Postcards from Thailand #59: Easy Rider

A couple of weeks back we were in Bangkok for the weekend and staying in a hotel built on top of my the biggest IT mall, and one of my favourite places in the whole world, Zeer Rangsit.

I can spend hours wandering around this place, there is nothing in the world of IT, music, electronics that you can't buy here but in the basement, there was a new trend. Electric scooters and tuk-tuks!

You see more and more people riding these things around Bangkok and Samui which is hardly surprising as they are cheap to buy, starting about 7000baht (£200 GBP, $280 USD) and cheap and easy to run.

Ignoring the obvious danger of riding slowly on two wheels in Thailand, I think they are brilliant, especially in busy traffic where you're less likely to get hit at high-speed, or in quiet housing estates but the thing that would worry me is the battery.

I've had very negative experiences of batteries in Chinese made devices. Although warranties on the equipment are generally a year, the battery warranty is usually only three or six months and they never seem to tell you the number of expected battery cycles.

Now I fancied one of these three wheelers for no other reason than they have a windscreen wiper! They'll do about 35km on a full charge and hit 30+km/h. Great for popping to 7/11!

Now it might have crossed your mind, especially the Brits, that these things wouldn't be legal in the UK. Well, you may be surprised to learn that they're not legal on the road in Thailand either!

The difference here is that no one gives a damn, and if they ever do, it's a ten quid 'cash' fine. 7/11 have a fleet of these electric two wheelers to do deliveries on. That's the respect that the law is regarded in here!

The trikes cone in at about £700GBP/$950 USD.

The other thing about the three-wheelers is there's very little difference between one of those and the type of electric wheelchair being driven by a ~fat~ sorry, disabled old git round Morrisons and down the precinct mowing down pigeons and people at random. If that's allowed, why not electric bikes and trikes?

Finally, if you want, you buy all manner of trick bits to customise your ride. Get some sick rims and neons on it and you'll look even more of twat riding it than you did before. Theres shops down here that specialise in 'pimping' your electric scooter. But here's the problem. Despite all the green credentials and positives in favour of electric scooters, you're never attain Steve McQueen levels of coolness....especially if it comes with pedals!

This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Daily Activity, Walking