I've tried poking around in this forum and some of these Überbikes scare me. Some of them cost upwards of 300 thousand baht and look like something the Ghost Rider should be riding.

So I'd like to take this in the opposite direction. How much would I expect to pay for the most basic, low-performance scooter just to putz around the no-helmet zones in my neighborhood? I mean roughly.

And as long as we're here, are there any electric options? It would be kinda cool to have a nearly silent bike.

Thanks.

You could end up spending as little as 5000B for something like an automatic Honda Dio

10-20k on a Honda Dream, Wave, or Yamaha Mio

Most newer scooters are 30-60k brand new.

Both the Dio and the Mio are fully automatic, the Dream/Wave can be had in a semi auto, meaning you just need to click your foot up or down to change gears, no squeezing a clutch.

The Dio is going to be the slowest by far with only a 50cc engine

Thanks that is exactly what I was hoping for; a short list of options. Do any of these have gear shifters on the handle bar? I'm very used to riding racing bikes (bicycles) where the gear shifters are on the handle bars, so it occurred to me that something like this might be available for motorbikes too. Or are they all pedal shifters?

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=13.891746,100.615407

None that I know of, you are only going to find:

Fully automatic, just twist and go

Semi, meaning foot goes up or down

or Manual, meaning a clutch on the hand bar and moving your foot.

> And as long as we're here, are there any electric options? It would be kinda cool to have a nearly silent bike.

Yes, there are electric bikes available in Thailand. But IMHO its much too dangerous to do speed above 20kmh with them. Thai people are used to vehicles making noise. They do not respect "silent" vehicles like electric bikes or bicycles at higher speeds. These are toys for most people and you should be aware that your right of way will not be respected in many situations.

The older Vespas had handlebar shifting, similiar to gripshift gears found on mountain bikes. I could never ride those things, though. Having two grips that shift was annoying.

You might want to check out the new Honda Spacy. It's a 110cc auto and has a lot of under-seat storage. They go for about 40k.

> And as long as we're here, are there any electric options? It would be kinda cool to have a nearly silent bike.

Yes, there are electric bikes available in Thailand. But IMHO its much too dangerous to do speed above 20kmh with them. Thai people are used to vehicles making noise. They do not respect "silent" vehicles like electric bikes or bicycles at higher speeds. These are toys for most people and you should be aware that your right of way will not be respected in many situations.

i dont think thais have any respect for a motorcycle either ,unless its maybe a goldwing or something massive

the amount of times i get cut off by idiots thai people pulling out in front of me or switching lanes when they see

me coming is uncountable in just 1 days riding around bkk

all i can do is hit the brakes and they obviously know that

thats on a big bike with a loud exhaust as well