French · 7 years on Samui
French motorcycle tour guide living on Koh Samui for 7 years. Marc leads group rides across southern Thailand and knows every road on the island.
Updated: May 2026
On the north coastal road from Chaweng at 6 a.m. last February - sunrise light across the Gulf, the road empty of tourist traffic - the Z650RS at 70 km/h produced a riding experience that matched its visual context exactly. The warm morning light caught the chrome exhaust and tank highlights; the fishing boats on the horizon and the wooden piers at Mae Nam provided a setting that the Z650RS's retro styling fits naturally. I stopped at the Mae Nam beach viewpoint for 10 minutes. The Z650RS parked against the Gulf of Thailand morning light is a photograph that riders take home from Samui.
Arriving at the Fisherman's Village Thursday evening market last November on the Z650RS - 40-year-old shophouse architecture, wooden piers, lanterns above the market stalls - the retro bike in the vintage market setting produced an alignment that modern-styled bikes don't achieve in the same location. I parked on the village street outside a waterfront café. Within 10 minutes three groups had stopped to look at the bike. The Fisherman's Village is the single best Samui setting for the Z650RS - the architectural era reference of the village and the bike's 1970s styling are from compatible design periods.
At 90 km/h on the Nathon ring road straight last January - the Z650RS in fifth gear, the motor producing its characteristic parallel twin note at that rpm - I experienced the bike's riding identity most clearly. The retro styling on a modern chassis at highway pace is an unusual combination: the visual appearance implies a leisurely café racer, the performance implies a contemporary sports tourer. On Samui's Nathon straight, where the road allows the speed and the setting allows the engine note to expand, the Z650RS's dual character is both heard and felt.
On the mountain switchback last February, I rode the Z650RS through the technical section at a pace the retro styling does not suggest is available. The round headlight, the chrome accents, and the teardrop tank on a tight mountain corner at 55 km/h create an image that combines vintage aesthetics with current performance in a way that only the Z650RS produces in the Samui rental fleet. The mountain pass is not the Z650RS's best setting for photographs - the road is narrow and the forest canopy reduces light - but it is where the retro-modern character of the bike is most clearly demonstrated.
At the beach access track south of Hua Thanon last March - 200 metres of sand between the road and the fishing beach - I walked the Z650RS rather than attempting the sand. The wire-spoked wheels and road-biased Dunlop tyres are not sand-capable; the 160mm ground clearance is adequate for tarmac and gravel edges but not for soft sand. The Z650RS stays on tarmac. On Samui's sealed roads - ring road, coastal road, mountain pass tarmac - the Z650RS is entirely in its natural operating environment. Every route that stays on tarmac is a Z650RS route.
Seven years of riding the Kawasaki Z650RS on Koh Samui has produced four consistent route recommendations that use the bike's visual and performance strengths: the north coast road at sunrise, the Fisherman's Village evening market arrival, the Nathon ring road straight, and the mountain pass. All four are tarmac routes; all four create the visual context that the Z650RS's retro styling belongs in; all four use the 649cc twin at a pace that demonstrates the modern performance beneath the vintage appearance. These are the routes where the Z650RS is simultaneously the best-performing and the most visually appropriate bike available.
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