The Adventures Continue...

The next set of upgrades were a set of 'sliders' or 'ram-guards' as I call them.
They are a beefy and tough bit of kit.
Not only do they spare your bike most of the damage that comes from sliding along (should you drop your bike) but you can rest your legs and stretch out on them while on the move! :)

CBR Ready for the road...

The CBR sure looks the part for riding and I made full use of it. I still took my back-pack for my lap-top though. They panniers, although handy, aren't that big.
Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Mae Sai, Nong Khai and many more locations I visited (see other blogs links for details).

After paying a visit to Nakhon Phanom my back was killing me and I knew I'd need to source more luggage space for the bike.
When I was in Khon Kaen I struck gold in finding a dedicated bike shop while roving around.
They had what I was looking for; A tank bag. That would mean no more back-pack ache as my laptop could go in there instead.

Most of the other bikes are much smaller than mine. It's normally 150cc is the biggest. Although bigger bikes are starting to appear in larger numbers.
Yet when I roll in somewhere loaded up with kit the look on some of the local thai folks faces is one of amazement and intrigue! :D

Finding my feet

It wasn't long before I had a few close calls on it. While out touring with Ulrich I ended up dropping it while making a sharp U-Turn. After I got the bike fixed up (brake lever and a respray on the fairing) I was a lot more careful.

The bike was nearly 200 kilos in weight compared to just over 100 kilos on the CBR 150.
It had been made in a different biking era when bike heavy bikes were the norm and it's plastic fairing reflected a showy and proud sportsbike vibe.
It was over 20 years old, with 32,000 km on the clock, an NC23 model and has enough power for Thailands roads.
It could reach speeds of 160km easily and was rock-steady. The suspension was a bit hard, but it being a sportsbike this wasn't surprising.

I could tour with a back-pack but over hours and miles of touring it could become a real pain. So one of the first things I had done were to convert it to touring bike mode.

On went a set of leather panniers from the leathercraftsman in Hua Hin.

CBR 400 - The Early days

First got this bike back in 2008 when I'd been after something a bit bigger and meaner for touring around Thailand on.

It was in a little old place called Bang Saphan where I found my new machine to play with.

Old but capable with green book and plates.
For 75,000 baht it wasn't a bad price. Engine sounded good, fairing with in fine condition.

I sold my old bike to Ulrich, a biking comrade then made the arrangements for buying the new one.