Da Lat Easy Riders: The Original Generation

DA LAT, VIETNAM – The early story of the Da Lat Easy Riders is often told as if there was one large organisation that existed unchanged for decades. From my experience, it was very different. The original group was small – roughly ten men – and many were former officers and servicemen of the former South Vietnamese armed forces. Later, younger and civilian riders joined the trade, learned from the older men and carried the Easy Rider name into a new generation…

A Small Group at the Beginning

When people talk about the old Da Lat Easy Riders today, they often imagine a large team of professional motorcycle guides.

That was not how it started.

The original group was small, around ten men in my recollection. Several were former officers and servicemen of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

This background mattered.

These men had lived through the war. They knew the Central Highlands, understood the history of the region and had personal experiences that could not be learned from a tour guidebook.

They also knew how to talk to foreign visitors.

For Western travellers coming to Vietnam in the 1990s and early 2000s, that combination was unusual.

A motorcycle ride could become something much more than transportation. A former serviceman could talk about the war, explain what had happened in a particular area and connect the landscape outside the window with events that had taken place there decades earlier.

That was one of the things that made the early Da Lat riders different.

The Name Became Bigger

There are different versions of exactly when the name Easy Rider became established.

Some current Da Lat operators claim roots going back to 1991 or 1992, while other accounts describe the name becoming established later after foreign travellers began using it.

From my own experience in the trade, the important point is not one particular year.

It is that the original group was small.

The Easy Rider name became known among Western travellers because these men could offer something that was difficult to find elsewhere: a motorcycle journey combined with local knowledge, English-language conversation, history and personal stories.

The reputation grew.

And once foreign travellers began asking for Easy Riders, more people wanted to become Easy Riders.

Then the New Riders Arrived

As the business became more successful, other local people joined.

Not all of them were former soldiers.

Many were ordinary Vietnamese men, some considerably younger than the original generation. They learned the routes, learned how to deal with foreign customers and learned the trade from the older riders.

There was nothing wrong with that.

In fact, this is how a profession develops.

A young rider could spend time with an experienced guide, learn the roads and attractions, improve his English and eventually become a capable Easy Rider himself.

The problem, in my view, came when the history of the profession was also changed.

Some newer riders began presenting themselves to Western customers as former ARVN veterans, even though they had not served in the South Vietnamese armed forces.

Others spoke about having decades of Easy Rider experience when, in reality, they had only been doing the job for one or two years.

That distinction matters.

Being an experienced motorcycle guide is one thing.

Being a former soldier who personally lived through the Vietnam War is something completely different.

And having learned the trade from an older Easy Rider does not mean that someone personally spent twenty or thirty years working as an Easy Rider.

Why Foreign Travellers Believed It

For many travellers, there was no easy way to know the difference.

A foreign visitor arriving in Da Lat could meet a rider who spoke good English, wore the familiar Easy Rider style of clothing and knew the standard stories about Vietnam’s war and history.

To the customer, it could all sound convincing.

And the Easy Rider reputation itself helped.

International travellers had already written about the experience. Reviews praised the guides for their English, knowledge of Vietnamese culture and history, and ability to take guests away from the normal tourist routes.

The name had become valuable.

Once a name becomes valuable, people naturally want to use it.

That is how the original group gradually became surrounded by many other riders using the same identity.

Learning the Trade Was Real

There is another side to this story.

The newer riders were not necessarily bad guides.

Many genuinely learned from the older generation.

They learned how to ride with foreign passengers, how to stop at villages and plantations, how to explain Vietnamese culture and how to build a relationship with guests.

Some became very good at the job.

That part of the story should not be dismissed.

What changed was the connection between the rider and the history behind the name.

A man who learned the profession from a former ARVN officer could become an excellent Easy Rider.

But he did not therefore become a former ARVN officer himself.

That is the distinction that has become blurred over the years.

What Happened After Covid

The biggest change came after the Covid period.

By then, most of the original generation had already become older. According to my own recollection, roughly 90 percent of those first-generation men had stopped working as active Easy Riders.

The people working under the Easy Rider name in Da Lat today are therefore largely from newer generations.

That does not mean they cannot be good guides.

It means the Da Lat Easy Riders of today are not the same group of men who created the reputation decades ago.

The name survived.

The profession survived.

But the people changed.

And with them, the original character of the trade changed as well.

Remembering the Original Riders

For me, the history of the Da Lat Easy Riders is not simply a story about motorcycles.

It is a story about a small group of Vietnamese men who found a way to use their knowledge, language skills and life experience to make a living by showing Vietnam to foreign visitors.

Some had been soldiers.

Some had lived through the war.

Some had remarkable personal stories.

They rode ordinary motorcycles through a Vietnam that was much poorer and less developed than the country travellers see today.

Later generations followed them.

Some learned the profession properly and became good guides. Others adopted stories that were not theirs to tell.

That is why the history of the original Da Lat Easy Riders deserves to be separated from the much larger Easy Rider business that came afterwards.

The motorcycles changed.

The riders changed.

The tourists changed.

But the story of the original generation should not disappear simply because the name Easy Rider became famous.

Nam Ngo
10 September 2026