Article and photos by Dirty Dirty
So I’m living in Chiang Mai. I ride Doi Suthep and Doi Pui all of the time. Great trails! It does get a bit boring though. So I ventured out to some trails on the other side of the mountain in Mae Rim. Only 27km to the trail head. A fair distance, especially on a dual suspension bike with fat knobby tires. The trail was so-so. Very hard finding stuff that leads out.
Anyways – > After riding for a few hours, up and down, back and forth, I was tired. Time to head home – ANOTHER 27km! Ouch. I would have gladly taken a song taew (taxi truck) but they were all full of people this time of day. The few song taews that I talked to, that had a rack on top, wanted 300-500 baht extra to put my bike on top (I wasn’t that tired). So I grunted home.
Then I was thinking about going to Mae Hong Sorng, Nan, and Doi Intanon for some riding in the future. Not wanting to ride the 50-100km distance and deciding that buses or minivans were too much of a pain, I looked to my little Honda Dream motorbike for help. After a few days of zipping all over town for parts and finding a welder… Waalaa!!
The most expensive part was the quick release for my forks (500 Thai Baht at a bike shop). Everything else was under 1,000 Thai Baht.
It handles great on turns, a little bouncy on bumps, and a little wobbly between 0-10kph. But I’m happy. I’m now free to roam at will.
Here are even more recent creations spotted by BicycleThailand.com writers/riders in Thailand –
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