Motorcycle Journey

[Willlem]

hi there,

lfirst, et me propose myself : I'm a 22 year old 'boy'/'wannabe-man' from Belgium, Europe, you know, that little country which seems to be the capital of Brussels, according to most Americans ;-)

I'm going to make a motorcycle trip through Thailand, around christmas time this year. The plan is to go to Nakhon Ratchasima first(or was it Ubon Ratchatani...whatever), then go to Louangphrabang, then follow the Mekong in Laos, to end in Phnom Penh. It's about 2500 kilometers as far as I calculated it. I've been driving a motorcycle over here( honda CB500, kawa kx250, yamaha fazer600, suzuki gsx-f600), but I'm expecting something completely different

But, I don't know where/which motorcycle I should buy. My 'father-in-law,' who's going with me (together with my girlfriend, and the girlfriend of her father) wanted to buy a Honda Dream (Wave) 110cc , and travel at an easy-rider-speed around the country, to sell them in Cambodia, without losing too much money on the buying price (we hope).

He drives an African Twin, so he's used to have a little comfort

-Are these reliable enough ? Shouldn't I better get a heavier motorcycle ?

-Can we easily go into cambodja/laos with these thai motorcycles ?Is it easy to sell them in Cambodia ?

-should we buy them in bangkok, or is it better to take the train to Ratchasima ( I presume this is also a 'bigger' city, like bangkok, but smaller ) and buy the motorcycles over there ?

-is it relibale to buy a second hand motorcycle somewhere, even if they have few miles ?

-Is it safe on the roads between the border with Laos and Lhouangphrabang ?

I hope you're not bored with these questions, and maybe you'll cheer up if you'll know that it has been freezing here the last three weeks, untill -13 °Celsius

thanks all,

ciao

Willem

Edited March 14, 2006 by Willlem

[terdsak_12]

Have a look here mate, they should be abl to answer some of your questions: http://www.siamsuperbike.com/

[PeaceBlondie]

That's an ambitious idea. If you've been riding sporty bikes with fairings, on pavement, a Honda CBR150R costs about 65,000 baht new, is totally legal, you can get parts for it (check with Mr. Aitchonson here, about that ), and you get plates and registration (which on other bikes, can cost about 40,000 extra). It's appropriate for Thailand's paved roads, up to 140kph. I doubt you can drive safely in Thailand at 200kph, even if your first name is Valentino.

Personally, I doubt that it's reliable to buy a used bike in Thailand, except maybe for one or two shops in BKK, such as the URL posted already. But there are folks here who swear it's perfectly safe to buy a used Ducati, that you don't know where it's been driven, or how. Hmmmm.

Sorry about the weather in Belgium; we swim outdoors, comfortably, every day of the winter here.

As soon as you start talking about crossing a border with a bike, I dunno. Good luck.

[phibunmike]

Hi Willem,

Good luck with your trip, and have lots of fun

Check these sites:

This one has everything you need to know about touring in Thailand and Laos:

http://www.gt-rider.com/

- and here is a little more:

http://www.chiangmai.net/motorcycling/

If you go by Honda Dream, it will be a slow trip- not much fun above 80kph on those things - but then of course you see more. I think much more comfortable on a bigger bike, but beware of high tax on larger bikes pushing the price up.

Don't ride at night - you never know when a buffalo will walk out in front of you, or a truck with no lights, or....., or......

You will see a lot of people with no helmets - but it is the law to wear a helmet, and a white face breaking the law makes a policeman's day, as he is sure he can get some money from you.

If you don't see a petrol station for a while, don't panic ! Everyone else is riding around - you just don't know what a petrol station sometimes looks like. Ask someone.

PeaceBlondie, I never heard of a Ducati being reliable - fun, yes, but reliable ? Not sure I would want to tour on one... If you know better I am interested to hear .

If you guys end up going from Ubon Ratchathani to Chong Mek (border crossing to Laos), you are welcome to drop buy for a beer and put some oil on your chains. I am in Phibun Mangsahan, just PM me here...

Have fun,

Mike

[Willlem]

muchas gracias everybody,

I'll start surfing on those websites right now..

see you in a while

can anyone tell me how much the license plate and insurance cost, and how long it takes before I can get it, once I've bought a smaller type of motorcycle ?

[phibunmike]

muchas gracias everybody,

I'll start surfing on those websites right now..

see you in a while

can anyone tell me how much the license plate and insurance cost, and how long it takes before I can get it, once I've bought a smaller type of motorcycle ?

Someone else correct me here - I didn't do this myself. They are both very cheap. The paper work is almost instantaneous; but you don't get the number plate until one month later ?

I forgot your other question. If you buy a Dream / Wave, you can buy them in every town (even Phibun !). But the bigger bikes I think BKK is better.

[ThunderDuck]

can anyone tell me how much the license plate and insurance cost, and how long it takes before I can get it, once I've bought a smaller type of motorcycle ?

If you buy a new scooter, the plate and standard (third party?) insurance are included in the advertised price. Theft / accident insurance was cheap ... approx $50 usd addon.

Oh and about 3 months for the plate.

Edited March 15, 2006 by ThunderDuck

[PeaceBlondie]

I had to ask my boyfriend who helped me buy the CBR150R - he thought it took less than two months even in July 2003, maybe 5 or 6 weeks. He says that now it takes 30 to 40 days, in any province. I found that my bike is a 'big' model that the smaller outlets don't carry, and bought mine at a big agency, which knew how to do the paperwork.

You might buy the bike at a big Honda dealer in a large city, tour Thailand for a month, and then return to get your plate and the owner's registration book. I can't imagine trying to cross an international border without clear documentation of registered ownership, and a current number plate and insurance. But, I dunno.

Phibunmike, of course I never claimed Ducatis were reliable, or that parts were available in every neighborhood of Bangkok or Mae Hong Son.

[ajahnlau]

muchas gracias everybody,

I'll start surfing on those websites right now..

see you in a while

can anyone tell me how much the license plate and insurance cost, and how long it takes before I can get it, once I've bought a smaller type of motorcycle ?

Someone else correct me here - I didn't do this myself. They are both very cheap. The paper work is almost instantaneous; but you don't get the number plate until one month later ?

I forgot your other question. If you buy a Dream / Wave, you can buy them in every town (even Phibun !). But the bigger bikes I think BKK is better.

You can buy new&used bikes everywhere and the price will be the same as BKK. You might want to look at buying a bike 2-3 yrs' old. Then when you decide to sell the loss won't be much. The bike will also have a plate. Transferring ownership might take a month.Driving thru Laos and Cambodia on small wheeled bikes will be difficult as the roads are not real good.

Edited March 15, 2006 by ajahnlau

[JSixpack]

a Honda CBR150R costs about 65,000 baht new

There's a lot to be said for buying a new rather than used bike in Thailand. One gets very, very tired of dealing w/ Thai repair shops. It can take a couple of years to work out all the problems that have arisen in a used (big) bike, due to the lack of prior maintenance.

The maneuverability and lighter weight of the CBR150R seem appealing. I wonder how comfortable a CBR150R would be on a longer trip. Cf. Honda Phantom, w/ wider and seemingly much more padded seat.

[PeaceBlondie]

From what Phantom owners have said, that big seat is very comfortable. I get tired on my CBR after a hundred clicks, but I used to do 550 mile days in the USA on flat roads, so I'm used to it. A friend says he went between Chiang Mai and BKK twice on his CBR150 comfortably; that surprised me.

But when the roads are bumpy or curvy, you move around enough not to get a bored bum.

The original poster seems to prefer sport bikes and sport-touring bikes that corner well, not cruisers and choppers.

I agree that, outside of three shops in Bangkok and maybe possibly one shop in Chiang Mai, the rest of the Thai repair shops don't know how to handle multiple carburetors, fuel injection, triple disk brakes, etc.

[sunstate]

The first thing that you need to have is a minimum 12 month multiple entry Visa or higher to buy the motorcycle in your name.

Since you are (or will be) a farung you will not have the required Tabian Bahn (House Registration) with which to obtain the Tabian Rot (Motorcycle Registration). I believe that the are two ways (I have only used the later). First way is to go to your Embassy in BKK and you effectively sign a statutory declaration that you live at a certain address in Thailand. The Embassy then issue you with a nice official document that says that you say that you live at a certain address.

The other way is to take your 12 month house lease along with your landlord as well as a Government Employee who knows you and is will to go with you to the Amphur (Sort of City Hall / Regional Government Office). You need to take your passport. The Landlord and Government Employee need to take their Tabian Bahn and their Bhudphrachachon (ID Card). To save time also take a photocopy of the main and Visa pages of your passport, and photocopys of the lease, both ID Cards, and both Tabian Bahns. All photocopies should be signed.

Upon payment of a very small amount of money (maybe 150 Baht) the Amphur official will sit down at her manual typewriter and bash out a really nice official letter which says that you live at a certain address. The document will then be stamped with a lovely big red stamp.

Thats almost all. The next thing you do is rush out to the closest high quality colour photocopying shop and make some copies. Every time you want to do anything in Thailand you will have to supply an original document from the Amphur. It is your job to make sure that there are many originals.

You can now safely purchase your motorcycle and be assured that it will be registered in your name.

Another small motorcycle worth considering is the 150cc twin overhead cam, 4 valve head Suzuki Raider. It has a six speed gearbox and is cheaper to buy, more manouverable and cheaper to run thatn the CBR. The top Speed is largely determined by the back sprocket. I changed mine from 42 to 36.

[sunstate]

The other thing that I failed to mention is that you will need that Tabian Rot in your hand if you want to take the motorcycle out and then back into the country. You should certainly allow up to (worst case) two months for that to happen. Perhaps by using a major dealer and making the sale conditional on a speedy transfer this time could be shortened.

I know that by making a small extra payment almost anything becomes possible.

[Lormaak]

Willlem,

To disagree with some other posters, the perfect bike is certainly not a CBR 150 or a Phantom, and I certainly wouldn't even consider a Wave or a Dream for such a trip, unless you are a masochist of course.

While Thailand's roads are in a fairly good state of repair, a lot of Laos' and certainly pretty much all of Cambodia's roads are in a terrible condition. They are not paved and have great trucks using them, doing all they can to make them as bad as possible. You will need to be a competent off-road rider to be able to takle them.

Why are you doing a motorcycle tour? I assume it's because you enjoy riding. The small Honda "mopeds" are perfect for local trips round town, but are boring and uncomfortable over distance. They are popular because they are very cheap. Where are you going to put your luggage on such a bike? In fact, most of the Thai made bikes are not good for distance riding, maybe with the exception of the Phantom. The Phantom however, would be pretty useless for the dirt tracks of Laos and Cambodia with soft supension and slow steering adding to its woes.

This brings us on to dirt bikes. These are perfect for the Cambodian roads and for much of Laos, but again most dirt bikes lack comfort over distance and have no storage space.

My bike of choice would be an enduro / adventure bike, such as the BMW F 650 GS, KTM 950 Adventure, Ducati Multistrada (620 or 1000) and the like. Costly, but comfortable off and on road and can handle luggage and can do distance.

Anyway, if you do choose to go it on a Honda Dream, I would recommend buying used from a Honda dealership. This way you will save cash, and the bike will already be plated. You can have the green book (ownership documents) in about ten days. Don't listen to anyone who says you should buy one of these new. They cost about 500 baht to service, and can be done pretty much anywhere. I've had very good experiences with Thai Honda dealerships, and owned a Honda Wave for about 2 years, which I bought second hand. My only problems were a worn chain and a bent back wheel caused by Bangkok's potholes.

Whatever you decide, good luck and have fun. Make sure you get some decent gear, just in case...

[ray23]

Why don't you just rent bikes there are places around that even rent big bikes. The other thing a friedn is putting a tour group compnay together here in Udon, don't know if he will be ready when you are. However, there are several tour companies with good experience in Chaing Mia and rhey supply this bike. Not only will buying the bikes be a hazzle more then likely trying to sell them in another country, would probably be an abolute nigtmare. Even for us to ride our bikes into Lao from Udon is a major deal getting them across the border Will a 110 do it probably but I doubt your going to have much fun

[ray23]

You know during that tiem frame there are some great bike meets happening at least every other year there is, might want to consider that as well

[Willlem]

thanks all, sunstate, lokraam, ...for your advice.

If course, I would prefer a bigger bike, but then I will need a bigger bank account I'm afraid.

Since my girlfriend is also going with me, and she doesn't know ( however, a little....) how to drive a motorcycle, (certainly the big ones), the little honda dream or all smaller 'motorcycles' will be better.

this trip isn't ready yet, ...

[ray23]

Just looked at Bangkok Riders Club, thay have extensive information posted on border crossing worth a view

[Johpa]

If you are young and fit and not over weight like myself these days, the smaller bikes such as the Honda Dream have some advantages. They are not that uncomfortable as long as you get off every hour or two. take a break, amd stretch a bit. That being said, they are of course not a good option if you are trying to cover long distances in a short amount of time. These smaller bikes can be easily repaired just about anywhere, with temporary repairs good enough to get you into the nearest town obtainable in most larger villages. And they are easy enough to load into the back of a pickup truck, or if all else fails, push to the next village or be pushed by another motorcycle (villagers know this drill).