Tag Archives: Red Baron

Day 181 – Red Baron

We learnt from past mistakes and DID NOT have breakfast in the overpriced restaurant, instead having Nutella toast in our room. Flo was extremely nervous, wanting to find the right spare part so badly that I started to worry a bit. What if we couldn’t find it?

You are our only hope, Red Baron!

You are our only hope, Red Baron!

But we were lucky to begin with. The Red Baron opens at 10am, even on a Sunday. Wednesday is the day that they are closed. Not knowing how Bangkok traffic will be like this morning, we started early and arrived at 9.45am.

The store opened at exactly 10am. The guy at the counter had us bring the bike around to the workshop so that the mechanics could have a look and then went in search of reg/recs for big bikes. In the end, he found two new ones. Flo was over the moon!

Mechanic at work

Mechanic at work

However, again, learning from past mistakes, we didn’t want to commit to one of them before we had Jonathan’s confirmation that they would really do the job. This time, the parts were also VERY expensive. So we wrote Jonathan on WhatsApp about the specifics of the two reg/recs and then waited. Chances were good that Jonathan worked even on a Sunday so we would get a reply in his lunch break, most likely. It was 11.30am already so we decided to go for an early lunch ourselves while waiting for the reply.

And yes, Jonathan’s reply came during lunch: One of the reg/recs was a go! It could handle up to 50 ampere while Rocinante’s original part was up to 35 ampere so we would even upgrade! Nearly jumping for joy we made our way back to the Red Baron. The mechanic didn’t share our enthusiasm. The part was not for a different Honda bike so while it worked ampere-wise, the connectors had to be carefully made to fit. Very reluctantly, he went to work.

Two fried reg/recs make for a sad Flo

Two fried reg/recs make for a sad Flo

Changing the reg/rec was a very good thing but problems with that part often also effect the battery and vice versa. The battery had been drained twice now through our efforts to get Rocinante back to Bangkok so changing the battery as well is a good idea. If the battery had been damaged, it could have effected the new reg/rec and we really, really didn’t want that. Because of the new battery, we had to wait two hours for it to be charged before being able to take off. With a fully functional bike! The only down side is that “big bikes” are luxury items in Thailand which means that a special luxury tax of 60% applies to them, as well as to all spare parts. The reg/rec cost us about NZ$500 and the new battery another NZ$200. Having the bike fixed felt amazing…the cost with our financial background not too much.

All is well that ends well

All is well that ends well

Everything worked fine so we made for Sa Kaeo, the town closest to the Cambodian border. No warning lights, no issues with the electronics at all! I even had my family Skype call from the cafe at a gas station cut short in order for us to make it before dark. We booked a roadside hostel online so all we had to do was get there.

With the last glimpses of light disappearing, we rolled into the Golden house hostel, had a silly little victory dance in our room and fell into bed without dinner.

Day 180 – Bangkok is the new Denpasar

Blogging at the breakfast table

Blogging at the breakfast table

We almost got fooled by the utterly unfounded confidence of our mechanic yesterday. Where to go? Would we believe in his words and go on towards Cambodia? Once again, a WhatsApp exchanged with Jonathan came with bad news that nonetheless saved our bacon. He checked the specifications on the regulator / rectifier that was put in yesterday and confirmed. Too weak. Rocinante produces about 400W of electricity, the r/r could only “neutralise” a maximum of 300W. That means even with all lights constantly going, it would be at maximum capacity at all time. Maybe ok at 15°C, but not at 36°C as we had yesterday.

All this considered, we decided to go back to the nearest Honda “BigWing” dealer in Pattaya and try our luck. All bikes over 300cc are part of the BigWing section, which are marketed as luxury items with only a handful of showrooms in the country. And so we parted from our lovely and extremely helpful hosts. If you ever find yourself in Chanthaburi, I recommend staying at Banchan 9 Homestay.

Right away, it proved to be the right decision. The rear ABS sensor was playing up with intermittent faults, which also meant that we had neither speed- nor odometer for the first couple of kilometers. But with the lights on high beam and every device plugged in to charge, it settled down after 10 minutes or so. Still the fear of permanent damage of the CDI or ABS computer crept into our minds.

At least they were helpful in referring us on. Honda was just utterly useless

At least they were helpful in referring us on. Honda was just utterly useless

Arriving at the Honda dealer turned out to be the first big bust of the day in the end. After giving us the barest minimum of courtesy by checking the original parts number in their system (I already knew it is not in it, the Transalp was never sold in Thailand) they pretty much ignored us from here on. Thus began a bit of a goose chase through Pattaya – the Kawasaki shop sent us to their workshop who sent us to an independent workshop further on. The last one looked extremely promising, with both an old Transalp as well as an Africa Twin right there.

It got even better when the owner produced a R/R he claimed was from a 900cc Kawasaki cruiser – I briefly checked and the one from that bike would indeed have been enough to get us going for good. Just to be 100% certain, we consulted our WhatsApp oracle while the part was being installed. Once again, once all was said and done we were left disappointed and devastated. The temporary fix from Chanthaburi had blown up already on the last 150km, so we had to use the new one, payed $180 for it and still had no permanent solution. Later that day it turned out that the owner was wrong or may have lied to me regarding the part he sold. Rather than the big 900cc bike he mentioned, the part was from a 650 Ninja … with a far less powerful alternator …

Hasty lunch at 4pm before tackling the road back to Bangkok

Hasty lunch at 4pm before tackling the road back to Bangkok

The few hours we have been in Pattaya made it clear that we did not want to stick around. The city is still known as a go-to destination for sex-tourists and the number of fat old white men we saw swaggering about with scantily clad young girls and women was plenty to trigger our gag and flight reflexes.

The saving grace was that we got one more contact for a parts and big bike shop, back in Bangkok out of it. However, it was written in Thai script so we had no idea where it was or how it was called. It was late already, very late, but we wanted to make use of the cooler evening time to get at least close to BKK again. We aimed for the hotel near the airport we stayed in a couple of days ago – east of the city and a good place to sort out where to go tomorrow.

We arrived after dark, but at least without any further issues regarding the electronics. Checking in took a moment due to a particularly obnoxious duo of German tourists taking forever with their petty requests uttered in even pettier English. But after that, when we were about to retreat to our room to fully deflate, came the glimmer of hope that would rob me of almost all my sleep that night. We asked the hotel staff to translate the address we got in Pattaya and it turned out that it was for the local branch of the Red Baron chain. They are great in NZ, so I really got my hopes up this time …