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.