Buying a bike in Thailand

[munroney]

Im reading a lot about registering a bike in Thailand, and it sounds like its going to cost like 100,000 baht. So if i buy a 60,000baht bike, i will have to pay almost twice as much to get it on the road??

Also, where would the best place to buy an older 250 dirtbike in south east asia?

 

[LivinLOS]

Buy one with a plate already.. Just takes so many problems off the table unless yoru looking to only trail ride and not tour.

Easy to find plated options range form KLX250s to DRZ400's.. More rare would be stuff like smaller 2 strokes (CRM250s WR's KDX250s) which do pop up plated once in a blue moon. Or larger 4 strokes like dr650's XR650's etc suited to touring.

Thailand is probably still one of the easier countries to find something. mocyc.com has a lot of bikes on it but be warned that many have had very poor maintenance and its not unusual for bikes to be modified to bodge in unintended parts, that when they fail you simply cannot repair (I found mazda 323 main bearings cut down in a cbr engine.. They had cut the engine cases out meaning the bodge, which didnt work, had ruined any hope of getting the right parts for repair).

Do you want to trail ride, or tour, or a bit of both ??

 

[munroney]

Ok, perfect. I intend on buying a bike that has already been on the road, i just wasnt sure if some of that money was necessary insurance that everyone needs when signing the name over....

I plan to do a mix of off road, and highway driving. I toured around on a baja 250 before and quit enjoyed that bike. I would like to find something similar for maybe 50,000 baht or possibly cheaper.

 

[LivinLOS]

Bikes of that value do sometimes come up... But are often hard to find.. Which if your flying in to tour you may not have the time to sit back and wait.