The Social or Fun Ride

Does social ride helps you to have the confidence to take the streets?

The more you ride on the road, the more confidence you become. You will understand the challenges and dangers of commuting on the road as well as how traffic responds to cyclists. Personally, I feel that all those social rides with the marshals and police escort will not help much for you to gain the confidence when you are riding alone on the road.

Yes, I could agree on the security point on view. However, during social rides with marshals and police escort around, with all the roads closed, we tend to enjoy more on the ride rather than thinking much about learning to negotiate with traffic. Social rides for recreational purposes are not meant to educate so much about road safety. It’s just, we wanna have fun thingy.

How about social rides without all those helps? The group rides organized by those informal groups and clubs. As far as I know, all those rides are meant for sports and recreational purposes. It focuses more on performances and burning fats rather than on road safety. Yeah, maybe it might help in a small way but personally I think we need something more formal to teach people on how to ride safe on the road. We need a classroom sessions like the one when we are getting our driving license. We need practical trainings in a simulation situation. Remember long time ago we had the Shell Road Safety Contest?

When we have social ride with all those escort, we tend to send the message to other road users, Hey...look… it's fun to ride a bike, so come and join us! NOT so much to tell them, Hey...look…we are part of traffic, so do respect us when we cycle alone...yea. The problem here is we are marketing cycling as a sport and recreation thingy. Not so much as an alternative need transportation.

Will the cyclists clad in lycra clothing really earn the respect of other road users? Actually there is no need to. Just wear your daily clothes when you cycle. To earn the respect of motorists here, when we ride alone, we need to send the message that… Hey...I ride because I choose to ride not because I don't have a choice like the migrant workers. It will take time to change that kind of perception, and the way to do that is by marketing bicycle as an alternative need transportation.


Riding as a transport

Bicycle for transportation purposes

I was being asked recently during a radio interview (BFM 89.9 fm) what would be the suitable bike for commuting to work? Well, it can be any bike. You can go for road bike, mountain bike, folding bike, City bike, Mini bike, Fixed Gear bike, etc. It all depends on your preference and situation. The most important thing is you need to enjoy your ride with the bike. Or else in no time, you will quit riding! From my observation, most of us bought a bike that is not practical for commuting and utility purposes. What being sold in the market was mainly focusing on cycling as a sport or leisure. You need to establish your scenario so that you can select the suitable bike.

There are a few simple rules that you need to observe:

1. Safe Parking
If you need a bike that you can safely parked without worrying much, then you should consider buying used bike. I would highly recommend steel bike e.g the old Lerun diamond shape steel bike. As long as you don't find any major fault like cracked frame, or required extensive repair, the bike would be good for your commuting purpose. You could also consider buying Japanese recondition bike. A folding bike is another good option as you can carry it wherever you go.

2. Ability to hold luggage

If you do not want to burden your shoulder with backpack or with messenger bag, then you should consider fixing basket on your handle bar or a rear carrier. A Japanese recondition bike is the best for this purpose. Most of the old steel bike also have the braze-ons for you to fix the carrier and basket.

3. Riding position

If you prefer an upright riding position which is more relax and would be willing to go for slower speed, then a Japanese recondition bike or folding bike would be a good option. A steel mountain bike riding position is normally slightly forward, so you could go faster.

What would be my pick?

If you need a practical bike for commuting and utility use, I personally favour the used steel diamond shape mountain bike (Lerun or other reputable brand). It is an excellent multipurpose bike. Throw in a rack and panniers, and it can become a very reliable touring bike. Try to look around at the junkyard, your neighborhood for grounded bike, or at your local bike shop. If you are lucky enough you could get a brand new old stock Lerun for a very good bargain price. Make sure it's the older generation if it's Lerun bike. The new generation is not so good. Do minimum repairs to bring it back to life. Try it out for a few rides to see whether it suits you or not. If the components is still in acceptable conditions, then just leave it as it is, till it really worn out.

The Japanese recondition bike is also a good option. Even though it's a used bike, it's built is very sturdy as it's meant for day to day use. It it much more durable compared to the cheap bike being sold in market that are of comparable price as the latter bike is normally fitted with low quality materials and components. The price range of the Japanese recondition bike would be between RM 200 - RM450 depending on the design and components fitted to the bike.

Folding bike is also a great option because of it's ability to fold. It is allowed in the LRT. I would recommend either 16" or 20" model. The biggest advantage of folding bike is the ability to integrate your commute into alternative transport. Since you can fold the bike and carry it with you, it is virtually thief-proof.

If you don't carry much stuff and prefer to carry it on your shoulder, then you could opt for fixed gear bike or fixie. A reasonable quality and nice looking fixed bike is normally around RM500-RM800.

Choose the bike that fit into your scenario and start replacing all those driving trips to riding your bike.

Cycling for Stomach

Some Cycle as Passion, Some for fun, Some for Sports, Some to Commute & Some because they don't have any other alternative. They need to push it hard empty Stomach & do peddling for there family's Stomach. They are people around us, serving us for different services, directly or indirectly using Cycle. They are never considered as environment friendly even they never burnt a single drop of petrol/ diesel to commute. They are Part of our cycling community. Cycling is Hobby of Rich & Art of Poor. The tough art, they need to perform always, sometime under encroaching sun, heavy rain & chilling cold only on Cycle. Lets meet People for whom Cycling is a Weapon for Struggle of life. By pankajsisodiya YouTube user.

Even though the video were about the people in India, but it's still very much the same for some Malaysians especially in the smaller town.

Putrajaya Critical Mass - 25 March 2011

Ok people and cyclists! We're good to go this month.

Date: Friday, 25 March 2011
Venue: Palace of Justice, Putrajaya
Meet time: 9.00pm
Rollin': 9.30pm



Remember to bring your helmets, lights and definitely bikes!

Please park at the designated area - Parking lot next to the Palace of Justice.
It will fit your lorries, backhoes, trailers, double-decker busses, trains and planes.
DO NOT park at the right front side of P.O.J. Your vehicle WILL BE towed away.

Be there or be freakin' square!

Putrajaya Critical Mass - 25 February 2011

Poster by our affiliated clan: Haitsan KNR

Darko's ride...

When you thought there's no more PCM, we're back to give you more (check next month surprise collaboration)!
And when we thought last month we're running dry on cyclists, you guys supported us 70 people strong! That's all about PCM bros, supporting each other for passion of cycling. I know the pic above has no relations whatsoever with what we're writing here. Who cares we love chicks on bikes. Say what?

So the show must go on, guys! This month's ride gonna be awesome and better than the last!

Date: Friday, 25 February 2011
Venue: Palace of Justice, Putrajaya
Meet time: 9.00pm
Rollin': 9.30pm




Remember to bring your helmets, lights and definitely bikes!

Please park at the designated area - Parking lot next to the Palace of Justice.
It will fit your lorries, backhoes, trailers, double-decker busses, trains and planes.
DO NOT park at the right front side of P.O.J. Your vehicle WILL BE towed away.

Be there or be freakin' square!

Flyer designed by Haitsan of Keliwon Night Ride. One of the few members who dares to night cycling in Putrajaya. Muahahahahhahahahahha!