Cars, motorbikes and Bali
America is the land of the automobile, cars are part of the culture. In Indonesia motorbikes, particularly the low power variety rangng from 100cc-200cc have become part of the modern day culture.
People’s mentality surrounding cars and motorbikes varies greatly with culture and I find Indonesian people’s sometimes diametrically opposed to me. Renting my Honda Supra for 400,000rp per month, I leave it to the owner to maintain it and change the oil. Over the last couple of months the oil hasn’t been changed, which is rather unfortunate as I have ridden the bike to north, south, east and west Bali. Someone told me I should change the oil, to which I replied “If I want a bike to worry about I’ll but my own.”
Ask a local what they’d choose if they could have anything right now and most would say a new motorbike. The companies that supply the local market, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki have been extremely active in coming out with new sexy designs, tempting people to part with their precious rupiah. Financing means people can drive off with a new bike for less than the price of 3 months rental (sometimes handing the bike back in after 3 months), a situation which can prove to much to resist for many people.
Locals tend to take great pride in their new ride and will clean the thing religiously. My brother in law cleans my bike, not because I ask him but because he gets to use my parking lot and hose pipe for his own bike. The only down side to this is in his thoroughness, the drum brakes get full of water and don’t work for 48 hours.
Recently I had a discussion with a local about why I don’t seem to care about my motorbike. My point was it is a rental and a drive down Jl. Seminyak means a dirt-bath. Many expats will rent a junker just to get from A to B, realizing a flashy bike can create unwanted attention. This runs counter to local thinking, where your bike is a part of your identity, rather like a car for a Californian. At the moment I can’t give a lot of mental energy over to a rental scooter, maybe after living here for 10 years I’ll start to care.
By Nick | Permalink
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Comments
Writing a blog, Renting a motorbike and eating in roadside warungs is not every bules definition of a white guy living comfortably.
Nick, sorry but i don’t get your point.
me also living now for about 5years in Indonesia, i think you should oversleep your strategies…
Well, you pay now 400.000rp a month means 5mill a year.. means, 2,5years of rental you could buy a new bike, u will have waranty for about 3 years so the maintenence is free anyway ( for oil etc. )… the only difference, you rent now and your money is gone..hmm..
The Funny thing in Indonesia is, once you like to sell your own bike you don’t lose so much money actually, the prices for second hand bikes are still high.
Ok i understand back in europe we do the same thing with cars lease etc. but there the companys mostly pay for it.. BINGUNG NIH 
lol Eddie. I should have said comfortable in comparison to a typical person in Bali.
what nick mean that for a new bike he can get them from 3 months of rental.. its true.. price of bike rental a months is one third of a new bike cost today..
Well Nick i think you will start to care of your bike if you are hardly earn it. Like you said if you can get new bike in 3 months its easy for you not but for the local people.
People tends to put a little more of caring of what they hardly possesed material.
hey nick,
Me and some mates live in singapore, and we will be going to bali in a week and a bit (from the 19th of october to the 26th). I would really appreciate it if you could shed some light of the motocross scene in bali. After looking through bali blog and several other sites with information on bali, i’ve come up dry, and then figured you, having lived in bali for a while might know. What i am really wondering about is weather there are any trails near the kuta/legian region, as thats where we are staying, and weather there are motocross rentals in the kuta area. By the way, this website has really come in handy in planning for this bali trip, and has got me quite anxious to come out to bali. If you could reply to my email with anything at all, i’d appreciate it.
Thanks for your time,
Nick Carneiro
You already have plenty of status as a white guy who lives comfortably.