A Few Personal Notes on Riding in Thailand

The first thing I would have to mention is that ( being from Canada ) we ride on the wrong side of the road here. This does not take too much to get used to but when changing counties for a short ride you need to take care to remember which side to be on especially after a few beverages. I live just outside Bangkok and the traffic is very bad. It is much better to get out of Bangkok for any serious riding. The country is where it is at. Also the pollution in Bangkok is one of the worst if not the worlds worst. Try riding behind a bus for a few minutes and you will soon find out why. You cannot where a white shirt here as it will soon become black, not that I we white Ts!.

The type of driving is also a lot different here than in North America and I think most of the western world. The drivers have a different set of rules of the road. Motorcycles do not become much of a priority just a bother to the cagers on the road. You need to ride down the white lines between cars to get anywhere in a reasonable time. It is good practice for keeping your mirrors on. The major freeways in Bangkok are of f limits to motorcycles. There is a lot of construction going on so the roads are bad in many places. I have been run off the road and cut off and hit by cars and trucks. You need to take extra care when riding here.

All is not that bad as there are some great people to ride with and there are some very nice places to go. Again the best is to get out of Bangkok. The majority of Harley riders are Thai of course and many speak English. You will find that trying to learn a little Thai goes a long way. I speak a little Thai and have some great times with all my Thai friends. My Thai friends weather they ride or not have made Thailand a very nice home for me. I would like to thank them all. Any of you coming to Thailand that are interested in Harleys please see my places to go links for some more information on how to meet some of my friends.

It has bee hard getting good pictures for this site as I am a bit lazy on the picture taking side. The biker runs here are mostly serious runs with rather far riding for the conditions and lots of partying and the the locals ( and foreigners ) do like to ride in most cases. There are all types here as in any place, some like the old bikes, some like the bar hopper scene which is great for most most male biker types from anywhere. It is hard to keep up with the bike styles here as the local shops and back yard wrenches are always going ahead with the latest stuff. There are a lot of nice bikes here new and old. The workmanship is getting better all the time. In the pictures you will see many good friends but it is hard to show what a good time it has been by pictures alone. I am sure you bikers out there will appreciate that.

The bikes here are rather expensive. There are some deals to be had with the low Baht ( local currency). Things are changing a lot so you need to check.  Even at these prices there are many not so well to do riders and more power to them. At present there are about 3 major clubs that I am familiar with ( there are more but not only Harley clubs ). The Immortals is the biggest which boosts about 175 members. There is also a new club out of Pattaya called the Jesters which has about 20 members and a chapter now in Bangkok. There is also the Heavens Devils out of Bangkok which I do not know how many members they have. I ride with all of them and am a member of the Immortals. They are all good people. ( There is always a bad apple some where but not many here ). There are also other groups that come to visit from Singapore and Malaysia and even Hong Kong. The clubs here have been of a non attitude type so far.

As with other parts of the world it is great just riding.

Regards

Norm

Back to home Norms Thai Harley Home Page