Hog Head

Anyone seen this in Thailand:

Please show me a Bonnie in Thailand for the same price and I will buy it.

Triumph Thailand has taken the price gouging marketing approach in an attempt to position their bikes as a status symbol and no bearing to the price of a made in Thailand bike. Why for example is a made in Thailand T-100 Bonnie 750,000 B

The W series bikes are not a copy of a Bonnie BTW, but began life as a copy of the BSA A-7 made by Megero in 1960. Some sources claim that BSA licensed Meguro to copy it. In fact Mugero made their own parallel twin as far back as 1954. Kawi bought Meguro in 1964 and introduced their own version of the parallel twin. 59 years later, this bike has evolved to the W800 of today and has a long history in its own right and a cult following

I own a T-140 Bonnie as my daily rider when in Canada

Please PM me if you know of a Kawi W800 for sale with a book

me too - I refuse to deal with Facebook

went there last night and no Indian food at all other than roti, and some fake tandoor chicken

Questioned the staff and apparently real Indian food is difficult and takes a long time

Utter waste of time if you want Indian food

any oil will not work, car crankcase oil is not chain oil. Chain saw bar oil is tacky - really tacky so as not to fly off the chain

Bicycle chain oil is not the same stuff as motorcycle chain oil

Back to the OP - has anyone seen chain saw bar oil in CM?

yes dirt is a problem and I would not use it on a dirt bike

Less of an issue on a road bike, but still a PITA when the road goes to pot

Thanks for the offer to go to the Husky shop, and I will take you up on it if none to be found here in CM

I am from Canada where killing trees is a way of life. Chain saw oil is available in various weights so it will flow in the Great White North winters

IIRC, summer grade is likely SAE (crankcase)30

ATF has a Viscosity of 35 - 55 cSt @40C which is 15-20 SAE crankcase. Intrestingly my old bonnie calls for AFT as for fork oil.

SAE gear 90 is SAE crankcase 40-60

All very confusing as crankcase and gear oils have different SAE scales. It makes more sense to have it all in a cST scale, but alas SAE does not do it that way

The big difference in chain saw chain oil is that it is tacky - really tacky and will not fling off the chain

Interestingly enough Loobman mentions its use iby the London bike couriers

I used it before spray lube was readily available, and now that I have a Loobman am going to try it if it is available here

I have a Loobman as well and now looking for chain saw oil

My heart is set on chain saw oil and if not I will use SAE90

Anyone seen chain saw oil for sale in CM?

Not sure if the locals even use special oil for the chain bar, but I want it for the auto chain oiler on my bike

Looking for a suitable tug for this project. A naked BMW Boxer oilhead would be first choice but my mind is open

I am thinking of a leaner style sidecar whereby the bike leans just like a solo bike and the car remains steady. The idea has been around for a hundred years and I now have a good handle on the engineering involved to build one.

Sort of the best of both worlds, and if I do not like it it is a simple matter to disconnect the 2 heim joints and ride the bike solo.

Looks like I will now be building the rolling chassis myself, but will get the tub made as that is beyond my capabilities.

I have never owned a sidecar in spite of road riding for 43 years. Time to give it a go and experience the dark side of riding.

The added width of a leaner over a rigid hack will regulate me to the car lanes in traffic and that will become tiresome in a hurry so this will be a road trip with the boys ride when the chair is attached

Hope the dog likes it, as I think sitting the chair would scare the crap out of me, never mind Mrs Hoghead

piston broke

Your ignorance of all things motorcycle related continues to astound me not only on this forum, but on other forums where you have made technically uninformed comments

Legal or not, I am going to have one

I am in Chiangmai and per the OP am after a traditional style, not a food cart welded box with the death shimmies

In any case I now have a much better handle on the engineering involved to make a leaner style car, whereby the bike leans and the car remains level. I am thinking to go this route rather than a rigid hack due to the more traditional solo bike handling. What is needed now is the tub.

Anyone seen a traditional style tub for sale?

I am thinking of getting a traditional styled sidecar rig - no Thai food cart abomination but a proper Steib style chair on a suitable bike

Anyone seen such a thing for sale - must have the chair on the left

I would like that reservation

that is an Acropovic exhaust

Here is the latest reiteration with the stock turn signals mounted into the side filler fairings. As previously, one can run with either just the side fairings or fairing + beak

From my post on GT-Rider last week:

Most motorcycles, unlike cars, have a wet clutch, so besides the what oil is "better" discussion, it also behooves one to consider what oil
will not destroy my clutch. Combine the water cooled bike lower viscosity oils with a formulation that includes additional quantities
of molybdenum-based friction modifiers and you get the new Energy-Conserving GF-5 / SN designation shown in the API Service label
on the back of the container.

Dino or synthetic, I would be very reticent in using any brand of car oil with the latest GF-5/SN spec in a bike with a wet clutch.

Our saving grace is that diesel oil or automobile-specific heavier weights like Mobil 1 - 15W/50 do not carry this GF-5/SN designation
because of its higher viscosity. A higher viscosity oil's resistance to flow, is the reason why automobile-specific oils that are not energy
conserving have been used successfully in wet-clutch motorcycles without slippage problems.

Key to the clutch issue is the question of friction modifiers. The real issue is to avoid getting the friction so low, with very thin oils
containing extra amounts of friction modifiers, (usually high Moly levels) that clutches will slip under normal use.

Exxon-Mobil claims, that the formulation of motorcycle-specific Mobil 1 has none (??) of the friction modifiers that could lead to clutch
slippage in some wet-clutch motorcycles. A moot point as we cannot get M1 bike oil in Thailand, however most if not all "bike oil"
manufacturers make similar statements.

This is supposed to be the current compelling reason to avoid some automobile-specific formulations that now contain friction modifiers to
meet fuel economy mandates, when previously they did not. Wet-clutch slippage can be a problem, and seen more often when you use
the lower viscosity oils that are designated "Energy-Conserving" on the bottle.

In reality, all oils have friction modifiers - that's how oil does its slippery, oily, work.

ZDDP (Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphate), has been the chief anti-wear, extreme pressure, and anti-oxidant additive for decades. It is so
effective and low cost that it is virtually irreplaceable, which is why it survives all efforts to remove phosphorus (Ph) from oils to protect
the catalytic converter.

With modern oils putting caps on the maximum Ph allowed, other additives are now being used to supplement this old standard, such as molybdenum
anti-wear compounds and ashless anti-oxidants.

It is your bike and use what you like.

I believe that the best oil, and best available filter, (I like Purolator Pure 1 filters) is cheap insurance. In Thailand I buy fully
synthetic Mobil 1 Delvac, or Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Pickup oil as it has the highest ZDDP concentration of all the Mobil synthetics, and readily
available at Mobil Dealers locally or if on the road at many Esso tations. Just try buying some esoteric "bike" oil on the road

In Canada I run Mobil 1 - 15W/50 due to an even higher level of ZDDP than the diesel oils and exemption from the new API spec. Unfortunately,
like M1 bike oil, I have not seen this in Thailand

Be aware of the detrimental effect of high ZDDP levels if you have a CAT on your bike or even care if it is degraded by ZDDP

Synthetic oils typically have a greater viscosity index (VI) or the ability to retain viscosity over varying temperature ranges) over Dino
oils. The VI degrades over time, so change your oil often, or top up regularly , or you will tend toward wet-clutch slippage no matter what
type of oil you use

Just a reminder that this is on Friday Mar 22

See you at Tesco

This event is for all motorcyclists, and scooters are more than welcome. After all it is all for the kids.

I do not care for the beak for various reasons, and am going to run my own bike with the side filler panels only. I was hoping that the Versys anteater nose would wear on me but after 3 years now it is as ugly as ever. It looks like the designer had a few beers at lunch and when he came back, forgot his place in the project, then sent it off to production.

These side filler panels finish off the job, and get away from the anteater nose

Cooling is not affected by the side panels and if anything will funnel more air into the rad. I have tested it WFO and idling at 39C and no apparent difference, or at least that I can tell without a temperature guage. The fan did not come on more than usual

With the beak I also ran it on hot days, without any apparent difference to cooling. I did not have a good road to test WFO but did to 160 Kph for a decent stretch

The Malaysians have had this for some time now and their highways are much better than ours, allowing high speed runs and the beak does not pose any additional cooling issues

I have had mine pinned with the side fairings on and, using my butt sensor there was no change to the stability of the bike. There are not any good straight stretches near me that I can test it WFO as the Versys needs a long pull to reach top speed - worse for me with a 44T rear. No issues for me to 160 Kph, and once again the Malaysian high speed experience would indicate that it is fine.

A BMW - GS style beak has been kicking around Malaysia for a while so I purchased one only to discover that it is an ill
fitting, substandard POS with sub-standard mounting brackets. In the typical Asian business model the Seller refused to refund my money which
sent me on a quest to do it right

Here is the finished product, attached with the same Kawi screws as the side panels. Paint is a rattle can for these pics and does not match but gives you the general idea. It does not look bad in black, although I think I will paint mine red.

It is a 3 piece part - the 2 side filler panels and the beak. One can run just the side panels or c/w beak as the style strikes you
Mounting screws are the same Kawi fairing screws

I made a few extras should anyone fancy one
Side faring panels only 3300 B
Side fairings c/w beak 4500 B

I am going to run my bike like this, less beak:

And for those that like the beak look:

The BIB made my worker submit to a pee test yesterday and got me questioning what are the implications should it had turned up positive

Assuming that he was not carrying, does a positive test indicate guilt - guilt of what, a transgression in the past?

What is the punishment, if any?

Can one be punished for a past transgression?

The part I did not like was when they started reaching into his pockets and searching the contents as it would have been easy to do a plant