Call it a mid-life crisis (that would be my seventh one), call it boredom, call it a repressed childhood dream that never surfaced, call it anything you want. The fact is that I, very suddenly, wanted to ride...so I went for classes...and eventually got my license July 2009...at the tender age of 41. Sure...all my fellow students are in their teens or early twenties...and I looked a little out of place waiting for classes...but with age comes valuable road experience...tempered with patience and a relentless pursuit of smoothness rather than speed. This allowed me to move much quicker than my young peers...what fun!
What I want to tell you about though is really that I got myself a bike. I had my eyes set on this bike since the first week of June...paid a deposit on it but could not get it until I passed my test. Well...I got it now!!! And while my young peers mostly wanted to get nifty, manga-looking, ear-shattering and back-breaking sports bikes with teeny-weeny rear wheels (because the only sports bikes you can get with a class 2b license are things like NSR150SPs, KRR150s, TZMs etc), I opted for a more versatile, trail-crunching, heart-stopping and easy-handling trail bike (kinda like a scrambler) with a rear wheel that looked like a fat donut, popularized by the Japanese drama "Beautiful Life". This is the bike that many people will customize...and boy...there are some wild customized ones out there for sure!
Before you go thinking that I am going nuts...let me tell you a little bit more about my bike. I decided to get a used one rather than a new one (saving S$5000+ with that decision) and spent A LOT of time viewing bikes. I've seen bikes that looked good but sounded horrible, sounded good but looked horrible, looked and sounded good but the engine dies mysteriously after a few minutes; bikes that had oil leaks, rusty exhaust pipes, broken speedometers, faulty electrics; bikes that haven't been washed since they were bought; bikes which took ages to start...you name it...i've seen it. Eventually, I came across this one that was clean, started immediately, un-modified, minimal wear and tear, sounded good, friendly and honest seller. To cut a long story short...I bought it...without a test ride!
But there is one problem to this bike...and that is that I cannot post pictures of it today...because the colour scheme is...well...let's just say its so bad it makes this look good...I'm only talking about colour here. So you'll just have to imagine it until I can bear to post some pictures of it here. To help you with your imaging, here's how I'd describe it. It has cream coloured headlight covers, cream coloured front fender, cream coloured petrol tank and cream coloured rear fender. It has bright yellow fork boots (those vacuum cleaner tube looking things that cover the shaft holding the front wheels in place). It has a light tan seat. A silver engine with a black engine cover on one side. Black exhaust and muffler. Silver swing arm (that piece that holds the rear wheel in place) AND a BLUE frame - those pieces of solid steel bars that form the basic chassis for the bike. So there you have it...my bike...and now you know why I cannot post pictures...yet!
All is not lost though. Cos it is a lot cheaper and less nerve racking to repaint a bike than it is to repair a bike...or so everyone seem to tell me. So one day, my bike can look as cool as this one!
But until then I'll simply enjoy the riding and revel in the fact that I finally got my bike...and just forget about trying to look cool.
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