Absence Makes the Heart Fonder: 1.2 weeks without my STX1300

Landed at Beijing airport, People's Republic of China (PRC).


















I failed to notice the thick clothing the airport ground crew were wearing, to protect them against the harsh cold of Beijing's winter. I paid the price later suffering from brain freeze and hyperthermia, walking a mere 100 meters in the open air.

















China is huge siah. Look at the mountain range below.
If Osama can speak mandarin, he hide there confirm nobody can find.


















China is gearing up for 08.08.08, the date of the next Olympics to be held in Beijing.


I had to travel to China for one whole week. Not to go find china wife or mistress; or to import Geylang "Foreign Talents". But to zho kang, to work.

I decided to take this opportunity to send my Vice, my beloved STX1300 Pan European, into the workshop to do some servicing work.

To have the hydraulic fluids in both brake reservoirs replaced (over 1-2 years, hydraulic fluids will absorb moisture from the air and caused the brake feel to feel soft and spongy) and the brake pads replaced.

I had actually just changed the whole 3 set of brake pads just 2 weeks ago. At a particular famous motorshop in Alexandra Village that even does dyno testing. My original brake pads were worned out. The chief mechanic there recommended changing to a particular aftermarket brand of brake pads as they are cheaper than OEM Honda brake pads and give better performance. Trusting him, I said ok.

But later regret. Even after 2 weeks and over 1,000 km of riding of baking the new brake pads, my STX's brakes no longer feel jiat, strong. I need more effort on my fingers, braking distance is longer, I can no longer brake to a smooth stop using just the front level. The new brake pads were disappointing.

So I decided, instead of living with a pain over prolong period of waiting for the brand new set of brake pads to be replaced, I decided to have them replaced immediately.

I send my bike to Planet Motorcycle at Ubi Avenue. Boss is Ah Cheong.

China

Some highlights of my china trip:

















I tried out the new Changi Airport's Terminal 3. The airport is so new, the fur on the carpet is still so brand new and long that when standing on the carpet, I felt a bit wobbly.


















If you think China is ulu, think again. See the tall modern and fancy buildings in the cities.
















The city of Guangzhou.

















The busy streets of Beijing.


- Whenever I stepped out of even my highclass Shangrila hotel at Shenzhen, pimps will come and approach me to offer girls. Some of the pimps are women. Sorry, I forgot to ask the rate, so no need to email me to ask.

- Beijing is one of the coldest places I have visited. It is winter in Beijing and the cold felt worse than it's -6 degrees celsius. Walking with a heavy jacket without gloves, in the open air at night, within 100 meters, I start to shiver and I developed brainfreeze--headache from drinking cold water too fast. I realised the cold there can be lethal. If don't wear enough thick clothing, can literally die cock stand. Also, don't think China govnmt will have problem enforcing Beijing citizens to limit to one child policy. The place is too cold to get naked to make babies.


- I stayed in 5 different hotels within 7 nights. Beijing, Guanzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong. I changed hotel until blur. Once, forgot what room number because thought it was the previous hotel room number.

















My Beijing Intercontinental room's toilet. Big and nice enough I could just sleep in it.

















My Guangzhou Westin room.



















My room in Guangzhou Westin. Note you watch your girl bath from your bed.


- I actually think the hotel service was first class, best even Hong Kong's. I like the service at Beijing Hotel Intercontinental and Guangzhou Westin.

















The customer service in Beijing and Guangzhou hotel impressed me. When I stepped into the room the first time, the TV screen flashed a greeting with my name on it, "Mr Tay".

















I get chauffeured around in a Benz C- and S-Class. China is left hand drive.



















Want to know what I look like on my working trip to China?
Check out my Tai Kor Tai dressing. Cool or not?



















Look like Chow Yuan Fatt's dressing in the movie A Better Tomorrow? Just needs a some wind to blow my hair to make a grand entrance. Plus must remember to walk slow-mo.


















At one of the Char Chang Ting, or tea restaurants in Hong Kong.
Hong Kongers are like Singaporeans. Eating is a passion.


















Look at the amount of fat in this roasted meat in Hong Kong. But must try! The roasted crust is crispy. The meat inside is soft and juicy. Super nice! (Make Makansutra Sitoh's orgasm face)


















Do you know this guy?


















At Hong Kong's Avenue of Star.



Reunited with Vice

When I landed back at Changi airport, my chio bu was there to pick me up from the airport. After been to 5 cities in China, my chio bu is still the most tok kong one.

She sent me to Planet to collect my Vice. Ah Chong did a good job and charged me a very fair price. When I rode my STX, the familiar progressive feel of the brakes came back. I was so happy. Morale of the lesson learnt: Don't anyhow change to aftermarket brake pads. Stick to OEM Honda brake pads. At least for Honda STX1300's case. Also, for my previous Honda CBR954 FireBlade case. Echoed by the owner of Honda Blackbird.

I was so happy when reunited with Vice. Once again, I was struck by how agile the STX feel; how torquey and yet smooth and vibration free the V4 engine is; how powerful the brakes are; how comfortable the bike is; and how well designed everything is on the bike. Absence really makes my heart fonder for my Vice.

A Taxi Driver's Sex Adventure with a Masseur

While Vice was at the workshop, I travelled on taxi a little bit and I hear a few interesting stories from the taxi drivers. And this is one of the most intersting one.

The taxi driver is a Malay uncle in his 40-50s. He told me, one day he picked up a China girl in Singapore. The girl is very pretty to him. He see until his eyes steam.

He drove a little while. The pretty China girl asked "Uncle, you want a massage?" She starts to massage his neck and his shoulders as he continued driving. Unable to resist, the uncle taxi driver says agreed to $50 massage session. Drive the girl to her massage parlor.

At the massage parlor, the girl asked uncle lie on his stomach on a bed and massaged his back first. Then after that, asked uncle turn around and lie flat on his back. Girl sat on uncle to massage stomach, then move up to chest. Then, the girl sat uncle face. Uncle says girl not wearing panties.

Girl offered $100 for sex job. $50 for blow job. $30 for jerk job. Uncle is clever. Said he only got $20 niah. Girl said, ok lah ok lah. She accepted $20 for blow job.

And at this point, taxi uncle drive until almost missed the turn to my destinaton. "Ooi, ooi, ooi, uncle, please turn here!" I told him. "Don't get too excited until forget." Uncle said, "Sorry sorry." He said after he dropped me, after telling me his sex adventure with the massage masseur, maybe he go visit Geylang.


















Mind over matter. Finding stillness and tranquility in a bustling city like Hong Kong.

Tourer Comparison: GTR vs FJR vs ST1300 vs R1300RT vs K1300GT

Stiff Upper Lips in Stiff Competition




















TourerGP: Has Kawa pulled off an upset against the mighty Honda?


Kawasaki just launched their high-powered high-tech 1400GTR tourer to go slug it out against the heavy weights of Honda, Yamaha and BMW. How does this new (big) kid on the block stand against the current market favours?

If you want to find out, go get the current issue of Bike Magazine from UK for the full story. The article is informative as well as entertaining.





















My favourite bike mag.

I'm not going to spoil the fun and the business of Bike by giving away everything the magazine commented on these 5 bikes. I would just give you some samples as appertizers and add my personal comments:

Kawasaki GTR1400 Review

Bike says:

Good points: - Bloody hell this is fast. Set the fastest 0-100kmh recorded by Bike (broken by the new Busa 3 days later).
- Most gizmos after the BMWs.

Weak points:
- Screen too low when at lowest; buffers head when at highest.
- Hard work to corner fast, mid and low speed.
- Firmest suspension and seat. Fast motor not really needed for the job at hand.


Endless says:

This bikes are all at the top of the pyramid. Every manufacturer got to give their best shot and can afford to because these bikes are not on budget. So there are no bad bikes here. And no best bikes. Rather, it is what kind of rider you are.

The 1400GTR is for those who likes all the power to ride very very fast, in a straight line eg: NorthSouth highway--but first got to change to taller aftermarket windscreen or your neck gets blown off by the windblast.
1400GTR is for those who like the idea that they are owning a bike whose got more horsepower than the guy next to him, with the highest top speed, fastest 0kmh to whatever kmh.
May appeal to a mellowed Hayabusa or ZZ1400 owner.



BMW R1200RT and K1200KT

Bike says:

Good points:
- Put them in 1-2 pole positions in this long-distance riding shootout (I can't believe this).
- Comfortable. Brillian screen and fairing.

Weak points:
- Clunky gearbox. Need to get used to the telelevel fork shit thing. Need to get used to the separate left and right turn signal buttons shit thing.

Endless says:

BMW must have gotten Bike bribed with the most advertisement money. Don't tell Bike or I'm going get sued. How else is there to explain that "Buy this BMW bike, even though it is so expensive, it's got a worse gearbox feel than bikes a quarter its price"?

Sorry, I am very fussy about the gearbox feel as I am not those type of rider that just sticks my bike to top gear and than ride straight and at constant speed all the way to my destination without playing with the gears and engine revs.

Ok, Ok, to be fair, the BMWs here are designed and built by a manufacturer with amongst the most experience in building tourers. So they have got almost all the chinks knocked out by decades and decades of listening to thousands and thousands of owners and new owners. These experience are intangibles that cannot be substitued by the lastest gizmo or highest specs or more horsepower engines.

It is like the best-tasting chilli crab is still the best-testing chilli crab, even though there are other stalls that offer bigger crabs, more chilli, better service. The BMWs are for owners who wish to own something different. And not just another japanese bike. And for those people where the BMW brand means more prestige than Japanese brands (Japanese brands in motorcycling don't mean anything? They haven't been watching MotoGP)



Honda ST1300 (STX1300) Pan European Review

Bike says:

Good points:
- The smooth, mellow flavour of the longitudinal V4 motor. Feels like a sportsbike.
- Can handle and corner like a much lighter Hornet 600.

Weak points: - Honda bland. Not outstanding in any one area.
- Looks like a scooter (it is not the Pan's fault. Those scooter builders went to build their scooters like the Pan.)

Endless says: I say exactly what Bike said. I love the V4. It is so relaxing when cruising in Singapore. And it grips the tarmac like a vice when cornering and accelerating. I also love the willingness of the ST1300 to corner.

The Pan is really very much like the BMW. Almost perfect and flawless as tourers/sports tourers like years of feedback from owners. If something is not there, you almost can be sure you don't need it, no matter how much you think you need it (eg: more horsepower).

People who go for the STX are people who trust the Honda brand for build reliability and design experience. And for those who go for finesse riding style over brute acceleration and top speed. And for comfort and refinement.



Yamaha FJR1300A Review

Bike says:

Good points:
- Sporty. Good engine
- Feels like what a proper motorbike should feel (versus the STX, a bike that accelerates but you can't hear the engine sound).

Weak points:
- Old tech.
- Screen a bit too low for long-distance touring.

Endless says:

I will put the FJR as a midway between the GTR1400 and STX.
It is for those trust the Yamaha brand. For those who likes to hear a bit of engine and exhaust sound from their bike. But some of those in the FJR camp may be attracted to go over to the GTR1400 camp because of the appeal of higher horsepower.



Conclusion

Touring and sport touring is one style of riding where higher horsepower, highest top speed don't mean as much. There is no one way of quantification that can measure a bike that is best for touring/sport touring, unlike pure sportbike. And for every strength, it necessites a trade-off.

Eg: To have more horsepower to ride at higher speed or accelerate faster, the suspension has to be firmer and harsher and less comfortable. The wheelbase has to be longer to give greater sense of stability at high speed at the expense of needing more effort to turn the bike.

So the conclusion is there is no best bike here. More like what is your style? What does your priority lie?

What someone else like may not be what you will like. Knowing yourself well is just as important as knowing the bikes out there.

Ride Motorbike Also Can Play Golf

Happy New Year.

Golf is not just for the rich ang high class people. Even Endless me is also learning to play golf.

And you don't need a car to bring golf clubs. Ride motorbike also can bring golf clubs. How? Just buy a "sunday bag"--a soft case golf bag which can carry a good 7-9 clubs. I sling it across me and I can ride my bike comfortably with it.

If you think golf is a very serious and formal sport, then you have never play golf with Endless. Just watch these videos filmed by Endless.





Value-for-money golf game





Lang kor






Pot Mark


I think ESPN should hire me as a golf commentator. Don't you think I will give those ang mor a good run for their money?

View of 2007 from my side mirror

Achievements

1. Never get any demerit points!
2. Never claim any bike insurance. Yipee!
3. Still 100% safe.
4. Organised Traffic Police-Bukit Batok Safety Day ride, and HOV talk
5. My loudexhaust blog crosses 15,000 hits. Realised it was read by many bike enthusiasts.
Thank you for reading. Will continue to write more adventures.
6. Got chio bu Ms Huppy to be guest blogger. Only wrote 2 articles. Since then, she zhao lor liao.


Most Memorable Rides

1. Betong Thailand
2. Twin Peaks Faiser Hill and Genting Highlands
3. Pagoh Challenge. Need a 2008 version. Wrote this article for Motor Culture. All my school english teachers would have never guessed one day I would write for a magazine. But then, Motor Culture is such a beng magzine.


Interesting Events

1. Frost no more. Become, I AM VICE. Changed from Fazer1000 to STX. Honda's got to me again.
2. Hornet Nest to Moto-v. Have to keep telling people I don't ride with an engine oil company.
3. Learnt diving. Got advanced diving cert. Almost drowned.
4. Picking up golf. Start of a self-torturing sport.
5. Was there during the Indian protest rally at KL, tear gas, ang-chia, helicopter and all.
6. My STX peng san twice within one month and need to thank 7 people who helped to upright it.

Wishes for 2008
1. Maintain my 100% riding safety for my 12th year running.
2. Go on more interesting rides. Hopefully with less qiu-cheng (screw-ups).
3. Show you more chio-bu!
4. Organise more safety events to help more riders save their skin.
5. Do Pagoh Challenge 2008!

Happy New Year!

Pengerang Ride--Southmost tip of Malaysia, East Coast

1 Dec 2007
















Our route.

Attraction:
Rengit & Pengarang are old traditional fishing village
World War II British Ops Centre


















Big in Kulai.
The stars of Edmun Cheng and Xiang Yun are still shinning in Kulai.
Property advertisement.


We had breakfast at Kulai. There are 22 bikes on this ride.
I sat next to Daniel, an Australian who rides a VFR. I was shocked when he ordered the famous super-big tau pao at Yun Lai and conversed to the kopi tiam auntie in mandarin.
I asked him how come he knows how to speak mandarin? He replied in complete phrases of Beijing-accented mandarin that once he went to tour China for 4 months. And he had no choice to learn mandarin. Because everyone down there speaks mandarin and little english. He has to learn to speak mandarin, othewise, no hotel, no food, no transport...



















Trucks also got siamese-twin type joined at the hips?
One on right of photo kena accident and become pai kah cannot move.
One on the left come and rescue and shift its cargo (sand) over to carry on delivery.


















Route 90, en-route to Pengerang.
Route 90 is like a road kena carpet bombed. Craters left and right. Got to split in between craters at times.


















Ride along J52, along the southerntip of east coast of Malaysia was fantastic.
Flat plains all around.

















Coconut trees blowing in the strong sea breeze on the left.
Beyond is the South China Sea.

















Arriving at Sungei Rengit. I think its landmark is a huge prawn.


















Our bikes attracted a crowd of young fans.



















Reached Sunget Rengit, a town before Pengerang.
Beautiful view of the sea. And can see lots of large cargo ships moored out in the sea in front.

















The flat green at the background is Pengerang, where we are supposed to head to.
When there, supposed to be able to see Singapore.
You can actually take a boat from Changi Village and take you to Pengerang.

















After riding so far to get here, a photo to capture the moment that might never return.




















House with a view of the sea.
A few feet in front of the house is the South China sea.
Fantastic place to live in as retirement home. But need RM130K.

















Tall coconut trees lined both sides of the road.
You know you are near the sea when you see so many coconut trees.


















We stopped by the roadside to take photo.
This road is interesting because rarely, the sea is just next to the road.

















Me and my marvelleous and dependable Vice.
The STX1300 never fails to amaze me with its athletic finesse even though I have already experienced it before already.
It is not a tourer. To me, it really is an upright Blackbird.


















We reached the jetty, Jeti Tanjong Pengelih, that is at the southermost tip.
But cant see Singapore leh. And nothing much to see. Snap a photo and we u-turned back.


















We had lunch at Sungei Rengit town.
I ate my kin. This is wild boar dish. That animal is my Chinese zodiac.


















Sunray bursting through the cloud cover.
The weather today was great. No rain and cool somemore.


















Another stunt photo of mine.
What's so special of this photo?
I was the leader of the convoy back. And I took a photo of the convoy, turning myself facing backward, while still riding.

















Entering Kulai town on the return trip, saw aftermath of an accident.
The Malaysian Vios langga into the rear of a small lorry. Huge jam behind.

















The woman from the Vios, still suffering from the impact.


















The End :)

Twin Peaks Ride (Genting Highlands & Fraser's Hill) and the Best Route to Corner in Malaysia: Day 3 and Final

Monday, 8 October 2007










Highlights:
- What real life casino looks like
- Discovered Route 9, the shiokest route for cornering in Malaysia


Roller Coasters on Genting


After taking complimentary breakfast, we had some time to kill before we check out at 11am.



















Some of us got not enough fun conering up Genting and to take the roller coaster at First World's amusement park.
It features a prone-down posture, has spinning and looping actions.
















From their faces, do you think the ride was scary?


A Casino in Real Life

Somehow,no body mentioned about about going to the casino. Maybe bikers all boh luai.

Surprisingly, the person most gian to go to casino turned out to be our undergrad, PPlater. He chio me go casino and I said on and tagged along.

Now, the casino allows shirts with colour and jeans. The casino does not allow photo so too bad I got no photos to show you.

I have prepared a princely sum as my gambling capital--S$200!
I told myself to be disciplined. Maximum lose all my gambling capital but must not sell my STX to the casino.
PPlater, being a student still, has a slightly smaller capital of S$100.

Inside the casino, we were first greeted with rows and rows of jacket machines. But we want to go for the real thing. We only want to play card games and huat ah!

There are many card playing stations. Each station consists of a large table lined with green cloth on its top; a dealer, who is a casino employee; space for 6-8 players. Each station plays only one style of card game eg: Black Jack, Poker, etc etc.

The first discovery I made of real life casino versus the movies is how little talking is required. You can play even if you can't speak Malay, English, Tamil. In the movies, the dealer will now and then talk and sprout things like, "Banker draws an Ace. Player A wins etc". At Genting, for all I know, the dealers might all be mute. In the movies, the dealers are elegant gentlemen dressed in tuxedos. At Genting, the dealers are teens still with pimples, dressed in overly large waiter-like uniforms.


There is no need for anyone to talk to play the game because the table cloth is a self-contained rule-book. All the rules are written on the table. And you just need to put your money at the right box on the table cloth. You lose, the dealer eats your money away. You win, the dealer puts chips on your box.

The only time the players talk is when the poor teenage-dealer is about to draw a card. The players, all uncles and aunties, will all shout in unison, "Picture! Picture! Picture!" And when the dealer really draws a King and exceeds 21, the rowdy loud rejoices happily.

In the movies, the dealer will perform fancy trips when they shuffle the cards and spread the deck across the table. In real life, the dealers do not need to do any shuffling. A machine does the shuffling.

Sitting down distributing cards for 8 hours a day, 12 months a year, I think it must be very boring to be a dealer in a casino. And it's a job that the only time your customers are happy with you is when you screw up in your job--that is, if you lose and therefore they win. It must be the worst job on earth.

So when the Singapore IR is ready, better think properly first before apply job as a card dealer.


Our Turn

PPlater and I spent some time watching other players how they play, like where to put the bet, what are the card rules. We watched and watched. We watched until we start to almost chicken out. At least I did. Good thing PPlater did not.

One player vacated from the game. Here is the chance. PPlater goes forward and sit down at his place. PPlater takes out his gambling capital of S$100 and was about to exchange for chips. But not before one uncle took out his stack of notes to exchange for chips. Our S$100-200 suddenly looked so small because that uncle exchanged 2,000 ringgit. Unlike in the movies where Chow Yuan Fatt has stacks and stacks of gambling chip piled in front of him, PPlater's gambling capital composed of just 4 chips.

PPlater's put his first precious chip down on the table. He wins! He now has 5 chips! Wow, I didn't know winning is so easy.

He puts his next chip on the table. Lose. Back to original 4 chips.

He puts his next chip. Lose again! O-Oh. 3 chips left. Things are getting tense.

Next chip. Lose gain! 2 chips left. Wow, I didn't know money can part from you so fast.

Tolong tolong. Ti kong por bi por bi. Next one better win ah. Next chip. Win at last! 3 chips now.

He then wins 2 more games in a row. He now has 5 chips and is on a winning streak!

PPlater is very disciplined. He stood up and ended his foray into gambling in Genting. He explained that he might only win S$25, but better that he walked away win a small win than to keep playing until he eventually loses.

Wise words and at a 25% profit on his investment within 15 minutes, it is a good return. But if I am casino operator, I will surely ban such players.

For me, I kind of like regretted for chickening out. But I am glad that at least I still have my STX to ride home.


Departure

Checking out of First World is such a breeze, compared to the 1 hour checking-in. Just drop the keys into a box and leave.


















Lined up for a motorcycling race on top of Genting?


















It's to take a group photo.




















Going down the steep slopes of Genting.
If you look down, it can be a bit scary. The small dotts in the lower road are the head of our convoy while I am riding down.



















Going up Genting is throttle and leaning over.
Going down Genting is all brakes and leaning over.


The ride up and down Genting was really fun. And we reached the bottom of Genting before we know it.

From Genting Sempah exit, we took the E8 highway, also known as the "Karak Highway".


















On the scenic Karak Highway.
Unlike the straight monotonous NorthSouth Highway, the Karak Highway was fun to ride.


















Nice scenaries around, some gentle bends and nice weather.


We head north and enter Route 2 to get to Karak town.

















At this kopi tiam at Karak town center, we had lunch.
The roast duck and wanton mee are nice here. Yummy!


After that, we rode along this route called Route 9 that will take us south all the way to Melaka's Tampin.


Route 9, the best cornering route in Western Malaysia

I have been to some routes with twisties that are really nice to corner on a motorbike: Route 3 to Mersing, Cameron Highland, Gua Musang Highway, Gerik Highway, the earlier Genting Highlands.

But this Route 9 beats them all, in my opinion. What makes Route 9 bends so special?


















Riding along Route 9.
I don't have any picture to show you of my cornering action along Route 9.
The bends are so fun that I kept me so fully engaged that I had no time/no capacity left to take photos for you.



Route 9 is filled with twist and turns. It even has hairpins. What made these bends so fun to corner is that almost all of them are constant- or increasing-radius corners.

This means you can enter the bend and can really lean very low because the bends will not suddenly sharpen and catch you out further.


















One of the numerous increasing/constant bends along Route 9.

And the further good news is that Route 9 is rather long. It takes about an hour to complete riding through. And all through the route, there will be nice corners here and there.


The STX is a cornering machine

Going through Route 9, it made me love my STX, Vice, even more.

I already knew my STX is a very different bike from its predecessor the ST1100. I already knew the STX is a very fast bike, despite having a neat sedated Honda tourer image. Along the NorthSouth Highway, you will be surprised to know that the STX pulls as strongly as a Blackbird when both bikes are in top gears (the STX has a lower redline so it's 240 can't match the BB's 300 top speed). And on the first day of this trip, while playing with a BlackBird along another trunk road, Route 50, I was pleasantly surprised that the STX was a match with the BlackBird.

All these are straight line performances. What about cornering? How good is the STX in corners?

Along Route 9, I found out the STX was fantastic!

The bike is so light to steer and to lean over to take a corner. Its sitting posture is perfect for upright touring, yet its frictionless broad and long seat along you to hang off and to adopt a prone sportsbike cornering posture that makes cornering action much more involving(the FJR has a frictionful dimpled foamy seat).

I leaned over so much that after I buah the toes of my boots against the road surface, for the rest of the corners, I tip-toed my boots on the foot peg like riding a sports bike.

And it's fantastic V4 engine that delivers great amounts of torque from as low as 3,00 rpm. Plus, somehow the STX V4 allows you to use the power of its 1,300 cc engine without fear. The engine is so gentle with you, yet it actually is digging the tyres into the tarmac and hurling the bike forward.

This fantastic V4 is my ace around corners. Once I see the exit of the corners, I could open my throttle quickly without fear of losing grip as in the case of inline4s. The 1,300 cc engine throws the bike forward and I can see the bikes in front of me, the FZ1, the GSX1K, the CBR1K, can't escape and all gets reeled towards me! Yes, I eventually overtook most of them.

(But convoy riding along trunk road is not a race. So it is not fair to say the STX is quicker than these litre sports bikes. It's just that the STX is a match along the corners to keep up with them.)


And there's the STX's combined linked brakes system (CBS) with ABS. Bike journalist hates them. I love them. They are so idiot proof and so effective. I can power out of a corner, hurl the big STX to high speeds. See the road rapidly disappearing in a corner fast approaching. No fear. I opened the throttle even wider!

Just about right, I pressed on the front brake lever. Sometimes, with the foot brake added in. I can feel the CBS gripping the front discs, then activate the rear discs and my STX gets pulled back like a big parachute behind. I have the assurance if the braking force too strong, the ABS will kick in, though it never ever need to. The idiot-proof CBS also meant that I can trail my brakes into the corners of route 9, something I seldom do previously on other bike models.

And as I traversed the mid-section of the corner, leaned over and out of my seat, with a constant pressure on the throttle...see the bend starts to straighten out and I saw the exit, once again, I opened my throttle progressly and see my STX closes in onto the bike in front!



















The corners of Route 9 and the fantastic cornering capabilities of STX lead to using up to 80% of the width of my BT-21 BattleAxe tyres!


How can a bike that is comfortable for long-distance cruising yet be able to go so fast and so able in cornering? Sometimes, life is just so unfair.


Watch Out

Later on, it starts to rain. We are reaching the end of Route 9. Then the other STX in the group fell. How come?

The STX wasn't going very fast. It was just doing 20kmh or so going around a bend. As the bend straightens, the rider opened the throttle ever slightly only since it was raining. But it so happens the rear tyre, at the moment, was on the white painted central divider. This painted surface is so slippery when wet that the rear tyre lose grip and the bike fell.

Good thing the rider was amoured and there was no injury, just a scare.

So boys and girls, lessons learnt are: Avoid touching the white painted lines when raining. And wear armoured safety riding gear as they keep you looking beautiful and handsome.


















Sitting down. The VFR rider was in the midst of filling up when this big Malaysian lorry decided to squeeze past him inches away and the rider could only hold his breath.