Ramblings of a Singapore Biker Boy

Postmortem of the crash helmet – Scorpion ADX-1 modular

A motorcycle helmet has a super-important role – to protect the skull in the event of a crash. It’s constructed with a hard shell – usually made of polycarbonate fiberglass, and an internal expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam.

The RIGHT side of the helmet took most of the brunt.

While the hard shell provides structural protection and is designed to NOT break in the event of a crash, the EPS is actually, surprising to some, intentionally designed to break in the event of a crash. The EPS / polystyrene foam absorbs the majority of the shock, preventing the crash forces from being transmitted to the head.

Shit… I Crashed!

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.

Why I Won’t Be Using Lithium Batteries In My Bikes

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.

*Just 10.6V when the bike is powered up. Not a good sign.*

While 2 years and 7 months may initially seem like a respectable age for a motorcycle battery to last, I was disappointed.

Why?

Deepavali long weekend trip around Peninsular Malaysia

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.

Sunday Morning Ride – Desaru Off-Road

3 scramblers, and 3 adventure bikes! This week, we headed to Desaru area for some off-road fun! We have Gim join us for the very first time on his brand new, month-old KTM 1090!

Sunday Morning Ride Dirt Ride – 3 GS’es and 4 Scramblers

In celebration of Siu Hon’s recent purchase of his Suzuki DR200SE, we’ve decided to head to some dirt trails for this Sunday Morning Ride!

You see, Siu Hon got a new (to him) DR200SE on Friday. It happened so quickly. We went to view the bike in the evening, and within a 2hrs, he took the keys and the bike home!

Taking the bike home the very same night!

Pulled over by Traffic Police

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!

Receiving the goodie bag from the friendly TP officer!

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!

Motorcycle Wireless Qi Mobile Charging

The iPhone smart phone is kinda smart. Being my primary navigation device on my motorcycle rides, it’s important to keep it juiced up. But sometimes, in heavy rain, it just shuts off its charging function in an apparent bid to protect itself from the extreme moisture at the charging port. And by the time I realise it, the battery level has dropped to below 20% with the phone screaming a low-battery warning.

Yet Another Sunday Morning Ride to Zhong Cheng Durian Plantation

The durian season is here again! This week, we headed back to Zhong Cheng Durian Plantation, and boy was it crowded!! And for this Sunday Morning Ride #SMR, we have Alex on his BMW F850GS, Sid on his Super 4 Revo, and Siraj & Ruwais on their brand new BMW R1250GS joining us for the very first time! Welcome all!

Taking a quick break to get some water before heading into the plantation.

Doubletake Mirrors – The Best Motorcycle Mirrors?

Off-roading is tough. No, and I’m not referring to just the skills required. But it’s tough on the machine too. I’ve had expected this to happen sooner or later – a bike drop, and a mirror breaks.

But what I wasn’t counting on was a broken mirror mount. Yup! I broke the mirror mount on my G650GS Sertao when I took it off-road motocamping last weekend.

Yipes – wasn’t counting on the mirror mount breaking!

And so I went on a quest to search for some off-road worthy mirror replacement. And in the midst of my research, one name kept popping up – the indestructible Doubletake Mirrors.