art of speed malaysia 2025

Journey to Art of Speed Malaysia

As part of the show tour of Project Delta, our Royal Enfield Collaboration build. We were invited to Art Of Speed Malaysia. As the first major show I’ve attended anywhere outside Australia I had no Idea what to expect. This article will give you a run down on our whole trip, the Art Of Speed show, visits to a few local custom workshops and some tips if you ever want to attend Art of Speed Malaysia (it’s mind blowing, so I’d definitely recommend it.)

Art of speed runs over 2 jam packed days, starting at 9 AM and finishing officially around 7 PM with after parties running late into the night in the outside area of the show venue. 2025 had 3 separate indoor halls, and the outdoor areas hosted smaller specialised events like Scooter City and a VW and Porsche show in an underground carpark.

Main Hall Thrills with Custom Bikes and Cars

Main Hall hosted all of the show bikes, industry displays, show cars and a heap of merch, with stalls scattered among the bike displays.

The cars on display ranged from a huge display of Bosozoku style customs, American hotrods + Lowriders and even a bunch of 4x4 builds.

In terms of motorcycles we were treated to everything you’d expect from a huge show in South East Asia. Small CC long bikes, custom scooters, SR500’s in every guise imaginable, and even a pretty nice array of vintage HD choppers.

Each year Art of Speed invites a few top tier international builders, this year having some insane bikes on display from fellow Aussie Ben Foster with a custom built WLA chopper, and Japanese builders Luck MC with Masa San’s signature style chromed out knuckle head, and Custom Works Zon and Yuichi Sans a BMW R18 that can’t be defined with a genre.

Inside the Royal Enfield Malaysia Experience

Our build was hosted with the Royal Enfield Malaysia stall, alongside builds from AMS garage (Bali) and Hedgehog Motorcycles with a Hunter 350 build.

The main stage was located in this hall with bands kicking off in the arvo and playing ‘til close. I wasn’t familiar with any of them, but some epic bands played so I made sure to check out a few sets, the crowd was manic and at one stage there were more people crowd surfing than I could count.

Hall 2 was packed out with vintage clothing and fashion stalls, brands coming in from all over Malaysia and internationally including Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. There were a bunch of epic vintage or salvage stalls, mixed in with new gear, a hip hop stage and a bunch of culture displays. Its easy to get lost for hours digging through racks in here, although I didn’t get much time.

Hall 3 was probably the most mind blowing. A huge indoor hall decked out with hundreds of Hot Wheels vendors, each with thousands of cars to swap and sell. I’m not into this stuff at all but it was crazy to see just how many people are so into these collectibles. I took a walk around one afternoon and saw some epic stuff. They have custom paint competitions, the lead hot wheels designer in house for talks, and the best thing I saw was a few guys making diorama style displays of actual workshops. If they had motorcycles I would have got one done of the PBM workshop.

A Paradise for Bike and Music Lovers

The outdoor events have a coffee garden, another live music stage and everyone's favourite - the bike show carpark.

Certain clubs ride through the main entrance like a parade street so throughout the day you get to check out a bunch of wild locally built bikes.

Wandering through the grounds at any given time you can stop and check out the local guys' bikes, have a chat with them about the build and they’ll often trade stickers with you or jacket patches.

Nearly all of the locals speak great English (especially the younger guys.)

Exploring the Heart of Malaysia’s Moto Scene

Everyone I met was super friendly and just seemed stoked that someone had come all the way from Australia to take part in the Malaysian moto culture. Once the event wrapped up we headed back into the city.

The event is located outside the CBD of KL by about 40 minutes. It will cost you about $20AUD to get a taxi or grab out there.

The city is littered with clubhouses and local moto stores - you just have to know where to look or get invited to one of the many after parties held after the show.

There are hundreds of ride clubs in KL where a bunch of mates get together, all rent a small industrial shed and set up a workshop for them and they guys, some bigger than others with bars, cafés and clothing stores attached to help fund the community workshop and events they run.

Late Night Adventures on Two Wheels

I was lucky enough to get invited to a couple of these clubhouses for a late night ride and Kopi (coffee) crawl.

Most of Malaysia is Muslim so If you’re looking for a booze heavy trip this probably isn’t the place. You can get beers in some places, and locals are very accommodating (they’ll get you drinks if you want em) but most of the time I didn’t bother if I was just with the locals as I’d be the only one doing it.

The late night rides were my favourite, I’d jump on whatever bike was offered to me, hit the street and bounce between club houses and cafes until 3 AM some days.

The highways and roads are quiet and you can actually get a decent ride in without battling traffic. If you get the chance definitely get out on one of these rides.

Exploring Penang with a Local Legend

After the show I took a train to Penang to vistit a mates shop in Butterworth. Pa’din Musa Is a local hero skater, and chopper builder.

We met on the wonderful Indonesia tourism ride last year and became fast mates. I went to check out his shop, hang out in his home town and eat some local foods with local dudes.

Getting out of the city was a must for me, I like going to small places and eating strange foods. The street food in Malaysia is out of control, so eat all of it you can.

Where to stay:

If you’re just there for the show there are some nice hotels aroud Putryjaya near the show venues at MAEPS Serdang, but if you’re going all that way for Art of Speed treat yourself to some local culture and stay in the city then commute to the show.

I stayed around Jalan Alor (the major street food market) in a couple of different hotels.

If you’re scared of street food there are a heap of really nice sit down restaurants, and irish bars etc that you can get your white boy chicken parmi at.

Bike shops to visit:

I was givent the chance to visit a number of local bike builders, work shops and club houses, but unless they are open for retail a lot of it is Invite only. Your best chance is to meet some of these guys at the show, or touch base with them and they may invite you along for the ride.

I won’t show you where these guys are located, but instead list a few of my favourite builders we met there that you can check out.

Padin Musa – Penang - https://www.instagram.com/padinmusa/

Omar, Eastern Bobber - https://www.instagram.com/omar_jumiran/

Muto Head – Shovel Chopper guys - https://www.instagram.com/mutohead/

Royal Enfield Batu Caves - https://www.instagram.com/royalenfield_batucaves/

Zam, Rotten Motorcycles – Vintage triumph Penang - https://www.instagram.com/rottenmotocycles/

Thoy Cycles – Thailand - https://www.instagram.com/thoycyclesofficial/

Baga Builds – Singapore - https://www.instagram.com/bagabuilds/

JF Kustoms Moto - Phillipines - https://www.instagram.com/jfkustomsmoto/

Kustommanila – Phillipines - https://www.instagram.com/kustomanila_ph/

Places to eat and drink:

Jalan Alor: This place has every street food spot imaginable. You could eat here for a week and not get the same thing twice. The surrounding streets have more upper class eats if meat on sticks isn’t your thing, but just sack up and soak in the culture.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/a1XgSewFtFntc2dm8

Doplohtiga Burger: This is a mates burger place, best burger I’d had in a long time no joke. Some of my mates went back here and ate 3 times in the week.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iJG8pMCn8hiJrbZv5

Groots Café / Adipati Bertiga: This place is attached to one of those club houses I was telling you about. Nice dudes with a bunch of custom choppers hanging out the front and attached to a rad clothing store downstairs. Go check it out!

https://www.adipatibertiga.com/

What to eat in Malaysia:
Some of my favourite local dishes while I was there (I’m a big food guy)

Nasi Kandar – Rice and curry dish originating in penang. Each place does their own version of this with chicken or beef and has a heap of add ons so you can make it how you like it.

Nasi Lemak – Coconut rice, Beans, cucumber, fried sardines usually served with roast chicken

Ayam Tenders – It seems like the whole country is crazy about chicken tenders and I’m here for it.

Street food sticks – There are trailers and small grills set up throughout the city that offer epic charcoal grilled shish kebabs, beef lamb, chicked and a heap of seafood options. Baby octopus was my pick, and if I can eat a stick of meat while cruising the sights I will.

Roti Canai – Traditional Breakfast dish Its roti bread (epic) with eggs or an omelette rolled inside (even better) served with a curry sauce or 2 and some chicken if you want it (finishing move). We had this when we sat down for breakfast with Pa’din Musa, had to be my favourite meal of the trip.

I had an incredible time hanging out and soaking up the culture in Malaysia, made special by the people we met. You should schedule a visit for Art of Speed the next chance you get, I promise it won’t disappoint.

Get more details here:
https://www.instagram.com/artofspeedmy/

https://artofspeedmy.com/