New ride

Chronicling my life is fun. I get to relive the moments which were an important part of my life anytime I want.

For starters, I bought my first class 2 motorcycle. It is a Honda 1997 ST1100 Pan European touring bike. I had been looking around for a bike since I got my class 2 and I finally found something that I think is worth to buy. Although I do think I am still young enough to ride sport bikes, this is fun to ride as well. I had missed the first viewing session of this bike when I overslept. I was also skeptic of buying such a big bike, when most of the guys are riding sport bikes. The decision to go view the ST11 was renewed when Bjorn showed me some videos of people riding the ST11 like a madman, not to mention Eugene and Bahar who affirmed that the ST11 is a good bike and worthwhile investment which suits my size too.

The decision to buy the bike was made when I viewed the bike on Wednesday night. The owner was friendly and he was the kind of person I would be in 20 years time. He was well versed and experienced in touring and the ST1100 itself. The bike was well maintained and well used as well. Only the front tire was worn and steering cone bearings needed to be replaced. Another good thing was the bike was stock and I would be the 4^th owner only. This only proves that the bike was a stayer among the owners.

Prior to the purchase, I had to contest another buyer who came to view and in the end, I won. The owner was highly impressed with the way I deal with buying a motorcycle, deeming me suitable to own his machine. I got a discount off the bike price which I was satisfied and we dealt on Saturday. After that, I went to Bikewerkz to get the stuff changed and it was riding beautifully.

I almost couldn’t contain the excitement of getting the bike during the week. I was grinning to myself at work whenever the thought came up. I wanted to give Eugene a surprise, so I didn’t say anything to him yet. I met him for the usual hanging out at the dam after his night shift and I was trying really hard not to let the cat out of the box, especially when he asked me about the ST.

For the record, my mum had borrowed me the cash to pay for the bike. She knows and understands my need for bikes and riding. The goodwill was reciprocated. We all bought 4D on Saturday (day of transfer) and she won some money since she decided to “system” the bike number. The number opened twice in starters with different combinations. My dad and I bought straight numbers only and got nothing. This was a good way to kick off the relationship with the ST.

On Sunday, I went for the annual family tomb sweeping in the morning. The ST was very smooth to ride and had plenty of power. Distances meant nothing to it and I was very pleased with myself for securing a good bike.

After that, I went home and started working on the rear top box, which was quite old and plastered with old stickers. After spending a lot of time on removing the stickers and washing it out, I proceeded to do what I do best, leds.

The MAXIA 52L top box comes with red lens which apparently had light functions before. I took out the old ones and replaced them with the leds I made. For more visibility on the road at night, I had them functioning like the normal rear brake light. They would appear slightly dim when running, and brightens up when the brakes are on rather than the usual brake light on and running off. I also made some chevron reflective stickers with the black reflective stickers I had for the side panniers. The result was great, apart from the fact that a few were misaligned. These will not be visible on the bike in the day, but at night under bright lights, they will reflect a white base and be very visible.

I decided to add the above to make myself more visible at night since I had seen the bike in action when I followed the seller to withdraw money for the deposit. Since the bike is dark in color, the tail light failed to give road users early notice that it is a big bike and requires more clearance when being overtaken. With the rear box lights and the reflective stickers, it will be very visible, although this bike will hardly let anyone tailgate it for more than 2 seconds.

Last night, I met Bjorn for kopi at simpang bedok after his night shift to show off the ST. He was impressed with the condition of the bike and we swapped bikes on the way home. We rode to my place in a maniac fashion, he enjoying the ST and me getting impressed with the new pipe and the new handlebars on the GS. The GS was and is still a very nice bike to ride, not to mention the additional power gain and noise pollution from the newly fitted Leo Vince exhaust. The handlebars were also at the correct height and the bike makes you feel like you want to wheelie it.

Today, Eugene came over after work to get his rear box light repaired. A wire broke when the glue from the wiring melted under the sun and stuck to his helmet. We popped over to the store across my place to get the cloth tape before going back to remove the box from his bike, which was parked a few lots away from the ST. I proceeded to feign interest in looking the ST over and contemplating on whether I should get one too.

Eugene got a little suspicious by this act (my acting was a little bit off) and his suspicion were confirmed when I pulled out the keys to start the bike when I said I wanted to hear how the ST would sound like. He never gave much expression and proceeded to tell me that somehow, he had seen it coming.

He told me my pattern was easy to gauge and he was suspicious when he asked me about the ST the other day. Since I would usually ramble on about the faults found on the bikes I viewed, I simply said it was not too bad for the ST. That sort of gave it away. Also, he had seen pictures of the bike when I showed him, so it looked really familiar when he spotted it at my carpark.

All that said, I realized Eugene and I had grown to be very close friends from the time we met at AJI office as strangers. It has been a long way to reach here, and there is still a long way to go.