex-military Brit up country. Married a b-girl. She has a kid from another man and another kid with the Brit. Total alki! All three live in a studio. He drinks alllll day long. Kid acts up at the local Thai school. Not sure whats up with them now, but his life does seem hard.

Know of another couple, have two kids, two cars and live in a new house. The Thai lady has a PHD. In part I think it depends on who you hook up with!

I know of an ex military Brit who married the manager of a restaurant.

They live on 10 rai of land up country 65 km south west of Khampaeng Phet. and have another 10 rai with a shop and restaurant rented out.

They have a 3 bedroom house, the wife's mother lives in a small house on the land.

Granted the pick up is 10 years old but they have a scooter and he has a motorbike.

The wife didn't go to Uni but has done quite well.

The husband never went either and did very well.

Their son goes to a school in Khampaeng Phet that has an English language program and is no problem at school.

Neither of them drink during the day very often.

He didn't "hook" up with her but met her 18 years ago when he was sent here the first time.

They have been known each other 18 years and been married for 11 of them next week.

The son is 6.

Ain't I lucky.

Please don't run down all expats and ex military as there are quite a few of us here both in the city and out in the sticks who are quite nice people when you get to know us.

Billd, You say it well, go back one further generation, and George Vl and his family stayed in London and refused to seek safety in Canada, They regularly visited victims of the blitz, and Princess Elisabeth was an army driver. Yes, our Royals have privilege, but it is not served up on a plate, they have to earn it.

Thanks Anterian

Whilst they have privileges they are also in the media spotlight 24/7 which must be far worse than being in the military.

Perhaps my (removed) post was misconstrued - so just to make my opinion clear:

If Harry was not a member of the (British) royal family he would be a footsoldier...

This is not news - he is inevitably going to rise in the ranks, regardless of his true potential. Just like his father, and many other 'connected' figures.

Damages the reputation of a once formidable army more than anything else.

Why? Kings and princess have always been in charge - for thousands of years. He has done the training, passed the tests and course, and done the service time (he even had a major falling out with the Government when they rerouted his Iraq hot-zone posting (after a press leak alerted the world and made him a prime target - he only agreed in the end as it became obvious the leak caused danger to his fellow soldiers). I think he has deserved his position - much more so than many upper crust people in the British Army's history - where your name guaranteed ranks or commission - and gave us mistakes such as the Charge of the Light Brigade and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre etc.

And who do you think was behind the press leak? The pampered British royals always do a stint in the armed forces even if they are clearly not cut out for the role. Remember prince Edward who was ordered by his dad to join the paras even though it was obvious that he was hardly para material. 'Make a man of you boy!' He only lasted a few weeks as i recall, before he cried off and went back to his natural role as Andrew Lloyd Webber's tea boy. The idea that any of the royal princes would be seriously put 'in harms way' is laughable. They do their stint purely for the benefit of gullible souls who believe all this Hans Christian Anderson nonsense that they are the same as the rest of us. Although in Harry's case he might be an exception to this rule as he is not really a 'Royal' is he.

I suggest that you read up a little before you reply to a post.

Prince Edward was in training to be a Royal Marine and not a member of the Parachute Regiment.

His Father, Prince Phillip was a serving member of both the Greek and British Royal navies and served with distinction in the 2nd world war.

Prince Charles originally joined the RAF and qualified as a pilot then transferred to the RN where he served on a guided missile destroyer and 2 frigates before assuming command of a minesweeper. He also qualified as a helicopter pilot.

Prince Andrew joined the RN and learned to fly fixed wing aircraft with the RAF and then became a helicopter pilot with the RN serving in the Falklands war with distinction.

Prince William is a fully qualified helicopter pilot on Sea Kings with 22 Sqn RAF flying rescue missions from RAF Valley.

Prince Harry is a serving soldier who has spent a fair amount of time in the army in one of the most hazardous war zones the the British military has been in for many years and from what I have read he was respected and liked both by his commanders and also by the troops he commanded.

May I ask about your own personal service in the military which I am sure surpasses my 25 years in the RAF and of course is far more the the Royal Princes exploits.

Bored? Wouldn't he be bored anywhere at retirement?

Granted that I live upcountry and will be 67 next month I would love to have enough spare time to be bored and I don't go to bars either.

Here's the way we do it here in California.

I would never get that in and out of the trees, up and down the slopes to say nothing of how big the strap would have to be to sling it on my shoulder.

Thanks for that as I was going to post it again.

I don't know of any Phantom owners club in Thailand though it would be a nice idea provided someone took the time ot put it all together on a website.

Alas that is beyond my skills I am afraid to say.

AFAIK the bereavement benefit is still payable to family members even in Thailand but I think it must be claimed in 1 year.

See attachment

Bereavement payment & Allowance.pdf

I managed to do about 2 hours out the front this morning as it is getting hot again and the sweat was just rolling off me and managed nearly 1 rai before I quit.

I have about 4 more days of 2 hours each before I finish the front.

To be fair I am fat and 66 years old.

The problems I find is that the shaft length is just right for Thais but a little short for me and I have to stoop a bit to get a good cut which makes my back, neck and shoulders ache.

Hi Billd766,

What was the reason for buying two tanks at 3,000L each? Was it because there was nothing bigger available?

Sorry I missed your reply.

We bought 2 because there are easier to handle than 1 bigger one and originally one was for rainwater storage to drink and the other was general water storage.

After the first dry period with no government water I bought 6 concrete ongs giving me about 9,000 litres of usable water and by 2 years later I had a tanks farm of 20 ongs and about 30,000 litres.

At the time we had me, wife and small son, a friend and her daughter, mother in law, 4 people working for us and 4 or 5 assorted family members at holiday times like Songkran when no water was available.

If you work out how much water is used by that many people for toilets, showers, laundry, cooking and washing up etc that is a lot of water especially if no water comes from the supply for 6 to 8 weeks I needed a lot of storage.

I am supposed to get 6 more down from my wife's shop soon.

Since we built in 2003 there have been another 15 or so houses built plus 3 resorts but the water supply has not been upgraded though the electricity supply seems to have been.

As far as I am aware the Honda Phantom isn't restricted. The only thing in the exhaust are the exhaust baffles which actually assist with the power output of the engine. Taking them out will simply make the bike noisier and less powerful. The bike isn't designed to be a speed machine. it is a plodder and treated well will run forever. If you want to go a little faster then I suggest you trade in your Phantom and spend some real money on a larger cc bike.

It IS a plodder and all I am looking for is another 15 too 20 kph in top gear. The fastest I have ever been was going downhill where I clocked 109kph according to my GPS but the speedo was reading 125 kph.

The problem is really in the gearbox

From the Honda Phantom owners manual

POWER TRANSMISSION

Primary reduction 3.090

Gear ratio, 1st 2.545

2nd 1.687

3rd 1.280

4th 1.041

5th 0.903

6th 0.814

Final reduction 3.154

As you can see 5th and 6th gears are really over drives .

I can drive just as fast in 4th as 6th gear but it is not economical so the engine revs are there but it is not in a usable power band which is the main problem.

I suppose I could play around with the sprockets and perhaps change the existing 13/44 to perhaps 12/44 or 12/45.

Of course it would ruin the blindingly fast acceleration and I may possibly go from a standing start to 100kph in the same day but it would be perfect.

I would also need tailored racing leathers and tuck myself flat onto the tank but just the thought of me in racing leathers brings a smile to my face.

They would need to take the skin from the Thai Army blimp to find the material big enough in one piece.

The sad thing is that you're already running a lower speed ratio (13/44 is 3,385) than stock (13/41 should be stock if the ratio is 3,154).

If my figuring is correct, and I understand you properly, than you're pulling ~9500 RPM in 4^th at top speed (100 kph) compared to your ~6700 RPM in 6^th. So, if your claims of 100 kph in 4th with the throttle pinned are correct, than dropping a 12/44 setup on your bike will move your theoretical top speed to 119 kph at 9500 RPM. Fourth will be good for 65-93 (these numbers and all following are from 6700 to 9500 RPM), fifth 75-107, and sixth 83-119. Will this actually net you the extra 15-20 kph you're looking for? I would lean towards no. It appears that you are power bound, not gearing.

Having absolutely no idea the dyno results of the TA-200, but merely looking at wikipedia's article it appears that the max horsepower comes on at 8000 RPM. With your current gearing 8000 RPM is 107 KPH in 6th. Hence you're at the peak horsepower and still struggling along. I doubt that moving the gearing down to match peak torque will do much since that at peak HP you're still 90,5% of peak torque...according to wikipedia's numbers.

Have you thought about getting the bugger tuned up? Your consumption seems rather high to me and if you look at the threads from Singapore they're getting much better.

**edit**

As I was looking over your numbers and punching them into my spreadsheet I noticed that the Phantom's 4th gear is exactly the same as the old model CBR's 5th...

Sorry Dave.

You are correct it should be 13/41 and not 13/45.

Fat fingers on the keyboard again.

Getting it tuned up sounds a good idea. Perhaps there is somewhere in Nakhon Sawan that could do it. Other than that I suppose BKK or Chiang Mai.

I have to do a 90 report in NS in a few days so I will look around there for something.