(2 wheel) Street Machine Photography: Part 2
Following on from our previous post, this is a curation of photographs taken by Ross Walker all around the streets of Southeast Asia with one theme - Scooters. Only the funkiest looking cool ones that is! In part 1, it was some of my oldest smartphone pictures, going upto only 2012. In part 2 I'm including some late night street scenes of 'scooter parades' in Bangkok, show bikes, bikes for sale and covering the more recent of my photos.
First however, we look at the underground scene on the late night suburbs of Bangkok, Thailand ... Fast and Furious: Below 150cc edition.
Bangkok, late at the night market. There's a lot of people scooting around. One hand, no helmet - welcome to Thailand!
Scooter Parade - Late night Bangkok
Around the trendy late night hang out spot, bikes are out in abundance cruising around, meeting friends, going from place to place, and quite often - having adhoc races. I've seen groups of outlaws in these situations covering a 1km stretch of road with smartphone push-to-talk encrypted apps, gathering racers at the start line, then when all clear for police they stop the traffic with 100 spectator/support bikes and rip it up a section of main road, right in the middle of the city. Usually begins around midnight. They'll pop up, block the road, and be all done and gone en route to the next spot within 15 minutes. Helmets seem optional. Fatalities, frequent. This is underground racing Bangkok style - The real Fast n Furious is mostly under 200cc. Except this young couple below ...
powerful bike, pillion girlfriend, no helmets no worries (no, i don't condone it)
Can you see what is going on here? Look closely at the girls leg, it's pushing the Wave S along! You see this all the time, presumably when scooters break down or run out of gas, friends or random new friends will push someone along to the garage this way.
I managed to snap another as they passed. She is riding a Honda MSX, a mini 125cc sporty (full frame, manual gear) bike. Known as the 'Honda Grom' in the USA.
Good to see some helmets here, especially on such a powerful bike. I guess better protective clothing would be an option, but they're just out for a low speed city cruise. Bangkok can be stiflingly hot, it makes even the lightest of protective gear a challenge. Arguably safer to stay cool, and thus collected for the inner city low speed traffic. Beats boiling like a frog in a pot! Out on the open highways where speed means airflow, is where full protective clothing is going to be a lot more beneficial, and necessary!
Mickey and Minnie Mouse out for a ride. For longer trips, protective gear is advisable.
Family Transport
A small family, the kid stands on the foot board. Another common sight!. Sometimes another child maybe squeezed in-between the parents are perched precariously on the back ...
Showtime
One day just walking randomly through the shopping mall, another common sight in Bangkok. A lot of very nice bikes on display. Triumph Motorcycles (British company but unrelated to the cars of old) these days are all manufactured Thailand. Soon they are launching a dirt bike, which I'm looking forward to seeing!
Triumph on display at the mall
Talking of scramblers, here's a nice interesting retro one from the night market - for sale! (Or, maybe replaced by similar by now). It's a YAMAHA DT100; what a cute little beast. Looks like it could climb Mr Fuji anytime.
Classic Yamaha DT100 scrambler
Practically a scooter
More vintage, still under 150cc. If I'm not mistaken a little Honda S90 or something; one up from a Honda Cub. May contain cloned parts that have undergone aging processes. Very cool that is too, btw.
Honda S90
And now for something completely different
Well, what do we have here? Something for every occasion ... it's still scooter themed, right? Just modeled as a kids version. They'd make great garden features.
This is pretty different also. I looks like a boat. To be updated, perhaps a Michelotti?
Trying to remember or find out again what this thing is!
Modern retro in the same color as above ;)
Modern Italian scooter
Shoot Photos, Not People.
Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Below, a futuristic looking 'QUBIX' from Yamaha.
Yamaha QUBIX - Future classic?
