How to Motorbike the Crazy Roads in Bali (with Video!)

Bali is paradise for motorcycles- mostly decent roads surround by gorgeous cliffs, stunningly green rice paddies, mountains, oceans- so much beauty it will make your eyes bleed.The majority of the video is spent on a Honda Vario in/around Canggu Bali. The last part takes place on a MalaMadre custom bike on Bali east coast.

How to rent a motorbike in Bali

Honda Varios can be rented for less than $2USD per day if you're renting over a month. A bigger custom bike can be rented from shops like MalaMadre Motorcycles for about $25 USD a day (cheaper if you rent for a week/month at a time). There are also plenty of small motorcycle rental outfits in Bali but the chopped up Frankenstein bikes they rent out are just begging to break down when its most inconvenient for you. Best to stick with reputable shops like MalaMadre if you're going to rent a proper bike.

There are endless small roads to explore via motorcycle in Bali and many are documented in our video below.

Tim:                                     00:00 Look at all this. It's beautiful. Bali, Indonesia. They say that Vegas is Disneyland for grownups. That's true. I say Bali is Vegas for motor bikes, high-stakes action venture. You might even fall in love. Of course, the best way to see Bali is on a custom bike in Canggu alone, you've got great custom shops like Deus and Mala Madre within steps of each other.

Tim:                                     00:20 However, if you're on a budget, you might just find yourself on a badass Honda Vario. That's right,125 CCs of unbridled testosterone built to handle anything you can throw at it. Cool is the name of the game here. Get a surfboard for your surfboard rack even if you don't surf, especially if you don't surf.

Tim:                                     00:44 So BANG, just like that you've got street cred because you've got a surf board. Strapping a surfboard in next to is going to take your Vario and turn it into something that could literally go on a surfing safari like beach boys style. We get these beautifully paved roads, twists and turns just to keep it fun the entire time and you're not even heading any place bad, you're headed toward the beach. Of course somehow Starbucks has even made it out here already. So maybe just as famous as the Balinese surf is the Balinese traffic. Places like Kuta are grid locked. It's not much better the further North you get. So if you don't like the traffic, you can always use the Vietnam trick and just use the sidewalks as you see fit. So in a way you could say, "Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads". Just got to watch out for those guys. If you don't want to sit in traffic all the time, you got to learn your shortcuts in this kind of shortcut right here isn't really that much off the grid.

Tim:                                     01:50 It's used by enough people that there's speed bumps to slow down the mass of traffic. It gives way to it roads like this. And this is a road. It's not a, this isn't a four lane expressway in Bali but this is still a completely viable road. I mean, I'm not the only scooter. Look at this! One scooter lane right here. Perfect. This is called a rice patty traffic jam. This is what happens when too many white people out here and then you have a lovely bridge or some greenery hanging down and then we're going to shoot up this road- unless there's construction. So we're gonna take another shortcut I guess. All right. I haven't gone this way before. This is a new road apparently, so quite a scenic trail. You have some friends in here, got guys with sharp hooks, and then you just continue on your way after the shortcut. This is the Balinese equivalent of a four lane expressway, but it looks like it was designed by somebody at Disney world. You have a nice slow smooth drive through what's basically an enchanted forest.

Tim:                                     03:25 That puts you on on top of this. Look at this road!, Skip past the bumpy parts then you hit this bottom and just goose it up this hill! Excellent. And obviously the roads here are made for bikes, not for cars. Cars often don't win in the rice field as you can see here, that's just a small collection of them too. Of course if you want the best Bali experience you got to get yourself off a scooter and get yourself a bike. This is what it looks like if you make time to get out to the East coast in Bali. Literally as good as it gets on two wheels. I mean, look at these roads isn't roller coasters and a death traps. You don't want to be any easier that wouldn't be fun!

Tim:                                     04:36 Who is going to sell me a beer out here? That's the question.