Stallions Motorcycles is set to open a factory in Laos. Jaroen Laplonluelay, the chairman of Power Stallions Co, said his company is now studying the legal issues of setting up a factory in Laos but plans annual production capacity of 10,000 units.

Additional to the Laos factory Stallions Motorcycle is also building a 150-million-baht factory in Rayong's Amata City Industrial Estate, scheduled to be completed 2013 February and with annual production capacity of 15,000 units.

Honda Racing Corporation is pleased to officially announce Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez as the two factory Honda riders for 2013 and 2014.

Dani Pedrosa, who currently lies 2nd in the World Championship as the season reaches the halfway point, will extend his contract with Honda whom he has raced with his debut in the World Championship in 2001. Dani is a three time World Champion (2003 in 125cc, 2004 and 2005 in 250cc) and made his debut in MotoGP in 2006, claiming the Rookie of the Year title and fifth position in the Championship. He has been runner up twice and has also finished third in the premier class on two occasions. After celebrating his maiden win of the 2012 season last weekend in Germany, Dani has shown he is certainly one of the contenders for the title in the premier class this year.

Marc Marquez, born on 17th of February 1993, will make his debut in MotoGP with the Honda factory team at just 20 years old. Already recognised as one of the biggest young talents in the World Championship, Marc has signed for two years with HRC. He was 125cc World Champion in 2010, runner up on his debut year in Moto2 class and is currently leading the Moto2 World Championship by 43 points.

What will we do when the oil runs out? It's a finite resource, and since most scientists now seem to accept that by burning oil, then releasing the carbon dioxide generated into the atmosphere, we're altering the climate. Possibly with disastrous results.

Even if you're skeptical about climate change, or simply don't care about, it's hard to argue that petrol as we know it probably won't powering the motorcycles we'll be riding in fifty year's from now. As deposits of crude oil get used up, petrol will become scarcer, more expensive, and eventually run out altogether.

Among the options, one of the most promising – on the face of it – seems like electricity. Generate electricity from solar panels, wind turbines wave power, nuclear reactors or whatever other method you can, use it to charge up a battery in a motorcycle or car, then drive off. Perfect...

But it's not so easy. Petrol is actually an incredibly dense energy store, and petrol engines can output a lot of power. By comparison, batteries hold much less energy inside them. Battery technology is improving all the time – lithium batteries as used in mobile phones and laptops are much lighter and hold more energy than basic lead/acid batteries used to start your motorcycle.

Recently a very powerful earthquake disrupted the life and economy of northern Italy, causing damage to many industries in the Emilia Romagna region. This region is located just 36 kilometers from Bologna, Ducati's home town and center of operations.

After the earthquake, Ducati shut its facotry to verify if there was any damage to the plant because of the quake. But soon after the quake, Ducati tweeted that everyone at the factory was all right and that the offcials were ascertaining the damage.

Several riders recently scouted the route for July 10. One thing that stood out for me on that route is- BRING A CAMERA. There are so many places early in the route that offer fantastic views of the valleys and mountains. On the scouting trip, we were in a bit of a hurry and didn’t stop to take advantage of all that was available to be appreciated. On July 10, I will be stopping quite a bit so the wife can snap pics of the more memorable sights.

We identified one place where the main road is closed near Doi Mae Salong but by making a left at the detour sign, we were able to slip through a village on cobblestone streets and reconnect with the main highway just a few minutes a later.

Coffee stops- We found several. Near Doi Mae Salong, there is a beautiful flower garden and coffee shop that will accommodate a large group, coffee at 40 baht. However, the right-hand turn into the driveway of that place is very steep and may be a hazard for large bikes and leaving the place and re-entering the highway is even more hazardous because of the steep climb up the driveway. Just a short distance further up the road and on the left there is another coffee stop that offers hot water and instant coffee in addition to cold drinks.

At Tha Ton, we crossed the river bridge, made an immediate left and found a nice Thai food café for lunch. Good prices, good food. A recommendation was also made to eat at the first restaurant on the left prior to crossing that bridge. So, in Tha Ton there is enough seating for very large group if we end up with lots of people on the 10th.

Why do you ride? Seriously, have you given it a thought? Since you're reading this article right now, I'm sure you are into motorcycling and all that is associated with it. Please don't say, it's just because your motorcycle takes you from wherever you are to wherever you want to go. True, in Thailand this is an important task for a motorcycle, but then why not take the car-pool, bus, local train, skytrain or the subway and reduce your carbon foot print in the process. Or even better, you could pedal and, in the process, burn some fat. So, why a motorcycle?

Thailand is pretty high on the list when it comes to buying or using motorcycles, but most of the time people treat this stunning piece of engineering as they would humble mules and it makes me cringe. There's utter chaos on the roads, no discipline and what hurts the most is that people take motorcycles for granted. Forget maintenance, it's hardly given the much-needed wash. The raining season sees innovative ways of making the motorcycle suffer.

Dozens of make-shift, not so qualified, shops fix motorcycles and body parts. Most people take their trusty motorcycle for granted and are hardly bothered as long as they reach their destination with their motorcycle still intact.

However, I am sure that you belong to a more evolved race of riders and you ride for the sheer thrill of it! I must confess that when I started riding in the early '80s, it was to get a first-hand experience of the supersonic tales I had been hearing from elders who had already mastered this fine art. For me the first decade of motorcycling was mostly about speed, cornering, or, better still, carrying speed through corners. After about 10 years I rolled into the second decade of motorcycling and also had an unpleasant experience, the gory details of which cannot be told on a website like Motorcycle Thailand. That experience changed my outlook on motorcycling. Thankfully, I still love motorcycles.

After German car-makers Audi took over Ducati, we expected something sensatinal from them. Much to our surprise, however, and contrary to our conjecture about a 'diesel L-twin', the news is that the company has built an electric pushbike.

The electric pedal bike (or 'pedelec') has been designed keeping stunts in mind, with a dedicated mode, called the 'Wheelie' mode, in which the power ti the rear wheel is moderated when the front one is in the air. Weighing about 7 kilograms more than a conventional pushbike, this pedelec has a carbon-fiber frame and 26-inch carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic wheels.

The Audi/Ducati electric two-wheeler is powered by a li-ion battery, the range of the pushbike is 50 to 70km and a top speed of 80km/h.

One of the main differences between your daily commute and your weekend ride might well be that, in the latter circumstance, you ride with friends. This changes everything about your mindset and the manner of your riding.

Although your 'Sunday blast' with friends might be a big deal, don't treat it as a race, and try to avoid getting too wound-up. We know it's almost inevitable that it will involve machismo, but fight the temptation; if it feels too scary, roll off. You'll get another chance to ride your favorite corner on the way home.

When overtaking, consider the rider following you and give him room to pull in behind. If you're following another motorcycle, don't base your overtaking decisions on those of the rider in front.

When passing cars, the safest bet is to do so one rider at a time, from the front of the group. Don't come tearing through from the rear and risk having another rider pull out in front of you.

If you read the news sometimes you’d be forgiven for believing that combustion engines are dying and we’ll be riding around on electric motorcycles within a few years. Well, you’d be wrong.

Despite the massive publicity, environmental pressure and improving technology, the evidence is overwhelming: electric motorcycles are not going to work.

Listen to the average chat from an environmentalist with a beer in his hand the arguments for electric motorcycles – and cars for that matter – will be the same every time. They’ll cost almost nothing to run and since they don’t pollute we’ll be doing our bit to solve climate change. And, he’ll add, electric motors can make more torque than a petrol engine, with their maximum coming from zero revs, so they’ll be exciting to ride, too. They’re already racing electric motorcycles at some tracks around the world, so the technology is going to advance quickly. After your environmentalist chat partner has finished his third beer, you’ll believe that they’ll be outperforming today’s superbikes.

For the sale of Ducati, the moment was favorable like never before. Ducati had just won the World Superbike title against all odds, given the age of the 1198, and the Diavel was enjoying incredible success. Ducati also pumped up deliveries to dealers so the sales numbers would rocket past the 40,000 units by the end of the year. For most manufacturers, 40,000 units is not a magic number, but it is for Ducati. When you then add in that payment terms to suppliers were stretched a bit, the numbers at the end of 2011 could not have looked any better.

At that stage, there was more than one potential buyer around; and in case none would materialize with a check of the right amount of money, Andrea Bonomi's Investindustrial, the private capital group that owned Ducati, was ready to take the company public. In that arena, the year-end numbers would count a lot more than they might in a direct negotiation.

But in late April, after much gossip and speculation, the purchase of the company by Audi was announced, and those who have been at Ducati long enough to know how things have been going or the last five decades have positive feelings about it. As one of them told us, 'I am certain that the Audi auditors looked accurately into our accounts, and they know exactly where we stand financially; they were not distracted by the glittering of our polished silverware. Ducati will be much better off with Audi than it would have been if acquired by some Chinese or Indian or Arab private capital group.'