The Tiger who lost his Spots

The lights on Tiger bike are useless (see story: Guided by Orion’s belt). On a previous trip we had been had caught out so the search is on to give our Tiger some Spots. We found a super-accessory motor shop in Phuket town, about 32kms away from our lovely room near the beach in Naiyang. It was a steaming hot morning ride alongside cars, trucks, roadworks, delivery sidecars and motorbikes riding in both directions. We arrived and found exactly what we wanted: an LED spot bulb for high beam and a fan cooled LED bulb for the dip/bright function. There was also available LED Spotlights. However B wanted to compare the price at another shop down the road. This second shop is about as large as 10 rugby fields. The merchandise contains just about anything you can imagine. Rows and rows up to the ceiling, tidy, labelled, packaged and there are people everywhere with pallet type trolleys. It takes a long time wandering up and down to find the motor section. Communication is performed with lots of hand waving and drawing on scraps of paper, but the shop attendant produces what we want. He only has one and it is the same price as the super-accessory motor shop. Thanks, but no thanks. A long 30 minutes later we find the exit and now need to go back up the highway to the first shop. The midday sun is baking down.

The road system in Thailand is quite different in that U-turns are actively signposted along dual carriage highways. This entails cutting across the traffic from the left slower motorbike lane to the faster car lane then queueing with all the other traffic also waiting to U-turn. Inch by inch the traffic creeps and sneaks forward enough to do a slow gliding U-turn straight into the oncoming fast lane traffic. On a motorbike we overtake the queue, join the collection of bikes all revving to go, then dash around and head for the slow lane on the other side as quickly as possible. B operates the indicators and I assist with hand signals. We GO. It`s done. We are riding back to the super accessory shop which of course is on the other side of the road heading back towards the point from where we have just been. It is sticky hot and the density of traffic and noise makes everything seem hotter. Another U-turn and we are there. We buy the 2 LED bulbs and the 2 Spots. When we leave Thailand these LED’s will all be coming back to France to be fitted on the BMW’s. Back down the highway to our helpful neighbour mechanic. Having left at 9am after a bowl of muesli and fruit juice, it is now past 2pm. We are very hot and tummies are rumbling. B is on a mission to get the lights fixed and the Spots on and tested as we plan to leave in a few days to be up north 2280kms away in Khon Kaen by Christmas day. By the time we reach home we are too hungry, too hot and too lazy so we eat, swim and relax. Enough bike stuff for today (in Afrikaans: more is nog `n dag).

We have moved from Naiyang in the north of Phuket island to the more central suburb of Kathu. It will be easier for us to get to the dentist, the audiometry centre and motorbike shops without the long ride up the highway. We re-visit a guesthouse by a lakeside from a previous stay, but he is full. Nevertheless, he suggests we try the bungalows next door. We negotiate a 8day stay with the delightful Thai lady and settle in to our peaceful colourful bungalow by the lake. For a daily rate of 450 baht (11 euros) we get a whole bungalow, with full kitchen, bathroom with hot shower and a large bedroom plus lounge, secure bike parking, overlooking a lake and we are the only ones there.

We had handed over some 900 baht (30 euros) to an agent near Naiyang a few days before in order to get the bike updated with insurance, registration and compulsory MOT. Today was collection day and true to form, the documents were on time and all correct. Now we have the very important Green Log Book. Travelling anywhere without the GLB is impossible, it is the equivalent of the bike`s passport. GLB collected, we can now fit the lights and Spots , meet up on a lunch date with our gorgeous niece and beau who are flying in from Japan for a short vacation and be on our way. Carrying GLB, LED bulbs and Spots we rode back up the highway to the mechanic who had helped in getting Tiger bike up and running. The LED bulbs were fitted and Tiger was ablaze with brightly glowing headlamps.

While the LED bulbs are being fitted, I entertain the 6 year old Thai son of the mechanic. Out come the sketchbook and crayons. He brings me some sea shells and I show him how to trace the shape then colour it in. We practise numbers and colours, in English, and I am very impressed by his language skills. He brings me a leaf and we continue drawing and colouring in. I get so carried away with this bit of fun in the sun that its rather a let down when B tells me that one of the Spots was not working. While the mechanic was fitting the headlamp LED bulbs, B tested the Spots on a battery. One was not working. I pack away my drawing kit, come back to earth and off we ride back again up the 32kms to Phuket town in the midday heat to super-accessory motor shop. The shop brought out a motorbike battery and by connecting the spotlight wires came to the same conclusion: it`s not working. A quick replacement and another check confirmed that this one was working. On the way home to Kathu we rode passed the huge motor shop again, so pulled in to buy a soldering iron and solder, electric wire, push in terminals, a cigarette lighter plug and then another teak baton from the timber merchant. The idea was to solder the terminals onto the cigarette light lead which would supply the power to the Spots. By using the cigarette lighter as the power supply we could remove and insert the Spots when needed. During the day the cigarette lighter is used to charge various phones, cameras and other electronics as we ride. The soldering wasn’t up to scratch and the terminal push fittings proved to be too cumbersome to be easily used. The next plan was too use a domestic plug and socket arrangement. We went to a hardware store and bought 2 plugs and a twin socket, which B mounted on the teak baton, which was in turn attached to the front carrier basket. The Spots were fitted with domestic plugs. The electric socket box was wired onto an extension lead with the cigarette lighter on the other end. Easy to plug in and out and it worked. A few days sitting in the warmth by the lake tinkering with solder, plugs and bikes is just B’s idea of a relaxing holiday. I happily sketched, painted and photographed the vegetation and lakeside scenes. Bliss.

Eventually by nightfall all 4LED’s were on and working. Tiger bike had been lit by one pathetic halogen bulb and reflector, now she was going to be ablaze with 2 LED bulbs and 2 LED Spots. We found a ‘no streetlight’ mountain road and put the lights to the test. The 2 LED’s were more than sufficient and decided that the Spots could be packed away for France. Our Tiger has no Spots.

Even though we had a brand new battery fitted, the starter motor did not work. B did not fancy kick-starting for the next 4 months. In the Tiger fly wheel there are 3 sets of coils. One for the sparkplug. One to supply the LED headlamp with power and one provides power to recharge the battery through a rectifier which converts the AC to DC. We found that the battery charge was not enough to keep the battery full, so the rectifier coil was faulty. Replacement electric parts are not available as Tiger has been out of production for 9 years, and our great mechanic could be of no further use. We rode into Phuket town to chat with our Kawasaki man who had previously sorted out the Tiger over the last few years. Him and his crew burst out laughing in amazement as we drove up the ramp into the repair shop. They cannot believe that this little bike is still on the road (actually neither can we). They gathered around, admired the steel wheel, LED lights and cable ties. B explained to Mr. Kawasaki about the faulty battery charging and he promptly went to a Honda dealership and fitted a new Honda rectifier. OOOPS, smoke poured out of the flywheel, no more electrics, all coils burnt out. One choice was to fix it, ride it and enjoy our biking time in Asia. The other choice was to post it by truck and buy a new bike in Khon Kaen. We chose to fix it, and get us and the bike to KK by Christmas.

Mr Kawasaki popped around the corner to a street mechanic who also owned a Tiger bike and had a scrapyard of Honda bikes. In all our 9 years of motor biking around Asia we have never come across another Tiger bike and today we meet Mr. Tiger expert ready to fix ours. He proceeded to convert the complete electrical charging system of the Tiger with second hand Honda parts for the grand sum 30 euros. He cut wires with scissors, wound the bare ends together with tape, sitting on the floor with a cigarette hanging from his lips. From there on the electrics worked perfectly, lights, starter, battery perfect. In fact Tiger bike has a new lease of life, just like the king of the jungle.

The total cost for re-assemble, paperwork, wheel, lights, coils, carrier, everything to make it perfect was about 150 euros. Still cheaper than daily rental and we can take it across borders. So 2 weeks into our winter break we are set to go.

We spend the weekend snorkelling, relaxing, and making friends with new arrivals from Germany. They are a professional trio of wake board hunks (look up ARIANO BLANIK, world championship contender). It is their first visit to the island and have chosen this resort as it is near to the wakeboard complex. We go to watch them perform their tricks on the water, being pulled by an overhead cable arrangement around a large water circuit with jumps and obstacles to leap up and over, twisting and spinning and sometimes splashing in; sort of water skiing at a constant speed, without the boat.

Our lunch date is over, swimming is done, Tiger bike is perfect even without the Spots and we are ready to pack and go.