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Rider's Corner

The meeting place for motorcycle riders in Asia. Great Western & Thai food by our trained chef's. Ro Bar&Restaurant

24/09/2026

NEW SHIRT INCOMING, YOU BEAUTY. 🇹🇭🏍️

We’ve been mucking around with a few new designs, and this one’s officially heading into production. If the T-shirt gods, printers and general forces of chaos cooperate, we reckon it’ll be on the shelves in time for high season kicking off in November.

And somehow, without anyone responsible stepping in to stop us, this will bring the Rider’s Corner collection to TEN different T-shirt designs. Ten! At this rate we’ll need to open a bloody fashion house.

For those of you nowhere near Chiang Mai, we’ve also recently added global shipping for two of our designs, so you can now get a little Rider’s Corner nonsense delivered halfway around the planet.

And we’re not finished yet. We’ve got a stack of new sticker designs coming soon, plus our first-ever Rider’s Corner fridge magnets — because apparently your fridge has been looking a bit ordinary and somebody needed to do something about it.

Have a squiz at the full range of Rider’s Corner merch in our online shop.

👉 Link in the comments.

Ride bikes. Collect questionable souvenirs. Repeat.

22/09/2026

🏍️ 118 KM OF DIRT — MAE SARIANG TO MAE CHAEM

A few days ago we pointed the dirt bikes out of Mae Sariang and headed for Mae Chaem the interesting way.

118 kilometres of glorious dirt through the hills. No need to complicate things. 😎

And rainy season is a bloody magnificent time to do it. The rice fields are bursting with green, the mountains are lush, streams are flowing and you pass through little Karen villages where a wave and a grin still go a long way.

But all that rain does introduce one small technical consideration:

Red clay.

Lovely stuff when you’re admiring its colour from a distance. Slightly less charming when both wheels suddenly decide they’d like to explore different parts of the road. 😂

Our advice? Drop your tyre pressures before you get into the dirt and leave the pump packed away. You’ve got a long way to go, and a bit more tyre on the ground makes life considerably more pleasant when the clay gets greasy.

Then just settle into it.

Dirt tracks curling over the hills. Rice paddies filling the valleys. Villages appearing out of nowhere. The occasional slippery section to remind you that you’re not bloody Toby Price.

And eventually, after 118 km of dirt, you roll into Mae Chaem, pump the tyres back up and find yourself a well-earned late lunch.

Muddy boots. Muddy bike. Empty stomach.

Absolute pearler of a day. 🏍️🌾⛰️

And here's the good bit for anyone who wants to have a crack at it: the GPX track for this exact ride is already up on our sister website, Chiang Mai Dirt Bike. We'll chuck the link in the comments, so you can download it and follow the route yourself.

Rainy season: when Northern Thailand gets greener, the dirt gets better… and the red clay starts plotting your downfall.

21/09/2026

THE MISSING LINK — GREAT RIDE. 😬🐯🏍️

Between Sangkhla Buri in Kanchanaburi and Umphang in Tak lies one of Thailand’s legendary motorcycle adventures — 100+ kilometers of remote jungle where proper roads bu**er off and you’re left with rough tracks connecting isolated villages.

And when we say remote, we mean properly bloody remote.

In recent years riders have been turned around by park rangers protecting a very healthy population of wild tigers. Which raises the important question: what should you be most worried about?

🐯 Getting eaten by a tiger
🦟 Catching some horrible tropical lurgy
🏍️ Falling off and discovering the nearest decent medical care is approximately somewhere else

Take your pick, cobber.

There’s virtually no possibility of rescue in much of this country. Rivers can mean loading the bikes onto bamboo rafts. And occasionally the terrain may cause an adventurous soul to look thoughtfully toward the Myanmar border and wonder whether a tiny international detour might simplify matters.

Naturally, we can neither confirm nor deny that anyone has ever done such a thing. 😇 But the civil war raging in Myanmar in recent years has added another danger to the mix.

Ian tackled the Missing Link back in 2013, a multi-day expedition with a brilliant Karen guide who calls himself Jack — better known as Jungle Jack or, rather appropriately, Muddy Jack.

Jack was back at it in 2018, leading a monster 10-day walking journey through the area that was recently released as a two-part series on the Karl’s Thailand YouTube channel. It gives you a cracking idea of just how wild this country really is. (Link in the comments.)

For the last few years, the answer to:

“Can we ride the Missing Link?”

has basically been:

“Nah.”

But lately we're hearing a few interesting murmurings from the jungle. Nothing we're prepared to put our house on just yet, but perhaps — perhaps — the legendary Missing Link might become rideable again.

If that happens, you can bet we'll be paying very bloody close attention.

Stay tuned. And maybe start practising your bamboo-raft knots. 🏍️🐯🌴

20/09/2026

Crikey, you disappear into the jungle for five minutes and somebody discovers a whole new bloody cat.

Meet the tilcayo, a tiny spotted wild cat recently identified in Bolivia. Cute little bu**er too. Naturally, it’s heard about the riding in Northern Thailand and rocked up at Rider’s Corner looking to hire a bike. 🐱🏍️

Tilcayo: "I can has motorcycle?"

Tum: “Motorcycle licence?”

Tilcayo: bats eyelashes cutely

Sorry, mate. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got four-paw drive, excellent ground clearance and can climb a tree faster than Ian can get out of a chair. No licence, no motorcycle.

Still, we admire the effort. Bloody long way from Bolivia just to get knocked back at the rental counter.

No, kitty, no can has motorcycle. But you can has free Rider’s Corner sticker. 😹

19/09/2026

🏍️ BEYOND MAE KAMPONG — WHERE THE ROAD GETS INTERESTING

Yesterday we took you for a ride through Mae Kampong — coffee shops, wooden houses, tourists everywhere and enough Instagram activity to be visible from space.

Today, we keep going. 😎

Head up through the top of the village and the road continues over the mountains towards Wat Putthabat Sutthawat in Lampang — and this is where things get a bit more adventurous.

Calling it a two-lane road would require a fairly heroic imagination. In places it’s bloody narrow, and when something comes the other way, both parties get to participate in a little roadside negotiation about exactly who can squeeze where.

It’s also steep, properly twisty and cuts through some lovely hillside jungle. Along the way there are four little water crossings. In the dry season, as you can see in this video, they’re barely more than a trickle. After plenty of rain, naturally, that can be a different story.

This isn’t a road for charging along like your un**es are on fire.

Take it easy. Give oncoming traffic plenty of room. Enjoy the jungle, the little streams and the feeling that Mae Kampong’s crowds have disappeared remarkably quickly behind you.

Eventually you pop out in Lampang province, not far from Wat Putthabat Sutthawat, with its famous white “floating pagodas” perched high on the mountain.

It makes a cracking continuation of a Mae Kampong ride — and shows why sometimes the best bit begins after everyone else has stopped for coffee.

You’ll find this whole route on our Rider’s Corner Doi Saket to Lampang touring map. 🏍️🌿⛰️

18/09/2026

🏍️ MAE KAMPONG — COFFEE, CROWDS & A BLOODY GOOD ROAD

Mae Kampong is one of those places where half the fun is getting there, and the other half is trying not to run over a tourist wandering into the road while looking at their phone. 😎

This little mountain village east of Chiang Mai is absolutely packed with charm — wooden houses, little shops, restaurants, coffee joints and plenty of visitors milling about soaking up the atmosphere.

On this ride we were heading up through the village to Rabiang View, a cracking coffee stop near the top with spectacular views back down the valley. Not a bad reward for climbing a narrow mountain road.

And Mae Kampong is hardly short of caffeine options. There’s Teddu Coffee, built around a little stream and waterfall, with suspended bridges and platforms strung through the trees. Then not too far away you’ve got The Giant, another famous coffee stop wrapped around a massive tree overlooking a completely different valley.

Honestly, you could spend half the day here just riding from one ridiculous coffee shop to another and pretending that counts as a serious motorcycle expedition.

But the road doesn’t have to end at Mae Kampong.

Keep climbing on the narrow mountain road above the village and things get quieter very quickly. You’ll cross a few little streams, wind through the hills and eventually pop out in Lampang province near Wat Phutthabat Sutthawat, famous for the white “floating pagodas” perched high on the mountain.

So what starts as a coffee run can quite easily turn into a proper day’s ride through some beautiful country.

You’ll find Mae Kampong, the coffee stops, the mountain road through to Lampang and Wat Phutthabat Sutthawat on our Rider’s Corner Doi Saket to Lampang touring map.

Come for the village. Stay for the coffee. Keep riding because the road gets even better. ☕🏍️⛰️

17/09/2026

VALE, LIFAN 🏍️🫡

Every fleet has one bike that somehow just refuses to bloody die.

For us, it’s been this little Lifan 200.

We bought it brand new back in 2013 for under 50,000 baht, basically as a stop-gap. Nothing flash. The engine was underwhelming, the suspension was underwhelming, the brakes were underwhelming. In fact, “underwhelming” was probably the strongest-performing component on the entire motorcycle.

But the cheeky little bu**er turned out to be far more useful—and far tougher—than anyone expected.

We took it to Laos. We lent it to visiting mates. It rattled around northern Thailand doing whatever job we threw at it. Then, for a while, it found its true calling: the backpacker’s CRF. If you couldn't stretch the budget to a Honda CRF, the mighty Lifan was ready for duty.

And, naturally, they flogged the absolute arse out of it.

One bloke hired it and returned after 31 kilometres announcing:

“Gearbox broken.”

Interesting.

Turns out he'd been changing from first into neutral every single time, rather than second. The Lifan uses the same sort of shift pattern as a Honda Wave—all the gears down, neutral at the top.

We demonstrated it again.

First. Second. Third. Fourth.

Nothing wrong with the gearbox.

Off he went again.

The Lifan presumably sighed and wondered what it had done in a previous life to deserve us.

Over the years it got scratched, dropped, bashed, bent, repaired and generally treated with the sort of mechanical sympathy normally reserved for airport luggage.

But now we're calling time.

After 13 years at Rider's Corner, the Lifan is officially retiring from the rental fleet. And rather than heading to the great motorcycle scrapyard in the sky, it's going out to pasture with our cleaner's son, who is taking it over.

So this isn't really goodbye.

It's more like handing an ageing shearer his gold watch, a carton of b**r and telling him he doesn't have to turn up Monday.

It wasn't fast.
It wasn't fancy.
It certainly didn't stop particularly well.

But by Christ, it kept going.

Good on ya, little mate.

You've bloody earned your retirement. 🍻

VALE, LIFAN 200.
2013–2026
Rider's Corner — Chiang Mai

16/09/2026

🏍️ THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY — NOW WITH MORE MOTORCYCLES

The Bayeux Tapestry is currently on display at the British Museum in London, so naturally we thought we’d dig out this important companion piece from the Rider’s Corner historical archives.

Historians will tell you the original depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

Fair enough.

But frankly, it suffers from a glaring shortage of motorcycles. 😎

So here we present Itinera Montanorum in Thailandia — Journeys in the Mountains of Thailand — documenting the equally heroic exploits of riders setting forth from Rider’s Corner in search of Pai, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Chiang Rai and Doi Inthanon.

Observe the brave adventurers departing Chiang Mai with luggage strapped optimistically to their steeds.

See them traverse mountains and rivers.

Marvel as they encounter elephants, temples, mysterious road signs and magnificent local cuisine.

Watch friendships form with the inhabitants of distant villages.

And note that, despite the obvious dangers of the expedition, everyone appears to have remembered their bloody helmets.

No kingdoms were conquered. No arrows were fired. Nobody claimed the English throne.

But there were twisty roads, magnificent scenery, good food and probably a few questionable navigational decisions — which sounds like a considerably better use of a holiday to us.

A thousand years from now, archaeologists may discover this masterpiece and conclude that Rider’s Corner was an important staging post for medieval motorcycle expeditions across the Lanna Kingdom.

We see absolutely no reason to correct them.

Rider’s Corner — making history considerably more interesting since 2010. 🏍️⚔️🇹🇭

15/09/2026

🏍️ MAE SALONG TO THE MYANMAR BORDER — WHEN THE ROAD STOPS BEING A ROAD

This ride last week started innocently enough in Doi Mae Salong.

First order of business: some excellent Yunnan Chinese food. If you’re up there, get the pot stickers. Seriously. 🥟😎

Then we pointed the dirt bikes into the hills towards the Myanmar border.

Concrete became a 4x4 forest road. We passed a few military checkpoints, got waved through, and eventually met some friendly park rangers.

“How’s the road? Good condition?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Then the ranger looked at our knobby tyres.

“But for you… no problem.”

Righto. What could possibly go wrong? 😂

After riding along the ridgeline that formed the border with Myanmar, the 4x4 road turned across the border, and we were left on a slippery red-clay single track. It dropped through the forest, with everyone riding the brakes for what felt like several geological eras. This was no longer sightseeing. This was concentrating very bloody hard on remaining attached to the motorcycle.

Eventually we came across some local villagers gathering Thai chestnuts, who kindly let us try some. One of those brilliant little encounters you’d never have if you’d stayed on the main road.

From there we gradually returned to something resembling civilisation, winding through coffee plantations before eventually reaching Ban Thoet Thai, a fascinating Thai-Chinese village tucked away in the hills, the former base of drug lord Khun Sa.

Our Rider’s Corner Mae Salong touring map will give you a good idea of this whole area and the excellent paved roads worth exploring up there.

But before anyone starts squinting at the map looking for this particular trail — you won’t find it. We don't include this kind of off-road track on our touring maps. But we do post them on our sister website Chiang Mai Dirt Bike. This ride may make an appearance there soon.

The magic of Mae Salong is how much there is to explore and see.

Sometimes it’s a friendly bloke collecting chestnuts.

And sometimes it’s half an hour of slippery red clay while you quietly reconsider every decision that brought you to this point. 😂

Bloody brilliant day out. 🏍️⛰️🇹🇭

14/09/2026

🏍️ HIGH SEASON’S COMING, AND SHE’S COMING IN HOT! 🇹🇭☀️

The calendar might say September, but judging by our inbox, plenty of you lot are already planning to bu**er off to Northern Thailand for a few weeks on a motorbike. Bookings are flooding in right through to February, so here’s a quick heads-up before the annual migration begins.

Our low-season rental prices finish on October 31. From November 1 through March 15, we’ll be back on high-season rates.

We’ve improved the website so you can see both prices — the high-season rate is currently crossed out while the low-season discount is in effect. And there’s no mucking about with the booking system: it automatically calculates the correct rate according to the dates you’re booking. Put down a 20% nonrefundable deposit by credit card and we'll hold the bike for you.

For anyone making their first trip up North, there’s a bloody good reason November through February gets busy.

The weather is absolutely magnificent.

Blue skies, bu**er-all rain, comfortable temperatures and mile after mile of mountain roads disappearing over the horizon. That said, it can get properly chilly at night and up in the hills, so chuck a jumper in the pannier. You'll thank us when you're standing on a mountain at 7am wondering why nobody told you Thailand could be cold. 🥶

So while Europeans and North Americans come here to escape winter, plenty of Thais head north from Bangkok to experience cool weather. Life is funny like that.

Anyway, the upshot is that hotels fill up. Flights fill up. Bikes disappear. If you know your dates, book your travel arrangements early. Waiting until you arrive in Chiang Mai hoping everything will somehow work out can be a bit of a mug’s game.

But is high season worth it?

Too bloody right it is.

From November through February, Northern Thailand is about as close to motorcycling paradise as you're likely to find: cool air, dry roads, spectacular scenery, endless bends and cracking little places to stop for a feed or a cuppa.

Then it's helmets on again and...

BRAP BRAP! 🏍️💨🏍️💨

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357 Moon Mueang Road
Chiang Mai
50200

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