Ramblings of a Singapore Biker Boy
Adventures and micro-adventures on a motorcycle
I received the news from the insurer today. The cost of repair for the R1200GS was economically unviable. And thus, the 1200GS was declared totalled – a complete write-off.
It’s been 2 wonderful years together and we’ve travelled some 40,000km. But it’s time to bid farewell now…
Continue reading “Bye bye R1200GS”It was the last day of the trip and I was almost home. In fact, a mere 300km from home. Southbound along the Malaysian North-South Highway, I just passed KL and was somewhere near Nilai, at about 10am in the morning, the GS went into a violent tankslapping mode. I fought it for a couple of seconds, but failed to regain control. I was eventually ejected from the seat of my GS – at highway speeds.
Did I high-side or or did I low-side? I honestly don’t know. I experienced retrograde amnesia. Till today, I have absolutely NO recollection of the accident as it happened nor the first 10-15mins after that – there’s a disturbing void in my memory.
At (just) 2 years and 7 months, the battery on my R1200GS died. Yup, the dealer had warned me when I sent the bike in for valve clearance adjustments and general servicing last month that the battery wasn’t in good condition. It was tested to have only 174CCA when it should be around the 200CCA mark. In fact, the battery manufacturer claims to be able to output up to 290CCA on this model – so that’s some seriously deteriorated life.
While 2 years and 7 months may initially seem like a respectable age for a motorcycle battery to last, I was disappointed.
Why?
Continue reading “Why I Won’t Be Using Lithium Batteries In My Bikes”It was the long weekend and we took the opportunity to ride!
In prep of our big ride coming up next month end, we wanted to use this 3-day ride to test our bikes and our resilience to long saddle hours. And so we planned for a 3-day ride round Peninsular Malaysia!
The original plan was to ride from Kelantan Lane in Singapore to Kelantan in Malaysia. To make the ride a little bit more interesting, we’ve decided to take the East Coastal roads of Peninsular Malaysia.
First time being pulled over by the Traffic Police, and I kept thinking what I did wrong! Ended up with a nice little surprise from the friendly officer – received a little goodie bag from the handsome looking officer for gearing up in proper riding attire!
Edit: I’ve been receiving numerous requests from curious commenters on what’s inside the goodie bag. So I took a little peek inside, and here goes…
Goodie bag contains: a tankpad protector, a head buff, a pen, a post-it notepad, and a FlashPay cashcard! Thank you TP!
Gear up and Ride Safe everyone!
It was an expected ride. Was planning to just fill up my R1200GS with cheap petrol across the Causeway and head home. But Siu Hon and I ended up linking with Kwong, Julian and Looi on some easy off-roading at the durian plantation!
My R1200GS left me stranded.
I was on my way to office on morning, merrily rolling along the usual morning traffic when I suddenly felt my rear wheel disengaged from the motor. Blipping the throttle only produced a cringe-worthy rattle with no power transfer to the wheel. And so I pulled to the side of the road and called BMW Assist.
I had to tow.
It’s Sunday Morning Ride again! This Sunday, we head to Yong Peng for some nasi briyani!
We rode up to Krabi! It’s always nice to go on road trips with friends.
As I’ve been pretty tied up with work lately – sorry, no writeup, only pics.
At 67,000km, my BMW R1200GS clutch switch failed. Symptoms include 1) not being able to start the bike while in gear and 2) not being able to switch riding modes while the bike is in motion.
You see, for either of the above 2 to work, the ECU must know that the clutch lever is FULLY pulled in. The R1200GS that comes with cruise control and/or shift assist pro use a set of dual microswitch instead of the typical single microswitch. The first part of the switch senses that the clutch lever is being slightly pulled in, and the second part senses if the clutch lever is fully pulled in.
