December 17, 201015 yr Maybe it was co-incidence but there might be a crackdown on motorbikes in Chiang Mai right now. Normally, nobody cares about a brand new bike - it's obviously new, and obviously that's the reason it doesn't have plates yet. I've passed countless checkpoints without plates. But 3 days ago, a police man stopped me and wanted to see my driver's license. Told me "no plates" and pulled his little ticket-book. I explained to him new bike, no plates yet, and it was good enough. It's just weird he'd even bother - not happened before. And today a shady-looking plain-clothes guy flashing his ID wanted to see my papers. He said he was from the excise department. I don't have the green book yet but the receipts along with smiles were good enough for him - in the end he even said "beautiful bike, so nice" but maybe what he really wanted to add was "I wish I could have confiscated it just now".... Anyway for those who have something to hide, you might want to hide it just now. For the others, don't forget your papers.
December 18, 201015 yr The law is your bike needs plates new or not, but it is not uniformly enforced and in some areas red plates aren't issued at all. Here in Phuket, the anti-big bike capitol of Thailand, if you don't have plates, red if new or white if over one month old, you can be cited. For example my mate that recently bought a new Tiger Boxer 250RS was cited even though it was obviously new and he had all paperwork with him. "No plates, cannot" was the officers only words. I have heard the same thing happen many times.
December 19, 201015 yr And in Surin.having lived here for 9 months. Never been stopped by the police. Around here your big bike is safe Although,a good idea to pay the excise!!
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