Consider This : La Furia Roja @ RM1,380

Otherwise translated as "The Red Fury", Spain is the reigning World and European football champions, having won World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012.

Well, readers of my posting would know that my Green Hornet is a thoroughbred Japanese CBU sports touring bike. But like its owner, Green Hornet likes to have an international palette in its selections of upgrades.

 
Its sports tourer bubble windscreen is from MRA, and made in Germany.

Its side panniers and rear pannier are from Givi Italia, and made in Italy.

Its frame sliders are from Shogun, and made in Japan.

Its double-barrel exhaust slip-ons, ordered earlier this week and likely to reach me tomorrow, will be from Ixil Silencers and made in the Land of the Football Champions.

Keep your eyes peeled on the review after I install the said exhaust slip-ons; and if it is any good, you would be sure to hear it directly from me. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Green is gonna get Bigger, Meaner and Leaner... real soon.

Ninja 650R Exhaust Slip-ons in Malaysia : Akra, Yoshi, LV, GPR, Arrow and Two Bros

There have been quite a few queries from fellow readers whom requested for some pricing and brands of after-market exhausts. Well, I am actually not a reseller for slip-on exhausts; but having an interest on the matter too, I have heard from fellow riders of Ninja 650R on the latest pricing of these exhaust systems.

Previously, there were very selected slip-on exhausts available in Malaysia. I am talking about those sold in Malaysia, not the ones that riders ordered online from overseas and thereafter waited patiently for weeks for the exhaust systems. No sirree, I am only considering those sold by Malaysian sellers.

Many fellow riders choose from these few brands given their current jhhhbbbjnnkavailability then :

1) Akrapovic slip-on @ RM1,800;
2) Yoshimura CB slip-on @ RM1,650;
3) LeoVince slip-on @ RM1,350;
4) GPR slip-on @ RM1,200.

Note that these were the lowest prices that I have heard fellow riders mentioning about; and the prices could fluctuate, I am unable to verify if the exact same price still stands at this time and date. You can, however, use this as a benchmark when you negotiate for the exhaust slip-ons that you like, from the shops that you are buying from. Most of the time, shops would quote between RM1,800 - RM2,200; and it depends on your negotiation skills to bring the price downwards.

Recently, there have been an exodus of other brands that made it into Malaysia :

5) Arrow slip-on @ RM1,600;
6) Two Brothers M2 @ RM1,800.

Most of the above exhausts are plug-and-play and require no modifications to work properly; although the Yoshimura is an exception, having had no O2 sensor and hence, could cause fuel injection warning to light up. The way around would be to modify and drill an O2 outlet so that the problem could be solved.

Enjoy your rumble, mates!

Consider This : Shoei TRZ/TRX/RFX

It has been great doing the riding on Green Hornet; and I have a few relatives (as in cousins) avisiting from abroad and the chap seems to be a car, bike and truck lover like me too. He has been taking pictures of the nice rides and commented that the rides here seemed more varied compared to Singapore (we were there earlier the week as part of his SEA visit).

 I find myself needing another helmet- I have a pair for my spouse and myself now, and will need another for the occasional pillion riding along during these few days. Wife has a cutesy pink colour helmet, which I don't think he would be comfortable riding around wearing.

What I need is another pair of Shoei full-face- perhaps a glossy black one as opposed to the matt black one that I have now. I was thinking of getting a modular helmet initially- and I have been thinking of a Caberg Konda as these go for a song these days. You can part with RM500 for an Italian-made Konda, and still have leftover change for some nice helmet decals and a cup of coffee.

But another part of me reminded me that a real full-face helmet would have better structure rigidity than a modular full-face helmet; and not to mention much lower wind and road noise intrusion too.

Well, we are buying helmets for safety after all, right? So perhaps it'll be a better bet to get a Shoei after all. After all, these are Japan-made and used extensively in motor sports so it'll be a great choice, right?

So, here I am, waiting for delivery of my brand new Shoei TZR/TZX (also known as Shoei RFX for the Asian market) in glossy black.

This helmet sells for app RM1,100 overseas and with import taxes and courier fees, would arrive at your doorstep for app RM1,300 and comes in quite a few colours- matt black, glossy black, white, red, blue, etc. There also also TZR/TZX/RFX with race art decals- but the prices would be bumped upwards slightly.

Since this Shoei series is amongst the longest-running Shoei's bread-and-butter helmets, I am sure that there would be quite a few of readers here whom may fancy this lil' baby too. I would put on a review of this affordable Shoei in due course.

Sure, we can get local/Chinese brands eg SOL, GIM, etc for less than half of this Shoei's price; but at end of the day, we can't really put on a price for safety, isn't it?

Always remember- you are not investing towards branded biking gears for the looks; you are investing towards securing your safety!

Ride safe, guys!

Poster : Riding

Poster : Kawasaki ER-6N @ Streetfighter

Poster : Kawasaki ER-6F @ Sport Touring

Thought : Superbike Therapy

I haven't really had much time to ride since my last posting as had been flying to and fro overseas; and the limited time that I have back home was spent with my family. Yup, a family man, you can say that again.

On Sunday, there was something bothering my mind. Nothing too serious, no; but still unsettling, yes. You know, squabbles between husband and wife. All family man gets this over time, overtime. Period.

So when I was told to run some quick errands at Mid Valley Megamall while my sonny was asleep, there was no hesitation on my part to grab the Green Hornet's keys instead of Black Bison's from the keys' cabinet. It was going to be tough getting a car parking spot at that time of the day anyway; so I figured that riding the bike made more sense.

So I got to Green Hornet, put on my full-face helmet, gloves and knee protectors; and rode on my way. The sky was a bit dark, a rain was lingering in the horizon; but to the heck with it!

And once I hit the open road, I sure felt better. The thumping of the 650cc parallel twin engine working its power between my thighs, the force of the wind against my body at 1xx kmph, the pull of the bike as it cuts between the cars.

By the time I got to Mid Valley, I sure felt better already. Superbike therapy- if everyone has access to this, there sure would be a whole less shrinks in this world, IMHO.

Oh, and for those of you whom has not parked in Mid Valley's bike park (as I previously was), the mall management prepared a separate entrance for bikes, just before the upward slope towards Cititel Hotel. And once you got into the bike parking, there were two types of parking areas ie Superbike Parking (in front) and Regular Bike Parking (at the common parking area).

Nicely-planned and thought out.

Thought : Traffic Jam @ KL

Took Green Hornet to work again this morning, but I removed the 2 Givi side panniers and placed them into the Black Bison (Toyota Harrier)'s enormous boot prior to riding off. And guess what? It made riding the Green Hornet amongst the cars stuck in the traffic jam much easier and I was able to travel at a consistent speed even on the most jam-packed stretches of Jalan Kuching.

Of course, once I came to the highway, Green Hornet was on its elements. On the highways, the panniers' extra weight previously helped to stabilise the bike when going on three digits-speed. Without the panniers, I find that the bike felt just that much lighter (probably translated to higher achievable speed too).

 
Conclusion on the travel is that :

On jam-packed normal roads : Bike is faster without the side panniers;
On highways : Bike feels more planted with the additional weight and width of the large side panniers; and
When stationary : Almost everyone seem to marvel more at the bike when the panniers are fixed thereon.

There you go, sports tourers with and without side panniers at different times.

"L" for Ladies

Since I wrote about the "L" for Leader stickers in the earlier post, which goes for a laugh; I thought that I would share some pictures of "L" for Ladies riders found on the net. Note that I don't claim ownership of these pictures. If these are your pictures and you want them removed, please let me know and I would do so accordingly.

The best thing about the Kawasaki Ninja 650R is that it makes a good bike for beginners to superbikes, as well as experienced riders wanting a more relaxed ride. I know that some Ninja 650R riders have changed their original swing-arms to clip-on sports types to have a more aggressive riding stance; but I think that the ZX6R is designed for riders whom wanted the speed demons. The Ninja 650R is more of a well-rounded go-everywhere ride, IMHO. 

And both blokes and ladies seem to take the Ninja 650R like ducks to waters.

De-stressing Thru Riding, and "L" & "Mashall" Stickers

 The weather was looking good this morning- the weather prediction has been about rain, rain and more rain throughout the week so has not taken Green Hornet for a ride of late.

I have some stress building up in me; and with a young kid in tow, I am unable to take the bike out for a spin even if I had wanted to.

So I decided that with the nice weather and all that, it would be nice to take the Green Hornet to work today.

It turned out to be a wise decision. I came to work with a smile on my face, and the stress built-up melted into thin air. Shoulder felt lighter and am ready to take on the world again :)

De-stressing through riding- perhaps motivation gurus should start tinkering with this idea!

The stickers were from a previous convoy. As I was to lead the convoy of fellow bikers, my panniers were slapped with the "Marshall" stickers; while more as a joke, they stuck L-stickers (for "Leader", they said) on the front windscreen and back. Think I'll leave the stickers on for a bit, for a laugh :)

Superbike Parking Only

I recently found 2 spots in the condo car park building that seems to have been designated for parking of... superbikes. Seems like a good idea since there are quite a few superbikes peppered all over the car park floors.

At one of these spots, the regular bike residents included a Yamaha Diversion 650 half-fairing, Kawasaki ZX10R, BMW GS1200 and Harley Davidson Road King. Hence, my Kawasaki Ninja 650R decided to join in the fun.

Makes eye-candy for bike enthusiasts!