I've got much to learn!

You know how they say that you can learn something everyday? Well, what they didn't tell you was the "how".

I've been driving many years now and have owned several cars along the way, each with its own peculiar characteristics. There was the little Suzuki which liked to get her battery drained when I forgot to switch off the headlamps, or to get hot and thirsty in the middle of the road and let off loads of steam. Then there was the VW that decided that it was winter in Singapore and refused to cool down the cabin. The fantastic Alfa Romeo whose electric windows decides that my index finger needs a little more exercise by refusing to close with a single touch, requiring me to pull that lever once for each inch of travel...you get the idea. I'd like to think that I've experienced enough on-road mechanical, electrical and electronic failures to be able to deal with this easily...with a single phone call to the emergency response service...until today.

You see, today I was out on the roads, happy as a lark, on my way to meet a nice fella who was willing to show me his new bike. It is a Derbi Terra 125. A class 2B bike that had killer looks, off-road credibility AND could handle the highway easily. It sounds like the ultimate class 2B bike to my ears. No, he isn't selling it. I just wanted to see and feel it for myself if it really existed. But I digress...

So anyway, I was on my way to meet this chap...and suddenly my bike decides that he wanted to stop working. The throttle would not respond and the motor simply stopped. Very similar to how the engine would stop when I ran out of petrol. So I looked at the odometer and saw that I travelled less than 80 miles from the last fill up...that was strange...my bike normally gave me 90-100 miles before hitting reserve! So I put him onto the reserve tank and tried to re-start with the electric start. No deal. I tried to kick start. No deal. I shook the bike left and right (so the petrol can move over to the left side of the tank cos that's where the valve is. Tried again. No deal. And then I realized...I have no emergency response service to call!

The good news is that there was a petrol station with a bike repair service about 1.5km away. The bad news is that I needed to push my bike there...and it is uphill for the first kilometer along Yio Chu Kang Road! Another piece of good news...weather was cool (thanks to the rain)...another piece of bad news...I was in my rain gear...which means, t-shirt, shorts, rain liner top, rain liner pants, jacket, riding pants, riding boots. It was HOT and HEAVY!

Anyway, eventually I got the bike to the shop and the nice chap looked it over. Tried the electric start. No deal. Then he tried to kick start...and the bike came to life! Turned out it was a simple battery problem. He told me that I could have called and they would come change the battery for me...too bad I did not have their number! Also, too bad I didn't know how to do a kickstart properly...I thought I did because I did it before...several times too...but obviously...I have much more to learn.

So yeah...its true what they say about how we learn something everyday. I learnt today that no matter how experienced I am, something new can always happen to make things more interesting. What I really learnt was...that there is no escape. someone up there knew I needed to exercise after last night's dinner...and made sure I did it!

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 :-)