You might have observed in the past few posts, there were a bunch of equipment upgrades on my bikes. Some of them well worth it, some probably vain. There seems to be missing an essential component, that of riding the bike. Heh, It is about time I really road tested the NWT.

Al, requested for pictures of the complete bike and here they go.

First up, a 100 Km loop to Kota Tinggi. It was almost impromptu ride, my brother pushed me to join him and I figured it is a good excuse to take the NWT on a shakedown. You know bikes take a bit to settle down. Cables will stretch, tires will roll into place, brakes will wear in etc… I had a few things to check out too, like how do my panniers fit the rear rack, will I have heel strike, will my setup with skating wheels work fine with the panniers, how will the dual drive hold up over long distances etc…

I realized after the initial short rides, the shifters were a bit tricky to reach, so the first adjustments were made (I have not put on bar tape yet expecting more adjustments in the coming days). I swapped my B17 with the B67 from the Surly and the bike was ready for the road test. The bigger question was whether I was ready

For those who do not know about SE Asia, we do not have regular seasons, the only thing regular is the intense sun, high humidity and thunderstorms and usually they decide to mix and match combinations as the day progresses.

We started off about 0830 in pretty much high sun and the only thing I could look forward to was some cheap / great food in JB and if lucky, some showers in the mid day. Luck did not hold out for us and we were served with intense heat and near 100% humidity throughout the ride. As it is with riding out through the causeway into Johor Bahru, heavy traffic is the norm until you cross Kota Tinggi. So an out and back loop means that we are practically in heavy traffic throughout the ride. Added to it was the fact that the highway 3 was being extended and all trees have disappeared. Shade was scarce.

Well let me say that it was a very difficult metric century. We ran through a few litres of water and at least a litre of gatorade (each) before we decided to turn back. At the halfway point, we stopped by a street side coconut vendor (Thank god they are willing to brave the heat to quench the thirst of travelers) and gulped down a couple of coconuts before turning back.

It was a good decision in the end as my brother was pretty dehydrated and exhausted when we reached JB. The ride route as follows:

So how did the bike hold up in this ride. Well, excellently. The  setup is a bit more upright and the B67 was a good choice, no sore butt or shoulder. The trekking bars were great. There were indeed many comfortable positions I could use, a worthy choice again. I do not like the position of the levers, I may push them forward a bit but given the curve on the bar, the levers might flare out a little. I will have to try the setup. I will most definitely move the bell to some place near the stem. The bell is a great idea to communicate with my brother over short distances. Ding Ding and we stop to check each other out.

I liked the friction shifters. Infinitely better than the twist shifters. The Tikit my brother was riding had a very tight twist shifter and the rear dee was also out of alignment. He had a terrible time shifting. Not so for me, heh. If I don’t shift smooth at first, I just need to feather the shifter and I am sailing along smoothly

The Dual Drive was a revelation. I need to probably write separately about the dual drive. It deserves honorable mention. But let me say a few words, Shifting was precise and smooth. I did have to use a trigger shifter for that and with a quick flick, I go from pounding on the pedals to tootling with a whistle on my lips.  The best part was that I could stick to any of the 3 gears and still choose to use the entire cassette. That means less fiddling with the gears. If you have been riding with front deraiullers (which most of us are), this is really neat. And the gear range is very nice. Rolling hills, well, bring it on I say now.Al e-mailed me once to caution me about some of the quirks of the dual drive. It has not reared its ugly head till now and I will wait for them to surface. For now, dual drive is really worth it if you are considering it for your bike.

The only minor issue I had was the chain slip when I switched gears too quickly (on the cassette not the dual drive). That is because of the odd angle the chain has to take when in the extreme gears. A chain guide should patch it, but I am in no hurry for that.

Overall, the bike worked like a charm, an intense metric century in trying conditions is the best way to check out a bike I guess and the NWT passed the test in flying colors. Thank you Bike Friday!

Recently, I was in Sabah, (east) Malaysia. The trip was long coming and the initial objective that we had (about a year back) was not met. However the trip was wonderful and well worth the time and effort.

The initial plan (about a year ago) was to climb Mt. Kinabalu. At that time, everything I knew about Malaysian Borneo was Mt. Kinabalu. I was not very aware of the geography nor did I know that Malaysia had two states in Borneo. General knowledge aside, I was not planning on doing anything other than climbing. The trip did not materialize and I setup another trip in November hoping to climb Mt. K again. But being me, I do not plan things until push comes shove and when shove came to kick me in the arse, I decided to check out the details for the climb.

To cut the story short, I needed to have booked a place in Laban Rata about mid way in the mountain and the vacancy is small and in high demand. I did not secure any place and the only other option I had (though very adventurous) was a bit too expensive. So the decision was made instead to fly in and bum around in Kota Kinabalu. KK is a nice little town with pretty friendly people and lots of human traffic in the main street. I stayed at a back packers lodge and went around town on day 1. But by the end of the day, we figured it might be better if we could explore outside town – primarily we were excited by the lush rain forest bordering the town.

A little bit of snooping around and chit chat with locals resulted in us renting a car and taking a nice 4 day road trip across the state.

View Larger Map

If anyone is interested, the green portion from KK to Telupid is hilly and chilly The roads are good and the drive is very enjoyable. The Blue stretch to Sandakan is reasonably flat and warm. The yellow road to Sukau is pretty bad once you turn off the highway. the roads are gravel and the scenery is nothing but palm plantations. The red portion is pretty special. It is a lovely river ride that we were very lucky to enjoy. I shall document some of the experiences here. Keep watching.

1. Great. Wildlife. So much so that you can spot hornbills while taking a quick break by the roads. Monkeys, fireflies etc… are all around you when you are at the right place.
2. Everyone. Smiles. Now this seems about what should be expected in a tourist infested place like KK. But when people smile and wave to you in a small town like Sandakan or even smaller Kampung like Sukau or Abai, you know their heart is in the right place.
3. Really. Beautiful. Girls. Grrr, Really sabah has a very high concentration of really good looking women. And really friendly and not snooty.
4. Free. Wifi. Everywhere. Atleast, almost everywhere when you are in a city. Unlike other places I know, cafes, restaurants and shopping centers have free, unprotected wifi. Many places have additional power outlets for charging your electronics. great!
5. Friendly. People. I cannot express the lengths to which people have gone to make our stay, trip memorable / enjoyable. I always think I have met the best people already. But each time I meet someone more friendly and more helpful. The world is a better place with people like the few I have met.