Endless' Guide to Essential Motorcycling Gear for Singapore Riding

I thought I will share with everyone one of my greatest discovery that forever changed my life.
It took 10 years of searching to find the answer that everyone is looking for.

Singapore is in the equator. So always rain. Or rather, it always like to rain whenever I ride.
Especially after I just washed my bike.
So one essential motorcycling gear to ride in Singapore is the rain coat.

But which motorcycling rain coat is most suitable for riding in Singapore weather?


Don't laugh. No small matter ok.

There are so many different brands of rain coat in the market. Got cheap one got expensive one.
You can dee-kam-dee-kam go and buy one. But if you suay, like me many times before, buy one that got small problem here and there, you become stucked with one lousy rain coat.
And it is very painful to be stucked with one lousy rain coat.
Because if you throw it away, your heart pain.
But if you don't throw away and use it, when kena heavy rain, you curse in agony.
So it is living hell.

Altogether, I have owned about 6-8 different sets of popular brands of rain coat.
Since I have never buy the same rain coat before, it shows that how difficult it is to find a "normal" rain coat that does the simple functions of keeping you dry and last well.
Until now.

Recently I was forced to buy another new suit of rain coat because my old one, which is still very new, leaked water. After using my new rain coat for a couple of months, I am very pleased with its result and wish to share with you my joy.

What brand of rain coat is it?


ProGrip Rain Coat
















I will tell you why I am so happy with this ProGrip Rain Coat. The good thing is that it is not even expensive.

You see, for rain coats, there are a few key areas that rain tend to get in.
That is despite your rain coat is the most famous, most branded and most expensive.

The favourite areas that rain coats tend to leak water in are:
1. Neck Area.
2. The whole zip area in the middle.
3. The sleeve openings.
4. The groin area.

You don't even need to have all 4 problems. All you need is one of this area and you will get very miserable at the end of a ride.

And for me, if I get even a little wet when I go to work, I'll be in big trouble.
Because you see, I work in an office environment which has a lot of see-lang meetings.
So I wear white long sleeve shirt. The material is very thin so one drop of water on the shirt will spread into a big patch like baby urine on diapers like that.
And I wear long dark cotton pants. If my groin area gets wet, it is very malu to work around the office with a dark patch around your groin area.



Luckily, the ProGrip rain coat mostly survives all of the 4 areas.



1. Neck Area
















The ProGrip has a decent turtle neck design with velcro.
A good neck design should be high enough such that it extends all the way to within and touching your helmet. If it is midway, water will drip down from your helmet and into your body.
A good neck design should also have very strong velcro. Otherwise, when riding at expressway speed or northsouth highway speed, the overlap strap will get blown open by the strong windblast. Then you will also get wet unless you ride with one hand cupping your neck.

The ProGrip neck design is high enough and the velcro is strong enough.

It has kept my neck area dry for all my rides so far. But I must warn that it is still possible for very slight bit of water to drip down from your helmet into your neck, unless you velcro around your neck until 100% watertight.

2. Front Zip

This part is very vulnerable for most rain coat because the wind blast strikes us square in our chest (unless you ride a full or sport tourer with a big screen). So water will be forced through the zip like high pressure water jets.

















The ProGrip design is super kiapsu and super excellent. It has 2 overlap areas around the zip. One on outer-layer and inner-layer. The outer overlap layer prevents rain from directly blasting into the zip. Most other good rain coats have this design. But somehow it is not enough because I still often get wet after a heavy rain.

The ProGrip's inner overlap layer prevents water that got through the outeroverlap layer and past the zip, from touching your shirt.

I get reach office and remain completely dry even after a heavy rain and people will be surprised that I rode to work.


3. Sleeve Openings
















The riding position on my Yamaha Fazer1000 is such that it is what is called doggie-beg position. So my lower arm is almost parallel to the ground. This means that rain will blow straight into my long sleeves if the sleeve design is weak.

The ProGrip sleeves have normal velcro design. There is a slight folded extension area. I always thought this part will let water in. But somehow, it never and my long sleeves always remain dry.

So this part also past the test.

4. Groin Area
















This is often a problematic area. My previous still-grossily-new rain coat leaks water here.

For most bikes, we grip our legs snuggly around the fuel tank. So whenever we ride in the rain, our chest catch water like a reservoir catchment area. All these water then flow downards and accumulate around our groin area which grips around the fuel tank. After only 10 min of riding, a pool of water can collect around that area when we are riding.

And if we try to move our groin to release the water pool, the water tends to flow downwards onto the seat and gets trapped between the seat and the groin area of our rain pants.

If your rain coat's rain pants design is not good, it may start to leak water around the pants groin area even when it is brand new. If it doesn't, after wear and tear, it may eventually still leak.

The ProGrips's pants area is good enough that my groin area stays dry so far, even considering my bike's design tends to trap a lot of water between the big foamy seat and my pants.

So I am very pleased with this. Of course, if after wearing 1 year and water starts to leak in because the seams no longer becomes waterproof, I will not blame ProGrip.

Other Good Things

















Another good design of ProGrip that I especially like is the big bell-bottom openings of the rain pants.

This is very important to me as sometimes, I wear basketball shoes which are very chunky. If the rain pants openings are not big enough, I will have to take off my shoes to put on or off the rain pants.

The bigger the pants openings, the more it is a breeze and the faster it is you can put on your rain pants at the side of the expressway when it suddenly rains.
















The ProGrip has a vented rear opening. This is important for keeping the rider cool when riding through the rain for more than 10 minutes in Singapore's hot weather.

Where to Get and How Much

Guess how much to pay for this ProGrip rain coat that passed my difficult tests?
Not $100.
Not $80.
Not $50.

Only $35 niah!

Available from Regina/Ah Boy from Jalan Besar/Kelantan Lane.


Another next best rain coat I would recommend is from OGK.
OGK has different models of rain coat. The one that I recommend cost around $85.




Rain Shoes

Many people care about rain coat. But they don't care about keeping their feet dry.

I see before people wearing pink plastic bags wrapped around their feet.

I bought before rain shoes. But they tend to tear or break open around the seams. Some times as soon as within 2 weeks of buying them.

So I decided to look for something made of stronger material.

This is the rain shoes that I am currently using.
































The good thing about this design is that there are no seams at the front or rear. So it wouldn't tear easily. The material is also very strong.

And of course, they keep my shoes completely dry.

The disadvantages of this boot cover are:

1. It feels very loose.
So I get around this problem by tying army shoe lace around my ankles.
This way, the rain shoe sole sticks closely to my actual shoe.

2. It is more bulky than most rain shoe design because of its thicker sole.
So you need more space to store.
I don't have a problem with this as I have panniers.

Where to Get and How Much

From Regina/Ah Boy at Jalan Besar/Kelantan Lane again.
I a bit forget how much liao. But around $50-30 (please don't steal my rain shoes when I sun them on my bike hor!)


Gloves

I think the minimum riding protection in Singapore is to wear gloves (besides wearing helmet securely).

There are also many many many different types of brands and design of riding gloves with varying budgets.

My priorities for riding gloves are these:

1. Must be fully made of leather

Both palm portion and top portion.
Because you never know if you would be sliding on the road surface with your palm facing up or facing down.
All fingers must be covered in leather.

The problem of this priority is that this means that the leather glove will end up very expensive.
The expensive ones can cost over $500!!!

2. Must not have carbon or kevlar protector on top of the hand

This is a common design nowadays as it protects your hand when it slides palm up on the tarmac.

The problem for me is that I got ku-niang hands. My hands are very sensitive so the carbon/kevlar backing poke my hands and made them very uncomfortable as I grip around my handle bar.

So I rather have gloves with traditional cotton/leather padding or totally no further extra padding.


3. Must be cheap

Less than $100 because otherwise I will spend more on my hands than on my head.

No lah. It is more like I poor and niao.

How to get a full leather glove at less than $100?


Rays Leather Glove
















This is the riding glove that I use for daily commuting and for touring up north.

Every part is made of leather.

It is from RJays, an Australia brand. So the stiching is all good quality. Have been using everyday for almost a year and no seams are falling apart yet.

The disadvantages of this glove are:
1. Has no carbon/kevlar backing

So less protection. But Singapore riding speeds of up to 100kmh, since it is made fully of leather, I think it is good enough.

2. Single layer leather design

Those more expensive branded leather gloves have an inner lining plus the back might have an extra leather layer.

RJays one has only one layer. But to me, it is good enough as once again, for Singapore riding speeds, single-layer leather is tough enough.

How much and where to get?

My constraint is that it must be less than $100.
The RJays leather glove cost me $25 only.
For that price, I may not even be able to buy another half-leather-half-cloth glove design.

Once again, you can get it from Regina/Ah Boy.
Oi, I not advertising for them.
It is just that I cheapo. Always go there first to source for things.

Slightly more information can be found if you go to RJays website at:
http://rjays.com.au/home/products/gloves-summervent-glove.html

Another very useful kit I have and recommend

This one not absolutely essential for riding in Singapore.
But it is made such a difference to my riding life that I thought I should just share.

You see, I am a damn idle person. I hate to lube my bike's chain every 1-2 weeks.

So my Frost has a Scott Oiler.



I have rode my Frost for a year now, every day and up to almost Thailand.
And I have not lube my chain once.

The Scott Oiler does it for me.
How many hours of my life has the Scott Oiler saved me?
Oh, what a life saver!

It cost about $100. Available from MotorWorld, Kaki Bukit. But it is worth the price if you go and do your sums and put a per hour price to your time. The oil refill is very very cheap. A $12 bottle can last you for half a year. Cheaper than the lube chain spray.

My Scott Oiler is installed under my bike seat.

I also wish to correct a common thinking of Scott Oiler: You need a double drip system to drip both sides of your bike chain.

You don't need to. My Scott Oiler has a single drip system. The single drip only drips onto the outer side of my chain. But somehow, the centrifugal force of the movement of your chain will force the oil to flow and drip onto the inner side. Amazing!

I sure or not? Yes. I have been using for a year and I can see that the O-rings of both sides of the chain are moist with oil.

Parting Advice

End end is just around the corner. This means two things: The rainy season is going to start; And accident rate is going to go up.

I consider rain coat as an integral part of safety protection gear for Singapore riding.

How come? Rain coat thick enough to act as protection meh?

No. It is not.

But you see, if you do not have rain coat, once it starts to rain, your riding behaviour will change that increases your probability of getting into accident.

If you have no rain coat, a drizzle starts to fall when you ride and you are 5 min from your destination, you will ride faster and hope to cut down your exposure under the rain right?

Doesn't this increase your risk profile by increasing riding speed on a wet road with reduced visibility and riding with a reduced awareness intend on minimising getting wet?

Within a year of riding, easily would go through at least 12 times of getting caught in the rain riding. That means easily 60 min of high-risk-profile riding. How long do you think you can get away with it before something happens?

Or if you can be like me. If you are fully decked in proper rain gear, you know that you will get to your destination dry like a piece of paper. So I don't rush when I ride in the rain. I ride slower and keep a greater safety distance and hightened my awareness due to lower visibility for myself and other vehicles.

In fact, I enjoy riding in the rain. Because it is cooling. It gives me a chance to be a child again. To be in the rain (but stay dry), to feel rain droplets on my hand (the only exposed part), to see rain droplets on my visor. To feel completely dry when I see so many other motorcyclists huddling together under the flyovers. Strange isn't it? Some of them can afford to spend $20,000 to buy a fancy big bike and can't spend $35 to buy and carry a rain coat.

Compared with how much is your life worth. Just calculate how much you earn or will earn in a year.

Compared to the total cost of a rain gear (<$100). Oh, don't forget to change your tyres if your grooves are no longer deep as that will invite hydro-planning effects (means your bike can easily skid when the road is wet). Once again, compared the cost of a set of new tyres to how much you earn in a year. Isn't your life worth it? In any case, sooner or later you also need to change tyres one what. Might as well have new set when you really need it now that the season is wet, right? So, go to your mechanic or Regina/Ah Boy this weekend.

Traffic Police Safety Talk for Bikers!

Restricted Area.
Once-in-a-lifetime experience visit visit TP HQ.

This week, I get to kiao kar.
Because I am very fortunate. I got england powerderful powderful BooFeng, also from www.SingaporeBikeForums.com, as my guest/celebrity blogger (next time then I invite Dawn, or Jamee OK?).

BooFeng is going to tell you about our trip to the Traffic Police HQ at Ubi, for a Road Safety Talk specially for bikers only. It is by the Road Safety Branch.

I must declare first ah. The main text is by BooFeng. The caption below the photos are by me, in case you mistaken my english for BooFeng's english. Here he goes:

*****

Saturday morning, 8:30am, and I was up and on my way down for a “Dialogue Session” between the Traffic Police’s Road Safety Branch and Singapore Bike Forums (SBF). In spite of the early hour and the haze, things got off nicely as our bikes (some NIE dudes I cajoled into coming along) rolled in and friendly marshals led us to… the impound yard!

Hmm… quite a good catch this weekend: I see some huge bikes in there – an R1150GS, ST11s, a couple of fazers (including Frost), Mr Lau’s CB1300, plus plenty of sportbikes big and small (we’re a sportbike loving nation), among all the naked bikes and cubkias. Turns out that’s our exclusive parking lot for today, woohoo.

Lots of people seemed to be turning up. Some of them wore sensible protective kit, unlike me. Well, I’ve been working on it, seeing as the last time I turned up here in PT shorts, crummy t-shirt, with skinned palm and elbow. There were some familiar faces (mostly the NUS folk), but also many new ones.

Anyway, after diddling about for a good bit, we got guided into an LT. It looked so empty, which was quite a downer. 45 persons had registered on the forum. I’m sure others invited friends who didn’t register too. There were perhaps 30-ish present today.

The TP from Road Safety Branch giving the talk is Staff Sergent Neo.
Here, MrLau is giving tips to SSG Neo on how to capture the attention of the audience.
MrLau,"Ai ya, very simple. You just ask them, Do you want to know the loopholes of our speed camera?"

The talk is very pro and interesting siah.
SSG Neo is very interesting. There is also SSG Nora Bachor.
I never feel bored.
Maybe because got many buang video scenes of motorcyclists to see.

Some chap gave us a presentation, I’m really sorry to say I forgot his name. I think it was really an eye-opener for many of us present.

There was a short bit on statistics. If I remember right, 55% of our road fatalities are motorcyclists. Ouch. Compare that with 30+% pedestrians (I was shocked, that’s quite a lot!), and 8% cars. However, Singapore has one of the world’s lowest per capita road fatalities. Cynics will say that’s because most of us can only afford to travel by public transport.

Then there was a bit on causes of accidents, along with tips on what can happen and how to avoid them (lots of vids and pics, a very visual-oriented presentation). I grouped the accident-causes mentally as:

a. Self-induced accidents

b. Right of way violations

It’s like… (a) your fault, or (b) others’ fault, isn’t it? Yes in a way but no, not really. If you ride a motorbike, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is; you go down, you get hurt. Often quite badly. Point is: motorcyclists have a lot at stake. From my point of view, letting others hurt you is a kind of fault too.

We had a look at some vids then, and it’s amazing what can happen on the expressway, actually:

1. Some folks don’t look ahead when they drive. We saw a couple of high speed crashes into stationary vehicles on the road.

Moral: Look where you’re going (duh!!!!), and get your vehicle to the side of the road if possible after accidents. Disputing in the middle of the road invites blind folks to hit your car, bike, or yourself. Not nice. Or it could hit the tow-truck, which is kindof blackly funny. Imagine: “Hello, EMAS? Er… this is the EMAS truck… we’ve crashed. Can you send someone to get us?”

2. Most folk don’t stop to help at accidents. A rubber-necking motorcyclist hits a stationary bus, goes down and doesn’t come up. Nobody stops for a good SEVERAL minutes. The bus driver finally STROLLED over, after dallying for a long time. @#!$%.

Moral: Don’t rubberneck! And most important, DO STOP TO HELP INJURED PEOPLE!! This made me really mad and upset.

3. This is similar to the “slow-down-for-automated-speed-cam” syndrome. Some folks see a patrol car, and think “oh shit I’m too fast”, then grab the brakes and try to stop. And crash. Horribly. Like, what for. >.<

4. There was lots of drifting/aquaplaning too. A lorry spun out all the way from lane 1 to lane 4. Some Mercedes also started drifting but didn’t know how to counter-steer. All these happened on wet roads.
   Moral: Learning fancy (advanced) driving/riding techniques can be useful. This is something I brought up on my first visit, but I realised that they can’t do much about it, and they don’t really believe it helps too. I suggested pegging insurance rebates to proper advanced training, and getting the driving centres to provide such training and certification, etc. But it’s mostly out of their hands. They’re just the Road Safety folks afterall. I also realise some advanced techniques are seen to be too “flashy” and disliked (e.g. shifting body weight for braking and corners), after speaking to some officers.

Off the highway, there were some sequence pictures too, from other cameras. I thought it was quite a privilege to see some of these stuff, e.g. the red-light-cam photo sequences.

SSG Neo(left) and Deputy Superintendent Simon Ng patiently answering our questions and giving advice. "You all ah, better ride safely, understand? Don't whole day buang here buang there understand? Lidat make me very busy understand? Cannot sit in my opik blow aircon. Must whole day go outside and investigate here investigate there. Turtle lah you all."

Then came the gory bit, with lots of accident-case pictures. I think this had the most impact on everyone. I hated it, actually. I don’t need or want to see so much. I know the consequences of crashing are disastrous. I think safety gear is important. But I think accident prevention is centred around skills (both road-reading and technical skills). However, I think this section was good for most people. I mean, it highlights the NEED to prevent accidents. Which is really a good place to begin.

But where’s the HOW of it? There’s lots of advice being bandied around, lots of opinions. Two-second rules. Car-lengths to follow for wet and dry days. Looking far. Being alert. Not drinking/driving, not falling asleep. Some of it is common sense. Some of it is dispensed simplistically. Some of it is very detailed and useful, e.g. the Streetsmart thread on SBF.

I think, however, that the good advice isn’t reaching the right people. Nobody’s sorting out the good advice from the bad. Nobody’s contextualising it for the local situation. Nobody’s making it accessible to the people who need it, through good explanations, elaborations, in more languages, in practical training situations (and not just on paper), in good powerful diagrams, in structured lessons, etc. It’s not being given enough emphasis in training and refreshers.

Training is focused so much on technical skills. So much of it is rote learning too; same route all the time, same old places to speed up, slow down, check blindspots. It won’t be a bad thing if we could introduce creative and critical thinking into our driving schools too. Refreshers aren’t even popular, perhaps because as it is they don’t offer very much. We could do a lot if we just used some diagrams/materials off the internet and magazines. I say we should revamp this syllabus too.

Overall, it was an excellent presentation though, because I could sense the effort to “reach” us. The officer doing it tried very hard to talk to us and communicate to us, to get us to see things from certain perspectives. I appreciated that a lot. It came across like they wanted to work with us as equals, and not as “the authority”.

After the informative talk, TP still blan-jah us to makan siah.
We get to chit-chat and ask the TP officers in person.

Then as expected lah. Sure got people complaint to TP:
"Wah lau eh, you all TP so on for what? Everywhere also got speed camera.
Lin bei 24 points also not enough!"

After the presentation we got the standard tour, to gawk at the glitzy hardware (VFRs, WRXs and some speedcams), and to get filled in on some history, at the Heritage Centre. The tour made me think of how closely linked the TP were to motorcycles, they’ve always had motorcycle patrols since ages ago, and just look at their crest. Says it all, really.

The TP's Subaru WRX on display. It is the base 225bhp version.
Alamak, they forget to leave the car key behind.

Up close with The Evil Eye.

ROV explain how the laser speed camera works.
You just point, turn on, sit back and see how the speedster automatically get caught. Ha!
You can run. But you can't hide. Ha!

The view of the TP officer behind his toy.

Funan Centre got sell or not?

Do you know that there is a museum inside the Ubi TP HQ?

We are given a guided tour around the TP Heritage Centre.
















See before this type of TP bike before or not?

Last time, the TP wear "wings".
You know why?
Of course, not to fly lah.
Because the TP act as traffic light and the wings help to direct the traffic flow.
Orrrrr!

Remember this thing?
I was designated car driver and I rode this back in my primary school days.
Yes, the road safety park is still funtioning at East Coast.
Incredibly, even when I was kid doing the road safety park thing, I was given a "summon".

It was a sign of things to come when I become adult.
I was supposed to be a car driver. But I overshot my destination.
So I parked my "car", disembarked and walked over to my destination to get signed-off.
I was "summoned" for acting as a pedestrian when I was supposed to be a car-driver.

I very much want to ply loose one of those silver items on display and bring home as souvenir and act to my collection of Hard Rock badges.
But I scared mah tak liak.

That’s all I have to say about the event. But here’s some afterthoughts:

First off, I’m really glad to see that being “consultative” is not just a buzzword the government services/departments pay lip service to. I think Simon (CO, Road Safety) has done excellent work here. He’s also doing fantastically in another aspect: encouraging and promoting civil society (that’s us guys on SBF, among others).

Why do I say this? Simon and his motley crew of twelve (yes, only!!) have been going around engaging with motorist groups, including bike clubs such as the Harley Owners’ Group, Storm Riders, etc, car clubs, tertiary institutes of education (ITEs and Polytechnics), army camps, restaurants which hire delivery riders, etc etc, to build links and spread the word about road safety with civilians who have an interest in such things (this is what they call “civil society” at school).

That’s really tough work for such a small department, which has also been managing to scrounge up $6 million in sponsorship each year to fund those funky road-safety adverts you see all around (the government doesn’t pay for those, or anything else related to road safety education). And they’re the ones in charge of producing the ads too. A hand for our hardworking officers!

And now, they’re starting even to engage with groups like us (SBF) on the internet. Very modern, very forward looking, to do so, don’t you think? (and you should, since you’re probably reading this very article on the internet!)

It IS a big deal, because such behaviour isn’t (well, wasn’t) typical of the government departments in the past. Things were, and still are, really bureaucratic, for e.g. the TP riders are still not wearing full-face helmets, somehow. It’s kindof like at our schools, where they’ve wonderfully revamped the philosophy, syllabuses, teaching methodology, etc, but still make our students sit for boring O and A levels (which is why many teachers, in spite of all the exciting new stuff they learn at NIE, still spend so much lesson time preparing for dreary exams). We need to change our examination system, but we’re dragging our feet about it. Argh.

Anyway, back to the topic, I think Simon is doing what he can very well. He can’t make our patrol riders wear full-face helmets, but he’s trying to talk to “civil society”; he’s trying to understand us, to find out what/how we think, in short consulting us, and he’s also trying to forge links for cooperation, to communicate with us, to get us to “do work” in spreading the word about road safety, i.e. he’s encouraging and promoting us, the civil society, the grassroots, to be involved.

Road safety, like so many other issues, like our environment, courtesy, women’s rights, education, etc are part of our civic life. It’s become so cliché to say that Singaporeans are apathetic, indifferent, and bochup. We also like to say it’s because our government has been too authoritarian, too top-down, too paternal.

But that’s not really the case here today, at TP HQ, Ubi, is it? Times are changing. “You have a voice, and you can do something,” I think that’s what Simon is trying to tell us.

Let’s work together to make a difference.

For me hor, the most important thing that come out from the TP talk besides the makan session, is this photo!
Next time when TP stop me on the road that time, I will take out this picture and show the TP.
"You know who I am or not?
I am good brother with your CO Simon understand?"
Absolutely priceless.

Please visit www.SingaporeBikeForums.com 's Street Smart thread.

There are many many very informative and useful survival tips for us motorcyclists.
It may save your live!

Visit:
http://www.singaporebikes.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67876&st=960&#entry3345164

Go Ubi Traffic Police Headquarters. But not kena summon.

30 September, Saturday.

This morning, I go to the place that most motorists hate or fear to go: the Singapore Traffic Police Headquarters at Ubi.















You see this building, leg sure shiver.


You get to go there if you kena serious traffic offences and you want to tolong tolong.
You get to go there also if you get involved in accidents and kena investigated.
So this is the last place people will be happy to go.

But today, I go there as a happy man. Because I was invited, not kena summoned there.

And because I was a good citizen, not because I am a bad citizen.

I go there to meet Traffic Police's Road Safety Branch, to help improve road safety for motorcyclists in Singapore.

How come TP so eng and want to meet Endless me?

Because of complaint king, MrLau.

MrLau is a very good and kind man. He very concerned for the safety of Singapore motorcyclists. So he always write complain email and send to TP, to give them "feedback" and suggestions.

I think the day come that the TP buay tah han MrLau. So want to turn this complaint king to become something useful. Ask him come and work with the TP Road Safety Branch. Not a bad idea right? Kill two birds with one stone. Our TP got brains hor?

So MrLau (Honda CB1300) also invited Spectrum (Honda Hornet900), who then jio me along. With us is also boofeng (Kawasaki Concors) and quizesilver (Honda Super4).















MrLau entering the TP Lair.

We met at the canteen in the TP HQ.

After a while, a young man and a woman came and sit with us. Both of them are not wearing police clothes.

The young man is Dua Liap TP Mah Tak, I tell you. His name is Simon.
His rank is Deputy Superintendent of Police siah. CO of Road Safety Branch ah.
All the crappy road safety TV commercials and all those banners hanging on the lamposts on the road come from this man. His name is Simon. The woman is his assistant, SSG Nora.

Simon sit down with us and first thing he do is offered to buy us all coffee.

We all hear that, but no one dare to accept his offer.

Who ever in his life get offer kopi from TP?

Simon repeat his offer again and tell us don't scared. We cautiously accepted his offer.

But after a while, we realised this Simon is a very nice friendly man.
I find him very normal. Actually, I quite like him.
Although his rank very high, he is not those jenghu people who only like to talk jenghu wuay (language) and got jenghu sey (airs).

Simon not hao lian and is a motorcycle man like us. He currently rides a Honda Wave. So he understands first hand, all our problems of us motorcyclists on the road. Nora also used to ride motorcycle. So we all understand and speak the same language and same frequency.

We tell him some of our problems as motorcyclists on the road that threatens our safety and give suggestions. He understands our problem. We also discussed about organising an event to invite more motorcyclists to the TP HQ to learn about road safety.

Simon want to reach out to the motorcycle and car clubs. I think in the past, the Road Safety CO just sit behind their desks. Simon could be the first to actually come down, meet and talk to us actual motorcyclists. When tua liap jeng hu people come and meet us commoners, is this call doing Grassroot work?

Anyhow, we really enjoyed chatting with Simon and it appears to me that he genuinely cares about safety of motorcycle and car owners.

We told him about our Street Smart thread at Singaporebikeforums.com.
It contains many proven safety tips and techniques that can help motorcyclists survive on the road. It is at:

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67876

He says he will go and read and even print out and post on his Branch notice board.

He also showed us some photographs of motorcyclists who met accidents and kiout kiout.
Sibei gross siah. Can see brain matter, can see eyeball come out socket, can see exposed teeth through face. Confirm lose appetite one.

But very effective. After that I ride extra extra safely.

Next, he brought us downstairs to see the TP car park.

Wah seh. I see rows and rows of TP motorcycles!

Most of them are the Yamaha Diversions. I also see a few of the new TP Honda VFR800 (pre-Vtec version).

I eagerly go and hop onto the VFR800. It is very compact compared to the Diversion. Must be much more agile and better at handling.

The handle bar is raised so now the TP rider can ride upright. I like this setup. The seat padding is also very soft. If they sell outside this setup, I sure go and buy!

Then I go and examine the Yamaha Diversions.

Have you ever wondered, like so many of us out there, is our TP Diversion motorcyclists equipped with radar to clock your speed when you are speeding?

Sure don't have right? TP motorcycle not very big what, where to put radar?

Today, I finally see for myself the answer.

The answer is YES. The TP bike has radar. Not only one radar. But two. One forward facing. The other rear.

Next time you see a Diversion, you see carefully. On its right crash bar, there is a small little cylinder thing. The front is a white plastic cover, the body is black. It looks like a small search light. But it is not. It is a radar.

Next, you see the rear mounting, just after the rear seat and above the rear tail light. You will see a similar object but face rearward.

To further confirm, below the TP motorcycle dashboard, there is an xtra big rectangular dashboard for reading and operating the two radars.

According to them, the TP radar can clock your speed when the TP bike is stationary as well as when it is moving.

Hopefully with this knowledge, I can help save you write useless appeal letter to plead that the TP anyhow clock your speed using human eyeball.

Then, it is time to say goodbye to Simon and Nora. We really had a lot of fun and we enjoyed meeting them. We spent almost 3 hours there talking! I never imagined I could talk so much to a TP.

The bike safety event is planned on 14 October Saturday. So stay tunned. I think places are limited. Only 40.

When we are about to leave the TP HQ, it was raining.

Then Simon so nice. Go and get umbrellas for us so that we can walk to go and makan without getting wet. This TP really know how to score points.

This Simon tell us, actually most of the TP officers are very nice people. So we should go up and talk to them. Ya, right.

Never bluff you.
I really was at the Ubi TP HQ.
Somemore TP Superintendent really offered me umbrella (see TP logo all over on umbrella).

MrLau's rare Honda CB1300 Bold'Or (meaning Gold in French).
It is a new bike but with retro styling. I like.
















Boofeng's 1,000cc Kawasaki Concors.

My Frost at Ubi Traffic Police Headquarters.
Got invitation then get park inside one, ok.
Today is a very special and fun day for me.
Glad that there are people like Simon at TP.

Hornet, Blackbird, SV Clubs, She Riders: Many Many Anniversary and Birthday ah

Today is many people's birthday celebration. Most lao one first:

1. Honda Blackbird celebrates it's 3rd anniversary.

2. Honda Hornet Nest celebrates it's 2nd anniversary.

3. Suzuki SV celebrate it's 1st anniversary.


They have one whole day of fun lined up.

First, they go to Clark Quay to join in the Singapore Bike Forum funfare.
Then at night, they convoy to the Hornet Nest's indian chief's condo call Cote D'Azur Condo (how to pronounce ah?), next to Parkway Parade.

Singapore Bike Forum Funfare

I never go. Now I bang balls man.

Because I missed this:

Biker Babe Contest

I thought the girls look not bad what.
But later on I hear from one biker guy tell me:
"Endless, lucky you never go and see the Biker Babe Contest.
The girls there all so skinny. The neir all so small."

Wah lau. Thin girls also don't like ah.
This shows that one size can't fit all.

Give him Olinda Cho lah.
















There are some cool bikes being displayed there at Clark Quay for the Singapore Bike Forum event.

But who cares about them when you got Biker Babe Contest right?


There is also supposed to convoy rides to the event. Then it got cancelled because the IMF circus is in town.

Actually scared what? The IMF go and do their IMF thing lah. We only ride together what. We don't convoy means Singapore no motorcycle meh?

Si bei kia si to the max siah.


BBQ at Cote D'Azur Condo

I only went for the BBQ niah. Can eat mah.

This Spectrum has one unit at this cheem cheem name condo next to Parkway Parade. Then as in all other condos in Singapore, this one also got those useless and pesky security guards.

I don't like these security guards because got one time I got invited to go to my friend's place at another condo. I ride there but the security guard refused to let me in. That condo cannot allow bike to go in and park. Only cars. Asked me to park outside at the pavement and walk in.

Lucky that security guard quite old liao. If not I would have given him a piece of my mind.

So I am not very sure this time round can get past this Cote Azur condo security guard or not.
Spectrum say, just give the password to the security guard.
But the password is not like Mission Impossible or James Bond that kind.
It goes by the rather unimaginative:

"Spectrum BBQ Pit No 3".


OK, I ride up to the security post at the condo. Security guard come out and challenged me.
I give password. Wait for response. Don't know password correct or not. Or security guard is going to ask me to park outside again.

Wah, passed!

I met the nicest security guard to a biker in my life.
The security guard says just ride to the basement carpark and once you get there, you will know where to park.

What does he mean by that?

I ride to basement.

Carpark is very big wor. Where to park to go up to the BBQ pit?

















Wah, now I understand what the security guard mean.
So many bikes. Got Hornet, got Super 4, got Blackbird, got SVs. Also got other type of bikes like Ninja, Hayabusa, scooter.

I go unstairs. The BBQ already started quite some time and people are enjoying themselves there.
















There are many people there. They are all bikers.















Spectrum, my touring buddy and I take one photo together.

She Riders Club

Then I see my friend, a lady rider called Tweety. I say hi to her and noticed that she was with several ladies.

She introduced that they are all from She Riders Club.

Wah, She Riders. I never hear before ah. Singapore got such club?

I immeidately think like they like some SheWolves like that.
All the cha bor gang up together and suck men's blood.
Wah, scary siah.












The nice and pretty ladies from She Riders Club.


I Met Elvis

Tweety introduced this lady called Kelly.
I think this Kelly is as famous as the other Kelly: the Superstar Kelly Poon.

This Kelly is the legendary lady rider that rides a white ST, and who has rode to China.
China!!!
I plane also never take go there before and she got ride there!!!

Plus somemore....Myanmar!!!!!

Wah lau eh!!!!

I see her I immediately feel like I have to bow down and pay respect to this super duper lady rider.

After I recovered from my star-giddiness, I realised this Kelly is actually very friendly, very sociable and very bubbly. Before long, I got comfortable and sat down to chat with her on touring.

Then around the table also got other She Riders.

After a while, I realised that got so many girls talked to me one guy, at their centre of attention.
Wah, I never in mind life got so many girls looking at me.

Except one time when I accidentally walked into the woman's toilet.

Then my face start to have a burning sensation.
I was getting a little embarressed with so many girls talking to me.
Lucky my face very black. They can't tell I am turning red, haha.

Actually, they are all very friendly girls. They wouldn't eat you up one.

They keep asking me to go with them to this coming Three-Nation-Ride in November.
I would like to go. But I cannot immediately say yes because:

1. Don't know my touring buddy Spectrum got go or not.

2. How to apply so many days of leave?
Wait I come back cannot find my desk in the office anymore how?

But the thought of so many girls together and possibly sex-orgy makes the trip very tempting...



Anyhow, I was really pleased to meet the ladies at She Rider Club.
They are all very friendly and nice people. I am very happy got more and more girls learnt to appreciate the joys of riding.


Cut Birtday Cakes



It turns out that it is also She Rider--Tweety's birthday.
From left, there is Adek, Kelly and Tweety.
Happy birthday Tweety!
















The 3 birthday cakes to celebrate the anniversaries of Blackbird, Hornet and SV.













Happy birthday to you all!!!

May the spirit of riding live strong in all of you!!!

Cheers!

A Pagoh Quickie

ICT

I just completed my ICT (In-Camp Training) on Saturday.

Actually very shek and want to spend my Sunday to kun. Then my friend KP come and jio me to go do a short biking trip on Sunday. Go where?
Go Pagoh and eat durian. Must be he see my blog on my last trip to Pagoh eat durian and gian. So I say on.

Before I talk about my this ride to Pagoh, let me share with you some new things I learnt from my recent ICT:

1. Some more new pronunciation of Durian.

Just as I thought there can’t be anymore ways we can mispronounced the word “durian”, I just learnt another new way…”Diu-ran”. The list just keeps growing.

2. Chor is in.

If you say “Endless, how come you so chor? Use the word quickie?”, I tell you, I just learnt that the big people even more chor.
PM Lee uses “talk cock” in his national day speech according to the poh zua;

But this Zoe Tay is No 1. According to Imedeen’s latest advertisements, Zoe says her secret to her beautiful skin is “I swallow.”

All the boyfriends and husbands, what are you waiting for? Quick go and tell your cha bor.
When I go back to office, I must circulate this beauty secret to all my female colleagues.

3. A new army joke.

My reservist mate tell me last time during his NS time, his OC ask his driver to go out and buy some snacks. OC tell driver:

“Buy 4 tea, 4 coffee, Marlboro tua bao (big packet 20 sticks type).”

Driver says “Orr”. Off he goes.
Driver left for a long long time and never come back. OC starts to wonder what is taking the driver so long just to buy some snacks.
Finally, after a long long time, driver comes back.
But he came back with:

Forty-four coffee,
Marlboro and
One big bun (tua bao).

Why do all the stupid things happen only when you are in the army?

Route

OK, back to our ride to Pagoh.

Who going? Just a small group of us:
KP on his R6 (2003 model);
Kinwei on his rather rare, GSX-K750 (2006);
Ben on his R6 (2006 model).

Wah, all sportsbikes. Don’t know Frost can keep up with them or not.

The route is very simple. It is the exact same route as our last ride to Pagoh (see Bekok Waterfall + Durian Trip). Meet at Esso GP. Take NorthSouth Highway.
We will exit at Ayer Hitam, then go to the kopi tiam to eat lunch.
Go back to NorthSouth, travel to and exit at Pagoh.
Go to the same durian stalls I ate the last time. Then NorthSouth back.

While gathering at Esso GP, I saw one whole large gang (about 20 bikes) of Malaysian kup kiahs riding pass on the highway. Malaysia motorcycle gang in broad day light?

I noticed a couple of them had pillions carrying the Malaysia flags flying in the wind.
Kinwei says their national day must be around the corner.
Wah, national day also got rounding one.

I saw a 2^nd link break-down patrol car. I go and confirm with the encik. Indeed, their national day is on 31^st August.
The patrol car is decorated with the Malaysia flag to celebrate their national day on 31^st August.

Later through out the day, every where I go, I see many cars have small flags sticked onto their roof. Even their lorries have flags.

This one is a taxi. It also has malaysia flags on its roof.

Some protons have a decal of the top left corner of a big Malaysia flag sticked onto their bonnet. I think it looks very nice. But Singapore cars cannot copy this idea. Because their bonnets all already have the decals of Mugen, TRD, STi, Spoon, CWest …

NorthSouth Ride

Nothing much special.

KP on his R6.

This is on the left of the NS highway, before the Kulai Toll.
Every time I pass by this stretch, I think it looks very scenic.

Then along the NS highway, up ahead, I spotted an unusual sight---A white Toyota Celica sports car with Malaysia car plate, fitted with an aftermarket rear diffuser.

It travels quite fast on the right lane. But I travel even faster. And it wouldn’t bulge when I go behind this Celica.

Nabeh. You drive sports car tua pai, right?

Never mind. I no mood to play with you. I just overtake you from the left lor.

I wind my throttle and Frost easily starts to slide pass the white Celica.

As I ride past, I wanted to see what this idiotic driver look like.

Wah, it is one damn chio bu driving the Celica.

Arm thin thin, skin fair fair, hair long long look like japanese race queen kind. Complete with stylo milo sun glasses wor.

When a babe like this is driving a sporty car, somehow the complete thing just looks damn sexy.
Nose going to bleed liao.

I quickly take out my handphone camera. I want to take a picture of this sexy thing and show Kin Wei, KP and gang.

I rode along side her and aimed my handphone camera at her. Chio bu pretend not to see me and continue driving. But like that the picture look even nicer.

KP was behind me and he saw what I was doing. He must have also seen the chio bu in the Celica.

I took a shot and soon we have to exit at Ayer Hitam.

Ayer Hitam

We went to the same kopi tiam as last time.

After we parked our bikes and we found a table to sit down, before I can ask them what they want to eat, this KP quickly ask me:
“Ai Endless, how how? Got take a picture of the chio bu or not? See leh see leh.”

Ji hong KP.

I took out my handphone camera and search for the picture.

This is the picture I took:

Ahhhh!!!!
Where is the my chio bu?
How come only shoot the front of the white Celica?
Bo bo shooter.

It’s too late for us to take off right now and pursuit her along the NorthSouth.

Never mind. No chio bu but got nice food to enjoy.

The last time I came, I ate wanton noodle and chicken claws (tim sum type).

What else is good to eat here?

I don’t know. I never give the other stalls a chance. I ordered and ate wanton noodle and chicken claws (tim sum type) again.

Some Upgrades

We exited at Pagoh. And we never see the Celica along the way. Sigh.

I did 3 things to Frost before this trip.

1) I changed my clutch cable.

The old clutch cable did not spoil. It is just that my friends commented that the effort to press the clutch felt heavy. So I changed to a new cable.
Indeed the clutch now feels so light. It is also so slick and light now to flick the foot gear level.
Not expensive one. Only $30 plus for my Frost.

2) I topped up air on my tires.

I had not pumped air into my tyres for 1-2 months liao. KP helped to pump air to my tyres to about 35 psi. Immediately, Frost felt very nimble and agile and very fun to corner.
It is amazing what difference the correct (and incorrect) air pressure can do.

3) I changed my brake pads.

The other pad actually still looks quite thick. But it is the inner pad that is wearing thin.
I was recommended to go to Mah Motorparts (19 Jln Besar). The boss is a friendly chap called Jeremy.
There are so many different types of brake pads in the market. Which one is good?
I changed to the brand GoldFren--the side really is gold in colour. I used the Ceremic model (there is a race model). Very cheap. Only $20 per pair.
After about 20km of scrubbing off, the bite is very jiat (immediate and strong). I like.

Pagoh

We ride towards the Pagoh durian stall that I ate the last time (see my 2 posts earlier to see directions to get there).

First, we passed the coconut stall (later than eat). Then as we ride further and further, “Eh, how come never see any durian stalls along the roadside?”

After awhile, we realized the durian stalls all never open.
Today is Sunday, the durian stalls don’t open on Sundays.
Does that mean we are going to go back empty-handed and unable to taste our one and only one objective?

We U-turn back and head towards the coconut stall.
Luckily, the coconut stall got sell durians. Not as many as the durian stalls. But at least we get to eat durians. The durian cost 3ringgit per kilogram. Ok. So so. Seed very big. Taste is not bad.

Mai hiam buay pai lah.

Eat durian eat durian.

KP buay kat ki (not shy).
That's why it is good to go on makan trips with at least some girls around.
Like that then the guys would be more civilised.
If not, very fast the food will disappear and I have no chance to eat.

After that, we went to the adjacent stall to drink coconut juice.
While we were there, the coconut stall owner went to buy kopi. He left the son behind.
Then a Malaysian lorry drove up and asked to buy coconut juice.

The son only 8-9 years old, but very garang. Father not around never mind. Son will serve coconut juice.

Son went on to pick one coconut, take up the foot-long parang knife and start to slash at the coconut left and right. In Singapore, such thing will never happen. The children here are so precious. The mothers will never let their kids go near within a 12-foot radius of a pair of normal scissors, let alone wield a one-foot-long parang.

I ride R6

Having ate our durian, KP and Kinwei ker gian liao and are satisfied. So we can return back to Singapore.

KP suggested we swap bike. I ride KP’s 03 R6 and he ride my Fazer1000. OK, on.

It has been almost a year since I last rode my own sportsbike, Honda CBR954 FireBlade. But the R6 gave me a very familiar feeling very quickly.

I ride R6.

Engine
If I were to ever buy a sports bike again, I would buy a 600cc. Why? Because on a 600, you actually can go faster around and out of the corner than a 1000. Many people don't believe how can a 600 be faster on a 1000 (on a track) . You go pasir gudang track you will understand.

Tyres
KP’s R6 are fitted with Michelin Pilot Power sport profile tyres. I like these tyres. They inspire a lot of confidence and felt very sure footed. I somewhat prefer its feel over Bridgestone BT012. I used to think the Pilot Power was very expensive. But nowadays, its prices have come down to BT012 level of $380 or so.

Brakes
KP’s R6 is fitted with a larger aftermarket front brake master cylinder. The brand is Majura I think. This brake cylinder being larger, enables even lesser effort for powerful braking. When I rode his R6, all I need to do is to tap the brake level with ONE finger and the R6 would shed 10s of speed immediately. The amount of effort is no more than the effort you apply when you drum your fingers lightly on the table.

Steering Damper
KP’s R6 is also fitted with a Scot rotary steering damper. I like rotary steering damper over the rod-type, because rotary type looks more compact and nicer. This Scot steering damper is adjustable in terms of damping stiffness.

Riding along NorthSouth

View of a R6 rider.
This is how your view look like when you ride the R6 in a hunched down position.
Complete with insects and all on my visor.

I rode the R6 like my Fazer and KP rode my Fazer like his R6. After a while, KP starts to disappear out of my sight. At the end of the ride, KP said he hit 220 (can still go faster) on my Fazer. I had never even reach 170 on my own Fazer before.

Along the almost hour-long ride back along the traffic-heavy northsouth, I observed one thing. It is actually faster if you ride along the Motorcycle lane than if you were to ride along the main lanes.

Many Singaporeans don’t know this. But along the Malaysia highway, the “road-shoulder” lane is actually meant for motorcycles (as well as broken down vehicles).

Even though the Malaysian car drivers will give way, it is actually faster for you to just ride along the Motorcycle lane along the NS.

How I know? KP was riding along the extreme right car lane. I was riding along the motorcycle lane. Even though the cars were busy trying to get out of the way of KP on his Fazer, I have many opportunities to ride ahead of KP simply because the motorcycle lane is clear of any traffic.

The Other R6

Soon, we reached E3 (the NS stretch from Kulai until the customs).

KP and I swapped back to our own bikes. It is also about time. My feet and palm are starting to feel numb and pins and needles from the sporty ride position.

From E3 back to GP Esso, I noticed that Ben’s new R6 rear number plate had came off. Kinwei and I signaled to Ben to stop.

I think the new R6 is too fast for its number plate.
Its bracket came off.

To TP Officer: My number plate really really fly off.
The only way to continue was to remove the half-hanging number plate.

Picture of the live firing area north of Singapore custom.
I can’t resist taking this photo because those green hills remind me of my NS days.

That area used to be the live firing area. I remember got Elephant hill, E-shaped knoll, etc. Once, I saw a tank traveling along the dyke (the grey straight line) towards the green hills.

Songs

There are a couple of popular songs now by guys.

I hate to say this, but I actually find this “Bow wow wow” song by Wilber Pan very catchy. The song just goes Bow wow wow, bow wow wow all the time--kind of remind of my dog. I can’t quite catch the lyrics in between the bow wow wow.

Wilber Pan – Fan Zhuan Di Qiu

Source: http://bleargh.net/fitfit/2006/07/05/wilber-pan-%E2%80%93-fan-zhuan-di-qiu/

Bow wow wow
让我看到你双手
推开地心引力一起反转地球

Bow wow wow
现在不适合罗嗦
试着选择不然请你离开这节奏

Bow wow wow
让我看到你点头
跟着我的音乐一起跳舞准没错

Bow wow wow
现在不适合闪躲
正面出击看我怎么反转地球

(rap)这个少女看穿地球
赤裸的一片天空
我摊开双手接受所有催眠式的节奏

有没有感到心情放松
有没有感到细胞跳动
节奏的变化谁能摆动
让你全身放松
现在请不能罗嗦
看着我的眼鼻四周
频率太急
看你的心脏正在 chill we go

跟着我走跟着我做跟我点头摆动双手
世界的一切都转动一直带着我的音乐跟着脚步在走

世界turn around change around everybody have fun
别想压抑我们定意世界的传统
世界turn around change around everybody have fun
没有对或错我只想牵动这节奏
世界turn around change around everybody have fun
音乐没有自由仿佛坠进了黑洞
世界turn around change around every body have fun
现在跟着我们创造新世纪的秩序

Bow wow wow
让我看到你双手推开地心引力一起反转地球
Bow wow wow
现在不适合罗嗦
试着选择不然请你离开这节奏
Bow wow wow
让我看到你点头
跟着我的音乐一起跳舞准没错
Bow wow wow
现在不适合闪躲
正面出击看我怎么反转地球

一道音波划破天空
在我的领域不停播送
激发出的热情不能抵挡你竖起的耳朵的诱惑
你停不停你动不动全部在我掌控之中
你知不知道地心引力在这永远拉不住我
当音乐力量合二为一创造出新的世界秩序
不跟随的人闭上你的
SHHH有别的比那更好的吗
有别的比那更出色吗
有别的比我们向往追求的音乐更独特的吗

世界turn around change around everybody have fun
别想压抑我们定意世界的传统
世界turn around change around everybody have fun
没有对或错我只想牵动这节奏
世界turn around change around everybody have fun
音乐没有自由仿佛坠进了黑洞
世界turn around change around everybody have fun
现在跟着我们创造新世纪的秩序

The other song that I like is by this guy called Li Sheng Jie. I like his 2 songs: Yan Di Xing and Zui Jin. I have his album but can’t find the mandarin lyrics to post here.

Li Sheng Jie’s voice has a special voice quality, like the blind Superstar singer Kelvin Tan. His forceto (fake) voice is also very nice. Go check his songs out.

My day with the sporty and fun R6.