WTB CRM250

[matthew-max]

Hello, I'm looking to buy a crm 250 1997 or newer.. open to buy in any county near Thailand! please I know a bit about bikes, been working on them and riding most my life.. no rip offs please.
also looking for any and all advice on what the best country is to buy in (I'm thinking Laos) or any other tips! thank a billion and ride safe!!
p.s. email to noblematthew45(at)gmail.com

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

I hope you are familiar with the procedures/problems with importing a bike from another country into Thailand. If not, you should do a search of this site and read the many topics for information.

 

[Pikey]

M-M,

If after searching this site and reading about the hassles of imports as Silverhawk says above, you decide to source a bike from within Thailand, if you are in Chiang Mai, G3 had a 98 AR a month or so back. I test rode it and it ripped so the powervalve was OK. Don't know if it is still there but they were asking 65,000THB unplated.

Cheers,

Pikey.

 

[BignTall]

Mathew,

FYI the CRM-AR Pikey mentioned at G3 was a nice one in decent nick but has already been sold.

Pikey, the AR may have been a good buy since it is lighter to pick up after falls and kick starts easily comapred to the Xr 400[].

 

[Pikey]

B&T,

Ha ha!!! Good to hear from you! Yep, understand what you say about the 2-stroke but bear in mind that I sit on my arse for 90% of the time, so crashing/picking up the XR is (almost) the only exercise I get!

M-M, you can do a search for CRM250s (or any bike) at www.mocyc.com - Thai bike site and i have seen CRMs listed there before as it was one of the bikes I was interested in before I got my XR.

Cheers,

Pikey.

 

[matthew-max]

thanks for all the tips, I was thinking of bringing in the crm from laos because thailand will give you a 3 month bike visa but laos will only give you 1 month.. also to be able to afford a bike in thailand I'd have to go unplated, which meens I can't bring it into cambodia or laos, and if I get pulled over they take the bike... right? (thats what I've been told...)
I don't plan on trying to make it a thailand bike.. fyi so maybe that will make it easyer, I found one in laos, but the sellers are kinda shifty (even though it's through a major bike rental service in laos...
so we shall see..
the bike also seems to have very mushy front end, and feels like no rebound! I'm thinking it's not a big deal to rebuild the front forks.. or I read crms are soft.. is that normal?
ha! thanks for the info and tip guys! fantastic!

 

[matthew-max]

ha! that site is all in thai! guess I'll have to grab a friend to help read it! thanks again!

 

[Pikey]

M-M,

Yep, that is a Thai site but you can still put the model designation into the search box and it will spew out a list of bikes so as you can get an idea of what's available. Then get a Thai friend to translate any that appeal.

I have only ridden 2 CRMs but both had really "mushy" front ends - very noticeable even with crap brakes. New stiffer springs & oil could obviously help here whilst the front brake can be improved by fitting a master cylinder from a Honda Wave (yes, really!).

Cheers,

Pikey.

 

[DavidFL]

quote:

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Originally posted by matthew-max

thanks for all the tips, I was thinking of bringing in the crm from laos because thailand will give you a 3 month bike visa but laos will only give you 1 month.. also to be able to afford a bike in thailand I'd have to go unplated, which meens I can't bring it into cambodia or laos, and if I get pulled over they take the bike... right? (thats what I've been told...)
I don't plan on trying to make it a thailand bike.. fyi so maybe that will make it easyer, I found one in laos, but the sellers are kinda shifty (even though it's through a major bike rental service in laos...
so we shall see..
the bike also seems to have very mushy front end, and feels like no rebound! I'm thinking it's not a big deal to rebuild the front forks.. or I read crms are soft.. is that normal?
ha! thanks for the info and tip guys! fantastic!

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Matthew
Not exactly sure where you’re coming from – which country do you reside & ride in, – as you don’t give that away in your profile.
But….
I could be wrong, however I reckon you’re dreaming a bit & wonder whether you use a registered CRM for touring in your own country, or just ride long dirt trails across country?
Now, back to the “local scene,” if it is a Lao registered bike you wont be able to get it out of Laos without very special permission.
If it is unregistered then you might have a chance “smuggling” it out, but then it wont be able to come into Thailand legally at any border crossing where it has to go in the computer as registered vehicle.
It’s all very complicated, so to get up to speed,
take a look at
https://www.gt-rider.com/crossingborders.html
My advice, if you want to tour & cross borders (1) forget about the CRM as it is highly unlikely you will find one with a plate on (2) buy a dual purpose machine locally in Thailand as most of the roads will be asphalt (3) if you insist on a serious dirt bike then contact Mark Rossi at Chiang Mai Moto-X shop, but again you will be lucky to get one with a plate on. Who registers & uses a CRM for touring?

 

[penetrator]

I've got a CRM250 on long term rental right now and I can concur that it too has a mushy front end, I noticed that there is an adjuster at the bottom of the forks that can be turned to soften or harden the travel but haven't experimented with it. The front end is also very twitchy at speeds of over 100kmh on tarmac but I put this down to the off road tyres and it not being designed as a highway cruiser - it feels fine when I do 140kmh along the smooth dirt roads that are awaiting tarmacing and will form a new road beside the railway between Chonburi and Sattahip.

BTW this particular CRM250AR has a plate although how legit it is I hope I never have to find out !

 

[monsterman]

With penetrator on The CRM it definitly aint legit! He wheelies everywhere.

monstorman

 

[matthew-max]

I'm in thailand now but plan on travling through Cambodia and Laos, with not set place to live (at the end of the month when i move out of my BKK apt) was hoping to get to check out a bunch of places in thailand as well (like ride to one city stick around for a week and move on) and I was thinking a crm becasue I'm a light guy and can work on 2 strokes better than 4's (well that and back in the usa you can't get crm's for the street, so it's exciting to see them here!)and the power would be closer to a 400... but really am open to anything. rode a small chinese step through in laos whick sucked due to tiny tires on the dirt roads it took for ever to get anywhere..

thanks so much for the replys! I'm hoping to check out some bike shops today around BKK!
may I restate, Thanks So Much! trying to buy a bike is nerve racking anywhere esp in a strange new land!

 

[penetrator]

quote:

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Originally posted by monsterman

With penetrator on The CRM it definitly aint legit! He wheelies everywhere.

monstorman

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That's not entirely true Monsterman, I try to keep it on both wheels when negotiating my way around elephants !