ClareQuilty

I recently had the experience of recieving an insurance check in the mail from the USA and waiting for it to clear - not so great due to long delay. Up until recently I had an American bank account and ATM, but alas the account was closed out.

Now I have a prospect of being forwarded a small monthly amount ($600) for a rental of a house, but there seems to be no easy or practical way to get the money over here. Could anyone recommend the best, cheapest, and most reliable way? Should a check be mailed every month?

I would like to make the process also as easy as possible for the family member who is handling the collecting and sending.

...Another point -- Thailand has a VERY BAD reputation among Americans because of the way it is often referred to in the media (often used in the punchline of bawdy jokes). You know what I mean.

Yes of course, you are talking about the reason many, perhaps most, people come to Thailand - overall that factor is a far bigger attraction than detraction for visitors.

I guess its common knowledge that there are a lot less Americans here, relative to population, than English, Germans, Australians, etc. I think its mainly because of Americans' incredibly short holidays - very few ever make it over here as a tourist, and so they don't become expats. Generally speaking, I also find that most working people in the US keep their heads down financially, and even if they could by some means of borrowing or long-term saving afford to come to Thailand, they probably never would, due to fear of losing their jobs or other economic problems. Working-class Europeans tend to have a better safety net, health care, etc, and be somewhat less fearful. The Americans who do make it over here tend to be quite well-off, from the upper middle class.

I'd like to know if anyone has any idea how much it would cost to hire a driver up here in Isaan. Maybe two separate figures - how much for one who speaks English, and how much for one who has little or no English, as I'm sure the two would be different. For years my elderly mother has considered moving to avoid the winter and the high costs of care in the USA, and I have a fluent English speaking caretaker in mind, but she can't drive (she wants 10,000/month, so anyone know if that's too much?).

Popularity or market share is rarely the sign of a good product. Why is the world covered with McDonalds? It is just one of those bits of propaganda that competition leads to the best product.

More specifically, Yamaha was probably a nicer bike than Honda in the past - my old Tiara was a lot nicer than my Tenas. At some point a near monopoly drains the funding of the declining firm and boosts that of the rising one, meaning that the declining firm cannot replace products. In the end you usually are left with just one or two companies in any given field, less choice, and poorer quality and value.

It is worth noting that my friend the Honda dealer states that Honda got into its advantageous position through vigorous restraint-of-trade type practice rather than through any superiority of product. Over the last couple of decades, he says, Honda sold motorbikes at less than cost, and more importantly paid Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki dealers exorbitantly to switch to Honda or shut down. He says it was a concerted program to destroy the competition by shutting them out of the Thai market.

Take your rear wheel drive out in the snow and let me know then if you prefer rear wheel drive, doubt you'll get far. 4wd the best

I used to drive rear wheel drivers (full sized Cadillacs, Chevrolets, and Oldsmobiles) in the snow all the time back in the Midwest and they were no problem. I also had a number of full sized front-drivers (Buicks and Cadillacs), and though they were better in snow, it wasn't worth it for the overall much less satisfying driving experience.

Lastly we had four-wheel drives as backups (Jeep Grand Wagoneers), but they were just for real blizzard or going to the farm - I can't imagine it would make sense for anyone to drive one of those SUV monsters at any other time.

I remember in the late 80s and early 90s I had a really epic green '73 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, rear drive of course with a 7.7 liter engine. That one I threw an enormous flat hunk of concrete - an outside air-conditioner base - in the trunk, and with that massive weight and its studded snow tires, the car just plowed through anything the weather could throw at it. Most satisfying car I ever owned. (the most practical car I ever owned was the 1980s Chevy Caprice/Olds Delta 88).

Ah the good old days. Everything on the road now is just depressing.

Yeah the Ducati you're talking about is a four-stroke. The issue with my old two strokes will probably be more about lubrication than dissolving the parts and hoses.

I have a Honda Sonic 125, didn't know they made them in a 2 stroke?

Yeah, sorry. My bringing up the two stroke issue was a bit of a thread hijack. In the case of the Sonic it probably won't be so bad.

An old favourite back in the day was Avgas. High octane fun in a drum! We wanted better performance back then. If the local fuel merchant can get Avgas 110 or 130 in drums buy with friends cos it goes off faster than regular pump fuel. Actually, O/S they have changed to Avgas 100LL....so ask for that instead.

P/s: when I say drum I am talking 205 litres!

Yikes, I wonder how much such a drum would cost. Problem with a lot of solutions for those of us with ancient bikes is - there's a reason we have ancient bikes in the first place: no money. (I do prefer the old bikes, but also they're what I can afford).

Maybe they'll make aviation gas illegal too, or you'll have to get some kind of special airplane license to get it.

Most small boat engines are two stroke.

I'm sure fuel will be available for them if you know where to look.

Just a thought!

Interesting point. I think back in the US in states where there is no real gasoline, many small boat people have just had to deal with it.

Yeah the Ducati you're talking about is a four-stroke. The issue with my old two strokes will probably be more about lubrication than dissolving the parts and hoses.

I wonder what the technical fellows on here could advise. I have a few old two strokes, and of course I'm very fond of them. I'm wondering if they have any future at all, or if when the gasohol is imposed at the end of next year I'll have to scrap them.

Is there any way to keep a two-stroke running on the contaminated gas, even for a little while? Perhaps some additives?

I did put some of that horrible gasohol in one of my bikes by accident a few months ago, and though one tank didn't appear to do any permanent damage, the bike was badly effected, and almost undriveable at lower speeds (all set right once it was filled up with real gas again).

No one thought it would happen re: 95 octane. But it did. Shell have already stopped selling straight 91 as well as 95 unleaded (though so far as I know they (Shell) are the only company to do so as yet).

Well, eliminating 95 octane didn't outright destroy the transportation of 10% of the population, as contaminating all fuel supplies with ethanol would do. True, that is mostly the poorest 10% of the population (though not all - I know plenty of parsimonious old Chinese Thais with millions in the bank driving round on old Belle Rs), but still, it is pretty dramatic.

My ex-girlfriend's mother has an old bike she kept around the house for the maid to drive, could easily be 10-15 years old. I 'bought' it for 3,000 baht a few months ago - just took it away and started driving it. She said she had no ownership book as she'd lost it, but that because she had bought it new here, and thus her name was 'in the computer' as it were, as the bikes owner, she'd been told she could go get another book made for a few hundred baht, anyway under a thousand. The deal we had made was I would pay 3,000 for the bike, take it and use it, and at some later date, unspecified, I could pay another 3,000 if and when she could get the ownership book. I'm considering pursuing it, but I have no idea if it will work. I'm tempted to leave things as is, but I like the bike and one hears warnings about driving without the various papers. Anyone ever heard of what if anything an original owner can do if they lose their ownership book?

...if the planned government timetable is implimented (you never know, there's a first time for everything!) there will be, by law, only gasahol by the end of 2011!

That's scary - didn't know about that, though I had heard they'd eventually do it. Which means those of us with 2-strokes will face a total loss.. or perhaps have to go buy airplane gas if that loophole survives.

Just because the octane rating is a little higher, that shouldn't hurt anything, though it is probably a waste of money. The bad thing is gasohol, and that's 10% in either of the two fuels you mention - 91 and 95 - so you're getting the same amount of bad effect there either way. If you can find regular gas it is of course far superior, but if not you have no choice.

I have lost count the number of times a 2 smoker has wound up enough to get past me after I leave them behind at the lights. But I never worry as I I know a few kilometers down the road I will see them standng beside the bike forlornly looking at a cooked engine!! There is a very god reason why manufacturers dont make them anymore, and not only for emmision reductions. they dont want the warrenty claims of blown engines.

What now? The roads are full of 10-20 year old two strokes up here in Isaan - I have a couple of old Tenas in the 15 year old range myself - and they run fine, still have a lot of power. I can cruise happily town to town at 100 km/h, and they never break down. So I'm not sure why you think they blow their engines or are unreliable.

The only reason anyone stopped making two strokes is because the government forced them to do it through 'emissions' controls.

I would love a dash; just bought a sonic recently; think its the last year they are being made here. Wouldn't want to pay full price for it though.

Will these old bikes run on gasahol? It seems nearly impossible to find regular benzine here in Bkk anymore.

They had maybe around 5-6 Dashs, Kilgore.

I'm pretty sure these will NOT run on gasohol.

My old '82 Corolla died out on me for the first time tonight. I was driving it through a very deep flood and I suddenly noticed that it was TOO DEEP.. the car began to sputter. So I drove upon on the embankment - sort of muddy strip along the road - and made it out of the flood, but within another 50 meters the car died and wouldn't start. I got a lift and came back 2-3 hours later, and the car started and drove fine. I had been afraid it would take a sunny day to dry it out, but between 7 pm and 10 pm it was dry enough. What do you fellows think it was? Water in the distributor or?? Anyone else have driving-in-flood stories? We have to do it all the time here in Isaan.

If you ever run across a Kawasaki like this one, let me know.

Was my first legal street bike - 1968.

OK seedy, I'll keep my eyes open but I have a feeling they'd have sold one like that long ago for 30-40 thousand! (anyway it seems like there aren't so many Kawasaki dealers around anymore, if there ever were).

To register them, would it be just a matter of paying the road tax back to the year of manufacture or would it begin like a new bike on the day it gets its green book?

I have no idea, but I assumed they all already had green books in the name of the dealer.

Would you even be able to register these now?

Also what is the dealer thinking trying to sell such old stock at current prices? knock about 30-40% off those prices and they might sell.

I am always amazed that they do that here. Sit on stock until its worthless then complain about not selling them!

Well, I did ask the guy about that, and he said yes, absolutely, he could register them in your name, correct green book, etc. But the question is a good one, because of the issue of the new emissions rules. I guess an unused 1995 Yamaha is just as registrable as an old well-used 1995 Yamaha.

I'm sure the dealer is quite happy to sit on the bikes until he can recoup his full investment - after all eventually they would be worth that to someone, such as a collector. The dealer was obviously very rich and wasn't the least bit concerned about selling them. I got the impression he had specifically ordered a huge amount of the old two-strokes in the year that the two-stroke was being phased out in Thailand.

Interestingly, I was also wondering 'what Thai would buy these', knowing how the Thais have this odd obsession with having new, shiny, up-to-date things. As I waited for them to ready a test-driver for me, a 70+ year old lady pulled up in an ancient Belle R that looked and ran absolutely like new. I struck up a conversation with her, and she confirmed that she had bought the bike recently at this dealer, for the same 30,000 they had quoted me, and that she loved it and it was a great bike. So perhaps their market is decrepit Thais who are (like me) crippled by nostalgia. (after all, everything's only getting worse!)

If you can remember the name of the Yamaha dealer, PLEASE let me know. I'm very interested in the TZR 150

Yes I will find the card for you tomorrow, its around somewhere. Its the oldest one in town, not surprisingly. They had about 6-8 of those TZRs at 60K.

On a recent visit to Khon Kaen I discovered a Yamaha dealer, and a Honda dealer, each with lots of new-old overstocks from 10-20 years ago!

The Yamaha had:

TZR 150s for 60,000

Tiaras from 38,000-40,000

JRS 120s 36-38

Belle Rs 30,000

Alfas 36-38

Mate IIIs 36-38

The Honda had:

Dashs 38,000

Tenas 36-38

Nices 38,000

All were in perfect new condition with just a few kilometers (2-10), hadn't been run in ages I guess, if at all. I wonder if this is rare in Thailand or common.

Thailand's house is in order because they have factory workers making 20 baht an hour instead of 600 baht an hour and factories owners don't get sued when employees die and they don't get sued by the government for not hiring enough tall/short/white/black employees and factory workers aren't unionized.

Are you late for your tea party?

why try to maintain 3 similar bikes? It's also 3 times as expensive to do so.

I would sell all three and buy a decent honda dash if you like that style.

Well, the reason is that those are the ones that have popped up for sale over the last few years - I've never seen a Dash for sale around here, much less a decent one. All these kinds of bikes seem to be very rare to find for sale nowadays.

You cannot remove the cat, but you may be able to buy an aftermarket pipe for about 3000 baht which will make a huge difference.

Most carbs do NOT have adjustable needles (even the NSR 150SP) you'll have to change the main jet, slow jet, and adjust the air screw which will be very difficult (impossible) to do properly (to get it jetted properly) if you haven't done it before. A mechanic will change the jets for you, but won't spend the time to keep test driving it and changing them and trying different ones until they're correct..

If I'm understanding correctly, getting the new (aftermarket) exhaust pipe would eliminate the catalytic converter, right? Regarding the carburetor issue, wouldn't it be possible to just replace the entire carburetor with one from a non-catalytic Tena (with the same engine)? I have no idea how much that would cost, but it seems to me then you would have the exact set-up of a non-catalytic Tena - no cat in the exhaust, and the 'correct' carburetor for that setup..

From about 80 to around 130, and now back to around 85... and it was around 200 something back in the 80s when the country was doing well.

The point being that the value is generally very high since the collapse of the Japanese economy, and has not been dramatically changed by the quantitative easing or borrowing. Perhaps more to the point, said easing and borrowing has never been able to create any inflation in Japan.

In any case fearing inflation in the present world collapse is really bizarre.. 'we should be so lucky'.