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.
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!
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”The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) display on my G650GS Sertao started screaming at me this morning. It appears that the battery on the rear sender unit has depleted and needs replacement.
I purchased this third party TPMS monitor for the Sertao as it did not come with one from factory. The built-in TPMS on my R1200GS had saved me a few times and warned me of a tire puncture before the tire turned truly flat. But as with most BMW stuff, it was severely over-priced. Back when I had to replace the TPMS sender unit on the R1200GS, it was $155 per piece. And it doesn’t even include installation! The GS-911 helped saved me a few dollars and I could easily program the 1200GS to talk to the newly replaced sensors.
Last ride for 2020! And what a challenging year this has been! Still in Phase 2 of the Circuit Breaker here in Singapore, 4 of us gathered to do an around Singapore ride on this last Sunday morning of 2020, and a photoshoot session to end off the year.
I was resisting installing a set of crash bars on my Sertao. Reason being, the R1200GS used to be my primary bike, and the Sertao – my “dirt bike”. And I wanted to keep the weight low on the Sertao.
Now that I no longer own the R1200GS, the BMW G650GS Sertao is now my “primary bike”. For dirt fun? I have my DR(e)Z! (More on that another time…)
I loved the looks of the SW-Motech crash bars! I’ve looked at AltRider’s, looked at Touratech’s, considered the cheap Chinese-made “Touratech lookalikes” sold on AliExpress, and even bought the Givi ones some time back (sold them away later). I think there’s something real beautiful about the SW-Motech’s design.
Continue reading “SW-Motech Crash Bars on the BMW G650GS Sertao”The BMW G650GS has a dry oil sump design and has its oil reservoir situated where the fuel tank typically resides. And in typical BMW fashion, it requires a speciality tool to remove the oil cap. Yes, the bike’s accompanying tool kit does contain a multi-use wrench that would also open the oil fill cap. But accessing the tool pouch was an inconvenient 4-step process – top box removal, panel removal (using key), seat removal, then tool pouch removal (which is a pain due to the really tight space the tool pouch is situated).
So, for garage maintenance, and to encourage periodic checking of engine oil levels, I’d prefer to have a tool readily available.
The ones on eBay cost easily over $20. Just for a dumb piece of plastic – $20?!! So in true DIY fashion, after some measuring, I realised that any 22-23mm hexagonal tool should do the job. I dumped the idea of 3D-printing it – as it’ll likely cost as much as the $20 eBay tool for such a low-volume production.
Continue reading “The 60cents DIY BMW G650GS Oil Fill Cap Removal Tool”I missed the cruise control on my R1200GS. Now with the 1200 gone, and the G650GS being my primary bike, I was searching for ways to introduce a cruise control-like feature on the otherwise low-tech bike. Until I came across the Kaoko Throttle Stabilizer!
The Kaoko isn’t a real cruise control. It simply adds some adjustable friction to the throttle to keep it in place. The solution is simple and elegant. And dare I say, not as “dangerous” as it sounds. It doesn’t lock the throttle at all, but merely introduces friction to hold it in place. Even with the additional friction employed (ie, cruise control ON), it was still relatively easy to ease off on the throttle merely by twisting it forward. Granted that it won’t “spring back”, but nothing a little twist of the wrist can’t handle.
Continue reading “Kaoko Throttle Control on the G650GS Sertao”
It’s been almost 3 months since we’ve all been virtually imprisoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And I’ve not met my riding buddies in that same period of time. And since this was the first weekend since the Singapore government lifted the lockdown measures preventing social gathering, we took the chance to go for a ride!
We all desperately needed a ride. Of course, being good citizens and residents of Singapore, we kept the group size to a maximum of 5.
Continue reading “First Post Lockdown Sunday Morning Ride”
