Of Harleys and Scooters; My June 2009 Ride.

[nikhuzlan]

My June Road Trip

May not be the type of touring that turns on the ADV boys, merely another perspective way to enjoy two wheeled riding.

June seems to be a quiet month in the office, and wanting a change from the usual weekend speed trips up up Genting Highlands for Coffee One-Mile-High, I decided a road trip was in order.
The local HOG Chapter will also be riding up to Kota Bahru so I plan to RV with the convoy midway.

I was lucky enough to have a choice of rides to choose from, ranging from heavy American V Twin old tecnology full of tradition two wheelers, a six cylinder japanese land yacht and two big scooters from the Land of the rising Sun and the Red, Green and Blue guys.

Given that I wrote an owner's impression report on a three wheeled scooter I bought recently, the choice of ride was more or less decided. I can use this ride as a continuation of the Riders report on a longer term basis, and its performance on touring rides. Besides, riding a Wing on a 1500km tour is certainly no adventure, more like a walk in the park.


My Chosen Ride

Having hooked up my Garmin Nuvi 550 onto my bike, memory loaded to the brim with Malsinmap, and route all planned and customised, I packed some light clothing for the trip. The night before, I made sure there were 16GB worth of music loaded in my noise cancelling Walkman to keep me company when I was on the road.

I left the house at 0830 and headed for the Tropicana intersection to join the NKVE. I can't help but have a guilty smile on my face when I looked at those in their cars stuck in a jam on their way to yet another dreary day in the office.

Traffic on the NKVE was light, and I made uninteruptted progress towards the Tapah R&R for my first fuel stop. With Steely Dan providing the soundtrack, I settled in comfortably at a leisurely 110-140km/h pace depending on the mood. The Fouco seat and legroom fits me like a glove, the windscreen providing a pocket of still air and I felt as if I was in an armchair while the scenery slid past at a speed equal to my GPS readout.

Tapah R&R came after just over an hour on the saddle...

As I pulled in, the typical ugly Malaysian showed up and parked his car in a place meant for bikes, despite the availibility of many car spots nearby.

I parked my bike without causing inconvenience to others

And met an old biker friend who was on his way to Ipoh, and joined him for teh tarik

A short while later, I filled up gas into the Fuoco tanks, and was pleasantly surprised by how economical this scooter is

With the sky nicely overcast, the indicated temperature wa 31 degrees as I rejoined the NKVE to head for the Kuala Kangsar turn off. This time it was Coldplay and Keane providing the sountrack to Gerik.

The Kuala Kangsar turnoff.

Route 76 begins here with Gerik another 88 kms northwards.

Just under the halfway mark between Kuala Kangsar and Gerik, near Kuak, a one kilometer bridge crosses a body of water called Lake Raban. Lake Raban is part of Perak River, which incidently has its beginnings near Gerik.

The tranquil waters of Lake Raban. It will be a pity if these waters turns brown if logging activities upstream continues uncontrolled. We normally forget what we have until its taken away.........

Gerik was another fuel stop. A small town in what was formerly a 'Black Area' years ago due to Communist activities, the town has now grown significantly, more so as it is at the crossroads of the East-West Highway linking the Northern States to the East Coast.

Light lunch was at this restaurant, a popular biker stop given its strategic position.

Route 76 continues to Pengkalan Hulu, but about 25kms out of Gerik, the road branches out, giving a choice of two roads to choose from. Route 76 continues to Pengkalan Hulu, while the smaller less travelled 1157 runs just next to the Thai Border all the way to the border crossing point.

I chose the 1157 and after about 15 minutes of being virtually the only vehicle on the road, I reached the border.

I proceeded to the Malaysian Checkpoint

The Border marker

The entry formalities at the Thai side as all too easy, the friendly Thai Immigration and Customs officers living up to the 'Land of Smiles' reputation, and it took me all of five minutes before I found myself riding on the Thai side.

Betong town was just another 10 minutes away. The evironment there is most relaxed, and although there are helmet laws, the locals gave me the impression that it is merely optional.

A district of Yala Province, Betong is situated on the foothills of the Sankalakhiri mountain range, part of the Titiwangsa that continues into Thailand. Its terrain is mostly mountainous and hilly with forested plateaus. Although claimed to be about 1,900 feet above sea level, I felt the temperature is almost as hot and humid as the lowlands.

Incidently the name Betong means Bamboo in Malay. The population is about 50,000 with the majority being Muslims, whose main vocation is farming.

After passing a couple of streets,

I reached the Hotel that is to be my home for the night.

Parking was VIP style

After checking in, a bath and a change of clothes, I rode my scooter around town, looking for late lunch. There are many restaurants, and i felt at home as the locals speak Kelantanese, a dialect i grew up with. I had my makan here

Later I rode around town looking at whatever sights there were. The town was very quiet and seems devoid of activities. I was later told that the town is a weekend town, and comes alive on fridays, and stays that way right through the weekend.

I rode around the outskirts of town till dusk. Dinner was at another Muslim restaurant.

Frightening amount of condensed milk in this tea I ordered. More like milk ith tea that tea with milk.

I turned in early in anticipation of tomorrow's ride to Kota Bharu.

The next day, I left the Hotel at about 0900, 10am in Malaysia, to ensure I can ride at a relaxed pace to Tasek Banding, where i was to rendezvous with the Harley Owners Group, en route to Kota Bharu.

Approaching the Thai Immigration/ Customs complex.

The Malaysian side.

I rode to Gerik using Route 76 as i rode Route 1157 yesterday. This road is about 12 km longer, but it takes about the same time as the road is better, allowing reasonable speed.

I reached the crossroads at Gerik, ready to beging my first scooter ride along the East West Highway, also known as Route 4.

So far, the performance of the single cylinder 4 stroke OHV fuel injected 478cc motor has been good enough to keep me from missing the performance of a big litre bike.

How will it perform in the next 1000kms over the next three days.....

That will be coming up in parts in the next few posts

 

[nikhuzlan]

The start of the East West highway, about 50 kms from Banding Island

The road is not as good as the Simpang Pulai - Blue Valley stretch, as there were many sections that had sand and oil, especially in the corners. The temperature was also not as cool as expected. I remember the road to be much better in the early 90s.
It did not take long before Lake Temenggor came into view. Reminds me of the road around Semenyih Dam

The view of Temenggor Lake

Approaching Banding Island

Banding Island was previously the summit of a hill, and became an island after the dam was built in the late 70s. There are two bridges, one on the west side, the other on the East, both linking the East- West Highway.

The West Bridge

I reached Banding Island and sat at the sole food outlet for a drink. I recieved an sms earlier from the VP of the Malaysian Chapter of the Harley Owners Group ( HOG ) advising me that he will be arriving at 1230. I was also informed that the HOG convoy, which left KL this morning will be arriving at 1300.

My scooter at the Jetty

The VP on his HOG.......

We decided to wait for the group and lead them to the Belum Eco Resort, a place with proper restaurant facilities offering air con. We rode off from the jetty and waited for the group to arrive. As we were making bookings at the restaurant, we heard the group pass by, so I rode in pursuit to lead them to the resort.

Arrival at Belum resort.

The restaurant was good, but the service was slow, understandably so as they were not expecting a sudden influx of 80 pax arriving all at once.

The group made their way into the restaurant. There were many members, most of whom I have never met as I myself am a new member. Many brought their families with them, as HOG comitee prepared a Tour bus that accompanied the convoy. the anticipated glances of disapproval never happened even though most noticed i was not on a Harley. In fact, I was not even on a proper motorcycle. In fact, they were all rather friendly.

The bikes, waiting for the riders to mount them, for the next leg to Jeli.

After the much needed 1 1/2 hours break, its time to go....

Banding to Kota Bharu

A good 1 1/2 hours passed before we finally got going. The long process of lunch caused by the slow service gave the opportunity for the riders to get some rest, with some able to take a short nap.

We made our way out of the parking lot to join Route 4 to Jeli, about 80+ kms eastwards. Jeli will also be the next fuel stop after filling up at Gerik earlier on.From Jeli we will make our way past Rantau panjang and Kota Bharu, where our Rooms were reserved by the HOG VP earlier.
Distance from Jeli to Kota Bharu is about 100kms.

The convoy had about 8 Marshalls, led by the Club Safety Officer assisted by the Road Captain. Apparently, all rides organised HOG are run this way. No unauthorised overtaking was allowed, the speed controlled by the Marshalls, and that speed was not to be exceeded.

The Marshalls however gave me freedom to ride quickly carefully, as I told them I wanted to take some pictures. Although I had 'permission' to ride as i like, I was concious not to ride through the convoy and overtake at will, only doing so on the straighter stretches and when exiting corners, never into.

The Harleys in a single file crossing Banding Bridge East. The bridge is just under one kilometer long, the convoy length covered the whole stretch easily;

Riding Route 4, in the area of Air Banun.

We encountered the first of three bad patches, which were thankfully less than 500 meters per stretch.

The road became better and better....

The Safety Officer....

A final short stretch of roadworks

Interestingly, there as also a 'semi-tunnel', the road being carved out of the side of a hill, requiring a half sided tunnel, supported by pillars on one side. Its probably the only one of its type in Malaysia.

Here the convoy can be seen exiting the 'semi-tunnel'

We made good time as traffic along the Route was light. The weather was also cool as we crossed the Titiwangsa, and the sun was hidden by the clouds. This was probably the coolest part of the outbound ride, and disregarding the bits of construction work, the best roads as well.

Droplets of rain began falling just as we approached Jeli Petronas, but real rain only started after we started refuelling. This was my first fuel stop with the convoy, and with 60 bikes to fill up, I expected chaos. That did not happen. Fuelling was coordinated by the Marshalls, and since it was pre paid, it was just a matter of queing up in an orderly manner, and the whole process was done in just 20 minutes. We waited for the skies to clear and within 30 minutes it did.

When it was time to leave, a Police Patrol car joined in, arranged by VP Nik to escort us from Jeli to Rantau Panjang.

We rode through Route D22 towards Rantau Panjang...

As the convoy passed Kampong Mek Pit, about 10kms before Rantau Panjang, a Fat Boy overshot a sharp corner, but thankfully with very minor consequences. The incident was a classic low side, and it took place at corner that has almost caught many of the preceeding bikes in the convoy. The peeble surface also did little for traction.
The little lesson to be learnt here is to never to let your guard down when operating a motorcycle, irregardless of speed and area. The roads from Banding to Jeli was definitely more hazardous, and the convoy was going at higher speeds, but nothing untowards took place as all riders were concious and alert of the danger, and hence acted accordingly.
The Kampong road, on the other hand was 'less dangerous' and ridden at much lower speeds, and this subconciously made riders less 'on the ball'.

Although the damage to the bike was insignificant, and the rider only suffered minor pain to the right arm, it was decided to trailer the bike as a precautionary measure.

Kota Bharu at last.

 

[Constantine Phaulkon]

That was an excellent report. I felt like I was there riding along.

I've seen these 'three wheel' scooters in Greece for the first time, about 6 years ago. Coming from the USA I'd never seen them before, and I assume they are more stable in turns.

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like you have some fun down south! Thanks for showing us!