3 Things that will make your relationship successful in Thailand

[Muaythaidan]

hey guys, sorry this might be a ridiculous question.

im wondering if any of you ride a big bike without plates / registration in phuket, and if you are fine like this getting by police stops? do they give you big fines about not having plates?

i have a VFR400 in chiang mai, i have all the documantation and import papers and everything for it, it is just not registered. im planning to come back to thailand this summer, but id like to be in Phuket this time around.

so let me know if i will have big issues with this. im asuming i will. but id like to hear your experiences.

thanks a lot,

-Dan

[CroBiker]

Personaly, I wouldn't dare riding bike with no plates, especially in Phuket. I am sure you heard of Phuket greedy and unscrupulous customs officials and traffic police, they are notorious unlike anywhere else in Kingdom.

However, my Thai friend drives very fancy imported bike with no plates whatsoever and couldn't be bothered. On other hand he comes from very influential Phuket family that owns most of the car dealerships and gas stations, guess that gives him automatic pass with authorities.

[Muaythaidan]

Personaly, I wouldn't dare riding bike with no plates, especially in Phuket. I am sure you heard of Phuket greedy and unscrupulous customs officials and traffic police, they are notorious unlike anywhere else in Kingdom.

However, my Thai friend drives very fancy imported bike with no plates whatsoever and couldn't be bothered. On other hand he comes from very influential Phuket family that owns most of the car dealerships and gas stations, guess that gives him automatic pass with authorities.

thanks for the reply. i guess ill have to get it registered.

Edited March 24, 2010 by Muaythaidan

[katabeachbum]

no chance on imported big bike. they fine you and take the bike, and you could try get it back from customs (at a price)

no problem on thai made Honda Airblade though

[ScubaBuddha]

My farang friend didn't last a week on his Thai made Tiger 250RS before the bib handed him a fine and took his DL until he paid. He bought it new direct from the factory, and thus was never given red plates. His Thai Tiger contact who he bought the bike from told him just keep the paperwork with him to show the cop. He did that, the cop just kept repeating, "Must have plate." The cops often have someone "upstream" from the checkpoint radioing ahead the bikes with no plates. I notice at the circles the cop often stationed at each entrance to the circle will be radioing his mates on the other side of the circle to stop a bike. I see Thai's and farang doing the walk of shame over to the Chalong police station regularly.

Not having a plate on a bike is one of the favorites for the Phuket police whereas other places in Thailand it doesn't seem to be a problem. Having said that, there are still a lot of old plateless small bikes running around driven by Thai's. I think they just avoid the checkpoints.

[LivinLOS]

You will lose the bike and it will become some nice policeman new toy (and he will tie on an old wrecked wave plate from the bike graveyard out back)..

My farang friend didn't last a week on his Thai made Tiger 250RS before the bib handed him a fine and took his DL until he paid. He bought it new direct from the factory, and thus was never given red plates. His Thai Tiger contact who he bought the bike from told him just keep the paperwork with him to show the cop. He did that, the cop just kept repeating, "Must have plate."

This also contradicts the whole "its ok to not have red plates when sold in BKK" line..

[norwaygeir]

I bought a 125 cc chopper new from the dealer last year, and was not given license-plates, told me the same thing as the person with the Tiger, keep all paiper with you at all time and it will be ok. Drove it from BKK to Koh Chang and back again, passing many checkpoints with out getting stopped. Also had the highway-police driving back me for at least 1. km without getting stopped. I just think the police man that stopped the person on the new Tiger, just whanted tea-money.

Is there anyone that nows that for sure, if it's legal to drive without licenseplate, when your waiting for it to arrive (allways bringing with you the paipers for the bike)?

[patcat]

I just think the police man that stopped the person on the new Tiger, just whanted tea-money.

I thought the same...i had a few bikes new and without plates...never any issues and even i was stopped and asked i showed the said "proof of purchase" and thats it. I believe this may vary on different province...Bkk seems to get along without red plates and Chiang Mai too...i never drive around on pattaya or Phuket so can't tell much about but many licence offices in northern provinces will tell you "no red plates needed anymore".

patcat

[ScubaBuddha]

I bought a 125 cc chopper new from the dealer last year, and was not given license-plates, told me the same thing as the person with the Tiger, keep all paiper with you at all time and it will be ok. Drove it from BKK to Koh Chang and back again, passing many checkpoints with out getting stopped. Also had the highway-police driving back me for at least 1. km without getting stopped. I just think the police man that stopped the person on the new Tiger, just whanted tea-money.

Is there anyone that nows that for sure, if it's legal to drive without licenseplate, when your waiting for it to arrive (allways bringing with you the paipers for the bike)?

I just think the police man that stopped the person on the new Tiger, just whanted tea-money.

I thought the same...i had a few bikes new and without plates...never any issues and even i was stopped and asked i showed the said "proof of purchase" and thats it. I believe this may vary on different province...Bkk seems to get along without red plates and Chiang Mai too...i never drive around on pattaya or Phuket so can't tell much about but many licence offices in northern provinces will tell you "no red plates needed anymore".

patcat

No tea money was given. It was a legitimate ticket issued.

Lots of discussion about this in the Bike forum. In Bangkok redplates are not issued for new bikes. No one really knows why. Despite your experiences, the law definitely is that all vehicles need plates to be driven on a public road legally, but it is selectively enforced in many areas of Thailand. It does not appear to be enforced in Bangkok, but it is vigorously in Phuket, new with papers in hand or not, your getting a ticket guaranteed.

They have been playing with license plate recognition software at the checkpoints here for a few years, and had video recording the license plate numbers before that, so maybe that is why.

And Btw, I don't think anything 125cc can be called a chopper.

Edited March 26, 2010 by ScubaBuddha

[patcat]

I bought a 125 cc chopper new from the dealer last year, and was not given license-plates, told me the same thing as the person with the Tiger, keep all paiper with you at all time and it will be ok. Drove it from BKK to Koh Chang and back again, passing many checkpoints with out getting stopped. Also had the highway-police driving back me for at least 1. km without getting stopped. I just think the police man that stopped the person on the new Tiger, just whanted tea-money.

Is there anyone that nows that for sure, if it's legal to drive without licenseplate, when your waiting for it to arrive (allways bringing with you the paipers for the bike)?

I just think the police man that stopped the person on the new Tiger, just whanted tea-money.

I thought the same...i had a few bikes new and without plates...never any issues and even i was stopped and asked i showed the said "proof of purchase" and thats it. I believe this may vary on different province...Bkk seems to get along without red plates and Chiang Mai too...i never drive around on pattaya or Phuket so can't tell much about but many licence offices in northern provinces will tell you "no red plates needed anymore".

patcat

No tea money was given. It was a legitimate ticket issued.

Lots of discussion about this in the Bike forum. In Bangkok redplates are not issued for new bikes. No one really knows why. Despite your experiences, the law definitely is that all vehicles need plates to be driven on a public road legally, but it is selectively enforced in many areas of Thailand. It does not appear to be enforced in Bangkok, but it is vigorously in Phuket, new with papers in hand or not, your getting a ticket guaranteed.

They have been playing with license plate recognition software at the checkpoints here for a few years, and had video recording the license plate numbers before that, so maybe that is why.

And Btw, I don't think anything 125cc can be called a chopper.

It would be great if they could make up their minds about the red plates....maybe they come up with something better...but maybe better to keep the state of confusion so the BiB can still make money .

125 cc chopper is a bit exaggerated...maybe its a typo, maybe he meant 1250 cc?

patcat

[norwaygeir]

It's looks like a chopper, but it's to small for me (had to sit on the passenger seat when I was driving). Have just used it for one trip (1000 km). Upgraded to a Honda Magna 750 this year.

picture of the bike

[patcat]

It's looks like a chopper, but it's to small for me (had to sit on the passenger seat when I was driving). Have just used it for one trip (1000 km). Upgraded to a Honda Magna 750 this year.

picture of the bike

Hi Geir,

Thats the Ryuka....its a chinese bike , believe zongshen makes this? How did it run( for the 1000 km)?

I bet you have a lot more fun on the 750 Magna...i also just got a Yamaha 750 cc Chopper, it needs a bit of work before i'm on the road with it...but it got the clean green book so i figured it's worth fixing it up nicely .

enjoy your ride

patcat

[norwaygeir]

It went ok, no troubel. The only problem for me is that it's to small, have a problem with my back, that results in no angel in foot while driving. Have to stretch it all out so I had to sitt on passanger seat, thats means no passenger. Whanted the ER6, but because of the problem I couldn't break og shift gear properly. Then ended up with the magna.

The only thing I remember was at the end of the trip, it started to make som ticking-sound from the engine/ gearbox (don't remember witch), but after service it worked fine without sound. It goes good (did 120 on it, and I'm not a small person (110 kg)). It looks good, is cheap but how the quality is in the long run I don't now.

[phuketrichard]

i see lots of bikes over here in Kamala without plates and never any problem. I have my Triumph and have been running with CA plates since 1999 and only been stoppd 2 times. Once resulted in ticket for 300 baht for out of date plates :-)

Better put something on even if its an old plate

Also know a few old Brithish bikles owned by thais running aorund in Bang Taa and Chern Talay wihtout any porblems

[LivinLOS]

Do you visa run your triumph ??

I was always told.. Putting on a fake plate was a far worse crime (jail time) than simply no plates..

[ScubaBuddha]

I met a Russian guy at Kata Beach last week on an Africa Twin fully loaded down. He had European plates of some kind. Someone said the plates were German. He was riding from Sydney to Moscow!!

[LivinLOS]

I know lots of guys with overseas plated bikes, but what seemed easy at first becomes a pain in the arse over time (visa running every 6 months, extending it every 2 months) I know also lots of guys who simply font bother, but the risk goes up.