Moving to BKK

[jamilsiddique]

In Feb next year I will be moving to BKK and starting a new job. Will be moving from Singapore . I plan to bring my Multistrada by riding up from Singapore . Can anyone give me some advice on the potential challenges of importing my bike in to Thailand and keeping it there . I understand it can be done but can also be tedious and costly.

Also I am a track junkie so would also like to know how big is the track scene in Thailand . Are there many tracks available , what's the quality of them and ideally what size of bike suits Thai tracks.

Finally what's the biker community like in Bangkok. Any regular biker places or regular meets.

[DualSportBiker]

There are lots of responses to the issue of importing bikes; the general advice is don't.

I've not ridden tracks here, but there are at least 2 in striking distance from Bangkok.

There are also regular meets, but I don't make those either... live too far and work too late.

Sent from my LG-P714 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[yankee99]

I havent read about anyone recently trying. Please keep us informed as a lot of bm will be interested in your success.

[liddelljohn]

Importing the bike into thailand will require , paying

1...import duty this has to be paid or you can never register it here and get an official duty invoice this document is critical , amount of duty to be paid can be very high its based on cc and value ,,could be as much as 400k baht

2 if you have done step 1 you can proceed to register bike this is very costly , bike needs official inspection and registration tax can be from 50-100k baht

to be honest a more favoured option is to keep singapore reg and take the bike in and out the country every 6 months

or sell the bike in Singapore and buy another here ,, its not an easy process and full of B/S and corrupt officials .

[Tatsujin]

It's far too much hard work nowadays unless you've got a contact to do it for you. I also thought they'd pretty much banned the importation of 2nd hand vehicles.

[jamilsiddique]

Thanks all for your inputs . It's not too dissimilar from the research I have read.

Looks like my most preferred and least hassle option will be to keep the bike in SG registration and take it out of the country every 6 months .

Next is the bike scene ? Info on good tracks that are easily available will be good.

Cheers

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[moe666]

What many people miss is that you need permission from the commerce dept. to import a vehicle into the country before showing up at the customs and duty counter at the border and announcing your intensions. It took a guy I know 2 years to get this permission and he says no tea money but a weekly visit to the office and another request for more paper work. He thinks they just got tired of him coming in every week and finally approved his permission to import.

[monty1412]

Dear OP, welcome to BKK biking scene.

I have Multistrada as well.

Few things that might be useful to know

1) Servicing.. Ducato Thonlor Khun Noppadol and Khun Ketkawin will look after you.. get to know them and they will move heaven and erath

2) from what I have ready the import and take it oit every 60 days is only way to go

3) Bikes here are horrifically expensive to buy ( imported big bikes)

4) Bira racetrack and Thailand Circuit are OK...

5) Allot of us use GR-Rider website for information etc etc. in fact allot of set of regularly from BKK for 3-5 days rides up north. some of the roads are glorius and you will love the Mea Hong Son loop especially on the MTS.

Others include Pai/ Nan/ Chiang Kong etc etc

6) If you like the dirt and I dont mean knee deep in mud and crap but back trails and touring away from the beaten track then a KLX250 or CRF250 is a good weapon of choice.. we have a group of us on Facebook under Bangkok Weekend Warriors and regularly get rides organised....

7) let me know when you are planning move and we can include you in the conversations including every so often a few light ales at Mulligans Suk soi 11.

Lastly to wet your appetite... a zoom on my FZ1 along hwy 107 north of Chiang Mai and on why 120

what mode MTS do you have ??

Rgds

[ll2]

welcome Jamil.

The best for you is selling the bike there and buying the same here if you will not be turning back to Singapore.

or 6 month border runs actually it might be good as it will force you to ride your bike to nice places mostly you will never be going!

We have three tracks close to Bangkok. Kaeng Krachan near Chaam, BIRA near Pattaya and Bonanza Circuit at Pak Chong and have some track days going on especially nowadays here more big bikes in Thailand. You can google for more info on them. Also they are opening a ncie international track on Buri Ram - 4 hours to Bangkok - and it wil be opened next year they say which looks like a good track.

The conditions of the tracks are not perfect and at time i can say dangerous still better that stunting on the roads:)

We have a two day track day on 7th and 8th of December at Kaeng Krachan for example.

I am living in Bangkok for more than 6 years now but rarely meet with other riders. But, if you have your Ducati, Ducati Owners Club is active and they do trips.

[marshall stanley]

There is a Chiang Mai based motorcycle group running for many years by David Unkovich from OZ and website that has a wealth of info and somewhere on the site there has got to be some info for you.

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

Be careful you may find yourself on there for hours though. Excellent riding up north.

[jamilsiddique]

moe66 and ll2,

thanks both for your posts. Great info, and I am fast coming to the view of doing a 6 month border run so thats that decided.

My multi is a Pikes Peak 2012 and have geared it up a lot for touring, spent buckets of money getting it set up right for the rides that I want to do and I don't want to spend all that money all over again and because it's such a rare bike I won't part with her. The 6 month border run option works and so why not exploit it. I'll stick a photo on later when I am on the correct PC.

Background wise, I have been a Ducatisti as long as I have been in Singapore. I have a 1098 (2007) which I have had since new. Done 72,000 kms on it, including 3-4 tours up to Phuket and Krabi. Then I got old and decided to get a tourer (Lol). I do alot of track days on the 1098 and so plan to park that up with an outfit at Sepang Circuit where it will be maintained and I will just fly down for a bi-monthly track day. But then I do understand the Thai tracks are not best suited for 1000cc bikes so my plan was to buy a 400 or 600 cc in Thailand just for the track. Dirt biking is a great option. Never done it but sounds great and that would mean buying a 250 there but am sure there are plenty available.

I plan to get in touch with the DOC in Thailand. I have been the Secretary of the DOC in Singapore for 4 years and President for the last 2 years. I just resigned at the recent AGM because I knew I was moving to BKK. I know one of our Singapore club members who lives in BKK Frank Van Baal who is also a MTS owner. Great guy.

I plan to ride my MTS up from Singapore probably during Songkran, as that will allow me enough time to get to BKK plus will take the option of throwing the bike on a train at Trang and take the overnight. Route 4 from Pattalung up to Hua Hin is a very boring route indeed.

So that's great and thanks for your replies. Looking forward to meeting lots of bikers and ride lots of great roads.

[jamilsiddique]

AWESOME.

Dear OP, welcome to BKK biking scene.

I have Multistrada as well.

Few things that might be useful to know

1) Servicing.. Ducato Thonlor Khun Noppadol and Khun Ketkawin will look after you.. get to know them and they will move heaven and erath

2) from what I have ready the import and take it oit every 60 days is only way to go

3) Bikes here are horrifically expensive to buy ( imported big bikes)

4) Bira racetrack and Thailand Circuit are OK...

5) Allot of us use GR-Rider website for information etc etc. in fact allot of set of regularly from BKK for 3-5 days rides up north. some of the roads are glorius and you will love the Mea Hong Son loop especially on the MTS.

Others include Pai/ Nan/ Chiang Kong etc etc

6) If you like the dirt and I dont mean knee deep in mud and crap but back trails and touring away from the beaten track then a KLX250 or CRF250 is a good weapon of choice.. we have a group of us on Facebook under Bangkok Weekend Warriors and regularly get rides organised....

7) let me know when you are planning move and we can include you in the conversations including every so often a few light ales at Mulligans Suk soi 11.

Lastly to wet your appetite... a zoom on my FZ1 along hwy 107 north of Chiang Mai and on why 120

what mode MTS do you have ??

Rgds

[jamilsiddique]

Here is a picture of my multi. I had the top box and pannier colour coded to go with the corse colours. She's a great bike . This weekend my mate broke down on his fireblade and so I towed him with my Multi for about 50kms back to the workshop.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[dorlemon]

There are lots of responses to the issue of importing bikes; the general advice is don't.

I've not ridden tracks here, but there are at least 2 in striking distance from Bangkok.

There are also regular meets, but I don't make those either... live too far and work too late.

Sent from my LG-P714 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I tied it 15 years ago to bring in a Honda from Europe. I learned that a car or a motorcycle is a forbidden good in Thailand.

If I was living here more than one year there was a possibility ....

Check it out first before loosing a lot of money !!!!

[Daniel Boon]

_{I know they are expensive in Thailand (compared to Australia) ....}

[Kerryd]

Importing a bike can be a hassle of major proportion, but it can be done. A friend recently imported his Harley from the US. As the bike was 14 years old and he was the original owner, I think he said the import duties/tariffs worked out to a little over $4,000 USD. (Plus the actual cost to ship/insure it as well.)

Part of the problem is, when calculating the taxes, in Thailand they add the value of the bike, the cost of the shipping and the cost of the insurance (to ship it) together, and then calculate the taxes on that total. So in effect, you are paying import taxes on the shipping and insurance costs.

Here is a link to the Thai Customs Department page regarding importing vehicles: http://www2.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/PersonalVehiclesPermanent/PermanentImport.jsp?menuNme=PersonalPer and another almost identical page: http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+personal+vehicle/importingpersonalvehicle+

Note in their examples, they use a figure of 100 baht and the total duties/taxes come out to slightly over 213 baht (so 213% greater than the value of the item which is the rate they'd apply to a car/truck that had between 2001 and 2500 cc's, not including any discount).

Further down it shows that for a motorcycle, the total duties would be about 77% of the value, plus I believe that figure may be discounted by the appropriate amount shown in the first table as well.

I'm trying to get a hold of my friend to find out the details about how he got his bike here because I'm pretty sure he didn't do it all himself !

[ll2]

moe66 and ll2,

thanks both for your posts. Great info, and I am fast coming to the view of doing a 6 month border run so thats that decided.

My multi is a Pikes Peak 2012 and have geared it up a lot for touring, spent buckets of money getting it set up right for the rides that I want to do and I don't want to spend all that money all over again and because it's such a rare bike I won't part with her. The 6 month border run option works and so why not exploit it. I'll stick a photo on later when I am on the correct PC.

Background wise, I have been a Ducatisti as long as I have been in Singapore. I have a 1098 (2007) which I have had since new. Done 72,000 kms on it, including 3-4 tours up to Phuket and Krabi. Then I got old and decided to get a tourer (Lol). I do alot of track days on the 1098 and so plan to park that up with an outfit at Sepang Circuit where it will be maintained and I will just fly down for a bi-monthly track day. But then I do understand the Thai tracks are not best suited for 1000cc bikes so my plan was to buy a 400 or 600 cc in Thailand just for the track. Dirt biking is a great option. Never done it but sounds great and that would mean buying a 250 there but am sure there are plenty available.

I plan to get in touch with the DOC in Thailand. I have been the Secretary of the DOC in Singapore for 4 years and President for the last 2 years. I just resigned at the recent AGM because I knew I was moving to BKK. I know one of our Singapore club members who lives in BKK Frank Van Baal who is also a MTS owner. Great guy.

I plan to ride my MTS up from Singapore probably during Songkran, as that will allow me enough time to get to BKK plus will take the option of throwing the bike on a train at Trang and take the overnight. Route 4 from Pattalung up to Hua Hin is a very boring route indeed.

So that's great and thanks for your replies. Looking forward to meeting lots of bikers and ride lots of great roads.

you will love Thailand after strict Singapore and have much more fun here

also, the road to Bangkok is quite good if you take the road from Satun - Trang - Krabi - Phuket - Ranong - Chumporn from Andaman side - highway now 416 - 404 - 4046 and 4 all the way to Bangkok - , it is really nice. Good scenery, nice and quiet places to stay and eat on the beaches and also nice twisties at time especially Ranogn to Chumporn pretty thrilling. Also lots of back roads to try.

The road from Phattalung is boring lik hell, never!

[fabphil]

Just buy a honda 125 and away u go, dont need racing tracks when u got sukhumvit rd with the rest of the racers

[monty1412]

Here is a picture of my multi. I had the top box and pannier colour coded to go with the corse colours. She's a great bike . This weekend my mate broke down on his fireblade and so I towed him with my Multi for about 50kms back to the workshop. ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957944.669248.jpgImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957971.108368.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

[jamilsiddique]

Monty1412

Lovely, it looks great. Seems you have done exactly the same as me. Fitted ALTRider rad cover and header guard. Also is that a set of twisted throttle footrests on the front?, which I have fitted also.

I would be very interested to know how you settled the low rev fluctuation issue. I have the same, and because mine comes with a termi-slip as standard, then I haven't bothered fitting a straight through pipe and ECU.

Here is a picture of my multi. I had the top box and pannier colour coded to go with the corse colours. She's a great bike . This weekend my mate broke down on his fireblade and so I towed him with my Multi for about 50kms back to the workshop. ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957944.669248.jpgImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957971.108368.jpg




Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

[monty1412]

Monty1412

Lovely, it looks great. Seems you have done exactly the same as me. Fitted ALTRider rad cover and header guard. Also is that a set of twisted throttle footrests on the front?, which I have fitted also.

I would be very interested to know how you settled the low rev fluctuation issue. I have the same, and because mine comes with a termi-slip as standard, then I haven't bothered fitting a straight through pipe and ECU.

Here is a picture of my multi. I had the top box and pannier colour coded to go with the corse colours. She's a great bike . This weekend my mate broke down on his fireblade and so I towed him with my Multi for about 50kms back to the workshop. ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957944.669248.jpgImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957971.108368.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

Low rev fluctuation is because the mixture is deliberately leaned off sub 3000-3500 rpm to pass Euro emissions... Fat Ducs from Performance boulevard are the single best thing I have added to the bike and transformed its low end behaviour.. they are custom made plug and play and just great.. no I dont work for them In fact for USD 150 they are single biggest performance improvement Ive ever seen on any bike... they work by modulating the signal from the oxygen sensor in the exhaust.. yes straight through termi system has sensors.. ECU receives modulated signal and then because its reading too lean pumps more fuel in... effect is that engine no long splutters and burps at low rpm and guess what.. fuel economy is better .. why.... I am no longer riding around at higher revs in lower gear trying to stay out of lean air:fuel mixture territory..

a happy snap of the product for you.. UPS'd to me in three days 10 minutes if that to fit. hard on for 50 minutes after that priceless

http://www.fatduc.com

[monty1412]

Monty1412

Lovely, it looks great. Seems you have done exactly the same as me. Fitted ALTRider rad cover and header guard. Also is that a set of twisted throttle footrests on the front?, which I have fitted also.

I would be very interested to know how you settled the low rev fluctuation issue. I have the same, and because mine comes with a termi-slip as standard, then I haven't bothered fitting a straight through pipe and ECU.

Here is a picture of my multi. I had the top box and pannier colour coded to go with the corse colours. She's a great bike . This weekend my mate broke down on his fireblade and so I towed him with my Multi for about 50kms back to the workshop. ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957944.669248.jpgImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1385957971.108368.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

Low rev fluctuation is because the mixture is deliberately leaned off sub 3000-3500 rpm to pass Euro emissions... Fat Ducs from Performance boulevard are the single best thing I have added to the bike and transformed its low end behaviour.. they are custom made plug and play and just great.. no I dont work for them In fact for USD 150 they are single biggest performance improvement Ive ever seen on any bike... they work by modulating the signal from the oxygen sensor in the exhaust.. yes straight through termi system has sensors.. ECU receives modulated signal and then because its reading too lean pumps more fuel in... effect is that engine no long splutters and burps at low rpm and guess what.. fuel economy is better .. why.... I am no longer riding around at higher revs in lower gear trying to stay out of lean air:fuel mixture territory..

a happy snap of the product for you.. UPS'd to me in three days 10 minutes if that to fit. hard on for 50 minutes after that priceless

http://www.fatduc.com

IMG_1582.jpg

IMG_1585.JPG

Welcome to your future home...

[jamilsiddique]

Nice one thanks a lot. Well have ridden most of Southern Thailand so not too unfamiliar with Thai roads but for sure BKK riding will be a new learning experience.

Thanks for the info on the fat duc's. That's definitely the way to go. Will surely look into that.

Cheers

[iamariva1957]

As much as you love your ride... buy a new one here. The cost of doing things that way will save you a great deal of money and time. It sounds great I know to bring your horse with you, but really the rules and regulations to do it here in Thai will drive you out of your mind (the lack of any logic in Thai will do that to anyone). The prices here are very good as is the selection. I got a Keeway that does the trick for me and though not a sprinter... I have traveled all over with it and it has never let me down. As for tracks... there are a couple that I know of just outside BKK, but there are others near CNX. There you have a huge used bike market on the weekends... some good finds can be made at great prices) so there are a lot of guys that will point you in the right direction regarding tracks and meets.

Good luck and safe riding!

[ll2]

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

Monty1412

Lovely, it looks great. Seems you have done exactly the same as me. Fitted ALTRider rad cover and header guard. Also is that a set of twisted throttle footrests on the front?, which I have fitted also.

I would be very interested to know how you settled the low rev fluctuation issue. I have the same, and because mine comes with a termi-slip as standard, then I haven't bothered fitting a straight through pipe and ECU.

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

i am also planning to buy a Ducati and rev fluctuations and fueling issues looks like common from what i read at forums and for some other ducatis as well.

is it same for all Ducatis? or is it just a lucky pick as some never complain and some complain all the time? I am planing to buy a Ducati Hypermotard and during the test ride, there were some fluctuations which were not so disturbing but it was there and you feel it which is not great.

thanks.

Edited December 2, 2013 by ll2

[monty1412]

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

Monty1412

Lovely, it looks great. Seems you have done exactly the same as me. Fitted ALTRider rad cover and header guard. Also is that a set of twisted throttle footrests on the front?, which I have fitted also.

I would be very interested to know how you settled the low rev fluctuation issue. I have the same, and because mine comes with a termi-slip as standard, then I haven't bothered fitting a straight through pipe and ECU.

Great bike.. here is my MTS 2011.with straight through termi and racing ECU and the piece de resistance.. fat duc's fitted. smooths out the low fuel low revs issue

see you tube clip

IMG_1677.JPG

i am also planning to buy a Ducati and rev fluctuations and fueling issues looks like common from what i read at forums and for some other ducatis as well.

is it same for all Ducatis? or is it just a lucky pick as some never complain and some complain all the time? I am planing to buy a Ducati Hypermotard and during the test ride, there were some fluctuations which were not so disturbing but it was there and you feel it which is not great.

thanks.

Firstly have to say that I have no knowledge re the HM set up. however one would assume they might have used the same lean fuel solution to pass emissions

I would contact the Fat Duc folks and ask the question.. certainly I am amazed by the change in mine so if HL has stutter/ burp/ cough and fart at low revs then they could be solution...also check Ducati forums.. this is how I found out re FatDucs

[jamilsiddique]

If is the new Multi (late 2012 and beyond) or the new HM it should be fine. For the Multi they put in an additional spark plug per cylinder and reworked some of the air flows in the engine. For the new HM they address this too so it should be fine.

[siamjimi]

I imported my moto from USA and ended up paying as much for my used 7 yr old import as I would have it I bought a new one - I will NEVER do that again - EVER - biggest headache I ever had and to top it all off customs still tried to extort me for 5,000.oo usd more at the end of the 200% worth of charges - total BS and greedy bastards in the customs dept. - i have registered the moto at the dmv - but customs told me they wanted 5,000.oo usd more i told them to shove it

[finnomick]

Importing the bike into thailand will require , paying

1...import duty this has to be paid or you can never register it here and get an official duty invoice this document is critical , amount of duty to be paid can be very high its based on cc and value ,,could be as much as 400k baht

2 if you have done step 1 you can proceed to register bike this is very costly , bike needs official inspection and registration tax can be from 50-100k baht

to be honest a more favoured option is to keep singapore reg and take the bike in and out the country every 6 months

or sell the bike in Singapore and buy another here ,, its not an easy process and full of B/S and corrupt officials .

1a...You will also need to pay excise duty after the import duty has been paid. They are two seperate taxes.

[ozyjon]

I tried to import my bike to Thailand once and i went with a lawyer and a friend who owns and import business near the port of Bangkok ( so they were not lying to me) the bottom line was that they (customs) would value my bike (used or not) then i would have to pay a 300% duty on the value they imposed, i did my sums and calculated that the tax was more than the value of the bike,, i didn't go ahead because it was the first hurdle, then came registration and insurance then storage etc etc,,, how do the guys who import luxury card get away with it (or maybe NOW don't) if you succeed please make a POST of the procudure because up to now i don't know of anyone importing a bike or car that hasn't paid huge tax fees at the bordre, more than the value of the car or bike...