Funny how we learn lessons...

I never really thought of how much junk I fill up my boot with all these years. I can remember the very first car (an old Suzuki 800) that I drove and how that tiny little space that is the boot could hold so many things that I'd often have stuff get lost. I've had several different cars over the years, and with them, I've had the experience of boots of different shapes and sizes. Some are bigger, some are wider, others are deeper or narrower. Each one providing unselfish service to my need for storage.


Now I have recently got myself a motorcycle. Its a nice and simple Yamaha TW200. Here's how a new one from the dealer would look like. Of course, it differs quite a lot from a car. Hahaha! There are only two wheels and you steer with a handlebar instead of a steering wheel. There is also no windscreen, doors, bucket seats, seat belts and all the usual trappings of a car to speak of. And you would obviously notice by now that it also lacks something that we drivers take for granted...a boot. In fact, not only does it not have a boot, it doesn't even have a glove compartment...the Yamaha TW200 is so basic that it has ZERO storage space!


It wouldn't be a big problem if I only used the bike for short and fun rides. The lack of a boot doesn't really present a big problem. Furthermore, my riding jacket and pants have enough pocket space for parking coupons and other such items. However, it became crystal clear to me that my pockets wasn't going to hold that six-pack, the lunch box, nor the other simple things that I'd want to buy from the supermarket.


The solution...saddlebags! I chanced upon a set of saddlebags that might just work on my bike. Here's an example of one.


These bags are designed to sit under the rear seat of the bike with one bag on each side of the bike. That piece of textile in the middle is what holds the bags up when loaded up. The entire setup is held in place by the seat of the bike. If installed properly, it should give some storage capacity for a bike. And they should be easy to install...or so I thought.

I got my tools and set to work. Getting the seat off is a no-brainer. Getting the bags on was relatively easy too. Unfortunately, trying to get the seat back on with the bags in place was a huge problem. You see, that piece of textile is now sitting directly on top of the mounting bracket for the seat. So some textile manipulation technique is required here. After much fiddling around (it took 30mins of creative cutting and folding) I managed to attach the seat and screw it in place. A simple test ride shows that everything looks good...or so I thought...deja vu!


Seems I've not slotted the seat back properly and now I have a huge gap between the front of the seat and my bike frame. So off comes the seat again, reposition, reslot...and now I can't get the screws to get back into the bracket. You know, it took me an hour of fiddling, plus really messing up my fingers...and getting my thumb scratched...to realize that I've inadvertantly left a piece of that textile (yes...that same one) between the bracket and the seat, causing the seat to be out of place by one millimeter! Geez! Sigh. What I initially thought would take all of 20 minutes ended up taking a good 90 minutes! All because little old me left out some simple loose ends.



I've heard (as I'm sure you have) many times the saying that patience is a virtue. That excellence is in the details...yadda yadda...but somehow my impatience likes to get in the way of things. Its funny how we learn lessons. In this case...it took all of that to learn (and re-learn) this simple lesson. I suppose I'll have many more opportunities to learn this again...then again...maybe the more important lesson here is to get a bike which comes with bags in the first place :-)