sgBikerBoy

Help! Pump prices are soaring!

I was going through my day as usual when I received an alert on my mobile phone. It was a WhatsApp text message shared in a rather closed-knit chat group.

Alert! Alert! Alert! Daylight robbery taking place!

It appears that the petrol companies here in Singapore have raised their pump prices yet again. Prices have risen by 4 to 5 cents a liter across the board. A liter of 95-octane gas now costs S$2.61 – this translates to approximately US$8.82/gal or US$1.94/liter for the non-SG folks reading this. Yup! Gas prices in Singapore is heavily taxed.

As consumers, we hate high prices. It was natural for rants to start appearing. Some blamed the government. Some expected the government to step in to regulate prices. One even commented in curiosity that prices were climbing despite crude oil being at its lowest during this period of time.

Yeah – LOWEST!….. Or is it?

How to Turn any Gloves Touchscreen Compatible (For Cheap!)

My favourite pair of motorcycle gloves were supposed to be touchscreen compatible. Strangely, after a couple of washes, the touchscreen magic seem to have worn off – leaving me which just, well, a pair of motorcycle gloves. And it’s extremely frustrating to have to remove the gloves every time I had to access my mobile phone’s GPS features.

Installation took literally less than a minute.

So I found a set of cheap Chinese-made gamers’ finger gloves and decided to try them out. Now, instead of fitting them over my fingers, I simply capped them over my gloves instead.

Sunday Morning Ride

Damn you Covid! Now that vaccination status in Singapore has past 70%, rules on social gathering have reverted to groups of maximum 5 persons instead of 2. Thus, we could (finally) go for rides in small’ish groups once again!

Monster basking in the warm glow of the morning sun.

The Ducati Monster Joins the Stable

Welcome to my humble abode!

Had recently added a beast to the stable. This lil’ Monster is a fun, fun, fun machine! Small, zippy and growls in its deep signature throaty desmodromic note. Can’t wait to take this baby for some longer rides.

But before the borders re-open once again, I guess I’d have to go easy on the wrist and reign in the lead of this Italian stallion in the meantime. Damn you, Covid!

First and Final Sun Morning Ride before P2HA (Again)

Why, why, why? Just when we could start gathering in small groups again, the Covid-19 situation in Singapore started popping. We gathered for the first Sunday ride together in weeks – and unknown to us then, also the last for the next couple of weeks (again).

G650GS Sertao Fuel Pump Failed

At 8.5 years old and some 75,000km, the fuel pump on my G650GS Sertao failed. The engine died from fuel starvation and left me stranded some 500m from home. As I was a short distance away, I decided to push the bike home.

The GS-911 confirmed my suspicion of a fuel pump failure.

While at home, I whipped out my trusty GS-911 diagnostic tool an read the ECU for fault codes. And as suspected, the Sertao suffered from the infamous fuel pump failure. It is one of these times where I thought a carburated bike may actually not be that bad an idea after all!

G650GS Sertao TPMS Battery Replacement

The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) display on my G650GS Sertao started screaming at me this morning. It appears that the battery on the rear sender unit has depleted and needs replacement.

I purchased this third party TPMS monitor for the Sertao as it did not come with one from factory. The built-in TPMS on my R1200GS had saved me a few times and warned me of a tire puncture before the tire turned truly flat. But as with most BMW stuff, it was severely over-priced. Back when I had to replace the TPMS sender unit on the R1200GS, it was $155 per piece. And it doesn’t even include installation! The GS-911 helped saved me a few dollars and I could easily program the 1200GS to talk to the newly replaced sensors.

The TPMS sender unit takes a single CR1225 button battery.

Last Ride of 2020

Last ride for 2020! And what a challenging year this has been! Still in Phase 2 of the Circuit Breaker here in Singapore, 4 of us gathered to do an around Singapore ride on this last Sunday morning of 2020, and a photoshoot session to end off the year.

Flanked by manicured shrubs on the left and young trees on the other side.

Enjoying the glow of the golden morning sun.

These young trees were spaced out with absolute precision.

Ride into Coney Island

I’ve past Coney Island a couple of times, but never entered it before. Primarily due to it being an NParks reserve area where no motorised vehicles are allowed. It’s pedestrians or bicycles only.

And so I decided to get some exercise today and took my Little B out for some light Coney Island exploration.

A slightly different kind of 2-wheeled ride

The pace has slowed, but the 2-wheeled journey continues! Took my little foldie out for a spin today. So glad that the weather was absolutely beautiful – cool temperatures with an overcast sky to shield the sun! I’m surprised that I manage to work up a 2hr solo ride today. I definitely, definitely, DEFINITELY could use more exercise!