Wishlist

My wishlist.
No sport bikes for me, but the naked bike style appeals to me.

Yamaha YBR 125

Yamaha FZ 150i

Daelim Roadwin 125

Hyosung GT 125

Sym GTS 200

The Daelim looks the most impressive but I think its also the most expensive. Will probably just get the cheapest option. Dont think I can raise $7000.

Practical 2 Completed

Got f**ked at the beginning for speeding. But the instructor was quite good. Couldnt get his name, but he is one of the malay guys. He would get us to do a few rounds while he observed, then he would tell us our mistakes.
Then he gave us more practice rounds before finally assessing us.
What was particularly good about him was that he clearly explained the checking of blind spots. He also got on the road to pressure us to make the checks fast.
When I approached the stop line, he immediately started saying out all the steps.
Check back, inch forward, check traffic, etc.
Quite a good teaching method. Really drilled it into my head for the subsequent rounds, rather than just letting me go on making the same mistakes over and over.

Practical 1 Completed

After a 3 week hiatus due to too many coaching assignments, Im back for lessons!
Today started out gloomy with rain in the morning that lasted till an hour before the lesson was due to begin. Then it became a light annoying drizzle, just like how it was on the first session.

The difference this time was that I managed not to stall the damn bike while doing the cornering. I got used to the turning radius of the bike which made things easier. The only hiccup is my tendency to hold onto the clutch after kicking down the gear. This is alright if Im in first gear, but I still do it when kicking down from 5th to 3rd gear. Luckily, I quickly adjusted this after the instructor pointed it out. Wouldnt want to have done the prac 1 again.

Oh, there were ALOT of girls today. Im assuming its due to the school holidays. Also the classes are full. So on one hand, less attention from the instructor, on the other hand, many many eye candy!

Stalled progress

2nd attempt at practical 1 and I still have yet to pass.
I cant complete the cornering. My bike keeps stalling whenever I try to change to gear 2 because I cant get my bike going fast enough.
Got to go for practical 1, again. Damn it.

Off to a bad start

Went down for my orientation session and practical 1 today. It started to drizzle and I ended up having the entire lesson in the rain :(
Started of with the orientation, what to do, etc.
Then we were allowed to fiddle with the bikes. The bikes in the center are Yamaha YBR 125s, they actually look quite cool. Quite heavy though.


Motorcycles are different from bicycles, the left lever is the clutch and the right is the front brake. THe rear brake is controlled by the right foot and the left foot shifts the gears. So many actions to take note of.
There is no indication of the gearing you are in and in 1st gear, one must "half clutch" or the engine stalls. That is the most annoying thing. A intuitive action is to let go, but that would kill the engine. Grr..
Stopping was annoying. We were asked to ride around in 3rd gear but have to stop in 1st gear. This invovles braking slightly, clutching in, closing the throttle, then kicking down the gears before braking at the desired point. Co-ordination problem man.

Worse thing is that I keep bringing my cycling habits in... I normally apply the rear brake first before applying the front. We're supposed to apply both brakes at the same time on a motorcycle but with minimal use for front brake, hard on the rear brake.

Because of the rain, people were crashing on the circuit. Does not really instill confidence in a 1st timer watching these people crashing.

Have to attend practical 1 again.

Why motorcycles seem dangerous

Looks like the light for the motorcyclist only turned red when the police officer started running out. So Im assuming the driver ran a red light.

Guess the fear comes from knowing that even if its not your fault, you're the one that suffers while the driver gets to go home to his family and wank in front of the computer.

Online booking

Just collected my training booklet on Friday. Got home, logged in and looked at the schedule for theory lessons. It seems that the Class 2B course is quite popular. No slots available till the 13th of March!
There's a practical on the 19th of February but I'm rushing a 2000 word HR essay which must be handed up on that day. Will need all the time I can get.

It seems that I wont be starting lessons till March :(
Also realised China doesnt allow foreigners to ride in their country. So maybe head towards India? Will get myself certified in the mean time.