Legacy of 45

Wet Session @ PG Johor Race Circuit

2006-12-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

Event dated 27th December 2006, Wednesday.

Bright and sunny! Well... Not exactly. After 3 days of anticipation. The first thing I did when I got up was to turn on the computer to peek on the weather condition. All the way from Singapore to the north east region looked clear. Yeap, that included Pasir Gudang. Grinned.

Not long after, I received CS' smses, confirming to proceed. Ofcourse, it was an all go. Was supposed to visit the track on the day before as Ivy and Jeffrey were free to join as well, but looked like the gods weren't keen enough. The emotions were overwhelming as the skies were finally clear after days of simultaneous dense rain. I was even expecting the rain to not stop even till the end of wednesday, but looks like I filled in the white card too late. I quickly put on my gears and stuffed raincoat into the bag and proceeded to meet CS.

I reached the Esso station at Woodlands on roughly 8. CS was early as well. Along the way, I enjoyed the attention of doning a full leather race suit while riding. It was such a head turner, I guess the bike played its part as well. After adjusting tyre pressures, we set off to Woodlands Causeway Customs.

The Woodlands customs was jam-packed, which was an unusual scene to behold because the Malaysian workers don't usually return home in early morning. While in queue, I saw a couple of guys on their way to the race track as well, looked like we had company that morning. After clearing the causeway, we waited at the white house for James. As we cleared the Singapore customs, I received a message from James mentioning to wait up for him as he was adjusting his tyre pressures then. As expected I guess he would be late, and the jam would contribute to it.

At the white house, the group of riders whom I met earlier in the Singapore customs queue were waiting for their group to gather as well. There were 2 '04 R1s, '06 R6, ZX6R-636 and 1 Super 4. They looked serious as a couple of them had race fairings and rear-set footpegs. One even had Racetec tyres on them. Not long after, "Redbeacon" (forum nick) joined in and it happened that he was waiting for James as well. Didn't quite expect to have company but it was a pleasant acquaintance.

When James arrived, we set off for the track immediately as we were running late for the 10am session. James went ahead while I pulled back to wait for our official photographer and redbeacon, who was visiting the track for the first time. I guess James was really serious to hit some good lap times. Soon we caught up to James in a petrol station along Pasir Gudang highway. There he went again after filling up the tank.

Upon reaching the circuit, I realised there were still cars in the track which wasn't supposed to happen. Because it was already 20 minutes pass 10, it was supposed to be the motorcycles' session. Then I realised the bikers who reached earlier consented to have let the cars go first, ingeniously thought it out that the cars would dry the track for us! Haha... I took CS on his phantom to go recce and scout out the track so he could position himself strategically for the best shots. Got stung by the starving commando mosquitoes there, bad mosquitoes.

I had an upset stomach and wasted some time in the loo, then soon after I went to pay up for the track. Realising that almost everyone were off to the track, I zipped up the gear and mounted the R1. Everyone were on the pit moving off lane. I held up for Redbeacon as I needed to guide him through the first lap to let him had an idea of where were the treacherous areas to look out for. Everyone was zooming past me, and I was eager to catch up, very eager.

The bikes present on the track that day. Hayabusa, ZX12R, GSR600(?), K3 G10, two '04 R1s, '06 R6, '06 R1(me), ZX6R(636), S4 Spec 3, CBR400RR, RS125... That's about it. More riders than I expected on a weekday morning. One by one they zoomed past me while leading Redbeacon on his RS125 for an introduction lap.

Soon after I crossed the starting line from the grandstand, I broke loose of my mental-implemented cruise control and immediately hit the shifter light. 3rd! 2nd! 1st! Down through the gearbox I cruised through the damp Turn 1. It was scary as I opened up through the exit, huge puddle of water settling on the rumbling strip of Turn 1 exit ripped my traction away.

Laps after laps passed. The first to be overtaken were the ZX6R and the K3 I think. Slowly one by one I overtook the Hayabusa, ZX12R, GSR and etc... I think I was the only one out of my sane mind to push through the damp track. I was sliding all around. Especially in corner exits of Turn 1, 3 and 6. The Turn 3 and 6 were the worst. Huge streams of running water were flowing down from the hill forestations into the circuit tarmac. My rear end kept stepping out whenever I opened up from the exits. The slides were pretty within anticipation though, was quite fun actually.

Fear gobbled me as I went through the wet corners. Excitement had partially brainwashed my fear though.

As I wrestle the 160hp motorcycle through the corners in a semi-wet condition. I realised everyone started to pit in. I guess I had about 15 laps before I pitted in through my first run. Impressive, the bike that is. I guess the wet track contributed to the consistency of the brakes as well. The brakes would usually fade after 7 or 8 laps, but surprisingly it held up to more than 10 laps that day.

When we were about to close for the day, going to do a time trial for James, dark clouds started to hover over the race circuit. James and I quickly buckled up for the time trial, I was the timer bike as the new R1 came with onboard lap timer. We did a warm up lap, and started timing right after grandstand starting point. James was fast, very dauntless, even in the wet.

I believe James could have gone faster in the dry, his corner entry was as if he was riding in the dry. He almost pulled away from me, luckily I had more horses strapped under me. At the end of turn 12, right after he crossed the line marker, he hit a good timing of 2 minutes and 9 seconds. Very impressive for a 10 year old 400cc bike, in the wet.

As I was about to push hard for my personal time trial, rain came pouring. Riders ahead were slowing down totally. Actually I could have gone ahead, but not wanting to endanger the lives of other riders, I held back.

The trip back was bad. Real bad. Parts of the PG highway were filled with potholes and cement soil after continuous raining and flash floods. Our motorcycles were encased in a cement coating. Till today, I have washed my bike 3 times and the dirt was still persistent. Never go Malaysia during rainy seasons, you will regret it. Unless yours is a scrambler.

More photos to come.

Big Boyz Toyz!

2006-12-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

Reached Shiwei's place at about 12.10pm as the 3 of us were supposed to meet for lunch first. I was supposed to be meeting up with some guys from the bike forum, but the sgbikes forum had been down for severals days and to no avail... I guess it was unanimously called off.

Upon reaching the Big Boyz Toyz exhibition, I looked around for the bikers, but none had seem to turn up. The first booth upon entering the hall was Mah Motor's fleet of exotic motorcycles...

The 2.3 litre Triumph Rocket cruiser... Overwhelming...

Only up to 220km/h? For a 2300 CC bike?

Some Triumph bike again... Which I couldn't remember the model...

Its instrument panel. Looks very decent.

As I walked further in, I saw the MV Agusta F4 1000. Classified as a high-end superbike, but dulls in comparison to the Jap bikes. The only reason why it was such a head turner is because of its exclusivity and exhorbitant cost, nothing really special.

Together with the critic-praised Triumph Daytona, a 630+ CC bike if I'm not wrong. Well received for its low end driveability and track flickability. Definitely exotic as I've yet to see one on the road.

The bike that Shiwei loved. One of the best designed bikes for the 2B class. Not for its price though.

To the right side of the Mah Motor's booth, was a display of AutoBahn's fleet of exotic cars...

Took a few pictures of different exotic cars, only to find the Rolls Royce slightly better looking.

And ofcourse the Ferrari Modena. The models screwed up the Porsche photos, so I didn't upload them. :P

The engine bay of a 1970 MG.

Came across Swee Lee. Total disappointment. Most of them were guitars, and only a Ludwig drumset, with awful sounding cymbals.

And a super expensive guitar.

And a Joe Satriani amp with top rack.

Walking around... Saw more and more cars and nothing but cars... And some boats, which I didn't bother to take pictures of.

An Evo with lots of vinyl displayed on the Hot Stuff booth.

Came this booth where I saw a Daihatsu Copen. Classified as a K-car in Japan. Probably the 1st time I've seen this in Singapore, or is the 2nd...? I like convertible automation. Reminds me of the new MX-5 :)

There was this booth which was promoting the D1 Grand Prix held in Malaysia, originally based in Japan. Lotsa drift cars.

The Malaysian D1 car, Nissan 240SX I think.

The Skyline with retractable headlights.

As we rounded up the whole place and contemplating whether to proceed to the restricted areas which required us to pay, we chose to head off to the Sitex beside the Big Boyz Toyz exhibition... Pretty boring. No pictures. We headed off to Bugis as Weikang went seperate ways to meet up with a friend.

Just as we were about to leave... I saw this 06 CBR1000 with MotoGP styled Arrow dual exhausts, with carbon fibre clutch protector.

Nice. Better than those on display. LoL.

On the way to Bugis, ECP.

Okay, I'm not holding back on this one. Some noob parked his fat Mercs on a whole stretch of Motorcycle lots in Bugis carpark.

Hah... WTH. Mercs big fuck?

After having dinner in the Burger King, we headed back to Bugis Junction. While in Bugis Junction, something really caught my attention from far...

Wao... To my surprise... It's made of crystals and diamonds!

Check this out!

The close up for you. The star on top of the christmas tree is covered with diamonds!! Stun it and I will be rich! Haha!

Got damn tired and headed back home.

The Photographer, The Clutch and Me

2006-07-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Event dated 30th June, 2006

Usual procedures. White card, passport, leathers, boots, gloves, helmet and ringgit. Supposed to meet up with Alex but it was already half an hour past 8. There was still no news of him, I wonder if he was just gonna turn up, not that the endless ring tone reverberating from the other side of the line was helping in any way. I could just leave for Malaysia first and probably meet up with him over the other side of the causeway, but I needed to confirm whether I had to bring an extra jacket for him due to the safety regulations.

Just as I was about to leave the house, Alex called. He told me that he screwed up the booking out and was still stucked in camp. Great. I set off to the customs on my own not wanting to mess up the scheduled time for Remie.

As I paid for the 1 hour session at Johor Circuit, came a couple of Aprilia riders. They looked like well accomplished professionals judging from their Dainese and some renowned suits. It didn't take long for Remie to arrive, we discussed a couple of details before burning some tyres. He was going to station himself on the last turn to take a couple of laps before moving on to other locations. And so I went.

The last turn which was a right angled corner in PG, constitutes of a very straightforward trajectory. It was my favourite corner as the turn was pretty much a "what you see is what you get" corner, compared to the more tricky ones like turn 3 and 5.

Not long after I completed my 5th lap on the 1st straight, my clutch got stucked to its engage position. I had a handful and grabbed the lever forcefully. The clutch cable snapped. I was thinking to myself that I'm done for it this time. Luckily, I still made my way through back to the pits by roughing through the gearbox without the clutch.

Sian... That was it... Remie came to me trying to find out what happened. There went my shots, only available for the last turn.

In a desperate attempt to find out what went wrong, I had to remove the whole fairing to hook the cable back up. So at least I could go home.

After a half hour struggle, only to realise that the clutch cable hook resided within the sprocket housing. Crap. I rode back to SG having to kill the ignition on every junction cause there wasn't any way to slip the clutch on moving off...

Last turn with some photoshop effects.

The Track Session

2006-06-08T05:50:00.000-07:00

Event dated 8th June, 2006

This is the 2nd time I'm taking this Katana to track... And as expected... The camera was quite useless at the track, because who would be interested to take photos for you??? Oh well... That aside. It was pretty early this time as I was supposed to meet up with James from the forum. Set my alarm at 7.30, but flashes of track excitement just keeps my adrenaline pumping to my brain even at rest... Kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking that it's time to move.. Crap.

After chucking in my passport and waterbottle, I secured my leathers to the seat and went to Woodlands centre to get some ringgit changed. The weather spells trouble for a track session, dark clouds were gathering at the skies, just hope it doesn't rain over at Pasir Gudang.

8.30 am, I waited for James at the white house over at the Malaysian customs. To kill some time, I took some pictures...

Singapore Customs... Fortress-like

Somehow the Singapore customs looks very intimidating from the Malaysian side... Like Alcatraz... Oh my.

Oooh... Finally at Johor Circuit, Pasir Gudang.

(Shall leave the track details out, fast forward to >>>)

It almost rained during the session, but good gracious heaven allowed us to complete the session.

Pasir Gudang, Johor Circuit's Grand Stand... No idea who was that in the pic though

The Pilot Sport tyres were great. Very consistent throughout the 10+ laps, though I had to pit in due to physical fatigue and brake fades. Looks like I really gotta do something about the brake hose and pads, freaking easy to fade, oh well... My bike isn't a pure sports anyway, the heavy chassis has taken a toll on both the tyres and brakes...At least the tyres were holding up well, compared to the previous PXXXXXX Sport DXXXX tyres I was using: Totally cannot make it, sliding and chattering everywhere. I could trail brake and open the throttle abruptly in the middle of the corners and the Michelins are still holding up nicely, fantastic tyres.

The Michelin Pilot Sport after the 1 hour session... Nicely scrubbed

The down pour came during our trip back. We took the 2nd link to avoid the afternoon traffic at Woodlands Causeway. The Ducatis who were leading us were damn fast! So dangerous and scary! All veterans do that? Anyway one of the Ducati guys lightly hit an abrupt turning Proton in the carpark to Gelang Petah petrol station, glad he's fine and didn't lose his balance.

Home sweet home... Time to clean up the suit.

My Dainese K series... :)

This is really hard on the wallet.. Just a few laps and the newly acquired knee sliders are imprinted deep... Oh my! My prized possession aka pride booster... Heh.

NICE!

It won't be soon till my next session. Every time after a track session my head would ache like crap... Oh well. Good revelation in a sense that actually my cornering skills aren't that bad! Haha... I'm there more to scrape my knees than to achieve a good timing, so I'm not really too bothered about lap times and braking points and all. Just be safe, take your craving for speed on the track. Ride safe people! :)

The Katana

2006-06-08T04:39:00.000-07:00

"Katana?? Huh? What Katana? Ooh.. The new cub introduced by Suzuki is it... 125 cc right?", "Katana, the flip up head light one is it? Retro man!", "The sword..?"

It's the Suzuki K1 GSX 750 F, Katana. I'm not surprised that not alot of people know about this bike, because even I myself have not seen this bike alot of times. At most 3 times on the road including my own. The weak popularity is understandable; less power compared to the pure breed sport bikes, heavy chassis, and less-slick appearance.

Performance wise, I'm happy. The Katana has always been put in competition with the well-known Honda VFR series in the western countries, and since VFR came out with the 800 cc versions, I realise it didn't seem to outperform the katana alot. And ofcourse, the Katana doesn't have the fuel saving feature like VTEC, neither a fuel-injection system, definitely incomparable interms of looks, design and cosmetic aspects. But I guess I have to be contented with an old bike. In comparison, the torque comes in much earlier than the VFR and without the sudden dipping of the VTEC effect. The Katana also has a 4-way adjustable front rebound, fully adjustable rear compression and preload, 4 way rebound compression, that just consoles me abit for having a not-so-good-looking bike. Haha...

Our Road Education

2006-03-24T04:08:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from SPF website:
"motorcyclists are one of the more vulnerable groups of road users; all other motorists, and the motorcyclists themselves, should be aware of that and be more cautious. "

It just sounds as if, "Hey you bikers, please look out for other road users man!". Despite the futile effort in adding in the 'all other motorists' , it's so crudely obvious.

Sometimes, an accident happening on a vulnerable road user can be instigated by the less-vulnerable party. Despite all efforts in the vulnerable party maintaining high awareness and executing preventive measures on the road, accidents still befall them. For instance, a car dashing out of a T-junction carelessly despite the oncoming motorcycle. Or a driver recklessly overtakes a cyclist for occupying the left lane or even a motorcyclist travelling on the right lane. This is more often than not, a depict of the more-protected road users showing inconsideration to their vulnerable counterparts.

At times, I cannot help but to think that there is an incorrect emphasis of road education. The authorities often mention that the vulnerable should take up more awareness of road safety. But, shouldn't the self-perceived tank pilots excercise caution and concern for the less-protected, though the latter paid lesser tax for the sacrifice of sheltered luxury? Hey, we're talking about respect for lives here!

Though I do not deny the call for awareness in the more-vulnerable, but I believe the more-protected has a priority to play in road safety as well. If the brits can have advertisement tags like "Think! Lookout for bikes!". Why can't we have something similar? Besides, this is not an initiation due solely to the excerpt above, I've seen more callous remarks from the media. I think we really need a new focal point in road safety education.

Project Wave!

2005-12-12T04:27:00.001-08:00

Master tuner Andy rejetting the intake for the bike...

Keep trying, Kang getting alittle impatient...

Kang decided to pose for the camera to kill time...

Wala! Weikang in action! Burn out!

26 horsepower Wave S 125 with modified exhaust, Mikuni carbs, bore piston blocks and increased valve clearance. Had to slant the bike to slip the rear, front brake is too weak!

Tonsillectomy

2005-10-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

You know, couple of days ago, I just had an operation. Tonsillectomy.

Basically it's a surgical operation to remove this 2 pieces of flesh on the throat beside the Uvula called the Tonsils. Till today, I still don't understand what made me so determined at that point of time to remove these 2 poor tonsils. I regret.

It's 5:53 am now. 4th day after the op. I got startled by the pain so much that I couldn't sleep. I popped 2 of these codeine paracetamols which was prescribed to me as painkillers. To be frank, they rock. But they wouldn't rock if the post-op effects were drastic. Fuck the op. I thoroughly regret it.

Tonsils are basically flesh on your throat which constitutes part of our human immune system. Its function is to... I think block of foreign objects/germs or whatsoever consumed throughout the mouth. However, it's the main cause of sore throat, infection or whatsoever crap which you call it Tonsillitis. Well, here and then you might get sore throats here and your doctor tells you tonsils are swelling, that's it.

WELL FUCK THE TONSILLITIS. I rather have tonsillitis and sore throats once a month than fucking take them off. Because of this fucking op, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't talk. Well? I lost fucking 4kgs since the op, an average of 1 kg a day. Well? FUCK THE WEIGHT LOSS, I'm HUNGRY!!!

Small Cars

2005-10-03T06:06:00.000-07:00

You know, I always liked small cars. The compactness, the lightweight, the easy handling and cute appearance of it. Yeah, and I don't mean performance sports compact cars like the Honda Civic Type R, Mazda Roadster, Volkswagen Golf GTi or Peugeot 206 S16 models. I'm refering to stuffs like Nissan March, Mitsubishi Colt, Honda Jazz/Fit, Toyota iSt, Hyundai Getz or whatsoever yo. I'd probably get such a car if I have the chance, a car that suits the family, and whichever that serves everyday transport purposes. Most importantly, easy to park. :P

But lately, there's something that gets on my nerves, the fallacy of such small cars owners. It might be true that small cars have an advantage with over the the weight-to-power ratio and compact lightweighted-ness factors. But, it's afterall, a small car.

I don't really mind a little styling and appearance modification to these small cars, fulfilling the inner desires of human nature for customisation, the need to outstand. However, know where your car stands, in the world of auto-mobile performance. Looking sporty doesn't mean you are sporty. Please wake up that distorted mentality of yours, small car owners who think your cars can run like an S7 with little visual mods.

So having a small car makes you think you can run like Takumi in his 1 ton or lesser ae86 with a 5 valve racing engine? Or you really think you have a Yashio race-built Vitz? I'm utterly disgusted with the attitude of a driver who's driving a Hyundai Getz with aero/visual modifications, as if he's driving like a street racer. All you motherfuckers who think you are fast, get a fucking life.

Strictly for those who own a small-yet-they-think-their-cars-are-ferraris cars -> Please keep left from today onwards. Or I just have to beam you and overtake from your left.

Motorcycle Turning, Part 4 - Hanging Out

2005-06-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hanging out is most probably a technique which the average rider would have never done, heard or even seen before. It is a cornering technique which requires the rider to shift its butt out for weight shifting inorder to possess a greater leaning angle. Thus, the term, Hanging Out. It might even look like a monkey hanging off a branch or somethin' to you...

First of all, I do not encourage hanging out riding in city streets. Why?

Due to the complexities of this technique, it is not very helpful to the everyday rider in avoiding accidents. Secondly, you are most likely to be taken off your rear brakes when executing hanging out, thus not very efficient for street riding (though front brakes take up most of the braking power). Thirdly, and I hope it's the most common sense, you do not need to take corners so fast on public roads.

Hanging out simply means that you've reached the maximum leaning angle of your motorcycle's capability, thus you need to create more leaning angle by shifting your body weight. In a street riding context, hanging out disorientates your vision and, the off-synchronisation of your body and the chassis might cause problems when facing critical situations. Conclusion? Do you really need to go that fast on city streets, to the point of hanging out? I believe it's already quite notorious to scrape your foot pegs.

Ok enough of the crap. However, hanging can be useful @ times (very unlikely though), but it's most often used on the track. Let's get on to the technique.

-unfinished-

Motorcycle Turning, Part 3 - Bodysteering

2005-06-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

Hanging Out
Ofcourse, I probably didn't do it as well as the pros. It was done at a street of some rural area in Singapore, the only regret I had was I didn't bring my gloves out. Have you ever wondered why the necessity to hang out? It's about weight-shifting.

In bodysteering, it's important to know where your weight is going, because it is what that determines how your motorcycle leans/corners. To start with, there are 3 kinds of leaning method. Namely lean with, lean in, lean out. However, weight shifting should still be the basis of these 3 cornering techniques.

To start with, a correct leaning/weight-shifting method should involve mainly only your lower limbs.

Firstly, the outer thigh should push against the tank so that your upper body will be prevented from falling towards the direction of the lean. (Grip the seat if you don't have a tank, else, just countersteer)

Secondly, the inner foot should push diagonally towards the inside of the foot peg, so that it further stabilises your whole body and giving "downwards" weight to the lean.

Thirdly, your eye level must be horizontal to the ground and look far, it is to orientate your mind of the actual world level that you are travelling on.

Fourthly, your arms should be stress-free, as you are supposed to keep your hands free for counter-steering and adaptable to any road changes. Stiff hands would only amplify the uneven-ness of the road to your body, thus making your turning wobbly.

Click HERE to check out how the pro does it.

However, countersteering should still be the main focus of motorcycle turning. IMO, countersteering is the best way to initiate a lean/corner whereas bodysteering is just a tool that puts your cornering technique more steadily and readily into use. Infact, though you might not know it, your arms are subconsciously countersteering while leaning through a corner.

I love Sony Ericsson!

2005-06-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

Great day... A bit hot though. My friend who just came back from UK bought the Sony Ericsson S700i, surprisingly it's quite sharp and fast. Very luckily, my friend managed to catch a nice (but kinda blur) shot of me doing wheelie. It was done on a clear road with safe clearing infront, please do not try this on public roads. And wear safety gears.

But still, I don't like Sony cameras, and all their sole products.

With regards to the wheelie, I shan't comment much as I'm not a pro in it and I do not encourage it as well. There are many sites which teach you how to pop the front wheel, go figure.

Motorcycle Turning, Part 2 - Countersteering

2005-06-14T01:03:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried putting the weight of your whole body on the inside of the turning chassis but the motorcycle doesn't budge? This is especially true at the moment of hard acceleration. When you are hard throttling your bike through over 150km/h, you can barely bank, even if you did, the bike wobbles to get down on its side. How do you overcome this? The art of countersteering lies within...

Defying Logic
As mentioned before, travelling at speeds above 25km/h would result the handle bar and front wheel to stiffen up and any movement on the handle bar would cause an unexpected wobbling of the machine. But how true is the movement unexpected?

The fact is that your bike is moving towards an opposite direction of travel from your handle bar. Most of us try very hard to push the bike down hard and move the handle bar towards the direction of travel, but the outcome is often undesirable and sluggish. That is because you are working AGAINST physics.

The proper technique to initiate a cornering/banking on high speeds is to actually perform a countersteer. In which, we turn the handle bar away from the intended direction of the corner. By turning your wheel/handle bar, it helps your bike to lean faster towards the opposite direction thus initiating a faster turn. E.g turn handle bar right when you want to corner left, and vice versa for cornering right... turn your handle bar towards left.

Why the phenomenon?

It is the end result of momentum forces actually, the centrifugal force.

When at high speeds, if we push the handle/wheel towards the left, the chassis and the rear wheel of the motorcycle will be led towards the direction of the front wheel. However, due to the massive inertia force created by the high speed travelling of the motorcycle's weight, the initial left turning led by the front wheel will cause the body to be pushed towards the opposite direction of the turn. The reason being that, the strength of the gyroscopic(turning wheel) and momentum force(weight) of the moving motorcycle attempts to upright and correct the angle of steering and push/bank the chassis to the opposite direction of the moving handle bar/front wheel. So you end up turning right than the intended left turn on the handle bar.

So the movement of the countersteering in a nutshell is actually a travel to the direction of the front wheel then followed by the banking towards the opposite direction. This is especially significant on slower speeds, and the banking happens almost immediately on faster speeds.

Knowing It
The reason why most riders find it sluggish to corner at high speeds is because they try too hard to turn the steering bar towards the intended direction while leaning. This action causes a counter-reactive effect by which the steering towards the intended direction initiated the lean towards the direction, while the rider consciously tries to pull the bike down to the intended direction. The machine ended up not going anywhere and wobbling down.

Countersteering is a motion that should be done consciously in the initial stages of practice as it is an uncommon technique not logical to the amateur rider. It should be done to the point where a rider chooses to use it instinctively. Countersteering is used to initiate the banking. While the chassis has reached a desirable angle of banking/turn, the rider eases the countersteering and maintain the angle through the corner. When the rider needs to retrieve the bike back into an upright position or even the opposite banking, he merely has to turn the wheel down by pushing the outer side of the handle bar to allow the bike to flip back upright.

Countersteering is especially effective when you need to dodge something which is most unexpected...

Motorcycle Turning, Part 1 - Physics

2005-06-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

I'm nowhere near a veteran, but infact I'm very much a newbie. But I hope to share what I've experienced, read, learnt and felt about riding. Following is a series of tech speak compiling from various instructors, column writers, famous authors and personal experience. Hope it helps you.

Gravity Defying
A common rider would usually perceive motorcycle steering in speeds of ~25km/h and above unnecessary. Because the gyroscopic and inertia force of the moving motorcycle would lock the steering bar in a straight and forward-going manner. Any form of turning or cornering at that kind of speed would require a shift in weight, which is usually performed by the banking/leaning/tilting the machine chassis to create a counter force against the forward motion, commonly known as Centrifugal Force.

The common myth is that, any movement on the handle bar during high speeds would result in a unpredicted haywire wobbling and movement of the motorcycle. Thus most of us would just lean as required when cornering. But it's nothing more than just a mystery. How many of you really understand how a motorcycle really turns?

Considering the fact that the front wheel doesn't really move at higher speed cornering, what makes a motorcycle move in a circular motion when leaning? 2 main factors, the shape of your tires and your directional front wheel.

Upright Tire
As depicted from the picture above, the contact point of the tire is always flat. This is due to the acting of the motorcycle's weight on the tire, flattening the contact side of rubber. This flat surface hence create a larger contact patch and allow better traction.

Banking tire forms a conical shape
However, when the tire is leaned to the side, the flat surface occurs over the contact patch as well. The occurance immediately results in a circumference differential between the inner and outer tire. This phenomenon thus creates the physical properties similar to that of a cone. In which, it allows the inner tire which has a greater circumference (in yellow) to travel further on the difference of the smaller outer circumference (in red). And therefore, the motorcycle which is travelling on convex tires can corner/turn just by banking.

Ofcourse, another main reason which allows motorcycle to turn is the front wheel which controls the direction of the moving chassis. Though you may not realise it, but the fact is that the handle bars are off-center and turning towards the direction when cornering. Because of the fast moving speed, the adjustment of the front wheel is limited according to the reaction of the banking angle reacting to the centrifugal force. Thus the movement of the handle bar is not noticeable.

The State of Mentality

2005-06-08T05:56:00.000-07:00

Kudos to the one whom I saw today. Wearing a fullface helmet, black leather gloves, jacket and pants. Riding a vintage vespa, ET. Man... It's so cool. Sometimes, aesthetic appeal is in the eyes of beholder. He's the ultimate icon to me.

Spider Sense
I mean... instincts to detecting danger. Everyone has it. You and me. Unless you lack of the simplest analytical skills to decipher logic. Almost anyone has the juice to perceive, analyse, decide and act, it's a matter of path you choose to make things happen.

"Approaching the end of slip road into the expressway, as I sneak into the side mirrors, the coast appears clear but a sense of doubted danger tinges in my heart. Should I, or should I not, lift my head over the shoulder to check my blind spot? Most of the time, nothing stays in the blind spot for too long... Though prickling, but the assumption was that nothing should happen. I've always been checking the blind spot, but nothing ever appeared."

The machine swerves out of alignment from the slip road with the slightest adjustment from the weight shifting."

*BAAA BAAA!* -Car horns-

The motorcycle scraped the side of the car's bumper. And the rider had a scare of his life.

I believe this appears nostalgic to you. Besides, this is only one of many examples to encountering riding dangers from ignorance. Did you ever overtake that big lorry infront of you at speed of sound despite you anticipating that a vehicle hiding infront of it might dash out from your blocked vision?

I merely broke down the lightning fast thoughts that went through that everyday rider's mind. Do you really want to ignore that danger instinct in you and take the chance? I myself admit to having such ignorance previously, and will probably commit such atrocities again. But I hope I can write this down on this blog to remind myself everytime I make updates, so that I will never take chances. Never succumb to your ignorance, whatever the reason might be.

You have only one chance to live.

I'm a Prophet

2005-06-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Wah biang... I so zhun ah. Was just talking about riders with inadequate riding gears and saw a man lying flat at the exit of Grange Road into PIE. He was exactly wearing shorts, shirt and sandals... With his scooter far away from him. I commend the acts of fellow motorcyclists who stopped to help him and directed the traffic away, I feel proud being a motorcyclist too.

However, I'm sure the infliction of injuries on the scooter motorist was not any minor. Though he was lying flat, I could see him communicating with the other motorcyclist who stopped by at the side trying to help. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it's most likely a case of poor defensive riding, or machine fault. If it had been a case of piston jam, learning how to skid would have saved his life. However, I'm sure he could have got up if he wore protective gears. I'm sure of that.

Please do not let this happen to you my fellow riders.

You Superficial Brat

2005-06-05T03:52:00.000-07:00

Just got my rear tire changed today, fitting the same model as my front. Bridgestone Battlax BT020 Radial series. It's a pair of tires meant for sports-touring, meaning the endurance of the tires are higher, taking up a longer time to heat up and get sticky. But it can last longer than most racey tires and grippier than the average crap.

Still can get pretty fun if I want. Ofcourse at the end of the day, I just don't want my safety to be compromised. Will you spend it for safety? Or excitement? Or just let it be and spend the money on food and women when you can't even live to see the next light?

People have been telling me riding motorcycles is dangerous. But is that statement helpful? Or detrimental? It's not going to change the fact that I'm riding, and telling me that it's dangerous doesn't help me to become a safer rider. I will probably turn a deaf ear and ride as usual. How many of you so-called professionals out there know what's motorcycle safety about? You superficial bastards.

Yes, statistics have shown deaths are more prone from motorcycle accidents and the fact that they're the most prominent figure out of all vehicle accidents. But does these statistics tell you that most of these riders who are involved in accidents do not have adequate safety precautions and perception?

Just an example, the percentage of accidents/falls happen on a race track is definitely more frequent compared to the amount happening on roads, but why are the death statistics on a track lower? Because they're wearing over a few k worthed of equipments, and they're doing the right things on the right events.

Do you think you can survive a skid over at 90km/h without gears? I can survive a fall from 200km/h with leather suits. So? Invest in some proper gear today man. Save up and wake up your bloody idea, scooters can well go over 100km/h as well. I do not have to wear a flamboyant Grand Prix racing suit today, but at least I can wear an abrasion-resistant leather jacket to save my life in case of a fall at road limits. At the very least, don't wear a fucking pair of shorts and singlet with sandals. It screws up your image and insults your bike, you deserve it if you die in an accident for insulting yourself, your bike and compromising your own safety. Besides, wearing something that covers you from top to toe and fit to tough gives you extra confidence when handling your bike. Try wearing your fucking shorts and singlet with sandals and compare it with your jeans and long sleeve shirt with covered shoes.

Education
I must say the education given by the driving centres are not adequate to provide enough safety information to the everyday rider. Plus, how many of you are still actually following the guidelines taught by the school now. Take a little test, how many of you are braking into corners/banking and holding on to your clutch as well? I bet 80% of you are.

You superficial bastards probably don't know why it is necessary to drive through a corner than slip into a corner. And you'll probably die without knowing why. I just took my friends out yesterday night to give them a little example of "decreasing radius" and limited vision @ Old Upper Thomson Road (A map below for your reference). And I believe Andy can understand that intention best, he almost crashed for slipping in through the corner too fast without realising the decreasing radius. Most importantly, he wasn't confident of banking further down to clear the corner because he was not trained to. I can see that he still has abit of clearance to go for cornering, but can he do it? Or does he think he can do it?

It's just a little education that I can let them in on before they need to handle such real-life critical situations again. Were you ever briefed on such practical road usage?

Old Upper Thomson Road

Safety Checks

2005-06-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

Last time when I used to go for my defensive riding and motorycle courses, they put a significant amount of attention on pre-ride checks. Like checking if your signal light is working, your brake fluid enough or not, got engine oil, tyre got any stones inside it.

Actually I think it's bullshit. Firstly it's impractical for the everyday riding commuter, 2ndly it's hard to really check things when your bike is not moving at all.

Tyre/Tire
Do you really think you can feel the pressure of the tires just by pressing your nibby fingers on them? Dream on. Start riding it out and figure out whether the tires wobble when you bank, if they do, check and pump up some pressure. Also check if there's any leakage, e.g punctures, nails or so ever... 2ndly, who the hell in the world has time to turn your wheels and check if any particles are really stucked between the thread? I have not seen anyone doing that, especially for average time-conscious singaporeans.

Pumping your tyres should be done periodically. Not everyday see see feel feel and let it cloud your judgement. Let the meter do the talking if you really want to check.

*TIP
For those interested to check for tire leakages, you may want to buy a pressure meter or go to any petrol station with those retro analog meter pumps. Simply go to any of those petrol kiosk and set it to about 5~10 psi lower of your average tire pressure and see if the meter jumps/sounds. If it does means your tire is leaking, because tires take very long to lose the air inside (I can go without refilling the air in the tires for more than 6 months and the pressure only drops 1 psi). If not confident, pump to your average required pressure and check again the next day to see if there's any minor leakage.

1 psi = ~7kPa
PSI = Pound Per Square Inch
kPa = Kilopascal
Brakes
Aiyah, just take your ride out of carpark and you know whether if it's working isn't it? Besides, do you think you can really check if your bike is running on drum brakes? These checks should be done periodically with discipline. Not every morning come down check n check. I don't believe your brake pads can be used up within a month if you service it regularly.

Unless you visit the track.
Engine Oil
Just check if there's any seriously wet pool of oil under your bike. But don't worry if there's a patch of damp oil, because it may not be from your bike. Sometimes parking lots are full of such patches because engine oil takes very long to dry up, it might be left over by some Lao K. Just look out for fresh damp pool of oil. If in suspect of anything, just check your oil level.

Why is it not necessary to take out the oil dip to check everytime before you ride? Firstly engine oil does not evaporate into thin air by itself, or simply just dry up. Loss of engine oil is usually due to engine block leakages. Besides, do you really have time to upright your bike and unscrew your oil dip and see if there's oil? Even if there's a oil monitor, there's no way for you to stretch your head down to look at that piece of small glass panel while uprighting your bike. Maybe you can, I don't know.
Lightings
Though it is not a crucial part of riding, but it can save your life when it comes... This is the only part of the checking which I would encourage checking. Plus checking your lightings is one of the easiest pre-ride check that can be done.

The Everyday Commuter

2005-06-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

To those whom you think you are using the motorcycle as a form of transport only, and you think upgrading your handling skills is not necessary as you do not have to push your bike any similarly to racing. You are FUCKING WRONG.

A rider does not even have to use half of its bike's capable banking angle when commuting as a daily transport, but what if you went into the slip road into the expressway off KJE into BKE, and it's a decreasing radius corner. Will you hit the brakes and slow down and felt as if you lose your balls while you can actually bank lower to clear the corner with confidence?

A rider does not expect the use of 100% braking if he does not ride fast. The car in front of you jammed its brake but you skidded and bite the car's bumper. How many of you so-called singapore veteran fagg riders know you are supposed to use front brakes more than rear brakes? Even if i skidded my rear wheel, can I remain in control and regain traction?

The fact is that I can do all these, I can even ski my wheels out of a corner. The fact is that I'm educated and trained to do this. Not just to handle track capabilities, but to save my own life and NCD/B(no claim bonus from insurance).

Safe But Not Slow Rider

2005-06-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

Thankfully I seemed to have matured from riding ever since the 45. I have began to realise the road is not a race track, and it's no longer a place where you can push your machine to the limits, simply because unexpected events occur or waiting to occur. A safe rider is not one who rides slow, but one who is careful.

The reason for upgrading (in terms of handling skills) is not for competition, pride or any form of ego-booster. It's meant to save lives, your life, and others. Many would argue that riding fast and hanging off knee down scraping your sliders is a form of showing-off to that slow malaysian rider behind that you are techy and good. But is he really impressed? Put yourself in others' shoes and imagine you are the rider behind seeing you attempted this act... "Sibeh boliao, if you buang then i laugh at you, do knee down at slip road? Wahaha... Fuckin' Funny, cannot make it."

Does it make you more proud to say that "I have rode a bike for my whole life and never met an accident", or "Falling and accidents are nothing to me, see there are so many scars on me". Just remember, speeding on public roads is a no-no and any road user would never acknowledge public-road racing as a form of good-willed expression. Because showing-off is the main reason to speed, but it's never a glory to others when you do it on public streets.

Am I trying to say I encourage racing/speeding on enclosed circuits/roads? Not really, but neither do I discourage such acts. Every human need some form of thrill & excitement in their life. Also, pushing your machine to the limit would mean you have extra confidence and handling capability to spare in times of emergency. But ofcourse, do this with proper gear, safety equipments and given EDUCATION before you attempt any hard-riding. Infact with safety measures, speeding and racing is safe. Just look @ statistics, the amount of people riding died in tracks is very much lesser compared to those on public roads and even car-races.

Well, it's hard to suppress the inner desire to speed, therefore I encourage it on a controlled traffic. If you really need to. At the end of the day, do you want to convince your mom & dad that riding is something absolutely cool n safe to do, than coming home bruised, one limb lost or even the need to prepare for your funeral?

Refined...

2005-05-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

And I thought I was fast, just like when Takumi got a new engine, and now that he's driving the new WRX. Sometimes, it's good to just lay back and review on your techniques, read up, and change for a better equipment. You'll realise there's much more to explore and exploit.

Honda CB400 V-TEC Spec II (CB400SF2J)
Engine: DOHC Inline-4 V-TEC
Displacement: 399cm³
Horsepower: 53PS (~45) @ 11k rpm
Dry Weight: 169KG
Top Speed: 195KM/H (@ 13k rpm, electronically limited)
0 - 100: 6.6 sec
Redline: 13k rpm

I hope to upgrade soon, but it's good to take things slowly, one at a time. Development of techniques and human capability takes time, and it's being done systematically.

Brake shifting, weight shifting, line taking, wheelie, countersteering, racing, there is more to come...

Frightened

2004-07-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

I lost my confidence in handling corners these days. It's either braking too late or too early, or overspeeding the corner. My weight-shifting has also turned rather slow these days, I kinda lack the balls to do a fast bend... I lost the concentration in hitting the apex.

Perhaps something is bothering me, partially because of the foot pegs. The foot pegs are eating into the rubber due to the abrasion on the road floor, I will be dead if my dad finds out. But it is mainly matters of the heart that's bothering me. So I guess I won't be writing anymore new entries till I regain my confidence on the road. I'm beginning to feel that my bike is just a transport.

Thanks to those who have supported this blog... I'll be back.

Bittersweet Revenge

2004-07-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Event dated 16th July, 2004.

Was already running late to meet up with Shix and Weikang for dinner, but I always had this thing against 2B sportsbike (below200 cc, e.g Kawasaki KIPS, Honda CBR150RR, Repsol, Aprilia 125). Came my chance there was this Kawasaki KIPS, raving through the streets of Woodlands neighbourhood. Though not equivalent, inferior I would say, compared to other sportbikes of its class.

We both came to a halt at the junction of Woodlands Ave 1 and Ave 2. Infront of us, is a half-mile stretch of open and straight asphalt. The officially known most accident prone road, Woodlands Ave 2.

Green. I held my throttle, for I know true riders only unleash on the corners. A high-speed corner is available at end of the stretch leading into the expressway. Considerations of cornering abilities flashed through my mind like a MotoGP deja vu. I knew no phantom is outrunning a sports class in a corner.

Just as milliseconds passed, the KIPS roared past from the right. I was 10 metres away from the filter.

Brake or not... Brake or not... Brake or not... I saw lights flashed up.

Brake... NOT. I full-throttled towards the corner, knowing that I would have no chance of outrunning the KIPS if I braked like he did. My footpeg was grinding the floor at 110 around the corner, and it didn't take more than 3 seconds to tail the KIPS. I tilted to the outerline and overtook the KIPS. In a glimpse, the KIPS had alittle astonishment by the overtaking.

My revenge since the earlier days being outran by these bikes on the straight. Some say I should have gotten a sportsbike... But sportsbike just isn't my cup of tea, plus, they look damn off. They're all over the streets, especially owned by ah bengs. I hate stereotyping, and I hate being stereotyped.

I Lost

2004-07-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, I'm not almighty and there are times that I DO LOSE. Or outran by fellow motorcyclists or drivers.

Events dated at least 8 months ago.

1. Kawasaki 150
I'm not exactly sure that model is, but the engine makes use of the Kawasaki Integrated Power System(KIPS)(?). Not sure of the definition. Anyway, yeah. It's quite a fast bike. I thought I could have outran it when I was travelling at 130+. I think the rider let it on purpose for me to overtake it, and overtook me from the back after it slowed down. Pretty impressive for a 150cc. I guess it had the same engine to that of a Kawasaki KIPS sports bike. It's not sold in Singapore i think, it was Malaysia registered.

2. Pan European
One of my favourite bikes, the Honda Pan European ST1100 touring bike. It has a pretty large frame. Also if i'm not wrong, a V4 DOHC engine, 1100cc. It was down from Thomson Road all the way reaching Marymount. Despite its heavy body, the rider was skilled enough to manoeuvre it in and out of the dense traffic. It didn't take long for him to shake me off its tails. I got no idea in the first place why I went after him... Haha. I just want to take more glances at my beloved bike.

3. Aprilia 125
Cut it short, BKE. I was chasing this Aprilia 125 from the back. When the rider began to sense my presence, it full-throttled and left me in smoke. I think the rider un-restricted the power valve... Thus unsealed the power band in higher rpms.

4. Nissan Cefiro
It was a downhiller from the BKE speed cam spot. Right after the Speed cam, the Cefiro flashed at me. Ofcourse being the normal me, I would step up the gas and throw the vehicle away. The Cefiro ofcourse managed to keep and tailgate me. I moved out to the slower lane and got back right on its ass after it overtook me. I flashed back at the Cefiro. The Cefiro pulled away... I think it was at least at 160.

5. Mercedes E200 Kompressor
All I can say about this car is, fast. It was at the exit from BKE Woodlands into Diary Farm Road. I exited the corner at 120 and went past the Mercs which was moving off from idling at green light. The mercs didn't take more than 15 secs to appear in my mirrors and stayed in it. And just as I was about to think if it runs, it overtook me and left me out of sights. Estimated at 180 when it left my sight. I don't mind having a Mercs next time... Haha.

That's all for now. I will put up more if I can think of or if I happen to be outran. : ) But I guess that's all at the moment.

Clutchless Shifting

2004-07-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just to share something that I tried when racing the Scrambler today. It was clutchless shifting.

Initially I thought it would be efficient as it doesn't require pulling in of clutch thus no power loss occurs during the shift. But then I realised it was wrong. Clutchless shifting allows the time-possession by not pulling the clutch, but it wastes power due to the technique used.

Clutchless shifting is done when the engine is revved up high, and closing in the throttle in a split second to allow the rpm to drop and kick in the gear. But by dropping the throttle, engine-brake occurs, deceleration happens. Plus shifting by disengaging the clutch allows the rider to maintain the engine revolution, while shifting the gears, and putting the wheels back into transmission at the power band.

Plus, experienced riders can change gear by disengaging clutch fast enough not to incur time-loss.

Scrambling Fire

2004-07-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Event dated 15th July, 2004, 4pm.

It was a pretty tiring day, woke up early morning to get to Singapore Poly to finish up some project. Pretty low budget project though, so gave the client shit... Haha. It was about 4pm after Kobo and I finished some buns and drinks, I gave Kobo a ride home. Due to the long day I had, I just wanted a smooth ride thus I was riding very slow and safely. Plus, I was carrying a pillion.

Things were going fine till we reached the intersection where the fire station between the Bukit Timah Road and Bukit Batok Avenue resides. At green, this scrambler hard throttled and caused a big deal of noise pollution... Being slightly curious, I pushed the bike just to see how fast it went. The scrambler was held up by a U-turning vehicle on the dual lane, and there was an incoming vehicle to his left. I full throttled and rolled past the traffic from the edge of the left lane and left the scrambler behind me.

We came to a stop between cars at the T-junction of Bukit Timah Road and Hume Ave. The restlessness of the scrambler behind was making me irritated. I could hear vague explosions of throttling from behind me... No tiredness was pulling me away from the adrenaline rush.

Green light.

The race was inevitable.

But somehow the thought of carrying a pillion held me back from full-throttling the vehicle, I prayed for the Scrambler rider to not overtake me and provoke my inner-competitive senses.

"BAAAAAAAA!!!". Went the scrambler from my right. I wasn't surprised at the acceleration of a lighter-frame, close-ratio gear box. I down-shifted the gear and throttling the bike at its power band. Slowly I closed in on the scrambler, just as I guessed, the scrambler was taken off its top speed due to the close-ratio gearing. We both swerved into a slight bend before the junction exit at Hill View Ave. The scrambler was taking an inferior line, I was forced to push into the scrambler inorder to possess a wider angle. We were 10 cms apart. The scrambler lacked both balls and skills to outdo in the corner. I exited the bend at a much faster speed and threw the scrambler in my mirrors.

The stretch of road was intensively dense due to constructions on both sides of the road, we entered into a stretch of slow and heavy traffic. After a couple of meters, both of us were held up behind a cement-truck. But it didn't take long before I spotted an opportunity to cut out of the congestion. I raced through the construction safety barriers, swinging out of the two-laner at 130. I was losing sight of the scrambler in the mirrors. I outran the Scrambler in a construction area with a pillion.

After I went away from the main road turning into Bukit Panjang, the scrambler finally caught up and went seperate ways. I'm glad Kobo wasn't affected by the ride... :P

New Record

2004-07-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

Nothing too big a deal actually, but I broke a personal record. It was at the 2 laner Dairy Farm Road(DF) at Bukit Timah road into BKE. I haven't been able to break the 90km/h barrier clearing the corner into the sliproad towards Woodlands BKE from DF. But I did it today.

Hardcore riders may think this is nothing, and with a bike like Super 4 is enough to do any 100s into a filter-like corner. But mine is a phantom... Kinda happy at this achievement... LoL. Sorry to the fellow riders if I made a big fuss out of it.

The weather is kinda good. I came down 130+ from the long stretch of usually mobile-cams infested DF Road. Upon reaching the split into the sliproad, I setup my position to the far right of the 2 lanes. Going left. At about 10m away from the turning-line, I heated up the brakes, the bike was slowed down to a 90. Braking-shifted the bike from the 6th to the 4th gear. Tilting the body in a fast maneouvere, crouching to allow better aerodynamics, knee down to act like a racer... It hasn't been so perfect for a long time. Little turning angle was wasted at the weight shift, as I see myself sliding across the apex of the curve, I knew it was the time for my right hand to do some work.

The throttle grip was twisted to the lock, ecstacy of the roar from engine at 4th gear was never felt before at this corner. At the exit of the corner, I saw my speedo hitting about 110. I knew I broke new grounds. The line taken was perfect, so was the weight shifting.

By the time I emerged from the slope, I was at about 120. Charging down at about 140. This is the first time I hit above 140 ever since the change of engine oil. Probably due to the wear of the oil. The weather felt really good today, there was little wind against me.

Cornering Frenzy

2004-07-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Event dated 7th July 2004.

Disclaimer please read the previous post. Screw it if you know.

Heard of the Nissan Skyline, GTR? Or the Nissan Sunny? I just saw a hybrid, the Nissan Sunnyline GTR35 V-Spec 3, LoL. You are a nutter if you believed the earlier sentence. The new Nissan Sunnyline GTR35 is basically a Sunny driven like a Skyline, obviously you can't do that. But I just met one who tried to push his Sunny in the corners like the skyline... Wahaha.

Those who have watched Initial-D knows how Takumi drives the 85 like the 86, but too bad the one I saw ain't no Takumi. It happened when I was going home, around the Marsiling area.

It was a familiar road in vicinity to the Causeway Point after my filter from Woodlands Ave 2 leading from the SLE. I could sense a blue Sunny beside me driving alittle too hard, from the way it moved and stopped. Doesn't look any pro to me due to the hard vibrations on the springs. Right after the intersection at the Woodlands Ave 3, the Sunny throttled hard down the slight gradient on the road. Just as the blue Sunny was about to pass the junction, a white Civic Type R slotted in from the filter. Just as I was about to wonder if the Sunny dared to overtake the Type R at the risk of provoking* it, the Sunny just swung out to the right and overtook it.

(*the word provoking is used here because, a Type R can outrun a Sunny anytime, anywhere, as long as the driver likes. i hope that is common sense)

The Type R seems to be a neutral lawful party, just stayed behind and allowed to be overtaken. At the moment when the Sunny revved past the Type R, curiosity spurred me... How fast can it turn? Not saying that he was fast on the straight, just a normal saloon. But he looks as if he's doing some GT championship, or... Need For Speed Underground, Reality version?

I churned the petrol and followed the Sunny. Coincidentally, the Sunny was taking the same route which I was supposed to go home. Looks like heaven is arranging an unofficial race for me. First corner coming up, a left at the junction. The Sunny took a really bad line, I knew it was going to screw up... it went in too fast. Think the Sunny driver's hands weren't moving fast enough as well, he took an understeer around the corner. I estimated a lane's space is enough for me to take a line that allows my bike to full throttle on the apex of the curve. I was right on the Sunny's tails. My exit speed was much faster than the Sunny, began to feel the Sunny slow.

The Sunny began to feel my presence on the straight road, he sped up. I managed to keep up because of his poor cornering. The next corner was coming up, another lefty as well. I realised he slowed down more than the previous corner he took, I guess he began to feel the limitations of both his driving and the car. This time the hands were fast, but if only it was a Skyline. The side Gs exceeded the suspension and tyre grip tolerance, the rear flung out abit and the tyres screeched in agony. I'm glad he didn't hit the divider. I kept some distance behind the Sunny, cause I knew the Sunny would screw up again. Taking an even better line this time, setting up for the line on the far right to the 2nd lane. Half throttling out at the apex, not a perfect curve, but manage to put the Sunny in my mirrors. More foot pegs wasted.

I suspect the driver had quite a scare, I hope he learnt. Not that he needs a Skyline or Silvia, but at least tune the stabs, and drive more. Look, my intention is not to show how good I am, I'm just curious how good he drives. Most drivers here are fast on the straights, but buang at the corners. Please drive safely, for you and your family.

London Cab Fucker

2004-07-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

London cabs, you know? Taxis with big tops... What the hell. Taxi drivers are all bastards aren't they? I mean most... Before I go,

- DISCLAIMER -
All blog entries created in this blog are purely FICTIONAL and for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES only. Any resemblance, recognition or deja vu, is purely coincidental. If any content appears explicit to you, then close your eyes and shut off the damn browser.

Oh yeah, back to taxis... yeah even though my dad was once a taxi driver, yeah, taxi drivers are still bastards, mostly.

Event dated ... I can't remember. The day after I got my bike repaired.

Bad mood was clouding over me, the engine oil screwed up everything. I will stick to my Mobil ONE upon the next 2k km mileage. The C-----l 20W-50 4T SUCKS BIG TIME, the acceleration is worse than that of a tortoise... I can't believe this shit, and it's giving me stiff gear shifts. I feel damn sick of this stupid bike now.

Back from town on BKE towards woodlands, haven't had a good day since the service. Bad weather and traffic is adding on my agony, not to mention bad drivers. Of all times, this london cabby had to appear and spark off the fire inside me. I wonder if he had a problem with me or the traffic.

As I was aligning nearer to the lane divider while there was no signaling intention to change the lane(bikers have this habit of travelling aligned to the lane dividers as they will overtake between congested traffic anytime), I waited patiently behind this white car(think it was a Sunny or Lancer) to shift out as it signalled its intention to move out from the 1st lane left to the slower. As the white car shifts out from its lane, I budged the bike intending to move around and overtake it from its right. Just when I was about to move, this fucked up london cab behind me sped up and squeezed me from the tight space which was about half a lane, between me and the expressway railing. In the midst of the overtaking.

I was like... "what the fuck, that could have killed me!". Infuriated ofcourse, is he dying to speed or speeding to die?! What's the hurry man, it's not as he could be any faster than me in that congested traffic. Heated up, I rolled on the throttle and overtook the cabby and went right infront of the cabby, travelling in the middle of the lane. Just to make sure there's no more room for the cabby to overtake from either spaces. Out of my surprise, the cabby flashed at me, despite there were cars infront of me. I guess he was trying to tell me, "fuck off". I sort of get the hint. I jammed the brakes.

I think I gave the driver a little surprise, because I could see his light beams flickering up and down, its traction was pressing hard on the suspensions because of the immediate brakings... haha. Think he got pissed and started horning at me, they sounded more like mosquito buzzes though. I slowed down all the way from about 100km/h to about 60km/h on the 1st lane of the expressway, could feel the desperation of the damned london cab. Stretches of cars behind began to sound their horns in harmony... Think it was time to move off anyway.

Despite that the bike lost some engine power from the inferior lubrication, I still managed to pull away. I think the cab tried to catch up, but was held behind by the traffic.

-Morale of the Story-
Don't fuck around with bikers, they're small, that doesn't mean you have a hold over them. All road users should treat each other without discrimination, whether it being a pedesterian, cyclist, skateboards, motorcyclists, or whatever. It's only a matter of time where you get your desserts if you lay down your dirty tracks everywhere. Because there's always someone righteous and fiercer, if not, there's always TP(Traffic Police).

Leaking...

2004-06-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

No shit... Oil seal, O-ring, gasket... Everything falling apart... What the hell.

My dad says it's due to prolong mild overheating. Thus melts the oil seal and the rubber at the magnet coil. Went down to Tai Hin, but somehow the X9 owners from SgBikes were visiting. Thus my dad redirected me to my cousin. Changed the oil seals at the gears, but the leak is still significant...

Couldn't figure out what's the problem. On Sunday, we went into Malaysia supposedly for a feast on seafood. But after the 3 hours of riding to Kukup, the leak screwed everything up. My dad lost his mood and appetite upon to realise that the leak was so serious. We stopped by a small petrol station to buy a 20-50 to fill up for the moment.

Back at home, my dad figured out what actually happened, the gasket had a small leak. Went down to Tai Hin on the next morning to glue up the leak and replace the gasket. Changed a pair of handle grips also... Nice as new now. But it's losing some power due to the engine oil used. Used to have Mobile ONE running the gears, but the Castrol 20-50 pulls a significant drop in the power... Damn sian.

Malaysian and Cub

2004-06-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

Event dated 26th June, 2004.

After losing the R6 and vice versa, I found my block clogging up with dirt and dust. It's the sign of oil leak. Dirt from the street accumulates upon sticking wet surface on the engine block.

My key is always coated with oil, thus I'm beginning to suspect somewhere is leaking quite badly and squirting out due to the vibration of the hard throttle. Couldn't care much, have to wait till tomorrow to do a thorough check.

At night, my father decided to make a trip into malaysia to pump some petrol cause he had some errands to run the next morning, and thus needs the petrol. So I followed, as I was running out of petrol too.

It was about 8pm, and there were still long stretches of motorcycle queues at the custom. Mainly Malaysians, going home after work. And hell, they are daredevils with their small cubs. Maybe it's the desire to get home for dinner after a hard day's work. No hard feelings against them and their riding attitudes, but some just puts me off, no excuses for frustrations at work.

One of them screwed up the queue at the custom and knocked into my dad, my dad kinda did it in purpose too, as that guy was going all over the place to get the fastest lane. No hard feelings yet, let the bygones be bygones. He cut into our lane between me and my dad.

By the time I passed out from the checkpoint, I lost my dad. In attempt to catch up with my dad I sped alittle at the causeway. The same malaysian rider who cut our queue appeared again and was kinda speeding as well. Mischievous caught up to me, thought it would be fun to just fool around with that guy abit. I revved up and overtook the cub, but at the same time I saw my dad. I had to jam my wheels to keep in-line with my dad, but my instincts knew it was a bad decision to perform such a maneouvere.

The malaysian hit into me, I can feel the rear wheel lifted but I still kept my balance. I knew something screwed up and I sped up to stop ahead to check if any damage was inflicted on the bike. The cub was nowhere to be found and luckily my bike had no damage. I guess that malaysian guy must had a scare of his life, he should be glad that he crashed into a bike and not a car.

*Cub, general term given to a kind of small bike when Honda introduced the pre-Wave models known as Honda Cub.

Cubs ranges from 50cc to 125cc, mainly produced by Jap manufacturers. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki...

The R6

2004-06-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

Event dated on 26th June, 2004.

KJE again, but this time down on exit into BKE.

I didn't mean to challenge the R6, I know I'm in no "power" to do that anyway. But he was just too slow. Upon reaching the exit, it was this nice down slope. I was at about 140, and the R6 was thrown behind me. Maybe he took it as a challenge and sped up, we swerve into the bend at about 110. Either he didn't want to or he didn't have the balls to, he slowed down. Gradually lost him at the exit, I was already at 120.

I thought he didn't want to keep up with it, but suddenly the R6 appeared in my mirror. Pushing his engine hard and I estimated it at about 150 or 160, zooming past me. I think he really couldn't keep up at the corner, trying to take revenge at the straight. I'm not trying to say I could outrun a R6 at a corner, but probably it's the rider that shames the R6. Besides, mine is just a really tiny cruiser...

Info
Model: YZF R6
Make: Yamaha
Displacement: ~600cm³
Type: Sports/Race
Engine: DOHC Inline-4 (I THINK)

It probably has more than 80 horses on it.

On the previous post -
"Lao K"

Model: RXK or something..? really old model
Make: Yamaha
Displacement: ~124cm³
Type: Street/AH PEK BIKE

The "Lao-K"

2004-06-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Event dated 25th June, 2004.

It was a new day that I discovered these Yamaha old-Ks are not that slow actually...

Usual route, from Corporation Road up PIE. This middle-aged man probably has a problem with his hands or what, just couldn't stop revving up his engine. I thought maybe he was deaf. He gonna race with his frigged Yamaha or what.

I followed him from the road into the slip road up the expressway, wondering how fast could he run. He didn't take very long to bore me, thus I throttled and went pass him.

The sense of guilt probably crept up to me after I overtook that uncle, thus I took a plunge down the bend from PIE into KJE at about 120, trying to get away from the uncle. To my surprise, at the end of the exit, the uncle was right on my tail!! I could imagine the finesse the uncle was taking trying to keep up with me after I overtook him! Serious shit!

I think he tried very hard to keep up with me on KJE, I couldn't stand the high-pitched revs from his bike. Deep inside me, I waved good bye to him. Off I go. 120, 130... Bye...

But he did surprise me, and I was kinda impressed...

The Civic Inrun

2004-06-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Event dated 24th June, 2004.

A usual day after sending my girl to work. Getting home back on the good old, peaceful KJE. A pretty nice stretch of road to full throttle your gadget.

I was doing my usual 130 and I saw this Civic closing in behind me. Being a safe and courteous rider, I signalled out to the 2nd lane. The Civic(VTi) didn't overtake, but slowly closing in to my side. I was just wondering if he was gonna speed up. Cars began to appear infront of me as I close in to a denser traffic of the stretch.

Just to make sure if the Civic's gonna move on or stay behind me, I left my signals triggered. Seems that the Civic intends to stay behind, thought he would just cut me out, maybe he's just being kind. I maxxed out at 140 and went back to the 1st lane infront of the Civic to avoid the traffic. Somehow the Civic has intention to outrun me as it's closing in on my ass. I thought that was kinda provocative, wondering why didn't he just cut me off earlier.

I went out back to the 2nd lane again, and somehow the Civic took it's own sweet time to overtake. Just wondering if the driver knew I'm maxxing out and doing on purpose to overtake me slowly. After it passed me, I went back right behind it, trying to get into the slipstream. At about 140+, tailgating the Civic for quite some time, my engine lost the torque to move on, not even the slipstream could help. The Civic is slowly pulling away.

I thought by this time, any driver who have got his ass tailgated would slam the throttle and pull away. My guess is... He maxxed out as well, faster than me by a margin. A new finding. No shit.

The Legacy

2004-06-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Why 45? It's my bike. It's about my everyday riding experience on the road, some may find it boring, some may find it exciting, some may find it corny, some may find it cool... and all sorts of reaction. Those who are into mechanics may think I'm fraggin', some may think I'm just bullshitting. It's for you to decide, read it for entertainment purposes.

Why did I start this crap? Simply because my daily riding experience is full of crap, I don't know why. It even astonishes myself, why do I have such a "fulfilling" experience on the road EVERYDAY. I don't understand, is it because of my riding style, or simply because I'm an event-attractor... haha... God knows.

Info on the bike:
Model: Phantom
Chassis: TA200
Make: Honda
Displacement: 197cm³(CC)
Horsepower: 18.9 hp
Dry Weight: 140kg
0 - 100 (km/h): 11.9s *
Top Speed: 148km/h *

* Results tested by me