I guess I should chime in and give my 2 satang as well.
I have purchased two motorcycles from Peter at Siam Superbike and will likely purchase a third as well. The first was a Yamaha TDM 900. I had just moved to Thailand and was naturally skeptical about purchasing a big bike here. I test rode the bike, did my research on getting big bikes registered in Thailand and even researched the 17 digit VIN on the frame of the bike. The bike was indeed manufactured for the Japanese market and wasn’t reported as being stolen from Japan. I bought the bike and was told that I could have my green book in about 6 weeks. 6 weeks came and went but the book didn’t come. I was anxious to do some serious touring and was very uncomfortable riding without a properly registered bike. I began communicating with Peter’s #1 man, Jum, about getting the green book ASAP. 6 weeks turned into 4 months and Jum finally told me that my green book would be here “this weekend”. He said that he had to show the bike to his “friend” that worked at the Land Transport Office over the weekend and I said “while you have the bike, put some new rubber on the front as I’ve worn off the little bit that the bike came with”.
I went to pickup up the bike on Monday and was handed the green book and went home with a smile on my face. Later that day, I was checking the book against the sales receipt and noticed that the frame number (VIN) didn’t match the number in the book. When I bought the bike from Peter originally, I thought it was odd that they didn’t include the VIN on the sales receipt and asked them to include the number on my receipt.
I called Peter and told him that there has been a mistake and he said “No Barry, go check the number on your bike and you’ll see that they match”. Damned if they didn’t match. They had ground off the original VIN and stamped a 10 digit number from a 12 year old Thai bike (to their credit, they did a fine job of altering the VIN – the untrained eye wouldn’t notice it). That meant that I had a recycled book. If I had known that I would be receiving a recycled book up front, it probably wouldn’t have bothered me. I bought a bike with an original VIN and was upset that they changed the VIN without asking or informing me. Peter’s web site had lots of advice on how to buy a big bike in Thailand and warned buyers to watch out for bikes with recycled books.
I met with Peter to discuss this and his response was that this was the only way he had of getting big bikes registered anymore. I showed him the pages from HIS web site advising buyers to watch out for bikes with recycled books and he admitted that he needed to change the web site. The web site was changed rather quickly – to match his current business practices.
In the end, Peter offered me a 100% refund for the bike since he had another buyer that would pay what I did. For me, it wasn’t too bad of a deal. I had the bike 4 months and only put new rubber on the front wheel. I looked hard for another big bike and ended up buying a new BMW R1200GS in Bangkok.
When I rode to Chiang Mai bike week last year, two of my Thai friends (brothers) wanted to take their GS’s for some “off road” riding. My friends were of average Thai height and size and not very experienced in dirt riding. Both brothers dropped there bikes twice in one day and of course, Barry came to the rescue to help them pick their bikes up and I even rode their bikes through the tricky muddy sections for them. It’s funny how BMW markets the GS as a “fundero” when in reality, it’s just a decent road bike that can handle dirt roads and fire trails pretty well.
I grew up riding off road and a weekend of playing in the dirt with the GS was all it took for me to decide that I needed a dirt bike again. I went to Peter’s shop and saw a nice a 2004 Honda XR250 that already had a plate on it. The bike had a recycled book, but I knew it up front. In fact, it’s the same bike that the Swede took to Laos and then Cambodia and wrote a trip report about on this board. So yes, you can take a Thai registered bike with a recycled book into Laos and Cambodia. Malaysia and Singapore? I’m not sure.
I bought the bike and took it home. I quickly that noticed that the bike stalled every time I stopped. Luckily, the bike has electric start so it wasn’t too dangerous in Bangkok but it was still quite annoying. I took the bike back to Jum and left it for a week – I think I was off riding in Laos or somewhere. I called Jum, interviewed him well, what did you do to fix the bike? What did you adjust? What parts did you change? He convinced me that the bike was running well (“no problem” must have been the first English words he learned). I picked up the bike and it stalled at the second traffic light I stopped at. I rode the bike for another day or two before making an appointment to see Peter and have him ride the bike himself. We both agreed that the bike was running rich and needed to be tuned properly. I left the bike with Jum and put the ignition key in his hand because the bike was parked on the street and I didn’t want it to be stolen. Two weeks went by and I called Jum to see if my bike was ready. I interviewed him again about what was changed, what was adjusted, etc. He convinced me that the bike was running fine so I took another B150 taxi ride to pick it up. When I arrived at the shop, Peter was there. We spent some time talking about my Laos trip and Jum was busy taking care of another customer. When Jum got to me, he asked me for the key to my bike. I told him “no, you have my key” and that I distinctly remember placing it in his hand because the bike was parked on the street. He said he didn’t remember getting the key and wasn’t sure that he had it. I had a spare key at home and would have brought it if he asked but then it dawned on me – how the hell could he tune the bike when he didn’t have a key to start it with? Jum was lying through his teeth. I shouldn’t have been surprised and I shouldn’t have trusted his word as much as I did. It’s kinda funny when you catch a Thai lying straight to your face. Jum never admitting lying and kept smiling the whole time. I would have been red faced and embarrassed, but Thai people...
I cornered Peter about this and he agreed that Jum’s story was a load of buffalo dung. It was at this point that it became clear to me that although Peter is the owner of the shop, he really wasn’t in charge of what was happening at Siam Superbike. His boys lie to him as much (or more) than they lie to their customers. I went home in a taxi (again) and insisted that Peter ride the bike for a day before calling to say it was ready to be picked up. True to his word, Peter did test ride the bike and it has run perfectly ever since. Jum said he had to change to carburetor to get it to run correctly. I was a little confused since the Swede who owned the bike before me never complained of this problem. I can’t confirm if the carb was changed, but if I had expensive goodies on my bike and took it to Jum for repair, I’d check to make sure that they were still on the bike when I picked it up.
As macattack said, TIT (this is Thailand). Peter knows what good customer service is and does his best to provide it but there are 4 or 5 Thai boys working there and only one Kiwi (Peter). Would I go back there again? Yes (as long as Peter doesn’t show this posting to his employees!). Would I recommend this shop to another farang? Yes, as long as they know about my experience and they know what to expect.
Peter said that he’s had some unpleasant experiences with “Bike Travelers” and I guess that’s to be expected. If you live here in Thailand you quickly realize that things aren’t the same as they are at home in the UK, EU, OZ or US. Although my experiences having my GS serviced at the dealer in Bangkok have been pretty good, they weren’t what I would have expected at a BMW dealer in the US.
As far as the Germans being unable to contact Peter, I’ve never had a problem getting a hold of him – except when he was out of the country. How many businesses do you know where the owner puts his cell phone right on the home page?
If I sound a little down on the Thai boys at Siam Superbike, I’m really not. I would use the same precautions when doing business with them as I would when doing business with any other Thai mechanic. Think about it, how far should you trust a Thai bike mechanic that’s wearing more gold around his neck (Jum) than you?
Barry
If I wasn't doing this, I'd be doing something else.
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