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[thaicbr]

That's the difference between Laos and Thailand.................. In Laos they use rope, here they would use string or that shit plastic bag rope......if they use any at all

[jb5music]

JXXXL, on 2009-03-10 18:52:09, said:

a_classic_cigar, on 2009-03-06 11:17:05, said:

Ok - this is killing me to ask this - but need to :-(
Due to time constraints - I will not have enough time to actualy ride down to Samui & Phuket for the "Bike Weeks" however have heard that I can put my bike on the train? (True?? If so any info and tips would be greatly appreciated).

My MC and a few other solo bikers will need to do the same as with the work scene we can depart at the 11th hour as they say...

Cheers

Chris

I put my moto on the train from Hat Yai to Bangkok and it worked out well.  I didn't travel with the bike because they didn't have room on my train.  They put the bike on the train before mine and it was waiting for me when I got there.  There is a shipping doc and the people there will load it and tie it town for you.  I recommend you bring your own tie downs otherwise they'll use nylon rope which may chew up your plastic or paint.

If you are north of BKK, you'll need to change trains in BKK and the schedule will be subject to room on the train.  Note, not all trains can take a bike.

That's great - You actually did it. That's what I'm trying to do is train the bike from Hat Yai to Bangkok. Gee I wouldn't need to know what time you got there so I wouldn't have to stay overnight if I missed the time. And Gee I wouldn't want to know how much it costed so I say screw it and ride the bike to Bangkok especially if  one shipment costs half as much as I payed for the bike or maybe 2 weeks worth of rental where I'm going. But hey did you have
a nice trip. Can you tell me about all the nice temples you saw from your train window.

[jb5music]

wjmark, on 2009-03-06 12:52:49, said:

At the Chiang Mai train station they told me that I can only take the bike with me on the train - cannot send it if I am not a passenger...

Can send it by post though!  Small bike Chiang Mai to Chumpon - 2200baht. Post office to post office (poste restante). Can mail bike to Samui too.

Big bikes - don't know.

If there are a few bikes - try to find a transport company - should be a lot cheaper.

And so how much would it have COSTED if you took the bike with you.
( Which probably a vast majority of people wanting to put their motorbikes
on trains do)

[jb5music]

BigBikeBKK, on 2009-06-09 23:34:57, said:

LivinLOS, on 2009-06-09 18:16:05, said:

BigBikeBKK, on 2009-06-08 17:49:17, said:

Taking the train to Chiang Mai can be good fun so I looked into sending my bike up to Chiang Mai by train but after hearing some horror stories about abused bikes I dropped the idea. Apparently very few stations have a ramp to get the bike on and off the train.

Not a problem if you're sending a scooter, but big bikes are a problem.

Read a trip report from a group that traveled from Singapore by rail and apparently on arrival in Chiang Mai the staff basically dropped their BMWs to the ground and managed to blow one guys fork seals in the process.

So, unless you've got a small easy to lift bike or an old beater that can take some abuse I think sending bikes by rail is not such a good idea...

I've only heard good things about sending bikes via Thailand Post though.

Happy Trails!

Tony

Good to know as I was considering this to go south to north, allow me to take a months worth of luggage easier and avaoid the dull HKT to bangkok bit..

If they can load and unload then thats an issue.. Can you not ride the train with it and therefore ensure safer loading and unloading (few 100 baht notes) ??

As mentioned earlier in the thread there can be situations where you and your bike end up on different trains, in which case you won't be able to keep an eye on your precious...

I've see the way the Thai Post sends bikes- they strap them securely to a special shipping pallet that is specially designed to hold a bike. So there's no chance of the bike tipping over.

Final option LivinLos (as you probably recall from personal experience ) is to pay somebody with a pickup to truck your bike to it's destination. There are actually a bunch of pick up trucks in Bangkok that offer that service to guys with race bikes- shuttle them and their bikes to and from the race tracks.

If you have a car you can buy a bike trailer for as little as ~40,000 Baht and drive to your destination. (I'm thinking about getting one)

Where there's a will there's a way!

Happy Trails!

Tony

For the cost of a car and a motorbike trailer you could buy ten motorbikes and leave them in ten different cities.
I lover these tales of the rich and famous in Thailand. You could probably have a private Lear jet land
next to your front door and take you and your motorbike to the front door of your destination
for $20,000 . Bon Voyage.

[SeanMoran]

jb5music, on 2009-11-23 22:54:02, said:

... train the bike from Hat Yai to Bangkok.

Thursday September 14th, 2549, fares from Hat Yai to Bangkok:
Self: 905thb. (own curtained-off single berth sleeper in cabin full of loud outspoken xenophobic women from the deep south).
Honda Wave: 916thb. (Arrived at Humpalong undamaged)

Benzine and an overnight stay in Chumphon would have been quite a bit cheaper, and less prone to seasickness from the rocking, rolling, wallowing, wandering train, but all political situations being stable,  probably more hazardous.

---o0o---

PS: One thing that might have comprised 33% of the charges for the bike was that I'd ridden the bike to the station with all the rucksacks loaded, and although they were to go onboard the train with me, (like other passengers on trains), the young bloke who weighed the bike to determine the fare insisted on weighing it WITH those 50 odd kg of luggage still strapped onto it, so the weight was probably about the same as an Honda Goldwing.  I did attempt to remove my own luggage from the bike before it was weighed, but he looked at me as if I was some sort of kee-now bad farang who was trying to cheat the system, so the bike got weighed fully-laden, and the high transport charge was possibly due to that extra charge for the cabin luggage that I hadn't yet removed from the bike at the station.

Edited by SeanMoran, 2009-11-24 06:31:54.

[LivinLOS]

jb5music, on 2009-11-24 06:12:04, said:

BigBikeBKK, on 2009-06-09 23:34:57, said:

If you have a car you can buy a bike trailer for as little as ~40,000 Baht and drive to your destination. (I'm thinking about getting one)

For the cost of a car and a motorbike trailer you could buy ten motorbikes and leave them in ten different cities.
I lover these tales of the rich and famous in Thailand. You could probably have a private Lear jet land
next to your front door and take you and your motorbike to the front door of your destination
for $20,000 . Bon Voyage.

If you read it he says "if you have a car" which many of us of course do.

For me the issue is often the missus wants to come also and I dont want to strap 2 people and 2 peoples luggage onto a bike, and if she flys it cuts down on the luggage. So a car a bike trailer would allow me to drive to destination with her, all her luggage, and then me to have my machine there to play around on.

[Powerband]

if any sends by post be sure to wrap the bike in plastic, they put these 2 huge ass stickers on your bike that can peel the paint off.

[Sisaketmike]

wjmark, on 2009-03-06 11:52:49, said:

At the Chiang Mai train station they told me that I can only take the bike with me on the train - cannot send it if I am not a passenger...

Can send it by post though! Small bike Chiang Mai to Chumpon - 2200baht. Post office to post office (poste restante). Can mail bike to Samui too.

Big bikes - don't know.

If there are a few bikes - try to find a transport company - should be a lot cheaper.

An easier way to get your bike wherever you want to in Thailand is by truck. There's a transportation company in every city. I forgot the name in Thai, it's cheap and a very good service. They brought my bike from Sisaket/ Isaan to Phuket for 4,000 baht. Good luck.

[Thaison]

Wicked! Had similar experience when taking a Honda Phantom on the "ferry" from Ranong to Koh Phayam. If you been there you know what the ferry is like. Retrofitted fishing boat whit two decks. Drove up to the jetty and asked if I could bring my bike along. Sure thing and out of the blue came 10 Burmese lads and carried the bike ant-style onboard and handed me some old inner tubes to tie it down. 70 Thb for the job. Same procedure on Koh Phayam but 20 Thb more expensive, guess island tax :-)

Lancelot, on 2009-06-10 15:21:46, said:

Transporting yoru bike Laos style

[Newguy70]

Hi Guys,

Train is by far the easiest way to get your bike somewhere in Thailand. I have tossed a scootter on a train from Bangkok to Surin, and a motorcycle from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Easy as Pie, have not had any problems, and do not foressee any in the future, unless they drop the bike. As Tony stated earlier, they usually do not have a ramp, I found this odd as well, but TIT.  For both trips my bikes were both lifted on , and off by several individuals. You ask was I worried, not a bit ( well  maybe a little), on my Ninja they actually had the BIB oversee the loading, and disloading of the bike. The  guys loading did ask for a tip, and I did provide (20baht ) per man, please keep in mind that when you do purhcase to have your bike transported, they actually have a handling fee included in the breakdown (you will get a reciept), so the tipping is up to you.  I did not provide tie downs either time, they actually provide rope with the fee to ship, you can oversee them while they tie it down or can help out, up to you.

Hope this Helps,

[transplant]

I've transported bikes here a few times on trains and didn't have any problems.  My advice is, talk to the guy that's going to load your bike and tip him to look after your bike.  If you do, you shouldn't have any problems.  If you don't, you'll probably wish you did.

[wjmark]

Train sounds great, BUT don't you have to be on the train with it?

If you want to travel a different way, I believe you can't send your bike by train alone...

And I have heard that when you go through Bangkok, you have to take care of having the bike change trains too.

Edited by wjmark, 2010-11-18 07:41:34.

[jb5music]

I still have yet to try this and now it's almost two years later after these
first posts. Can you still put your motorbike on the train from Hat Yai to
Bangkok?

[RidersCorner]

can they get scratched on the train?

BigBikeBKK, on 2009-06-08 16:54:11, said:

OzMick, on 2009-06-08 16:48:21, said:

alant, on 2009-06-08 16:18:43, said:

OzMick, on 2009-06-08 15:34:47, said:

had my bike railed surat - Nakhon Pathom, planning a 4:30am start to Nakhon Phanom b4 Saung Kran. I arrived, no bike, no-one spoke any english, but managed by my rough thai to get that bike coming later. 5 bloody hours later, and bike with a free layer of chicken fertilizer. it's like pissing on a power socket - try it once and you'll never try again!!!!

mmmm bike by train..... no comment from the old fart

can you think of another way to get from samui to Nakhon nowhere in a day?

Ummm... you could perhaps RIDE the bike?     

[Newguy70]

Anythings possible...

[suanpai]

Taking a motorcycle on Thai railways


  

  Having researched the subject I decided not to ride the bike from Krabi to Chiang Mai. A distance of some 1500km would cost around 5000B in fuel apart from the hotel expenses. So a short ride to Surathani railway station seemed the way to go with a change at Bangkok and then overnight to Chiang Mai.

  The staff at Surathani were helpful and assured me all would be well. I payed around 1400B for the bike plus my ticket and waited for the train. When it arrived the uniformed train staff looked at the size of the Honda Africa Twin and must have guessed it weighed in at 200kg and shook their heads. There was space in the goods van with some organization but it was refused on the grounds there was no room. A condition of travel is you have to accompany the bike. I was told to board the train after a guarantee the bike would follow on the next train. I reluctantly got aboard. In Bangkok I waited for my bike only to learn it had not arrived. After talking calmly to the information desk and the station master I was assured that it would arrive at 10am. You guessed it, it did not. Next visit was to the office upstairs and an apologetic employee assured me the bike was still on the platform at Surathani and would be dispatched in the evening to arrive the following morning. Any suggestion as to who would pay for my hotel fell on deaf ears! At 5.30am I left my hotel to meet the train and was almost surprised to see the bike in the goods van. No ramps seem to be available anywhere so the bike has to be manhandled on to the platform. The journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was uneventful and was unloaded in a similar manner where I was asked for 200B for the privilege of having it put on the platform. After all my extra expenses and paintwork damage ( the bike was dropped) I refused.  I would certainly not recommend this mode of transport to anyone unless you have a small machine which can be loaded easily. If you have a larger machine don't even think about unless you like it thrown down on the platform and the paintwork damaged!

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[Newguy70]

I have shipped my ninja a bunch of times, and never had a problem. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. You indicated the bike was dropped; how were the damages handled?

For me i will continue to use the train as an option ( i love it). . .

[suanpai]

Newguy70, on 2011-06-10 20:16:11, said:

I have shipped my ninja a bunch of times, and never had a problem. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. You indicated the bike was dropped; how were the damages handled?

For me i will continue to use the train as an option ( i love it). . .

I love the train but for me only from now on! The damage was quite small really and I have dropped it before. But I did draw their attention to the paintwork but had no response which was expected. But glad to hear you have not encountered any problems. Anyway I'm getting older now and find the bike just too heavy for ease so its up for sale!

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