The Old Elephant trail to Maehongsong.

[papa al]

Hope to ride up maybe end of Jan.

Times are good for road-trippin.

Cheap gas.

Cheap everything.

Maybe 3 weeks.

Take Lifan200 dual-sport.

[canthai55]

This is one I always wanted to do also - right in my back yard

Have an OSM map of it too

[Damrongsak]

Papa, take some bananas in case you meet elephants. 

 

 

[colinneil]

4 hours ago, papa al said:

Hope to ride up maybe end of Jan.

Times are good for road-trippin.

Cheap gas.

Cheap everything.

Maybe 3 weeks.

Take Lifan200 dual-sport.

Should be a very interesting ride papa ,i used to live on the old trail at Nong Kao Klang, lovely scenery.

A trip not for the faint hearted, only time not advisable to go is in the rainy season.

[jackdd]

It's a nice ride, not very difficult in the dry season. Did it on my Triumph Tiger 800 with my girlfriend on the back.

If somebody is looking for a real adventure then do it in the rainy season ????

 

[papa al]

4 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Papa, take some bananas in case you meet elephants. 

Out of Pattaya riding to Khaw Mai Kaow, 

have been seeing

2 elephants on the south side of the road 3240;

new tourist attraction.

A lot of 4-wheeler riding too.

Maybe take them some bananas.

[Damrongsak]

Papa,

 

Years back a missionary priest in a small village in Loei was called upon to do a blessing ceremony for a working elephant.  They made some green chicken soup for lunch.  He didn't know it was ganja.  Started getting really high during the ceremony, and he'd never been stoned before.  He was a bit ticked.

 

I've seen a few other working elephants used to drag crops from the fields. 

[papa al]

On 12/7/2020 at 1:50 AM, papa al said:

Hope to ride up maybe end of Jan.

Times are good for road-trippin.

Cheap gas.

Cheap everything.

Maybe 3 weeks.

Take Lifan200 dual-sport.

Long trips on small bike usually means a lot of high rpm riding time.

Motor oil tends to burn/evaporate off.

High quality synthetic oil helps a lot.

Amsoil 100% synthetic is best oil out, IpHA.

Polyalphaolefin, PAO, based.

Amsoil claims twice the service milage vs conventional oil. 

~2% increase in efficiency/power/fuel economy.

Local shop sells it @ B450/qt.

Yesterday ordered 6 qt., 10W40, from Lazada @ B271/each.

 

 

 

 

[VocalNeal]

Does said elephant trail show on any maps? 

 

Maybe I should have bought a Cagiva Elefant?

[jackdd]

43 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Does said elephant trail show on any maps? 

It's a bit difficult to map on Google maps because part of the road is missing on Google maps and it likes to send you somewhere else.

If coming from Mae Hong Son you go to this place and start the navigation from there.

https://goo.gl/maps/CaarUyQECrjxXTW36

Using that as your starting point, you select this place as your destination:

https://goo.gl/maps/nZhX5V17HNYGranM7

This gives you a 49.9km route which is the major part of the elephant trail.

Google says the road ends there, this is actually not the case, it continues on and turns into road 5032 to "Wat Chan"

The tarmacked road ends a few kilometers after my starting point, and starts again about where road 5032 begins. So it's round about 45 kilometers on some dirt roads, but you pass a few villages.

 

[VocalNeal]

Cheers

[papa al]

Lifan prep for road-trip Pattaya<==>MHS

So …

… have been running dirt tires & sprockets on Lifan.

Getting read to switch to the  90% street-tires set-up.

Had one of the girls detail the wheels

and have the idea to spray paint them

clear-coat acrylic, cheap local stuff.

Rims, spokes, hubs sprocket,

everything but disk.

These tires are 6 years old but look good.

Mich Anakee-3 up 21” up front;

bomber, for big ADV bikes.

Nice Dunlop on back.

30 psi each.

Also will spray some clear on my plastic panels

and frame parts, handlebar stuff.

Need wash and re-oil air filter,

Will √ valve-gaps to .05mm.

0.9liter Amsoil 10w-40.

Prolly spring for an o-ring chain.

Plan on hammering on the main roads.

End of January-ish.

Buddha willing.

[papa al]

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, papa al said:

These tires are 6 years old but look good.

 

They may look good, but 6 years in the Thai climate might have them harder and prone to cracking. Unless you've had them stored in a controlled climate.

[papa al]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

They may look good, but 6 years in the Thai climate might have them harder and prone to cracking. Unless you've had them stored in a controlled climate.

Ya, the rubber is pretty hard even when new.

Riding it around will soften things up.

There are no cracks.

Under-cover parking or inside room.

Thanks for comment.

[VocalNeal]

Give them a good spray with WD-40 that will soften the surface. 

[papa al]

On 12/18/2020 at 1:02 AM, papa al said:

Lifan prep for road-trip Pattaya<==>MHS

So …

 

Had neighbor guy switch the wheels from dirt to road configuration.

He was happy with B100.

Rode bike over to my regular shop on 3rd, to

-change oil; 0.9 liter my Amsoil,

-re-align tube, front tire, as stem came out at angle.

-Verify valve lash at .05mm both.

-Cut 1" off each bar-end; shift controls medially.

B500

Looking good.

[papa al]

So been tooling around on the Lifan.

A few days back

slow dropped her on a sandy corner on a country road.

Smashed r hand-guard and bent r foot-peg back and up like 20º.

[papa ok]

My first shop couldn't figure out how to straighten but

KMK guys did.

He heated the mount in sutu with a oxyacetylene torch

and twisted it back with a wrench,

then papa stomped on it 2x and good.

Re-curved the bar guard and

found another expansion shell for the bar end.

The diameter of the shell is a lot less than the ID of the pipe.

Usually a vinyl tube is slid over shell to make up the space.

but my mech lath turned an aluminum sleeve, 2º expansion shell

Worked great.

Total bill B100...

Did some trail riding with her then.

[Damrongsak]

5 hours ago, papa al said:

... 

The diameter of the shell is a lot less than the ID of the pipe.

Usually a vinyl tube is slid over shell to make up the space.

but my mech lath turned an aluminum sleeve, 2º expansion shell

Worked great. ...

A couple wraps with a shim made from a beer can(s) might have worked. 

[papa al]

On 1/3/2021 at 6:48 PM, papa al said:

lath turned 

lathe...

[papa al]

Ordered a new chain /Lazada/

Local shop quoted 1700.

[From specs listed]:

 High quality motorcycle chain kit information for 428 DID O Ring 136 link chain DID is an oil seal chain, normal use 5-6 million miles, very good quality!

 

 

 

[papa al]

Today papa bought his 1st smart-phone

loaded with an app

so govt can track /

monitor every move and contact.

????

Will the planned Elephant-Trail-trip be allowed ?

 

Are there any tourists in ChiangMai now?

 

[guzzi850m2]

10 hours ago, papa al said:

Today papa bought his 1st smart-phone

loaded with an app

so govt can track /

monitor every move and contact.

????

Will the planned Elephant-Trail-trip be allowed ?

 

Are there any tourists in ChiangMai now?

 

You can't leave the province mate, if you do it's 14 days quarantine at your destination, or I should say; the next province you enter.

 

So if you ride up there from Chon Buri, you will cross how many provinces?

 

If we say 5 (only guessing) it will take you roughly 10 weeks to get up there????

[papa al]

Screwed

Blued

& Tatooed.

[guzzi850m2]

1 hour ago, papa al said:

Screwed

Blued

& Tatooed.

Well it's not entirely correct what I said, you only have to quarantine coming from the red provinces, Chon Buri is red currently.

[papa al]

Chonburi is now orange.

Can papa ride on up?

2-week quarantine.?

New rules Feb. 1.?

 

[VocalNeal]

Thought you were going on 27th. I was in Piang Luang.

[papa al]

11 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Thought you were going on 27th.

...the best laid schemes

of mice and man

gang oft aglee.

[papa al]

My main CM man, Duey:

 

From 1 February 2021 onwards you can travel from Chonburi. You can come to Chiang Mai without quarantine for 14 days, but you need to do these things before arriving at the covid -19 screening point before you arrive in Chiang Mai city as follows: 1. Please cooperate and install "Mor Chana" application. 2. Fill in your information in the application "CM Chana". After filling in the information, there will be a SMS informing you to act during your stay in Chiang Mai. Please follow it strictly. 3. Fill in your information in the document. CM.1 to submit at the covid -19 screening checkpoint before reaching Chiang Mai city And requires you to closely observe your symptoms (Self-monitoring) If there are abnormal symptoms, notify the local communicable disease officer. Or to be examined in the hospital immediately The applications and documents in 1-3 that I have informed you I have attached to this email. We ask that you confirm that you can follow the Chiang Mai Communicable Disease Commission announcement if you do so. The next email will discuss reservations and room rates again.

 

Best regard

Duey @ Tri Gong...

 

[papa al]

Launch re-scheduled for Tuesday.

Buddha willing.