Kawasaki Big Bikes In Thailand

[TonyBKK]

Well said KZ,
Before I came to the LOS I'd have laughed my butt off if someone suggested I ride a 250, but quite frankly I've had a big attitude adjustment since coming to Thailand.
I would still love to get a 600cc sport bike for long distance touring, but living in Bangkok there are just too many Boys in Brown so I need a properly registered bike with a green book and those are just so overpriced that I find it hard to justify the price premium here. (I've got a wife and child to think about)
My last bike was a CBR 600 F2 and I nearly cried when I left it behind and moved to Thailand.
But I've been pleasantly surprised at how much fun the Baby Ninja is to ride. I'm about 178cm tall and weigh ~70Kg so the bike fits me perfectly.
I've been keeping the revs low during the break in period, but I can tell that once I really get it revved up towards redline this little bike is going to be a real blast.
And while I try to avoid riding in the city as much as possible, it must be said that a little 250 is much easier to thread through Bangkok Rot Tit traffic than a 600!
Hopefully in the next year or two I'll have the money laying around to buy a new 600cc machine, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying the baby Ninja.

Let the Good Times Roll! 8)

 

[TonyBKK]

Thank you Franz!

I've been so impressed at how friendly the members of GT Rider are- you seem like a great bunch to ride with.

I have a good friend in Chiang Mai with a bike so I definitely plan to do some trips up north.

My wife is from Khorat, so I'll be very interested in joining you on that trip in October too!

Cheers!

 

[ray23]

Same goes for the rides in Issan you more then welcome, we really don't care about the size of the bike. just the rider :wink:

The harping about my bike is just me no one complains. :lol:

 

[beddhist]

Bush Pilot wrote: I stopped in there this morning.
They were quoting prices of 170K for the enduro and d-tracker, 150K for the baby Ninja. All three appear to be fuel injected models.

Hmm, I wonder why they quoted you more. Su has paid the deposit and has a purchase order in hand that states 149,900B as grand total, which is what we were quoted. Seeing people got their Ninjas on time here is hoping she will get hers on time, too.

Cheers,
Peter.

 

[TonyBKK]

That is a bit odd...

I know that for August they did run a promotion that included a 5000 baht discount plus a free helmet or seat cowl (buyers choice).

Let me double check my invoice...

Yup- I paid 139,900
130,747.66 Baht (where did they get these decimal values?)
9,152.34 Baht VAT
139.900.00 Baht Total

Government required insurance cost 645.21 Baht
Registration cost 925.00 Baht

I also purchased 1st Class 3rd Party insurance for an additional 12,354.22

I wonder if perhaps the price you're being quoted includes the additional 3rd party insurance?

You're getting your quote from the Kawasaki Big Bike showroom on Rama 9? I suppose other dealers may get to set their own prices- I'm really not sure how that works in Thailand.

Happy Trails! :lol:

 

[beddhist]

TonyBKK wrote: 130,747.66 Baht (where did they get these decimal values?)

I also purchased 1st Class 3rd Party insurance for an additional 12,354.22

Easy for bean counters: Cost price + desired profit = 13x,xxxB. That is then rounded up to 139,900 inc. VAT for marketing and profit maximisation reasons. When you then deduct the VAT you get fractions...

What is this insurance? I thought 3rd party only covers damage to third parties? Is this what is called full insurance in other parts of the world?

I wonder why a high performance Ninja with fairing is 10k cheaper than a humble enduro? I guess they anticipate to sell more of them.

 

[TonyBKK]

Hi beddhist

What is this insurance? I thought 3rd party only covers damage to third parties? Is this what is called full insurance in other parts of the world?

Sorry for any confusion. What I mean, is 1st class comprehensive insurance that is offered by a '3rd party' Siam City Insurance Co. Ltd. at the Kawasaki dealer.

Happy Trails!

 

[KZ]

beddhist, I was thinking the same, why would a sports bike be more expensive than an enduro? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Ninja 250 is being built for what - 20 years? and has paid for itself. On the other hand a new Enduro these days is not a "cheap" air-cooled 2-valve dirt bike anymore, it now has a hi-tech engine, upside-down forks, E-start, big brake discs, maybe a stainless steel exhaust and a digtal tach and lots of other neat stuff. Still it shouldn't be more expensive than a sports bike, maybe priced the same.
I wonder if anybody at Kawasaki had the idea to stuff the 250 Ninja's twin cylinder engine into a D-Tracker frame, copying the look of the big KTM or Ducati Super-Motard V-twins - it would still be light, the KLX weighs as little as a CBR150R! Kind of like a naked KLE250 with a fresh new look. A little design work and voila - a whole new model!

 

[KZ]

Oops, I shouldn't post anything this early in the day - - - correction:

beddhist, I was thinking the same, why would a sports bike be LESS expensive than an enduro?

 

[TonyBKK]

Good Morning!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the D-Tracker was going to be priced the same as the Ninja 250R... (Of course that was just word of mouth at the dealer and nothing in writing) :wink:

Happy Trails!

A real Thai boy- Drinking and driving at 15 months! :lol:

 

[pseacraft]

Tony - Love the pic of the little man!

Pre-Order - She who must be obeyed called the Rama 9 shop to pre-order the KLX250S for me and the lad there told her that it would be easier for her to pre-order via the shop in Udorn and that the Udorn shop would route everything through Rama 9. Being a good Thai lady educated in the west for 10 years she had her doubts but said OK and he passed her the number.

Called the Udorn shop and the lad there said no problem, only 10k down. Must be a mistake, nope only 10K down for the pre-order he says and same price as Rama 9, ~149k. So she will head down to Udorn tomorrow, her excuse to go shopping since we are building our new house, and see about that and do the pre-order for me. He also said registration in Udorn would only be 500 bht. I should know more tomorrow but thought I'd throw out some food for thought.

Eric

 

[KZ]

Now this is the thai way - routing orders through Udon to Bangkok. Hope they don't ship the bikes up and down. They'd extraxt a brain tumor through the sole of your foot. Ah well, as long it saves money...
I'm glad lots of people are interested in the KLX, that leaves the D-Tracker for me...

 

[danwhite]

Having been riding bikes out of BKK for a number 0f years, Tony is right about the 304. Its your least painful escape to a beautiful area. Even if riding up to Chiang Mai I take that road and then head north when I have escaped the city. Its worth the detour. The route through the city going north is awful. Apart from Korat, your other nice hilly areas within spitting distance of the smoke in a short time are Sai Yok/Sanglaburi district going south to ratchaburi and Kaeng Kratchan. There really is quite a lot of nice stuff once you have escaped the hellish highways of Bangkok. If heading to Kanburi, avoid the norhern route via Pinklao Breidge. Its horrible. Going through Bang Khae on Phet Kasem is less nerve jarring. Either way you end up in Nakhon Pathom..... Site of the largest and most suggestive Stupa in Thailand. Then on to Ban Pong signposted as the 'City of Nice People'..... No joke..... They do actually seem quite nice to be fair.

Small bikes do suit these roads in SE Asia. Its one reason why the Minsk is such a beauty up around Mai Chao and that area. In Cambos also until recently big bikes were right out. I got everywhere on a souped up very light and very bouncy GTO. Same in Laos. They can fix them anywhere for nowt also....... Anyway,like Tony, with the daft rules here on cc capacity I simply cannot justify the costs of a registered imported bike but still manage to have lots of fun on locally assembled machines. Mostly a slightly absurd imitatuion of the Indian 200cc 'Bajaj Avenger!' here, only slightly less dramatically, misbnamed a 'boss'...... Its alright but doesn't even qualify as middle management in my opinion

Anyway if there are a bunch of bangkok based GT riders doing excursions, let me know..... It would be fun to potter jointly (if slowly in my case).

Might be heading up to Phimai through Khao Yai shortly if the clouds part and the city does not implode politically.

Best to all

dan

 

[beddhist]

Deleted.

 

[TonyBKK]

danwhite wrote:

Anyway if there are a bunch of bangkok based GT riders doing excursions, let me know..... It would be fun to potter jointly (if slowly in my case).

Might be heading up to Phimai through Khao Yai shortly if the clouds part and the city does not implode politically.

dan

Hiya Dan!
Fun post-

I don't know if there are "a bunch" of GT Riders based in BKK, but I'm certainly interested in meeting folks to ride with.

With all the nonsense going on the the City of Angels now's the perfect time to get out of town! :wink:

Looks like good weather this weekend- mostly sunny with isolated thunderstorms so I'm definitely planning to hit the road.

If you or anyone else wants to hook up for a ride please give me a call- 0868052274

What do you think of the Tha Yaek to Khon Buri route I posted earlier? Looks twisty and fun!

Happy Trails! 8)

 

[danwhite]

Hi Tony

Not sure I am going to make it this weekend ........ Looks like a fun ride though. I did Korat to Lomsak on my way to Chiang Mai earlier in the year.... That was pretty nice. Let us know what the road is like once you have Ninjaed it.

Very best

Dan

 

[KZ]

beddhist - I just came across a website where the price for a 2008 Ninja is $3499 and the 2009 KLX is $4899!! That may explain the prices here.
Lots of beautiful pictures, too.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2 ... LX250S.htm

 

[johngooding]

I note these bikes in the technical specs have carburettors and the ones coming in to Thailand are fuel injected. Not sure what that does to the price, but originally they were quoting the same price for both DTracker, KLX and Ninja. Also some models made for Europe are restricted for learner drivers. Hopefully these are not those

 

[KZ]

Tony, on the 18th you posted:"Price before tax and registration is 139,900, 7% tax is 9479" so the final price would be around 150K; later you checked your invoice and wrote: "Yup- I paid 139,900
130,747.66 Baht (where did they get these decimal values?)
9,152.34 Baht VAT
139.900.00 Baht Total"
guess the latter is right, 140K total.
The KLX and the D-Tracker should be priced the same, but what's the total? 20K more than the Ninja?

 

[DavidFL]

The Ninja 250

and Vulcan 900

are out in Chiang Mai already.

AND,
it's the end of the month for the KLX 250 now!

 

[DavidFL]

Kawasaki Prices

from the Chiang Mai Dealer

 

[beddhist]

We had two surprises yesterday: Kawa called us (not the other way round): we can pick up Su's new KLX a day early! :shock:

Registration supposedly only takes one week...

 

[KZ]

WHOA!! Finally some excitement in these quiet times...!
Thanks, David, for keeping us up-to-date, and posting the price list was a good idea. I assume the KLX and Tracker prices are identical.
Bush Pilot, they probably quoted you the price incl VAT, which adds another 10 grand. Also, you're traveling without your PP?
beddhist, if you and Su ever make it to Hua Hin, let me know, maybe you're interested doing some back-to back riding with my VTR 250. You'd be doing me a favor since I want to know how they compare powerwise.

 

[KZ]

Guess you guys all plunk down the cash in one go, but if not, it's interesting to see that the previous mentioned 4% quickly grew to 5%, and on the above list the interest is 9% for the 250s, for the Vulcan 7%. No biggie, for the Tracker I was thinking of putting down 90K (60%) and then pay 10.500 for 6 months, that way I'd pay only 2.700 THB more.

 

[beddhist]

Thanks, KZ, we'd love to catch up with you.

Kawasaki kept their word and delivered one day early. We avoided the dreaded ride out of Bkk and picked up the bike on a ute. (Even the ute owner said he wasn't allowed to use the toll road, as his vehicle isn't "covered". I wonder what the sign for that looks like?)

When we inspected the bike on Friday I noticed the chain was "tensioned". If you could pluck it it would make a sound. :shock: Also, having assembled many a new Honda I checked out the steering bearing and, sure enough, also too tight. I asked them to fix that. The next day they had adjusted the chain, but not the steering. The seat is exteremely narrow and there is no chain guard at all, so here are more mods to add to my list of things to do before we can set off.