Honda Zoomer X 110 PGM FI

Honda Zoomer X 110.
A very rugged bike. Specification looks great. 110 cc PGM FI. Up side down fork. 3 pots disc brakes. The list goes on. Rented 1 for 2 days in Aonang, Krabi. As it's not the peak season, manage to negotiate from 300 down to 250 Baths.

I went to the gasoline station at Aonang but missed it due to development. Had to turn back & fort to locate it. Not used to filling point at the floor board. It's kind of awkward.

The Zoomer was a great bike. Did  number of trips from Aonang to Krabi. Handling was easy. Bike was smooth & gentle. Race the throttle and the bike pick up speed with an urgency but no jerks. The CVT transmission is perfectly matched to the engine. The front & rear brakes are good and gives a confident feel. Does a great job stopping from 90 km/h. Do not need much orientation for this bike. Vibration was minimal at 90 km/h. It's a great bike. Seat were wider and have more support even for longer trips. My wife even gave a thumbs up riding pillion for this bike. It's definitely a fun bike, which makes me relook into scooter. Was all in on the styling & concept. It's a beauty from any angle.

The only set back was that with 2 up, the rear suspension bottoms up and gave a bump sound.

Will definitely check this out if it's launched in Malaysia.
Other interesting bikes in Krabi.

Yamaha TTX 115i Ride.

Yamaha TTX 115i.
This bike is available in Thailand, but not Malaysia. Had an opportunity to ride it for 3 days in Koh Lanta. Bike was rented for 750 Baths for 3 days.

Kantiang Bay.

Specification is attractive for a scooter.
114 cm3 with fuel injection, giving 5.70KW@8500r/min and a torque of 8.70Nm@5000r/min. This should be adequate for a  leisure ride with 2 up on a small island.

First thing first, fuel up. Since am using for a couple of days, it's much cheaper to fuel up at a proper station, rather than those selling by the bottles. 130 Baths as there were some fuel in the tank.

Pic taken from Tigersachclub.

I choose the TTX based on it's styling. It looks Macho / adventurousness. Also ease of riding / handling.

The Houben.

As were staying at the southern part of Koh Lanta, The Houben, we started with a ride to the southern tip. Road was windy as it's village roads. First stop was Kantian Bay.

Cliff by Kantian Bay.

Kantian Beach.

We then proceed further south. Came across lots of monkeys and wild fig trees near the Mo Koh Lanta National Park.

Wild Figs

First day ride was a slow one as am not similar with the bike & road. Was a bit doubtful going off road to the beach on a very steep incline, still we made it with a bit of keeping the momentum and with 2 up. I would guess it has a gradient of more the 20%. Going down this slope was also a bit problem as there is no engine breaking (CV gearbox). The rear drum brake, cable operated was extremely stiff & hard, not much breaking power. Front disc brake is good, but then can over break on down slope (off road, cement road). Others were pushing up (no rider, Mat Salleh) the slope.

Afternoon we traveled north, then east to cross the width of the island, to Old Town on the Eastern side. As we were going down the cliff of the Eastern shore, the bike felt rather funny on uneven roads and corner. Was thinking maybe we don't have enough air pressure as I didn't check the tires. We missed Old Lanta Town, over shot and ended up in Koh Keh.

Handsome cat at Saladan.

We did see a sign, Old Town 6, then Old town 5, which I got confuse, thinking it was 6 KM till Old town, then 5 km to old town. In fact it was it was Old Town Road 6 & 5.

Meter gauge of Yamaha TTX. The frog was hitching a ride.

We stopped at Kok Keh for lunch, as it's the last village. Check on the rear tire, it was almost flat. Skipped lunch, check with the locals with sign language where to get it fix. Most of them pointed to where we come from. Manage to speak to a lady (young lady) and explianed to me that we have to go back to Old Town for the nearest fix. We rode with our weight close to the front. We reached the Kon Lanta Hospital and there is no more air in the tire. Had to leave my wify there and proceed
ed alone. 7 km down the road, which is a very long ride, with 3 stop to asked for direction, I reached Old town. Got the flat fixed for 40 bath. There are also a couple of bikes having flats. I am very impressed the the rim & tire is still good even running flat. Just a patch took care of it. Filled up the pressure, hit it with a spanner to gauge the pressure and declared it's good to go.

Rode back to the Hospital to look for my wife. OMG, could not find her there. Decided to ride back to Old Town. Finally saw her flagging me down a few kilometers down the road. She was trying to hitch a ride but no one stopped for her. She did flag me on my way up, but I didn't noticed.

Since we were there and I already now where old town is, we went there to so some shopping. Old town were set up by mostly Chao Lay (sea gypsies), Muslim communities from the south and the came the arrival of Chinese.

The Pirate's Den.

Chinese Shrine in the town center.

The Old Town now is predominantly occupied by Thai Chinese families. Bought some bags and cloths. Prices were very much cheaper here. Bought 3 pieces of mango (medium/large) for 270 baths. It was the sweetest mango I ever tasted, fiber-less and almost no seeds.

Lotus in Old Town. Most of the population love planting in Old Town.

Day 2, check out both the tires before we ride. Fuel gauge was a bit low. Filled up again at the gasoline station. Oophs no air pump. Rode further down. Did some off road to the the International Mediatation Center which has to pass through a palm oil estate. The roads was gravel with lots of small stones. Scooter being on a small wheels, I just keep the momentum, no sudden start / stop or change of direction. It was rather difficult as the throttle wasn't responsive. I just can't get it right. It was either too much or too little. Too much cause it to jerk. Too little cause it to stop almost immediately (rolling). After w got back on road, I tried to play with the throttle and find that it's with the bike (either no maintained properly). Made another stop at Klong Khong Beach, The Lanta Animal Welfare Center. Went to the Cat House to play with the cats. Erh still couldn't find a gasoline station with an air pump. Check on the front tire, it's still holding, just a bit low on pressure. Rode all the way to Saladan. Stopped for some shopping & massage. Finally I stopped by a motorbike repair shop and request them to fill up the front tire.

Sandy @ Old Town. Foxy is at lower left cornier catching flies.

Day 3, a long ride. Morning we rode all the way to Saladan. Had a massage at Serenity. It was great, better then the 1 we had yesterday. Serenity has a relaxing area at the rear of their shop. It's a must visit. Had tea & fruits there. Afternoon we rode all the way to Old Town. Stopped at Sandy @ Old town. Sandy has 2 very unique dogs. Foxy whom is always busy catching flies. Smiley has a punky fur.

After having the bike for 3 days, my view is that this bike is a great short / leisure commuter. Good for heading out to the market or sundry shop or do some take-away. On longer distance, the vibration kicks in. Even when I kept it at 60 ~ 70 km/h. On the rear, the foot rest is too small. Seat is not made for comfort (longer distance). Being a scooter, it's easy to ride & park.

Have Bike Shall Travel.

My interest in motorcycle had been with me since my younger days. Maybe I was watching too much movies and subscribed to the American dream of ridding off to the sunset.

My dream bike.

During my younger days, I had owned bikes like Suzuki TS 100 and that was during my schooling days.

Pic source from BikePics.com. This is the exact model that I had owned.

My next bike was a Yamaha RXK 135. This was during my college days.

Pic source from ChaosAds. This is the exact model that I had owned.

I then graduated to a bigger bike a Suzuki GS500. My bike was a red color one. I bought this bike as there was a promotion going on and it was within my budget. That was when I got my B Full license.

After this Suzuki GS 500, there was a very long lapse as I had graduated to cars. It was back in 2010 that I had time to ride again. Went on a trip to Sabah with a friend and we rented 2 bikes from Go go Sabah

These were the Kawasaki KLX 150. We spent close to a week on these bikes and tour the northern part of Sabah. After this trip the bug really got to me and I went to Thailand to ride. I flew in and rented bikes in places like Chiang Mai, Krabi & Phuket. As those are rented bikes, I got to test quite a number of bikes. There was one time in Chiang Mai that I change a bike every two days. It was fun. Roads in Northern Thailand were fantastic. 

Some of the smaller bikes that I had rented.

Had tested scooters, kapchai, sport bikes and motards.
I had always like naked bikes, I prefer these as the engine can be view easily, which is the heart of the bike. As I had the ambition of going touring, I plan to acquire a bike that is durable and affordable and most probably not more than 750 cc. I started to look into bikes like Kawasaki Versys 650, Kawasaki ER650-N and Aprilia Shiver. I then hope to start saving for a bike. Then reality check in, I can't afford any of these yet, even on a used unit. I then down graded to look into lower end models and still it's not within my present budget.

I then worked the other way, work from my budget. I am only willing to spend about 6K at the moment. With a limited budget I can only go for a used unit. In order to maximize my budget and I prefer higher cc bikes over kachais. I shortlisted the 200 cc range. I then decided on the motard version as my intermediate plan is to use this bike here in Peninsular then ship this bike over to Sabah, to complete my tour of Sabah. I think I can also put on off road tires and travel the whole of Sabah even on the un-paved roads. I may then do a trip to Brunei & Sarawak.

Was searching via Mudah.com, one of my favorite website and found a Keeway Benelli TX 200. Was contemplating over the Keeway Benelli TX 200 and the Keeway Benelli RKV 200. It's a used unit, 6 months old. The owner Andy had done up the bike. I then found the blog of the owner as I was searching for review of this model in Malaysia and there was really little. Since the owner is a biker & a blogger I immediately decided to get this bike. I like most of the mod done by Andy. The mod liked most is The LeoVince Cobra. The mod the I like least is the rear box. I shall most probably do more mods to it. I would like to install LED spot light, brighter for night & foggy traveling in Sabah, hydraulic clutch set, to replace the cable type, improve the suspension, a set of off road rims & tires. 

What I've Bought.
Keeway Benelli TX 200.
Download TX 200 digital brochure.

We met up at the Wangsa Maju JPJ and the transfer went on smoothly. Cost was $6 K for the bike,$349 for a year of insurance (insured for 6K) and $3 for the transfer. Total $6, 352.00. We then went over to collect the bike.

The Bike before collection.

Bike is parked in a covered car park. We did a quick check over the bike. The Pirrelli tires are still pretty new.

Heavy rain at Jalan Cheras.

Decided to park at the covered walk way as the initial stop under the overhead bridge is rather dangerous.

On the way home, it started to rain, I pressed on but unfortunately I couldn't make it home. I reached Jalan Cheras, Badminton Court and couldn't carry on. Stopped at the overhead bridge. After which I feel that it was too dangerous. I moved further up to the covered walk way and waited. Aftet more than 20 minutes and the rain got lighter, I moved on as it's just about 3 Km more. I reach home totally wet. I only realized that with a high front mud guard, water splash is tremendous over the lower part.

As I'm leaving to my farm in a couple of days, shall leave it here until my next visit end November. Already looking forward to it. Once my wife's health had been restored, I shall start on a short trip. So excited over this. It's like receiving an early birthday present.