End of an era..

Finally, I give up.. can't be bothered to fix it anymore and am tired of its unreliability. After so many breakdowns, emergency leaves, head ache and agony, I had to let it go. No point of spending hundreds more to keep it running just for commuting. On 16th January 2010 at around 11 p.m., on the way home from Bob's kenduri (Congrats Bob!!!) the engine just died on me. It suddenly stop without warning with only about 2 km to reach my house. The worst thing is the final 1 km is uphill. And then as if it was magic, it started and I was able to ride until about 500 metres from the house before it died again. Luckily there were good samaritans around. One guy on his scooter offered to tow the bike. It was difficult to get it moving at first due to the weight of the bike. Came to an uphill turn, we stalled. Then another bike stop to help.

The following Monday (18th Jan 2010), I got the bike check by Din of FIS Motor (in front of Dato Keramat LRT station). He is good a fixing bike. By the look of his workshop, one would think he just do "kapcais". But if you see the bike waiting to be serviced, you realise he is something. From kapcais to BMWs, he can do it all. I was told that he used to be mechanic for LTDL marshalls' bike. Anyway, after the diagnose, we found out that the electronics died. The rectifier is broken and the spare part is not available. To fix, he must modified other bikes rectifier. Coils to recharge the battery also burnt. Also, no spares available. It has to be rewound. That's it I said. Better off to get one reliable kapcai for commuting.

So I got myself a Honda 125 Wave S now. A bit small compared to the MZ. I just got to adjust the way I ride. Just like between a mountain bike and a BMX. The bigger is more stable while the smaller is twitchier. So there goes the savings plan, now that I got a new monthly commitment. Luckily, the payment for MZ just completed. Well, at least now I'll be saving on the maintenance and petrol bill. Plus, there will be less possibility of breakdown requiring emergency leave. This should be a help when I got the new job.

Ciao.. rempit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahhaa

Flated while going 55 kmh

What a scary experience. All this while riding mountain bike downhill, I was never that scared as when I flated week. Maybe because the the falls during downhill happened so fast that I did not have the time to think of the consequences. But on the way to work during rush hour traffic, the flat sure gave me the "Oh no... please unclip..please unclip..!!!"I found out that it is almost impossible to unclip while trying to control a bike with flat rear tyre at 55kmh. Luckily I managed to unclip and stop before the fall.

By the way, the flat was due to pinch flat. This was on a newly paved road where everything supposed to be smooth. But there seems to be small potholes at the end of the new paved road. Damn!!! My thin 23c tyre could not absorb the impact with me being 95kgs, added with loaded bag on the rear rack.

To make matter worse, after replacing the tube with my spare, the presta nut broke off just after I had finished pumping the sucker up. So I was left with 2 tubes, 1 slashed & 1 with a broken nut... both can't be fixed... So all the way home I had to push my bike.

Yesterday I went out to buy some spare tubes. At night after my family went to sleep, I started to repair the damage. a while after pumping the tyre I could here hissing sound. Oh no, don't tell me its a puncture again. I thought I have thoroughly check for debris onside the tyre before putting it back onto the wheel. However, there appears to be lots and lots of metal flakes coming from the rim (which was grinding the road during the flat) embedded into the tyre sidewalls. I tried to pry them out. but there were to many. Worse, you can really feel them when running the finger along the sidewall. So I toss the rear tyre, and replaced it with the stock tyre. Hopefully it will be at least a couple of months before a repair/replacement of the wheels is required.

That's it for now...

Anyhow, now I have put a platform on one side of the clipless pedal... so that when I go on a fast downhill on the road, I'll be able to ride unclip..

Yeah......

After a couple of months of on and off commuting, this week I had finally managed to cycle all the way up the Ukay Perdana without stopping until I reached the house. So now my trip home from work is cut down by 15 minutes. Plus my cycling shoes now can last much longer since I don't have to walk the rough road up the hill.

It was tiring though, but I seems to recover much faster now. Perhaps the fitness level is up now. One thing for sure, I bet when I go for downhill ride on weekends I will be able to enjoy more of the time by actually riding than just sit around.

There is one drawback though. Although I like the feel of the B17, my nuts seems to go to sleep after the climb. The LBS owner suggest to me about setting up the saddle a bit pointing down should I do a lot of climbing. However, the B17 has yet to be broken. Thus its nose is still pointing a bit up a little bit because if its pointing down, I'll be sliding forward all the time while cycling. I reckon I need to "cheat" in breaking in the saddle. I have started to rub sweat directly onto the saddle and rub in some extra Proofide. Hopefully this will help to soften the saddle. I might also start to use the damp towel trick. I guess age of the saddle do play a bit in making it hard to be broken in. It's older than me!!! Maybe the leather has dry out so much that now it need much more TLC . Don't get me wrong, I like the feel and my butt is not complaining, its just the sleepy nut part.

I have also just added a rear rack to the bike. it s just the cheapo type which requires some retro fitting using metal bracket from the hardware store. It is strong enough to hold the weight of my bags for the daily commute, but I don't think it can hold the load for touring. Anyway, not a concern since I don't think I'll be doing any touring anytime soon. At first it feels weird with the load is concentrated at the back. I hope it will fell natural after a while.

Enough rant for today. Tomorrow another day for commuting. Cao.

Why aren't there many locals who commutes by bike?

From my observation, in Kuala Lumpur, there are not that many locals who cycle to work. Those who cycle are mostly from the lower income bracket or foreign labours. The pattern seems to show that cycling to work is only for those whose can't afford other forms of transportation.

I do ask around the office and some of my friends why they do not want to cycle to work? Majority of them use heat and humidity as their main excuses. There's no denying that one will sweat heaps cycling in Malaysia, being direct under the equator. It does get uncomfortable since the sweat doesn't dry out as quickly as in countires with four seasons where it is less humid.

But, from what I see, a lot of workplace have restroom where one can shower before changing to workcloth. When I say shower, I mean proper bath where you can rinse your whole body with running water, not just wiping yourself with wet sponge.

Perhaps another reason is that one can get cheap motorbike in Malaysia (the small cc bike) or locally known as "kapchai". Even the courier use these bikes. I can tell you that the possibility of a bicycle courier company to survive in KL is slim since the "kapchai" is much faster for weaving through city traffic.

Maybe I am just the lucky few Malaysian who took up bicycle commuting during my university days in Melbourne and loves the freedom it gives.

Well til then.

3 puncture in one ride......

Today I was suppose to ride with another office mate who just started to commute by bicycle to work. He will only cycle on friday for now. I was suppose to lead him on the ride home today.
But, it turns out he was there today to accompany me while I change and repair my front wheel for 3 times on the way home.

Can you believe it? First it was a snake bite I think. My mistake cause I forgot that the skinny road tyre can actually fit into the opening of the gutter cover. I can hear the "clunk" sound. How I wish I was on the MTB that moment.

The puncture wasn't immediate. After about 1.5 km into our commute home, I feel the front wobble. Damn! The tyre was flat. At least I thought it was a good chance to show my friend how to change a tube. After a while we're off again.

But after another 3 km... again! Damn!... the front tyre flatted again. This time I don't know what's the cause. Lucky, I thought, I carried the puncture repair kit. So there again we sit on the sidewalk repairing my puncture. After about 20 minutes, we're off again.

All seems good until about another 6km. The front wobble again. Shit! I give up. How bad can it be. Not even 15 km yet and I had 3 punctures. I just apologise to my friend and asked him to continue his ride since it was getting dark. I then called my wife to pick me up.

Now I'm thinking of getting a fatter tyre for the roadbike. Perhaps a 25c, maybe that can handle the rough road better for my weight.

cao..

Started my commuting.

Today I've started commuting by bike to work. Maybe I'll start by riding to work 2 days a week first. It was great, haven't done that in a long while. I was feeling great at the office, not lethargy but fresh all day.

I was soaking wet when I arrived at the office. Most of my office mate were suprised, as to their knowledge, no one had done commuting by bike to work before. Especially once you have a car & a motorbike. You see, commuting by bicycle is not a culture or a norm here in Kuala Lumpur. Reason often given is the weather is hot and humid, thus one will sweat like crazy and will feel uncomfortable working later.

So, before work, I make sure I arrive early and have ample time to clean my self. Since there is no shower, I had to bath in the toilet stall. Well, it gets the job done.

Tomorrow I'll ride my motorbiketo works, but comes friday... another bicycle commute.