Buying A Used Runabout 110/125Cc

[lolex]

I need to buy a Honda or Yamaha etc standard Thai 110/125cc motocy for the wife. The standard Thai advice seems to be 'buy new' - anything more than 6 months old is not to be trusted.

To me, a bike should be OK if the motor doesn't smoke or rattle, the bike pulls away in second gear ok and it all looks OK visually etc (the kind of checks I used to make buying a secondhand car - before they added mico chips to everything). And so a 2 - 4 year old bike should be had at a very reasonable price - say 15-20,000B.

But while I spend several months each year in LOS, I don't live here, yet.

What's your experience / advice please??

[ignis]

The standard Thai advice seems to be 'buy new' yes even Thais do not trust other Thais with 2nd hand... did see last week a new Tiger 115cc in a shop @ 30k and believe Honda have a 110cc Fi starting just over 30k [maybe 33k ?]

2nd hand there must be some very good cheap bikes out there, not sure where, guess you need to know someone to be 100% sure..

In my Village the house across the road he bought 10 years ago 2nd hand Yamaha Best, uses it a lot, but at the end of the week expect less then 15km added. a few houses up they have 4 bikes, 2 Sons both work in BKK at the same place = 110km round trip so over 600km per week, one is a Suzuki Hayate of 2007, the other he changed last year to a Honda CBR, the old man at the end house motorbike is his only transport it is many years old and in the past 8 years I can walk faster then he rides..

So of these bike witch would be best to buy? also notice many of the motorbike taxi boys around here have new, near new bikes, so there old bikes are sold for sale somewhere.

Edit: 63 houses in the Village, there are at least 30 bikes, most never go further than the local market [open 3x week] in the next Village 2km away

Edited October 17, 2011 by ignis

[karlos]

There's nothing wrong with buying secondhand, the reason why so many Thais buy new is because generally Thais are VERY easy to sell to and will buy almost any thing if it's worded correctly and has a cherry on it.

20k will get you a a whole host of bikes, just make sure that the bike (as well as having it's green book) comes with it's service book too, oil changes here only cost 100 - 200 baht for scooters so straight away glancing at the service book you'll be able to tell if the owner was a penny pincher or didn't mind taking care of the bike's blood.

On a sidenote, i have had my Yamaha Mio 125 for 6 months now (bought new... yes i have contradicted myself lol) and i thrash the crap out of it but stick to it's schedualed maintenance, 21,000km later she's still running fine. I have another 29,000km till the warranty runs out on the engine. A bike that is used for trips to the shops and would be considered being 'well looked after' could have more wear on it's engine than a bike with higher mileage that is warmed up correctly and covers greater distances each trip

Edited October 17, 2011 by karlos

[VocalNeal]

Take your wife to the nearest dealer or nearest Honda if she insisits. Buy her whichever one SHE wants except maybe Honda PCX which she may want because it is the most expensive. More likely it will be the colour that clinches the deal.

Auto would be better for her but let her chose.

[Thaifan2]

>>also notice many of the motorbike taxi boys around here have new, near new bikes, so there old bikes are sold for sale somewhere.<<

Those bikes are well trashed by the time the M/C guy is finished with it .

I normally buy my s/h bikes off Farangs .They have usually done a low milage and are well taken care of .Look for adverts in shop windows frequented by Farangs .

[ignis]

>>also notice many of the motorbike taxi boys around here have new, near new bikes, so there old bikes are sold for sale somewhere.<<

Those bikes are well trashed by the time the M/C guy is finished with it .

I normally buy my s/h bikes off Farangs .They have usually done a low milage and are well taken care of .Look for adverts in shop windows frequented by Farangs .

The motorbike taxi boys around here are always cleaning and polishing there bikes, a couple of months ago I visited my partners friend that owns a new and used motorbike shop 2 Honda Airblades were sat next to each other, he appears to be a honest trader, both were the same year, the smart very clean one was 5k cheaper, asking why he said was a motorbike taxi, I'm sure a not so honest trader would have sold it for a lot more.

[Thaifan2]

>>the smart very clean one was 5k cheaper, <<

You will also find that it had a lot more KMs on the clock .Agree though that trader was honest about it .

[lolex]

21,000km later she's still running fine. I have another 29,000km till the warranty runs out on the engine.

I didn't think to ask... what is a reasonable life expectancy for a reasonably well maintained 125cc runabout??

I'd assumed somewhere around 150,000km... based on the fact that Honda etc make good motors that run forever in their cars that I've had. BUT maybe I'm way out in that assumption....

[wana]

parts and labour are cheap you can keep a bike running for a very long time but i would trade it in when it gets 50,000km (warranty period on hondas and yamahas anyway ) and get something modern

you could keep it alive for much longer but you may get bored and trade it before that

people have old hondas from the 1970's and 80's that are still ticking along nicely so its hard to put a figure on it but gasohol is rougher stuff than leaded and unleaded benzine so it will be interesting to see if todays scooters are as durable as their ancestors

i would agree with buy a new one if you can afford it as someone already said

thai people dont tend to change oil ,filters , plugs,brakes or understand simple preventive maintainance

saying that though ,they probably dont need to

they buy the shinyiest scooter in the shop ,and change it after 3 years when they pay off the final installment

where do all the 2nd hand ones go ? its a good question because when you want a decent 2nd hand bike they are quite rare

[Thaifan2]

>>what is a reasonable life expectancy for a reasonably well maintained 125cc runabout??

I'd assumed somewhere around 150,000km.<<

I have had Honda motorcycles before ( around 200 cc engine size ) that seem to fall apart around 90,000 km .Remember that they are having to rev much more than a car engine through out their life .

[Richard-BKK]

I would advice you buy a 110 to 125cc semi-automatic 4-speed geared motorcycles. It would be perfect if you could buy it from a old lady who started to be scared to ride it... But, how much does that happen in Thailand... Anyway the kilometer count is not that important, a small engine motorcycle with simple gearbox seems to work forever if serviced well and not used as a race bike (abused)...

Therefore, if I would search for a secondhand, 110 to 125cc motorcycle I would look for signs that the bike has been used to race... Some indications are wheels and other aftermarket 'blink' parts...

Which brand would I look for? Personally, I would not buy a step through motorcycle to showoff, so what I ride would completely irrelevant – I would look around which motorcycle dealer near to my house, if a Honda motorcycle dealer/garage is is the closest I would prefer to buy a Honda, the same if a Tiger dealer was the closest I would go for a Tiger... if it was a Yamaha dealer I would look for a secondhand Yamaha. If the nearest motorcycle garage is an independent motorcycle repair shop I probably would ask him what he likes to work on... (which is likely a Honda Wave or Dream).

Anyway... you should also not dismiss buying a new motorcycle completely, alternative brands like Stallion, Tiger, Lifan, and even Sym have good alternative semi-automatic 4-speed step-through motorcycles which cost around 30,000 THB.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Richard-BKK