Picturesque 4 : Of Superbike and Baby Po

Of A Superbike

Kawasaki Ninja

On road, there are a few types of drivers. Along my years (only 5 years.. heh) of driving, I come to a conclusion that drivers of cool cars aren't the same with drivers of cool bikes. They aren't the same. Still, my conclusion only applies to my living area and its vicinity.

The above picture is one example of great bikes. And drivers of these kind of bikes really have set a very good example on road. Let me tell you a bit about how most of them behave on road.

Of Whys
1. During red light, bikers from 'golongan marhaen', rempit or any kind will ignore the red light, find a space, wait for a clear line and then accelerate. Especially when it is raining or on a very hot day. Most bikers will develop a kind of sharp sense knowing when the lights will turn color, the duration for each color, and few seconds of buffer between colors. If you can see at any time, you can see that they don't actually looking at the light in front of them. They will either look at the traffic light across them, or they will see reflection of colors from either signboards or poles from traffic light they can't see straight. So they can have a good guess when their light will turn green. And then, when the other light turns orange, even when their own light is still red, they will accelerate. Most of them will behave this way. BUT, for superbikers, they are different. Even when all bikes have gone ignoring the red light, you will find them still at their place. Relaxed and cool. I don't know the real reason behind this. Whether if they get a ticket it would be much more expensive than normal bike, wallahu a'lam. But, in term of obeying traffic, yes, they do set a very good example.

2. There was a time, at Youth Leadership Programe URI, I sit beside our van driver for the program. He said to me, the thing he's afraid the most on road was motorcyclists. Because of their unpredictable nature. Well, that's understandable. Often, when a motorcyclist sees a hole to slip in a tight traffic, he/she will try to slip as fast as possible. It is because their size is small, so, any hole will do. We call this 'cilok'. And often too, they forget to give signals. It's like if you draw any graph, their curve will not be very smooth and predictable. Still, a large portion of them gives signals. Same goes to superbikers. They respect the road, and they are respected.

3. Usually, when the light turns green, some motorcyclists will 'press' like heaven sampai yang terpacak-pacak. If not terpacak pun, it's like they are trying to lead and be the first of the horde that's just been released. And you know how cool are superbikers, they don't even get distracted by the other bikers. They just speed up normally, and with their own pace catching up with others. Although initially they are left out from the rest of the speeding bikers, those superbikers will end up un'chase'able by the early speeders. And the way you see how they behave from a spectator's view, so cool.

4. And the best is, they are so polite on road, yet they are so skillful. What does I mean is that they give way to people, they don't just cut people's way, during traffic jam especially, they are so skillful in 'mencelah' to the extend sometimes even when usual bikers are afraid to pass through some narrow slips between cars, they pass through it like nothing. And if they can't pass it, they will stay quiet and wait. On the contrary, some bikers even press in free gear to warn car drivers to make way for them. Some even hit the side mirrors. And most will honk 6 harakat or more.

5. And you know why they can drive so fast? One factor that I know is because of their attire. You know, when you are wearing something loose, and you ride your bike so fast, your shirt and your trousers are flapping so fast, it makes you feel cautious. But, when you wear tight driving jacket, the air doesn't make any of your parts flapping, so you kind of forget how fast you are and you just cruise along the road happily. But, it's a bit dangerous, it can be very deceiving.

Why do I say superbikers are different than expensive car drivers?

From what I've seen and experienced, most BMW and Mercedes drivers in the area of Damansara, PJ, Gombak - they really don't have any sense of giving signals. Most of them. The numbers can go up to 90 percent. Even when I'm driving car, they don't know how to give signals. I don't know why. It happens mostly to people with expensive cars. Proton, Innova, and other normal cars do give signals. But them? Entah. Perhaps I'm committing a fallacy of  generalization - but again, this situation only applies in my living area as far as I'm concerned.

If someone wants to compare drivers of great cars and bikes, I can say, they are not the same. One side have less sensitivities, less skillful, and a bit 'noob' on road (Noob in context of respecting road users), another side is more skillful, does a better job in setting example for other drivers.

Ini pun superb!

There are some things worth sharing here, so that new motorcyclists can take note.

1. If it is too windy, stop. I once drove along MRR2, where at that time, rain started to pour. Few of us motorcyclists still continued, so we sped up hoping to get past the raining cloud. So, in that cluster it was like around 100 km/h or more. Then, all of a sudden, a huge blast of wind passed. My cluster, at that time was in the middle lane, somehow was pushed to the right lane where the cars moved so fast. One of us was even almost hit a big lorry. That wind pushed us to the next lane while we were moving. It felt like your bike moved without you realizing. I never thought that wind could be so powerful. Since, I will always bend my body lower when  I'm speeding in rain in case of emergency.

2. For motorcyclists, it is dangerous if you are travelling when the road is wet and there are thunders dancing upon you. For cars, it is safe. But not for bikers. Because lightning can struck you while you are on bike. Once, when some bikers and I stopped under a fly over during a heavy downpour, a flash of lightning struck very near to us. At the same time, almost all of us under the fly-over felt the 'shock', the same feeling when you touched a leaked circuit - hot and numb. We talked about it, and we never knew that lightning have that kind of 'area-of-effect' (AOE). But then, I still suspended my conclusion, until after I watched River Monster, where in that episode, Jeremy Wade's cameraman was zapped by lightning, and he felt a little dizzy. The lightning didn't hit him directly, but the spot so near it made the cameraman went dizzy and fell. So, watch out if there any thunder festival up there. You might get stunned.


Baby Po
So, since baby Shrek, I've never found anything cuter. But, when Dragon Warrior Po came into action to search for his long-lost history, I found his 'smaller' version very intriguing and exciting. And seriously, I couldn't stand the cuteness. Let the picture tells the cuteness....So, I rank baby Po as the most cutest thing in history.

p/s 1 : There're so much reasons for people out there to continue living, why give up? :D
p/s 2 : I'm towards a healthier life. Just weeks ago, masa program, jadi Faci, seorang budak perempuan datang, 'abang akan jadi lagi hensem kalau kurus lagi skit'. *blushing* .. For that, I've been swimming 0.5 kilometers every day. So, keep motivating me! Haha.. Siapa-siapa nak ajar Butterfly Stroke boleh datang rumah.