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: June 2026
At my Chaweng shop last March, a Dutch rider emailed ahead to reserve the R15 specifically, not just "a sport bike". When he arrived he tucked behind the screen, checked the clip-on reach, and looked completely at home before he had turned a wheel. He was not chasing cheap transport. He wanted Samui's mountain roads on a committed supersport. I rode behind him up the Lad Koh climb and he used the R15 exactly as Yamaha intended - revving it out, leaning hard, smiling at every apex.
Riding the R15 from Lamai up to the Lad Koh viewpoint last dry season, I felt the VVA engine come alive past 7,000 rpm in a way no scooter in my fleet can match. That high-revving character is the whole point. The R15 suits riders who actively enjoy working a gearbox and chasing the redline, not those who find it tiring. If you ride sport bikes at home and want that same engagement on holiday, this is the bike I hand you first.
Some of my happiest R15 renters arrive off 600cc and litre bikes back home and worry 155cc will bore them. Last April a British rider with a track-day history took one for a day expecting to be underwhelmed. He returned grinning - the R15 lets you use all of its performance on Samui's tight roads without ever frightening yourself. On an island where you rarely exceed 80 km/h, a small, sharp sport bike often delivers more real fun than something far heavier.
A first-time rider asked me about the R15 last November after spotting its fairing on the forecourt, and I steered him straight to the Honda Click. The committed 815 mm seat, clip-on bars, and revvy power delivery demand prior experience with manual bikes and confident low-speed control. For someone who has only ridden automatic scooters, the riding position alone is tiring in Chaweng traffic. The R15 rewards skill you already have - it is a poor place to learn it from scratch.
Seven years of guiding on Samui has given me a clear R15 profile: licensed, comfortable on geared sport bikes, and looking to enjoy the ride itself rather than simply reach a beach. I point these riders at the Route 4169 bends and the Lad Koh climb and they come back having had their best day on the island. They are, almost without exception, the renters who hand the keys back already asking whether they can keep it another day.
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