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So, I'm looking for a motorcycle for when I arrive. The price range caps at about 2k. What's surprising is that there are more scooters/mopeds for sale in this range than actual bikes. (What and why?) Anyway, what's a good bike to grab for that price range? I looked at some Keeways & Pulsars, but I don't want to look like a d*ck (or target) riding a new bike in a third world country. I looked on Khmer24, but I'm not sure if it's a legit site. Any suggestions?

Lots of Used Honda Phantom's being imported into Cambo. Good bike, comfortable seat, good Hwy speed, real handlebars for lane changes not the tiny ones on scooters, good get up and go for a 200cc bike, doesn't get stolen as much as scooters, better looking than scooters and at from $1000. to $1400. a great bike. Here's a picture of mine.

Freerider shop in Sihanoukville usually has a couple for sale and he looks them over a bunch before he sells them. There should be some for sale in PP (Kampuchia Krome St?)

Did a bike crawl through PP about four months ago - oddly, no Phantoms in the shops, but some other weird low riders. Talk to Leda at #339Eo on Russian Boulevard (very near the intersection of Monivong), he's a very straight-up dude and keeps some good solid riding stock out front, and will help you find a specific make/model.

Lots of Phantoms in Sihanoukville for sale. Freerider has always got some and Samurdera store post board has one posted. Lots of them all over town and they can be rented. When I bought mine almost three years ago there was about 4 in town, now there has to be over 50 or 60. Also the facebook site Buy and Sell Cambodia has one for sale at a great price, and there is usually at least one there for sale. I know of at least a dozen for sale in different shops in Sihanoukville.

I don't understand why Honda Thailand stopped making them as they are a wonderful bike and don't perform like a 196cc bike. Everyone that looks at mine and has never seen one before thinks its at least 400cc or more. Fun bike with decent performance for the price. It will leave all the scooters in the dust and has a fatboy/fatbutt seat.

Sailorman wrote:...has a fatboy/fatbutt seat.

Similar configuration to the Honda Shadow American Classic, and that Fatboy seat is pure luxury.

Shadow is two cyl. and 600cc in the us, some here are 400cc. Had one years back in America and was a good bike after some carb tweeks and a less restrictive exhaust. There are a few of them here in Snooky and they go for anywhere from $1800 to $3500.

Yes, on the Phantom seat. One of the main reasons I bought the bike was the seat. I have a bad back and an hour on one of those scooter seats and I'm flat on my back for days. The Phantom not only looks good, but is light enough to man-handle around, what with the shitty roads here, etc. A Harley is kind of overkill here.

BTW/ The reason Harleys sound so good (or not) is that they have a 1900 design of the two piston rods on the same crank pin, thus the potato-potato sound. The Honda V-2 (Shadow and others) doesn't get that sound because they have a more modern designed crankshaft set up with each piston rod on its own crank pin, thus less vibration and smoother running. Its amazing that a company can sell to the public that an inferior/antiquated design is better. Now the V-Rod, that's a whole other animal and designed by the Germans, you know the same people that brought you the jet airplane, ballistic missile, BMW, Porsche, etc.

Sailorman wrote:Shadow is two cyl. and 600cc in the us, some here are 400cc. Had one years back in America and was a good bike after some carb tweeks and a less restrictive exhaust.

My '03 VT750C ACE Custom was (as the series suggests) a v-twin. Chain-drive, straight-through exhaust, scary torque. Good luck to Harley riders, just doesn't do it for me. Ditto on the seat, like a favourite arm-chair while your hair is not being blown back on takeoff.

Edit:

Those are really nice bikes! I'm not really into cruisers, but the shadow is an exception. The build is pretty retro, which I like. I wonder why if the bikes and mopeds are comparable in prices, why settle for the moped? I see that it's pretty dominate in the Asian culture.

Orken, bikes like my Shadow are hard work to ride in PP traffic, especially given the road conditions. Turning circle is much wider than a scooter.

Welcome to the forum, BTW.

orken wrote:So, I'm looking for a motorcycle for when I arrive. The price range caps at about 2k. What's surprising is that there are more scooters/mopeds for sale in this range than actual bikes. (What and why?) Anyway, what's a good bike to grab for that price range?

I think the main question is "what do you want the bike for?" If you plan on touring the country its a different ball game to say staying in Phnom Penh. Scooters and underbones are popular as they are cheap, economical to run, relaiable and by far the best way of negotiating city traffic, and the best bet for ''city living''.

Years ago when the traffic was light I ran a Hi-lux and a Honda cbr. Now I run a Yamaha Jupiter, as it can get me around the city fast. Its an ''underbone'' design like the ''dream'' but better technology (4 valve ohc engine, Pi, replaceable oil filter etc). These bikes handle far better than scooters and while having automatic clutch, which is great in traffic, they have a manual gearbox, so you have better acceleration control.

The larger wheels and light weight of the bike means you can ''hop it up'' onto roundabouts and footpaths when traffic is gridlocked, or you can ride, or walk it on soft muddy verges to get past gridlocked traffic, where other vehicles would sink. They are very easy to control while weaving through traffic and you can spin them 180 degrees on the side stand if traffic looks to bad ahead, and you want to retrace your steps. And if for some reason the bike ''conkes out'' its an easy job to throw it on the back of a tuk tuk and take it to wherever you need to go.

Friends that have bigger bikes (one has a Buell and another has a Triumph 1100) also have small ''runarounds'' to negotiate city traffic. They reserve their bigger bikes for out of town trips.