On 4/6/2026 at 1:50 PM, papa al said:

better than dying of cancer, stroke or dementia.?

I see, so riding a

22 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

What is even sillier is a non rider trying to lecture others on the negative aspects of motorcycling when there are documented benefits.

Motor cycling can provide profound mental health benefits through freedom, mindfulness, community connection, physical activity, adventure, stress relief, better sleep...

Lots of links to that kind of stuff. Have a look...

Sure it has its dangers but so does crossing the road.

You will never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrist's office unless it belongs to the psychiatrist.

Want to know what it is like to ride a motorcycle? Ask any dog who rides in a car with his/her head out of the window.

How come my comments are a lecture but yours are not, that is strange child like comment.😀

I can open the window of my car to get a pretend feeling of freedom, but I prefer the aircon comfort.

I must be great frying in the sun all day long looking 20 years older than the riders actual age due to skin damage caused by radiation.

Farangs who ride bikes are already mentally ill and will not realise they need the help of a psychiatrist.

All the things you mention re freedom etc are just the same with a car except they provide a more guaranteed way to arrive at the destination in one piece, thus reducing lots of stress.

Wealthy Thais do not ride motorbikes in general, they are for the poor Thais.

22 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Sure it has its dangers but so does crossing the road.

We have to cross roads, but we can choose to keep on looking in both directions as we cross to maintain safety or cross it with our eyes closed which is similar to riding a motorbike in busy areas in Thailand.

I was riding my bicycle around the 350 houses in my gated housing estate in Phuket yesterday but was on the local road parallel to the main road, as I turned a 90 degree corner I slowed down just in case, and just by chance a farang woman was also turning the corner in the opposite direction but she was on the wrong side of the road, we would have collided if I had not braked and stopped, I did get a sorry though. I wonder how long it will be before she is in a hospital if she continues to ride like that.

On the way back I was on the same local road, a motorcycled delivery rider decided to do a 90 degree turn right in front of me without looking, I had to brake again and stop a foot before hitting him. Again I received a "sorry clap". Two examples of move first, check later which is typical on Thai roads.

I decide it was the last time I would ride there and will from now on ride on the dedicated cycle paths around the local reservoir, I have been riding a bike for years on a daily basis but there is no way to avoid such bad driving on Thai roads ,we may get away with it for years but it only takes one accident to change our lives negatively or meet an early death.

Now I would have to be a total nutter to have ridden my bike on a real main road, I will leave that to the so called freedom seekers, I will seek my freedom from the inside of a large aircon car, my life is worth more than the cost of a car, which gives me the same if not better freedom provided by motorbike.

You said " Ask any dog who rides in a car with his/her head out of the window.". Well I assume when I see farangs riding motorbikes on main roads they must have the same mental capacity as a dog so I suppose it is not really their fault.

I will of course have to find a talking dog to answer your question. 😀

On 4/4/2026 at 10:11 AM, Harsh Jones said:

It is almost never the guys who lane split and do speed runs that crash. Those guys know what they are doing.

It is the new inexperienced rider who doesn't even know how a motorcycle turns that crashes. Counter steering, leaning ect. The basics. Ppl think they know how to ride but don't

Driving at insane speeds for the conditions rarely causes serious accidents? Those guys know what they are doing?

I see so many people doing speed runs, all over town, and they most definitely don't have a clue what they are doing and the danger they are putting themselves and other road users in. The Thai gentleman who told me he had tested his bike to 230 km/h on Pattaya roads admitted that he killed a woman who walked out in front of his bike. I didn't ask for further details.

There's no public road where "speed runs" are safe. There are too many things that can go wrong. Speed runs are only suitable on race tracks where the conditions are closely monitored. Even then, riding at high speed is never safe.

22 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

I must be great frying in the sun all day long looking 20 years older than the riders actual age due to skin damage caused by radiation.

I have to wonder, with ignorant comments such as these, who is mentally handicapped?

Do you have good skin for your age?

Riders who are concerned about their skin cover up completely when riding in the day. Take a look at motorcycle taxi riders... most wear gloves too, which are mainly used for UV protection.

On 4/7/2026 at 12:55 PM, VocalNeal said:

What is even sillier is a non rider trying to lecture others on the negative aspects of motorcycling when there are documented benefits.

Motor cycling can provide profound mental health benefits through freedom, mindfulness, community connection, physical activity, adventure, stress relief, better sleep...

Lots of links to that kind of stuff. Have a look...

Sure it has its dangers but so does crossing the road.

You will never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrist's office unless it belongs to the psychiatrist.

Want to know what it is like to ride a motorcycle? Ask any dog who rides in a car with his/her head out of the window.

Still, there’s the reality of the numbers. I’ve probably toured with 40 to 50 riders in Thailand, and over ten years in Thailand, three of them died in accidents. In the end, it comes down to a choice: deciding that the reward is worth the risk.

5 hours ago, JensenZ said:

I have to wonder, with ignorant comments such as these, who is mentally handicapped?

Do you have good skin for your age?

Riders who are concerned about their skin cover up completely when riding in the day. Take a look at motorcycle taxi riders... most wear gloves too, which are mainly used for UV protection.

Please explain which parts of my comments are ignorant, just saying so makes your comment sound ignorant.

You asked, "who is mentally handicapped?", I have no idea, ask the person who mentioned those words not me?

I have very good skin for my age thanks for asking, and a full head of hair.

All my comments have been aimed at farangs and their use of motor bikes not the poor Thais who have no choice but to use them.

Most farangs I see riding motorbikes in Phuket wear T-shirts, no sleeves, shorts, wheres the Thais cover up, but many do not wear headgear and some have an airbag in front of them in the form of a child with no helmet.

Wearing such gear on a bike for a farang is even a step more stupid than a farang ridging a motorbikes in the first place in traffic, but I don't mind, if they want to kill or injure themselves while thinking they look cool on a bike then let them do it, who cares.

But if the farang is also poor and cannot afford a car to get about daily I suppose there is no alternative.

Some farangs say it is better as it is faster to get to the destination on a bike, I say I am not in a rush, if I get there fifteen minutes later in my car at least I got there, it is not as though we are important and have to be at a place a certain time in order to save the world.

But riding a cycle as I do on a daily basis on a bike track around the reservoir in Phuket is great especially as I go there at 5pm when the sun is not so hot and the tarmac cycle/walking track is shaded by trees for 90% of the circuit hence no sun damage, about 8kms per circuit.

Most of the walker and cyclists are Thais wishing to remain out of the sun.

"Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun" (Noël Coward (1931)

It should be, " In Thailand only Mad farangs, poor Thais and zero dogs go out in the mid-day sun".

7 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

Please explain which parts of my comments are ignorant, just saying so makes your comment sound ignorant.

You asked, "who is mentally handicapped?", I have no idea, ask the person who mentioned those words not me?

I have very good skin for my age thanks for asking, and a full head of hair.

All my comments have been aimed at farangs and their use of motor bikes not the poor Thais who have no choice but to use them.

Most farangs I see riding motorbikes in Phuket wear T-shirts, no sleeves, shorts, wheres the Thais cover up, but many do not wear headgear and some have an airbag in front of them in the form of a child with no helmet.

Wearing such gear on a bike for a farang is even a step more stupid than a farang ridging a motorbikes in the first place in traffic, but I don't mind, if they want to kill or injure themselves while thinking they look cool on a bike then let them do it, who cares.

But if the farang is also poor and cannot afford a car to get about daily I suppose there is no alternative.

Some farangs say it is better as it is faster to get to the destination on a bike, I say I am not in a rush, if I get there fifteen minutes later in my car at least I got there, it is not as though we are important and have to be at a place a certain time in order to save the world.

But riding a cycle as I do on a daily basis on a bike track around the reservoir in Phuket is great especially as I go there at 5pm when the sun is not so hot and the tarmac cycle/walking track is shaded by trees for 90% of the circuit hence no sun damage, about 8kms per circuit.

Most of the walker and cyclists are Thais wishing to remain out of the sun.

"Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun" (Noël Coward (1931)

It should be, " In Thailand only Mad farangs, poor Thais and zero dogs go out in the mid-day sun".

The issue is not your ‘honesty,’ but the contempt in your tone. Your comments read as prejudiced, dismissive, and lacking in empathy, and this appears to be how you address people across the forum generally. That is not bluntness; it is poor judgment and a lack of social awareness. If you want to be taken seriously, speak with more respect.