guzzi850m2

House of cards is great, I only watched the 1st season so far.

Watching sons of anarchy now just about finished with 5th season, great stuff.

As for TV's I didn't bother with 3D either, so bought a cheap 50" plasma HD Samsung which is great but I have to pull the curtains behind me in the house during daylight.

I am waiting for 3D comes without the damned glasses.

In the office(or study I should say, don't work here, so have a fridge too, he-he) in my house I use a 27" Dell U2713HM super hd monitor so I can watch action movies in the evening and not upset my 4 year old son.

Nope. According to wiki. The current Harley engines ( not the new.new ones) come from a variant from the 30's but let's not quibble. 1900 or 1930 is still old tractor technology

As said a piece of history (not necessarily good history )

Sent from my phone with the app thingy.

Harley is desperately trying to change peoples mind of how a HD should be with the V-Rod but not very successfully so far.

The V-twins leaving the factory are starved of air/fuel in order to pass emissions controls and the first thing the buyer do is changing air filter and exhaust and the FI module and you have perhaps 20% more power.

It will not be long until the V-Twin as we know it from HD is dead, they are simply obsolete and can't be improved much more in current specs. The touring models now leaving the factory have 104" as standard (my ex Road King 2002 was 88") but still road testers wish they have more power especially when overtaking at highway speed.

I don't understand why they don't make a water cooled V-Twin as Ducati is doing now.

Harley simply have to change their customers mindset of how a HD should be or they will be history in max 10- 20 years time.

I am no expert but perhaps in a year or 2 when everybody prefer to buy second cars the prices will go up again on same, or am I mistaken?

Thanks Guzzi,

I hope its enough. i guess thats the questions many folks retireing are asking themselves. talking with my expat friends who have lived there for years, i should be ok with my monthly income. just have to convince the wife that "i no make big money same before".

after 29 years living in Alaska, i need to thaw out. orginally from south florida and really want to get back to the beach life. I will take the advise of renting for about 6 months to a year to make sure i make the transition from holiday maker to resident. Plan on staying in the darkside. i keep telling the wife to set up a 3-5 day trip to ChaingMai, "no have time, where you want stay?" is all the feedback i get. 1 day i'll make it up there.

It sounds like you haven't seen much of Thailand? Now when you retire is your change to see the whole Kingdom so start renting for sure, it would be a great mistake just come over here and buy and then 6 month down the road regret it because you found a very nice place elsewhere.

Buy a pick-up truck or suv and load it up and tell your wife to pack for 1 month and off you go. Hotels are cheap here especially outside the tourist spots.

Okay we have a nice big house ourselves we bought but since we got a kid together, I think it best that way. If something happens to me, my wife will have this asset and can good care of our boy. I know of more than 4-5 expats that despite being fully legal married lost the house(s) and the car and they were left with nothing expect their pensions. One was married to an alcoholic wife making his life miserable. 2One was married to a gambler and she lost so much they had to sell the house quickly in order not getting murdered. 3One decided that he was fed up with his wife and wanted out. She got so angry that he can hardly see his kids anymore and was afraid of getting murdered and moved 200km away she don't know about. 4One had a wife that absolute had to build this small 8 story condo in Jomtien at about 20mill baht but it quickly ended up costing 30 mill and his was broke and had to go back to his home country as a broke man. I told him not to build this condo project but he wouldn't listen and let the wife do it, crazy.

I am only telling you this as a gentle warning, there are also many having good relationships here.

Home for me is Thailand, don't own anything in the old home country expect a pension (when the time comes).

PCX 150 (my "bike"), good for Pattaya city riding.

Honda Snoopy (wife's bike), hate it, a piece of crap.

Sold: Harley Road King 2002. Have a kid now so touring= pick-up truck

Having a lust for the new Ducati Hybermotard but doubt I ever get one but never say never eh.

I have been using IE +90% of the time over the years I been on-line.

Also have chrome and firefox on my main pc (desktop pc running win7 64 bit legal version).

IE have crapped up on me a couple of times and you can see my resent topic where I needed help getting it going again, not good.

The person who helped me in the topic recommended firefox as it a free browser (he also told me that) and not owned by a big multinational company which will always try "dragging" certain search machines/homepages and so on over your head in the process.

I guess you can compare it to the free Linux o.p. system (which I never tried myself).

I will try firefox more seriously for sure.

Yes I will also keep all 3 on my pc, why not, same as having 3 cars in your garage, one favorite, one for back up, one nobody wants to buy so you keep it.

Just for the record: we only have one 4 wheeled vehicle in the household but also 2 small Thai bikes.

Many thanks draftvader, you are the man.

After looking into the links, I did a reset in control panel/internet options and that did the trick, so for now it's back to IE.

I might try firefox later a bit more serious.

Thanks again.

I forgot to mention: I did install a new version of Internet Explorer this morning, no differences.

This IE browser don't appear the add/remove programs as chrome & firefox does, so I can't even remove it.

I have been using IE for so long time now so I prefer that browser now.

Hi,

Can't open Explorer anymore but all other Browsers on my desktop pc no problem (Win7 64 bit legal op system)

Every time I try to run it, it freezes up and getting following message:

Description:

Application Version: 11.0.9600.16428

I did uninstall Java6 yesterday after my free Avast antivirus advised me to do so and am running Java 7 now. 6 & 7 were both installed before this problem started.

This same Avast virus program are giving me more and more headaches now. When I came home after app 6 weeks work overseas it suddenly just stopped the pc. I first though it was my ups that did it but no it was the dammed Avast program, maybe I should go back to AVG.

Anybody know what I can do, many thanks in advance.

Welcome Casual1.

Try not spending/invest your $$ over here unless you are willing to part with them for good.

You got a nice pension which you should be able to live very comfortable on, including a nice rental house.

Are you sure you want to live in Pattaya? I am fed up with especially the traffic and the never stopping condo/house building, how many will they screzze in here??

Consider ChangMai up North, it's nice up there.

Hardly make news anymore these bus crashes as they are so common in Thailand.

So has the driver been located yet?

Yes but he is still sleeping.

Hope everybody recovers fully.

Just been downtown on my little Thai motorbike and the traffic is terrible and the big buses are the worst offenders as usual, driving like they own the road (and they do, sadly).

Try the bread section in the best supermarket very near the roundabout, I buy 90% of my bread there.

89K baht for an exhaust system? Are they crazy or what, it's more than a brand new Honda PCX for crying out loud.

There must be cheaper alternatives or will they void the warranty?

Here in Naklua we seldom looses power but about 1 sec tonight, my ups for the desktop pc took care of that.

Best Steak I have had in Pattaya was at the Mantra. Spotted the ribeye in the chiller display as we were led to our table. It was a good 1.5 inch thick and nicely marbled. Cooked just right - med / rare.

The Mantra is the best I have had but if you want a reasonaby good steak a lot cheaper then Beefeater is probably your best bet.

Where is Mantra located?

"driver fled the scene"

Now there's a surprise.

Yes sadly very normal.

His company have his id no and address so the police know where to look so why not be a man and take your responsibility?

I used to be a HD rider but sold the bike when my son was born.

I always saluted other riders whatever brand they were riding, why not?

I did find some HD riders too focused on the brand: Harley, come on many nice bikes to be had and they don't necessary have to be a HD.

I don't think I will ever own a HD again, too much money for what you are getting and I like all brands of bikes.

I am very interested in the new Ducati 821.

When a disaster like this happens, in most civilized countries, except perhaps North Korea, China, Yemen, Cuba and Thailand, an investigation is launched, and the people responsible are brought to justice. Normally either the captain, or some of the principals of the company would be held responsible. Or perhaps the chief mechanic, in this instance? Obviously there was faulty equipment. Obviously the boat was overloaded. The company, the captain, and/or the directors of the company chose profit over safety. Will they be held accountable for this? No. Why? Because this is Thailand. The land of non-responsibility. It is the responsibility of the average Thai to not take responsibility, and to shed blame, and never to take blame. If the government ever decides to behave like the civilized government of a civilized society, the first thing they will do is completely reform the police, and the judiciary from the ground up, and build both organizations into functional organizations that work for the benefit of society. Right now, all they are doing is consuming valuable resources, without giving anything back to society. Ask any Thai. They will confirm this. Ask any Thai or foreigner "when was the last time you benefitted from the services of the police, or the courts?", and chances are they will tell you never.

Excellent post Mike, you worded, wrote it just the way it is.

Not quite,

Indonesia- Philippines are just as bad or even worse. The 2 Island countries have huge amounts of ferries on all shape and sizes and not a year goes by without accidents and people dies. I think the Philippines have the sad honor of the worst maritime disaster ever, even worse than the iconic Titanic disaster they are still making movies about.

Try Africa, same same.

I am a professional seaman myself and would not be afraid of going on a ferry here but will off-course take my precautions and stay a place where I can get out on free deck fast if needed.

Just had my first bike monkey.

Came out of a restaurant the other day to find someone fast asleep on my bike ! A farang guy wearing a full face helmet fast asleep with his head on the tank.

I had just popped out for a wee ride late at night due to feeling restless and then decided to have a bite to eat. Couldnt have been in the place more than 20 minutes. The guy was sparked out. I admit to being rather stoned at the time so at first I started to doubt myself and thought id maybe parked around the corner and maybe it was his bike. So I tried to wake him and he very slowly started to stir. Then I said 'this is my bike' and he said 'not yet it aint' and then reached to put his key in the ignition. His key didnt work, mine did and it ended up being him who had parked around the corner. I did double check to see if he had a bike around there and sure enough he had a black (same color) ER5 parked up.

Very funny story but it got a few issues.

He sleeps on your bike wearing a full face helmet?? Did it leave scratches on the tank?

You said you was stoned at the time? What do you mean by that, been smoking weed or what? if yes then I can understand your post

What stoned means in my country is basially: been smoking too much weed/pot and rather be left alone and listening to highway star by Deep Purple but please don't ride whilst being so

Thanks for the link.

Holy cow, 78.000 Ringit, that's roufly 760K baht.

I guess not many will be sold in Malaysia then.

I just checked Ducati Denmark web page for fun.

The Hypermotard cost +1.1 mill baht and they even write order quikly as they expect it to sell fast.

The Strada cost + 1.2 mill baht

The Hypermotard SP cost app. 600K baht but for track use only, no regrestration (no plate) which is app. 200% on top.

This is off-course not of much interest for most people here on TV but I though you guys/girls should know that not all here find bikes/cars expensive in Thailand.

http://www.fimotorcykler.dk/ducati-modeller.html

I agree with the follow the instrusions crowd, and I always did that with the bikes I bought new and they performed very well/to specs.

OP it you have been trashing it don't worry too much but as others also mention change oil/filter asap.

The Russian is really lucky to be alive after a stunt like that.

The bike must be totaled, I think a Honda 500 cost about 220K baht new, which he will have to pay off-course plus medical bills, ouch.

Yes a 15 year old kid don't belong on a 500cc bike out on the road, when I was his age I was trying hard to tune my 1hp 50cc moped to go over 80 km/h and I eventually did and that was great fun.

And now back to the topic

Here is a nice review and some really nice pics of the Strada

http://paultan.org/2013/10/30/review-ducati-hyperstrada-821cc/

Thanks for the link.

Holy cow, 78.000 Ringit, that's roufly 760K baht.

I guess not many will be sold in Malaysia then.