Product Review – Page 2 – Ramblings of a Singapore Biker Boy

Motul 7100 4T – French or French Colony?

I’ve been using Motul’s 7100 fully synthetic 4-stroke motor oils since my Pulsar riding days and have so far been pretty pleased with it. It’s reasonably priced and very readily available here in Singapore – which probably explains why its rather popular in this region.

BMW calls for SAE 5W40 API SL / JASO MA2 spec’ed oil for the R1200GS wethead. And since we never experience winter in this part of the world, Motul’s 7100 10W40 API SN JASO MA2 4T oil would likely be suitable. In fact, even the BMW dealer here – PML – uses Shell’s Advance Ultra 10W40 motorcycle oil.

Motul 7100 – 15W50 vs 10W40 side by side.

Since I had an old bottle of 15W50 with the remnant of my last DIY oil change on the Pulsar, I took it out and placed it beside the 10W40 just out of Continue reading “Motul 7100 4T – French or French Colony?”

Alpine MotoSafe Tour Earplugs Review

I’m a huge proponent of hearing protection while motorcycle riding. Long exposures to elevated noise levels WILL permanently damage hearing. And it’s not so much of the engine or exhaust noise, but the wind noise generated when riding at speeds that is blasting at the rider’s ear drums.

Some of you may have known that I had a poor experience with Pinlock’s motorcycle riding-specific earplugs. While they DO filter out the wind noise while keeping conversations legible really effectively, they get very uncomfortable after a long ride. My ears would hurt. And I wasn’t the only one experiencing this – 2 of my other riding buddies had a similar discomfort experience with Pinlock.

While 3M disposable foam earplugs seal noise EXTREMELY well, I didn’t like it that it blocks voice conversations too well too. The 3M foam’ies also makes it difficult to hear through my Sena 20S bluetooth communicator. So there I was on a quest to search for the perfect motorcycle riding-specific earplugs that come with a tuned noise filter. And then I found these… Continue reading “Alpine MotoSafe Tour Earplugs Review”

BMW Grip Replacement on my CB400X

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!

Brand new set of rubber grips from BMW Motorrad.

The LHS grip was a breeze to remove – just twist and pull until it slides out.

Continue reading “BMW Grip Replacement on my CB400X”

Amazing After-sales Service from Racing World Singapore

Quality service is hard to come by these days. While you may still occasionally come across some great pre-sales service – especially if you’ve displayed some buying signals and if the sales staff is eager to close the sale, great post-sales or after-sales service is rare. Very rare.

And I’m particularly pleased with Racing World Singapore and their service levels – especially their after-sales service.

Here’s what happened: Continue reading “Amazing After-sales Service from Racing World Singapore”

Pulsar 200NS 2nd Engine Bearing Failure in less than 1 year

At 55,000km on the odometer, my 4-year old Pulsar was due for an oil change. So after returning from a short Sunday morning ride to JB, I went to LAB and got myself some Motul 7100 15W50. Changing engine oil is a relatively simple maintenance procedure, and I’ve almost always been doing it myself. But today’s oil change was anything but typical.

As I drained the used engine oil and removed the magnetic oil strainer, my heart skipped a beat when I witnessed this:

AGAIN??!?!

For those who have been following my blog, you’d probably know that I experienced an engine breakdown due to a catastrophic camshaft bearing failure less than 1 year ago. In fact, I was almost stranded in Chiang Mai, Thailand, some 2,500km away from home where there wasn’t any Bajaj dealership in the country at all. I had to FedEx the engine parts up from Singapore to get the bike fixed. Similarly back then, the magnetic oil strainer caught a massive amount of metal shavings from the grounded down camshaft bearing.

Continue reading “Pulsar 200NS 2nd Engine Bearing Failure in less than 1 year”

Motul C3 (Off Road) Chain Lube Review

Some of you would know that I have been using Motul’s very popular C2 (Road) chain lube for a very long time. It was also my primary chain lubricant when I did my 11,000km over 49 days SE Asia Tour in 2016. While the topic of chain lube – like engine oil – is very much a controversial subject when it comes to “which one is the best”, everyone has their own favourite lube. Personally, when it comes to chain lube, my opinion is that as long as you clean and lube frequently, I suspect most brand-name chain lubes would work well to protect the chain and keep it running.

But of course, there are differences.

While I’m pretty certain that the Motul C2 Chain Lube kept my chain well lubed, it also tend to attract A LOT of gunk. A HELL LOT!! I’ve previously blogged about the gooey mess that have accumulated on my chain and front sprocket after I returned from my long tour. Yes, admittedly, I had traveled on some challenging terrains – including the dusty roads of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. But I suspect the accumulated gunk might have somewhat contributed to accelerated wear on my chain – leading to an eventual uneven distribution of wear along the chain length.

Notice the gooey paste on the chain and around the sprocket? That’s a concoction of Motul C2 + lots of dirt.

Continue reading “Motul C3 (Off Road) Chain Lube Review”

sgBikerBoy Reviews Pinlock Ear Plugs

So, it’s been awhile since I got the pair of Pinlock ear plugs. Since then, I’ve taken it on short rides, on longer rides, through city rides and even on the Malaysian highway run at triple-digit speeds, and I thought I’d pen my thoughts on this set of ear plugs.

First, a little bit about Pinlock – the company. Pinlock is a pretty recognised brand in the motorcycle industry and are very well known for their excellent anti-fog visor inserts for motorcycle helmets. So when they came up with the ear plugs, I was pretty confident that it would be a quality product too.

I’ve always believed in hearing protection during motorcycle riding. It’s not that motorcycles are noisy – it’s the WIND NOISE when riding at highway speeds that can cause irreversible hearing damage. I used to ride with cheap, disposable 3M foam ear plugs and love how it makes the ride just feel more comfortable and pleasant. Continue reading “sgBikerBoy Reviews Pinlock Ear Plugs”

WD-40 as a motorcycle chain cleaner

Motorcycle chain cleaning is an essential maintenance procedure on all chain-driven bikes. While everybody have their favorite chain cleaner, the topic of the suitability of WD-40 as a chain cleaner (and as a chain lube) is amongst the most controversial ones in chain maintenance chats. Some swear by it, while others swear at it.

The biggest concern motorcycle owners have on the choice of cleaning fluids on their o-ring (or x-ring, or z-ring) sealed chain is the effect of the fluid on the o-ring itself. The 0-rings serve as a seal that locks lubricating grease between the pin and the roller of the chain, significantly increase the chain’s useful life as compared to non-o-ring chains. Any deterioration of this rubber o-ring will allow grease to escape and contaminants such as dirt, mud and other yucky stuff into the tiny crevices inside the chain, leading to a drastically reduced chain life.

The idea that WD-40 reacts with rubber, swelling, softening and making it brittle has been debunked. MC Garage produced an excellent video to demonstrate this:

Still not convinced? Continue reading “WD-40 as a motorcycle chain cleaner”

Lazer JH-3 Long Jet Helmet Review

If you’ve been following my blog, my previous Lazer Corsica Z-Line modular convertible helmet had some quality issues. And so I contacted Lazer and asked if the helmet was repairable. After some email exchanges, the friendly customer support guy at Lazer Helmet informed me that the helmet is likely not repairable and since the Corsica Z-Line is now discontinued, he offered me the newly released 2017 Lazer JH-3 Long Jet helmet as a replacement instead.

Immediately after picking up the Lazer JH3 helmet from Racing World Singapore.

This is my 2nd open-face helmet – the first being a cheap $30 MHR helmet I purchased at the driving centre when I first started learning how to ride. Being a safety freak that I am, I have always preferred the protection of a chinbar – either from a modular, or a full-face helmet. But in this part of the world where it’s perpetually summer, I do notice that the majority of motorcycle riders use open-face helmet for the extra ventilation it offers over their full-face cousins. Continue reading “Lazer JH-3 Long Jet Helmet Review”

Kabuto Ibuki Flip-up Modular Helmet Review

And so I’ve used the Kabuto (formerly OGK) Ibuki flip-up modular helmet for over 2,000km now. I bought this as an early Christmas present for myself and have blogged about my initial impressions of the helmet here. And since then, I’ve used it in almost every weather condition typically experienced in this part of the world – from hot 34degC afternoon sun, to super humid late afternoons, to cold mornings, day, night, light drizzles and even super heavy torrential downpours.

That’s me and the brand new Kabuto Ibuki before coming out of the store.

Continue reading “Kabuto Ibuki Flip-up Modular Helmet Review”