1 - Little, Purple kid's bike with training wheels

My first bicycle. My parents got that for me when I was still very tiny. If I recall correctly, they said that they bought it in a shop in Bukit Merah. I don't have much recollection about the bike, except that it had foam padding on the top frame, and that my knees could touch the handlebars (when I was in Primary school). It also had two training wheels at the rear.

This bike was where I first started to learn cycling on. My dad removed the training wheels and supported the bike for me while I tried to ride it down a road in my neighbourhood. I believe it was eventually sold to the rag-and-bone man shortly after that because I had outgrown it tremendously.

 

2 - Small, Dark-blue Bicycle

This bike was donated to me by my older cousin, who had outgrown his childhood bike. It had a small sized steel frame, and my feet could comfortably reach the ground while I was on the saddle. This helped a lot as I still wasn't very familiar with cycling. By then, after a few trips to parks with my relatives, I had finally learned how to cycle without training wheels. This likely took place at Pasir Ris Park.

I still remember cycling at least 30minutes every day for a good part of my Primary 5 life. Everyday at 6pm I would go for a spin on my bike. I guess you could say that this was my first real bicycle. I recall that I was once chased by a dog, but I out pedaled it. Had some crashes here and there, such as into a drain, though I was ok. The most extreme crash was when I somehow lost control while riding beside a drain, but I somehow managed to land on the grass on the opposite side.  There were some playful kids who used to tried to corner me with skates (in my neighborhood), but a bicycle always outruns skates!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. One day a friend came to my house to do a project, I walked him out to the bus-stop before heading back on my bike. I went over some rocks where a concrete path was still being paved. Soon after that, the rear tire started to loose its pressure and I had to pump it up every 3 days or so. Then it got worse and I had to pump it before every ride - it still held air so was good enough for 1hr rides. Then it started getting very bad, loosing all the air in just 5mins. I didn't really know much about bikes that time so I didn't know how to fix it. I wanted my dad to change the tire but he didn't want to (said it was dangerous and would be better if I stopped cycling). So I cut up the rear tire, and tried to ride with the rim only. Metal wheels! It was cool, but incredibly noisy. The bike was sold to the rag-and-bone man again.

3 - Aleoca Disgelo steel mountain Bicycle

The beginning

I can't remember the exact date when I got this bike, but it was bought at Carrefour at Suntec City. I finally convinced my dad that it was ok to buy a bike so he finally did. We went to Carrefour one night and after a quick look, bought an Aleoca Disgelo full suspension mountain bike for $168. I didn't know too much about bikes then but it seemed quite nice, and was full-suspension too! Other features include aluminum rims (compared to the inferior steel rims), and a nice TIG Argon gas welded Hi-Ten Steel frame. We also bought a security chain and a bell to go with the bike. Then we went to the car-park and spent like almost half an hour trying to get the bicycle into the car - it wouldn't fit into the boot! Finally, I got an idea and we placed the bike in a diagonal position in the cabin of the car. This happened some-when in about 2004.

My dad also said it was important to get lights for the bike, so we went to a small shop in Bukit Merah (yes the same one where my parents got my tiny bike with training wheels many years ago from) and I bought a 2 AAA battery powered flashing rear red light, for $9 if I remember correctly. Thus began my exploration. This time, I ventured further than I ever did before. I went to places at least 2km away, and also to West Coast Park.

I still remember when I was going to West Coast Park one day, my front wheel hit a curb too hard and made the whole bike jump. I dented the front rim slightly but I later fixed that by hammering it (in a controlled manner) flat again. One problem with my rear-light is that the cover comes out very easily (like after a big bump) so I have to affix it with rubber-bands, or tape. The light runs off 2 AAA batteries and is quite bright, so I am generally quite happy with it.

Some Crashes

With my new bike, I found new courage, explored more places, and my need for speed increased. Of course increased speed generally means more crashes - the Inevitable had to come. Notable crashes include the one at Kent Ridge while going downhill, and the one at Labrador park.

The Kent Ridge one occurred on Friday 1st October 2004 was probably one of my more dangerous crashes. This happened on a 1.11km running path at Kent Ridge which is near my house. I cycled up to the top of the hill and decided that it would probably be quite fun to go on the downhill path fast. So I went downhill, and even went into an aero-crouch position to reduce air resistance, but I didn't pedal because I didn't want to go too fast. Then I suddenly remembered that there was a sharp turn right at the middle of the slope, so I got up high (increase air-resistance), and started braking in a controlled manner. If I braked a bit too much on the front-wheel, I'd do a 'superman' (slope was quite steep), and if I braked too hard on the rear wheel, it would lock and skid out of control, so I tried really hard to brake but I didn't slow down much.

So I thought, okay, time to do a super sharp turn like those motor-cycle races! And I did! It was really cool, my turning angle was so steep my knee was almost grazing the ground. But bicycles are not meant to do the corners like racing motorbikes. Almost at the end of the turn, the wheels lost grip and slid. I don't know how I did it but I pushed the bike away from me. The bike went down the hill (actually not really down, it skidded on the grass and stopped before rolling down the quite steel grass slope), and I landed on the path (the path is road material, so it's quite rough) with my elbow and knee. My knee took most of it, and rolled to a stop. I looked and realised that either me or my bike could have hit a steel lamppost which was just nearby. It didn't hurt too bad (and that high-speed cornering was really cool) but I started bleeding quite bad. I sat by the side of the road to clean my wounds with some leaves. A couple of people walked by, but they just pretended as if nothing happened! First incidence of awful Singaporeans. :-( So I pushed my bike up the hill, and then went home (could still pedal with my left leg). I went to a small provision shop to buy a Nestle Milky Bar to reward myself :-). Click here to see a photo of my knee (warning, lots of blood).

Another crash happened on Sunday 8th August 2004 at Labrador park. Actually this isn't really a crash. I was cycling to Labrador park and I saw something interesting on a lamp-post on the right side of the road leading to the park. So I cycled to the side and got off. I stepped on a concrete drain cover but much to my surprise, the drain cover cracked, and my right leg fell into the drain. My knee grinded the concrete and some stones and started bleeding. I made a quick trip to the park, washed my wound, and got home by cycling mostly with my left leg. Click here to see a photo of my knee (warning, lots of blood)

But these crashes were minor compared to the new places I've discovered, and the new things I've seen on this bicycle.

Night Cycling Safari with Church friends

One turning point, or milestone of my cycling life, happened on 15th March 2005. It was a Tuesday night. My church organized a night cycling activity. It was meant to be from my church (at West Coast, nearby West Coat Park) to the McDonald's at East Coast. Everyone (12 including myself) assembled at Church at 9:30pm. After some preparation, we set off around 10:05pm. We cycled at the side of the road, passing Haw Par Villa, and proceeded to the City. We passed by Tanjong Pagar MRT, passed by the Esplanade and Suntec City, and made our way to East Coast park, covering around 23km in little more than an hour (including some rests stops and photo and water breaks). We stopped at McDonalds for a long time, eating dinner and having some fun. Then we decided to change our plan and cycle all the way to Changi Village. So we cycled up East Coast Park, went along this ridiculously long straight road (beside the runway) where we cycled for 30 mins without seeing the end. Then we finally reached Changi Village after having covered 45km in total.

We hydrated ourselves, rest, and cycled back. I decided to cycle from Changi Village back to East Coast Park McDonald's without stopping, at a constant speed. Initially I was overtaken by many of them, but steady wins the race. So I managed to get ahead and completed my planned task, and managed to overtake everyone in the end. I estimate that I cycled at 22km/hr for 1 hour which I think is ok. My friend has a Diamondback bike (Apex I think), and it weighs about half of mine (that's an exaggeration) so we switched bikes just for fun. One immediately notices the very well built and solid bike frame. The lightness of the bike was also amazing. At about 4am the sky was really nice and filled with stars but I was not able to admire them otherwise I would have crashed into a tree or a rock. Besides, the street lights were interfering with my vision. We completed our journey and got back to church at around 7am, having covered a total of 88km. I didn't have an odometer at the time so the distance traveled is from my friend's bike. The actual time cycling was perhaps around 4 hours, at least for myself. It took so long because we had to have water refills, food, rest and fellowship. It was fun. I managed 88km with only a Mars Bar, 1.5l of water and 500ml of H2O isotonic drink.

This was a pivotal moment because it was my first time cycling such a long distance, on the road. I never had any experience before and never dared to venture out to the roads. One fortunate thing happened during that ride - something could have gone wrong, but it didn't. I believe my crash at Kent Ridge caused the right pedal to crack. This crack finally gave way and the whole pedal split in half - it happened on 21st March, just a few days after the ride.

11th April was another big moment - I had been rendered immobilized without a right pedal, so I bought new pedals that Monday and also bought a cheap cycle-computer (also called an odometer or cyclo-meter), which allows me to track how much distance I've covered. It's not a Cateye brand, but rather is an Apex 2, from some strange brand.. but it works.

1st June 2005 Wednesday - First Ride

It was the June school holidays and I was rearing to get some rides on my bike. Timothy invited me to his house to watch Star Wars episodes 5 and 6, so I decided to cycle to his house. This was the first time I cycled such a distance on the main road, by myself. I started off at 6 am in the morning and cycled via Queenstown to his house which is at Bishan. My bike computer says 16km and I took... almost an hour to get there. It's not my fault really because the road were quite steep so it was actually quite tiring. Besides, there were some road works going on so I had to take some detours around HDBs. Got there at around 7. I had to go early to avoid the peak hour traffic and the sun. Cycled around, had breakfast at a coffee shop, and then cycled a total of 9 km around the estate until about 9 (Was quite boring actually), because Tim doesn't wake up so early.

I cycled back via a slightly different route via Holland Village. Total distance was 15km and I did in.. less than half an hour, making my average speed 30km/h+. It was a rather easy ride back as there were more downhills than uphills. Had to dodge some shattered glass on the road but I'm lucky I didn't get a flat. Managed almost 50km/h while on a slight downhill but my bike's gearing isn't suited for such speeds so the cadence was getting slightly too fast. I have to say that the weight of the bike was really a factor in the slow up-hill speed but the relatively faster downhill speeds.

The Ride

Regarding the ride, it's my most comfortable bike I've ever ridden. My friend (Ee Sin) once commented that this bike was very bouncy (It's not exactly that bouncy though). This is probably due to it's soft full-suspension. Unfortunately, due to this soft suspension, acceleration isn't tremendously good, and being so heavy (full steel frame), climbing up-hill is quite challenging. The fork also tends to bottom out but that doesn't happen very often at all. Downhill performance is actually quite good because it's heavy, which makes it stable, and allows great speeds to be attained (not to mention increasing the terminal velocity). My max speed I ever got on this bike is about 52km/hr according to my cyclecomputer. It soaks up road-vibrations quite well too.

4 - Cheap Steel Bicycle

The beginning

I got this bike on 1st April. I was hunting around for some cheap simple bike, and I saw an offer on the Hardwarezone forums. The price was cheap, so I made a deal. The guy lived at Boon Lay (near City Harvest Church) so I had to go there to collect the bike. He wasn't free till night time, so I left my house late and reached there at around 8:50pm, via a bus, an MRT and another bus (we met at City Harvest Church). Firstly, the bike was in worse condition than I had expected... the brakes were almost non-existent, the tires were quite flat, and the seat was terribly low. And worse, a bolt was used to hold the seat height in position, so it was not adjustable unless I had a wrench to loosen the bolt. Anyway, I cycled around the area and found a shop. I pleaded with the shop keeper to lend me a pair of pliers and a spanner but they totally refused. So I ended up having to spend $3.50 on a pair of pliers and a spanner otherwise I wouldn't get home in time. Second incidence of awful people in Singapore.

I had wanted to catch programme on discovery channel at 10pm that night, so I had to get home by 10pm. Anyway, after wasting about 15 mins, I finally adjusted the seat height, and using a map I printed out, found my way back to Boon Lay MRT (from City Harvest). It was quite straightforward actually. Once I got to Boon Lay MRT, I cycled beside the train track until I got to Jurong East MRT. Then I switched to the road away from the MRT. Referring to the helpful road signs, I took a risk and tried to find my way home. Cycling beside cars was ok, but it was actually quite scary cycling beside big trucks (esp if your bike is in such a bad condition). Anyway, I managed to pedal till I got to West Coast Park, which was good because I knew the way home from there.

There was this taxi which stopped in front of me, so I over took it, and when it came close, I pedaled like crazy so as not to let it over take me... and surprisingly, the taxi took perhaps more than 5 mins before it finally overtook me. I got home by 9:58pm, just in time to catch the programme on Earthquakes. The street directory says 12km if I draw a straight line between City Harvest and my house, so I reckon I cycled between 15 to 20km in around 40mins. Not too bad. And I did that with a lousy bike with no suspension, no brakes, no bell, no lights, and soft tires!

*Since then, I have purchased new brake pads (11th April), a new quick-release for the seat, and adjusted everything else. The brakes work a lot better now, and the bike is actually quite ok for cycling around.*

Frankly though, I haven't done much bike riding on this bike, and my longest one was my first, from City Harvest to my house.

The Bike Ride

The bike has a long top tube, which makes for a very stretched-out ride. Overall feel is quite good. Despite being made of steel, it isn't terribly heavy because the bike is very simple. The bike is generally quite stiff because it has no suspension, but the steel rims and frame do soak up a bit of the vibrations. One thing special about this bike is that it's terribly easy, for some reason, to cycle without hands. Of all the bikes I've had, this bike is the easiest to cycle without hands, and I can do turns etc very easily with this bike. The only problem I have with the bike is the less than ideal braking system, but at least it works.

5 - Norco Charger (model 2003)

The beginning

On the 25th June 2005 Saturday, I got my.. lovely black beauty - a lovely Norco Charger 03 model. It's a Cross Country (XC) race series hard-tail bike by Norco, a famous Canadian bike company. You can see the bike on their site here: http://www.norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/specs/charger.htm. I bought this bike because I decided that if I was going to ride more, I would need proper bike equipment, not a heavy steel departmental store bike. However, good bikes are expensive, so I decided to get a 2nd hand bike. I looked around and finally found a good deal on togoparts. Although the bike was 2 years old when I bought it, it was in good condition, and besides it was a good deal. The bike sold for originally over $1k, but I paid less than half the price for it.

I quote the website: "Black is back, baby, and if you're looking to rip up the race course and not get your tail feathers scorched when your wallet gets burned, check out the Charger. Give those skid marks on your credit card a chance to cool off and get in the fast lane to performance. Packed with features we used to keep only for the pros, the Charger ushers-in a new era for the performance hardtail. An in era in which fast and light does not mean crazy-expensive. With an all-new 7005 aluminum frame, Marzocchi EXR Comp fork and Deore parts from Shimano, black is beautiful... and fast.". In short, I was very happy with the bike. It's a rather big bike at 18.5", but I can still ride it, and it'll still fit me when I grow. When I got the new bike, I took off the light, bell and cyclo computer off my Aleoca Disgelo, and fixed it on my new bike. I also added a small compass on the handlebars and everything was good to go.

Here's how my Norco Charger looks like. One is from the Norco Website and the other is the actual bike taken at home.
Here are the specs of the bike, according to the website, and what is currently on my bike (rather, what my bike is made off):

The Bike Ride

Certainly, it's not the most comfortable bike, but it's the stiffest, and fastest bike I've ever ridden!

The frame geometry is very stiff (it being made of aluminum doesn't help in making it less stiff) but because of this stiffness, it's really suited for climbing. Acceleration is quick and the bike is generally responsive. The fork is slightly too stiff for my weight (it's an oversized bike remember), but I'd like to have it slightly softer. Speed is fantastic; my max speed ever attained was 60km/hr on a short downhill stretch on Telok Blangah hill. The drive train and generally the whole ride is silky smooth. The free-wheel is amazingly quiet, such that while cruising along, I heard the tires rolling on the asphalt instead of the freewheel. Bike frame is strong. I would definitely have preferred a smaller size (perhaps 17") but I guess at such a good price, you can't ask more more. The seat also isn't terribly comfortable, but it good enough. The disc brakes are wonderful.