Finally, a Breakdown.... Flat battery

Phew, i'm relieved to be finally done handling my First motorcycle breakdown. Thanks to the great help from one of the friendly uncles from Yan Aik Motor Co (6, Phoenix Road) 

I was riding around Teck Whye Lane yesterday evening when I met with an unexpected surprise, unable to start my bike's engine from Idle-stop state no matter how much the throttle has been twisted. No choice, stepped down the bike and pushed it to the nearest carpark. Luckily the cars that were behind my bike were patient enough to wait for me to make way without sounding any horn. =) There are still nice drivers around in Singapore after all.

Searched the net and found Yan Aik to be the nearest bike shop from the area. Called them up and the uncle whom i've spoken to immediately ask for the bike location and came down to take a look. Unable to find possible problem, uncle offered to push the bike back to his shop which is about 1KM away and with some upslopes, and it was raining! omg... I was really impressed by the enthusiasm and helpfulness of this uncle!

Collected the bike after a few hours. Found out that the problem is due to a flat battery, so Yan Aik changed the battery. The total bill is $95. Truthfully, the amount is more than i've expected. But i've still gladly made payment for it as I was impressed by the sincere service of the uncle-technicians here in Yan Aik. (Has anyone changed their battery in bike shops before? Care to share on what was your cost?)

At the same time, I'm puzzled why this battery problem was not detected by Boon Siew when they serviced my bike less than 2 months ago? Also, this is a less than 1 years-old bike, isn't the battery life too short? I'm expecting it to last at least 2 years, with the idling-stop technology always activated. Now, i'm thinking that this short battery-life is definitely a significant con of the Honda PCX motorcycle!

Convenient reference to Yan Aik's location for fellow riders who are staying in or encounter a breakdown in CCK area.

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Review of storage space on Honda PCX 125

Glove compartment which is not lockable. So not for keeping of valuables.

Under-seat storage when empty.

Removable helmet hook which is included with the tool bag.

This is how the helmet hook looks like when it's fully-hooked and seat closed. So your helmet will be fully-secured when the seat is locked.

Under-seat storage compartment can accommodate 1 half-face helmet comfortably. (Sadly, my full-face helmet can't fit in)

My 14-inch laptop can fit into the under-seat compartment snugly, with some spare room for rain coat and some small nitty-gritty stuffs.

Generally, storage space is good, without the bike looking too bulky. But I found it slightly hard to close the seat tight compared to other bikes. One needs to exert quite a considerable amount of force before the seat can be locked. Also, I've noticed that the PCX does not have any hook that can be used especially by ladies to hook our small handbag or shopping bags like some other scooters such as Vespa GT has.

Review of my Honda PCX

It's been slightly more than a month riding on my new Honda PCX.

In comparison to the BBDC 2B learner bike:
- the height of seat is about the same as those normal cut seats (I'm about 1.6m tall, and find the seat height of Honda PCX just nice)
- the handling of the bike feels lighter
- definitely much easier to operate since this is an auto transmission motorcycle
- side mirrors are larger, so it provides easier safety check
- thighs do not get heated up as easily on the pcx
- power in terms of speed of acceleration feels the same
- feeling of engine power at low speed is lower though, probably because it's an auto bike

My other likes about Honda PCX:
- good fuel efficiency at about 45km/litre
- more environmentally friendly with its idle-stop technology. I do not find this feature disruptive at all, engine does get started instantly with throttle twist, sometimes I did not even realise that the engine has been turned off
- large underseat storage space
- very nice, bright and visible headlight and signal lights
- decent speed, reach and maintain at 80km/hr easily and without much strenuous engine roar (just FYI, I've been able to reach 100km/hr easily too)
- low noise during engine start up

My dislike about the Honda PCX:
- the underseat storage space, despite being large, can't fit in my full face helmet! :(
- no hook below the handle for hanging of stuffs like bags of groceries (I notice quite a few of the other scooters have such hooks)

Okies, I'll update again with some pictures of my Honda PCX. :)

New stylish protection for my face

Regardless of whether we are a driver or a rider, face is definitely one of the most important feature for a lady! Hence, I've gotten myself a full-face helmet. I wanted it to help shield my face better from the sun as well as dust. In addition, I feel that it also help to shield us from those "ti ko bei" drivers!

I've got the Caberg Konda full-face modular helmet from Regina@Kelantan lane. I think it's pretty comfy compared to the other full-face modular helmets that i've tried in the store (including the Shoei ones). In addition, it has a much-needed sun visor too! Stylo! =) The interior liner can be fully-removed for wash too, a must for someone like me who is a clean freak! The top air-vent doesn't feel to be working much i thought, but the chin vent is functional and not bad. My head and face did not feel warm and stuffy during the ride.

So far so good for this Caberg Konda helmet for now. The only complaint I have is that it cannot fit into my tiny rear box, neither can it fit into my large underseat compartment of my Honda PCX! :(

Here are some pictures of my Caberg Konda...

Finally got my First motorcycle!

Yeah! I've finally made up my mind and purchased my first motorcycle! Gotten for myself the Honda PCX for it's great fuel efficiency and environment-friendliness with its "idling stop" technology. I've just ridden on it for about 1 week. Still trying to get up-to-speed with my riding skills, so can't really give a fair comment on the performance of the Honda PCX for now. I'll try to give my update soon on this cool-looking bike! Hehe..

Enlightening Techniques in 2B course

In appreciation of the efforts placed on me by many of the dedicated riding instructors in BBDC, I would like to share on some of the "secret formulas" that have been imparted to me from them! =)

1. Slalom -  Ensure legs are grabbing the fuel tank really tight! This may sound pretty obvious but you never know about it's effectiveness until you have done it! Normally we tend to move our thighs left and right throughout the course trying to balance ourselves. Actually this is not ideal, thighs should always be STICKing to the fuel tank from start till end even though if you feel like you are falling!
2. S course (figure 8) - Go through the course by FEELING instead of keep looking at the kerb or the front of your bike's wheel. The dedicated instructor made me ride behind him (not as pillion) for many rounds in the S course while making sure (with a loud hailer) that i look constantly at his back instead of the ground. Truly, I was scared stiff then! Everything was in a blur and I was lucky to come out of the course alive! I was surprised that I've completed so many rounds without hitting the kerb at all. When out, I asked him on why he was so certain that I will not hit the kerb. Enlightenment came when he said.... "Going through the course is by FEELING with the correct eye point instead of constantly estimating the distance from the kerb at the front of your wheel". My timing in the S course is never the same again...
3. U turn - Step on the rear brake while turning, ensure engine sound is "loud" enough and constant. Stepping on the brake while turning helps to make sure that our speed is constant so that the bike will not wobble at low speed. As ladies, I observe that a number of us tend to be light-throttle. The instructor noticed my engine sound was insufficient immediately and demo to me on the correct sound level. Truly, I thought that it sounded noisy and this might be penalized for excessive revving of engine at first. After observing other instructors and other steady u-turn learners, I realize that the sound level is indeed the correct one, it was just me who was too light-throttle earlier.

Well, these are techniques that definitely have helped me in attaining enlightenment for the respective courses. After all, not everyone learn things in the same way. I do hope that they might be useful to some of you too! But don't slam me if they do not prove to be useful to you too!! =P


ps: For some of you who are thinking of picking up riding, you can check out the 2B motorbike riding course details at the various driving centers. Website to Bukit Batok Driving Center: http://www.bbdc.sg/bbdc/bbdc_web/index.asp

Never Give Up

To succeed in obtaining your 2B license, never give up! I believe the spirit of these 3 words apply to any other challenges that we may be taking up too.

I should have gotten my riding license 6 years ago!

6 years ago....

I have enrolled myself for 2B motorbike riding lesson about 6 years ago. However, I gave up on pursuing it as I was daunted by how heavy the bike is and how lousy I was in handling the clutch. I have attended several practical lessons then, and my skills should have been improving along with the number of lessons attended. On the contrary, my riding was getting worse with many toppling of bike with each lesson.

Thinking back, the reason for this was because my confidence level fell with each lessons, and I kept telling myself that the bike is too heavy for me. I've grown up in an environment where my family believe that riding a motorbike is a dangerous affair. The number of times that I've ridden as pillion could be counted with fingers in 1 hand. Therefore, the back of my mind could have probably silently hypnotize myself that riding is not for me, even though I really do hope to learn how to ride successfully.

6 years later...

Feeling extremely uneasy on giving up a task halfway, I made the decision to revisit this long-time wish of obtaining a 2B license! And I have made the resolution that I should succeed this time! Indeed, with a total change of mindset this time, I was able to go through the entire course and tests successfully! Definitely there were difficulties encountered in some of the subjects, but this time round I have told myself that I must succeed instead of finding reasons for myself on why I can't do it. A mindset change makes the difference!

A fellow female learner whom I've met in the school have also inspired me. Her S course (figure-8) was so bad that she just had to push the bike out of the course whenever she entered the course. Other times when she was luckier, she just wobbled her way out of the course, that is of course if she managed to not hit the side kerb too. I thought, hey I was definitely better than her 6 years ago! WTH did I give up??

This inspiring lady definitely wasn't like the old me! She did not give up and kept coming back for practice and consulting the instructors on how she could conquer the S course. I was truly inspired by her determination when I saw how smooth she went through the S course like a few weeks later. Anyway, she even obtained her license earlier than me!

I thought, if I've met this inspiring lady 6 years ago, I might not have given up and obtained my license as well! So I believe that it is important to believe in yourself and not to give up if you truly would like to get your 2B motorbike license! =)

In my upcoming post, I'll try to summarize some of the techniques that have successfully got me enlightened on conquering the various riding subjects like S course, slalom, u-turn.

Finally, this is up!

Alright! Finally I've gotten my lazy self to get started on this Riding blog.

Have always wanted to share my part of experience here as a female rider in Singapore. And hopefully to get more riding tips from other fellow babe riders as well. =)

Well, honestly I've nothing much to share as a rider at the moment, since I've only just gotten my 2B license! (WTH, then still got the cheek to start this blog now?!)

I've encountered quite a couple of learner riders giving up halfway in the course of obtaining the riding licence (myself included!), therefore decided to share a bit of my learning experience here first. In the hope to provide some little motivation to learners who are still in the midst of pursuing the 2B licence in driving schools as well. More on this in my upcoming posts...

In the mean time, I'm busy looking for my new mean machine to hit the road! Contemplating between the Honda PCX and Vespa LX150. OK OK, these 2 scooters might be a far cry from being mean "fast and furious" machines, but they are definitely going to be mean "steady and cute" ones to me! Looking forward for some experienced riders to share their experience as well.... =)

This??

 

 

 

or this??