Fixed gear tour in Thailand... anyone interested.?

I haven't been around for a while, been very busy with various projects, away touring and so on... but some of you might remember me for this little beastie http://mikesimagination.wordpress.com/condor-stadio-fixed-tt-bike/
But I digress, this post probably qualifies as market research.. I have some links into the fixed gear scene in Thailand and have also teamed up with a chap based in Thailand, formerly a tour leader with Red Spokes, to offer some adventures of a slightly different flavour. One of the things we were thinking of running is a fixed gear and single speed supported tour (no need to carry anything) along the coast of southern Thailand.. the emphasis being on a beach with beers at the end of every day of riding, meeting up with some local riders and generally enjoying some quiet backroads. It would be 12 days. Is that the kind of thing anyone would be interested in?
People tell me the fixed gear bubble has burst, bollocks to my mind, I think it's just settled down to a significant community of folk that love the simplicity of fixed. I tour fixed, I've been riding fixed for years and for putting on a plane a fixed gear, or SS, bike is just perfect.
Anyway, just interested to see if there is any interest.. although not looking for any commitment and this isn't a commercial post as I'm not blathering on about the business or anything, just getting a feel for interest. We only need 4 people to make a tour happen.
cheero!
M

I would love this. Single speed rider. My friend did something similar solo and said it was ball-to-the-wall amazing. People, places, food.

I would love this. Single speed rider. My friend did something similar solo and said it was ball-to-the-wall amazing. People, places, food.

cool, thanks for taking the time to reply, it'll likely be early next year. I'll keep this updated, there will also be details on the Painted Roads blog as plans progress. Dave is out in Thailand now, he did a fixed tour from Singapore north through Malaysia and Thailand a couple of years ago. We have a route plan and so on, just sorting out possible dates and getting the company up and running..

Amazing - I would do this - mainly for not having to take luggage anywhere. Have you spoken to Siam Fixed? There is some insane riding on some of those Islands!!

Amazing - I would do this - mainly for not having to take luggage anywhere. Have you spoken to Siam Fixed? There is some insane riding on some of those Islands!!

It will be a really fun thing I think, I'm excited about the possibilities. All accommodation and most meals will be included, decent back up vehicle and so on. We'll be talking to Siam fixed for sure, at the moment it's in the idea stage but if you wanted to stay in touch with what's happening then bookmark the RSS feed feed://www.paintedroads.com/blog/?feed=rss2 for the Painted Roads blog, or go to our holding page (site live very shortly) and sign up for the newsletter.. http://www.paintedroads.com

cheero!

signed up..

signed up..

cool :-) things will really get going come september. The site is just about to ready to go live, we're in process of sorting out stuff like trust account and insurance to protect clients money, putting together the brochures and researching some more routes ..
There are some pics from the southern Thailand route we'd base the fixed gear ride on here http://www.paintedroads.com/blog/?p=22 tho bear in mind it was the rainy season then, I'm going to head out with my fixed this autumn to look at it some more and get some more photography appropriate to the route rather than just the early research, altho that route is running this autumn for a geared bike tour. The fixed/SS one would avoid dirt roads except for the very smoothest I expect.

Yes! Definitely interested. Signed up to your list and looking forward to hearing more.

Yes! Definitely interested. Signed up to your list and looking forward to hearing more.

nice one. Thanks to everyone that has signed up. Sometimes it doesn't feel as if there's much to do, other times I feel utterly overwhelmed.. of course Dave was 'complaining' about 'having' to go and do some more riding in Vietnam as he researches a Ho Chi Minh trail ride.. (http://www.paintedroads.com/blog/) while I'm here sorting out the nuts and bolts.. speaking of which, I've just set up a twatter, I mean twitter, account @paintedroads which I'll try and keep up to date as we go.

I live in Japan at the moment. I'm guessing that travel from here won't be a problem - i.e. that it won't be a package including flights from the UK?

I live in Japan at the moment. I'm guessing that travel from here won't be a problem - i.e. that it won't be a package including flights from the UK?

hey, no we're not doing flight packages so folk are free to find their own flights, or make their own itineraries.

Brilliant, sign me up (again) then! :)

we need to sort out some dates, we did think about over Christmas but a lot of folk probably want to be with families and it is an expensive time of year for flights.. so we're open to suggestions.. :-)

the rain season is not so bad in the south. but its maybe to early.
christmas is expensive because its not raining so much and its not so
hot. I was there in april and it was 43 degrees some days.
not even 70km/h on a scooter cools you down.

I have a Thai friend. I'll ask and see what I can find out!

yeah, Dave lives out there so leaving it up to him re dates.. Provisionally for the standard southern thailand (ie gears...) tour we have dates of 27 Jan-9th Feb and then possibly some time in late March or April, any of those could become a fixed ride.. we'll be launching in August or September so still got time to sort it all out...!