HOW TO : UNDERSTANDING MOTORCYCLE RAKE AND TRAIL

            Spec charts sometimes quote rake and trail numbers for a motorcycle chassis, but what does this mean? If you ask, you feel like you’re getting sent on some sort of snipe hunt. Not to worry, I am here to share knowledge. And the concepts, while abstract, make perfect sense when you see them.

         Rake (also called caster) is the angle of a motorcycle’s steering head of the frame (A). Choppers have a lot of rake—their forks stick way out in front. Super bikes have much less astheir forks are closer to vertical. A typical sportbike might have a rake as steep as 25 degrees, while a chopper may be closer to 45 degrees. A touring bike is typically at around 29 degrees and a cruiser at 32.

        More rake does two things: one, it makes the wheelbase longer, and two, it generally increases a motorcycle’s trail.

          Trail (B) is measured in distance (inches or millimeters) between the point of the front wheel’s contact with the ground and a line drawn through the axis of the steering head.

         Under normal operation, this contact point is always some distance behind the projected line: somewhere between 2 and 4 inches (5–10 cm). Think of it as how far the contact patch trails behind the steering axis. Too much trail makes a motorcycle difficult to turn; too little makes it unstable.

        Comparing the rake and trail numbers for different motorcycles may give you some idea of how they’re going to handle, even if you’ve never ridden them.

("Good luck maintaining your own bike" well, she said that.)

Pray 4 Sabah

On 5th of June 2015, a sudden earthquake with power of 5.9 richter magnitude scale at Ranau, Sabah. And the earthquake impact can be feel around Sabah. Even some areas at Miri, Sarawak can feel it to, even it is not strong as impact at Ranau.

       Until today (12 June 2015), it was confirmed that 18 people dead during this earthquake. 4 of them are considered as Sabahan's Heroes for the sacrifice for tourists's life. Now they are hero icon for Sabah, and Malaysia.

      After few days, a lot of motorcycle and car group doing they charity run. So this is their photos during the ride of charity.

(credit goes to: On Call Bikers for this ride)

HOW TO: Chain Service

      Hello there. Being busy? Did you have time to DIY service you super bike chain? No matter how busy you are, make sure you have time to do the maintenance for your bike. Some of the maintenance can you it by yourself. Today I share with you, how to maintain

1. Chains have a number of advantages: They are versatile, fairly tough, relatively light weight and relatively cheap—at least where the run-of-the-mill consumer varieties of chain are concerned. They also have a number of disadvantages including the need for grease-gob sloppy frequent maintenance. Yes, the joys of metallic final drive chains can be swamped by having to deal with gunk slung off the chain onto anything in range, the frequency of cleaning, and lubrication requirements and the mess of having to carry out those requirements. There is no perfect way to carry out the clean and lube process without having some grime and mess to go along with it, but I’ve had some of the best and easiest results using a tooth brush.
   
   
   
   
   
2. The beauty of using a toothbrush is that it minimizes lubricant product waste by getting nearly all the lubricant on the chain with very little lost to drip-off or overspray, and it also does a lot for loosening up caked on crud to help keep the chain clean. Minimizing overspray keeps the gunk off your rear tire, rim, frame, and with a little luck, you. Here’s the approach: If the bike has a centerstand, set it up on that, put down a piece of cardboard or newspapers under the chain, have an old towel handy, your chain lube of choice and a toothbrush.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Spray (or otherwise apply) the lubricant to the brush and give the top and bottom roller surfaces and sideplates a good scrubbing with the brush. That will loosen grit and grime and then, when you have the crud looking fairly liquefied, take the towel or rag and clean the residue off the chain until you’re back down to bare metal. You may prefer to use a separate chain cleaner instead of the lubricant as a first-step cleaning agent—that will work as well. I prefer to use the lubricant as a cleaner/liquefier of the caked on gunk and grit because it eliminates the possibility of any chemical incompatibility between the cleaner and lubricant. It also prevents there being any chance of the cleaner itself adversely affecting the 0 or X rings in the chain. Always check manufacturer’s recommendations on what to use to clean and lubricate the chain on your bike as well as the mileage intervals for doing it. Clean, lube and adjust the chain more often in hard use or off-road, sandy, dusty, muddy riding conditions.
   
   
   
   
   
4. It’s a good idea to get some rubber, nitrile or vinyl gloves for doing this because some of the grime will get on your hands. Depending on your lubricant chain cleaner of choice, you could have a skin or even more serious allergic reaction. Also, if you have ever reacted to the kind of vinyl used in gloves, keep that in mind in picking those out as an allergic reaction to that can be serious as well. After the chain is good and clean, repeat the process on the cleaned chain, applying a liberal coating of the lubricant to the chain on top and bottom roller surfaces and side plates. This is another advantage of using a toothbrush to clean and lubricate. If you can find a reasonably good access point to the chain, you will be able to do justice to all four sides of the chain, which you may not be able to do very easily if you simply try to spray the lube on. Keep at it until you have a clean, totally lubricated drive chain.
   
   
   
   
   
5. While you’re at it, this is a perfect time to check the chain tension at various points and, if necessary, adjust it. Also, inspect the chain and sprockets for wear, damage, loose side plates, cracked rollers and so on. It’s much easier to spot the potential for chain failure and prevent it by replacing the chain and sprockets now than having a chain failure 300 miles from home in the middle of nowhere.

      Looks lot of easier right? Remember, your super bike need your attentions too. So once you done your time with her, you can ride her everyway you like. Just remember. Ride safe, have fun and give that hard-working, taken for granted drive chain some attention once in a while!

(This girl manages to maintaining her bike. Do you? Ops, its Megan Fox)

Kaamatan Ride 2015

      This is not really officially Kaamatan Ride. Sorry to disappoint.But the date is 30 of May 2015, is Kaamatan Day so well, it's close to Kaamatan anyway. Kaamatan is a celebration day at Sabah.

      And during this Kaamatan, they ride and the place is Mesilau. Snake Biker Sabah take a ride to Mesilau. Mesilau is located at Ranau District. Officially, Mesilau is restricted as Federal Nature Site. There is not much info here but let's make the photo do the talk.'

(My dad joins this Ride with his Skyline)

With motard rider~

When they reach the destination~

(FZ 150i, Motard, DZM 200 and Skyline bike seen together in this Ride)

At the entrance~

(Another Skyline Rider)

SO here they are, safely came to this beautiful place. Only in Sabah)

And its time to leave. Everyone safely back home that day without any unwanted scene. So lets hope there will be a lot of this kind of ride again.

    But again, sorry for the late post. I was in the Kaamatan mode I guess. Hahaha. So see you in next ride. Be safe, be happy.