Benelli Keeway TX200 Ride To Bukit Tinngi.

When on a ride to Bukit Tinggi. It was a Sunday morning, meeting up point is the same BPH fuel station immediately after the Karak Toll, 7.30 am. As it was a Sunday, the meeting point was a bit crowed. High powered cars, motorbikes & even bicycle. There were at least 10 groups of motorbikes. Couldn't manage to take some photos as my buddy arrived and was already waiting for me. Striaght to Karak for Dim Sum breakfast.

Riding to Karak was at a leisure pace, long up & down hill curve. Traffic was light in the morning except for some high powered sports car, a couple of Porsche Panamera whooshing by. There were quite a numbers of bikes too, mostly racing bikes. Was only traveling at 100 m/h as my buddy shall wait for me at the Karak exit. On the up hill curve, over taking, had to kick down up to 2 gears down. Up hill climb wasn't too taxing as was riding at a leisure mode and with the morning cool air, was rather enjoyable.

Saw some farms coming up at Janda Baik. I guess this could be a good location for high value farming as it's rather close to the city. Also there are lots of weekend tourist here.

There were quite a numbers of Dim Sum shop in Karak. It had been ages since I came here. I guess it's being by-passed by the highway. 2 more buddy joined us, both Kawasakis, a ZX 6-R and a Z800. As usual, had a long chat on bikes, ridding buddies, riding adventure & etc.

After the long chat, we fueled up at Karak, our 2 buddies went off. We continued our ride to Bukit Tinggi. I find that there are lots of section of the highway which is not smooth and with traces of oil.

Right up to Bukit Tinggi was fun as there were practically no traffic. There were also minimum bumps, unlike Genting. There were only 1 curve that has traces of sand. Entrance fee was $12.00 per person.

Our first stop was Japanese Village.

Second stop is the French Village.

As we were still full with the morning's Dim Sum, decided to meet up at McDonald's Genting Sampah on our way back.

Had a light snack and another chat about today's adventure.

Called it a day at about 2.00 pm. Made our farewell and parted our ways. Riding back was down hill and was rather hot. I tried 120 km/h, but didn't like it as the vibration was higher. More comfortable with 100 ~ 110 km/h. Need to arrange my bike for a service before the next ride.

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.