Hey Riders,

Flying KTM to BKK in three weeks to continue the UK to Aus tour. Anyone with experience in Thailand know if I can find parts for my 93 Honda Transalp XL600 V? I'm guessing the answer is a great big 'no' but thought I'd ask just in case.

If not I guess I'll order parts from England and have them sent poste restante to BKK GPO but it would be good to get them in the post soon.
So far I know I need new front and rear break blocks and perhaps a chain and sprockets would be a good idea. Also need a new spare clutch cable after some fun Nepali off-road. I will also be looking into tires later but I'm sure they will be available.

If anyone has any information for me on not too expensive place to find these things, I can do the work myself.

See you on the road
Bryn

Bryn - I've bought a couple of clutch cables (2005 Honda XL650V) over the last 3-4 years; the last one (bought last year) was from these guys: Paul Smeeton's BitzForBikes. No problem whatsoever.

You could always try Lings of course, but they can be a bit on the pricey side.

Cheers

KEITH
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Right Way Round ...

You may be in luck. In Pattaya along the main front beach road is a guy who rents half a dozen of these bikes so they were popular once. If he can get parts then you can. I guess it depends what you need.

I've got this place saved in my notes for Bangkok:
RED BARON BANGKOK : CONTACT RED BARON . I think I picked that up from rideasia or gt-rider.

I tried their contact form and got no response. Will drop in when I get to Bangkok though.

I'm also looking for sprockets for my DR650 but because it's not a local model they want to charge a lot. I'm in the curious situation of being able to get them shipped from Australia for half the price of what another small shop was going to charge (6000baht!!!). I'll try Red Baron before getting them posted.

Also, if you're looking to ditch a crate (dimensions pending) I'm going in the opposite direction in 4 weeks (probably).

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http://ryanbeales.blogspot.com/

finds bike parts in Bangkok
take your pick!

Hi

We also needed some spare parts (chain, sprockets, brake pads) and had them sent from the UK to our hotel. Paid about £55 for courier via parcel2go.com (with UPS). Took 3 days. If you send a copy of your carnet and state that the parts will leave the country within 28 days you shouldn't pay import duties (we had to haggle about this a bit but did not have to pay in the end - call UPS in advance (Thai office).)

We went to Red Baron & The Dirt Shop. Red Baron have good quality x-ring (RK or EK) 520, 525 and 530 chains in stock for European prices (e.g. 4,000 baht RK x-ring gold plate 118 link). But no sprockets really, or only for modern sports bikes. Red Baron can order, but quoted us about €100+ to order genuine Suzuki sprockets!! The Dirt Shop had a nice 520 chain but no sprockets. Both shops looked like they had good workshops, but probably Red Baron is more professional.

GPS locations are in the map (or link) already posted on this thread. It's a Bangkok riders club page (I think).

Found tyres easily, Michelin Siracs but plenty others as well. Two rears and a front for about 170 euros. Tyre shops from the list of the other post, thy are all on the same street. GPs locations also in the Bangkok riders club link.

We stayed at Rafael Mansions hotel. Less than 10 minsfrom airport do good for collecting bike. Nice people and good space to work on the bike too. Nice restaurant across the main road (pink one) but apart from that not much around. They are happy to use their address to send parts to, but I would check with them in advance. Sorry, can't find her email but address is:

195 Soi Kingkeaw 33 Kingkeaw Rd.
Bang Phli, 10540
Thailand***
RAFAEL MANSION BANGKOK

Good luck.

Cheers guys good suggestions.

The guy in Pattaya sounds promising but I think I'll order them just in case. If he can't get the bits or wants loadsacash I'm in trouble as my rear break pads are fag paper thin.

Bitz for bikes look great but I wonder if I can get things sent cheaper from elsewhere... Ryan which site would you use if ordering from Aus? What do you expect to be charged by the courier? (and yes I will be ditching a crate in I think 3 weeks. My projected leaving date in the 17th).

Brian and Tanja I only got into biking a few months before leaving on this trip so bare with me and my lack of bike specific knowledge. Whats the difference between an RK and an EK chain? The x-rings that you saw - would they be as durable and hard wearing as a DID x-ring?

Looks like tires will be bought in BKK, before or after the Laos - Cambodia loop
I'm not sure but it would be good to be on something with pretty black patterns on the outside when the monsoon hits

Any more suggestions I'm all ears

CHAINS:
RK and EK are just manufacturer names, both good ones. An RK chain is of similar quality to DID (both Japanese made I think). The EK chains at Red Baron were quite a bit cheaper than the RK (3,000 baht from memory), but I think EK is also a pretty reputable chain maker. A chain is bloody heavy, so will up your postage significantly if sent internationally. I would buy it in Bangkok from Red Baron and just get the sprockets posted.

SPROCKETS:
Red Baron had some AFAM sprockets in stock, but only for sportsbikes from memory. They can clearly order them, but not sure of the price. When we asked about sprockets they wanted to order genuine from Suzuki (at a ridiculous cost!!). Both Red Baron and The Dirt Shop did respond to emails, within a day or two. So you could always ask.

If you order sprockets from overseas I would suggest the UK over Australia. Because of the high value of the Aus $ it will probably cost you a lot more to get from Australia. Talon Engineering in the UK supplied my sprockets. They were really helpful and gave me a good price. They make the sprockets themselves and so have everything in stock, and great quality stuff as well. They will also be able to supply your brake pads but not your clutch cable.

Contact details for Talon
Talon Engineering Ltd
email: info@talon-eng.co.uk

BRAKE PADS:
Red Baron actually had a pretty good range of SBS (good brand) brake pads. However, most of them seemed to be for the rear. Not sure how much difference that will make. Email them, they may have brake pads in stock for your bike.

COURIERS:
parcel2go.com is the website to use!! Massive discounts over booking with a courier company direct and you can do the whole thing online. It only works for sending stuff from the UK though. Talon supplied me with the size and weight of the package and I just booked the collection online for delivery to our hotel. Filling in the commercial invoice is a bit of a pain, and MAKE SURE YOU WRITE THAT THE PARTS ARE TO BE EXPORTED WITHIN 28 DAYS. Then call the courier company office in Thailand (UPS, Fedex whichever you choose) and tell them the package is coming and that there should be no duty. It will probably help if your bike is already in Thailand as you can then email them the Temporary Import Permit. The import duty UPS tried to charge us was almost the same value as the parts! We got lucky and they agreed we shouldn't have had to pay it. Also, another reason to buy your chain in Thaliand - keeps the value of the package lower.

BANGKOK BIKE SHOPS
Contact info for Bangkok shops in the following link:

Motorcycle Shops in Bangkok

Red Baron has a website, I got the contact email from there and emailed them direct at:

info@redbaronbkk.com

I've also attached the info to this post as a PDF for convenience.

TYRES:
The shops to go to are in Central Bangkok, not far from Khao San Road. Check the tyres section on the BKK riders link. Big Bendum had a fantastic stock of bike tyres, everything from full on off road tyres to massive sportsbike tyres. We bought three Michelin Siracs for just under 7,000 baht. Dumrong Yang Yot also had a great stock, Metzelers etc. but was a bit more expensive than Big Bendum. Although the Siracs are made in Thailand, so should be cheaper than an imported Metzeler.

CLUTCH CABLE
Can't help with this I'm afraid. Although, at a pinch I'm sure someone could make you one using the old casing. I've seen loads of places with cable and the end bits... if you haven't thrown the old casing away that is.

Hope that helps!

Attached Files

Motorcycle Shops in Bangkok.pdf (95.8 KB, 8775 views)

To derail a little bit... Yes, don't buy any parts in Australia unless you're loaded with cash. I've bought Australian made parts from the US because it was cheaper than buying in a local shop even with postage added (and Gerry Harvey still doesn't get why people do it). Get all your servicing/consumables in SEA and parts from the US/UK.

Now back on my track... bitsforbikes is the best *.uk place for JT sprockets? I've usually use procycle for all my other parts but they've just disabled paypal so ordering is more complicated.

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Sorted cheers everyone! Will be getting some bits in BKK when I arrive, some from my parents who are coming out to Vietnam an then a few more bits which arn't quite dead yet and will make the Cambodia-Laos loop when I come back to BKK the second time. Thanks for all the info!

See you on the road

In case anyone stumbles across this thread in future, I've had some luck finding JT sprockets in Thailand from Link Associates.

They're manufactured in Bangkok but I couldn't find contact details for the factory or anywhere else locally that will supply for foreign model bikes.

They were charging 500baht for a front, 750baht for a rear, and 900baht for a courier.

Unfortunately for me they were about 12 hours too late in replying and I've paid for a set of sprockets to be sent from Australia with some other items I needed... You can learn from my mistakes

Link Associates is also keeps DID chains in stock if that's you're preference. There are EK and RK chains out at Red Baron.

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