DIY $3.50 Exhaust Header Rust Removal

After quite a bit of use, the once-shiny stainless steel exhaust headers on the BMW R1200GS is beginning to look a little dated. Thick brown-black crud and rust has collected on its surface and looks like it’s slowly eating into the metal. I’ve seen some YouTube videos on an inexpensive homemade solution to rust removal….

$2.50 for the bottle of Harpic, and $1 for the Scotch Brite sponge pad.

Yes – Harpic! That magical toilet cleaner also works great on the stainless steel exhaust headers! Continue reading “DIY $3.50 Exhaust Header Rust Removal”

Sunday Morning Ride to Linggui Reservoir

This week, we head to Linggui Reservoir! It’s a short 1hr ride to Linggui. But to access the reservoir’s entrance, we had to travel through a short off-road section. The entrance was locked and guarded, and although we didn’t get to see the reservoir itself, we had some fun exploring the area.

GS playground ahead!
Thankfully, the track was dry.

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1000 Corner Malaysia Ride

It’s the Easter long weekend! And what better way to spend the long weekend than to take a motorcycle road trip? So that’s what we did! 18 bikes, divided into 3 smaller teams, made our way up to KL and its surroundings for a “1000 Corner Malaysia” ride – inspired by RiderChris’ blogpost.

What started as 18 bikes, ended up with 17 making it up to KL – with 1 rider having to tow his bike back due to a minor accident on the NSHW. Then it dropped to 16 bikes the next day when another rider had to return to Singapore as a family member was hospitalised.

The 1000 Corner Route – 584km and 12hrs of continuous riding according to Google Maps.

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Sunday Morning Ride to Pekan Nanas and Durian Plantation

This Sunday morning, we head to Pekan Nanas for a photoshoot (I needed a banner pic of my bike for this blog) and then to a short off-road section to Zhong Cheng plantation. The weather was beautiful this morning – with heavy cloud cover and just a tad drizzle to keep all of us cool.

Lining up our bikes against the amazing backdrop of Pekan Nanas.
Beautiful biking roads!

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V-Sys M2F DVR install on the BMW R1200GS LC

One of the must-have electronic accessories on a motorcycle these days is an onboard digital video recorder, or DVR. A DVR hooked up to the bike not only helps capture those amazing biking moments, but also serves as a faithful witness in the event of an accident. And since I had some time on a Saturday morning, I decided to go DVR shopping.

I had eyes on the V-Sys M2F dual full-HD Wifi DVR for some time now. I did a little research on Carousell, and found a local seller that goes by the name of “apexmotorcycle”. Headed down to their shop along Changi Road with the intention of picking up the unit and installing it myself.

Boy! Was I in for a rude shock!

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LED Fog Lights install on the R1200GS LC

With my $5 relay-switched power setup installed, I can now go ahead and slap on some fog lights / aux lights on the BMW R1200GS LC.

Some inexpensive high-quality Chinese waterproof motorcycle LED fog lights. Not everything on the BMW has to be an expensive Denali, Clearwater, SW-Motech or Wunderlich.

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Wiring up for power on the BMW R1200GS LC

I would love to install some electronic accessories such as fog lamps, USB power and DVR camera (just to name a few) to my newly acquired BMW R1200GS LC. As I was researching on how to wire up to supply power to these components, I’ve come across a diverse range of opinions from the “unlike the Japanese bikes, you should never mess with the CAN-bus system of the BMW” to the really expensive solutions such as Fuzeblocks (USD90) and Hex ezCan (USD170).

While the above gadgets have some additional fanciful features to justify their price tags, in reality, I was searching for a simple, elegant, inexpensive solution to power my electronics without interfering with the CAN-bus on the BMW and must also not fry the onboard electronics of the R1200GS should any of the add-on electronics decide to turn rogue.

I was pretty impressed by the BMW R1200GS LC under-seat super-neat layout.

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Sunday Morning Ride to Kluang

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.

The working railway station in Kluang.

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”