Sunday 27 January 2013

Review: Spy 2 Way Motorcycle Alarm

It has been a while since I last wrote, since that bone shattering crash. I am recovering well, rehabilitation is a painful experience, but seeing my progress, I would be back on the saddle really soon.

The week before my crash, my slip-on got stolen, and I went to get a new Akrapovic slip-on at HKL. At the same time, I also installed a motorcycle alarm. I was offered the Spy 2 Way Motorcycle Alarm.


The alarm system comes with 2 remotes, a speaker and a vibration sensor.


With the remote, you can arm and disarm the system. And if you wire it correctly, you can even remotely start your motorcycle. I asked the HKL mechanic not to wire it to remote start, and I was quite sure with the R6's immobilizer, it was not going to be just simply wiring it correctly.


The red round cylinder is the speaker and I put it in my passenger seat compartment. Initially I had the vibration sensor, the grey box looking thing, in the same compartment but after much testing, it was too far from the centre of the bike, and therefore it did not perform well. We finally shifted the sensor to under the rider seat, and set it to a very sensitive setting. So sensitive, that when we were talking beside my bike, the alarm started going off haha.

The remote vibrates and rings if your alarm goes off, but only if there are not too many obstacles in the way. I tried it at a distance of about 100 metres away and the signal was still strong, and of course there were no tall buildings blocking the signal.

All in all, it's not the best motorcycle alarm out there, but it's a good trade-off between function and affordability. It was slightly more than SGD$100, and that is a small price for deterrence.

If you're looking for an affordable motorcycle alarm, have a look at the Spy 2 Way Motorcycle Alarm.

Ride safe.

Sunday 6 January 2013

Track Highside

If you have been following the Facebook Page, you would know that I highsided at the track just before Christmas last year. The crash left me with a broken right radial head which needed 2 screws to hold the broken pieces together. The radial head is a complicated bone because it not only allows you to bend and extend your elbow, it also facilitates the rotation of your forearm. I had the surgery 2 days after the crash, and I just took the cast off last week. Needless to say, I have a long way to recovery.

So how did I crash? I can only blame it on a bad decision. I was about to enter turn one at Johor Circuit when the bike caught a false neutral. Instead of rolling to the gravel, I decided to take a wider line into the turn. HUGE mistake. The bike engaged into second gear mid-turn, throwing me over the handlebars. The proper thing to do was to either upshift or clutch in and coast to the gravel.

I've been on medical leave ever since the crash, and I am typing all these using only my left hand. I still can't rotate my injured arm far enough to hold a mouse or type on the keyboard. In my spare time, I made this video, entirely using my left arm. FYI, my left arm is my non-dominant arm.


Learn from my mistake. I don't know how long it will take before I can ride again, but I'll be back!

Ride safe.