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