A Merry Christmas Indeed!

Christmas 2016 will go down in (my) history as one of the most memorable of all Christmasses, ever!
I'll tell you why.

During the past 4 weeks I've been hard at work moving to a new and bigger place. You can't imagine how much stuff got accumulated in 10 years of living here in Thailand. My plan was to finish with the move, get my visa sorted and then go to Triumph and buy a brand new Street Twin.

To celebrate the successful move, my wife and I invited our best friends and threw a BBQ party. The food was good, the drinks were plentiful and the company exuberant. We just finished eating the dessert when my wife walked up to me and asked to help her with something. So, being the good husband that I am, I stood up and followed her to the front of the house.

Next, something happened that can't be really put in words, but I'll try nonetheless. I walked around the corner where a dream became manifest: there she was, a brand new Street Twin, waiting for me!
I have to admit that I shed a few tears, not so much for the bike (which I was already set on buying anyway), but for the great lengths my wife must have gone through to get the finance approval and to get the bike there in time for the party.

What can I say? I'm truly a lucky guy to have a wife like that. A wife who knows how to make her motorcycle crazy husband happy.

2 months ago at the Triumph dealership in Bangkok

The moment I got the delivery

First selfie

Wiping the tears of joy :-)

YESSSSS!!!

The very first ride out with my 2 big loves

2016 Motor Expo - PART 3 + PRICE LISTS

After telling people for months that the YAMAHA XSR wouldn't come to Thailand, here it is. Go figure...

The M-Slaz is a big seller amongst the Thai teenagers. No changes for 2017 apart from a new color scheme.

Honda's big news, or should I say little?, comes in the form of a new model of 500cc (300cc also planned) called Rebel. Not really new actually. The Rebel was a small cruiser of 250cc made in the late 80s. But like I said before, small bikes are back in fashion and are starting to steal the show from their bigger brothers.

Benelli is the Rocky of motorcycle brands. You can knock her down, but she will inevitably stand back up and deliver a fearsome uppercut to her adversary. The one bike I wanted to see though, the Leoncino Scrambler, wasn't there unfortunately.

I'd be curious to know how much that weighs...

MV Agusta's design inspirations don't just affect Benelli, wait for it.

BMW presents the G310. Price is 199.000Baht.

This is what makes my heart beat!

Vespa's PX125 2 stroke, yours for a mere 199,900Baht!

And if you ever wondered what an 8 million Baht bike looks like, here it is.

Here are all the price lists I could get. Enjoy

2016 Motor Expo - PART 2

Another welcome addition on the Thai market is the Kawasaki W800. Funnily enough, the W800 (as well as the Yamaha SR400) has just been discontinued on the European market due to the new EURO4 emission regulations, but both are alive and kicking here in Thailand. I tried to find out how this is possible, since Thailand has very strict emission laws, but I couldn't get a straight answer from the Kawasaki people. Nevermind, it's not like I'm complaining, quite the contrary actually.

Local Thai bike manufacturers/distributors GPX and Stallions continue to expand their range with some remarkable little bikes. They've both come a long way in the past couple of years, both in the design and the technical department. If I think that 10 years ago, the only bikes over 150cc were grey import 400cc Honda CB Superfour and the 200cc Tiger the police used. In fact, that was my first bike here in Thailand.
Small displacement bikes seems to be back in fashion if we look at all the 250 and 300 cc offerings from Honda, Kawasaki, KTM and now even BMW.

GPX has a new bike called "Gentleman", no doubt inspired by the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride. A nice mixture of classic and modern styling. The front end is particularly impressive with its USD forks and double disc brakes. Seating position is aggressive yet comfortable. Some plastic bits are not very convincing, but for the price you can hardly ask for more.

The recent success of Yamaha's M-Slaz has sparked the pens of a several copycat designers.

Stallions has a few nice bikes too...for example the 'Buccaneer', a 250cc V-twin Scrambler.

There were very few ladies this year due to the passing of HM King Bhumibol.