Rider's Corner

We're imagining two absolute legends going for one last ride.

This month we farewelled Sam Neill and Kjell Nilsson—two Antipodean actors who couldn't have been more different on screen, but who both left tyre marks across cinema history.

Sam gave us unforgettable performances full of wit, heart and quiet courage, from chasing dinosaurs to driving submarines. Kjell became immortal behind the mask as the fearsome Lord Humungus in Mad Max 2, creating a great movie villain who roared out of the Australian outback.

So we figured somewhere beyond the horizon, they're no longer dodging dinosaurs or fighting over petrol...

They're just riding. No scripts. No cameras. No worries.

Fair dinkum, the world's a poorer place without 'em, but what a bloody legacy they leave behind.

Here's to the storytellers, the road warriors, and everyone who's ever believed that the best journeys don't really end—they just disappear over the next hill.

Cheers, Sam. Cheers, Kjell. May the roads be empty, the weather be bonza, and the servo pies always be hot.

Ride on, you legends. 🏍️🍻

Ever wonder what northern Thailand was like before there were roads?

We're not talking thirty years ago, mate. We're talking a time when a lot of the places we now fang around on the Mae Hong Son Loop simply didn't have roads at all.

If you wanted to explore the area, you grabbed your pack, followed Lahu hunters into the jungle, built a camp and hoped you weren't the thing getting hunted.

That's exactly what Gordon Young did for decades, and he wrote about it in Tracks of an Intruder, published back in 1967.

It's one of those cracking books that's been out of print for decades, so finding an original is about as easy as finding a sober mosquito at Songkran.

So we've made spiral-bound reprints available in the shop for 200 baht.

The bloke wasn't just some random adventurer either. Gordon Young was born in Yunnan and grew up speaking Lahu as his first language. His grandfather was a famous Baptist missionary in Burma, and the family spent three generations working with the Lahu, Wa and Shan peoples across northern Thailand, Burma, Laos and China. Along the way they got involved in fighting the Japanese during WWII and communist guerrillas during the Cold War through their links to U.S. intelligence agencies. Gordon and his father founded the Chiang Mai Zoo and trained the newly formed Thai Border Patrol Police.

Whether you're into jungle wildlife, anthropology, Cold War yarns or just want to understand what these mountains were like before the bitumen arrived, this book is an absolute beauty.

Next time you're in Rider's Corner, grab a copy.

It might just change the way you look at every road you ride.

🍺📖🏍️🌿

#เชียงใหม่ #清迈 #チェンマイ #치앙마이

🥭🏍️ RIGHTO, WE NEED THE HIVE MIND ON THIS ONE...

We've been mucking around with ideas for a Rider's Corner custom helmet wrap for the coming high season, and somehow this happened...

THE DURIAN HELMET.

You know... the King of Fruits.

Looks absolutely grouse.

Smells... well... thankfully it's only paint. 😆

We reckon it'd be a proper Thailand conversation starter. Imagine rolling into a café on the Mae Hong Son Loop wearing what looks like half a durian on your noggin. You'd either become an instant legend... or the bloke everyone blames for the mysterious smell in the car park.

The problem is, durian divides people faster than pineapple on pizza.

Some reckon it's the greatest thing ever invented.

Others would rather lick a fuel pump.

So here's the question...

🥭 Would you be chuffed to get one of these with your rental bike?

Or would you rather we stick to something a bit more traditional?

Be honest. We can take it.

👍 YES = "Mate, I'd wear the Durian Lid all day."

😂 NO = "You're off your chops."

Or hit us with your own ideas. Maybe we've completely lost the plot and there's an even better Thai-themed helmet wrap waiting to happen.

One thing's for sure...

No matter what the final design is, it'll be a lot easier to live with than a helmet wrapped in fermented fish. 😜

#เชียงใหม่ #清迈 #チェンマイ #치앙마이

🇹🇭🏍️ THIS IS WHAT WE LOVE TO SEE... A BIKE THAT'S BEEN PROPERLY USED.

Old mate hired one of our little Honda ADV160s for two weeks. Because of his travel insurance he was limited to 200cc, but that didn't stop him having a bloody good adventure.

He based himself for a week in Pai and another week in Chiang Mai, using the ADV exactly as Honda intended—not as a race bike, but as a reliable little explorer.

One coffee ride turned into a classic Thailand story.

He stumbled across the beautiful Kho Ku So Bamboo Bridge, wandered through the rice fields, then spotted a sign for Doi Miang Viewpoint.

Picture of a motorcycle climbing a steep hill?

Challenge accepted.

The road started off innocent enough... then turned into broken concrete, steep climbs, slippery sections and tipper trucks hauling gravel up the mountain.

Eventually, with about a kilometre to go, common sense won the day.

He figured the ADV could probably make it up...

..but getting back down was another story.

So he turned around.

That's not failure, mate. That's good judgement.

There'll always be another ride—and sometimes knowing when to pull the pin is part of being an experienced rider.

On the way home the roadworks stopped him, so instead of getting cranky he wandered into a nearby restaurant for a feed while the fresh bitumen cooled.

That's retirement done properly.

No deadlines.

No stress.

Just go where the road takes you.

We also owe this bloke a thank you.

We managed to make a bit of a blue with his payment before he arrived. It was our mistake, and he was an absolute gentleman about it. So we handed him one of our Mae Hong Son Loop T-shirts as a small thank-you for his patience.

Good people deserve good treatment.

Thanks for riding with us, mate. We're stoked the little ADV160 helped you discover bamboo bridges, mountain roads, rainy season adventures, and a corner of Thailand that keeps people coming back year after year.

That's what it's all about.

🍻🏍️🇹🇭

#เชียงใหม่ #清迈 #チェンマイ #치앙마이

"RIDING A MOTORCYCLE IN THAILAND IS COMPLETELY SUBLIME!"

We got to wondering the other day...

What if old Mr. Natural wandered into Rider's Corner?

No plan. No itinerary. No GPS route with seventeen colour-coded waypoints. Just a beard, a grin, and enough baht to rent a bike.

We reckon he'd take one look at the Mae Hong Son Loop, shrug his shoulders and say, "Yeah... that'll do."

That's the funny thing about riding up here.

A lot of visitors arrive looking for the best road. The best café. The best viewpoint. The best photo for Instagram.

If they achieve real wisdom, somewhere between the bends, the whole idea quietly disappears.

You pull over because a valley looks nice.

You have lunch because the little roadside joint smells bloody fantastic.

You end up chatting to a bloke growing coffee on a mountain, or a grandma selling bananas, and suddenly you're an hour behind schedule...

..which turns out to be exactly where you were supposed to be.

That's northern Thailand.

Flakey Foont and his millennial followers are always chasing the next perfect ride, instead of living in the moment.

The best rides usually aren't the ones you planned.

They're the ones you stumbled into because you took the road that looked interesting.

So maybe old Mr. Natural had it figured out after all.

Don't chase. Just throw a leg over the bike, point it towards the hills, and let the day sort itself out.

The universe can argue about the meaning of life.

We'll be over here setting up for the next corner.

🍺🏍️🇹🇭

#เชียงใหม่ #清迈 #チェンマイ #치앙마이

🇦🇺🙏🏍️ INTRODUCING... THE SACRED AMULET OF SHIFU IAN OF THE LATE BRAKING POINT.

After years of careful research (conducted mostly over a few cold beers), we've finally discovered the secret behind successful motorcycle touring in Thailand.

It wasn't skill.

It wasn't experience.

It wasn't even decent tyres.

It was... protective amulets.

So we've commissioned this beauty, featuring the patron saint of Rider's Corner himself—Ian.

Legend has it that if you wear one of these around your neck, it grants you:

🏍️ +10 horsepower (emotionally)
🐍 Resistance to surprise cobras
☔ Reduced chance of getting absolutely soaked five minutes after washing your bike
🛠️ Immunity from "It's only a small scratch, mate..."
🍺 An uncanny ability to find cold beer at the end of every ride
🦎 Blessings from Brap the Gekko

Side effects may include an uncontrollable urge to ride the Mae Hong Son Loop "just one more time," stopping every 20 kilometres for coffee, and acquiring an unhealthy addiction to twisty roads.

Whether it actually works...

..well, we'll leave that between you and the motorcycle gods.

One thing's for certain though—if you're heading out for a big ride around northern Thailand, a bit of luck never goes astray.

May your fuel tank stay full...

May your tyres stay sticky...

May the road stay twisty...

And may the bloke coming the other way stay on his side of the white line.

Amen, mate.

🍻🏍️🇹🇭

#เชียงใหม่ #清迈 #チェンマイ #치앙마이

🇹🇭🏍️ THE ISTHMUS OF KRA... THE BEST RIDING YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER BLOODY HEARD OF.

If you're belting down Highway 4 on the way to Phuket, here's a tip, mate...

Slow down.

Because hidden in the narrow waist of Thailand is one of the country's most underrated motorcycle playgrounds.

In our humble opinion, this is one of the very few riding areas in southern Thailand that can genuinely hold its own against the north.

Here are three alternatives to Highway 4:

🏍️ 4005 + 4001 + 4091 – Our favourite. Quiet, twisty and absolutely dripping in lush forest dotted with majestic ironwood trees. Keep an eye out for the famous mountain with a bloody great hole through it.

🏍️ 1007 + 5011 – Another cracker winding through the hills. The signs say beware of wild elephants, we've never seen any but it's nice to know they're out there.

🏍️ 4006 – We'd rank it just behind the other two because there's a few more trucks about, but it's still a top ride and well worth the detour.

Any one of these would be an improvement on Highway 4. But you know what's even better? Riding all three.

Each crossing takes on average about 90 minutes, so you can ride them all in one day. Fair dinkum, it's an action-packed day, given the connecting roads and viewpoints, but it's doable.

Here's the game plan:

🍺 Night One: Stay at one of the hotels at Thung Wua Laen Beach.

🌅 Next morning, head to Khao Matsee Viewpoint while the light's still magic.

🏍️ Then spend the day zig-zagging across the isthmus, ticking off Khao Fachi Viewpoint as you go.

♨️ Finish the afternoon soaking your weary backside at Namnong Hot Spa before rolling into one of the hotels outside Ranong for a cold beer and a well-earned feed.

That's about as close to a perfect riding day as you'll find anywhere in Thailand.

And if you're lucky enough to be there in the second half of October, don't miss Khao Dinsor.

Thousands of migrating raptors glide right over the hilltop, sometimes so low you could swear they're checking out your bike.

So next time you're heading south, don't just smash out Highway 4.

Take the scenic route.

Actually... take all three.

🍻🏍️🇹🇭