What Bike Should I Get?

[james_goku]

I just sold my ninja 250 and i will moving to thailand oct 26. I was wondering what bike would i enjoy the most?

Im so bored of my 250 because it was lacking in power.( alot of my friends told me this would happen but i did not listen) the take off on that bike just is lacking, but still a fun bike.

From what i have been reading...the cbr 150 is the top bike around here. If im geting bored with the 250 ninja..will i hate the cbr 150?

I'm really trying to find a fast 400cc bike, but im only wanting to spend about 50k baht.

Does Anybody know what bike i should try out?

[dave_boo]

While the CBR 150R may be the most popular pocket sports bike if you look at sales numbers alone, it's not neccesarily the top bike if you're looking at the category overall. As much as it burns my ass to say it, the Ninja 250 has taken over that slot although for a price to performance point of view the CBR edges out.

I'm afraid on your budget you're extremely limited. While there are 400cc bikes available for 50k THB, they're not going to be fast (their power isn't that much greater than a Ninja -57bhp versus the 33- and their weight is much more -some 45kg or 99lbs more), and there's a good chance that they're going to have dodgy rego books. However, PM dotcom and he should be able to help especially if you're going to be living on the SE side of BKK. He seems to have an inside line on really good deals.

[james_goku]

so if i get a 400cc bike here in thailand it wont be much faster than than the cbr 150?

well so far because im only willing to spend 50k baht my main choice seems to cbr 150.

i cant belive the ninja is 140 baht. the one i bought was 3k dollers brand new!

[LivinLOS]

Put another 10 or 20 in there and you will end up with a nice bandit 400.. 60hp, nice steering dynamic, yet light and nimble enough to be used daily and in traffic and towns.. I have mine running right again and its the perfect bike for my riding and the roads I ride. Its more bike than I need on these roads and in truth I need to polish up my skills more than I need more bike.

You might find one at the 50k price level but most I saw at that price were a bit rough around the edges or bad papers (choose your poison) but that little bit extra will find a nice one..

You could also find a CB400s.. Being honda these hold thier value a lot better and you dont often see clean ones under 80 IMO.. Sure they advertize at 50 every once in a while but the good ones are 80+ and even then your not looking at the VTEC ones.. These are really strong bulletproof machines, more comfortable than the Bandit for distance but that little less sporty in position and steering geometry, thats possibly a plus or a minus depending on the rider.

Really 50k baht aint much.. Its only just over 1/3rd of what you will need to swing a leg over a Ninja and its the lower end of the 400's.. 60, 70 or 80 finds you some nicer toys that probably save money over the longer term. Dont get too tempted by anything exotic unless you enjoy having tough calls in Thai sourcing parts from disinterested suppliers, maybe bangkok is no problem but here on Phuket i wouldnt want anything other than the Honda / Bandit or something dealer supported (much more money FZ6, Ducati, Triumph).

[dave_boo]

so if i get a 400cc bike here in thailand it wont be much faster than than the cbr 150?

well so far because im only willing to spend 50k baht my main choice seems to cbr 150.

i cant belive the ninja is 140 baht. the one i bought was 3k dollers brand new!

It would be faster than either the Ninja or the CBR; but not by much. Add in the loss of mobility and I think that it's just not worth it. Others may feel differently though.

As far as the price of the Ninja goes; yeah it sucks. However you do get fuel injection on the local bike; don't know if it's worth the 1 000 USD premium though......

[BigBikeBKK]

The 2008 Ninja 250R retails for $3499 in the US and lacks fuel injection.

Plenty of comments about the performance increase that comes with Fuel Injection have me convinced that here in Thailand we've got the better machine.

DAVE BOO- I don't know why you think FI will cost you a $1000 premium... (You're usually such a stickler for details I'm a bit surprised at your mistake...)

140,000 Thai Baht is about $4100, so if you buy the Thai fuel injected Ninja 250R you're paying a "premium" of about $600...

At any rate, if the OP's budget is only 50,000 Thai Baht the question is moot since he won't be able to afford anything decent anyway at that price

Maybe a thrashed CB400 without rego at that price. Good luck!

[BigBikeBKK]

RED BARON BKK just got in some new Honda CB400's

They're priced at 355,000฿ Link: New CB400

This might give you an idea about REAL bike prices in Thailand.

So- 140,000฿ for a brand new Ninja 250R or 355,000฿ for a new Honda CB400...

[PeaceBlondie]

50K is not enough to buy a good bike, in most likelihood. The neat thing about Thailand is that it makes small bikes faster. It is a shrink factor. What seemed absurdly small in West Texas becomes huge in East Isaan or North Chiang Mai. Riding my new CBR150R, I played in traffic this week with a big, new Yamaha 4 cylinder. Of course, at the final light at the edge of town, I took off like a rocket, all 17 huge horsepower, and he soon passed me as if I were on my 1957 Cushman. But in town, the bigger bikes have hardly any advantage. It is a different world here. But 50K is peanuts. Maybe just give up and buy my friend's old drum brake, Honda Dream 100.

But dave boo, I'd consider giving my left nut for another 43 horsepower. It just seems to me that those more powerful 4 cylinder bikes spend half their time running very poorly, not to mention their dodgy registration. I see most of them have no rear license plate.

[dave_boo]

The 2008 Ninja 250R retails for $3499 in the US and lacks fuel injection.

Plenty of comments about the performance increase that comes with Fuel Injection have me convinced that here in Thailand we've got the better machine.

DAVE BOO- I don't know why you think FI will cost you a $1000 premium... (You're usually such a stickler for details I'm a bit surprised at your mistake...)

140,000 Thai Baht is about $4100, so if you buy the Thai fuel injected Ninja 250R you're paying a "premium" of about $600...

At any rate, if the OP's budget is only 50,000 Thai Baht the question is moot since he won't be able to afford anything decent anyway at that price

Maybe a thrashed CB400 without rego at that price. Good luck!

That 1 000 USD premium was based on what the OP stated he payed new. While I assumed that it was a new one, on reflection it was most likely an older model. Thus I erred.

But dave boo, I'd consider giving my left nut for another 43 horsepower.

Well, if you're left nut is worth 355 000 THB, than you may have a deal at Red Baron!

[LivinLOS]

Maybe a thrashed CB400 without rego at that price. Good luck!

You obviously dont know the thai end of the market.. I have picked up good clean 400's without books for 15 - 20.. Book can be done for under 30.. Or bikes with 'rough' books in the 30 - 40 range often.. Bikes OK the book is a risk..

Lots of bikes with clean rego in the 60 range, just look around the Thai language forums... But agree a really nice clean shiny bike that wont need tweaking can run to lots more..

I had a gem of a CBR400RR for 55, clean book and title.. My current bandit has a total out of pocket cost that would be under his budget.

[Bard]

Maybe a thrashed CB400 without rego at that price. Good luck!

You obviously dont know the thai end of the market.. I have picked up good clean 400's without books for 15 - 20.. Book can be done for under 30.. Or bikes with 'rough' books in the 30 - 40 range often.. Bikes OK the book is a risk..

Lots of bikes with clean rego in the 60 range, just look around the Thai language forums... But agree a really nice clean shiny bike that wont need tweaking can run to lots more..

I had a gem of a CBR400RR for 55, clean book and title.. My current bandit has a total out of pocket cost that would be under his budget.

Yes a decent 400 can be found for a bargain so hopefully he can find something he will be pleased about. I also agree with PeaceBlondie the bikes in Thailand don't need to be as big as back in the Western world mostly due to most cars are diesel pickups which is way slower than what we are used to back in the Western world. So your bike becomes apparently fast compared to most cars on the roads here.

[imaneggspurt]

Im afraid at your budget you fall into the secondhand cbr150 as a best bike for the money bracket,.( secondhand ) but overall you will be dissapointed in the selection in thailand, 2 250cc kawasakis have just been released here for the first time and people are jumping up and down !,.what you will get in a 400cc bike for 50k ( baht ) will be an old ex rental pile im afraid,welcome to thailand,.

[imaneggspurt]

RED BARON BKK just got in some new Honda CB400's

They're priced at 355,000฿ Link: New CB400

This might give you an idea about REAL bike prices in Thailand.

So- 140,000฿ for a brand new Ninja 250R or 355,000฿ for a new Honda CB400...

True, the jump from 150cc to 250cc is over double, and the same from 250 to 400 and so on it seems,.no we dont all need hayabusas in thailand but i just cant be seen on a step through or cbr150 after what i have owned in the past, in fact ill agree with others that a big bike will get you to heaven or hel_l quicker, and as such 95 per cent of my riding is off road, much safer ,( i hope ) ! ......

[LivinLOS]

Im afraid at your budget you fall into the secondhand cbr150 as a best bike for the money bracket,.( secondhand ) but overall you will be dissapointed in the selection in thailand, 2 250cc kawasakis have just been released here for the first time and people are jumping up and down !,.what you will get in a 400cc bike for 50k ( baht ) will be an old ex rental pile im afraid,welcome to thailand,.

http://www.mocyc.com/store/view.php?idclassified=37474

Lets assume that gets haggled for 30k.. Lets also assume its bookless (one pic has a plate but price and others indicates not) so 20 - 25k for a book in BKK or patts, add 5k if out in the sticks..

So for 50 - 55k he has that Bandit 400 variable valve (VC) model 400.. Sure beats a CBR150 to me !!

That was 2 mins of looking.. Spend a week on the Thai forums and you will find 10 different bargains like that, the Honda CB400's command a price premium based on 'Honda'.. Still for 70 - 80 you find OK CB400's..

[LivinLOS]

http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=34273

http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=34235

http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=34068 55k with book..

http://www.bahtsold.com/detail.php?id=33662

5 more mins looking..

[wrathfultalon]

Since i came to thailand i have ridden bikes from 1300cc on down. Anything bigger than a 400 is a waste here to me. Even a 400 in traffic can be frustrating when you have people on scooters passing you left and right through gaps in traffic you cant fit through. Its too bad thailand is going to make registering two strokes hard. A NSR 150 would be bad ass there, small but bigger and faster than other comparably sized bikes. You can find a bike for 50000 but you will be spending money on it to get it updated and in shape.

[Richard-BKK]

If I was you and you find the 250cc Kawasaki boring, you would probably be impressed with the latest Ninja ZX-6R, Kawasaki has for 2009 lowered the weight of the 600cc Ninja and Thailand will probably be one of the first countries where this bike becomes available.

Early in 2009 Kawasaki will also introduce, which likely will be the cheapest, 600cc motorcycle for Thailand the ER-6N which will "expected" cost less then 290,000 Baht.

Also not forget that Honda will introduce a full range of larger displacement motorcycles in the first quarter of 2009. It is expected that Suzuki will follow a similar route....

[LivinLOS]

One of the reasons I decided not to import an FZ6 is that it seems the times they are a-changin..

Once an ER6-N is <300and others follow... the FZ6 will be alone at the mid 4 range.. Those wil be interesting times..

The other day I stopped and had a chat with a guy with a Triumph street triple, lovely, ideal size an weight, very sexy.. but a 580 ++ price tag.. Well they need to compete a bit more..

[imaneggspurt]

Im afraid at your budget you fall into the secondhand cbr150 as a best bike for the money bracket,.( secondhand ) but overall you will be dissapointed in the selection in thailand, 2 250cc kawasakis have just been released here for the first time and people are jumping up and down !,.what you will get in a 400cc bike for 50k ( baht ) will be an old ex rental pile im afraid,welcome to thailand,.

http://www.mocyc.com/store/view.php?idclassified=37474

Lets assume that gets haggled for 30k.. Lets also assume its bookless (one pic has a plate but price and others indicates not) so 20 - 25k for a book in BKK or patts, add 5k if out in the sticks..

So for 50 - 55k he has that Bandit 400 variable valve (VC) model 400.. Sure beats a CBR150 to me !!

That was 2 mins of looking.. Spend a week on the Thai forums and you will find 10 different bargains like that, the Honda CB400's command a price premium based on 'Honda'.. Still for 70 - 80 you find OK CB400's..

I agree that its possible to find a suzuki or something in that price range IF you want to lose yourself in bangkok, i tried for 3 days and gave up,..also of the 10 bikes we saw ALL were misdescribed,. for someone like yourself it may well be worth it ,to me my time was better spent elsewhere and in the end i bought at one of the bigger dealers where i could browse and choose, i paid a bit more but it was ( in my opinion ) worth it,. loking back i could have taken some of the stress out if looking if i had a guide,thats the main problem is finding your way around,.

[LivinLOS]

for someone like yourself it may well be worth it ,to me my time was better spent elsewhere

Nice attempt at a dig.. But being retired young I dont have many drains on my time

I also get a kind of private pleasure on knowing I have got one up on my deals, even if the money isnt really important..

[wrathfultalon]

for someone like yourself it may well be worth it ,to me my time was better spent elsewhere

Nice attempt at a dig.. But being retired young I dont have many drains on my time

I also get a kind of private pleasure on knowing I have got one up on my deals, even if the money isnt really important..

Different strokes different folks. Guess it comes down how you gauge your time, if you feel your time is free then spending a large amount of if searching for that super deal is worth it. I am at the other end of the spectrum, so little free time means i am willing to pay more to enjoy the time i do have.

[imaneggspurt]

for someone like yourself it may well be worth it ,to me my time was better spent elsewhere

Nice attempt at a dig.. But being retired young I dont have many drains on my time

I also get a kind of private pleasure on knowing I have got one up on my deals, even if the money isnt really important..

It wasnt a dig ..and i too like a bargain, but in 90+ degree heat the call of a cold beer and a hot woman seems to sway me !

[wrathfultalon]

for someone like yourself it may well be worth it ,to me my time was better spent elsewhere

Nice attempt at a dig.. But being retired young I dont have many drains on my time

I also get a kind of private pleasure on knowing I have got one up on my deals, even if the money isnt really important..

It wasnt a dig ..and i too like a bargain, but in 90+ degree heat the call of a cold beer and a hot woman seems to sway me !

dont forget the freakin humidity, i am used to 125 plus adn i still sweat my ass off here.

[JonnyF]

One thing to consider is that there is a world of difference between big smooth roads in the US where most road users at least try to follow the rules, and busy potholed roads in Thailand with people wobbling up the wrong side of the road at you with no lights every 30 seconds.

I'll consider the new 600's if they arrive at the 300-350k mark, but to be honest I think it's a bit unnecessary here, especially for me in Bangkok - I'm finding it hard to open up the 250 as often as I would like. I'm inclined to think that the lightness of the 250 is more of an advantage than the extra power that anything 400cc or over would offer me. If I was out in the sticks or doing a lot of touring then I might change my mind.

Another thing to remember is that the bike described in the advert and the bike that you see when you turn up are often very different. I'd probably own at least one VFR400 by now if they looked as good in real life as they do on the websites. Listening to forum members it seems a lot of the older bikes spend a fair bit of time in the garage and although repairs are comparatively cheap, I think the frustration of the rip offs and/or incompetent work would give me major headaches unless I knew a good and trustworthy mechanic - which I don't.

Good luck with your search... if I was you I'd probably get a mint NSR150SP and spend the spare 30k elsewhere.

[submaniac]

A NSR 150 would be bad ass there, small but bigger and faster than other comparably sized bikes.

Amen to that. I can tell you from personal experience that a two-stroke 150cc is great for Bangkok traffic. Lightweight (a little bit over 200 lbs) and powerful (around 35-40hp depending on the bike). They are very nimble with the ability to squeeze betweeen the cars, and have plenty of 'go' when you crank the throttle.

It's a pity, but I don't think alot of people on this forum really know how the two-strokes work. A 'stroke' is everytime the piston goes up and down. A 'power stroke' is the stroke when gasoline is burned producing power, which is (ultimately) transferred to the wheel. On a 4 stroke, every fourth stroke is a power stroke. On a 2 stroke, every second stroke is a power stroke. (Okay, it is a little more complicated than that; if you want more in depth analysis go here How stuff works: Two Stroke Engines)

All you really need to know is that a two stroke produces twice the power of a comparable sized four stroke, because it fires twice as many 'power strokes'. So if you want to know the power of a two stroke relative to a four stroke engine, multiply the two stroke engine by two. So a 150cc two stroke is equal to a 300cc twin. That is why in motorcycle racing (such as motorcross) a four stroke engine is allowed twice as much displacement as a two stroke engine.

For everyone on this forum talking about how the CBR 150 is a better deal than the Kawasaki 250 Ninja, the old two strokes have both bikes beat. They are cheaper (used), cheaper to fix (because a two stroke engine is less complicated than a 4 stroke), and more powerful than either the 17hp CBR or 250 Ninja.

I highly doubt that the old two strokes will be banned. If there is a 'ban' it will be on new two strokes (I believe the Kawasaki KRR is the last two stroke that you can still get brand new). The old two strokes I believe would still be grandfathered in. The reason I don't think they will be banned is that alot of Thais still use the two strokes as basic transportation (because they can't afford new bikes). I think the government would be risking an uprising by alot of people if they banned the two strokes. People on this forum have been talking about a two stroke ban for years, but no one has ever shown any legislation either passed, or proposed, on it. And if it ain't banned by now, why would it be banned in the future? All the government has to do is let the two-strokes die a slow death as they wear out and people do not repair them anymore. Kind of like the ban on the leaded fuel cars in the United States. Leaded fuel is banned, but the old cars that run on them (which include your 1960's era mustangs, camaros, etc.) are not. No state ever banned leaded fuel cars, but let them die off through attrition.

[wrathfultalon]

I have agree, there is no way thais up country are going to simply buy new because some politician says they have too. These people have riots over the price of rice going up!

I seriously considered an SP before my VFR. You go to Tyga and go fast parts are sooo cheap! well who knows might still get one for fun. With a little love and modern tech I bet it would be a bad bike.

[dotcom]

I sold a NSR150 SP-1 to buy my CB400. I know where 2 of them are sitting for anyone interested.

[submaniac]

I seriously considered an SP before my VFR. You go to Tyga and go fast parts are sooo cheap! well who knows might still get one for fun. With a little love and modern tech I bet it would be a bad bike.

Dude, you have no idea how really cheap it is to fix those little two strokes! Something 'bad' happened to my bike (Yamaha TZM) riding from BKK to Pattaya. I don't know what happened (and still don't know to this day) but the bike wasn't making any power. So I brought it to my shop. Left it there a total of two days. The first day I left it, I came by later and they showed me my piston that they had removed from the bike! As I said, I still don't know what was wrong with it, but as a rule of thumb, if a mechanic shows you the piston he removed from your engine...well it isn't good. I just nodded and told them to do whatever they needed to do. Second day, the bike was done, and ran as good as new. Price: 1200 baht. A new clutch replacement? 780 baht including labor.

[dotcom]

Dave boo. I asked the price of that CBR 250 today. 55,000 plated. Needs a can but otherwise top condition.

[dotcom]

btw. My CB400 with dodgy book has run for 2 years without one breakdown.

Pulls like a mule goin up a ladder. I changed the rear sprocket from 42 to 37 teeth to get some top end.