Cheap Bikes...

[Macca81]

Me and a friend want to ride around Thailand for a month late next year, we want 2 cheap scooters to do this with. what sort of scooter would you recomend and what sort of price would we be likely to pay for a semi-decent second hand scooter?

Cheers

[SeanMoran]

I bought a Suzuki 125 for 6,500 in 2548 and it got me from Rayong to Chanthaburi to Khorat to Nonthaburi thru Bangkok to Rayong at 100km/h plus loaded with rucksacks and a briefcase on the way back from Khorat, so after one Honda Wave 4-stroke 100 for 18,000 in 2549 and now back to a quick little Honda 125 2-stroke that set me back 25,000 and still needs quite a bit of work to make her shipshape, I'd say I was lucky to find that Suzuki which is still the best of all three I've had here, but I DID have a well-respected Thai friend take me to look at bike shop that day, and I went back there a couple of Thursdays ago, asking about a bike, and the same owner who sold me that Suzuki four years ago when I had a friend with a short-nose stood there amid a range of decent looking second-hand bikes that I would have been interested in, and told me to rack orf.

If you want value for money, take a trusted friend. If you want to pay for the service alone, then take 15,000 thb at least, and get to know the mechanic at the shop you buy from before taking off on tour.

Bon Voyage!