Wow. I’m not sure if I’m angry or just very, very disappointed in The Star Online, for this utter drivel. Honestly, I expected a LOT more from one of the more respected media houses in the country. While I’m quite sure the writer of this article published today (screenshot below) is not a biker…
…what’s even more ridiculous is that the writer didn’t even bother to do a little bit of research before writing this nonsensical rant of an article, (some rempit probably pissed him off today) because if he had done so, he’d realise that as of today, September 15th 2018, the Federal Highway bike lanes are still officially CLOSED. Check out this video which I just went out to shoot if you need visual proof… Location: Motorola heading to KL.
And as you can clearly see from this photo below as well, the entrances to the bike lanes along the Federal Highway are closed in many places, necessitating the need for bikes to use the main highway. As I said in the video, I don’t want to use the main part of the highway, none of us do, it’s horrendously jammed most of the time, and a lot more dangerous for bikers to use than a dedicated bike lane.
The bike lanes on both sides of the Federal Highway were supposed to be opened for use in March this year by the way, but they’re still closed..
Would you like to see the most laughable aspect of this bullshit article? Check out the main photo that was used in it below… You can clearly see the entrance to the bike lane is closed even in their own picture, and the arrow is directing bikes to use the main highway! Shoot yourself in the foot much Star Online? What rubbish. – Chris Wee.
Photo from The Star Online
(What preceded were the express personal views of the Editor and may not be that of Piston.my as a whole)
Getting well is easier when there is a new bike to look forward to, said 36-year-old Mohd Fairus Bin Abd Rahman. He won a brand-new Yamaha Y15ZR in the TuneBoss 2018 Lucky Draw Contest.
Hailing from Ipoh, Fairus was one of hundreds that tried their luck in the annual contest by FSR Technology, the manufacturer of TuneBoss, a high-performance programmable ECU for motorcycles.
Fairus explained that he was hospitalised on the lucky draw day and only switched on his handphone five days later, when he immediately received a call to confirm his prize.
“I bought a TuneBoss ECU in March this year from a TuneBoss dealer and it is fitted to my 2014 Yamaha FZ-150i to produce more power and I’m happy with the result,” said Fairus.
He further explained that he was considering to purchase a Y15ZR, to be used alongside his FZ-150i which had given him some wonderful memories.
“I rode that FZ-150i all the way to Krabi and Bangkok so it holds a lot of nostalgic value, thus I won’t sell that bike, but this Y15ZR will be my daily ride from now on.” Fairus’s Y15ZR will be fitted and tuned with the TuneBoss high-performance ECU before being handed over.
The 2018 TuneBoss Lucky Draw Contest was organised specifically for TuneBoss ECU owners unlike the year before that was open to the public, which was won by Muhammad Zulhanif Hamidon (below) who took home a TuneBoss equipped Honda RS150R.
FSR Technology is planning a 2018 year end giveaway with an even more exciting prize, so stay tuned!
I want both. Oh man, how I would have loved to keep them permanently. Of course it really didn’t help that I tested both the Yamaha X-Max 250Scooter (below) and MT-09 Streetfighter (above) back-to-back, and for the first time ever, here were 2 bikes – well one bike and one scooter, but for the purposes of this article I’ll be referring to both of them as ‘bikes’ – that I really, really despised. Despised the fact that I had to return them of course.
It’s no big secret that I’ve been a biker longer than I’ve been driving cars, having cut my teeth on 2-wheelers long before I was even allowed to ride them legally (sorry, I was a bit of a juvenile delinquent in my youth, but hey I turned out fine….ish. Sorta…), and over the years I’ve owned a slew of high-performance machines, only to unexpectedly and inexplicably turn to the ‘retro’ scene about the decade ago, as well as the scooter scene around the same time.
I reckon the bike that caused this ‘turning-point’ in my biking life was the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 a.k.a. ZZR1400 which I reviewed many moons ago when it first burst onto the scene. Capable of an amazing 200bhp going to the back wheel (not a typo) with its infamous ‘ram-air’ induction system, and a top speed in access of 300kmh, this six-eyed monster was to me the epitome of everything that had gone wrong with the world of biking…
Although I must admit I thought the ZX-14 was (and still is) an incredible feat of engineering and admired the hell out of it for its sheer audacity and in-your-face disregard for political-correctness in an age where we’ve never been more so, I also strongly felt that bike makers had lost the plot completely when it came to biking, by constantly producing bigger, faster and more powerful 2-wheelers. Where would it end?
This incredible leap in technology also sent the price of big bikes rocketing through the stratosphere locally, seeing as how our taxation system for bikes over a specific cubic-capacity was thought of and introduced when the main mode of personal transport was a bicycle called the ‘Seven-up’. Google it… okay, I’ll save you the trouble:
So yeah it was in and around that time when I decided nope, no more insanely high-powered bikes for me, and decided to go retro, starting with a BMW K1100RS, and followed-up with the likes of old skool Suzuki GS’s, GSX’s, etc. etc. etc. and as mentioned I got heavy into scooters. In successive order I’ve owned a V100, VS125 (2 actually), Elegan 150, and a currently a Sym200 VTS.
I’ve toned-down a lot when it comes to biking, preferring instead to just cruise at moderate speed rather than ‘balls-to-the-wall’ type riding, and in that respect, I’ve found that as far as daily-commuting and the occasional scootour long-distance ride is concerned, there aren’t many scooters I’m comfortable on apart from my Sym, and I’ve always bench-marked any scooter I review against my own.
Thus far I’ve been content with the fact that my Sym suits me the best insofar as the riding position, comfort and long-distance capability is concerned; that is until this goddam Yamaha X-Max came along… Here’s my post-ride video that sums up my thoughts nicely:
And then, having returned the X-Max, it just so happened that the new Yamaha MT-09 was available if I wanted it for a few days, and of course I could not say no, because the MT-09 – to me anyway – does not belong in the Yamaha line-up; as a matter a fact, a bike like this shouldn’t be in any bike-makers line-up and here’s why…
The MT-09 is a Streetfighterthrough and through, and although there isn’t a badge, emblem or sticker that reads ‘Streetfighter’ anywhere on the bike that I could see, it definitely is one simply by virtue of the way it looks, the way it’s built and the way you ride it. And the reason a Streetfighter doesn’t belong in any bike-maker’s official stable is because it was created by bikers, not bike-makers, and purely by accident too, literally.
Streetfighters came about when sportsbike owners had crashes and sent their fairings in to be repaired. Since the bikes could still be ridden sans fairing, many did so after slapping on a straight handle bar to replace the inevitably damaged clip-ons, and the trend caught on around 20-odd years ago, when some realised that a sportsbike looked kinda cool with its kit-off, and owners started to remove their expensive fairings from their bikes on purpose – possibly to save them big bucks if they had an ‘off’ – and ‘lo and behold Streetfighters were born.
The moment I swung my leg over the MT-09 and spirited myself away from Hong Leong Yamaha in Sg.Buloh, I could tell this was a Streetfighter right away. The riding-position is possibly the biggest giveaway, because in typical Streetfighter fashion, the rider sits quite upright and very ‘forward’ with his franks and beans right up against the tank. It’s also a very short bike from nose to tail, allowing for incredible maneuverability. Here’s my post ride, jittery, shaky, adrenaline enhanced video…
The nimbleness of the MT-09 is only overshadowed by the unbelievable amounts of torque from it 847cc, 3-cylinder engine. On paper the torque is only rated at 87.5Nm, with a healthy 115Ps @ 10,000 rpm, in a bike that weighs less than 200kgs. You know what that means don’t you? Should I elaborate? Very well then…
This bike is insane. It is so quick you’ll not believe how fast it reaches triple-digit speeds from a standstill, especially since it’s equipped with a ‘Quickshifter‘ you won’t need to use the clutch after 1st gear or shut the throttle to upshift. Hard acceleration sees the digital speedometer become absolutely worthless because this bike’s acceleration is so brutal, it just becomes a blur of flying digital bars that look like they’re on flakka.
It really did remind me of the bikes I used to lust after in my youth, and as the song goes, it made me feel eighteen again. If only for a while anyway. The thing to remember though, is that even with all my years of riding experience, this was still a very hard bike to tame. It’ll take a much younger hand with an equal (or more) amount of riding experience to fully explore the capabilities and limits of this bike, something I was not prepared to do myself unfortunately. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a lot of fun on this thing…
So back to taking things slow. In a nutshell, if an easy ride is what you’re after, a fuss-free daily commuter that can easily double-up as an occasional long-distance tourer, the Yamaha X-Max 250 is by far one of the best options out there now at around the RM20k price ballpark.
However, if you have the inclination to step-up your game and swing a leg over something totally bonkers, the Yamaha MT-09 at around RM45k is definitely a bike worth considering. I’m still recovering from the adrenaline rush to be honest… – Chris Wee.
MForce Bike Holdings Sdn Bhd has introduced one of the fastest growing bike brands in Europe, Brixton Motorcycles. The brand from Austria is inspired by retro roadster motorcycles in their design. Brixton now has over 500 dealers worldwide and now Mforce has joined them as one of the dealers in the world.
At its first presentation at the Vietnam Motorcycle Show in May 2017, an incredible 500 bikes were sold to end customers at the exhibition stand alone. Following their huge success in Europe and Vietnam, KSR Group is close to signing contracts with importers from almost 50 other countries around the globe. On the production side, investments in a new, state-of-the-art factory have already been made, in order to meet global demand.
Brixton are offering 3 models in Malaysia which are BX150 (above), BX150X (below)and BX150R (top main image). The BX150 is a classic motorcycle with a traditional design, it comes with 2 color options which are green or grey. The BX150X is a scrambler bike which is more for that off-road riding feel, it comes with 2 color options which are matte green or matte black. For BX150R, designs are inspired by retro race motorcycles or as we known now as café racers, 2 color options to choose from which are red or silver.
All the models are equipped with the same 149cc, fuel-injected, 4-stroke, 1 cylinder engine. Maximum torque of 11.9Nm @ 6000rpm, whereas the maximum energy output is 8.7kW (16bhp) @ 8000rpm. Emissions wise, this engine is of Euro3 standards. It is equipped with a 5-speed gearbox. Disc brakes front and rear feature a combined braking system (CBS) and fuel-wise, the bikes come with a 14-litre fuel tank.
The bikes are equipped with telescopic front-forks and twin-shock rear suspension. The gross weight for this bike is 157kg. It also has a digital speedometer, LED signal lights and also LED daytime running lights.
Price wise, the BX150 sells for RM8988.00, BX150X is at RM9288.00 and the BX150R is selling at RM9588.00. All stated prices are excluding road tax and insurance.
About Brixton Motorcycles…
No Brixton Motorcycle is the same. Okay, they are when they come off the production line. At this point, in fact, they are identical. Identically designed, specs & finished to the highest engineering standards. Identically distributed, marketed and sold. It’s our riders that make each Brixton unique. The decisions they make. The path they choose. The lives they live. Where to go with their Brixton. What direction to take. Who to ride along with. Now, before you know it, it’s not the same bike anymore. Now it’s truly a Brixton. As individual as the people who ride them.
