Scooters: Ride Your Heart Out

Motor scooters are one of our favourite ways of getting around Thailand and south east Asia. Even though Grab is now popular and makes it very easy to get around, it’s still incredibly liberating to be able to be able to transport oneself wherever and whenever we want. A scooter is the perfect combination of being fast enough to get around but also letting you interact with the world around – talking to kids on the roadside, pulling over whenever you want to explore something cool you unexpectedly passed by, or just getting off the beaten path. Riding the curving back roads of Thailand on a scooter is often fully of gorgeous views of rice paddies, hills and mountains, or jungle.

Scooters are available for rent in every town and there are usually three to choose from – 110 cc, 125 cc, and 150 cc. We usually get a 125 cc which is powerful enough to get us everywhere we want to go including up the mountains. Prices for 125cc bikes range from a low of 180 baht to about 300 baht depending on the city and quality of the bike. A full tank of gas is about 150 baht and will take you about 200km. It’s definitely an economical way to get around.

For anyone considering getting a scooter, there are some very important things to consider.

One, make sure you can safely drive! There are countless stories of foreigners being very seriously injured, or worse, in scooter accidents. Thailand is notorious for road safety issues and we always aim to be very careful in both the routes we choose and how we drive.

Two, make sure it’s a good quality bike. Cheaper isn’t always better and it’s worth the extra couple of dollars per day to make sure it’s a newer and well looked after bike with good breaks and otherwise in top shape. Take time to read reviews online about which rental places are known for good quality bikes. Trust us on this one, it’s worth a bit of extra money.

Three, WEAR A HELMET! This should go without saying but it’s shocking how many people don’t wear helmets – locals and foreigners alike. This terrible decision seems to be most common among foreigners on the southern islands and to a lesser degree in Chiang Mai.

Four, pay attention to your gas. It’s so cheap to fill up it’s important to make sure you have a full tank if you’re going off the beaten path. It’s common to go long distances without seeing a proper gas station when you’re off the main roads but there are usually street venders selling gas in 2L bottles but not always.

Five, having either a face shield on the helmet or glasses is incredibly helpful. I find that a clear visor is best so that it can be used at night v(it’s too dark to see properly with a tinted visor). The visor is most important because it’s pretty common for insects to smash into your face and you’re zooming along. Some of the bugs here are BIG and I speak from experience when I say having one hit your eye at 70km/hour sucks.

Six, take lots of pictures of the bike from all angles before you drive away from the rental place. Most of the rental places are very honest but sometimes they may try to charge you for damage that was already there when the bike was rented.

Lastly, take time to learn how to use the bike carefully in different conditions. For example, riding with your partner on the back is not the same as riding solo and takes a bit of getting used to. Another thing is to learn how to use the breaks when going down some of the mountain roads. It can be pretty easy to overhead the brake fluid and lose the use of the breaks if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are lots of good YouTube videos and online articles that explain this.

Finally, enjoy your rides! When we get to a new city we usually google the name of the city and ‘loop rides’ and it’s easy to find lots of maps, blogs, and websites that talk about the great rides in the area.

Here are few websites we used as references:

The Samoeng Loop in Chiang Mai

https://www.thegtrider.com/tour-options/chiang-mai-thailand/touring-loops-day-rides/the-samoeng-loop

Mae Hong Son Loop

https://catmotors.net/routes/mae-hong-son-loop/

Chiang Rai Loop

https://catmotors.net/routes/chiang-rai-loop/

Enjoy and be safe!