The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Driving and riding in Hua Hin and Thailand, all topics on cars, pickups, bikes, boats, licenses, roads, and motoring in general.
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by Nereus »

Honda adds hybrid cycle to Thai schedule

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/ne ... e#cxrecs_s

First electric models also in local pipeline

AP Honda, the local distributor of the Japanese motorcycle brand, plans to introduce a hybrid motorcycle next year in Thailand.

Vice-president Suchart Arunsaengroj said the hybrid motorcycle is part of AP Honda's three-year business plan for 2017-19, during which time the company aims to introduce 19 new motorcycles, including its first electric motorcycles in the Thai market.

In October, Tokyo-based parent Honda Motor Co showcased the Honda PCX Hybrid and PCX Electric at the 45th Tokyo Motor Show. The two models will hit the market from next year.

Mr Suchart said the company will launch the hybrid model in the Thai market some time in 2018, but he declined to disclose further details.

"We haven't decided whether we will produce the vehicles locally in Lat Krabang or import them from Japan, as the retail price is not set yet," he said. "There is no investment privilege for motorcycle producers, and subsidies for buyers are insufficient."

Even so, Honda motorcycles enjoy an import duty exemption under the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, which reduced the 30% import tariff to zero in April.

Mr Suchart said the Thai Motorcycle Enterprise Association and the Thai Automotive Industry Association have met with the Office of Industrial Economics to launch additional schemes on the consumer side to stimulate the local market.

"Most car and motorcycle distributors are concerned about the consumer response to electric vehicles because these models are costly," he said. "Batteries, their core component, cost 200,000-300,000 baht for both cars and motorcycles."

In related news, AP Honda yesterday introduced the all-new PCX150 with a retail price of 82,300 baht.
Mr Suchart said Honda's motorcycle plant in Lat Krabang is a major production hub for the PCX, serving many countries worldwide.

The PCX is part of the automatic segment, together with the Honda models Zoomer-X, Click125i, Scoopy-i and Moove.
In Thailand, automatic motorcycles account for 35% of the market, while the family segment (small motorcycles) represents 49%. The remaining 16% is sport motorcycles and big bikes.

The motorcycle market climbed by 4% to 1.684 million units from January to November of this year. Mr Suchart expects 1.82 million motorcycles to be sold in 2017, down 300,000 from his earlier projection.

The big-bike market (above 400cc) grew 20% this year to 28,000 units. The other segments have registered modest growth.

AP Honda sold 1.32 million motorcycles in the first 11 months of the year, up 4% year-on-year. Sales in 2017 will top 1.47 million units, up 6.9% year-on-year, according to Mr Suchart.

"The country's economy is projected to grow by about 3%, and with the agriculture sector now stable, the motorcycle market will expand in line with GDP," he said.

AP Honda forecasts the overall market in 2018 to grow by 3-4% to 1.88 million motorcycles.
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by huahin4ever »

Don't plan on going to any national park with your big bike. This crazy country is banning big bikes due to noise pollution as if a completely original bike is too loud!

Park chiefs add big bikes to banned list

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... anned-list
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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"Though they brought in revenue worth 2.4 billion baht, many of them left problems behind, according to the department."

What damage did big bikes do with their noise?
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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If anyone here would pay attention to the existing law instead of making it up as they go along, they would understand that if a motorcycle is legal in all aspects and licensed, they can't ban them from anywhere unless they ban all other types of motor vehicles as well. Power crazed bureaucrats running the place. :( :banghead: Pete :cheers:
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by HHTel »

Well said, Pete. And how are they defining 'big bikes'. The Honda Phantom is a 'proper bike' but only 200cc. My scooter is 300cc and Honda have a 'scooter' that's 750cc. So where's the definition?
Thailand's protected areas included 147 national parks, 58 wildlife sanctuaries, 67 non-hunting areas, and 120 forest parks. They cover almost 20 percent of the kingdom’s territory.
There are 33 more being created.

That of course covers Koh Samet, the Phi Phi islands, and many more. Lots with hotels, resorts and villages etc.

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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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I would hope that some judge worth his salt is writing up an injunction as we speak. That should be the step the MC community representatives are taking at this point. Pete :cheers:
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by STEVE G »

To be honest, some bikers don't help the issue by making as much noise as they possibly can, even when stationary, they remind me of petulant teenagers trying to attract attention to themselves. I wouldn't mind so much if they were teenagers but most of them are way past the age where being noisy should seem clever, particularly Harley owners!
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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Motorcycle sales failing to gain traction
Thailand's motorcycle market is projected to stay flat at about 1.8 million units sold this year, says the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

Citing figures from the Land Transport Department, the motorcycle market dropped 2.4% to 755,214 units sold over the first five months of 2018.

Japan's Honda controlled the largest market share with 584,769 units sold, up 3.7%, while rival Yamaha rose 3.2% to 117,109 motorcycles sold.

Thai brand GPX posted a sharp increase of 15.3% to 14,155 motorcycles sold, and Italy's Vespa tallied 7,504 units, a 29.1% gain.

Surapong Paisitpatanapong, spokesman for the FTI's automotive industry club, said the market remains flat because low-income workers have static purchasing power.

Pickup sales grew by 17.4% year-on-year to 171,744 units as a result of higher crop prices, but this factor did not beef up the motorcycle sector, he said.

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https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/ne ... n-traction

I'd probably put this at more people taking out loans to get cars nowadays. Thai banks will give credit to absolutely anybody - with the possible exception of farangs.
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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Today's smile! :mrgreen:


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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by Nereus »

As Thailand is affected by this, I guess it is relevant. (didn't know this: Italian motorcycle business MV Agusta that Harley acquired in 2008)
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US bikers divided over Trump's war with Harley-Davidson

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/specia ... y-Davidson

STURGIS, South Dakota: Gary Rathbun rumbled into town to attend the United States' pre-eminent gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts atop his Harley-Davidson, a 2009 Ultra Classic that brought him 800 miles from Idaho. It is the 40th Harley he has owned. It will also likely be his last.

Like many of Harley's most loyal customers, Rathbun was enraged by the company's announcement this summer that, because of the Trump administration's trade fight, it would begin manufacturing the bikes it sells in Europe and Asia outside the United States, including at a new plant in Thailand.

His anger echoed that of President Donald Trump, whose public denouncement of Harley's decision has put one of the country's most iconic brands in the uncomfortable position of clashing with a president who is immensely popular with most of its customers.

"I'm riding my last Harley," said Rathbun, 67, a retired truck driver whose bike rally essentials included a steel knife nestled in his belt, a saddle bag stuffed with a Ruger pistol and a small bottle of Jack Daniel's cinnamon whisky. "It was American-made, and that's why we stood behind them."

Harley took a public relations risk to protect its bottom line when it said it would skirt European Union tariffs aimed directly at the industry in retaliation for Trump's steel and aluminium levies. Rather than eat the cost of the tariffs or raise prices on the bikes it sells in Europe by $2,200, the company said it would move some production overseas.

In a warning to other companies that might follow suit, Trump described Harley's decision as an act of corporate treason, declaring in a Twitter post in June: "If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end - they surrendered, they quit!"
He again criticised Harley's decision in a Twitter post Sunday: "Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas. Great! Most other companies are coming in our direction, including Harley competitors."

Most of the hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts who converged this past week upon the Black Hills of South Dakota developed a relationship with their Harleys well before Trump became president. Still, as leather-clad baby boomers revved engines, drank beer and swayed to classic rock ballads, Trump's influence was palpable.

Like Trump, Gary Panapinto, 63, a machinist from Illinois, had doubts about Harley's true intentions, believing that the company was planning to move the bulk of its bike production offshore, and, like Trump has intimated, he suggested that Americans would be forced to buy a product that was made overseas. While Trump has fanned that perception, Harley has said it will shift production only for bikes it sells in Europe and that American bikes will still be made in the United States.

"They need to keep them here in the United States, especially if they're going to sell them here," Panapinto said. "I think Trump is just trying to protect jobs in the US"

Oliver Lapointe, a retiree from New Hampshire who rides cheaper Japanese bikes, said he used to aspire to own a Harley but could never afford one. Now he thinks they are not worth it because they are filled with foreign-made parts and, he said, increasingly made overseas.

Like several Trump administration officials, he accused the company of using the tariffs to justify a decision that it already had in mind.
"They're always advertising that they're made in America, so I don't think they should do it," Lapointe, 70, said. "They're greedy."

The company declined to comment, but it pointed to a July interview in which its chief executive, Matthew Levatich, defended the decision. He denied that he wanted to shift its manufacturing, noting that it would not take up to 18 months to execute the plan if it were in the cards all along.
"We've worked very hard to be apolitical in how we approach our business and our consumers everywhere in the world," he said. "We have to do what we have to do based on the facts and circumstances before us, and we're doing that."

Some hard-core Trump supporters said they understood the economic rationale behind Harley's decision. Few complex machines are fully sourced and assembled in the United States these days, and even the riders who are devoted to the ideal of a fully American-made product said they understood that companies must compete globally.

Bikers have been among the groups most loyal to Trump, as motorcyclists in the United States tend to be predominantly working-class men older than 50 and veterans - demographics that comprise the bulk of the president's base. Trump has embraced that allegiance, saying recently that "I guarantee you everybody that ever bought a Harley-Davidson voted for Trump."

On Saturday, Trump invited hundreds of bikers from the New Jersey Bikers for Trump chapter to visit him on vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey. He praised them as "people who truly love our Country."

Some who are generally pleased with Trump said he was wrong to bully the motorcycle maker merely for trying to make a profit, but they remained loyal to him nonetheless.
"You've got to take it with a grain of salt. He's hot one day and he's cold the next," Bill Schaner, an electrical supply salesman from North Dakota who has owned seven Harley bikes, said of the president. "If they're going to make bikes in Europe and sell them in Europe, let them go. We'll take the bikes made in America."

At a souvenir stand selling Trump memorabilia off the main drag in Sturgis, Larry Rich said that, as a businessman, Trump should understand that Harley is doing what it can to stay profitable.
"I don't like everything he says, but I don't like everything my wife says," said Rich, 72, who used to ride Indians - another US brand, made by Polaris - before giving up the hobby.

For his part, Trump has been good for business. Rich was busy selling shirts printed with an image of the president blazing past the White House on a Harley-Davidson with Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film actress who claims to have had an affair with Trump, falling off the back. The tryst that Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - says took place in 2006 has not turned off customers.
"Well, he was a Democrat back then," Rich said with a smile.

Veterans of the Sturgis bike rally, which is in its 78th year, said that the hardships facing Harley-Davidson go beyond Trump's tough words and stem from years of declining ridership in the United States.

Leslye Beaver, owner of The Beaver Bar in Sturgis and several other biker bars across the country, said that Harley and other US motorcycle manufacturers are at a crossroads because their products have lacked appeal to young people in the United States. She pointed out that the trade disputes have increased their raw material costs and hindered their ability to export to Europe, which is a growth market.

"I think they're doing what they have to do to stay in the game," Beaver, who lives in Georgia and supports Trump, said while patrolling the parking lot of her bar in a golf cart. "It's human for people to be mad because Harley is so American, but I think they want to be here."

For years, Harley-Davidson's sales in the United States have been steadily declining as the Milwaukee-based company grappled with an ageing population, a vibrant secondary market and the changing tastes of consumers. Recently, it has focused on marketing its motorcycles to women, selling branded clothing and boosting international sales as a way to grow profits.

The average cost of a Harley is about $20,000, and they top out at about $40,000, making the motorcycles a luxury item for people who do not use them as their primary mode of transportation. In 2017, the company's US retail sales fell for the third consecutive year to 147,972 motorcycles, while sales in international markets have been climbing slowly or holding steady, with more room to grow. In the past five years, Harley's stock price has fallen by nearly 25 percent, even as the stock market has been on a tear.

Harley is also under pressure from more intense competition. In the 1990s at Sturgis, Harley riders would torch so called "rice burners" - their pejorative term for Japanese bikes - or tie them to the back of their all-American motorcycles and drag them down the streets. Although Harleys continue to be the most popular ride, foreign brands such as BMW, Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki are increasingly common.

The greater appreciation for foreign-made bikes was on display at Buffalo Chip, a sprawling 600-acre campground 5 kilometres east of Sturgis. At the campground, Michael Lichter, a Colorado-based photographer and curator, puts on exhibitions of speciality motorcycles from around the world as a way to make the rally less Harley-centric and broaden interest and inspiration beyond American bikes.

"People need to be exposed to more," said Lichter, who hopes to put on a show of customised motorcycles by all Japanese builders next year. "If you're buying just because it's American, I don't think that's a good thing."
He added: "It means there's no pressure on American manufacturers to build better."

To the president's most ardent admirers, there is nothing better than American-made.
Chris Cox, the founder of the Bikers for Trump group that has organised demonstrations for Trump across the country since he was a candidate, was using the Sturgis gathering this year to drum up more support for Trump and to mobilise opposition to Harley. He wants shareholders and riders to come together and petition the company to promise it will give generous severance packages to workers who might get fired as it moves manufacturing to other countries.

Like Trump, Cox is furious with Harley's chief executive, Levatich, whom Cox says has "ties" to Europe and wants to make the company less American.

Levatich, who has been with Harley since 1994, has held senior roles overseeing its European operations, including the management of the Italian motorcycle business MV Agusta that Harley acquired in 2008."We're not going to sit back on a hope and a promise that they're going to do the right thing," said Cox, who brought with him a leather jacket autographed by Trump at the White House when he was in Washington for a recent visit with some bikers. He said that Trump insisted that he visit the Oval Office because his group has been so supportive and loyal.

Explaining the importance of domestic production, Cox said that Vietnam War veterans who joined motorcycle clubs after the war were disappointed decades later when the new brake pads they needed to buy were made in Vietnam. He said that many bikers he knows are now wearing long sleeves to conceal their Harley tattoos.

But even Cox, a South Carolina chain saw artist who carves trees and other objects, could not escape the realities of global supply chains and the high cost of making some products in the United States. While he used to sell American-made T-shirts, the $20 Trump shirts he was selling outside his recreational vehicle were made in Haiti. The American-made shirts proved to be a hard sell.

"If I get a T-shirt made in the USA, it's going to cost about $8 more," Cox said. "I looked far and wide to try to get a shirt made in America, it's just they get you, they gouge you."
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by HHTel »

Trump wants American products to be made in America while encouraging foreign manufacturers to make their products in America. The guy's an idiot.

I don't think he'll Triumph on this one. It's a Matchless effort but a Bonnie idea!!
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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Harley Somchai-son? Trump endorses call for bike boycott

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/ ... ke-boycott

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump endorsed calls Sunday for a boycott of tariff-hit Harley-Davidson over its plans to move production of its iconic American motorcycles out of the country, including building a plant in Thailand.

Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas. Great!" Trump tweeted.
"Most other companies are coming in our direction, including Harley competitors. A really bad move!"

Trump has taken it personally since Wisconsin-based manufacturer -- once a presidential favourite -- announced on Monday it is moving some production out of the US.

Harley-Davidson was targeted with EU tariffs after Trump imposed stiff duties on European steel and aluminium.
An array of US companies have complained they are being hurt by the administration's tariff policies.
But Trump has treated the issue as a loyalty test.

"I've done so much for you, and then this," Trump tweeted earlier this week. "Other companies are coming back where they belong! We won't forget, and neither will your customers or your now very HAPPY competitors!"

Last year, Harley-Davidson announced it would build a plant in Thailand after Trump pulled out of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which would have abolished tariffs on their motorcycles across 40% of the world's economy.
The company has repeatedly described the Thailand factory, along with other overseas production, as vital to its long-term need to boost foreign markets to make up for sluggish sales in the US.

In January, Harley-Davidson announced it would close its Kansas City, Missouri assembly plant and consolidate jobs in York, Pennsylvania.
"A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never!" Trump said earlier on Twitter.
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

Post by HHTel »

Just found this electric motorbike review.

350 kph.... OMG

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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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How the motorcycle industry is attracting new riders

Many photos at link

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/16/autos/ ... index.html
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Re: The bikers thread; trips, news, chat, all things motorcycle

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Big bike driver's licence to be introduced next year

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

The Land Transport Department has announced it will introduce "big bike" driver's licences next year for motorcycles with engine capacity of 400cc or more.

Sanit Phromwong, director-general of the department, said the new regulation would not have retroactive effect.
Next year, applicants for big bike licences would have to be at least 18 years old, to ensure they were mature enough to prioritise road safety and strong enough to control a powerful vehicle, he said.

At present, the standard motorcycle licence applies to bikes of all sizes and the youngest age is 15 years, although legally they are restricted to 110cc until age 18.

Holders of big bike licences could also ride smaller machines, so would not need two licences, he said.

Kamol Buranapong, deputy director-general, said society had demanded stricter regulation of big bike riders for safety reasons. Other countries also had specific driving licences for different kinds and sizes of vehicle.

Training and tests for big bike licences would be tougher than for conventional motorcycles, he said.
As of July, 166,868 big bikes were registered nationwide.
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