RideAir

To understand the RideAir, just imagine one of those disposable pressurized CO2 cartridges that work with your bicycle pump. But instead, it’s self-contained and refillable 🙂

It takes the shape of a [large] water bottle (even comes with a frame mount) that can be taken with you during your ride. Now as to whether that’s a practical proposition or not, I would say it would depend on your needs as a rider.

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Motorcycle Culture

One of the unfortunate realities is that drivers from the middle class (and above) seem to have this universal resentment of motorcycle riders in general. And as a car driver myself, I have certainly seen and experienced the same “issues” which led to this unfortunate generalization.

I say it’s unfortunate because it’s the riders and not the motorcycles that are the real issue. Of course, this type of argument is all to common for practically any “collective culture” being judged of [legitimate] stereotypical behavior. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Still, I’d like to make sure this is clear because this little detail makes all the difference in the psychology of such resentment. And in turn, such poorly qualified resentment inevitably leads to similar poorly thought laws.

That’s a long winded way of saying: because most people who make our traffic laws aren’t riders, they usually base their recommendations out of their resentment of that which they don’t understand, 1 After all, the stereotypes do exist instead of actually trying to understand, and finding meaningful solutions that could benefit everyone.

I’m nowhere near being a “veteran” rider, but in my short time of riding – I’d like to attempt to “enlighten” those who want to understand what it’s like to be someone who rides a motorcycle in Manila traffic – and hopefully would result to a better understanding of, and patience with, motorcycle riders in general. Read More

Notes

Notes
1 After all, the stereotypes do exist

Trial by Fire

Yesterday, I decided to bite the bullet, take my neighbor’s advice na magpalakas ng loob (grow a pair), and take the Monster to the open road.

Call it a trial by fire if you will. And in a nutshell, I was able to cover decent ground: started from Valle to Taguig, then went around Taguig (and McKinley Hill) for a while. Then proceeded to go back north via C5 – to Eastwood area, then to Katipunan, past Ateneo, then took a U near UP then went back home.

Later, I went to Motomarket Libis to get a balaclava – but then it drizzled a bit so I returned home immediately and called it a day.

Hola from Taguig!

However, I did learn a few things:

  1. There are only two types of riders: those who have already fallen, and those who are about to.
  2. If you’re not falling, you’re not learning.

You got that right; I learned this the hard way. I fell, twice! But as the sayings go – I did learn a lot from the experience and I still consider the things I did as accomplishments. 1 And now I’ve got “battle scars” to show for it hehehehe And of course, unlike my previous post, this I can consider to be a legitimate post of real-world riding impressions on the actual bike – from the perspective of a total noob. Read More

Notes

Notes
1 And now I’ve got “battle scars” to show for it hehehehe

Riding my Monster

Well, after days of finding excuses to put it off, I finally mustered up the courage to ride my new bike. And just to manage reader expectations, I’d like to make it clear that I did not put it through its paces… far from it.

Don’t get me wrong, I do want to ride it, it’s just that the venue is a bit unnerving. I’m a total noob in riding a motorcycle – so I have no idea whatsoever what to expect from a “handling” perspective. I do intend to take lessons, but I still want to be able to ride my bike as I go along.

I wish I still lived in a subdivision, where the roads are wider, the houses are further apart. And the overall area is not so busy as it is in our condo cluster. I want to be able to practice where I can experiment without anyone seeing me make a fool of myself. Obviously that’s impossible in our area. The guards, the maids, everyone is within ear/eyeshot so it’s like there’s so much pressure just not to fall. Read More