Motorcycle Leather Jackets Sales Singapore

In recent months, I’ve seen more people considering taking up motorcycle riding lessons in response to the dismal Certificate of Entitlement (COE) situation for cars.

It’s a natural outcome, given that riding is always going to be a cheaper transport solution than cars, even though the motorcycle COE premium is now hitting new highs of over $4, 000 (nearly three times of what it was last year. UPDATE: And as of June 2015, it is over $6, 500).

But I’ve also heard many people express doubt and uncertainty, because motorcycling is seen as an undesirable and dangerous form of transport. I’m writing this to help shed light on some important things before you make the decision to go on two wheels.

You might think that my immediate answer to the question would be “Yes”. Actually, serious bikers focus so much on safety, that you should be asking “Am I able to commit to being safe on the roads if I want to ride a motorcycle?”. Many inexperienced bikers think that the Traffic Police is too preachy when it comes to road safety – well, you wouldn’t think that way if you know more about road riding.

If you are in your 30s and you aren’t already riding, you probably don’t know many bikers who can give you a balanced perspective on things. You’ll just be hearing advice from many non-riders who sometimes would like nothing better than for motorcyclists to be banned from the roads. I’m not a motorcycle guru, but I’ve do have 20 years of driving experience and 18 years of riding experience, so maybe you can believe me.

The biker community has a very weak voice in the public sphere – there simply aren’t as many prominent public figures or influencers who ride a motorcycle and can step on a podium to speak up for the community’s needs. That’s also why it’s difficult for motorcyclists to explain why we do what we do, and why Singapore can be increasingly inconvenient for bikers.

If you want to ride, you need to understand and accept the following

• There is widespread prejudice against all bikers, justified or otherwise
• Motorcycling is definitely high-risk
• You can mitigate risk but it is extremely inconvenient to do so
• You must develop great riding skills to survive the roads
• Family approval is mandatory

If you can’t do ALL of the above, please, do not ride and put yourself and other people in danger. What would really help the biking community in any country is having more responsible and skilled riders on the roads, and the sharing of motorcycling as a unique culture, not a disease.

(Update Oct 2015: I have created a new Ultimate Singapore Motorcycle FAQ that hopes to answer most of the questions you might have after you’re done with this piece. But please read on first.)

WIDESPREAD BIAS AGAINST BIKERS

Prejudice against motorcycles and bikers is not just in Singapore, but in many other countries as well. Over the past 50 years, the media and Hollywood have created stereotypes of motorcyclists as outlaws, rebels or angry anti-heroes. Think Easy Rider, Mad Max, Akira, Sons of Anarchy and so on. You won’t see Mary Poppins on a bike, will you?

In Singapore today, there seems to be outright disdain for bikers in certain quarters. The immediate reaction by parents to motorcycling as a transport choice is often met with derision or fear, and an outright “no”. Many will claim to know of someone’s son who got into a bad motorcycle accident, but you also don’t hear of people telling you of all the elderly bikers who seem to have been riding for decades without issues.

Those noisy, reckless “kup chais” that drive you crazy on the roads? Trust me, I hate them too. They give safe and sane bikers a really bad reputation. I shake my fist at them when I’m driving.

I’ll admit that until I was forced by National Service conscription in 1996 to learn how to ride a motorcycle in the army (as a recce trooper), I never even gave thought to riding – such is the widespread mentality towards motorcycling. You are 100% likely to face resistance from family and friends if you suggest you want to take up motorcycling, and you have to work to convince them of the safety precautions available out there (see below).

Increasingly, SG bikers find themselves shut out of shopping malls or commercial buildings that refuse entry to motorcycles. The Land Transport Authority spends an extraordinary effort going after not just performance modifications, but harmless cosmetic mods (eg. replacement of signal lights with smaller, but brighter LED lamps) on motorcycles, which has heavily impacted bike workshops.

The motorcycle COE has shot up from $1, 500+ to over $4, 000+ in the past few months as the LTA has restricted motorcycle COE quotas in the same manner as cars, even though the former currently does not cause congestion on the roads.

YES, IT IS HIGH RISK

This negative perception of bikers is reinforced by frequent media stories on motorcycle accidents, which unfortunately, do form 45% of fatal motor accidents according to official 2013 Traffic Police data.

The number of fatalities involving motorcyclists and their pillion riders fell by 5.3% from 76 persons in 2012 to 72 persons in 2013. Overall, we have also seen a decrease of 14.7% in the total number of riders and pillion riders casualties, from 4, 370 in 2012 to 3, 726 in 2013. The number of motorcyclists and pillion riders who died or were injured in accidents along expressways has also decreased from 1, 205 in 2012 to 1, 031 in 2013 (-14.4%), although the proportion of motorcyclists and pillion riders casualties along expressways remain fairly constant at an average of 27.8% over the past 3 years.

It’s grim to know that 1031 riders and pillion riders were injured last year. That’s an average of 2.8 injuries sustained on a motorcycle each day. The truth is motorcycling is a high-risk activity and you cannot sugar-coat this.

If you decide to ride, you have to be 100% responsible for your own safety. And no, you can’t blame other drivers or pedestrians if you get into an accident even if you weren’t the cause. A car may bolt out of the blue into your path, but you are required to take the necessary precautions and ride in the most paranoid manner possible to preserve your life and get home safe.

However, I find that it is the bad attitude and poor riding skills of many riders on our roads that are the real cause of their own accidents. They ride recklessly, refuse to wear protective gear, they don’t check blind spots, race through danger zones (eg. all traffic junctions) and they have no idea what the driver is able to perceive of the traffic situation.

As all experienced drivers will know, there are some key blind spots around a car that are really hard to check, but many riders don’t know about this nor do they care until it is too late. I still cannot believe it when I see small bikes trying to weave through small gaps between large trucks – the truck drivers really cannot see you and you are seconds away from becoming a meat sandwich.

SO WHY RIDE?

One can ride for many obvious reasons – cost and convenience being the top two. But those are the pragmatic reasons, bikers very quickly learn that riding offers a special type of freedom not available to drivers, commuters or pedestrians.