This Sunday morning, we rode to Kluang for dim sum! And we had 2 new SMR Riders – Colin on his KTM 1290, and Aaron on his MT10. Welcome!
Sunday Morning Ride – Dim Sum at Kluang
Category: BMW R1200GS
The BMW R1200GS is one HELLUVA TOUGH BEAST!
Yup! My first road accident with the BMW R1200GS. I was travelling along the a dual-lane, single-carriageway (a single lane for each direction of travel) road when a car dashed out from a minor road without checking if it was clear of traffic. He was making a right-turn, and presumably started moving off after only checking for traffic coming from his left.
I tried to avoid him by evasively swerving slightly to my right (not too much – there was oncoming traffic from the other direction!), sounded my horn to warn him, but to my complete surprise, he still came dashing out! [FACEPALM!]
Yes, I was T-boned from my left…
Continue reading “The BMW R1200GS is one HELLUVA TOUGH BEAST!”Riding up to Mae Hong Son – Day 10, 11 & 12
And so we begin our long ride home. While there was no cargo space from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, we were hopeful that there was space available from Bangkok to Hat Yai. Thing is, we didn’t want to risk riding into Bangkok and getting stuck in the world-famous traffic jam only to find out otherwise. So as we headed south, we turned into Nakhon Pathom – a stop just after Bangkok and tried our luck.
Continue reading “Riding up to Mae Hong Son – Day 10, 11 & 12”Riding up to Mae Hong Son – Day 5 to 7
DAY 5, 17 DEC (MON) – MAE SOT to MAE HONG SON
Today, we travel to Mae Hong Son. Mae Hong Son is the name of both the province and a town. But before we head to MHS, we did a short detour to the Thai-Myanmar border.
Riding up to Mae Hong Son – Day 1 to 4
We’ve been planning and talking about this trip for almost a year! Mae Hong Son – somewhere in the northern region of Thailand – always has a special place in every motorcycle rider’s heart. With beautiful roads, amazing scenery and 1864 of fun-packed twisty bends to negotiate, it’s motorcycling Nirvana.
The Mae Hong Son loop typically starts from Chiang Mai, and most people work the loop clockwise as the roads starts of relatively easy, and gets progressively more challenging. It connects Chiang Mai to Doi Inthanon, to Mae Cheam, Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son, and Pai, before ending up in Chiang Mai. And while I’ve done it in back in 2016 on my Pulsar 200NS, this time, I’m doing the loop with company. 7 friends rode up from Singapore to northern Thailand over 12 days and had a blast of a time!
Continue reading “Riding up to Mae Hong Son – Day 1 to 4”Big GS Meets Little GS – The BMW G650GS Sertao
Ah! Today, the big fat red girl meets her smaller, slimmer, but equally pretty white sibling. And so, the GS siblings meet for the first time.
She’s beautiful, graceful, and just does everything so well. And many a times when admiring her gorgeous looks while sipping a cup of coffee from a near distance away, I’ve caught her posing for fans who instinctively whipped out their iPhones to capture a selfie while standing beside her. She’s not only a looker, but the R1200GS LC is an excellent all-rounder and is superbly comfortable on long distance mile munching tours.
But she and I share a common challenge Continue reading “Big GS Meets Little GS – The BMW G650GS Sertao”
To Melaka, 530km round trip – for Dinner!
Siu Hon suggested heading to Melaka for dinner, and since any reason to ride is a good reason! So off to Melaka we headed, and we made that 530km round trip – just for dinner!
We arranged to meet 6:30pm at Petronas, Gelang Patah. But the weather didn’t seem to agree with us. The skies opened before we left Singapore, and poured onto us all before we could even rendezvous at Gelang Patah for the ride up. This however, gave us the perfect opportunity to test some of our recently acquired wet weather gear in prep for our major trip to Northern Thailand in December.
As you can see, Siu Hon’s wet weather gear didn’t hold up too well. His waterproof boots turned into a mini aquarium – collecting water that cascaded from his poorly sealed waist area all the way into the boots itself! Eeek!
Continue reading “To Melaka, 530km round trip – for Dinner!”
Pirelli Scorpion Trail II – Review at 16,152km (10,036mi)
And so I swapped out my set of 16,000km or 10,000 miles Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2’s from my BMW R1200GS LC for a new set of…. Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2’s! Yes, I liked the tires enough to want to buy it again! It has exceeded all my expectations on the tires.
In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that my rear tires recently got TWO punctures, and that I’m planning for a major trip soon, I’d probably feel comfortable running the tires for another 4,000km at least. Yes, it IS a heck of a long lasting adventure / sport touring tires!
Continue reading “Pirelli Scorpion Trail II – Review at 16,152km (10,036mi)”
Sunday Morning Dirt Trail Ride
As if last week’s dirt riding with Dirt State wasn’t enough, we headed to the trails again this week. Only this time, with our very own bikes!
Maintenance on the R1200GS LC
So it’s time for servicing on the BMW R1200GS wethead again. As I’m preparing for a major trip in December, thought it would be prudent to get this out of the way. This round, it’s air filter, spark plugs, and final drive gear oil on top of the usual engine oil replacement.
