Phuket Bike Week 2023.

It’s 2023 and its April and we’re in Phuket Thailand and that means its ’Phuket Bike Week’. For those that don’t know, this 3-day Friday to Sunday Festival style extravaganza takes over a large part of Patong beach road and famously welcomes all bikes. That being said, anyone with an interesting vehicle can also park up and join in the fun.

For some reason this auspicious event keeps eluding Ad and I and we never find out it’s on until the day before or following the first day it’s on. With that useless piece of information out the way we settled in, got the cameras rolling and had a look around.

“I think we got the perfect weather for today and tonight for the festival”.
Min – Royal Enfield, Phuket.

The festival had its usual set up which is a stage and seating at one end for the famous ‘Miss Phuket Bike Week’ beauty pageant, and for live bands to perform.

Infront of that was a ringed off area where those that wished to enter their machines into a competition for ‘best bike’ could do so.

Further away from that were various stalls and exhibitions selling drink, food, bike clothing and helmets, bike parts, nostalgia and various other Bric-à-brac. All familiar welcoming scenes to Phuket Bike Week.

Ad and I first met an Australian expat called Steevo. He is the owner of a well known and established tattoo palour called ‘Bloodline Tattoos’ and they have tattoo studios in Bali and in Patong in Phuket.

Steevo’s company had two custom built Harley Davidsons on display this year, one of a classic old school looking Harley called ‘The Manager’ and a second more modern turbo charged V-Rod. The latter bike was custom built for Phuket Bike Week. The tires on this beast would put

Judge Dredds bike to shame. Knowing that this bike is turbo charged I think you’d feel more comfortable knowing they were there.

I asked Steevo if its common to turbo charge a Harley and he said, “Probably not in Thailand, No”. Ad and I laughed.

Next up was the Royal Enfield stand where we met Min whose was a rep for RE in Phuket. He introduced the Bowl to some of the custom café racers on display.

When I asked what the highlight machine for RE was at the event this year, he pointed out the Royal Enfield R650.

The price for this two wheeled delight is due in June this year but Min assures us it will be below 300,000 Thai baht.

We then turned our attention to a Russian man whose English was not so good, however, his friend helped. He was the owner of a 2021 Ducati V2 Corse.

This bike had the signature sawn-off exhaust, however, most of the pipe was wrapped in heat shield tape.

According to Ad that’s because these things put out so much heat that it would become unbearable for any distance riding.

It looked stunning and won Ad and my vote for best looking bike.

A Malaysian guy called Chad then caught our attention and introduced us to his and his friends Aprilia RS660’s. I’ve always had a soft spot for Aprilia. Chad ran through some of the highlights of his bike. With built in auto cruise control, this machine is said to be the most electronically advanced bike in its class. It is also the first mid-weight powered bike produced by Aprilia.

It has a nonaggressive racing style with lowered foot pegs and raised handlebars which is great for long-distance touring. Ad and I really loved the colours with its two toned front and rear wheels in red and black respectively.

Ad and made our way over to the main stage in evening where they were reading out the finalists for the “Miss Phuket Bike Week” beauty pageant. First place went to Claudia who is Thai-German, however, born and raised in Phuket, Thailand.

Claudia winning Miss Phuket Bike Week 2023.

A really stunning young lady who totally deserved her prize. The Bowl thinks we will be seeing more of Claudia in the future and hopefully we can arrange an extended interview.

Second place went to Brazilian born Arial. She was a lot of fun and was pleased to be a part of the competition. I did point out she was given some really difficult questions in the competition. At one point the judges asked her to comment on the environment and global warming. Ariel laughed and handled it well. We said goodbye to our guests and made one final pass of day two of this event.

It must be said the PBW2022 that was staged near the Phuket Airport was a much grander event with a lot more vehicles and dare I say a much better turnout. Where a couple of 1,000 people attended in 2022 I would say probably a quarter of that was at this event. Not so much space here in Patong, we imagine, but it was great that it was closer to home.

More people were arriving and getting ready for the evenings live bands and festivities to get into full swing. At this point Ad and I called it a day for PBW 2023. Thank you to Phuket Bike Week for a great weekend. A great event and a good turnout.

To all supporters of the Farangbowl, thank you!!!

James Alexander

Phuket Bike Week Association

Address: 80/2 Moo7 Tepkasatree Rd., Mai Khao, Thalang, Phuket 83110

Call: +66 (0) 76 352069

Website: https://www.phuketbikeweek.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phuketbikeweek/

—

Bloodline Tattoos

Owner: Steevo

Address: 54/2 Soi Patong Resort, Thanon Bangla, Patong, Kathu, Phuket 83150

Call: +66 (0) 095 428 9430