If you are coming to stay in Bali, for any length of time, be it a short, extravagant vacation, or a matter of weeks or months to stay and call this island “home” for awhile, then you’ll need to consider your options for modes of transportation when you get here. I will express what I’ve learned and observed first hand, during the near three months now that I’ve lived here, which will hopefully serve as reference to anyone reading this who is also planning to come to Bali. Bear in mind that in a general sense, there is still most certainly going to be an adjustment and a learning curve to be met regardless, if you’re coming to stay in Indonesia, and most especially if you’re coming from the western world.
Right out of the gate, unless you’re loaded with disposable income and can afford to throw money to the wind, then avoid the taxis completely, or as much as possible, barring an emergency perhaps, and you’re stuck somewhere without other options. Taxi drivers here in Bali are professional hustlers, and you will learn this before you even get yourself out of the airport. I could go into great detail about how they will swarm you as you come out of customs, and throw out offers to get you to your initial destination that are astronomically high, and quite bold I should add, but this is something you need to experience for yourself to really feel the impact of what I’m talking about.
Much better here, are services like Grab Car or GoJek, similar to Uber and Lyft back in The United States. With having gained experience with both of these companies in the first few weeks that I’ve lived in Bali, I can easily say that I much prefer a Grab Car. Their prices might be just a couple thousand rupiah higher in some cases, but that’s only pennies by U.S. dollar comparison, and they are far more reliable. We’ve actually had GoJek cancel on us a few times, as well as cancel on us nearly every time that we attempted to use their food ordering service (which was strikingly odd.) We have also observed that Grab Cars seem more readily available and willing to come to wherever you happen to be, to pick you up. People here seem to often use Gojek also however, so I remind you that can only speak of my own experiences. The bottom line is however, that regardless of your preference, you only pay a fraction of the cost that a taxi will charge you. Also, I should note that these services accept cash payment. Rupiah, of course.
Even as you are riding around in your Grab Car, you will probably notice that you are most often always surrounded by scooters and motorcycles, and if you pay even closer attention, you will notice that they pretty well rule the road, thus using such a two wheel vehicle gets people where they need to go, far more efficiently than even a very small car will, here in Bali. You’ll also notice if you’re taking it all in, as you gaze out the window at this different part of the world from your Grab Car window, that traffic here is can be described as something like “pure chaos,” yet strangely pulled off in a seamless, flowing manner. Native Balinese and other Indonesians scoot along in this traffic mess, cluttering up what are often times streets so narrow that there is no chance that two small cars could fit side by side, with a second-nature like way about it. Sometimes I even wonder if they are all on some sort of psychic, connected plain, when it comes to handling their way through the roads here so well, and make it look easy, at that. Well, as crazy as it looks, and quite well is, believe it or not, I have not yet witnessed even one accident. After you make these observations, and if you think that you’re ready to handle a scooter or motor cycle through the streets of Bali Indonesia, then hell, why not get one. If you’re here just a short time, then you can rent a scooter for about ten United States dollars per day, if you go with one of the only three reputable companies that I researched, that are fully insured, and deliver your scooter (or motorcycle) to your hotel, kost or apartment, and also pick it up again, for free. I used balibikerental.com and rented a Late model, Honda Vario, just for two days as a trial run. At this point I can hear some reader exclaiming in their mind, “you can rent a scooter for less than that!” That’s true if you look around while you’re here for a a very inexpensive scooter rental, but there are risks that range from bikes that will die and leave you roadside, to something even worse, such as you being scammed out of your passport, as it’s held for a hefty ransom. If you are going to rent, then do it with piece of mind, and do your research.
Because I am with an Indonesian girl here in Bali, and I plan to stay as long as the money holds out, I was afforded the opportunity, using her Indonesian driver’s license (seeing as how I do not possess an international driver’s license, but I believe it’s relatively inexpensive to obtain one here,) to just outright buy a scooter. While this may sound like quite a splurge, considering I really am trying to live here as inexpensively as possible, when all the math is done, it’s actually a smart purchase. I was quite surprised at the MSRP for various models, after some quick online research, and when converting rupiah to USD, I remember immediately thinking, “wow, I can own a brand new vehicle for that low of a price?” I first decided that if we would buy a scooter, that it would be brand new and from a reputable dealership, rather than taking a chance on anything used, thus eliminating any sort of quality control headaches right from the get-go, not to mention securing the resale value when it’s time to leave Bali. I secondly decided that it would no doubt be a Honda, which I’ve not only concluded from my own observations of what I see out on the road, but also from talking to the locals who all own scooters and gathering all the information that I can about makes, models and reliability, that are available here in Indonesia.
So off we went, in a Grab Car of course, to one of the Honda motorbike dealerships here in Denpasar called PT ASAPARIS Honda Dealer. The goals I had for an automatic scooter were the best combination of price, reliability, seating capacity and resale value, and thus I had two models in mind before we had even arrived, but was open to the right deal on anything. The first model that I heavily considered was the Honda Scoopy. With the base 110cc engine, the seat size on a Scoopy easily holds two adults and two small kids, and while I first thought them to be a bit goofy looking in their more retro style, they actually ended up growing on me very quickly as I spent time here in Bali. It also had completely different styles of both the headlight and the taillight as compared to all of Honda’s other models, which I found to be another plus. When finally browsing the dealership, I noticed a row of brand new, 2017 Honda Scoopy models that were all in a very good looking matte black/grey color. That particular color had attracted me to this model even more.
Moving on however, I also had my eyes on the Honda Beat, which is also with a base 110cc motor, but with slightly less total seating area than the Scoopy (and still able to fit four of us at one time, for short trips around the neighborhood,) and a very sporty style, with a part analog and park digital gauge cluster that I found very functional and appealing.
The other main model that I had done my homework into was the Honda Vario, which comes in, not only various styles, but a couple of different seating sizes, and and a choice of a 125cc engine or a 150cc engine. Both of these engine choices are liquid cooled, unlike the standard air cooled, 110cc base motor in the other models. The Vario had the size you would get from a Scoopy, but with the sporty look and feel that you would get from a Beat, and of course, more power to be sitting on. There is also another model that is listed as the cheapest automatic scooter on the Indonesian Honda website called a Spacey, which is pretty much a base model in every sense, but don’t expect to find this model at the dealership as there weren’t any, and they could only be ordered, at about a month wait, give or take.
I very quickly eliminated the Vario (which is oddly enough the model that I had rented previously before deciding to just buy,) for two main reasons. To get one that is desirable and not completely stripped, brought the asking price right up to about 20 million rupiah, and the stripped version was just not appealing at all, with an asking price of approximately 17.8 million rupiah. Add to that, the conversations that I’ve had with locals here in Bali that say that the Vario has had it’s share of mechanical problems. Then there was the gorgeously painted, matte black, Honda Scoopy, which I liked nearly everything about, as I played with all it’s parts there in the dealership, only to find out that model is so popular here in Bali, that there was a wait backing up to nearly two months to get one after ordering it. The row of at least ten of them that I found inside the dealership turned out to be all sold, having been ordered over well over a month ago. Not only was the waiting time for a Scoopy a problem, but the price was steep for that particular color and loaded model, at just over 19 million rupiah.
That’s when we set our eyes on the 2017 110cc Honda Beat. (See video above.) Everything about this scooter was appealing, and the price difference between a stripped version, and the loaded model which includes an “idle stop” feature to save gas when you’re stopped at a red light that shuts down the engine and then automatically restarts when the throttle is applied again, was less than a million rupiah. For the loaded Beat, in a color scheme that was ideal and agreeable to myself and Mama, I agreed to pay 200,000 less than the asking price, for a total of 16.6 million rupiah. To further justify this purchase was the fact the the exact one that we wanted was right there in the showroom, with no ordering necessary with a wait time to follow. Included with our purchase was a Honda tool kit, kept in the under-seat storage area, one free Honda helmet, the owners manual and maintenance manual that included the first four scheduled maintenance visits for free, and what turned out to be two different Honda jackets. This all was quite a bonus to me when considering the low price I’ve just outright purchased a brand new vehicle for, but one last benefit I should mention is that they delivered the scooter to my our apartment, free of charge, the very next day.
On a side note about how the purchase and registration works, I should tell you that much like in The United States, the dealership will take care of this for you. However, you will need to pay the registration/license plate fee in cash, as your dealer will take that cash to the local police where the registration is completed. The initial registration is good for one year, and the license plate is good for five years. Of course, this is longer than I will ever need here in Bali (barring a miracle inheritance,) so that is one less thing that I will ever need to worry about with this scooter purchase. I will also tell you that the sales girl that we got at this dealership was new, and eager to score her first sale, which resulted in her providing us with her own temporary plate to use during the ten days that it took to receive our own new plates. As for receiving those new plates, she called us promptly when they arrived, and we took a ride to the dealership where they insisted to put them on for us.
I am writing this blog post about a month after the purchase, and close to 400 kilometers on the odometer. I can say for certain that our choice to outright purchase a new Honda Beat has been proving it’s value, quality and usefulness everyday since. We fill the four liter gas tank for never more than 25,000 rupiah, which is barely over two USD. The 110cc engine packs plenty of power, ready to go when needed, making the larger engine choices on the Honda Vario seem like overkill. Sure it’s nice to have extra power, but let me remind you of just how bad traffic is here in Bali, and you will never need to reach speeds that the base 110cc is incapable of. Even off the line, it will get you to speed about as fast as you will ever need to get to speed in this chaotic ballet of traffic. If we’re going within a kilometer of our apartment, then we can get all four of us on the Beat, a bit cramped, but doable none the less. This purchase was a great decision overall. No need to rent, and now we own a mode of transportation here in Bali, outright, and with the reliability of a brand new product, made by Honda, who’s cars in The United States have had excellent overall quality and reliability throughout my entire lifetime, and to top that off, free maintenance that will easily cover the amount of time and the number of kilometers that we will ride before going back to the states. Let’s ice this cake even further when I tell you that the resale value for the Honda Beat is generally high, justifying this purchase even more. In fact, we’ve already had a few offers from people who run various businesses around our neighborhood. They very well know what a great product they would be getting from a foreigner who only used the scooter for a short time since it left the showroom, and so interest in our new Honda Beat is already very high. However, I will soon be doing research on the least expensive way to ship this bad boy back home to the United States, because I’ve fallen for it so much now, that it would be sad to see it go. Not to mention, what a blast it would be to ride around the wide open roads of the vast United States, in a Bali bought, Honda scooter.
However you decide to get around during your time in Bali Indonesia, be smart, do your research, and most of all, pay attention always on these unforgiving roads, and be safe!