Bet you didn't know that I was a biker! That's my Honda ST1100 Pan European bike that I rode for my biking tours to Malaysia and Thailand. It weighs a tonne but as a touring bike, it's marvellously steady and cruises efficiently at 140-160 kmph on the highways of Malaysia. Tell you something ... I once did 200 kmph on a straight stretch of highway in Kedah. On hindsight, I think it was foolhardy, to say the least. It's like as if you're in a time-tunnel and everything along the sides become a blur. The howling wind seems to want to wrench you off your seat and you cling tenaciously to your handlebars, lowering your centre of gravity and hugging the the tank with your thighs wishing all the time that you had another pair of thighs. All you need is a stone, a dog, a cow or a loss of concentration, and you will really be crashing through that eternal time tunnel and land upside down in Heaven.
My Honda ST comes complete with 2 pannier boxes at the sides for storage but I added a top-box. If you look closely at the tank, it's covered with a tank-bra - yeah, that's what it's called. That's a full bra though there are half-bras. The tank bra serves as a form of protection for the tank but more importantly, an additional tank-bag can be safely attached to it using 4 quick-release clips. My tank-bag has a transparent folder on top, in which I slip in a road map. So, you see how useful the tank-bag is, and it started with the bra thing .. stop laughing, I'm not joking.
Back in 2002 and 2003, I was the Secretary of the Storm Riders' Motorcycling Club and if you again were to look closely at the mid-ground, you will see my buddies taking a well-deserved break at a Toll in Kedah just before we headed into Haadyai in Southern Thailand. That's nearly 900 km from Singapore and we had been riding since 4am that morning! It takes about 12-13 hours but I've known of others who complete the journey in 7-8 hours. That's incredible, you say, but then, they are on very fast production bikes built for speed - think Hayabusa, this beauty churns out a top speed of 320 kmph!
Do read the reports on our rides under the label Bike Tours. I bet you'll find it invigorating. I would like to thank some of my fellow bikers, Gopal Sawlani, Ms Goh Su Fang, Anthony Tang and Cheryl Chan who helped author some of these reports.
