.... into hiding???? He has a bike of mine. The last sob story I heard was that his Thai staff ripped him off.... :roll: He has a Suzuki DRZ 400 of mine and still owes me two books and 120,000 Baht. There is a reward for his whereabouts as he will not answer his e-mails etc.... Thanks Muzz
No Siam Superbikes and peter reid were from Bangkok he is belived to be in Australia....Nothing to do with Siam racing motorcycles in Pattaya run by Scott which is an entirely different company.
It's high time to legalize big bikes so all this green book/greybook/invoice nonsense comes to an end! How many people have been ripped off or have long sad stories to tell, just because they liked to be able to ride a decent bike like in (almost) every other country. Even in Cambodia you can ride a big bike legally, without exorbitant costs or other kind of hassle. How many Thais with their shops are making a living selling illegal bikes, promising to get them legal and later can't even produce any kind of paperwork. I'm still running after my money I paid a shop to get me a bike 8 months ago! But there's hope, some big bikes are already available for a decent price, and even though I don't have the choice like in "developed" countries, at least there's a small selection of which I can pick my legal bike. And it's growing.
Hi Jerry and Friends, Siam Superbikes, do you mean the one from RCA who changed name few times and then close down or I mix it up one more time ?
Is this the same guy who had one of his staff apparently forge company letterheads to cane deposits on non-existent big bikes? I seem to remember a story that he was confronted with 20 angry thais or so demanding to know where their bikes were! :O
I was then a trusting fool. A deposit and a hand shake with a Westerner was good enough for me. I was wary of the Thai's then... How wrong the Western bike shop owners proved me to be.... Ah well. Lesson learned the hard way. But Peter...... I know you'll be reading this...... PS. Lets hope the bad days of the effluent likes off Siamsuperbike and Motozone are well behind decent bikers....
I don't want to defend anybody's wrongdoings, but since you're talking about Thai/Westerners - at the end of the day the Westerners are dealing with Thais, Thai mechanics, Thai "partners", properties in Thai wives names, and last not least Thai law and Thai police (which is not the same thing) - so what's a Westerner to do? I met Peter only once and had the feeling he's a straight guy, but doing biz in TH can be very tricky, lots of aspects are out of your control, really. I bet he was busting his butt to make an honest living, but you're swimming against a strong torrent here, if you know what I mean. I've had problems with a local shop because they bought a bike I explicitly told them NOT to buy using my deposit; of course they did. I helped them, sold it over the internet, a farang bought it sight unseen, it was technically okay, I put some decent mirrors and better tires on. I didn't make one baht, I sold it for the same price they bought it for and kept the money. But then the shop couldn't produce the invoice - a thai partner ran off with titles, invoices and cash, apparently. So now this guy called me and I had to tell him after he paid that there is no invoice. That made me look like a crook - because I was dealing with Thais. I've been talking bad about the shop ever since and don't trust anybody anymore. But I stop by on a regular basis and demand my money back. There were still 40K of my deposit due. They told me to wait, they're almost broke. I did wait for half a year. When I saw a few newer bikes sitting in front of the shop, I asked them how things are, and they said they would pay me 5K every week. Well, they tried hard and paid about 5K a month, now there's only 10K due. I think Thais are not bad people, they just got a knack for getting into trouble. A partner rips them off, a mechanic sells privately on the side, the boyfriend of the sister breaks in at night, or the place burns down, the lease ends and they're out in the street - there's no end to it, I've heard so many stories, my favorite is that "lightning struck" and the employees were afraid to go to work. Plus a few ghost stories... Main thing is to stay relaxed, complaining doesn't help any, just hope for the best. After all, it's only money!
No Azoulay you are wrong again that was Cyril a Frenchman and the company was MOTOZONE.He is wanted by Interpol for several frauds, Siam Superbikes was actually a successful for some years located first in a Soi 55 Sukumvit the in Soi Pattanakhan Peter ran it well for some years and had a good name then somthing bad went wrong and it all turned to shit.
+10! I think it's a case of different cultural ideas of responsibility. We are from a bean-counting culture where everything has to be exact, here things are much more fluid. I've heard about Peter's story and I believe it. The longer you stay here, the more stories you hear about misunderstandings and mistakes (intentional or not). While I feel badly for your situation, don't be so quick to blame him Muzz, if what I heard is true, he ended up in a much worse situation than you did. We get back to the point that was brought up a week or so ago: Unless you are a citizen here, you really don't own anything here. You might have all the paperwork and it might seem legal and irrefutable to your western mind, but in truth, anything you own can be taken from you with very little recourse for you to get it back. (see the thread here and on Thai Visa concerning the "crackdown" in Phuket) Never invest money in any purchase here that you can't afford to lose.
Quote : Unless you are a citizen here, you really don't own anything here. You might have all the paperwork and it might seem legal and irrefutable to your western mind, but in truth, anything you own can be taken from you with very little recourse for you to get it back. Not wishing to be objectionable, but this is quite untrue and must be very unsettling for some to read. Buy a new motorcycle from a genuine dealer and of course the motorcycle is your property and cannot be taken from you. This applies as much to the small bike market as it does to Yamaha, Kawasaki, Triumph, BMW, Harley and forgive me if I have missed any out. I am 100% confident that I own legally and beyond dispute, my car, and two motorbikes. i am not so sure about the Yamaha Raid, which is on a recycled book and I am still trying to get it legally changed to my name. I am also confident that any of the machines mentioned above if bought new from the dealer, can have the ownership transferred legally to a Farang buyer. I have also done this with no problems. Buying from dealers who promise to get you a book later for bikes which have not been legally imported or homologated for sale in Thailand is becoming much more risky. If anyone has had a new OEM dealer supplied bike , big or small, confiscated please step up and tell us about it.
John is correct a PROPERLY registered motorcycle wether a 125 wave or a Ducati is yours if your name is on the book as much as properly registered at the land officer condominium units or companies are . Thai law is more robust than many farangs give credit for ....But the word is PROPERLY remember that.
John's right, of course you own your bike if you bought it at an official dealership. Just like a Honda Wave or a car, it's in your name, you get a book, you insure it and pay taxes. But we are talking about "big bikes" here, and the majority of the posters on this site own grey bikes or, like me, illegally assembled bikes with an invoice, which doesn't give anyone the right to ride it on the street. Go to a biker meet (there's one coming up in Hua Hin here) and ask every rider if he has a 100% legal bike - what would be the ratio? Ten to one? Maybe we should do a poll on this site to see how many members have legal bikes. Then again who cares? The majority doesn't have the money to buy a new, legal BMW, Ducati or Harley. Or even a Fazer 600. Personally I don't even want one. TIf you take the risk by getting a grey bike, you mustn't be surprised when the police cracks down. Reality is that the majority of big bikes is illegal because of Thai law. Respect the law and ride a CBR150R or a Honda Phantom, or pay several hundred thousand THB for a legal bike - that's how it's been for a long time. Fortunately things are looking up, you can get legal bikes now for under 200K THB and maybe in a couple of years Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki will offer ten models each to choose from, for people who don't want to spend a fortune on a decent ride...
KZ my Ducati and my CB 1300 and the 4 Harleys before over the last 11years were all assembled bikes with invoice and all were legal with a new origonal green book from the Land transport office . All were done by the proper methods outlined by me many times ,those bike are still running around and the new owners are all happy . There are a lot of short cutters and scammers who do not bother to do it the right way which is time consuming ,Bureaucratic and expensive .
monsterman, it must be VERY time consuming, bureaucratic and expensive since hardly anybody does it - this whole grey-book business wouldn't exist if it weren't. So you are saying that it is possible to get a 100% new and legal green book fthrough the Land Transportation Office for any bike illegally assembled from imported parts to dodge the tax that has an invoice? Would you mind to refer me to the threads that describe this in detail?
KZ I detailed it on several threads last year , Important the bike must have a legal Import Invoice showing custom clearance ,without that you can never make it legal. first assemble the bike Then the registration can begin it has to be inspected by the land transport department in Bangkok (only Bangkok is safein my opinion) and the paperwork filled out this costs 20,000 baht a few weeks later the bike will receive an assessment for Registration Tax up to 60,000 maximum depending on value and engine size once this is paid and a fee (from 1500-5000)and 3rd party insurance bought the number plates and green book will be issued ,this process can take up to 6months but has been done in less than a week , A good agent is helpful but it can be done DIY.It is not easy and is a hassle.Its what Ducati, triumph BMW and Harley main dealers have to do . Then the bike is legal.
