Lots of Motorbike Choices in Bogo

There are several motorbike dealers here in Bogo, Cebu Philippines. Having to pay hundreds of pesos each time I need a tricycle (motorbike with sidecar) driver to take me to some beach or other place to swim, I become more and more tempted to just buy a bike. They're good on gas, easy to get around on and mostly reliable.

Inside the above pictured Honda dealership on the main street known as P Rodriguez here in Bogo, they have a few different scooter models as well as various traditional motorbikes. This above scooter is the Honda Dash, which I believe to be 108cc and retailing for about p58,000 (current exchange rate being about p45-1USD).

The Honda Beat pictured above is supposedly also about p58,000, according to the saleslady. I believe the Beat shares the same 108cc motor as the Dash, and it  features an automatic transmission, too. These scooters are known to be pretty comfortable and easy on gas, with not an excess of power but plenty to get you around even in this hilly region.

The Globe internet service technician who fixed our internet connection this week arrived on a Honda Wave, and I asked him some questions about his ride. He claims that this 100cc manual-shift scooter gets around 50-60km per liter of gas. It goes for about p48,000 at the Honda dealer and more than that at another dealer down the street.

I really like the value of this Honda 155cc motorbike. The dealer's asking price is almost p70,000, giving it more motor than the multitude of similarly priced motorbikes featuring smaller 125cc motors which are offered around town as alternatives. I'd love to buy a motorbike, attach a sidecar and then be able to take whomever I want wherever I want whenever I want. This bike probably gets around 40km out of a liter of gas, and even with a sidecar loaded with a handful of people, it would still probably get around 25+ km/liter. I've always had the utmost respect for Honda cars, and I've heard of the legendary reliability of their bikes.

A few blocks down from the Honda dealership is the Norkis dealer, also on P Rodriguez. The salesmen there are cool and very helpful in explaining the differences between their various scooters and motorbikes. They sell Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha as well as "China bikes". The dealer told me that the Haojue "China scooter" they sell for p46,000 is actually assembled in Cebu City, about 100km south of here.

It would be cool to own one of these vehicles known here in the Philippines as a multicab. They're maneuverable, versatile and fairly reliable, or at least from what I've heard. This particular one is sold brand-new here at the Norkis dealership for p155,000, or about $3,500US. It has a stickshift and a 12-valve engine, and it gets somewhere around 11-15km per liter of gas.

If I could still see well enough to drive an automobile, this is what I'd probably go for. There's room for 2 or 3 people up front in the little cab, and more can ride along in the rear jumpseats  I've ridden in these various times during my travels around the Philippines, and the lack of aircon in most of them never seemed to be a big deal. Just roll your window down.

The little awning top is pretty cool, and most multicabs employ them. It keeps the hot sun and also some or most of the rain off of those riding in the back.

Pictured above is Norkis' current pricing sheet for the various bikes and scooters they sell. They have financing options on everything, but interest is a real killer over time. If given the choice, I'd much rather just take the one-time hit up front on the cash price, perhaps out of savings, instead of giving them nearly twice as much over a financing period.

Pictured above3 here are the Yamaha Mio and Yamaha Novo, both of which have 115cc motors according the the salesmen. They tell me that the Mio is p65,000 and the Novo is p75,000, with a longer/roomier body and more space under the seat for which to store stuff.

This Suzuki Skydrive has a 125cc motor and goes for around p71,000. It looks pretty cool, although I'm not very familiar with Suzuki's models. A local drove his 2006 Suzuki Smash up to my house to show it to me, and he admitted that Suzuki parts are more expensive and harder to get here than Honda parts.

Behold the Haojue "China scooter". They want p46,000 for it, and it claims to have a 110cc motor, which is 10cc bigger than  the comparably priced Honda Wave. China bikes are becoming more and more popular throughout the Philippines, so it will be interesting to see if they can ever reach a level of quality comparable to a legend such as Honda.

This is the Haojue 125cc China bike, and the asking price of p52,000 sounds pretty reasonable for what you get. I'd still rather go with a more trusted brand from Japan, but maybe someday I'll try one out. I've ridden around on the backs of these bikes with others driving numerous times, and I've never witnessed any type of mechanical malfunction. They seem like they do just fine.

This beast is the Kawasaki Barako. At 175cc for p80,000, that seems like quite a lot of motor for the money. I'd love to see what this monster could do toting a fully loaded sidecar up a sand-swept hill. The dealer claims that this bike has gas consumption similar to the aforementioned Honda 155.

If I ever got this bike, the first thing I'd do is change the tires, because I much prefer the knobby variety that are stock on the competing Yamaha models.

And yes, of course I wouldn't be driving myself around on any of these bikes, having my eyesight problems. But it would be cool to have my own bike that my girlfriend could take me for rides on whenever we please. We've been talking it over, and she likes the idea of having our own bike, too. Gas is around p50/liter here, so we could go quite a distance on our own instead of having to pay some driver p300 or more to wait for us as we try to swim and relax. Many places are tricky to get a ride home from, especially those cool little hidden beach spots. So unless you have your paid driver wait for you while you do whatever it is you're doing there, you run a risk of getting stuck out there and then trying to walk home. And whenever our friends from Cebu come to visit, I'm sure it woud be even better then. Getting stranded out in the sticks with five or six hungry filipinas is not the most pleasant experience, believe me.