Longtooth

Honda 300F 286cc Single cylinder 22.7 kW (30.4 hp) @ 8 500 rpm 26.2 Nm (19.3 lb-ft.) @ 7,000 rpm 161 kgs

Yamaha MT03 321cc Twin cylinder 31 kW (41.6 hp) @ 10,750 rpm 30 Nm (22.1 lb-ft.) @ 9,000 rpm 169 kgs

The MT03 sounds a much better deal (also has 2 pot front brake caliper while the Honda has a single).

The Benelli TNT300 is 302cc and also a twin cylinder, 37.73 bhp, has twin front discs with twin pot calipers, USD forks and according to the bike testing fraternity, is "the best sounding twin cylinder bike on the planet" - for 139,000 B "on the road", incl 1st class insurance.

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The pegs look like they are WAY back. Honda CB500F is the smallest bike that I like the feel of. Anything smaller has the pegs too far back, and the seat too low. Moving the pegs forward and down is possible, but not real easy with modifying the whole mount and controls. Move the seat up and I would want to move the bars up to match. Lots of trouble and some money. I'm only 6', but maybe I'm old.

Here is the police artists rendition form the CCTV footage... He looks foreign...

Wow, I think I've seen this guy! He's out standing in the rice paddy near my house!

Supply versus Demand. Relentless construction everywhere.

Or a 1 word answer "Over-supply" !!

But that's good. Will bring prices down.

Not much, they would rather see them sit empty than lower prices.

True. Applies to rent as well. Probably for convoluted reasons.

"An elephant never forgets!" Good AND bad.

My cousin, who did a lot of advanced rock climbing in Yosemite National Park, treats a book of Ansel Adams' Yosemite pictures as a religious icon. The thing you don't get from the pictures is the wonderful smell of true nature in Yosemite Valley. A sister valley, I'm told just as beautiful, was turned into a water reservoir many years ago, for San Francisco, mainly. (Hetch Hetchy or some such, I believe.) There were American Indians (Indigenous People?) in both valleys not that long ago. Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite are both derivations of American Indian names for the areas. I can more and more appreciate that science fiction movie about the last forests of earth being sent into space to preserve them. You just shake your head in disbelief at mankind.

Yes, that was happening today. 555

It will he funny to see what will happen with China as the big sugar daddy in the near future, using Thailand as a Trojan horse in asean.

The first time I was "speed reading" this my brain said, "Trojan horse in season". That might be about right anyway. I think I agree with the OP.

Lateral thinking. What about fabbing a NARROW small trailer with suspension and a ball hitch? I've seen a few ball hitches on bikes here. Work OK. You could use a bigger bike. Make the trailer well, and you could safely go faster than a 110 could. Less dangerous to be less wide, and in my opinion, less dangerous to go a little fast and be passed by less cars and trucks.

I had a complete physical at PIH last week and the eye doctor there indicated that my cataracts had developed to the point where surgery was recommended. I have consistently used PIH since coming here 4 years ago, but since we are dealing with my eyes, Rutnin is my first choice.

I have my initial eye consult at Rutnin with Dr. Roy (based on recommendations from folks here on previous threads) next Tuesday morning, and will come back and post an update afterwards.

You got it! I had Dr. Roy at Rutnin for both eyes. Perfect hospital and doctor. I told him after the surgeries that if I could see any better I would have "X-ray Vision"! This is now years later, still perfect.

Yes, not Bangkok specific. Chiangrai the same. I get letters from retirement based entities that require a reply by a certain date, and when I get them it's already past. This is money we're talking about here! Usually, if I go in to talk, the letters will appear in my box the next day. I'm thinking if I go in every month I will "P" them off. I offered money for speedy delivery, and it was refused. 3 1/2 month backlog delivered "en mass" not so long ago, after I had gone in to talk. I haven't figured out a solution. Dunno.

Don't stand too close! Seriously. They are not designed and built by "Space-X".

Get one of those "Gucci" stick-on "tribal design" tank protectors. They look OK. It might just cover up your scratches and prevent more.

Start with the NEW to Thailand Yamaha "Exciter" 150cc, water cooled, 4 valve, 2 disc brake, upright riding position, mono rear shock, 5 gear with clutch, about 69,000 baht. Perfect. Been in Malaysia a while, and well loved.

Check that they didn't overfill the oil level. Same thing happened to a friend of mine. At the oil change they added the oil but didn't drain the oil first. It wouldn't go up a hill. No engine damage after a drain (2x the normal amount of oil came out.) and a refill to the proper level. (amount) Amazing.

"...in counterbalance with the United States..."

It's a lot more than counterbalancing. It's China's slow inexorable take-over of the world. First they will consolidate their position in Asia with every country owing China and eventually the small Asian countries will be subsumed by China. China is ever so patient.

Yes. China's ambitions are obvious. It's a new world every day, in small ways. China is hungry. Chinese language boarding schools, trains with right of way and maintenance agreements, trade agreements, military agreements, ... Money invested in other countries' infrastructures that benefits China is money well spent. More and more little hooks. That shortcut shipping canal through Thailand and Myanmar would be a super investment for China (as mentioned above somewhere), if the right "agreements" were a part of the finance, build, maintain, and administer package". Eventually I could visualize U.S. warships being excluded from it's use, due to previous "agreements" in place. China is such a powerhouse right now, "resistance is futile!" I think the next lines are, "We come in peace. Destroy! Destroy!"

What does the Thai military really have to offer? Corrupt, poorly trained and equiped do they have any recent real combat experience?

Strategic important position.....Airports and habors (that the USA love to use when they make troubles in Asia).

Strongest military in the region (beside Malaysia, maybe).

Manpower

You saw what the poor trained and equiped did in the Vietnam war. The kicked out the good trained and equiped American, with quantity.

Check Burma.

Well, I didn't see it mentioned yet..... Is it a good idea to release even "some" of the tigers to the wild after they have lost their "fear" of humans? Actually I might say they associate humans with food now. Maybe the shoe will be on the other paw.

It's like turkeys gobbling. First one wisp of smoke, then three others spring up because they figure if one does it why not them. Then many. Also the corn fields are being burned off. I know because black corn husk ashes that have drifted in are all over my yard in the morning. We took the daughter with asthma to Hua Hin during the first bad bout. Expensive trip. Have the big Amway hepa filter for the night time. Looking out my window in Muang district Chiang Rai at 8AM now, visibility is definitely LESS than one mile.

Yes, AH2. Heed all road signs very carefully. What looks like a straight line on the map often takes abrupt 90 degree turns that don't seem to be correct, but they are! The signs going from north headed to the south are very bad. I don't know what to say to help with that problem except get a GPS. My brain may well be fading, but I couldn't follow the map headed south. Going north OK.

While in a waiting room at an Health Maintenance Organization in the US, a lady leaned over to my wife and said, "There sure are a lot of people waiting. Watch this." She then got down on the floor and started rolling and screaming in apparent agony (like a footballer), and they rushed out to her with a gurney and wheeled her right in. Hopefully she wasn't there for a glasses prescription.

The U.S. taxpayer.

I actually worked with a guy who offed himself over taxes. Every day until his demise, for a couple of months he would say, "There are going to be hurt feelings on both sides." But to answer the question, I would say just off the top of my head, "Air Traffic Controller". When I was one, in the U.S. Army almost 50 years ago, they told us if we caused a plane crash we were definitely going to military prison. People's lives were in your hands, often depending on your short term memory. Yikes!!! Not much stress there! I became an electrician when I got out!

Interesting question. There are many angles from which you can approach this.

1. Are bigger bikes inherently more stable because of size (wheels, wheelbase etc)

2. Are bigger bikes inherently more dangerous because they have more power and can be/tend to be ridden faster?

3. Are bigger bikes safer because they tend to be ridden by more experienced people (less complete idiots)?

4. Are bigger bikes safer because they are more visible to others?

5. Are bigger bikes safer because they provide better visibility onto the roads?

6. Are bigger bikes more dangerous as they tend to be more complicated?

Personally I am really not sure but I feel safer on a big bike.

Yes. Except for #6.

And bigger bikes are safer because they can be made LOUDER!

And bigger bikes are safer because you can accelerate away from that truck driver who thinks it would be fun to run you off the road.

Goose.

The question is: "Just how afraid were they for their lives!!!?"

I always assumed forward momentum and glide ratio would prevent a plane from falling from the sky?

My ultralight was lovely. I heard like a single engine Cessna 150 or 172 would be OK. I would guess the glide ratio of a jet airliner would not allow a landing as it would stall on landing flare attempt. You might even need at least one turbine running to power flight controls, don't know. I could be wrong. Is it possible that one particular jet engine is responsible for cabin pressurization instead of the general electrical system? Does every turbine have a generator that powers the electrical system? Is pressurization hydraulically powered and not electrically powered? Is pressurization tapped off of a turbine compressor stage? If it was one particular turbine that somehow drove the pressurization, the pilots would have to rapidly descend as the plane lost pressurization to try to reach a safe altitude, if the pressurization-engine was the one that failed. You would zoom down from about 35,000 feet to at least about 10,000 feet. The oxygen masks would probably deploy if the cabin pressure went below a certain equivalent level of safe pressure. Nose bleeds if they didn't get down fast enough. I'm only guessing, if somebody knows, fill us in.

I think you have to het REALLY far up. Like the top of Doi Inthanon. But you can't really stay there.

Samoeng is also a valley; it may at time be slightly better, it may at times be worse.

Me? I'm of to Hua Hin.

Yes. "Up" doesn't do it. Hear, hear for Hua Hin.