coming home from S.E. Asia, honda cbr 2 months to go!!

[plant]

hi i'm new to this site just checked it out a week a go. i've been travelling through asia for 6 months and had a great time travelling about on motorbikes, i'm now very confident driving and know i will pass my practical test with no problem.
i'm wanting a Honda cbr 400 and will be purchasing in about 2 months, can i use this bike if restricted for my test?

anyone else ever travelled around asia by bike? i've been india, thailand, cambodia and laos. the best roads are definatly in thailand, upto 5 lanes, whatever speed you want to go outside the city and problems with the cops just give em 5 quid!! cambodias roads are some times a mess and the drivers are idiots, no regards for motorbikes. india expect pot holes randomly all over some times a foot deep and laos i only rented a bike once in the city.
to rent a honda cbr 400cc cheapest i got was about 4.50 a day, they also rent many other bikes such as harleys prices are from 1.50-7.50 a day.

[beatnck]

bloody hell, thats cheap! how much was fuel!?

[DynamiteBoy]

Riding round s.e asia...sounds interesting. Im actually off to Cambodia in october, volunteering to teach kids for 4 weeks before heading off into the unknown (backpack untill my money runs out). I would like to travel around Loas and Thailand.

Guessing if u can ride a bike in se asia u can pretty much ride anywhere...

[plant]

not too sure on the exact price of petrol but cost around 7-10 pound for a full day on the cbr 400, the milage meter didnt work on the bike like alot of them.

be careful driving in cambodia imagine travelling 100kph with a car over taking coming towards you at 100 leaving a 4 inch gap between you and his car. great country, lots of recent war history S.E. ASIA is amazing will definatly be back

[plant]

i'm still not sure on passing my test, can anyone answer my question "i'm wanting a Honda cbr 400 and will be purchasing in about 2 months, can i use this bike if restricted for my test? "

thanks, plant.

[instigator]

Plant - If you're in the Uk and are less than 21, then no, you can't do your test on a cbr400 - you cant restrict it's cc down to 125cc. You'd need to buy a 125cc or hire one.

If you are over 21, then perhaps but I'm not too sure how you can go about doing it.

[Clanger]

Hey, me too - I just got back in May! Although I didnt ride anything bigger than a 100 scooter, because I didnt have any kit with me. But I still had fun and like I said to everyone, I had nothing to prove - I have a nice sv650 sitting at home waiting for me!

A couple I know travelled down through Laos on bikes with their rucksacks and came a cropper, I did advise them that riding bikes with rucksacs two up when you've only ever rode a scooter, is a completely different ball-game. This was December last year, I think the fella must have got out of hospital by now, after several skin grafts, hip replacement and various other injuries, I think his girlfriend got away with a severely broken leg.

The roads are very very different from ours. Slippery with loose sand, and might is right on the roads. Did you ride in Bangkok per chance? Or Saigon? It was bad enough trying to walk, let alone ride. Though if you got a mental tuk tuk driver THAT was wikked fun, they are barmy vehicles and cheap too.

In Chiang Mai, Thailand - My moped was 130 baht a day (£1.88 a day) and petrol to fill the tank was 40 baht (£0.58p) and a full tank lasted me ages, even with a trip into the mountains to visit the Hill Tribe people.

In Koh Pha Ngan it was 150 baht a day, but it was a fab way to get to all the parties on the island, and not have to pay for taxi. Although 50 baht taxi home after the Full Moon Party wasnt exactly expensive.

Im hoping to go back out again soon. Cambodia was AMAZING!! The kids are fantastic and everyone SOOOOOO friendly and hospitable. If I was going to do voluntary work, I would probably go to Cambodia myself... if you get the chance, go to Sihanoukville on the south coast...and stay at Serendipity beach, go and check out the Monkey Republic bar (but stay somewhere cheaper) the guys that run that place are 3 British fellas. Its a great place, the food is amazing and the atmosphere is blinding! I stayed at a place around the corner towards the beach... the Laundry, it was $4 a night and I got a kettle to use, had my own double bed and bathroom, fan and cable tv. It was perfect. I stayed there for 9 days, the other beach is good for more hippy like people and there is a outside cinema there too.

To get from Phenom Pehn to Sihanoukville takes about 5hrs on the public bus for about $4, I think! Tarmac is unheard of in Cambodia.
Avoid the Vietnamese border crossing like the plague. They are corrupt and will take much money off you if they can.

I have soo many stories yet to come out....
____________________
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[Al]

I did a bit of Thailand by bike. I think I paid 600 Baht per day for a CBR400RR and about 500 baht per day for a CB400 super four.

But I didn't have any proper gear with me, they only give you one of those piss pot helmets, so most of my time I spent on 100cc scooters aswell, which were from 100-150 baht per day.

The roads were ok in Thailand but the traffic was shocking, bloody Tuk Tuk drivers

I was there for 2 months and rode around Bangkok,Chang Mai,Pia,pattaya,Koh Pha Ngan,koh samui,phuket and Hat Yai.
But got the bus from place to place and just rented bikes when I was there.

I found the best roads from Chang Mai to Pai just constant mountain passes going up and down and round and round. Very little traffic aswell apart from the odd crazy minibus driver overtaking each other on blind bends.

I also rode down New Zealand with a mate, well from Auckland to Christchurch on 50cc mopeds loaded up with a 65 litre backpacks.
It was a great experience, apart from about 10 miles away from Christchurch my mate slipped off on some gravel and broke his thumb.
Which I'm sure is something he'd rather forget, not that I'm gonna let him.

Also did a bit of Australia by car and we met this guy in the middle of the outback on a old 250 superdream loaded up with bags and petrol cans. He was planning on riding from Brisbane to Perth which is just crazy and pretty dangerous really!! it takes about 6 hours to fly!
He was about 300 miles out of Brisbane when we met him 3 months ago, so not sure how far he got, his probably still going