billd766

As far as I'm aware there really isn't any way of producing a reliable chart over a meaningful period of time, let alone predicting from it. 3 reasons, the baht was pegged at a very artificial rate for a number of years, the Thai baht underwent an atypical plummet a good decade ago, and the pound has done similar now. Anybody who thinks that it is possible to drawn a nice straight line through that lot is indeed a candidate for the loony bin.>>>>

Where he may no doubt share lodgings with anyone in the 32 baht to the pound camp. Correct me if I'm wrong but this would predict near parity with the dollar!!! This could compromise Thailand's price competitiveness just a smidgen.

I'll guess at 45-50 bt to the pound over the next year. The currency under most pressure IMHO willl be the Euro.

The charts I put up were taken from the Bangkok Bank from 2000 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2010 from the Kasikorn Bank on a Monday to Friday check of the exchange rates on the sites.

All I did was to take each year in turn and put them onto an Excel spreadsheet and a graph at the top. I then did a monthly average for each year and opened a new spreadsheet with a graph. The original one I did had all of the years but it was so unwieldy I split it into two.

I don't have the knowledge or skills (should that be luck) to do any forward predictions.

I have only hopes that if we are lucky the GBP will not go lower and if really lucky it could (pretty please) get back up to 50 Baht this year.

Here are 2 spreadsheets for 2000 to 2004 and 2005 to 2010 showing the exchange rates on a monthly average.

10 year trend 2000 to 2004.xls

10 year trend 2005 to 2010.xls

Hey Boyce, you make 'em, I'll buy 'em. I could murder a few good bangers. I have yet to find a half decent pack of 454gm for less than 350baht.

Where are you Rubik ?

Should be easy to get 1kg of good Pork Fatboys for less than 225 Baht.

I am in the sticks and sell the following:-

Thick Pork fatboy 500g 115

Thick Pork fatboy 1 Kg 210

Cumberland fatboy 500g 115

Cumberland fatboy 1Kg 210

Depends on your definition of the sticks.

I live 65 km from the nearest Big C, Lotus Tesco and Makro and they don't sell anything like that and they are the nearest.

I drove 6km to the village this morning on my motorbike to get to the bank and do some shopping.

It seems that half of Bangkok are there to see friends or spend time in the resorts and Mae Wong national park.

I was hard even on the bike to drive down the street as cars were parked anywhere and anyhow.

I then went back home.

Bearing in mind that it was 11 am, few people were drinking that early and the road only goes up to the national park I had 3 near misses from pickup

trucks racing around the corners that they cannot see around and taking up most of the road.

God alone knows what it will be like later when they get tanked up and suddenly remember that they need more whiskey, soda, lao khao, coke, cigarettes etc then just roar out and get some without looking or caring.

Never have to use the choke, which is probably good, cos I don't know where it is.

On the left side at the back of the tank under the fuel on/off cock.

I go down 6km to the village in the mornings at about 6.30 to see my son off to school and its a bit nippy at that time. 16C this morning and 15 yesterday.

A nice refreshing ride but definitely not recommended in shorts, thin shirt and flip flops.

Hi,

After some research at some big, serious motorcycle websites such as www.msgroup.org, Honda dealers' standard procedure for cold engines is to start them and warm them up with full choke / zero throttle. The duration of choking (lol!) of course depends if its cold or warm weather.

I'm a bit lazy with mine and just turn the huge idling knob about half a turn for "starting enrichment".

I am lazier than you and pull the choke out, start it up with no throttle and when it is running just drive off.

The choke has usually gone back by 100 or so metres but the motor just keeps on running.

Lovely bike but about 30% underpowered and 25% under geared.

About 10 years ago I had the idea of buying the bookstore but at that time I was still working and didn't have the time or money to do it.

I am retired now and if it wasn't in BKK I would happily immerse myself in there 10 hours a day.

It is a shame as they have been there as long as I have been coming to Thailand which is 17 years now.

I am a fan of the Lifan LF400 and this 250cc looks to be a nice slightly larger replacement for my Phantom (if it ever blows up within the next year). I'm patiently waiting for the bigger cc Chinese bikes to be imported to Singapore.

A few 125 to 150cc models have been shipped in already but compared to the venerable Japanese models they are still expensive and are suffering from some durability issues - the electrics hate tropical monsoons! These problem bikes are of the Zongshen brand but I'm expecting more from Lifan - they were and still are a manufacturer for industrial machinery (as I've read here in Thaivisa) and I love simple "industrialist" bikes.

Hi Kalyan

If you do blow up your Phantom and we can find a way to import it you could always buy mine.

Hopefully by tonight I will have completed 11 years of GBP/THB exchange rates and slung the whole lot together on one graph for the monthly average from 2000 until 2010.

There is also a yearly graph on a 5 day (Monday to Friday) for each year and if I am lucky I will post the whole lot or perhaps a link on this thread tomorrow.

If not it will be New Years Day.

Look at it and weep.

I looked at that website and there is no 250 showing only the Wolf 125cc in various guises. 766

Sure. That's what Richard-BKK wrote - not much is known. But he'll let us know next month. Probably a big secret in some places. Hope they do a better job than APHonda with specs, prices, dates, and availability, not that I'm in the market to buy one. But the market is filling up nicely with alternatives, it seems.

I ride a Honda Phantom which is fine providing I am not expecting rocketship performance.

However it gets me everywhere I want to go at a reasonable speed, in comfort with reliability.

The local Honda shop in the village 6 km away can service and fix most things on the spot or if parts are needed it is usually only 3 days for delivery.

My main and probably only bitch is that on a run I am on about 95% throttle and I have to go down to 4th if I want to overtake safely. The engine revs are there but the gearbox has 5th and 6th as more of an overdrive.

I have thought about the Honda Steed 4 and 600cc but from where I live to the nearest "reliable" old bike fixer is 125km one way and about 200 km the other way.

If it breaks down nobody here would be able to fix it plus I would have to chase around for parts and then somehow get the bike to the fixer on a long bed pickup and prise the scooter from my wife.

Not really value for the money I would have to pay for a good one with a green book.

I would prefer to buy something new with a warranty and service network cheaper.

Strangely enough for some reason the first start in the morning I always have to pull the choke out.

By the time I have gone 50 metres down the drive, onto the road and into 2nd gear it is fine.

The last couple of nights I have had to pull the choke out to start as well.

Yesterday and today it was 15C at 6 am.

All the drunks and alcies up in arms i see....cannot go for a night or 2 without a drink......'a thoroughly disgusting announcement' ?? ....really ??

You must have a hangover to be so over the top about such a good decision.

I hope they take it a step further and ban smoking in all the National Parks also.

Oh yes, jolly good idea!

And while we're at it, let's ban all that obnoxious perfume and aftershave that people wear. I really don't like it.

And loud shirts.

In fact, maybe they should ban ugly people too. The parks would be so much nicer if they only let beautiful people in.

Ooh, yes, let's ban cars too. Dirty polluting things.....

Nawtier, I think you need to get a life. You come across as an obnoxios and intolerant bigot. A zealot who cares only for his own warped vision of how the world should be.

God how I despise the self-righteous, holier-than-thou crowd, forever trying to tell everyone how to live their lives...

Leave us loud shirted ugly people alone. At least we are happy and bother nobody.

Hi Dutchrama,

Nice to hear from you again. I also have two friends who have a Platinum PX125 and the other a PX175 and are still happy after also a few years of ownership.

On this forum there is also a posting about a Honda CZ-i 110 with a leaking exhaust pipe which apparently Honda did fix as it was not covert by the 3-year warranty. Lifan doesn't have 3-year warranty, but if in the two-years your exhaust pipe has leaks from corrosion you get a new one.

Source: Honda Wave Czi Exhaust Leak

So what is quality? The Lifan LF250-B is proven quality it's sold from Germany and most European countries to the USA and some other American countries in the South and North. Not forgetting that Lifan is also available in Australia and New Zealand, and probably you can see some African nations using them as police motorcycles... and people complain about possible parts problems...

Personally I would worry more about parts for a Honda CZ-i 110 which is only sold and produced in Thailand. The Lifan LF250-B is produced on 3 locations in the world, Thailand is the latest addition to this 3. Lifan builds the LF250-B completely in Thailand and only some small pieces of plastic are currently still being imported...(this will change as soon).

Anyway enough about Lifan... I received information that Sym in Thailand will introduce a 250cc v-twin cruiser in January. Currently not much information available about this 250cc V-twin cruiser from Sym, other that it's likely a bit more expensive than a Lifan LF250-B, but the first week of January I will tell all about it...

Who are Sym?

Bill, here is one of their website : http://www.sym.com.tw/eng/ and here a wiki about Sym; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SYM_Motors

mbox

I looked at that website and there is no 250 showing only the Wolf 125cc in various guises.

Hi Dutchrama,

Nice to hear from you again. I also have two friends who have a Platinum PX125 and the other a PX175 and are still happy after also a few years of ownership.

On this forum there is also a posting about a Honda CZ-i 110 with a leaking exhaust pipe which apparently Honda did fix as it was not covert by the 3-year warranty. Lifan doesn't have 3-year warranty, but if in the two-years your exhaust pipe has leaks from corrosion you get a new one.

Source: Honda Wave Czi Exhaust Leak

So what is quality? The Lifan LF250-B is proven quality it's sold from Germany and most European countries to the USA and some other American countries in the South and North. Not forgetting that Lifan is also available in Australia and New Zealand, and probably you can see some African nations using them as police motorcycles... and people complain about possible parts problems...

Personally I would worry more about parts for a Honda CZ-i 110 which is only sold and produced in Thailand. The Lifan LF250-B is produced on 3 locations in the world, Thailand is the latest addition to this 3. Lifan builds the LF250-B completely in Thailand and only some small pieces of plastic are currently still being imported...(this will change as soon).

Anyway enough about Lifan... I received information that Sym in Thailand will introduce a 250cc v-twin cruiser in January. Currently not much information available about this 250cc V-twin cruiser from Sym, other that it's likely a bit more expensive than a Lifan LF250-B, but the first week of January I will tell all about it...

Who are Sym?

I quite often want to cook a roast dinner and I even have a leg of lamb in the freezer.

My problem is that though my wife would probably eat some nobody else would and it seems a waste to make a whole roast dinner.

I have a convection oven That I bought a few years ago and it is just sitting up in the kitchen doing nothing.

Up where I live in rural Khampaeng Phet the main route 1117 from Khampaeng Phet to the Mae Wong national park is a very good 2 lane road and for the most part of its 62km is smooth and not needing repair.

The upgrade started about 5 years ago and was reasonably well done.

A good part of the route 1072 from Klong Lan to Lat Yao has been completed as well though there is one section of some 6km that has been resurfaced 3 times in 6 years and in some places is badly holed.

Last year a bridge was built just opposite my place as a short cut from the 1117 to the 1072 and while the bridge is fine now when they built it across the klong I gave them some advice about the heavy rain.

This of course was ignored as what does a big fat farang know about things like this. Well they put 3 small drainpipes into the klong which were washed away by the first heavy rain, and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time after which I gave up on them. Allin all they got washed away 6 times before the bridge was completed.

Now we have a really good bridge and tarmac road leading 7 km to the route 1072.

It is such a pity that 3 1/2 km in the middle is the same dirt road, not widened or surfaced as it always was.

Somehow they ran out of money to finish it I understand.

Some places get it right first time and some don't.

I tend to agree with comments about x-pats not adding much to the economy. Even tourism is relatively small compared with the total GDP. That is what we are talking about right....the GDP?

Also, should we differentiate between x-pat farangs and x-pats from places like Burma and Indonesia?

spending 80-100k baht each month for 8 years, I believe I have contributed something to Thai economy.

Me too.

(It seems I can't edit my post!)

During that time I have had it regularly serviced at 4,000 and sometimes 2,000 km points,replaced the speedo cable at 8,400, new IRC tyres front and rear at 15,000, new battery at 16,200 (it was the original and nearly 5 years old, the chain and front and rear sprockets at 22,000, cam chain tensioner at 23,xxx, front and rear brake pads at 25,000 and bulbs as and when required.

May I clarify with you the procedures for your servicing - would it be oil changes or does it involve inspection of the internal workings, such as valve clearance checks, cam chain tensioner, etc?

Thanks!

---

Read your earlier post - will make some corrections to the wiki now I will also post the gear ratios on the wiki, from the Phantom manual.

I'm pretty sure we're using a 520 link chain so some theoretical gearing work could be done at www.gearingcommander.com

Hi Kalyan,

Many thanks for your excellent efforts.

Please consider the following suggestions;

1) The insert about bike inspection loses clarity when expanded, and is rather difficult to read. Would it be possible to save or download a clearer print??

2) Thus far, I have failed to find a wiring circuit schematic. One would be useful.

3) Your personal view of licensing regs in Singapore, may indeed be correct, but I am not sure that Wikipedia is a suitable platform for this viewpoint.

4) Tire pressures are mentioned as being quite important, but the correct values are not mentioned (Sorry, if they are, but I cannot see them)

5) In the maintenance tips section 5000km is given as the service interval, whereas, most posters mention 4000km as per my Honda Owners guide.

Recently, a number of fellow owners have mentioned to me that they are using pure 40 Grade oil, and skipping the 10 part of 10W40. This makes sense to me, and I will probably do this on my next oil change.

My fuel consumption is 32 Km/l using Gasahol 91 on mixed local driving, and rarely get a prolonged run in gear 5 or 6. When purchasing this bike, it was a pleasant surprise to find, it is actually much more fuel efficient than the small automatics.

Once again, thank for your most useful post.

Tyre pressures

Driver only

Front 200 (2.00, 29)

Rear 200 (2.00, 29)

Driver and one passenger

Front

200 (2.00,29)

Cold tyre

Pressures

kPa

(kgf/cm2,

psi)

Rear

200 (2.00,29)

I know that amongst most foreigners here in town, it is unusual to find a person with a propper license for a big bike... Like many other people, i tend to leave the brain at home when i go on bike rides- but still deep down, when i am not happy with the road/anything- my training will kick inn... I hate the fact that any person can rent a big bike in phuket- its just asking for problems...

Oddly enough I actually do have a license for all sizes of bikes though I ride a Phantom which is physically big enough for me.

I have ridden a 400 cc Steed but apart from my Honda CX 500 bikes of a longish time ago I haven't really ridden anything big or fast for many years and truthfully speed don't impress me much any more.

I wouldn't like to put my life in the hands of a rental guy down there on a big bike that I know nothing about its condition, servicings, brakes tyres etc.

I like to get on my bike and go where I want/need to go and get there safely.

At 66 with a young son I have no need to be a rocketship rider.

There are bold motorcyclists and bold motorcyclists but very few old and bold ones.

There are also bald ones and I come into that category.

Ride safely and carefully and you can do it again tomorrow and for the rest of your life.

Remember to keep 8 hours between bottle and throttle.

Drive safely and have fun.

(It seems I can't edit my post!)

During that time I have had it regularly serviced at 4,000 and sometimes 2,000 km points,replaced the speedo cable at 8,400, new IRC tyres front and rear at 15,000, new battery at 16,200 (it was the original and nearly 5 years old, the chain and front and rear sprockets at 22,000, cam chain tensioner at 23,xxx, front and rear brake pads at 25,000 and bulbs as and when required.

May I clarify with you the procedures for your servicing - would it be oil changes or does it involve inspection of the internal workings, such as valve clearance checks, cam chain tensioner, etc?

Thanks!

---

Read your earlier post - will make some corrections to the wiki now I will also post the gear ratios on the wiki, from the Phantom manual.

I'm pretty sure we're using a 520 link chain so some theoretical gearing work could be done at www.gearingcommander.com

As far as I can remember the guys down at the Honda shop follow the service manual but if I take it in for a between service oil change that is mostly what they do.

I get the chain oiled every so often (usually when I remember) and that costs about $1 US and during the regular services every 4,000 km they will clean the plus, change the oil and air filter, check the valve clearances, adjust the chain tension but not the cam chain tensioner but they never give the bike a wash mores the pity.

Overall I get a good level of service from the guys and girls at the shop which is more than reasonable as only one person can speak some English there.

I have been trying for months now to get hold of the parts manual so that I can scan it onto my PC but they won't let it out and even Honda Thailand won't sell me a copy.

I don't think there is a double standard. The people posting are not writing or selling posts; they are asking for information. Many are not native English speakers and a fair number don't teach English--they may teach IN English, but they are not English teachers.

Some have limited computer access and a few don't type well.

And of course some are just not very good with or at English, but that's not the reason that they are here.

Being critical of grammar and spelling is off-topic to most posts, unless the poster has requested it.

Many of us older English people who read some of the threads on TV cringe at the spelling and punctuation etc.

Since I left school in 1959 I have seen some of the stuff that my UK son was taught in the 1980's and 1990's and if I were interviewing teachers for a job I wouldn't get past most of the CV's.

It seems that now in the UK nobody ever fails and they all get a pass mark but saying that there are lot of good schools and teachers over there but discipline is hard to deal with over there.

many years ago when I lived in the UK and before the laws changed a young guy had just passed his motorcycle test on a 125cc something.

At the weekend he bought a monster 1,000 cc plus bike and never made more that 3km before he crashed it and died.

No training, no experience on something big and no brains.

Did have a helmet though it didn't do that much good when he came off at speed.

It happens sometimes down in Pattaya and Phuket way when young men come out and rent the biggest bike and roar off after a few beers.

A sad waste of life.

Thanks, glad you like the makeover

I will definitely be building the Thai ownership section of the article using your excellent feedback billd766 - in the meantime I also came across some very nice custom Phantom images from this Vietnamese bike forum here:

http://bikervietnam.com/bfrm/showthread.php?t=43663

As for the Phantom's performance I think if I remember right you guys actually take them all the way up to 130kph and that is quite impressive! I've never tried anything above 110 as I notice the revs soaring sky high as the poor little Honda mill pretends to be an RS125.

Coming back to custom Phantoms - the thread above has some very nice "total conversions" for the "Road King" look! Any idea where I can browse for pictures in the Thai part of cyberspace?

Hi Kalyan

The most I have got my Phantom to is 106 kph GPS speed or about 119kph on the speedo.

Having said that I am 116kg and big built and if I was smaller and had a windscreen I may have made perhaps 115 kph.

However to me speed is not one of the things you buy a Phantom for as it at its best cruising around 90 to 95 all day apart from refuels and rider breaks.

I find that when I am flat out at 100 or so if I pull the clutch lever in the engine will gain a lot more revs so if you want to go a little faster perhaps replace the front sprocket from a 13 tooth to a 12 which may take the top speed up a little.

I have always thought that the gearbox had ratios too low as 5th and 6th are more of an overdrive and I usually go down to 4th to overtake safely.

Cannot comment on the exact amts but one thing is for sure, the amt is dwindling fast as more Professional expats are relocating to certain events like ttries like Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. Also seeing a new trend of expats moving to Indonesia, India and also China. If you were to observe memberships of actual expats at the various Chambers Of Commerce, you can see that those figures are declining and also if you were to observe certain recent events like Amcham's Independence Day Celebrations, Ploenchit Fair, The Bumrungrad Abbual Healthy Living Fair, The International Women's Club Bazaar, YWCA's Bazaar.......the number of expats certainly dropped. Just look at the ads in Thaivisa and you can see how many are selling their homes due to relocations.

There is however a slight increase of younger British Blokes coming in to find work and live in Thailand but not belonging to the Professional work brackets, most have lower eductaion brackets. There is also a huge amount of Chinese Malaysians and Singaporeans (who are usually labelled as Ah Bengs) coming into Thailand and settling here and indulging in nefarious activities. Most have little education.

I suppose it depends on how you define an expat.

I know quite a few expats living in Thailand very few of which live in Bangkok where most of the organisations you mention are based and none of the guys I know would ever go there.

What constitutes a professional expat in the way of education?

I certainly never went to college or university but I was a professional cellular engineer build mobile phone networks in over 20 countries in my time and worked up from a field engineer to regional manager so IMHO education has little to show for it.

I know in my time as a manager that when I had the choice of hiring an ex college man who has worked and knows what he is doing against a guy with a degree who has never worked the college guy gets the job every time.

At least younger Brits who are coming into the country are showing initiative and getting out to actually do something.

When I worked in Thailand from 1994 to 1997 my managers were always around at the international clubs in Bangkok and had no interest in the rest of Thailand which gave us field guys a whole country to play with and it was great. When they moved on to another country it was the same.