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Van Zakolin has ridden solo to Singapore. On Friday he leaves Phnom Penh for Italy, 12,400 miles away, on a machine assembled in Cambodia.
PHNOM PENH — Van Zakolin leaves the Cambodian capital on Friday morning bound for Milan, and the most interesting thing about the journey is what he is sitting on.
Zakolin, far better known by the name he rides and publishes under, Frost ZK, will attempt to cover about 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers) overland aboard a Calypso Motors Xplorer 180cc — the flagship of Cambodia’s homegrown motorcycle manufacturer, designed and assembled in Sen Sok district on the edge of Phnom Penh. If the ride goes to plan, he arrives in Italy in time for EICMA, the world’s largest motorcycle exhibition, which opens to trade visitors and press on Nov. 3 and to the public Nov. 5 at Fiera Milano in Rho.
Calypso Motors says no motorcycle built in Cambodia has been ridden to Europe before.
That is the wager the company is making. Calypso builds three models — the Ori 125, the Nijia 125 and the new Xplorer 180 — pairing Cambodian assembly with engineering from its Canadian technology partner, Startec Dynamics, in a market long dominated by established Japanese and Chinese brands. Arriving at EICMA under its own power, having crossed Asia and Europe to get there, is a considerably louder argument than a stand at the show.
The Xplorer carries Calypso’s Startec smart system, which provides GPS tracking, theft protection and maintenance alerts. The company says engineers in Phnom Penh will monitor the motorcycle’s position and mechanical condition throughout the ride — 12,400 miles of continuous real-world data on a new model, gathered across terrain and climates no test track reproduces.
Few manufacturers of any size test a new model this publicly, or this far from home.
Zakolin is an unusually well-qualified person to generate it. He began filming from the saddle in 2013, using a phone taped inside his helmet, and is widely credited as Cambodia’s first motovlogger. He has spent 13 years covering long distances on small-displacement machines and publishing the results, under a motto he has kept since the beginning: projecting Cambodia’s beauty on two wheels.
In 2023 he rode alone from Cambodia through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore, about 4,350 miles across 30 days.
Milan is nearly three times that. Riders on the Asia-to-Europe overland route contend with high-altitude passes, border bureaucracy, extremes of heat and cold, and long stretches where fuel, parts and assistance are scarce. Zakolin is going anyway, and going on a Cambodian bike.
Bastien Sbrovazzo, Calypso Motors’ director of global operations, saw him off from the company’s facility this week after several months of preparation.
Whether an Xplorer can be ridden from the Mekong to Lombardy is, for now, an open question. Friday morning is when it stops being theoretical.
The journey will be documented as it happens across three sets of channels: Zakolin’s own accounts, Calypso Motors’ brand channels, and Good Morning Cambodia, which is contributing coverage of the ride.
Building G, Phnom Penh Center, Corner of Sihanouk Blvd (274) & Sothearos Blvd (3), Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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