So you have decided to travel to Thailand and want to ride a motorcycle here right? Wrong! The first thing you need to realise about Thailand is that large capacity engine bikes are never really seen on the road.
Everyone rides scooters, whether it be a 50cc up to 125cc, and they do this for a very good reason.
The roads are so choked with traffic, that a nice little CC scooter is nimble, get easily get between cars, and even down the foot paths without issue.
When you compare the amount of cars vs scooters, the scooter out numbers cars 10 to 1, but the traffic is still extremely dangerous for a novice or even an experienced rider.
My plan was to base myself in Bangkok for a month, and hire a big CC bike. I found a great company in Bangkok called www.bigbikerentalbangkok.com and they definitely know how to serve well.
Now picking one of their bikes isn’t easy. It really depends on the amount of time you want to have the bike, and your budget.
I went with a month and this for my budget got me a Kawasaki Z800, with jacket, helmet and weather proof GPS.
Now these are big bikes, when you’re talking Bangkok traffic, and you will definitely wish you were dead the first time out.
The stop start traffic, every other motorist trying to kill you, it’s not exciting or forgiving, and I have been riding bikes for 20 years.
With my intention to venture out of Bangkok though, the bikes great, heading down to Hua Hin for a few days, with nothing more than a backpack and a tank of fuel is great.
Speed limits don’t apply so much here, but make sure you have some 100’s in your wallet for the local constabulary.
You might think that they won’t know you’re a Farang given you have a full face helmet on, but given you’re on a large CC motorbike is the giveaway.
My top tips include some logical basics:
- keep safe
- ride with confidence
- don’t second guess yourself
- ride faster than cars and bikes to avoid them sneaking up on you
- keep hydrated
- don’t lift front wheel
- watch out for the cops
- expect the chicks to be all over you
Now remember your in a foreign country, they all know what they are doing so it will take you a few thousand km’s to start getting to know how it all works.