Me going to work on my bike...
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I managed to make it to KL on Fri, and back to SG on Mon (took one day off) alive. While in KL, dropped Bertha twice. Once on the left side, once on the right. Both time while reversing down a slope to main road, lost balance. Thankfully, the engine guards work beautifully. So just some minor scratches on the side panniers.
A bit depressing thinking abt it after that. But I guess it comes with riding. Bound to happen sooner or later.
This time, I rode Bertha all the way to 160km/h along the KLIA-Cyberjaya stretch. It was late at night, not many cars, on a 3-lane highway, feeeeeels gooooood.
The engine sounds much much better at high speed. At low speed, Bertha sounds like "Brom Brom Brom Brom Brom". At high speed, it sounds like "VVVVVVVVVVVrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooo". Sweeet........
To the guy on Varadero/Africa Twin (I think) who dunno came from nowhere, overtook me from behind and then slowed down to 'accompany' for a while, Yo man! Nice bike...
Hiyee fellas! Been quiet for a few days. Where did I go???!
Riding my RT Bertha of course!!! Hahahahaa
Woke up on Saturday at home, just got this temptation to ride Bertha.
One side of the brain says "Don't lah, u haven't got ur riding gear yet, dangerous"
The other side counter "Ride carefully lah. Just don't to anything stupid, and Bertha will take good care of you"
So, after lunch at home, I set off at around 2pm with the toughest-looking pants I have, my leather shoes, and a windbreaker.
Filled up petrol somewhere near my house, then start.
Destination.......Mersing. Went by the Ulu Tiram - Jemaluang way. Lots of cornering. A couple of near-misses as well coz I misjudged the sharpness of the bend. Bertha was cool and willing, its rider wasn't cool and nervous throughout. Other than that, there wasn't any problem. Took around 2 hours, reached there around 4.30pm. Went to this coffeeshop I know to drink a glass of iced milo and ate som...
Last night, Bertha (oh yeah, I call my 282kg behemoth THAT, haha) and I went to Orchard Rd to look at X'mas Light-up & Decoration. My god, the road was jam-packed, there were so many vehicles on the road. Unlike my old scrambler, lean and nimble, we were not able to 'squeeze' through in-between those cars that much. So, I had to maneuver Bertha at slow speed. That's when the sheer weight of it hit me. I was immediately intimidated, I was panting inside the helmet, sweats on my forehead, and I can feel myself perspiring inside my work clothes. And we were only at Orchard Towers! Slowly, slowly inching our way thru, got a few near-misses. It was a huge relief when I finally got to Plaza Singapura coz the traffic eases somewhat from there onwards. Pheww...went somewhere to stop and to calm down.. Need more practice uh.. This is just the beginning. Talk about excitement in life, looks like I got what I asked for. HAHAHAHAHAHA
Maneuvering Bertha at low-speed requires si...
Just got my bike last nite!
Around 9pm went to meet the broker and the owner at Temasek club. Broker treat us to dinner and beer, of course I didn't drink, just ordered tea. Then talk c***
talk c*** for a while. Then after that inspect the bike visually. Hmm .... everything looks good, just like the first time I saw it. Checked the mileage, bloody hell, the owner has done quite some riding before handing it to me uh. 600km in two weeks. Never mind, give him one last chance lah. hahaha.
Then took the bike for a spin on the highway. Whoa....it felt goood! Went back
to the club, talk c*** talk c*** some more. Then the owner briefed me on the
characteristic of the bike, how to operate switches, open up compartments, etc.
Then, he briefed me on the handling of the bike, when to service, what to check
regularly. Whoa..this guy damn patient. Going to let go bike already, but want
to make sure new owner takes good care of his bike like tat. Then gave me a
couple of phone numbers...
I'm a new rider. Just put down the d/payment for a 6 years old R1100RT after searching/contemplating/thinking/hesitating for 2 months.
I must say it was a mixture of encouragement/discouragement. ha ha. But I saw it, I fell in love with it, and now I've bought it.
Have I tested it? Well, I rode it alone around a carpark when I went to meet the owner. The swaying from side to side when idle is true. After that, requested the owner to bring me along ( I went as pillion) and speed to 100 km/h along AYE just so I can have a feel of it. The owner was very obliging. The ride felt stable and the bike seems willing to go. Didn't sound like it's working very hard. (Why didn't I ride it myself? he he, new rider, scared cannot handle the bike that still belong to someone else at that time). After that, took the plunge, paid the dpayment.
If my loan is approved, I will be one proud owner. As to whether I will face positive or negative experience with it as I start to...
Went to Maybank to ask about home loan today. The bank executive was very helpful even though he knows I may not give him the business. I made it clear in the beginning that I'm helping my client to shop around. The DBS bank executive was very helpful as well. As for Standard Chartered, well...she seems impatient. I sensed she's trying to tell me not to waste her time, but to bring my client and speak to her directly. Sorry lady, I won't be giving you any business for now. After all the big issue regarding 'service standards' in papers, don't this people understand anything at all? I would expect someone from a well-known organization to know better by now. I was wrong. There are people, no matter what, will never get it, refuse to get it. How do these people last in their job? It puzzles me how some people get promoted in their company. I always hear not-so-flattering stories about them, met some of them even, and I wonder how did they get themselves promoted. ...