I like to refer to KL traffic as the ‘Great Leveler’ of all vehicles. It matters not if you’re behind the wheel of a Proton or a Porsche, an Enzo or an Alza, a Lamborghini or a Lada (remember those?), if you’re stuck in one of KL’s infamous traffic jams, all are equal, hence, the Great Leveler. This applies to all road-legal motorized vehicles, save one: motorcycles. In particular of course, the ubiquitous scooter / cub bike.
Yes, I’ll be the first to admit, they can be annoying at times, zipping between cars via ridiculously minute gaps that even a kid on a tricycle would have trouble getting through, and narrowly missing bumpers. Twice in my driving life I’ve had a wing-mirror destroyed by a runaway bike handlebar. The first time it happened, the rider actually stopped and apologized, but the second time, well, let’s just say this fella sped-off so fast that he actually hit the wing-mirror of the car in front of me in his haste.
Well, it’s no big secret that in addition to cars, I’m also very much a biker at heart; in fact, I’ve been riding longer than I’ve been driving, seeing as how many years ago – back when dinosaurs roamed freely – one was able to get a provisional riding license much earlier than a license to drive. I actually learned to ride a motorbike even earlier than that, thanks to my father who’s also a biker (just between us, I’m pretty sure he bought me my first bike just so HE could start riding again without incurring the wrath of my mum).
As mentioned in a previous post (https://autofreaks.com/2013/12/rebirth-of-an-icon-1978-suzuki-gs1000/) I’d recently procured and restored a classic Suzuki GS1000 (below), which I’d actually been using occasionally as a daily commuter to office. While it never put a wheel wrong or kicked up any sort of fuss whatsoever, it wasn’t the easiest bike in the world to maneuver around traffic. I’ve actually seen beached adult male walruses on Nat Geo that are more nimble and agile actually.
While the GS1000 is solidly built and robust, it’s also incredibly heavy, since it comes from a time when titanium, magnesium-alloy, carbon-fibre and other lightweight materials commonly seen on modern bikes these days, was still the stuff of science-fiction. In short (too late) the bike was a bit of a handful to be used as a daily-commuter. It was time to consider getting a second bike purely for commuting. Having owned two scooters in the past, a Suzuki V100 and VS125, I’d decided to opt for a 2006 Modenas Elegan 150, and thus began my time-machine chronicles.
Why I refer to the ‘scoot’ as a time-machine is because of the extraordinary amount of time saved when using one. On average it takes me 45min-1hr to get to office by car, and only 15min on this scoot. It’s even better in the evenings after work. A 2hr journey at times, cut down to a mere 20min. I actually got home whilst the sun was still shining the other day and I overshot, I couldn’t recognize my own house.
So is this the perfect alternative to a car in this day and age (and of course if you’re absolutely abhorred to public transport) of insane traffic congestion? Of course not, and believe me when I say, rain is the absolute least of your concerns on a bike. Apart from pollution and inhaling vast amounts of carbon-monoxide, there’s also the undeniable fact that bikes are a lot more vulnerable to accidents.
Think of it this way, if you accidentally side-swipe another car in the other lane while doing 80km/h because you were texting and drifted across unknowingly, both cars get a dented fender. Same scenario, but side-swipe a bike instead, and one could end up dead. Being physically smaller, bikes are able to inadvertently ‘hide’ in blind-spots a lot more easily than cars. The dangers are inherent and it’s a risk bikers face everyday. But on the flipside, it has also made me a better driver, if only because I’m a lot more vigilant.
Because of the near-misses I’ve encountered on a bike, when I’m behind the wheel of a car, I actually know what to look out for. For one thing, I stay well within the lines of the lane I’m in, and if all cars did the same, there’s more than ample space for bikes to filter through between cars. I also actively look for bikes in blind-sports, and while turning into and out of intersections. Those little buggers can hide in the most ridiculous places sometimes.
In all seriousness though, and back to the topic at hand, it has been a couple of days of scooting with this latest addition to the ‘family’ and I must say, thus far it has been exactly what I’d expected. As an added bonus, in addition to saving time, I’ve also managed to save on fuel costs, tolls and parking fees, not to mention the time it takes to actually find parking in the area where my office is located.
I guess you could think of this scoot as an investment to better savings, since it makes more economic sense to use it daily to commute rather than a car, but in all honesty, that’s not why I bought it. I just wanted a time-machine, and I got one.
