Hua Hin Bike Week

The day started with a mass biker rally which toured Hua Hin and was back at the venue for about five in the evening.
Kites flew, the ground shook, and it was like a mass bike complex within an hour. Just one look at the paddock told you there must have been over a thousand machines with enough chrome to warrant wearing sunglasses at night!
We showed up and figured that the there was too much space, how wrong we were. Within 3 hours the place was rammed as yet more Harleys and Choppers showed up!

Hundreds of other bikers turned out in force, The Jesters from Pattaya, a multitude from around Bangkok and as far south as Phuket came the Sunriders.
Roughly 70% of the bikers at the Hua Hin Bike Week rode choppers with Harley Davidson's providing a rumbling, roaring soundtrack.
Grizzled and mean as well as open and friendly there seemed to be all walks of biker for this bash.
Making up the numbers were sportsbikes, superbikes, tourers and even rinky-dink scooters all tricked-out.

The Harleys were out in force, even at the day time. In fact they all went on a city tour at about 2 in the afternoon and were back by 4 pm.

Plently of stalls were set up with biker gear for sale, most of this was for cruiser type set-ups and leather atire for the hairy harley davidson brigade.
But food was available, the city-renowned Bintaburgers had set up a burger stall and that did thriving business as hungry bikers started roaming.

Kites were flying nearby too, not sure if this was for the festivities or just a kite dude doing his thing.

The Vampires organised pretty much most of the event as far as we could see, the band certainly displayed the name clearly enough and a fair few of them were roving about.

As far as security and safety was concerned the local police and Vampire gang did a pretty friendly and safe job. They didn't need to do much though, the crowd and atmosphere was carnival-esque and pretty soon they all got drinking with the rest of us!

Time passed and the beer started flowing early on, there was no Tiger beer for the drinkers who liked the refined ways nor San Miguel for the lounge lizards, just cans of Chang beer!

The sportsbikes are starting to get more popular from last year's even as there were more here compared to then. Ducati 916s, CBR Fireblades, Kawasaki Ninjas meant the Hogs didn't have it all their own way when it came to the numbers.
Gawping tourists only added to the thronging mass and atmosphere and looked like fish out of water.
Then as night fell, the custom choppers arrived. These machines were chromed out of Chromework city and drew in the crowds. Impractical? Damn right! Head-turner? Sure as hell!

The drinks started flowing and then the band played it up.
A Thai singer took to the stage first, then came the Vampires very own rock band! This was pretty good but once the coyote girls took to the stage the crowd really got going!

You had two on podiums doing their thing while a madcap entertainer did his bouncing on this weird bicycle around between them.

It'd be kinda crazy to say there was a mass biker brawl at the end but everyone was pretty well-behaved, with the Vampires among the crowd acting as security. I'd like to say the same about the police, but they were content with occupying the beer tent and getting pissed at their table all night!
By about 3 in the morning we clambered back on our machines and wobbled our way home, merry and happy at a great night out without incident.
Until the morning that is when a mighty Chang-over had to be dealt with! :D

For the last picture of this lens it's of the most 'out-there' bike I've seen, think Batman's Batpod from the recent Batman movie