billd766

Sorry to hear of you and your friends problems.

I have a 2005 model which I bought at the end of June last year.

Since then I have clocked nearly 8,500 km and the only problems I have had are the front indicator bulbs have failed a couple of times at 30 baht a time and the main fuse blew at a cost od 5 baht.

I also replaced the saddle with on original as hte one it came with looked very pretty but was too thinly padded for my fat a**.

I have asked around about re-boring it and it looks as though it will not be an easy job.

One suggestion was that I get some baffles removed from the exhaust and this morning I asked at my local dealer the cost of a new exhaust pipe. 10k baht!!!!!!!!!!!

Forget that idea I think.

It is comfortable enough and reasonably cheap to run and it will do me a while yet.

As far as I know mine uses no oil between the 4000 km servicings.

Thanks a lot for that.

I have printed it out which should make life a bit easier.

Does anyone know what boric acid is in Thai.

My local pharmacies may have it but it will probably not be in English

But none of them could hold a candle to Queen and Freddie Mercury

I'm fascinated with billd766's comment about diesel being 9baht per litre in 2001, that's well before I ever visited and I can barely imagine it.

The Ford dealer on Sukhumvit 62 actually put 500 baht in for me so I boldly paid the rest (200 baht) to fill the tank.

I still have the truck with 214,xxx kms on it.

On second thought try the sprockets first, that may be all you need.

Go down a front tooth, or up 2-4 rear. I rented a phantom in Vhiang Rai once and drove to Chiang Saen. I have a feeling the gearing was to tall.

If you find a competent mechanic you wont need a new chain, links can be added/subtracted.

I really encourage trying the sprocket change first. Front will be cheaper.

For example if your currently running:

15/38 =2.5333 ratio

and you try 14/38 =2.7142

you can do 15/42=2.8

In both examples your acceleration will be about 25%-30% quicker.

Sometimes if the ratio is too tall, it will also impede top speed -restricting you unless there is enough torque, at a higher rotation speed it may even be a bit faster, problem is this bike doesn't really like to rev high.

I dont know what your ratio is so this is just an example.

I will try to find out what the ratios are which is probably the easy bit but the hard bit I suspect will be trying to find the competent mechanic.

From asking around it looks as though I will have to go to either BKK or Chiang Mai which is not a big problem.

How about before when there was an oil subsidy fund where the governments of the day subsidised prices from government funds and now they are trying not to do so.

How much does it cost in Europe for oil that probably came from the same hole in the ground.

When I first bought my pickup in December 2001 diesel was just over 9 baht a litre and now it is about 3 times the price.

Fuel in Thailand is still cheap compared to a lot of other countries.

Be thankful

When we moved up here to Klong Lan in the central region we were on the village water but it generally ran out from Feb to May.

I have 2 x 3,000 litre stainless steel tanks for rainwater and drinking purposes only.

For other water usage I had a slab built and put 20 ongs up which gave me around 30,000 usable litres of water.

Fine for most of the time but we had 8 adults and 2 children living here and when friends came as well we tended to run low.

Normal village water was about 3 baht cu/m.

I ran some 1 1/2 inch piping down the side of my land, across my neighbours driveway (buried), across the front of his land, under the road through a drainpipe, across somebody elses land to the klong. I connected my chinese "Honda" water pump to that lot and pumped water about 350 metres to the tanks. It used to cost me about 20 baht per cu/m.

A year or so later I bought a 1300 litre plastic tank and I used to go to the klong about 1 day per week taking 8 return trips with my pickup truck per day and that cost about the same per cu/m but was easier plus I could get a shower at the klong every time to cool down.

My neighbour had water trucked in by tanker and was charged 50 baht cu/m but they run a resort.

Now the village water is pretty much full time so life is easier.

My future plan is to put in a permanent 3 inch pipe and an electric pump to the klong, renting the land if possible but letting the owner use it and dig a collecting pond above my fish pond and pump into that and any overflow can run into the fish pond. From there I need to pump another 300 metres to some storage tanks I haven't built yet and then I can irrigate the whole land plus keep the house water topped up.

I also live on a slope going up to the national park but about 1 metre down is rock and nobody on this side of the road has been able to drill a borehole.

This is probably not relevant, but do you ride a motorcycle? I get this in both hands after a long ride, for quite a few days afterwards. I have a manual clutch so the left and right hands get used fairly equally. The vibrations seem to cause it, and the little fingers suffer the most.

Probably not relevant, but just in case it might be something as simple as that.

I hope you find the cause and get over it soon.

Yes I do ride a motosai and the doctor at Chulalonkorn mentioned that as well.

But I am not giving up

yet

I'd get the bore done, then the chain so you can see what the gain is.

What sprocket ratio are you using now? Going down 4 teeth may be too much. Thats a huge jump, like night and day.

The problem with getting the bore done is actually finding somebody who has already had it done (preferably more than one person if there are more), getting their feedback then finding someone to actually do the job well.

I live about half way between Bangkok and Chiang Mai and so far I have only found 1 guy (in Phuket) who has had it doe and ir took him a couple of weeks.

As far as I know my bike is standard so the sprocket and chain are original.

Thanks for the advice Bina.

I got 3 male puppies (farm style breeds) last Wednesday night unfortunately before I had made a small compound for them.

I feed them 2 or 3 times a day with scrambled egg, boiled rice and some small chopped pork or chicken and make sure there is always water and milk available for them.

Their compound for the present is around 20 sq/m as we have 10 rai and broken fencing everywhere plus we are on a fast road up to the national park.

They will join sam ka our 3 legged dog and hopefully become sort of guard dogs.

All the dogs we have had in Thailand have been outside dogs and one of these 3 will go up to my wife's shop later and become the resident dog there.

She used to have a bitch which had 6 puppies and I was going to get 3 of them but while we were in BKK for a few days somebody stole the bitch and the puppies and also the papaya she had out the back as well.

Thread below is about reviews of the Honda Shadow (Phantom 200) in Australia, one reviewer mentions in the write up that there are restrictor caps in the exhaust, he reckoned he pulled them out and got a power boost, dunno how true that is, or how it would affect engine exhaust vacuum balance, it's a thought though. I considered having a look but the screws where welded solid and it was too hot a day to mess with it. May give it a go though.

http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.p...0686&next=4

Thanks for that.

Maybe I will find a non stock pipe without baffles and see what that can do.

The noise won't bother me too much as I am a bit deaf in my right ear and most of the noise should be behind me anyway.

Hi Bill, I am trying to source an after market air filter, if you have any success let me know and I will do the same. With regard to the exhaust I will wait until it needs replacing, for now I have knocked out the first baffle. It made it a little more 'throatier' but I didn't notice any improvement in performance other than it can breathe a little bit better.

I have now completed the 'custom' job on my ride, check it out.

Cheers

ImageDude

Yours looks nice.

I will post a picture of mine after I have washed it which should be this month if I make the time.

I have asked around here for uprated tyres and a "special" exhaust and get referred to Khampaeng Phet.

The Honda guy in Nakhon Sawan had no ides about reboring or after market pipes.

Hi Bastogne

Thank you for the further updated information and I really appreciate the work you have put into the reply.

I think now I will leave things alone and the engine as it is.

I was talking to a guy down in Nakhon Sawan about it and he doesn't want to know but suggested "somewhere" in BKK.

At the end of the day I can live with it but it would have been nice if I could have got a bit more out of it for a low price but there is always next year if I keep saving my satangs.

Thank you once again.

I used mine in Singapore, PNG, Australia, New Zealand and the UK and it works all the time there is money in the account.

I have some on My 2005 Phantom and touch wood I hope never to need them for that purpose.

It is nice to know in a way that they work.

I also have footplates for me and the passenger and I find they are very comfortable on a long trip such as to BKK (400 km).

They cost me around 900 baht in a soi off Soi Chulalongkorn in BKK.

You may have finger lock.

It is fairly common though painful at times and you ought to see a doctor.

I am 65 and in my case the ring finger on each hand hurts when I close my hand or try to grip things.

What happens to me sometimes is that the finger will close over and "lock" so that when my hand opens again that finger stays where it is (and hurts) until I move it slightly when it unlocks much like the trigger of a gun when it fires, hence finger lock.

I went to Chulalongkorn hospital in BKK (I live 400km away upcountry) as I was told that they are very good though a public hospital.

It is true that they are overworked but the doctor there spoke English and told me that if I took a course of

1 tablet of Miracid 20 before breakfast and 1 x Voltaren SR 75 plus 2 x Tylenol 500 after breakfast every 6 hours if necessary of the last 2 as pain killers it would slowly get better.

If not I will have to get a steroid injection and if that does not work then a small operation.

I also squeeze a sponge rubber ball about 100 times an hour in each hand which helps.

My hands are slowly getting better and I only take 1 set of pills per day now.

I hope that helps.

Thread below is about reviews of the Honda Shadow (Phantom 200) in Australia, one reviewer mentions in the write up that there are restrictor caps in the exhaust, he reckoned he pulled them out and got a power boost, dunno how true that is, or how it would affect engine exhaust vacuum balance, it's a thought though. I considered having a look but the screws where welded solid and it was too hot a day to mess with it. May give it a go though.

http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.p...0686&next=4

Thanks for that.

Maybe I will find a non stock pipe without baffles and see what that can do.

The noise won't bother me too much as I am a bit deaf in my right ear and most of the noise should be behind me anyway.

I finally got my allowance at the beginning of December so I assumed that my wife has a NI number.

I called them last week and said yes she has but we cannot tell you over the phone what it is.

Please write to us and we will send the details.

Silly me, I would have thought that issuing the number they would automatically have sent the details to my wife where we live.

Guess I thought wrong.

Can anyone advise the OP on possibly changing his intake or exhaust to get a little more power as well?

I never thought about that and as I am a FUB every little helps.

FUB

Fat Ugly ...............................

A great find, thanks Bill. I have sent that link to a couple of buds with 200's.

NOW, has anyone had success finding an owners manual for the 150cc Phantom. Mine is 10 yrs with 65 on the clock, in great shape and I likely will keep it forever as a town bike. The 200 is a slug compared to my two-stoke which easily cruises at 120 and has great acceleration. I will be interested to see if they actually do produce a 250cc this year.

The place I found it was inside this forum about bikes in Singapore under a sub group called Phantom Knights.

I hope that it helps.

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/forum...sprune=&f=1

+1 with SOI SAUCE

Another website for second hand bikes and cars mostly classic: www thaiscooter.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=95 in Thai langage but the brand names and the pictures can be read

I was waiting for more information because although I know a lot about X125, XR200, TLR200/250 and RTL250S, I had never see the internal parts of the Phantom.

Yesterday, I went to the shop of HONDA Sengchai, biggest spare parts dealer in C-M on Khao Nawarat street (opposite Royal PRINCE college).

I was lucky to see a Phantom engine. It was in very bad state with connecting rod broken followed by piston and cylinder. The bike had 46.000 km on the counter and the piston had been replaced before the big failure. I was discussing with the mechanic men and was told that:

1 The final drive transmission it is more easy to open the crank cover(3 screws) and change the front sprocket for less than 100 Baht (from Honda NSR150 chain type 520 available in 12 to 15 teeth)

2 They never heard about big bore on Phantom.

3. They are quite sure the Phantom engine is not made in Japan nor in Thailand and believe it's made in China.

4. The manufacturing quality is lesser than similar Honda JAPAN engine FTR223 or CRF230.

We toke the outside diameter from the sleeve which is 69mm so you can it is possible to fit a 65.5mm piston to get 223 cc. I estimate the price between 3.000 and 4.000 Baht for parts and labor (just open the top end and rebore).

To get 250cc with 70mm piston you need to fit a bigger sleeve in the cylinder and open the engine to bore the crankcase to the limit of 72mm and will cost between 6.000 and 7.000 Baht. But this was made only for short ride trial bikes and need oil cooling.

Anyway, you will never get a lot of extra power on this engine. In addition the Phantom is quite heavy with 140 Kg (100Kg for the CRF230). Sure it's not Reynolds tube for the frame.

My advice: ride your Phantom like this and eventually change the final drive transmission.

The Phantom is good for beginners and sufficient for normal use and what is nice, you can sell it for a good price on the second hand market.

In Thailand the choice for new motorbikes or cars is very poor.

If chopper is your style of riding try to find a Virago 250(21HP and 139Kg) or a Steed 600 (36HP and 200Kg) better in standard trim than shinning outside and sh… inside. I dislike the (overpriced with book) Honda steed 400 (30HP and 200 Kg).

If you like touring with good handling and comfort, the best choice for me is the Honda CB400.

Better choice is a question of budget and time to find the good horse.

Hi Bastogne

Thanks once again for more information.

Unfortunately for some time to come I will be spending my motorcycle money on building some bungalows for rent at my wife's business, then building a farang kitchen for me at home, hopefully followed by building an immigration system to pump 350 metres from the klong under the road to a holding pond and then another 250 metre system to pump up to the top of my land so that we can irrigate on the home land.

Do you think the guys that you were talking with could bore my Phantom out to 223cc?

I would be quite happy to ride up to Chiang Mai to get it done.

Cheers

Bill

I retired last June after working since 1988 in the mobile phone industry building networks across the world.

Prior to that I spent 4 years as a radio engineer with the government and 25 years in the military as an aircraft radio engineer.

To my knowledge I have not been affected by any radiation during some 50 years.

True I don't have much hair but that was going when I was 22 and my Dad was bald too.

I wear glasses but didn't start until I was 50 and I have been going slowly deaf in my life but working with jet aircraft and no ear defenders in the early days may have had something to do with that.

As far as I know there has never been any conclusive evidence to prove that mobile phones cause illness and problems with the brain.

However it is possible given the right conditions for anything to happen and I am sure that the proponents and opponents of this will be and have been researching this subject for a long time with no confirmation of the results for either side.

This is my personal experience only and I cannot speak for others but I have met a lot of people in the mobile phone industry and none of them that I know of have had problems.

I just made some bacon in the last few days and I will be doing some beef sausages very soon.

I like the look of the Polish sausage and I want to try to make ham but my main problem is that I will be the only one to eat most of it so either I make the stuff and freeze it in small quantities for easy re-use or I pig out and I am fat enough already.

I was in KhamPhet today and there are quite a few shops selling kitchen and household appliances but there is not the choice that you will get in the bigger cities.

The Makro there opens on 3rd Feb.

Perhaps Phitsanulok which is north of KhamPhet I know has a large LotusTesco, Makro and other big shops would be better for you and there are more farangs up there as well.

I wonder if you can easily upgrade your Phantom to 250cc. I think it's not a usual mater.

The Phantom engine is one of the developments of the single cylinder engine CB100/125. These can be found:

In 125cc for the CB125S, XL125, 56.5mm piston.

In 185cc with the Xl 185, 63mm piston.

In 200cc with the XL200, the XR200 and TLR200, 65.5mm piston.

In 223cc in the FTR223, CR230 and SL230, 65.5 mm piston.

The Phantom share the same stroke with the 223cc but for legal reasons such as driving license in Singapore it was fitted with a 62mm piston to stay under 200 cc.

So, for me, the only solution you can expect is to fit a genuine 65.5mm XR 200 piston. It is common here to use the cheap 67 mm piston from the 5HP stationery engine Honda G200 but is not reliable.

Five years ago I bought the XR200 piston complete with gaskets for about 1.500 Baht. If big bore is not possible you need to machine a new sleeve for about 1.000 Baht. So with the cost of labour you have to spend 4.000 to 5.000 Baht to get 26 more cubic centimeters.

It is possible to reach 250cc and this was made on competition HRC trial bikes TLR250 and TLR250S, with 70mm piston.

These bikes were not made for long run distance but to work most of the time at low revs.

This 70mm piston is 2 mm lower than the 200/220 for less compression and more torque.

The 250 barrel as very large fins and the engine was bored to the maximum with a thickness of the sleeve from only 1mm which means overheating. Above this you need to open the engine box/crank to bore the crank to the limit for the larger sleeve.

I used to do this 250cc conversion many times on the trial bikes I restore and can give more information but I prefer to advice you not to go so far for reliability.

NB. Please excuse my French style syntax.

Hi Bastogne

Thank you for youer kind and detailed reply.

It is the first real information I have had about the bore out.

Where did you get the work done or did you do it yourself?

I live about 1/2 way between Bangkok and Chiang Mai and it is about a 7 hour trip to BKK including stops.

What would you suggest that I do to get the best results.

I am about 116kg and riding normally I cruise about 90 kmh comfortably but I am probably on about 85% throttle with no quick response from the bike should I need one.

I am also thinking about replacing the rear sprocket and chain as well to give me that little bit extra kmh for the same rpm.

I am looking at reliability which if it over heats I am not going to get.

One guy in Phuket has had the 250cc bore out done for about 6,000 baht and seems fairly happy and there is another guy in Rayong who is thinking about it but he was told 9,000 baht.

I am not worrying too much about the price but I am having a problem finding someone to do the work.

I am meeting a friend in Nakhon Sawan this week who knows a guy down there who has workewd on bigger bikes and is OK.

I would be grateful for any help that you can give me.