I was lucky to know Stephen for a couple of years, met him through Brian from Chiang Rai Big Bikes who ive known for years, Brian and Stephen are/were partners in their Chiang Rai UTV tours, which was just getting going when this Covid bullship came along, ive known Brian way before I lived in Chiang Rai (2 x years now)
I got along great with Steve, yes he had a stutter and spoke loudly, maybe he was partially deaf but you would not meet a more helpful bloke, a real character...........ive got lots of great memories...............only last tuesday I took my Honda into Chiang Rai for a service and new chain.......... I headed to my usual Rose Bar about 5pm for a few beers, I messaged Steve to ask him about his plans to ride to Si Satchanalai for the GTR Christmas Dinner, his reply...........fooken hell Gav are you in CR now ?, yes mate, give me 30min and ill come join you, and so did Mark from Phaya Mengrai..............we met the following day and had a great ride to the GTR dinner
Another time me and Stephen and Jamie from Chiang Rai rode down together to Chiang Mai for the 2020 GTR Memorial Ride..... we went via Fang, Steve says ive a got a different route to take you through the mountains to Chiang Mai..........I asked him, is that the turnoff at Hinoki Land, the Japanese Temple and he said No............ 15min later we turn left at the Japanese Temple
........... I questioned Steve and his reply, when the fook did they build that, it wasnt there before
.... made me laugh, its huge
Looking at all the photos being posted today shows he had lots of good mates........................only a few weeks ago I went to Chiang Rai for a night out, I went past the UTV Tours workshop and stopped as Steves bike was out the front.......... what are you upto Gav ?, I said I was just out sightseeing, was headed to the suspension bridge over the Mae Kok river but stayed at Steves workshop instead, got the grand tour of the plans for the new Coffee Shop, work in progress with lots of custom touches................he said lets have a drink, I passed him 100 baht and said my buy, no fooking way Gav, you come to my workshop I buy the drinks, too early for a beer for me so we had a coke together
Out of the photos being posted today brought back good memories, some I had forgotten about.................he was a fast rider, and I always say if you want to go fast Steve go 1st, just wait at the next turnoff, which he did, you would see him parked up with a smoke in his mouth
............after our lastride, if I had of known he was going to leave us so soon I would of given him a big hug and said I am going to really miss you
Till we meet again Stephen, Princy or China Steve as he was known RIP
