I recently bought a Yamaha Tiara 120S - a nice old two stroke Sonic-style slightly sporty little bike - for just 4,500 baht. I like it a lot as it is a bit bigger and higher (more comfortable) than the Tenas I usually buy. But, it has developed a problem:

It happened after I got it back from a repair shop - the bike will only excellerate with the choke in the 'on' position. It wasn't like this before - before it required some choke to start but then would run and drive with the choke off, as normal, though it did have a too-high idle. My guess is maybe the mechanic sort of reset the mixture and so forth while he had it (the bike was just in for a new tube to replace one that was leaking, I think the one from the gas tank to the carb or to the autolube or something like that).

I'm not very good with mechanicals, and only speak Thai a bit, so its difficult to discuss this with the mechanic. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions? And by the way, any Tiara owners out there?

Errrm, so you don't just ride Tenas! Did you ever get the problem with the choke sorted out? I guess you must have as the post was a few months ago. I bet it was just running lean. Anyway, hope it's OK now. By the way, I think we should start a Honda Tena Owners Club! If you see any good Honda Tenas for sale, let me know. I was in Laos a couple of months ago and every other bike seems to be a Tena. Here's a photo of one in beautiful condition.

Errrm, so you don't just ride Tenas! Did you ever get the problem with the choke sorted out? I guess you must have as the post was a few months ago. I bet it was just running lean. Anyway, hope it's OK now. By the way, I think we should start a Honda Tena Owners Club! If you see any good Honda Tenas for sale, let me know. I was in Laos a couple of months ago and every other bike seems to be a Tena. Here's a photo of one in beautiful condition.

Hey I just noticed this, wow, long time ago. I hope you're still visiting Thaivisa. I have to admit I do only occasionally.

Alas I never really fixed the Tiara, it was drivable as it was so I drove it that way till some Thais persuaded me to sell it. I got a years worth of use out of it. I miss it a lot, and I really preferred the driving position compared to the lower/smaller Tenas. I'd love to find another one in really good shape, as that one was a bit rough.

As for Tenas, well, I now have three Tenas all in good shape! I just kept buying them when the dealer had a good one (which wasn't often), if it was cheap enough. I bought them for around 5-6K each, but I've put a bit into each one fixing them up. I'd sell them for 6-8K I guess, depending on which one.