Sumbawa by Motorcycle Guide
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    • Jan 15
    • 5 min read

Sumbawa by Motorcycle <>

Indonesia | May 2023 |



Sharing some notes on my 10 days or so riding and exploring Sumbawa on a Yamaha NMax 155 rental scooter.


Sumbawa is a bit of an enigma as far as Indonesia motorcycle travel goes - its' close to Bali, Lombok and Flores, but not many people actually venture there to tour. Indeed I met no one doing the same type of ride I was doing while I was there. All the while, Sumbawa is emerging as "the new Bali", though that is largely related to surfing (side note: Sumba has also recently been referred to as the new Bali ...). It is truly an interesting, unique and fun place to ride (and surf, and chill). If you like being the only Bule around and seek new terrain and experiences, Sumbawa is a great place to go.


Planning & Route

  • Planning: I didn't spend much time pre-planning this trip. There is one main route across the island. Honestly, I wasn't planning to do much tourism on this trip, my main goal was to transit the island with a stop in Hu'u, a place I went to in '92

  • Rental: I was on a rental from Bali. Aside from YoYo Beach or Hu'u locales, I am not certain it would be easy for a foriegner to rent a scooter in Sumbawa (horse-cart perhaps yes). My Bali rental was from my friend Pande at Bali Bliss, 5,000,000 rupiah for a 60-day rental

  • License: I carried just the usual: passport, motorcycle DL & IDP (both Singapore), bike registration. I didn't have a single interaction with authorities of any type

  • Route: see the dynamic map and Trip Reports, both further down the page.

Bike & Gear

  • Bike: I was on a Yamaha Aerox 155, similar to the Yamaha NMax 155 (the former apparently targeted more at younger riders - supposedly it's more "cool"). Honestly, I would take the NMax over the Aerox any day of the week, the latter being much less comfortable for my 183cm frame. But overall the Aerox is a powerful, reliable bike and I had no issues at all with it, nor did it require any type of service on the ride across Sumbawa, nor the rest of the Bali-Flores trip.

  • Riding gear: AGV helmet, Revit Tornado 2 jacket, Ascics trail runners, Cardo PacTalk Bold, Klim Dakkar gloves (all carried from Singapore), jeans.

  • Luggage: I used a Karrimor 70L duffel from Sports Direct; it was ok, a good size for the trip, water-resistant, pretty poor quality. My other bag was my trusted Pacsafe Dry-Lite 30L water-resistant backpack, which also served as a lockable portable safe (BUT: the one you really need is the Pacsafe Anti-Theft Waterproof Safe - it does it all). I used Apple Airtags in both bags, and had another under the seat on the Aerox.

  • Straps: I used my trusty Rok Straps to secure my bags on the back of the bike.

Duration & Distances

  • 6 days of riding / 5 stops / 22.5 hrs riding / 965 km

  • Details of all rides and stops are below in Trip Reports

  • Ferries may be an integral part of your trip to and from Sumbawa. At the bottom of this page or elsewhere in my blog you can read about to my experiences of ferries, Sumbawa from/to Lombok and from/to Flores, including the notorious Sape port.

Cost

  • As with Indo in general, the costs were pretty low, around USD 50/day. I didn't do precise tracking, but can guestimate the following in USD:

    • Accom: $18/d

    • Gas: $3-5/d

    • F&B: $15/d

Insurance

  • Motorcycle: I didn't take out motorcycle insurance (can't remember why, but I am pretty sure it was because the bike had insurance, and/or is was not available to me for the rental(?).

  • Travel/Medical: I used World Nomads travel insurance which covers motorcycle riding and other action-oriented activities, US$675 for 6 months.

Roads & Driving

  • The roads were mostly excellent, as is the case everywhere I have traveled in Indo (I rode 5,000+ km in 2023).

  • Drivers in Sumbawa were very civilized, I didn't experience any type of incident that could be classified as ignorant or unsafe. In general, the traffic moves fairly slowly, and there are not a lot of vehicles on the road.


Weather

Honestly, this was not much of a consideration when I planned and departed. But I experienced no rain at all in April/May.


Communication & Safety

No major issues. English is spoken in varying degrees in most places, certasinly less so than toursit islands. It was totally safe!


Mobile & Wifi

I used Telekomsel pre-paid. I recommend you get a SIM service plan that is pan-Indonesia, as some plans work only in certain areas, example: a West Nusa Tengarra SIM does not work in Flores, so you then need to buy a new SIM - irritating. I only used data (no voice) and service was pretty good everywhere I traveled.


Accommodation

Great basic rooms everywhere, less than USD 20/day. Mostly no hot water in Sumbawa. Shown below are 1) an over-priced room at Sape that was seriously dirty; 2) the view from the shared balcony at YoYo Beach; 3) California wildman Bob's new guesthouse at Lakey Beach.


F&B

  • It's mainly Indo food in Sumbawa, tough I did eat some decent Chinese in Sumbawa Besar, and there is some excellent Aussie-stlye dining atv YoYo.

  • Sumbawa is a conservative Muslim island, alchohol is not prevelant outside tourists areas like Lakey/Hu'u and YoYo.


Sights

While not as dynamic as Flores, Sumbawa has some great sights and history. Tambora is awe-inspiring both visually and when you consider it's consequences: the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, one that altered the world's temperature, where something like 6000 vertical feet of mountain-top was blasted off. Saleh Bay in the middle of the island is like a huge lake. It is becoming popular as a Whale Shark viewing. Beaches at YoYo and Hu'u/Lakey are excellent. Sumbawa Besar has some interesting historical buildings. The island is not as a dry and poor as I recall from 1992, when I saw kids with swollen stomachs from malnution and the landscape seems like a bleak dry wasteland (maybe it was seasonal?). Today Sumbawa appears to be as developed as everywhere else in Indonesia.


Activities

Place I visited and recommend and things I did there (and some I didn't do but are worth considering):

  • Surfing: at Hu'u / Lakey Beach (I did, seemed ok for a beginner/refresher) and YoYo Beach (I didn't, was told you needed to be an expert, or can expect "to die")

  • Whale Shark viewing (I didn't do): Aiypayah is becoming a renowned locale for viewing

  • Diving: I was told that Molo Island offers great diving, will try one day in the future

  • Hiking: you can do multi-day hikes to the summit of Tambora


Trip reports

There are detailed descriptions of my rides from/to and stays at the later.

Sumbawa: YoYo Beach > Lombok: Gili Trawangan


The maps below provide a good view of the road routes I followed. Click on the "window" top left for ride-to-from details.



More Indonesia touring:

In 2023 I completed some other extended tours riding in Indonesia. Read more here:


Questions?

Drop me a line at sdasia@gmail.com, happy to help.

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