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Malaysia's Premier Motorcycle Magazine © duniamoto@egroups.com |
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6th PHUKET BIKE WEEK |
Heading north out of PJ towards Bukit Kayu Hitam gets you away from the bike lane into the NS highway with a taste of things to come. I am used to the chin-on-the-tank style and the handle bar of the racing Sportster’s dirt track heritage does not exactly suit my riding style. The compensation of riding long haul on a racing HD was performance versus distance. The NS highway offers enough length and fuel stops for my 7-liter tank.(They thankfully built the fuel stops for small bikes).
For some weird reasons, I took off 30 minutes earlier, and the ten assorted Malaysian Harleys led by Gary, caught up with me at Slim River. Our journey was a spirited ride. My 883 Sportster didn’t exactly purr beneath me and a twist of the wrist brought a louder roar from the engine. I was, at times, revving up to 4,000rpm with Gary just ahead of me. The more experienced biker should always be riding shotgun (besides, his Ultra Glide Classic looks great as the lead bike). Curiosity #1 - To check out first hand, if a Harley does break down every so often. “Take my word. All we need to do, is tank up”- Gary Sharman. HDM 's Sales Manager.
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The blue skies stayed with us until the last 100 meters of Malaysian soil. As we crossed the border, we ‘lost’ a Dyna rider, Captain Diamond Robyn, to the immigration red-tape ( that’s another story). With the rain pelting down, Sadao gave us the first taste of the coming Songkran water festival. Living up to his non-stop, take-no-prisoners reputation, Gary rumbled his convoy towards Songkla.
(Something hilarious always happens on a ride. Ever seen a racing Sportster in the rain? Well, it sports a water tail! Yeah, like a jet ski. A minor extension to the tail fender will do the trick. - Lau , can we sell this improvement to HD Milwaukee?) - Lau Sang Wai, Service Writer HDM, is the other parent of the only racing HD in S.E.Asia. Curiosity #2 - To check out if my customised 883 Sportster rebuilt for circuit racing can go the distance. “ No problemo. Guaranteed”. - Koh Jyh Woei , HDM's Lead Mechanic (Koh is one of the parents of the only racing HD in S.E.Asia)
Songkla, the seaside resort town famous for its mermaid ala Copenhagen’s and its seafood. Accommodation here was plentiful. Some of us rode into an affordable springy lie-down with aircon and attached bathroom. (Tip : Check the aircon, closet and shower head. Bewarn that the international caveat of cheap accommodation buys minimum housekeeping applies). Mey-Au refrigerator or bar in the room, is less Baht 50 per night. (Tip: Ask for a room without the fridge). I envy the deserving lot, with fat expense account, resting in a more luxurious and cleaner setting.
A stone thrown away from our hotel, was a bar called The OffShore Bar. It is owned by a Harley owner, Mike Rickard (tipped to be call-signed ‘Tuk-tuk’ by his fellow KL Head Hunters, on the account that two Tuk-tuks kissed his two bikes in two weeks or something like that). OffShore Bar was the ideal R&R joint. Cold drinks. Hot pool shots. Rock music and friendly service... the diehards were in for a rock and roll time. Curiosity #3 - “ Right, last year there were at least 1,000 bikes. Shining Harleys. Customised choppers. Restored classics. Super bikes and Super unrecognisables. Suspicious two & three wheels. International Bike awards. Thai beauty awards. Live Rock bands. Stunning wet-tees contest. Drinks at Rock Hard:-)). Songkran. Water pistols everywhere...” - Gary Sharman.
The next morning promises a different ride. A short 500km of country roads and defensive riding . If you got left behind (while refueling) and the rest thundered ahead...just follow Route 4, straight ahead (yeah thanks Gary). Route 4 to Trang is a combination of straights, sweeps and bends. Not unlike our own trunk roads, with linear settlements, secondary jungles and plantations. Mike on his Blackbird rode sweeper. A great guy who patiently waited for me at every fuel stop from Songkla to xxx ... and then he, understandably, got bored, tucked in and flew away. Zailan and Jojo of HDM alternated the sweeper’s role. In catching up with the group ahead, we had great fun throttling up and taking the long sweeps...
Phuket bridge at 5pm local time. Customary picture at the bridge and we were away, with the KL Head Hunters donning their colours for a gang up at the Paradise Bar, Patong. Cold drinks, BBQ ribs and a beach sunset never failed to soothe the weary bones. The hotel at Patong Beach came with a reserved and covered bike park plus a wash area for our bikes. With the swimming pool and breakfast thrown in, we had ourselves a 4-star luxury.
Songkran is the Thai New Year. Today, Songkran represents everything wet. The traditional gentle sprinkling of water over hands has been replaced with drenching and drowning everybody within range of water pistols, canons, bazookas, pails and assorted water containers. Its a time to get out, to get wet and to have fun!
The 6th Phuket Bike Week, endorsed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, peaked on Songkran night. It was a large two-wheel gathering of paint and chrome. Malaysia was well represented by at least 6 bike clubs. What a brotherhood party, I dream the day when we can have our own gathering of such scale. Debunking the myth! With the exception of a conked battery on a Heritage Softail, a loose hi-fi wire (or was it the country music causing the volume to fade?) and a teeny-weenie oil leak on a Road Glide, all the 11 Harleys in our group ( read regularly serviced and maintained by Harley-Davidson Malaysia) cruised smoothly and grunted the song “ Rhythm of the Road” melodiously. My racing Sportster 883? No hiccups whatsoever. This baby, with a bikeful of Screamin’ Eagle performance parts, has more juice and power than I can handle. Top speed? I don’t know. I tucked in and pipped 5,300rpm once (surprising, minimum shaking and still pulling). Kilometers per litre? Don’t know either. I tanked up every 30 minutes or so. I made 32 fuel stops for a total fuel cost of RM197. Distance, over 2,000km : Subang Jaya-Songkla-Phuket-PhangNga-Trang-Songkla-Subang Jaya. In racing distance, close to 1,000 laps at Batu Tiga Speedway Circuit give or take a few laps. Back ache? Surprising no. Thanks to standards pegs. I got tired legs instead. A pair of racing pegs mounted 12 inches to the rear will do the trick. Confidence level of the HDM rebuilt Racing Sportster 883? Well, I rode off alone on the way home. I cruised Phuket town and Trang province. Rambled in PhangNga bay and raced to Songkla. Kudos to HDM, this baby feels strong, like it will last forever:-)) Is riding in Thailand safe? I came across one badly bruised Singaporean HD in Phuket and one crimpled Malaysian Gold Wings in Trang. At Sadao, I screeched to a halt, inches from an illegal U-turning Thai bike. Like back home; potholes await, roadwork lacks warning signs and the kapchais also pulled along side and revved up at the traffic lights... other than that, most road users gave way to us. But defensive riding was still the order of the day. Will I do it again? Yes, but on a Harley touring classic with a big tank:-))
Joko Onn Jokobaik@hotmail.com |
