Ramblings of a Singapore Biker Boy
Adventures and micro-adventures on a motorcycle
What better way to spend the Deepavali long weekend than to ride with friends? And for this long weekend, I took my trusty BMW G650GS Sertao up to Kellie’s Castle and enjoyed the refreshing cool air of Cameron Highlands!
Okay, I’ll admit – I haven’t been updating this site for quite some time. Had meant to go riding last Sunday, but the morning thunderstorm forced us to retreat back into our warm comfy beds. This Sunday’s weather was thankfully much better. In fact, perfect for riding – nice overcast skies made the day Goldilocks-like – not too hot and not too cold.
I’ve had the DRZ for almost 2 years. At 145kg wet, it was the lightest bike I’ve ever owned. Even my Pulsar 200NS (160kg wet) was more obese! I purchased it with the mainly for its low weight to build my off-tarmac confidence. I’ve since slapped on some Chinese wheels and converted it from its SM configuration to the Enduro version and took it on some off-road fun. It was unfortunate that it was acquired just before the borders were closed due to Covid-19, and have thus not had the opportunity to take it through some of Malaysia’s beautiful jungles and plantations.
It’s got a newfound home now. Farewell DRZ. Go forth and bring plenty of joy to your new owner!
After 2 long years, the Singapore-Malaysia land borders are finally reopening! Gotta prep my bikes for this momentous event! The last oil change on the Sertao was just over a year ago, and it’s barely hit 3000km. F*** you Covid!
I was going through my day as usual when I received an alert on my mobile phone. It was a WhatsApp text message shared in a rather closed-knit chat group.
It appears that the petrol companies here in Singapore have raised their pump prices yet again. Prices have risen by 4 to 5 cents a liter across the board. A liter of 95-octane gas now costs S$2.61 – this translates to approximately US$8.82/gal or US$1.94/liter for the non-SG folks reading this. Yup! Gas prices in Singapore is heavily taxed.
As consumers, we hate high prices. It was natural for rants to start appearing. Some blamed the government. Some expected the government to step in to regulate prices. One even commented in curiosity that prices were climbing despite crude oil being at its lowest during this period of time.
Yeah – LOWEST!….. Or is it?
Continue reading “Help! Pump prices are soaring!”
My favourite pair of motorcycle gloves were supposed to be touchscreen compatible. Strangely, after a couple of washes, the touchscreen magic seem to have worn off – leaving me which just, well, a pair of motorcycle gloves. And it’s extremely frustrating to have to remove the gloves every time I had to access my mobile phone’s GPS features.
So I found a set of cheap Chinese-made gamers’ finger gloves and decided to try them out. Now, instead of fitting them over my fingers, I simply capped them over my gloves instead.
Continue reading “How to Turn any Gloves Touchscreen Compatible (For Cheap!)”
Damn you Covid! Now that vaccination status in Singapore has past 70%, rules on social gathering have reverted to groups of maximum 5 persons instead of 2. Thus, we could (finally) go for rides in small’ish groups once again!
Welcome to my humble abode!
Had recently added a beast to the stable. This lil’ Monster is a fun, fun, fun machine! Small, zippy and growls in its deep signature throaty desmodromic note. Can’t wait to take this baby for some longer rides.
But before the borders re-open once again, I guess I’d have to go easy on the wrist and reign in the lead of this Italian stallion in the meantime. Damn you, Covid!
Continue reading “The Ducati Monster Joins the Stable”Why, why, why? Just when we could start gathering in small groups again, the Covid-19 situation in Singapore started popping. We gathered for the first Sunday ride together in weeks – and unknown to us then, also the last for the next couple of weeks (again).
At 8.5 years old and some 75,000km, the fuel pump on my G650GS Sertao failed. The engine died from fuel starvation and left me stranded some 500m from home. As I was a short distance away, I decided to push the bike home.
While at home, I whipped out my trusty GS-911 diagnostic tool an read the ECU for fault codes. And as suspected, the Sertao suffered from the infamous fuel pump failure. It is one of these times where I thought a carburated bike may actually not be that bad an idea after all!
Continue reading “G650GS Sertao Fuel Pump Failed”
