ClareQuilty

fuc.ers trying to rip all the bikes apart in the country.

Yeah, the poor and uneducated farmer will not be even aware what happened to his/her motorbike.

I have to dispute that last point. Most working class Thais to whom I've spoken about the issue know very clearly that gasohol isn't good for motorbikes. These are practical people who have kept those wonderful old two-strokes running for decades under hard use.

The people I know who are completely ignorant about this are the middle class and educated ones - who after all have all-new vehicles and don't need to know.

I mean people on the field clare.

Working class young generation might now it.

What about uncles and aunties on their fifties?

Yeah, that's who I meant! The young people know almost nothing compared to the old, who have a wealth of practical knowledge and experience.

fuc.ers trying to rip all the bikes apart in the country.

Yeah, the poor and uneducated farmer will not be even aware what happened to his/her motorbike.

I have to dispute that last point. Most working class Thais to whom I've spoken about the issue know very clearly that gasohol isn't good for motorbikes. These are practical people who have kept those wonderful old two-strokes running for decades under hard use.

The people I know who are completely ignorant about this are the middle class and educated ones - who after all have all-new vehicles and don't need to know.

I agree aitche52, I just hope enough people keep buying the Yellow to keep it for sale in the stations.

Anyone now of anything that can be added to gasohol to make it better?

I don't believe there is anything which can mitigate its corrosive effects. Just find 95 benzine (yellow) at PTT. Thank goodness we have that for a while longer (but who knows how long).

...some 22+ years ago ... Salary wait for it 12,000 baht a month and free accommodation too.

One wonders what the cost of living was back in 1991 in Thailand - your 12,000 might have gone a lot further than a modern farang teachers salary (typically 30-35,000 without free accommodation, or 25-28,000 with accommodation) does now.

I wasn't aware that it was difficult for people in their 50s to be hired - the majority of farang teachers I know in Isaan are over 50.

Does Caltex have Benzine?

You can have all this done by a shop which specializes in this service. They sell you the insurance, and they get the 'inspection' (which doesn't normally require anyone actually seeing the bike), and all other things, I think it is very cheap.

However I have been told that after about 3 years (not two), of lack of tax-payment, the ownership-book is cancelled and you have to ask for a new one to be made. This is of course difficult, and I think will cost at least 2,000 - I did it once with one bike I was buying, but I only had to pay for it and be there, the old lady I was buying it from actually did the communicating with the DMV.

PTT, yellow benzine 95. Here it is about 48 baht per liter now, but well worth it.

My carb. Fino don't care what it runs on so your Click should be able to run it as well. As noob7 mention it could be water in the fuel tank.

The ethanol in the gasohol attracts moisture, and water builds up in the tank.

You might have to take it to the shop and have it cleaned out, and then after that stick religiously to yellow 95 ('benzine') only.

Could this heat-seizure be the result of the bike being tuned to run too 'dry' - as in the mixture is too much air, not enough fuel/lube?

maybe not getting enough 2 stroke oil.

Yeah that's what I meant I think by running too 'dry' - I think the mechanic can adjust the 'mixture' of fuel and air to be either quite 'rich' or quite 'lean', and on two strokes burning lean will mean somewhat inadequate lubrication, and hotter-running, if I understand it correctly. I would think having the mixture adjusted would be enough, rather than adding autolube oil to the gas tank.

Could this heat-seizure be the result of the bike being tuned to run too 'dry' - as in the mixture is too much air, not enough fuel/lube?

100% correct, benzine in Thailand contains 5% Ethanol (actually it could be a bit more, but not over 7% as the government tolerance is not that specific).

Ah, well that is too bad. Still, its the best we can do - at least it has less than the 10% gasohol - which for all I know could have much more than 10% ethanol in it.

Seriously, benzine isn't actually benzine, but in fact 5% ethanol?

people here are allways complaining about it?.

Yeah it dissolves all your rubber and plastic bits, so your tubes and carburetor, etc. all get ruined, and you get a lot of fuel leaks. Also it tends to make two-stroke lubrication not work very well (breaks down the two-stroke oil).

also, if you travel home for months and leave the car sitting the benzine will turn into a jelly.

engine has to be striped for cleaning.not so with gasohol.

On the other hand gasohol attracts water/moisture, so if you leave it sitting long they say it will have a lot of water in it, and may not start.

Anyway I would never use it long term but if one tank might do some good for a carbon buildup I would consider it. Regardless the bike's obviously basically sound.

Sounds like heat seize, the older two strokes were famous for it.

I had a yamaha DT 125 back in the 80s an had this problem when pushing her hard.

when i striped the head and barrel down the was a huge build up of carbon on the exaust port

.

run it on gasohol 91 for a few weeks and give it a blast, will blow all the carbon out

That was of great help! Thanks. In fact I have driven it quite a few kilometers since, and it performed flawlessly as it always had, in normal driving (say 60-80). I imagine it has got a big build up like you say - it was owned by some old guy before me who probably never drove over 60 or so.

I've been making quite a fuss about seeking out the real benzine, but maybe there's some use for the gasohol after all?

The other night I had my ancient Honda Nova out for a run - its a great little 20 year old two-stroke bike, a five-speed clutch with dual disk brakes I picked up for 3,500 baht. It seems to have a lot more power than my Honda Tenas (which are newer), as well as a slightly more stable feel.

Anyway, I just had the bike 'tuned' - as in the mixture, idle, etc., set, and between that and a full tank of benzine 95 the bike just seemed even peppier than usual, so I got tempted and drove about 110-120 kph. I'd only ever been up to 100 before on this bike. (it hadn't been running badly at all before the tuning, it was just that the idle was set a bit low)

After I went on down the road another couple of kilometers at a lower speed, the bike suddenly began to cough and die, and I limped along, sometimes restarting it by letting out the clutch at about 20-30, sometimes letting it stop and kickstarting it again. Just before it would die out there was a weird noise for a few seconds from the engine.. almost a growl or rattle. Finally after a brief stop at 7-11 and the grilled-meats stand, it drove the rest of the way home without any dieing or noise, albeit gingerly, at a low speed, and avoiding revving.

I put it away and have yet to take it out again.. I'm wondering what could have caused that. At first it sounded really bad, but then the fact that it was able to go home from the 7-11 (another couple of kilometers) running apparently normally gave me hope that it may not be major moving parts destroyed.

I see them regulary in Pattaya and surroundings also, cbr 150, bag over the shouider.

I always thought they were English teachers.

You insult them, sir. They are much higher status than that!

...I don't think it really matters what you put in your small 100-120cc bike, that little engine will motor on and even if there is an issue it's hardly going to be a big deal to repair - there are thousands of them in Thailand and you won't fall short of a place to do the most expensive repair (rebuild an engine) for a couple of K's

Hey, for some of us a couple of thousand baht is prohibitive at our economic level. 2k is probably more to me than 200k is to some of these well heeled forumites.

Just started filling my Click 2012 with E20, works fine and only 33bht/litre

Criminey! But while I pay 47 bhat/liter for my fuel, my bikes cost about 5,000 each.

It's a common sight here up country. The question is why you would want to concern yourself with things you have no control over?

I don't think anyone is 'concerned' about it. I for one just find it an interesting aspect of life-in-Thailand, and I like to impress Thai friends and acquaintances by knowing little curious details like this.

Yes they're here in central Isaan - been seeing them for years. Very famous, known to all. However I have heard that they are only there to 'scare people', usually to humiliate them with rude treatment, shove them around, and only rarely to beat them up a little. My friends said 'if it comes to the point of really hurting - or even killing - someone, it isn't these visible guys who do it'.

Still have one of these right next to my house. I walked by it last night and it was lite up like a Christmas tree. Everything looks like its working in order. The benzine gets very great performance but it is also very expensive. I think it's almost 50 baht a liter.

I own 2 of them for our Mini Mart. But once the 91 Benzine is gone I will have to change what we put in. I would like to run the 95 benzene but with the higher price it will run my Thai customers off. And most of the customers have older bikes and will start having trouble with 91 Gasohol. Not sure what to do.

Surely people only put in 20-40 baht at those automated gas dispensers, n'est-ce pas? Its just for getting you down the road to a real gas station without running out of gas - like the guys selling from the whiskey bottles along the road. So, it shouldn't make a lot of difference what you put.

So far I'm running the Benzine 95 in my bikes, and its great - I've been quite surprised that I can in fact notice a difference in power over the Benzine 91.

Two PTT stations in Chiangmai today had no benzine 91 and told me they would not be stocking it any more.

Keep your eyes peeled for the new yellow pumps - benzine 95. All the PTTs have it here in Maha Sarakham, also in Khon Kaen and Udon Thani. Someone told me in Ubon Ratchathani as well, so I'm going to assume all over Isaan. Price is about 47 baht/liter.

I've seen a fuel with a price of 42.something baht at some of the little no-name stations lately.. not sure if they have some benzine 91 left, but most of those no-namers seem to have only gasohol now, alas.

Anybody know if any of the other big-brand stations is doing a benzine 95?

Maybe my information is off, but one difference between this Lifan 110 engine and the Wave 110 engine seems to be the bore and stroke:

The honda is a long stroker at 55.6, with a narrow bore of 50 and a total displacement of 109.1cc, while the Lifan has a short stroke of 49.5 and a bigger bore of 52.4, for a total displacement a bit smaller at 106.72 (but presumably still large enough they feel validated in rounding it up to 110).

I've no idea if these differences would be noticable in such small bikes, but perhaps?

The Lifan is a 109cc motor. I will find out the bore and stroke. But my guess is maybe yes as the Lifan has more torque than my wave by far and less top end

Here are the specifications from Lifan's Thailand site: http://www.lifanth.com/en/products-a-services/lifan-motorcycle/cub/235--ares-110-cc-lf110-26h.html