cyclefriday! The Merdeka Slow Ride 14th August 2009

It's The Merdeka Slow Ride! Come and Join us for the fun.


Meeting place: Pelita near KLCC

Meeting Time: 6pm onwards for Teh Tarik session.

Ride start: 8.30pm

Ride duration: about 1 hour.

Note: Not suitable for road bikes coz it's gonna be too slow.

cyclefriday slow ride 12 June 2009

Objective: To familiarise cyclists with Kuala Lumpur busy traffic as well as to promote bicycle as an alternative transport. A slow pace ride is one the best ways to enjoy the night scenary in Kuala Lumpur.

Meeting place: Pelita near KLCC

Meeting Time: 6pm onwards for Teh Tarik session.

Ride start: 8.30pm

Ride duration: about 1 hour.

Note: Not suitable for road bikes coz it's gonna be too slow.

How about converting motorbike lane to bicycle lane?

Lately I have been using the motorbike lane at the Federal Highway on my journey to office from USJ to KL. The motorbike lane is separated from the highway and is a stretch from Klang to Midvalley Megamall. I travelled during the non peak hours i.e after 8.30am and find it very safe. The lane is about 9 feet wide thus has ample space for motorbikes to overtake.


You need to be careful as you enter the motorbike lane. I would normally stop at this point.



Ensure that you ride on the left hand side and use the white line as a guide to ride straight.



Need a break and refill. No problem:-) On the way towards Kl direction, there's a stall after the Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya.


On the way towards Klang, there's a cendol seller after you passed by Jalan 222. It's before the Overhead bridge.



At about 100-150 metres towards the exit, I would move to the right hand side to enable me to have easy and safe exit.


Make sure that you look back to ensure that you have clear traffic and use your right hand to indicate that you are moving to the right.

I would stop at the exit point look for oncoming cars.



It would be GREAT if the laws allow motorbikes to use the federal highway so that the motorbike lane could be use SOLELY for bicycles. The federal highway has emergency lane that could be used by motorcyclists.



I think it could encourage more people to cycle to work especially the one residing and working in Klang, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. Most people didn't realise that for distance below 30km, it's most efficent to cycle than taking the public transport. I know coz I am doing it on daily basis. I will blog later on this matter. So for now keep on cycling using the motorbike lane so that motorcyclists would be familiar with our presence. I really find it enjoyable cycling to KL or Midvalley Megamall via the motorbike lane.

Watch Out!-The Left Turn Junction

1. I always noted that most motorists did not give signal when they are turning left. Are they trying to save their car battery or they think we can read their mind that they are turning left?




2. So when you are approaching the Left Turn Junction and you want to go STRAIGHT, you need to:

3. Look back.
There are two types of drivers/motorcyclists

4. First type. They will slow down and go behind you and give signal that they are turning left. So you just need to flag your right hand to indicate that you are going straight. I always give thumb up as a gesture of appreciation:-)

5. Second type. They will start moving away a bit and sometimes didn't give signal to turn left. Normally I will just brake and let them go first. Sometimes I will just TURN LEFT to avoid colliding with them.

6. Sometimes I will just stop at the corner and wait till the traffic clears.

7. If there's vehicle coming out from the left turn junction, maintain EYE CONTACT with the driver. Make sure he/she sees you. Flag your left hand to indicate to give way for you to go first. If the driver is not making eye contact with you, just brake and let the vehicle to go first.


maintain eye contact with the driver (grey car) coming out from the junction.

8. Practice defensive riding skills. Always be on alert. Never ever rush. Just relax and enjoy your ride.

How to improve your liquidity

Ensuring that we are always liquid is critical. A company could go bust
overnight due to liquidity problem. What is liquidity? Liquidity simply means
to be able to pay when we have to pay. Likewise as an individual, managing our
liquidity is critical as well. We need to basically set up an emergency fund of
our monthly expenses between 3 to 6 months to enable us to sustain should we
encounter financial crisis like this. To ensure that we are always liquid, we
need to monitor our cashflow. If we have been tracking our monthly or better
still daily expenses then we could easily indentify the expenses that we could
cut down.

We have been conditioned all this while to drive even to the nearest
destination. Nowadays, bicycle has been my first choice mode of transport,
followed by motorbike, then car and public transport. Not to forget we could
even walk, okay!

Bike commuting is one of the ways to improve our cashflow. I am using this
drinking container to put aside all the direct or indirect expenses that I
could save whenever I am cycling my bike instead of using car/motorbike..




What are the direct and direct expenses that you could save?

Cost per kilometre (km)
How much does it cost you for every km travel if you are using your car or
motorbike? I prefer this method since it also encourage me to track the
distance that I have travelled so far. For instance if my cost per km is 15sen,
then if I cycled for 50km to work (to and fro), then I would save RM7.50
(RM0.15 x 50km) that particular day. This is only applicable to activities that
instead of using car/motorbike, you cycled. Sports activities are not counted.


Parking
How much would I have to pay for parking? Let say RM2.50 per entry. Then that
RM2.50 will be put into the container.

Toll
Do I have to pay toll for my journey? For instance, if I am using the NPE
highway, I would have to incur RM4.80 (to and fro).

Cigarette
Maybe as a result of this bike commuting, you would quit smoking. Let say RM10
per day. Read the story of Riezal who has finally quit smoking

Gymnasium fees
Since you have been cycling regularly, you might stop going to the gym as well.
Let say another RM50 per month saved.



I know that it's a bit tedious, but unless we know where our money goes to, we
could never be able to improve our cashflow. Well, it's all about habit
forming.


Commuting bike doesn't need to be expenseive. I acquired these 2 used bikes for
about RM1,000. So far no problem and it has travelled for more than 2,000 km.


Fixie (Single Speed Fixed Gear)



Giant Chromoly 21 Speed


The most common operating expenditures would be:

Flat tires
Replacing tubes would be very expensive. A tube would cost between RM10 to RM16
depending on the bike shop. A cheapest solution would be to patch the tube. I
bought a box of patch for RM10 only. It has 48 patches incusive of a
glue. So per patch it only cost you about 21sen (RM10/48).



Replacing tires
You don't need to buy high performance tires for commuting purposes. My tires
only cost me RM25 each. Honestly I didn't know how often do I need to replace
it yet. Let say for 3 months (60 working days), then the cost would be RM0.83
per day (RM50/60 days)

Parts wear and tear
I don't upgrade. Only replaced it when required. Honestly, I don't have any
problem commuting with my fixed gear bike. So the 21speed chromoly MTB is far
more than adequate. So far for the past 2 years, the only parts that I replaced
was my MTB's crank arm.



The whole idea is to minimised your operating expenses. It's like setting up your bicycling account. At the end of the day, you would be amazed that how much you could have saved. So cycle more in life (CMILe)

Read Dino's article on Spend wisely

Friday 10th April, Monthly Cycle to Work Day gathering

Come and join us for our monthly cyclefriday! Teh Tarik Session.

Date: Friday 10th April 2009
Time: 6pm onwards (after work)
Venue: Pelita Restaurant near KLCC/Wisma Central

See you there!

The 20sen solution!

The most common problem about bike commuting is a flat tire. I just don't know why but it always happen to me. At one time I was replacing 2-3 tubes per week. Whoaa...it's really costly as per tube it cost me RM10...sometimes RM16. So I began to learn on how to patch a tube. A box that has 48 patches inclusive of glue only cost me RM10. So per patch it's only 20 sen. Another thing that you need is the sand paper.



Step 1. Rub and clean tube repair area using the sand paper (make sure the rubbed area is bigger than patch)

Step 2. Apply glue to repair area and allow to dry (Ensure coated area bigger than patch)

Step 3. When the glue is dry, remove foil of patch and stitch down repair area. (When the foil is taken off, don't touch the back of patch with fingers)

Step 4. Pressed hard (I used the pump) on the patch and let it sticks fast.

That's all and it's really a simple process. I will normally do it when I am relaxing at home:-) I know someone that has 18 patches on his tube!