nuffnang

FEBUARI

Monday, October 15, 2012

Motorcycles...

It was in the early 20s. The band traveled towards Melaka for a small gig near the city. When just we passed by Air Keroh toll gate... stop for toilet and cigarette. There's a bunch of bikers arriving at the same time. There's more than 30 bikers as long as I can remembered. However, there's two bike that stands out from the bunch. The bike, the rider... their distinctive styles really stand out and makes me and my bassist (Ipin) stoked. Both of them wearing black leather jacket with white pin stripe on their right chest and down... both of us immediately in LOVE with it and day dream about it. We even planned to get one and travel all across peninsula malaysia with it. Called Malaysia DUCATI dealer (NAZA Motors) for retail price, stock and loans. We are really into it... crazy in LOVE. It was DUCATI MONSTER 696.

DUCATI MONSTER 696

However, the urge of getting the bike between out groin fades from time to time. It would be awesome if it become a reality. But... we didn't talked about it for along time. :P. My motorcycle adventure when down to the graveyard...

Then when I came back from cycling tour by the end of 2005... the urge to travel far get into my nerves. I found the LOVE from its freedom, diversity and able blend into any culture. The easiest way to get into off beaten track. It's NOT about getting to places as fast as you can. It's NOT the in famous places and brag about it. It's actually the amount of experience that you can absorb during the journey... the people and culture along the way that's really counts.

So, for me... it's NOT always bicycle. If I have a lot of time... a year maybe. Then bicycle would be the choice. Then the reality is... I need to work to be able to travel. Working 9 to five... get a certain amount of annual leaves. Skipping long festive season holiday... that's how I do it.

When I cycle northern LAOS... from Luang Prabang in the west towards SamNuea in the east of LAOS. It seems  an endless off-roads. Then we reached Thailand border at Nong Khai and talk to an Israeli who rent a motocross and venture the same route as we cycle for the past 9 days. It was exhilarating... suddenly the idea of venturing west CHINA with motorcycle become more and more intriguing.

In the early 2006. I discovered Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor Long Way Round (traveling from London towards Magadan (East Russia)... travel towards New York from Alaska for 3 months plus with BMW GS1200). They do it on 2004... I was godsmack with adventure and the idea to have a motorcycle rush into my head. Sigh... I was infected with motorcycle adventure fever. *help.

 Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman (Long Way Down) yr 2007

Cloudio The Camera Man (Long Way Round) yr 2004

Everywhere I go I would get excited if there's BMW GS around... it was crazy. Get the price tag... get into the models and feature. Browsing through the accessories... pannier and stuff. I even checkout the possibilities of getting the bikes cross the border. Thailand, LAOS, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vientnam and off course the big CHINA. Dream about ship the bike towards Borneo... ride from Kuching towards Kota Kinabalu... and ship it back to Pasir Gudang. Fheww... the amount of LOVE towards getting the info is crazy.

The more deeper I go with the information... the more I know that I need to have fixer to ensure my adventure is secure when entering Vietnam and CHINA. I need to purchase different insurance for the vehicle and some routes in CHINA is off fro an adventure especially TIBET. (I need to study more eh... )

So bye bye GS... :(

BMW R1200 GS 2013

Along my backpacking and cycle tour days... I came across a lot of motorcycling travel stories and a couple of nice bikes that a friend of friends own. One of it is this sweet HARLEY DAVIDSON IRON 883..

Custom Paint HARLEY DAVIDSON IRON 883

Then when DAKAR RALLY changes rules to have smaller bike... KTM done a good job for Marc Coma and Cyril Depress. They issue KTM Rally 450... I think it would be nice to have one. Compare to GS... it is smaller and lighter. I think it would be sweet if we put pannier and ride along any mountains in west CHINA.

KTM Rally 450.

But, this model is specifically design for rally. I'm NOT sure if they're in the market, because KTM didn't put it in their websites. Sad uh... it would be nice thou. 

So back to reality. Talking about off road riding... motocross would be the choice of off road vehicle. Every time I ride my mountain bike with a bunch of friends. We came across a couple of motocross riders along the way. I always trying to figure out... how far they go? can they rode off road from here till northern malaysia passing through rural area... passing through indigenous people villages... how they top up their petrol. Some people might have done it right...

So, for the last 2 years... I and my best mates (Ontot) looking for the best trail/enduro off road bike in the market... again I queries retail price, loans and adventure possibilities. I even post the motorcycle picture at Ontot stall just to remind ourselves our target and adventure possibilities.

KTM XCF 350

Start comparing and looking for the suitable capacity and the more we look into it... this KTM XCF is the right tools to do it. It's small, light and powerful... because sometimes I think we might need to hoist it up/down unridable terrain. Ambitious eh... :P hahahaha luckily the dream went down the drain. I still thinking about it... but... nah.

Today... I switch on my Mac... click on safari... type down youtube.com... and type LONG WAY ROUND. Suddenly I feel that I need to have that BMW R1200 GS... hehehehe... haish. :P the fever gets into my nerves again... 


No comments: