Ramblings of a Singapore Biker Boy
Adventures and micro-adventures on a motorcycle
Do you keep your motorcycle helmet in your topbox or side cases? What about your riding jacket and riding gloves? If you do, like me, then you’ll find that the boxes start to smell after awhile. Now here’s a tip…
The added advantage is that this leaves your helmet and riding gear smelling fresh and ready to wear when you return to bike from that lunch / dinner / shopping stop!
It’s Sunday Morning Ride again! Today, we have 2 BMW R1200GS, 1 BMW R1200RS, 2 Honda CB400X, 1 Honda Super 4, and a Yamaha XJ6 Diversion.
We head to Kluang today. The group had actually just been there some 3 weeks ago. I was supposed to join them, but I was confined to bed rest as I had hurt my back back then.
Kluang is the first northbound train station from Johor Bahru, and the Malaysian authorities seem to be promoting it as somewhat of a tourist place. Continue reading “Sunday Morning Ride to Kluang”
Some of you may have already known that I’ve recently passed my Class 2 license exam. But what many probably didn’t know is that I took the Class 2 TP test just one day after my birthday. So what better way to celebrate both my passing of the license exam and my birthday than shopping for a new bike?
I’ve always dreamt of owning and riding the Continue reading “Welcome to my stable, my new stallion!”
Today is the day! My Traffic Police motorcycle Class 2 license test is today! Yup! This is it! The pinnacle of motorcycle licensing in Singapore. For those who don’t already know, there are three tiers of motorcycle licensing in Singapore. You start off with Class 2B which limits you to a bike below 200cc displacement. You wait a year later to take the Class 2A test – 200cc to 400cc. And yet another year later before one is qualified to do the Class 2 test – 400cc and above – essentially, an unrestricted license.
I was worried. Just a mere 2 weeks back, I had a severe back injury where I was ambulance’d to the hospital. I snapped my back while lifting a load and I could neither sit up nor stand. Thankfully, it wasn’t a slipped disc nor a broken spine. The x-ray suggested that I tore a muscle, and the prescribed treatment was bed rest. Bummer… But lying on the hospital bed, I was worried sick that I would not be able to recover in time for the motorcycle practical test. And since the Class 2 curriculum requires laying a dummy bike on the floor and then picking it up again, that back injury so near the test date certainly wasn’t very helpful. =(
This morning, we head to Mersing! 2 DRZ’s, 3 Honda’s and a Yamaha – we met at B-Point for a quick breakfast and headed off towards the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
As there was a recent road closure of the main road towards Mersing, Google Maps took us on some amazing winding roads to around the supposedly closed road – and Boy! It was some motorcycle paradise! Continue reading “Sunday Morning Ride to Mersing”
It’s been a tad over 7,000km since my last oil change. And of late, I’ve noticed that gear changing on the 400X seem to have gotten a little clunkier. Definitely not as smooth as I once remembered it to be. And so there I was contemplating the decision as to whether I should pamper my machine with some fresh engine oil.
But then, this clunky gearshift appears to be rather random too – sometimes shifting from one gear to the next feels like the gearbox of an agricultural tractor; but on other occasions, it could feel as smooth as a well-oiled precision machinery. And so I figured that it shouldn’t be the case of the engine oil approaching end of life.
The stock CB400X grips not only felt hard, but weren’t…. well… grippy. I find myself subconsciously gripping onto my handlebars tighter, and thus occasionally leading to numb fingers – especially on some of my longer rides. I’ve previously tried Grip Puppies on my previous motorcycle, but due to my small’ish hands, I didn’t like the grip’s enlarged diameter. And since I’ve heard a lot of good things about BMW’s rubber grips, I decided to give them a try!
I’m a durian lover! And this Sunday Morning, we ride to Zhong Cheng Durian Plantation! At less than 50km from the Causeway checkpoint, the durian farm is pretty near Singapore actually. And when we arrived, there’s a short 750m or so of dirt track before we reach the plantation.
Continue reading “Sunday Morning Ride to Zhong Cheng Durian Farm”
Last Sunday morning, I rode alone. This Sunday, with a large bunch of friends – some old, some new. I counted 19 bikes. We took a leisurely ride to Sedili jetty. And the highlight of our trip to Sedili?…. Eggs!
Today, I ride alone. Kinda reminds me of my 2-month solo ride – where it was just myself, my motorcycle, and my thoughts. It’s pretty therapeutic actually! Today, I head to Mersing – the gateway to the islands of Pulau Tioman and Pulau Aur.
Continue reading “Sunday Morning Ride to Mersing and Kluang”
