Fishenough

Stopped twice this morning at different in town checkpoint and both times asked for my bikes invoice. Both times after (quickly) producing both Thai license and green book/registration copy, was told that I could be fined for not producing a copy of my invoice. Both times I was sent on my way with only this warning, though each time I did polity inform the officer that bike was bought new in Chiang Mai and not an import. This morning was a surprise because I haven’t been pulled over in at least 6 months and 10,000kms’.

Caution out there for big bike owners; maybe this is the start of another big bike crack down.

Cheers

When your here you'll have no problem finding something available; once your looking (ie a Thai realty office) more and more housing choices will appear. You might find more housing choices within your pricing range 5 mins or more outta town. Close to the moat, view apartment and houses are more than what you suggested; but a short ride away (pick your direction) there is plenty of available housing.

Recently looking at the Moo Ban right off the Nong Hoi intersection at a house, as friends wanted us to live closer to the friendly groups of expats there, ended up not only looking at the one house in question (a very nice single level, 3 br, on a quiet, end of the street location), ended up looking at 8 houses all together. In short order the word got out that a farang was looking for a house and more places than we could look at in a day presented themselves.

Cheers

A year ago did what your thinking about; started out renting a nice large 2 bedroom furnished apartment for 16,000B near Kad Suan Kaew Mall with pool (lots of fun for our son) and 16th floor views of Doh Suthep. 6 months later found a nice double lot with 3 bedrooms, 4 baths for 8000 B 10 mins from the moat - but recommend with your plan you'll plenty of time to negotiate rental amounts. Prices vary and there is plenty of moving room if your willing to ask.

Had the same idea for a truck, but bought a used truck and a couple of new motorbikes....stuck the rest in the bank......

creative kingdom announced about a month ago a launch for a CNXWOOD project. to be built in Sampankang (sorry spelling) They are planning on building filming studios..many of them. Where they hope to have movies produced here through cnxwood. This area is also supposed to consist of the first BEACH in Chiang Mai. Looking forward to that! Also many other plans for condo's etc. the project will take 7 years to finish but hope to have the first part done...cnx and beach in 3 years time!! by the way this is my hubbys log in...not mine...lol... I had the pleasure of a personal tour of Creative Kingdom about a month ago!! Absolutely amazing place right here in Chiang Mai!!

Step-through: The engine is mounted on the chassis and the fuel tank is under the seat.

Does that include the BMW F800GS?

If your in the CM area please PM me when your Phantom goes up for sale, my wife is looking for the right one.

Cheers

Was given a two bottles of Mae Ping spirits, 50 Baht each at the 108 store, and now want to find what other practical uses you could recommend for this beverage. Given I won't think of drinking something that's' cheaper than paint thinner, my first thought was pouring it into a empty bottle of Grey Goose and returning the gift of spirits.

First use I found was cleaning the swing arm, and others areas with grimy chain lube buildup, on my Kawasaki. But the chemist in me keeps me from using it for cleaning my o-ring chain, might just as readily attack my O-rings as it would my liver.

So the experts here have any other potential uses?

Beside for cleaning the drains in the house.

Annoying Things Farangs Do Around Town[/quote]

Driving!!

Can't believe this hasn't come up, but the 'when in Rome' doesn't work if you; sans helmet, add 10-20kph, serve suddenly and often, and drive agressively.

Don't speak Thai well enough, but could we add stereotyping>

stereotyping

all essential for the thai economy

if thai's had to pay farang prices they would need farang wages. where would the rice be then?

The one time at the Madalay they tried the same but relented immediately when I turned around with a simile right away; but the Thai's that invited me out were far wealthier than me.

The part I find funny is when your asked for the special price and then you politely refuse, sometimes the charges are waived. Kinda like 'oh well i tired', the it never hurts to ask philosophy applies here.

There is several well documented cases from the large cooperation I previously worked of employees taking foregin speaking customers for that little bit more. And yes when the company found out the employees caught were dismissed.

KLR 650

KLR Eye candy, Huge KLR picture thread from ADVrider.

Having lived most of my adult life on or within sight of the ocean can saw from that experience that an ocean view is wonderful but in all honesty just a prutty picture to look at occasionally. But it does really come down to what you really want; are you interested in boating and fishing, do you prefer to swim in salt water – if attracted to activities on the seaside you could likely truly enjoy yourself. Our family lost interest in going down to the beach in our last ocean front home after about the first 2 months, afterwards never during the cold season and maybe twice a month during the summer. Felt like a bit of a shame, but it wasn't in this latitude.

Last Fall!

Man first we only discovered Ridgley's a month ago, and secondly enjoyed there bbq sauce which can be purchased separately to - both great eats. Worth the trip to the opposite side of town.

We wish the owner good luck in finding a new local!

Mothers milk: wine, whiskey and rum don't treat me very nicely.

If your of slim build and keep your tinted visor down you will pass by just fine.

As a bicycle racer from years ago, remember many a high level coach spending a day discussing steering, and counter steering, for quick turning and safety. Of course these lessons always felt like a complete waste of time to a bunch of youngens' that spend tremendous amounts of time riding all kinds of bikes; only wanting to be taught something to help us win races. Of course for any young and eager two wheeled rider, you can't win a race if you don't finish do to a steering mistake.

Coming back from morning coffee rode through the Mo abn with arms and legs (feet of the pegs) out. Beside making the D-Tracker feel pretty unstable, when I shifted to the right the handlebars could be seen (pretty darn sure but I was kinda wobbly) twitching to the left. Automatic countersteering? So I grabbed my mountain bike and tried it again, being more comfortable riding no hands on the bicycle at similar speeds. Got the same results: the bike appears to counter steer with no handlebar input.

To quote that link Wiki:

This is how countersteering works when riding no-hands. In order to turn left, a rider applies a momentary torque, either at the seat via the legs or in the torso that causes the bike itself to lean to the right, called counter lean by some authors.^[3] The combined center of mass of the bike and rider is only lowered, of course. However, if the front of the bike is free to swivel about its steering axis, the lean to the right will cause it to steer to the right by some combination of gyroscopic precession (as mentioned above), ground reaction forces, gravitational force on an off-axis center of mass, or simply the inertia of an off-axis center of mass, depending on the exact geometry and mass distribution of the particular bike, and the amount of torque and the speed at which it is applied.^[1][9]

This countersteering to the right causes the ground contact to move to the right of the center of mass, as the bike moves forward, thus generating a leftward lean. Finally the front end steers to the left and the bike enters the left turn. The amount of leftward steering necessary to balance the leftward lean appropriate for the forward speed and radius of the turn is controlled by the torque generated by the rider, again either at the seat or in the torso.

To straighten back out of the turn, the rider simply reverses the procedure for entering it: cause the bike to lean farther to the left; this causes it to steer farther to the left which moves the wheel contact patches farther to the left, eventually reducing the leftward lean and exiting the turn.

The reason this no-hands steering is less effective on heavy bikes, such as motorcycles, is that the rider weighs so much less than the bike that leaning the torso with respect to the bike does not cause the bike to lean far enough to generate anything but the shallowest turns. No-hands riders may be able to keep a heavy bike centered in a lane and negotiate shallow highway turns, but not much else.

Eloguent way of discribing a wobble........

Interesting article - gets ya thinking.

Early bird gets the shot in this case

Motorcycle safety agreements aside: Momma always called them Murdercycles.

A couple of countries have a minimum speed capability requirements posted on all entrances connecting to freeways/express ways. Example; Toll road: vehicles capable of sustained 120 kph only, fines of 5000 Baht for non compliance.

The agreements based on bike size/displacement are hard to enforce for many a reason; like the new 250 Ninja cruises more comfortably at 120 than my old 84 750 Virago.

Cheers - he whom wasn't to take the bike on the next Bangkok tour.

If any one is interested, I will be watching the TT 2009 Review tomorrow night (Sat 8th)in Chiang Mai.

7.30 Onwards, e mail me at [email protected] if you want to know the venue

Cos I guess I can not advertise here, it being a Bar!

Cheers

Richard & Joy

Chiang Mai

Well I think we do, and now we know where Keith will headed.

Cheers

The question came up yesterday, from a couple of ER6n owners over a few beers at my place;

can the Ninja 650R Fairing be easily added to the ER6n?

Seen first hand that Kawaker plastic bits for the KLX, D-Tracker and ER6n can be purchase at V. good prices; temping enough to cause me to give thought to replacing recently scratch bits on my D-Tracker

Regards,

Kev

Two shops selling new (almost/mostly) - a double pink plastic sit on top can be found at - 18°47'9.95"N, 99° 1'36.76"E - 12,000

And a glass skirted kayak can be found at 18°44'33.03"N, 98°57'34.06"E - 15,000

FeelFree Kayaks are made in Thailand and I've heard that there is a Chiang Mai distributor - cause we plan to buy two small singles. - But used would be great also.

Hope you've taken care of your seat; Google bicycle seat impotence and learn about how important the Pudendal canal is to your personal happiness.

Edit - don't stop riding..............................

Sorry, somehow I thought the burrito alone was about 200 baht, but I guess not.

Miquel's has cut their portions back quite a bit in the last year, so it is not cheap, but I think that a chicken burrito with a side order of half rice and half refried beans and a delicious lemonade would be almost 300 baht. To me, it tastes very much like good Mexican food in California and is worth the price, but some people do not agree.

There are cheaper or more expensive options, but that should give you some idea.

Miguel's chicken burrito and side order of half rice and half beans with lemonade still sits at only 230 baht, and you could add the delicious apple burrito with ice cream and have a wonderful full meal for only 330 baht

I would be wary of putting anything other than diesel fuel in the tank of a modern common-rail direct-injection engine. The older indirect-injection diesels will run on almost anything (the man who collects our used cooking oil puts it straight in his old Nissan)

I'll move this to Motoring.

Crossy is correct; do not add waste engine oils to a modern diesel engine unless the oil is absolutely filtered to 2 microns or less. And also only if you have an understanding of the resulting mix viscosities at ambient temperatures. So why bother, there are so many mechanicaly injected diesels here.

I was a big fan of the Phantom, but like you I have changed. The Boss is far more comfortable if you are over 5' 8". The postion of the speedo is much better and the trip meter is very handy. Also the Boss has a bigger gas tank 500 kms per tank Phantom only about 400. Also the Kawasaki has a reserve tap. The indicator light was a problem but I mounted a nice LED light by the speedo so I can see when it's on. I had a phantom for many years but the boss has to many advantages to be ignored. I got tired of the uncomfortable riding position, the noise and the horrible transmition, so 'clicky' and 'clunky' I'm much happier to enjoy 'unlimited freedom' Ha Ha.

I

That's a great sales pitch; if my 56 kilo missus is able to get 500 kms range per tank, and I carry a plastic siphon hose and transfer 100 kms plus worth of fuel to my D-Tracker if needed, extending my max range of 220 kms on a tank.

Not many used Kawa Bosses on the market is there?

Have heard from one mechanic only about this practice in Thailand; but would guess that a good portion of used motor oil is added (mixed) with the fuel in a diesel vehicle.

This diesel/used motor oil mix works like a charm; once a year in Canada, with collection amongst friends, was able to drive about 3500 kms on 100% used motor oil as fuel. This was done in a diesel engine converted to run on waste vegable oil, in Canadian temperatures, allowing the fuel to be preheated before injection. An diesel engine operating on 100% waste engine oil runs both quieter and with less black smoke.