The 14th annual Burapa Bike Week at Pattaya Stadium

[cdrw]

The 14th annual Burapa Bike Week at Pattaya Stadium
It was even larger then previous years. More retailers, displays, distributors...and more attendees. The parking lot was jammed with cars and bike and there were more bikes than ever parked within the stadium.

Sign at the entrance, greeting visitors

A detachment of the Thai army and numerous police provided help and security

During the morning hours the crowds were small...

A Monster display...with bikes for Monsterman to drool over...

A Buell disgraced with a sidecar and horns...

Left: 1HP, solid waste, great off-road; Right: Sux off-road, makes smog

The Stage is ready for the night's festivities

By Saturday evening the crowds were overwhelming. More attendees that prior years. Some estimates indicate there were about 200,000 people in attendance!

The music starts and the masses are rocking out to the beat, some were rocking just from the beer..

No bike or car, so these young girls had alternate transportation...

Sunday morning, Pattaya Stadium was once again a ghost town...

Last month, at a local shop, I saw the finishing touches being put on a custom chopper. I was surprised it wasn't on display at the show as, IMHO, it was superior to anything I saw at Burapa, due to it's creative design and exceptionally fine metalwork.

 

[monsterman]

CDRW must have gone to anothers event I think this years Burapha show was a disaster for the organisers ,Less stallholders this year due to a tripling of rents from 15,000 to 50,000 for a stall , so No HD ,HONDA ,Yamaha ,Triumph ,wurth, BMW or other main importers , only 2 tatoo parlours last year 13 etc etc many shops stayed away as did the general public attendance was down this year and so were stallholder takings ..many other clubs decided to scale down operations in protest at lack of support at other events and charity fundraisers from The Burapha club whos arrogance has pissed off many people as well as the stupidly naked greed with triple costs imposed ...in fact Burapha club were actually calling local vendors on friday afternoon to offer FREE stalls as so many had withdrawn but it was to late to attract the bigger companies.

the afternoon rideout was evry poorly attended according to my Thai police friend who rides an Yamaha FJ escort bike and i saw the whole group pass in less than 10 minutes which is piss poor last year I watched for almost 40 minutes , sales at stallholder i know personally were poor, many did not recoup costs .

Definately not 200,000 people, and access for bikes and parking was easy as fewer crowds ..what was more was CARS!!!! .and general public , local kids on scooters and waves

I sopke to Khun Villai who is a Burapha club founding member and he said that the local police reckon max attendance at 20,000 but that fewer bikes were counted in this year at only 2960 big bikes last years figure was 6258

i was not a bad show but definitely thin on innovation and novelty this year .......perhaps they will have learned a valuable lesson ...but i doubt it TIT.

leigh from Iron horse and Gareth from pattaya Superbikes decided not to exhibit this year due to exhorbitant fee being asked ,Manot from Chonburi superbike had declined but he told me that on Friday morning he was offered a stall at 10,000 baht less than last years price 15,000 so only 5,000 so he chucked 3 bikes and a banner in his van and came down but in previous years he had 6-10 bikes and a full stock of products on view ...he thought the show was 'unfortunate' this year what ever that means .

 

[cdrw]

Monsterman, I thnk we can agree to disagee...primarily on the crowd numbers, yet there was surely far more than 20K visitors. This was the 6th or 7th time I'd been to Burapa. I was there twice each day, a morning and an evening visit.

I fully agree that the lack of manufacturer's, bike displays and shops in attendance made this years' Burapha both very unimpressive and dull compared to prior years!! Yet, ironically, there were two more shorter rows of stalls
that didn't exist last year, but this may be due to free stalls being provided to keep up an appearance to visitors.
As usual, due to the free entertainment Saturday night is a big draw...mostly 'lookie-loos' not enthusiasts, and the crowds were so dense it was an even more arduous task to get through. Saturday evening I arrived late [8:30pm] and found it near impossible to drive into the Stadium. I had to park in the lot, which mostly had cars, as it does every year, but also many bikes.

I may be off indicating as much as 200k visitors, but attendance figures will likely be available later. But, none of this is really important is it? The sadness is that by Burpha raising fees and having less paying displays, it means that there will be far less money this year which is contributed to charity.

 

[monsterman]

Yes it was still a good show , if a little flat ,,, and i reckon that 'Loss of Face' this year will make them see sense next year with fees and make sure the big exhibitors turn up again.

I was there Friday Night , saturday afternoon and nightime ...even my Daughter commented on the different vibe and lack of stalls this year .

last week was the internatiomal Bangkok Motorcycle show and i am reliably informed that large pitches for the main exibitors were only 15-20,000 baht and thats in Central Bangkok .

 

[TonyBKK]

monsterman;265258 wrote:

last week was the internatiomal Bangkok Motorcycle show and i am reliably informed that large pitches for the main exibitors were only 15-20,000 baht and thats in Central Bangkok .

Though it should be pointed out that this year's Bangkok Motorbike Show was also a lot smaller than last year's on account of part of the venue having been burnt down in recent, ahem, unrest...

 

[steve111]

This bikeweek was the first time I have EVER seen my Thai MC unhappy and not having fun. For some background info, we were the guys that dropped into the Ban Packong bikeweek a few weeks with a pickup full of girls who danced on our table and poured our drinks while admiring bikers from other MCs were standing around with their mobile phones recording

My impressions: There was something wrong with the levels of the music. The music sounded wrong. My Thai wife also made the same comment. The music was all English until late when the Thai music came on. The Thais did not appreciate that. There were no tables or chairs. The parking attendants stopped assisting with parking. There was insufficient parking. I wont be back next year. A real shame as I thought it would be lots of fun. Bang Saen Bikeweek is huge and it was a GREAT success.

 

[monsterman]

Apparently many memebrs of the Burapha clubs recently walked out over internal rifts over money , politics , ambitions and religion . as i talk to local bikers and motorcyclists it seems many boycotted the show for different reasons including apathy. also having talked to a few vendors this week the consensus is that the takings were poor this year with many not covering costs.and that the show was not as well organised as in the past ...seems also that city hall had a hand in the planning and the till this year as some Senior Burapha members brown nosed the politicians .....

There is already talk that another club or union of clubs may arrange a rival bike week in Pattaya next year...with the coommon word being the Burapha club does not have a monopoly .