Camera Rolling... Action!

Most riders love to keep record of their actions no matter what the occasions are, from off road riding to motocross tracks to road racing tracks and highway ride. And in order to keep things recorded, one must have an appropriate gadget and the most suitable one would an action camera. There are many action cameras out there comes in different brand, package, capability and especially price. And the most popular brand would be Gopro that is widely known and endorsed by many top athletes with different range of sports. GoPro is most known for extreme sports like mountain biking, car drifting, freestyle motocross (FMX), skiing and many more. Well, in term of price range I can say that GoPro is the most expensive if to compare to other brands out there. In Malaysia, you can have one with the price between RM900- 1400 which is way too expensive to me.

GoPro Hero 3

But of course there's another affordable options out there instead a GoPro. Recently I stumble upon some good reviews on these 2 action cameras which is Polaroid XS7 and an action camera known as SJ1000. I've seen the video reviews myself and to be honest I really like what I see. It is not as expensive as a GoPro, the price of the Polaroid is around RM270 while the xbase SJ1000 is only for RM280 including postage. Polaroid XS7 is equipped with 5 megapixels camera with 70 degree viewing angle while the SJ1000 has 12 megapixels with 140 degree viewing angle, the same specifications of what a GoPro has (I bet by now you guys can easily guess which one I prefer to have the most since I can't afford a GoPro)

Polaroid XS7 action camera

XBase SJ1000

There's another model produce by the SJ company, the GoPro version known as SJ400 but unfortunately it is not available in Malaysia and if there's any, I would stick to SJ1000. The price of this SJ4000 is around RM500. You can see it for yourself from the picture below how almost similar it to GoPro.

SJ4000

YSS Pre- Load Mono Shock made for Kawasaki KLX150s

I believe this is something most Kawasaki KLX150s riders out there wanna hear. Yes I knew that we've been messing around with the stock SHOWA mono shock and definitely that wasn't enough. 

And so recently I got myself a YSS mono shock especially made for Kawasaki KLX150s. It's a pre load and not fully adjustable but that's all that I can afford to have since I wanna try myself other brand than the stock shock. YSS has come with this latest technology in their pre load absorber but I am not really sure what the specifications are. Actually YSS has the fully adjustable version of Kawasaki KLX150s mono shock but it is not available in the place where I live.You guys can check it on your own at YSS website for further information.

So far it feels great, I've tried it off road and on tracks. In term of compression I can say that the YSS is stiffer if to compared to the stock SHOWA. Other than that, I noticed the differences of the 2 shocks in term of size and weight. The YSS is much smaller and lighter but still maintain the same length. The coil is not as thick as the SHOWA has and that is why it looks a bit small once I installed it on my KLX150s.

The installation is quite easy, you just need the right tools to get the job done and maybe you need a friend to help you to lift the bike so that you can insert the bolt to lock the shock together with your KLX150s. The package comes with a small bar that you may need to adjust the stiffness of the shock at the lower part of the shock and also an allen key for you to unlock and lock the adjustment part that I have mentioned.

don't judge the mono by its size

I've tried to put my hand in between the space of the shock and the swingarm and my hand can get through. And if you want to put your hand the same way with the stock SHOWA, your hand will not go through, that's how I wanna explain how small the mono is. Well, you can see it for yourself from the picture above the space between the shock and the swingarm clearance.

Owh yeah I forgot to mention that I bought it for around USD150 or RM450 (Ringgit Malaysia 450)

"ride 1st worry later!"

Beware of The Fast Throttle

Yamaha TZM150 fast throttle on my Kawasaki KLX150

This is something that not everyone is aware of. The usage of a  fast throttle is one way of improving your bike performance and especially at the torque or pick up. If you wanna know why it is known as fast throttle is because you don't have to twist your throttle the way you twist it with your conventional or stock throttle. A fast throttle only need you to pull half the stock throttle to get the maximum result.

The first time I got my hand on one of this marvel I thought to myself "why didn't I know about this amazing throttle before?". The best part is you can feel the pick up of your bike especially at 1st gear. Well, it helps me a lot during off road riding especially when I encountered difficult terrain and it helps a lot too in tracks. I just love the convenience of pulling the throttle without pulling much the way with stock throttle. And of course during installation you need to adjust the throttle cable a little, well you can even use the stock throttle cable with minor modifications. The installation is easy when you know what to do.

The most popular fast throttle would be Yamaha TZM150 throttle. It can be used in many bikes and very easy to do the maintenance too especially when we want to oil the throttle cable after a long rough dusty and dirty ride. I have installed at least 5 of these amazing throttle including on my 2 bikes.

There are many other brands of fast throttle out there with different prices and designs yet still delivering the same awesome function. Some of them are equipped with electrical starter but there will be extra works to do to connect them to your bike. My advice is to get the one like I am having in the picture as you don't wanna mess with the electrical of your bikes because a simple mistake can cause your bike to under perform like what had happened to a friend of mine.

So if you are looking forward to try a fast throttle, just get yourself one as it may cost you only around USD15 or cheaper. I bet you would feel the difference the way I do and please be aware that you might enjoy your bike not the same way you used to be.

"ride 1st worry later!"

Kawasaki KLX150s Engine Oil Change

It is always better to use what is the recommended engine oil for Kawasaki KLX150s which is a liter of 10W-40 fully synthetic. And it is better for you to change the oil regularly if you know that you are going off roads most of the weeks in a month. A friend of mine which is a mechanic told me that if we are going for a long distance ride on road, we should be using thicker engine oil for example 20W-40 synthetic so that when the engine got hotter than the way it shouldn’t be, thicker oil won’t get dried very quick which can damage your engine especially the piston and the engine block. I saw it happened in front of my very eyes how dry engine oil cause terrible damage to KLX150s engine during me and my friends 5000 kilometres go and return expedition from Kuching, Sarawak to Kudat in Sabah.

Kawasaki genuine oil filter for KLX150s

One more thing, make sure that you are using the original oil filter made especially for Kawasaki KLX150s and not other filter that looks the same from the outside but totally different from the inside which is meant for other motorcycles. If you fail to use the right filter, the engine oil might not fully reach through and lubricate some of the crucial components in the engine itself for example the piston related parts which can cause bad damages to the piston for example scratches that will reduce the performance of your machine and at the end will cause you a lot of money for repairing.

We See You in Bintulu!

At Bintulu during our way to Kudat we met Bintulu riders that ride mostly supermoto and scrambler which was known as the 9DX riders. It was really nice of them to gather just to meet us and share whatever that we got in common. Thanks to Jebat Junior (FB alias) or Mr. Hafiz for his noble effort to call out everyone in that Bintulu area range just to come, to greet, to welcome and especially to wish us the best for our great journey.

it's all about us, nothing else matters

Before I get to know Hafiz in person, we only managed to chat in Facebook messenger and to my surprise I met him before during my ride with Pak Din to Miri a year before which is in 2012. That was my trial ride to Miri riding my Kawasaki KLX 150s with Pak din before we decided to take the next ride up a notch and that is how the Kuching- Kudat idea comes to our head especially my head. Hafiz is such a nice guy, not to mention the rest of 9DX riders that welcome us. Thank you for your hospitality as we spent our beautiful and meaningful night in Bintulu. Till we meet again my brothers and I am truly sorry for not knowing all of your names because the meeting was too short for us to get to know better.

their rides.

Hafiz (black shirt) & other friend that came that night. Thanks man!

the Brotherhood

Pak Din, Aki & Jodon

The Tip of BORNEO, Simpang Mengayau (I was there! We were there! Our BIKES were there!)

I am speechless...

Kuching to Kudat (Tip of Borneo, Simpang Mengayau) DAY 4

We went out riding quite early to our primary destination which is KUDAT, the time showed around 7 in the morning. Pak Din set his GPS and it tells KUDAT is another 150 kilometres away. Well if you have made 2+++ kilometres so far, a 150 kilometres is not that far anymore. Nothing stopping us now, KUDAT here we come!

on the way to KUDAT

Once we are out of KOTA KINABALU, the traffic was quite smooth especially when we started to cruise along rural roads to KUDAT. The scenery was fantastic, I can see the view of MOUNT KINABALU clearly from the nearby rural route that we took and we actually can see the top of that legendary mountain in the morning as the cloud is not covering the full view yet.

We were getting nearer and nearer and I couldn’t help myself. Just another 20 kilometres away to go I pulled my throttle almost to the maximum speed as I was getting very excited. The tip of BORNEO, the SIMPANG MENGAYAU is actually situated on the left side on our way to KUDAT. But first we got to look for place to stay and we found KUDAT REST HOUSE just in the middle of KUDAT I supposed so. For only RM60 we got ourselves a nice and very comfortable space to stay in that night.

 

At the rest house we were destined to meet our offroad blood in blood out brothers. They were bro Ahmit for Sri Aman, bro Hazwan from Kelantan and bro Rohairi also from Peninsular (these 3 are police officers in KUDAT) and the true Sabahan bro Rin (works for ministry of youth & sports in KUDAT). They are the one that took us for a ride to THE TIP OF BORNEO, SIMPANG MENGAYAU and also to one of their offroad training base somewhere not so far from the rest house. We only managed to get to know them for a very short period but it was like we were best friends for years before and ahead. I guess when we are sharing the same patience, we will also share the same emotion and especially the spirit of the riders brotherhood.

standing from left: Rohairi, Hazwan & Ahmit

crouching tigers from left: Pak Din, Jodon & me of course

from left: Rohairi, Hazwan & Ahmit