Asia Harley Days 2025

By: Stefan Pertz

It has been a long time since Crossy made me sign up to become a member of the Sydney Motorcycle club. It was in 1999 that we rode together. To the Robertson Pie Shop it was. Since then, I have moved around the region. Without any powered two-wheeler though. On the invitation of Harley Davidson Asia, I was able to join their festival in Khoa Yai, Thailand, 21^st and 22^nd November 2025.

Khao Yai, which is located a good 2.5 hours north-east of Bangkok by Harley. The National Park covers more than 2,000 square kilometers of forest and grassland in central Thailand. More than 50 km of hiking and biking trails wind through the long-standing nature preserve, and its many waterfalls include 150m-tall Haew Narok and 20m-tall Haew Suwat, immortalized in the Danny Boyle film ‘The Beach.’ The park also shelters diverse wildlife such as bears, gibbons, elephants and hornbills.

The festival is the fourth instalment of the annual event. Roving, it was hosted in Midwinter, Khao Yai this year. Bikers from 20 countries joined the festival with many taking the opportunity to tour Thailand for a few days before parking at the event to celebrate a shared interest. Patches from all over the world could be seen. Proud groups of biker clubs were invited onto the stage to receive numerous awards. Somehow, it seemed that Malaysian clubs won a lot of awards.

“We are expecting some 5,000 visitors this year and we are proud to be welcoming a multi-cultural audience,” Mark O’Flaherty, Managing Director, Emerging Markets Harley-Davidson Motor Company told me. A special highlight was to be the Corso of bikes, which, according to him, was to be in the style of the marching in of athletes at the Olympics.

As a main supporter, Michelin was present; Bibendum being the darling of many of the participants. While the mascot did his dances, Michelin colleagues were on hand to provide insights and knowledge. I learned that Harley-Davidson is the only brand in the world that has its logo on their tyres.

Having had one of the longest trips to the venue was Mr Carl Cospel, Chief Technology Officer of US-based Motorcycle Safety Solutions LLC who told me that he was, indeed, impressed. “This is very very similar to how these festivals are run in the states,” he told me.

Part of the show were stunt performances (which everyone was asked not to try at home), and a line-up of high-flying international music acts, such as Asterism, Fleur and Johnny Pandora.