My Love Affair with Motorbikes (by Syed Sagoff)
My Love Affair with Motorbikes
Contributed by Syed Sagoff
My Father Sparked My Interest in Motorbike
One of my earliest memories of my childhood was seeing my father coming home on his motorbike. I was not even 4 years old then. He was riding motorcycles till his demise at a rather young age of 49 years.
Hence it was not surprising that I have an early interest in riding motorbikes. I rode pillion with my father on numerous occasions including visiting my grandfather's home in Johor Bahru.
Getting My Driving License
Sometime after our O level a few RI boys and myself decided to take the highway code. I remembered us gathering at a school at Maxwell Road, waiting to be called to the classrooms where the tests were to be conducted. As we waited, we overheard the conversations among those taking the tests. It seemed that it was not easy to pass the test. One even mentioned that it was his seventh time taking the test. With little preparation, some of us thought that we would probably would have to retake our tests to succeed. It turned out that all the RI guys passed the test on our first attempt.
Now that I had passed the highway code, I applied for a provisional driving license (PDL). With the PDL, I could ride a motorbike on my own with an 'L' plate hanged at the front and on the back of the bike. My father bought the 'L' plates. He told me that he had no objection for me to ride motorbikes. Surprisingly, my mother did not object too.
My Riding Partner, Khamsidi
Our RI 1F classmate, Khamsidi Bin Mohd. Lanee became my riding partner. Both of us would ride on our fathers' scooters. I remembered going to Geylang Serai bazaar with him as well as East Coast Park. However, we did not venture further than those places.
How I Got My Class 2 License
While undergoing training at the Police Academy, I signed up for the Class 2 motorcycle test. It was to be conducted at Queenstown Test Centre. While I cannot remember the actual date, it was conducted the day that our RI Malay teacher, Cikgu Ahmad passed away. At the test centre, again I overheard that it was not easy to pass the test on the first try. Somehow, I managed to pass using Khamsidi's father scooter. I borrowed the scooter because His father's scooter was in a better condition than my father's scooter.
My First Motorbike
When I started working at PSA, I was riding my brother-in-law's scrambler bike. It was used just as a form of transportation. I used that bike for quite a few years. I only had my own bike sometime in 1993. It is as a second-hand Suzuki sports bike. Subsequently, I bought a 400cc Honda Shadow. It was a chopper bike. It was with this bike that I began to take long trips to West Malaysia.
My First Motorbike Trip to West Malaysia
I remembered my first ride to Kuantan, Malaysia vividly. I stopped at a petrol kiosk in Kota Tinggi, Johor, West Malaysia. The owner of the kiosk said that I was brave to ride alone. I told him that I am not a speedster and was a careful rider. He pointed that I have not considered what would happen should my bike breakdown and I had to leave it to get help. He remarked that there is a high probability would probably be stolen when I went for help. On hearing that, I got worries and prayed hard that my bike would not breakdown during my journey.
On the same trip, I stopped at a rest area in Rompin, Pahang. Rompin can still be considered a rural area. It was very easy to strike conversations with its residents. It was approaching night fall by then. I was asked them about the route to Kuantan and they gave guidance but warned me to be beware of water buffaloes that used the same road. One by one of Rompin’s residents recounted stories of their friends meeting their death hitting buffaloes. From then onwards, I always try to follow some other vehicles in case there are buffaloes on the road.
Riding on the North South Highway of West Malaysia
I have found riding on the North South highway of West Malaysia rather boring. There was not much sight to see. I also felt that some Malaysian drivers have no respect for motorcycles. They would tailgate you to try and get you to move aside. On the trunk roads, they would overtake other vehicles even though they could see bikes coming from the opposite directions. On a couple of occasion, I had to give way to overtaking cars by going on to the clay "road shoulder".
There was one occasion when I was riding from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur. At that time, the last east coast highway was not built yet. Heavy vehicles carrying pigs hogged the road. To overtake I went by the road shoulder overtaking the lorries on the left. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my eye. A small piece of wood might had dropped from a lorry that I was overtaking. I was riding with my eyes closed for a few seconds. I stopped the bike but due to the excruciating pain, my hand was still ramming the throttle. When. I managed to open my eyes, I found that my bike had stopped in front of an eating place. All the patrons were looking at me in shock. I was also fortunate that there was no holes or storms on the road shoulder when I was riding with my eyes closed at that time.
Pattani and Australian Bikers
I had already planned to ride to Pattani Province, South Thailand about a week after they left Singapore. On the day before I left, I messaged them to see how they were doing. It seemed that they were still riding around in Malaysia. When informed of my planned trip, they decided to go along with me. I told them that Pattani and two other neighbouring provinces could be considered an uprising insurgency. Shootings and bombings were a common event in this region. Being adventurous, they were not perturbed by what I told them. I started my ride that night and met them at Bukit Kayu Hitam, a small town in Kubang Pasu District, Kedah, West Malaysia before proceeding to Pattani
At Pattani, the Australian bikers wanted to service their bikes. We looked for a motorbike shop and met a few bikers. The Pattani Bikers invited us for dinner where we met an even bigger group. Beside the local bikers who are actually Malays, we also met some Thai bikers including a police officer and a Thai military officer. It seemed that their interest in bikes had brought them together.
After dinner, we went round the town of Pattani. Road blocks manned by military personnel armed with rifles and sub-machine guns were common even in the city. In some places, barbed wires were places on ten road to protect sensitive buildings. While we as visitors were in awe of the situation, the locals seemed to be at ease.
My Ride to Krabi
I rode to Krabi, on South Thailand’s West Coast once. While I usually be under stressed riding on the Malaysian highways, I had a more pleasant ride in Thailand. Thai motorists did not tailgate you or forced you out of the lane. I noticed that the driving etiquette in Thailand is that the vehicle behind must look out for vehicles in front. It was easy to change lanes as the vehicle behind would give way to you. On all my trips to Thailand, I usually ride in the day. I heard may stories of 'unofficial tax' being imposed at road blocks at night. This did not seem to happen in the day.
My Reflections on My Malaysia and Thailand Adventures
All in all, it is a pleasure to ride in West Malaysia and Thailand. One gets to see the sights of kampungs and mountains. It was always nice to strike conversations with the locals living in those areas. A planned half an hour break could stretch to two hours. Delicious food were always available from the roadside stalls. I also did quite a bit of self-reflection while riding alone but have to ensure that I did not lose focus on the road ahead.
My trips to these two countries had reduced since I had my school going daughter. Once in a while, I do make such trips. I hope to continue riding for many years to come.
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