Battery strap gives way

My Bobber had a TKO over the weekend. Yesterday, I could not start the engine nor even use horn. Checking the battery, I found it's rubber strap's latch snapped due to rust. That made it easy to shake the battery and loosen the terminal's contact. After tightening the contacts at the terminal and temporarily using a tough string, the neutral light came back but when I pressed the starter, I only got a small click sound from the engine. Later, the neutral light can back and 4 times I tried to start but to no avail. What to do. I wanted to go with the Bobber to Bingit Rendezvous this weekend but that's out of the question. My salesman said he'll collect the Bobber tomorrow. All in all, it was divine intervention. Shukur Alhamduillah, a blessing from Allah for He didn't want my Bobber to break down (had I gone to see Bingit Rendezvous and I would have) other than at the comfort of home.When I collected the Bobber, it was suspected the battery, being loose and with amble space around, shook and tugged some critical connection(s) either to starter or starter switch but nothing was short/damaged. The wireman then proceeded to check and tightened all connections to the battery. The bobber is A-OK now. Damage control was only transportation cost which is a nominal rate but isn't cheap. Summary: Shukur Alhamduillah, could have been worse.

Additional laquer job for the Bobber

When I had the airbrush job done 6 months ago, the original black paint on the air filter cover and battery cover was left untouched because they still looked good. However after 6 months, early signs of fading have appeared probably because there was hardly any laquer or maybe none at all. Yesterday, I had the 2 components lacquered to match the laquer of the airbrush job. Today, I am pleased with the finish as you can see by the mirror reflection of the tile and exhaust pipe.

Loose excess petrol hose solved

 

Now you see it, now you don't. Yesterday, I just realized one of the excess petrol hose for the carburettors was missing so today had it replaced FOC. The last time, it was the excess petrol hose for the petrol tank that went missing. I conclude that the metal clip that comes along with the hose as quite unreliable, better to use a pvc cable tie before warranty expires. When I got home, as a back-up plan, I used another cable tie and secured both hoses to the power cable as I noticed it was very easy for the non-cable tied hose to come off.

Nasi lemak anyone?

Morning trip to my regular nasi lemak stall at Subang Jaya. This stall is comparatively generous on the portion of nasi lemak as against other places. Today, the Regal Raptor badge has begun to serve its purpose as people come up and ask me whether that is a HD and I reply "No" then point to the badge at the rear of the Bobber and say it comes from China. They quickly go and inspect the badge and of course don't commend coz they probably never heard of it. The nasi lemak seller said it was clever that people think it costs the price of a HD coz it looks expensive and glows of that exclusive image here it's not important that it cost much, much less. The next time, I'll just point to the badge and say "Regal Raptor" (and "Bobber" if they want to know the model) but not mention "China" and see their reaction.

Hardtail or Softail?

Having ridden the Bobber for more than 1,000km, I have now acquired the experience to say that the Malaysian road causes many unpleasant bumpy ride, an experience that is aggravated when riding a hardtail bobber. If the road is undulating that is fine but minus highways, one has to be cautious of uneven stretches even when riding around 50kph. Malaysian housing estates are also filled with numerous road humps so the slower the ride, the better. In worse scenarios where bumps were only noticed the last few seconds, it is easiest to slightly lift one's butt off the seat. Also, uneven local roads force the need to repump air to the tyres monthly. Even if Regal Raptor Daytona and Spyder were modified with solo seats, they are practically a better choice to live with than a Regal Raptor Bobber. Then where does the Regal Raptor Bobber stands out? It is iconic Bobber look where hardtails excel in aesthetically a more beautiful timeless frame that allows for a lower seat height. Malaysian roads can be a pain in the ***** but I bought the Regal Raptor Bobber more for its aesthetic beauty.

Visit to Putrajaya

 

 

 

 

 

This Sunday, I tried my luck but the haze is still visible to the naked eye at Putrajaya. Not good for photography but since I was there, I might as well snap a few shots and you can see the haze clearly in the background.

My new riding gloves

I bought a pair of heavy duty 100% cowhide leather gloves (imported) for RM80 plus from the DIY shop, originally patch dry, tough and yellow orche in colour. I gave them a generous dose of baby oil and it immediately turned soft and dark brown. It already feels much more comfortable than the stock version and looks classy as the more expensive gloves of the RM200-RM300 range.

Visit to Hungry Ghost Custom Inc.

This was my first official visit to Hungry Ghost Custom Inc., Saujana Puchong to get some estimates. The estimates given by the Boss himself were very reasonable and had it been not for the lack of spare cash and the fact that the Bobber was still under warranty, I might have found myself succumbing to my passion. This is one of THE places to go for customization if one is seriously interested in customizing one's ride. After the bobber was vandalised, I eventually came here, had the broken rear section removed, transferred the rear signal lights with custom bracket attached to the rear fender, had a new side number plate with custom bracket fitted on the left side of the rear wheel, removed the front signal lights attached to the shocks and got matching rear signal lights footing attached next to the radiator.

Maintaining a leather jacket

Today, I sidetrack to the subject of motorcycle accessories: a leather jacket is organic and nice to wear but requires constant maintenance to give it that deep, rich luster. After experimenting with this and that, I've found out the best stuff to preserve as well as soften leather is none other than baby oil which I use Johnson Baby Oil Lite. As my motorcycle leather jacket was very dry, tough and hard since the day I bought it, it required slightly less than 250 ml and several generous coats of baby oil over a period of 3 days to soften and enrich it. The leather jacket is now deep black, soft and comfortable to wear eventhough it is heavy for a leather jacket. Baby oil also makes it waterproof (though requires another splash of baby oil every time it comes into contact with rain to rejuvenate that lost luster) and other than that, baby oil also has a nice soothing smell.

1,000km service

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 5 months of local riding mainly to the mosque, a few runs to the mechanic, mother's house, here and there, my Bobber get's the first 1,000km service. Nothing dramatic to complain. The engine was immediately drained of dirty black factory engine oil and replenished with synthetic Belray SAE15W-50. Alhamduillah, my Bobber has been very reliable and I believe it will also be for years to come. 1.6 litre was poured in and checked against the dipstick as "OK" but if the whole crank case was opened then it would require 1.9litre.

Polishing day

 

 

 

Today, chrome parts regularly left out were given a rejunevation while stock black paint parts namely the battery compartment and the air filter compartment were given an initial rub-down with rubbing compound before protected by a layer of car polish.

After the rain...

It was just after a rainy day since the middle of the night that followed throughout the day that washed away much of the polluted air which resulted from open burning throughout Indonesia. I could not resist taking a snapshot of my Bobber as the weather was prefect for photography as there was no harsh shadow.

Passing through Subang Ria Recreational Park

Just passing through one of the most aggressively guarded recreational areas in the Klang Valley by the local residents and those who regularly come here during weekends for passive recreation where there was once a time when the local authority wanted to convert this area into a commerical area.

My very first multimedia movie

I have no experience in making multimedia movies so am just beginning to learn how to make my own video clip based on photographs as I think it will be something of a standard expectation for presentations to be in the form of a short multimedia clip of approximately 4 minutes in the near future. As I use an Ubuntu operating system, I downloaded and installed the free OpenShot Video Editor. Then, I imported an audio file followed by 33 image files from my FB's Regal Raptor:Bobber photo album. I pasted each image one by one on Track 1 which defaulted each photo to present in 6 seconds. I then selected each image and made it 'fade in and out (slow)'. This went on till the last image was pasted. Later, I pasted the audio file to Track 2. Finally, I exported my project as as .mp file configured for YouTube (High). After making a few blunders in my first draft, this is the final product. This is a first time for me. The movie is 3.48 mins long. Hope you like it. Click here to view

Me & Bobby Raptor

No, it's not me and Bobby McGee but yours truly, me and Bobby Raptor. But riding a motorcycle is all about the joy and sensation of freedom and in the words of Janis Joplin...

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

Plan A worked!

While wiping the bobber, I noticed the L-joint of the rear left sidelight indicator slightly bent. This must have been the result of someone accidentally pushing the sidelight indicator probably to get to his bike while it was parked at the mosque because a cone is located to the right of the bobber instead. What to do?

Plan A: It appeared that the metal of the L-joint is very soft so using both hands, I managed to bend it back into its original shape. OK lah not too bad as shown by photo.

Getting lost in Sunway

Getting lost in Sunway has some good points...I found an upmarket place to eat called Garage 51 though I have never eaten there. It has as you can see... an impressive side wall, pity, there were cars parked outside or else that would make an excellent background for my Bobber's FB site.

Bad experience make a wiser person

 

A few days ago, the headlight's low beam KO when I started the motorcycle. Then I noticed I made a mistake coz I left the headlight switch ON when I started the Bobber. The high beam was OK so I used it as an interim measure. Today, I had the halogen bulb changed and it cost me RM 19.10 inclusive of GST. I have to be extra careful with my bobber coz I added a power cable to beef up the electrical supply from the charger to the battery meaning electrical supply to others parts of the motorcycle is optimal compared to the stock bobber. Power surge especially when starting the engine will obviously be stronger. Today, an ounce of wisdom gained from an ounce of bad experience. That's life!

Update: Just came back from isyak prayer. I am stunned my new bulb low beam gives bright whitish light as against original yellowish light, the whitish is as bright as original bulb's high beam, the new bulb's high beam even brighter and wider radius. I sms my salesman who said he will check what happened and inform me later. Maybe the original was already failing when I bought the Bobber but life extended with the help of the power cable still just a matter of time before it kaputt.

One of a kind

This is my second video clip of my Bobber which is really a walkabout. I was not too happy with the first video clip as my humble smartphone didn't capture the true sound of the motorcycle's exhaust sound so I've hid them under Santana's Europa. I apologize for my shaky video clip as I rarely do video clips.

My Bobber goes on YouTube

The very first video clip of my Bobber is uploaded at YouTube.  I need to learn how to make high quality sound of this clip as I feel it didn't sound as original as live. I've surfed and surfed the internet but have not come up with another zebra striped motorcycle that looks like mine which is good because I like it to be unique.

Dusk magic

Dusk comes and creates a certain magical atmosphere around the house as I capture a few snapshots for this blog.

Handlebar alignment

Pulling my handlebars back gave me that cool Easy Rider effect, however, I was more concerned if the handling of a bobber could be further improved. I knew by now the fulcrum (what we learnt in primary school) of a motorcycle is the neck of the frame so I had this hypothesis that the handlebars aligned with the front shock absorbers ought to have better handling than raked backwards. This was because when I was fooling around with my car, I found it easier to unscrew a nut with a vertical spanner than a tiltable spanner. So today, I went back to my motorcycle shop and readjusted a few degrees up as shown in this photo. The effect was immediately felt... there was better control of the front end like a properly aligned steering wheel especially felt when going very, very slow, corners and u-turns. A bonus is that air flows straight into my jacket to the armpits and was obviously cooler than a scooped up angle. Conclusion: One really has to personally try it out to really understand what I'm saying. To me, this exercise was a great success.

Bringing out the black lustre

I initially used car polish on the matt black paint but it dull quickly. Then I experimented and found that the tyre conditioner goes well with matt black paint and not only brings out the black lustre, seems to keep it looking constantly fresh, the only time I needed to do a little touch up is the top of the engine head which dries up fastest due to engine heat. The tyre conditioner also goes well with the stock seat ad is preferred to be done in the night to allow it to soak through the seat material and not soak through my jeans.

My Bell Custom 500 helmet

It was airbrushed according to my specification based on C.C. Ryder's helmet from the movie "C.C. and Company" which gave me the zebra stripe inspiration to which I've always been fond of.

Provisional Learner Licence comes to an end

At last! My upgraded driving licence

In about 10 days time, my provisional Learner licence will be come to an end and be upgraded because today I just passed the JPJ bike test for a full B licence. Yeah! After about a 40 year lapse, the motorcycle training course has been a very good refresher course and I even got to learn a few tips/techniques in handling the motorcycle in slow speed i.e. less than 20kph. On day 1, the trainer told me not to train in the figure 8 and the rest but to familiarize myself with the feel of a superbike because I have with me a cruiser where handling is very much different so it was just circling around the "road area". On day 2, I succeeded zig-zagging the 5 cone and going over several humps but never made it to half a figure 8. By day 3, figure 8, u-turns and road area were done adequately and improved on Day 4 but I could not complete the mandatory bridge yet passed the Routine Vehicle Maintenance test. On Day 5, after valuable tips from the instructor, I managed to complete the narrow bridge test several times. Truly practice makes perfect and the number of repeats needed to clear a hurdle is relative to a rider's skill.