Motorcycle rental in Koh Samui

Motorcycle rental in Koh Samui starts from ฿600 a day for a 155 cc Yamaha, and the middle of 35 manual bikes sits at ฿1,200. Below: what a week or a month saves, the licence and deposit riders are asked for, how engine size and style move the price, and what delivery from Phuket adds.

Daily, weekly and monthly rates

Every bike in this section has a starting price for 24 hours, and fifteen of the lighter ones also carry weekly and monthly rates — which change the arithmetic far more than the model does.

What the 35 bikes cost per day

The Rent-Trip section on this page brings together 35 manual motorcycles from 149 to 1,100 cc, and their daily starting prices run from ฿600 to ฿3,540. Two models share the bottom of the range — the Yamaha R15 and the trail-styled Yamaha WR155R, both 155 cc. At the top sits the Honda Africa Twin 1100, and its ฿3,540 applies to rentals of six days or longer. The middle of all 35 prices is ฿1,200, and the single most common figure is ฿1,000, asked for 11 models. Only six start below ฿1,000, and none of them is above 300 cc. In my view the honest first budget for motorcycle rental in Koh Samui is ฿1,000–1,200 a day: that band holds 14 of the 35 models, from a 199 cc KTM to 650 cc sport bikes.

Starting prices by engine size

Weekly and monthly rates on 150–400 cc bikes

What a long rental saves

A month on a 300 cc bike costs ฿15,000, which works out at ฿500 a day — half the daily rate of ฿1,000. The gap is wider at the light end: a 150 cc Honda goes for ฿10,000 a month, about ฿333 a day against ฿800, and two weeks on the same bike cost ฿7,000, or ฿500 a day. For the 400 cc group a week comes to ฿10,000 (about ฿1,429 a day) and a month to ฿26,000, roughly ฿867 a day. The weekly price beats daily rates from the sixth day in every group, because a week costs between five and five and a half daily rates. And the month? On a 150 cc bike it is cheaper than daily payment from the 13th day; on a 300 cc bike, from the 16th. So if your stay runs past two weeks, price a month first and the days second.

Licence, helmet and deposit

Three conditions come up with every bike on the island — the licence category, the helmet rule and the deposit — and the deposit grows with engine size faster than the daily rate does.

Which licence riders are asked for

On the island, foreign riders are asked for a home-country motorcycle licence together with an International Driving Permit that carries the motorcycle "A" endorsement. That requirement runs through motorbike rental in Koh Samui, and it applies to the 149 cc Honda as much as to the 1,100 cc Africa Twin. A car licence on its own does not meet it, because the requirement names the motorcycle category on both documents. Check the endorsement on your permit before the trip rather than at the counter. If your national licence covers only light motorcycles, look at what it actually allows and choose the engine size accordingly — the section starts at 149 cc and go up to 1,100 cc, so the category matters on every one of them.

Helmets for rider and passenger

Thai law requires a helmet for both the rider and the passenger, and the fine for riding without one is up to ฿2,000. Rental terms on the island handle this in different ways. One group of 15 bikes from 149 to 399 cc comes with a full-face helmet for the rider, a phone holder and a fuelled tank; the Kawasaki Z900 rented in Bophut comes with two helmets and a phone holder free of charge. Both packages cover the rider, but only the second one says anything about a passenger. Every bike in this section has two seats, except the R15 and WR155R, for which the number is not stated. If you plan to ride two-up, write it into the request and ask for the second helmet by name — the fine applies to each person without one.

Deposits by engine size

Cash deposit or passport

The deposit comes in three forms on the island, and the form matters as much as the amount. The 15 light and middleweight machines from 149 to 399 cc ask for a passport and a cash deposit together, from ฿3,000 on a 150 cc Honda to ฿10,000 on a Ninja 400 or Hunter 350. In Bophut the Vulcan S 650 takes ฿15,000 or a passport and the Z900 ฿20,000 or a passport, while the CB 650F, CBR 650R and NX 500 are quoted at ฿15,000. The seven touring bikes brought from Phuket need no passport at all, only a security deposit. Measured in rent, the deposit runs from about four daily rates on a 150 cc Honda to about 17 on the Yamaha R15. Ask which form is accepted before you confirm, because ฿15,000–20,000 in cash is a sum many travellers do not carry.

From 149 to 1,100 cc: what each engine size costs

Engine size sets a rough price ladder, but the steps are uneven — in places a 650 cc twin costs the same as a 300, and a 400 costs twice as much.

150–200 cc: light bikes from ฿600

Six bikes sit at the light end, between 149 and 199 cc, and they start from ฿600 to ฿1,000 a day. The Yamaha R15 (18.4 hp) and the Yamaha WR155R (16.5 hp) both start at ฿600, the cheapest rates in the section. The Honda CB 150, the Honda CBR 150 and the retro-styled Yamaha XSR 155 all start at ฿800, and the KTM Duke 200 at ฿1,000. They are the natural step up for a rider who has done a few days on a scooter and now wants gears. Is 150 cc enough for two people? They have two seats, but with a passenger and luggage a 150 is working hard, so for regular two-up riding the 286–321 cc group, at ฿1,000, is the better fit.

286–399 cc: the ฿1,000 core and the ฿2,000 step

Twelve bikes fall between 286 and 399 cc, and six of them start at exactly ฿1,000 a day — the Honda Rebel 300, CB300R and CBR 300R, the Yamaha MT-03, and the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and Versys-X 300; the Honda CRF 300L trail bike is cheaper still at ฿800. Then the price jumps. The Kawasaki Ninja 400, Kawasaki Z400, KTM Duke 390 and Bajaj Dominar 400 all start at ฿2,000, twice the Ninja 300 for about 100 cc more. The Royal Enfield Hunter 350 sits between them at ฿1,500. The step shows in the deposit too: ฿5,000 for the 300s, ฿10,000 for the 400s. For island riding with one person on board, a 300 at ฿1,000 gives most of what a 400 does — the extra ฿1,000 a day buys power, not access.

451–700 cc for the price of a 300

The middleweight group is the largest — 14 bikes from 451 to 700 cc — and it holds the section's best value. Four of them start at ฿1,000 a day, the same as a 300: the Kawasaki Ninja 500, Kawasaki Ninja 650, Kawasaki Vulcan S 650 cruiser and Honda Rebel 500. The Honda CB 650F, CBR 500R and NX 500 start at ฿1,200, the Yamaha MT-07 at ฿1,500 and the Honda CBR 650R at ฿1,600. For anyone looking at big bike rental in Koh Samui, this band is where the choice is real. The dearer end belongs to touring machines brought over from Phuket — the Kawasaki KLR 650 at ฿1,980, Versys 650 at ฿2,200 and Suzuki V-Strom 650 at ฿2,530. So if you want 650 cc on a budget, start with the ฿1,000 twins.

Over 700 cc: three bikes, two price worlds

Only three bikes in the section are larger than 700 cc, and they sit in two different price worlds. The Kawasaki Z900, a 948 cc naked bike with 116 hp, starts at ฿1,400 a day and is based on the island. The Suzuki V-Strom 800DE (776 cc, 84 hp) starts at ฿3,080, and the Honda Africa Twin 1100 at ฿3,540 for six days or more — both travel from Phuket. The Yamaha Tenere 700, right at the 700 cc mark, follows the same pattern at ฿2,640 for six days or more. In other words, the largest engine-for-money deal here is a litre-class naked bike, while the adventure tourers cost more than twice as much. Choose by the riding you plan: the Z900 if you want power for island riding, the V-Strom or Africa Twin only if the touring setup itself is the point.

Naked, sport, cruiser or adventure

Style splits the 35 bikes into five families, and each family has its own price spread — wider for adventure bikes than for any engine band.

Styles in this section

Horsepower for the money

Power is stated for 17 of the models, and dividing the daily rate by it gives a ranking that engine size alone hides. The Kawasaki Z900 costs about ฿12 per horsepower a day (116 hp for ฿1,400), the Honda CB 650F about ฿14 and the Kawasaki Ninja 650 about ฿15. At the other end, the Kawasaki KLR 650 — 652 cc and 40 hp — works out at about ฿50 per horsepower, and the Versys 650 and V-Strom 650 at ฿36–37. The light Yamahas land in between: the R15 at about ฿33 and the WR155R at ฿36. The gap is not a mistake: the dearest per horsepower are the touring machines brought from Phuket, whose price follows the setup rather than the engine. If performance per baht is the goal, the 650 cc sport and naked bikes at ฿1,000–1,200 are where the figure is lowest.

Adventure and trail bikes

Ten bikes in the section are adventure or trail machines, and their prices span the whole range — from ฿600 to ฿3,540 a day. At the light end are the Yamaha WR155R at ฿600 and the Honda CRF 300L at ฿800, both small trail bikes. The road-biased middle includes the Kawasaki Versys-X 300 at ฿1,000, the Honda NX 500 at ฿1,200 and the Honda CB 500X at ฿1,500 for six days or more. The full-size tourers — KLR 650, V-Strom 650, Tenere 700, V-Strom 800DE and Africa Twin 1100 — all come from Phuket and start between ฿1,980 and ฿3,540. The CB 500X travels from Phuket too, which is why it sits above the NX 500 in price. For a few days of riding on Samui itself, an NX 500 covers island roads for about a third of the Africa Twin's rate.

Island pick-up and bikes brought from Phuket

Twenty-eight of the 35 bikes are rented on Samui itself; the other seven arrive by delivery from Phuket, and that delivery changes the real price of a short rental.

Bikes based on the island

Twenty-eight bikes in the section are rented on the island, from the 149 cc Hondas to the Z900. Delivery terms differ: one group of 15 bikes up to 399 cc is delivered free once the order passes ฿3,000, and the bikes based in Bophut are brought free anywhere on the island for rentals of three days or more, between 10:30 and 17:30. In practice ฿3,000 means three days on a ฿1,000 bike or two on a ฿2,000 one, so both rules land at about the same rental length. The 15 lighter models come with a written contract setting out the terms and are handed over with a full tank. For a manual motorcycle rental in Koh Samui shorter than three days, budget either for collecting the bike yourself or for a delivery charge — ask which applies.

Seven touring bikes delivered from Phuket

Seven touring bikes reach Samui from Phuket: the Honda Africa Twin 1100, Yamaha Tenere 700, Suzuki V-Strom 800DE and V-Strom 650, Kawasaki Versys 650, Kawasaki KLR 650 and Honda CB 500X. Delivery to the island costs ฿5,000 one way, door to door. Rentals of six days or longer are 20% cheaper: the V-Strom 800DE drops from ฿3,080 to ฿2,460 a day, the Africa Twin from ฿4,430 to ฿3,540, the Tenere 700 from ฿3,300 to ฿2,640. They need no passport, only a security deposit. There is a catch in the wording, though. The ฿5,000 fee is quoted for one direction, so ask whether returning the bike to Phuket is charged as a second leg before you compare the total with an island bike.

What delivery adds to a short rental

Comparing two offers for the same bike

Two offers for the same model can differ by more than the model's whole daily rate, and the reasons are usually written in the terms rather than the headline price.

Same model, different price

The Kawasaki Vulcan S 650 shows how far one model can drift. Rented on the island, it starts at ฿1,000 a day. The same 649 cc, 61 hp cruiser brought from Phuket starts at ฿1,760, or ฿1,410 for six days or longer — and the ฿5,000 delivery comes on top. Over three days that is ฿3,000 against ฿10,280 for the same bike. The headline figure can also hide the rental length: the Africa Twin's ฿3,540 and the Tenere's ฿2,640 are six-day prices, while their single-day rates are ฿4,430 and ฿3,300. So when two quotes for one model look far apart, check three things first — where the bike is based, how many days the price assumes and whether delivery is inside it.

What to put in a request

• Dates and length: give exact start and end dates, because weekly, two-week and monthly rates only appear once the length is known.
• Exact model: name the bike from the cards on this page and ask whether the quote is for that model or a similar one.
• Riders: say whether a passenger rides along, so the second helmet is included and the bike suits two-up riding.
• Deposit form: ask whether cash, a passport or both are required, and how much cash, before you confirm.
• Hand-over point: give your hotel or villa and ask whether delivery is free for your length of rental.

What to check at hand-over

• Contract: read the written terms before riding off, especially what the deposit covers and when it comes back.
• Helmets: check that the helmet fits and that a second one is there if you ride with a passenger.
• Fuel and kit: note the fuel level and whether the phone holder promised in the offer is fitted.
• Condition and mileage: photograph scratches and the odometer — one 948 cc bike here is quoted with 5,000–10,000 km on the clock.

Key points before you rent

Five figures to keep in mind

• Daily rate: the 35 manual bikes start between ฿600 and ฿3,540 a day, with the middle at ฿1,200.
• Long rentals: a month on a 300 cc bike costs ฿15,000, half the daily rate, and pays off from the 16th day.
• Licence: riders are asked for a home-country motorcycle licence and an International Driving Permit with the "A" endorsement.
• Deposit: from ฿3,000 with a passport on a 150 cc bike to ฿20,000 or a passport on a 948 cc one.
• Delivery: bikes from Phuket add ฿5,000 for one-way delivery, which nearly doubles the per-day cost of a three-day rental on a Vulcan 650S.