Need advice about buying motor bike gear at home or Thailand

[Johnsy]

For those who know about gear and riding bikes in Thailand what would you advise.

If you were coming over to Thailand for at least 3 to 6 months would you buy all your gear in Thailand or buy it before you left home? Or some stuff in Thailand and other bits at home? What I mean by gear is helmet, jacket, boots, pants and gloves. I'm from Australia and bike gear here is expensive and pretty ordinary as well, it will cost about $2,000AU for a quality outfit of helmet, jacket, boots, pants and gloves! What advise do you have?
Cheers :think:

 

[cdrw]

Johnsy;283231 wrote: If you were coming over to Thailand for at least 3 to 6 months would you buy all your gear in Thailand or buy it before you left home?
Cheers :think:

FWIW...
Go online, get quotes and compare prices in Thailand vs Australia. Often prices are more expensive in Thailand, due to import duty.
As I reside in Thailand, I was concerned about the sizing and fit, so bought my jacket, boots and helmet at Paddock, in BKK,
though there are many other Thai shops which sell equipment. If you decide to buy in Thailand, be sure and check the manufacture date
on the helmet (found inside the liner) as some shops stock and sell some new unused helmets which are 3-5 years old.
When I needed another new helmet, I bought it from an online shop in the States and saved about 30% compared to Thai prices.
The new helmet was the same brand as my old one, so I wasn't worried about the sizing/fit.
Good luck...

 

[DavidFL]

It should be & often is a lot cheaper here.
BUT getting you size & fit is often a problem.
There's a lot of good cheap value for money "less than top quality" gear available.

Recommended Bangkok Motorcycle Shops

List here shops that you use & recommend in Bangkok.

www.gt-rider.com

Chiang Rai Saddlebags is popular with many expat riders in the North & tries to stock farang sizes. They also do a good mail order service. Well worth checking out.

At the end of the day it's your decision "how much value for money" are you getting & does it fit well & feel comfortable all the time when you are riding. And unfortunately you won't know until after the event. However it is cheap here & you won't be losing a lot of money.

BOOTS
I'd bring from home.

HELMET
My Doohan Arai helmet cost 24,000 baht from Fast Corner, & was much less than in Oz.
Check out the LS2 at Chiang Rai Saddlebags.

JACKETS
I reckon you can get some good value for money ones.
But my Alpinestars jacket was cheaper in Oz, than from the official distributor here in Thailand.

GLOVES
Most farang with bigger than Asian hands find it difficult to get anything that fits here. I mail order mine from the US.

MAIL ORDER?
General Discussion / News / Information
Riders Discount is highly recommended.

 

[Chiang_Mai_Martin]

If you're spending any time in Bkk check out the Paddock (www.paddock.co.th) on Ratchadapisek road, it's like Aladdins cave! They stock a lot of Komine gear there...... I've not had any problems getting XXXL gloves, waterproofs etc.

 

[brian_bkk]

Chiang_Mai_Martin;283246 wrote: If you're spending any time in Bkk check out the Paddock (www.paddock.co.th) on Ratchadapisek road, it's like Aladdins cave! They stock a lot of Komine gear there...... I've not had any problems getting XXXL gloves, waterproofs etc.

Have to give a thumbs up for Paddock.. Bought a lot of gear from them and all good.
Sidi Boots were the same price as the US websites. Komine gear fits well.. Gloves I always struggle.. big hands but not fat hands... They do have XL XXL XXXL sizes.. usually with Jap / US / etc sizes listed.

If you speak to Khun Suay (pretty - in English). She speaks good English and will give discounts.
The fat guy in the boots shop is a bit of a pain.. Just ask for K.Suay and she will give you a discount.
They have about 4 shops now.. The main big original shop / Aplinestar shop, Boots shop and one other shop to the far right.

http://www.paddock.co.th/2011/index.php

They are open Mon to Saturday until 8 pm week days I think.. Sundays closed.. But if you ring them they will open up for you Sunday morning.

Hope that helps
Brian

 

[Johnsy]

Wow thanks for all the info guys, I have been surfing these links and checking out gear and prices for hours and I think there is a way better range of stuff and some of it at much better prices than here in Oz. So The Paddock and Panda Rider are going to get a bit of a work out when I get over there. And a big thanks to you Brian for the heads up on getting good service and prices. Hopefully I might get to catch up with some of you on a ride or over a coldy.
Cheers,
Johnsy
:thumbup:

 

[yankee99]

I found the prices here quite a bit more then the usa. I can not speak for au.
I just ordered 2 sets oneal racing element pants size 42 and 2 oneal elements jersey from rocky mountain atv 142.00 plus shipping. All the shirt/pants that i viewed here were $150+ a set so basically double and no selection for my size....

I also purchased joe rocket velocity mesh $117 and oneal element boots $116 from revzilla plus shipping. Again way cheaper then i can find here.

fyi i have these re-shipped through a friend via usps to save on shipping and duty. Last 6 packages duty free [knock wood]

 

[TonyBKK]

^ +1

Can't comment on AU prices, but the big online retailers in the US are pretty hard to beat.

Usually when I order from the US, even after international shipping and sometimes getting dinged for ~30-35% duty/vat I still come in well below Thai retail.

http://www.ridersdiscount.com/ and https://www.motorcyclegear.com/ are a couple of my favorites for mc apparel.

That said, every once in a while you will find a Thai retail shop that has pretty decent prices. And if you buy from an actual shop you'll have the chance to try it on before you buy.