If it's the same type of coolant (i.e. inorganic ethylene glycol premix of 2 different brands), it should be OK.

Problems start when u mix different coolants of different chemistries (i.e. inorganic ethylene glycol + organic propylene glycol such as OAT/HOAT coolants).

The colour of the coolant usually gives you an indication of the coolant chemistry.

You can check your manual to see what type of coolant chemistry is used for your bike. Mine specifically says to use only HOAT.

If ever in doubt, you can always do a full flush & refill. Coolant is relatively inexpensive & usually lasts 2 years before replacement is recommended.

Inorganic ethylene glycol coolants are traditionally green although nowadays they are also sometimes blue.

The organic propylene glycol types are often orange or red in colour. They may also be labelled as 'long life' coolants or 'dex cool' or something.

These two diff types of chemistries exist to suit the different metallurgies the manufacturers employ in their engines.

So if you got two different brands of ethylene glycol coolants mixed together, chances are it's OK.

If you mix the green/blue stuff with the orange/red stuff, that's when shit happens i.e. gel sludge & accelerated wear of the water pump, radiator & in the cooling passages of the engine block.

Actually the first time u apply for L after the JPJ computer test thru driving school, it's valid for 3 months.

When that expires before u get the actual B Full license, you pay RM40 at the post office to renew the L license for another 6 months. You can keep doing this for 2 years.

My wife just renewed her L license today since the driving school told her to piss off learn to ride a bike someplace else & come back in the distant future when she's already good.

Akademi Propandu

The one in Sg Buloh/Shah Alam.

They advertised their B Full package for RM850. When I went to pay & sign her up, they didn't say anything. When my wife attended the lecture prior to her L text, they started hinting that girls should take B2 first. During her first proper class we found out why - the course does not accommodate the time it takes for her to learn to use the clutch as it was strictly designed to teach students how to pass the JPJ test... not to teach students how to ride.

So the advice the instructor gave was for her to go home & find a way to learn how to ride a clutch bike first on her own, come back resume classes only when she's good at it.

That took me by surprise, because when I took my B Full licence yonks ago, I sure as hell never knew how to ride a clutch bike either (my only riding experience was stealing rides on my uncle's c70 in my kampong once in a blue moon) & the instructor did his best to teach me quickly. I passed first time out, so I never thought of it as a big deal at all.

Kind of got the feeling they blew her off because she's a female.

So it was clear to me the job of actually teaching my wife how to ride now fell on my shoulder. The driving school only exists out of formality only.

As it turned out, it didn't take her much time at all to be able to ride my D400. Now she's ready for the road on her L license.

Which shop is this? Very interested in the Road 6 series since it also comes in 19" front for adv touring bikes, but whether local shops will stock em in that size is another story...

Used the Road 4 before on my TNT600, very good tyres. I loike.

Lesen L your driving school will issue once u pass ur computer test. Valid 3 months.

You can renew for another 6 months at the post office.

Many malls won't allow you to bring a helmet with you openly inside the mall. Don't know why, maybe to discourage shoplifting.

The easiest way to get around this is to carry it inside a bag, even in the drawstring sack that typically comes with the helmet.

Me, I got a 59 liter top box to easily deal with both helmets when going to the mall with my wife.

B Full license requires you to pass on a clutch bike. No DCTs, no CVTs, manual gearboxes only.

"Progressive braking"

The idea is not to slam a fistful of front brake instantly. That's the recipe for a lowside.

Although all our bikes now have ABS, I still taught my wife to apply 0% to 100% brake pressure as quickly as she could count from 1 to 10. Never do 0% to 100% brake pressure in 1 or 2 counts. That's what I was taught at the trackside riding course in Sepang back in the day.

Maybe modern ABS helps when you grab a fistful of front brake, but I don't intend to find out.

Where I really do appreciate the ABS is when applying the rear brake. Under hard braking, you have to taper off the rear brake pressure as quickly as the weight transfering to the front, while progressively braking with the front brake. It's all too easy to retain too much rear brake pressure as the rear lightens up, causing rear wheel lock-up... so as a result I got by for so long not relying on the rear brake at all except for low speed maneuvers. ABS mitigates that problem quite a bit, encouraging me to use the rear brake once again with the front when braking (70% front 30% rear).

I wonder how much rasuah bike shops hv to pay PUSPAKOM to sell all those bikes with illegal exhausts.

Notice the advice presented here is for RACETRACK riding where you are fully committed to attacking corners on a perfect surface and with no surprises from your surroundings. As with other advice meant for the racetrack such as taking the racing line and apexing around corners, be aware that they may not always be appropriate out in traffic.

I taught my wife to keep her brake lever covered by her index & middle fingers as much as possible because it cuts reaction time when quick braking is required. Otherwise she must first move the 2 fingers out from under the brake lever, reposition them over the lever and then squeeze.

Then I noticed she developed another problem where she had the tendency to roll her wrist when squeezing the brake lever with her 2 fingers. This opens up the throttle when she brakes, with is dangerously self-defeating when you want to brake. This was because she controlled the throttle with the meat of her palm right under the 2 fingers and she tended to pull the brake lever by rotating her palm. The correction is to control the throttle and bar using the outside of her palm under the pinkie, which allows her to brake simply by closing her index and middle fingers to form a fist. To give her fingers a nice grip on the brake lever, she would naturally roll off the throttle.

If you suffer from pain in the wrists, be aware that your handlebar & controls can be adjusted by a certain amount. Depending on the handlebar type, they can be rotated a bit to suit you better. Same with the brake and clutch levers - usually there are 2 bolts under the wing mirrors that can be loosened to allow you to rotate the clutch and brake levers a bit so that you can operate them at a more comfortable wrist angle.

This can be due to a number of things:

1) Heavy clutch springs / hydraulics. Not much you can do here although there are aftermarket devices that increase the leverage to the bit where the clutch cable connects to the gearbox, which has the effect of lightening the clutch feel.

2) Too much reach in your left hand to pull the clutch, especially if you have small hands.

For (2), many bikes allow you to account for this by having some form of adjustment that lets you reduce the clutch span. If your bike doesn't have it, there are aftermarket levers that can add this function.

The throttle should be able to be operated without much resistance.

One time my wife complained about the strange feel in the operation of her throttle. Turns out, when the handguard was installed, the bar end screw was overtightened a little. This resulted in the bar end creating excessive friction against the throttle tube.

The official weight limitations are in the interest of manufacturer liability I think. I tend to use them as a guide, which means while I don't stick religiously to the weight limit I won't overload the top box either.

I have a Shad 59x mounted on the bike's factory rear rack which is as sturdy as it gets. As a result the manufacturer's weight limit set for it is 9kg, which is plenty for me. In fact, anything more will just make the bike feel top-heavy which I dislike.

My wife's 700 CL-X on the other hand uses an aftermarket rear rack. Having mounted it ourselves, we know it cannot handle a lot of weight (the mounting bolts that attach it to the rear subframe are thin and they go in horizontally, the ones on my Triumph are twice as thick and attach vertically). So she only carries lightweight stuff in the tailpack mounted on it.

Naah... free B2 means everybody will take it for granted & cincai to the max, esp the driving schools.

It has never been about the cost of taking a B2 license - it's the attitude and shit riding habits people propagate.

Yang mampu bayar kos lesen B2 tu pun bawa motor mcm anak gampang jugak...

Not really. I know all Triumph triples depend on a counterbalancer, in fact that hallmark whistling sound you hear is from the straight cut teeth of the counterbalancer gear.

The vibrations from the T-plane triple never bothered me. I had Barkbusters mounted since early on, coincidentally ppl say it eliminates the problem.

That said, I know a lot of people who were expecting the smoothness of the old engine were disappointed with the new one. But then, compared to my previous D400, it was still a bloody revelation!

Anybody went to the Malaysian Auto Show last weekend? Got to test ride the KTM 790 Adv, CFmoto 800MT, Benelli/QJ SRT800 and the Moto Morini X-cape 650.

The KTM 790 Adv was a surprise. The reason why KTMs were never part of my consideration set was the fact that their seat height tends to be too high for comfort to me. The 790 Adv on demo last weekend was low! I asked them what's the point of keeping the 790 when it has been superseded by the 890, they said KTM is continuing the production of the 790 and offering it with a lower seat height just for the Asian market. I really like the bike's low center of gravity. The only caveat is that the rear shock does not have a remote pre-load adjuster like the 890.

The 800MT was nice too, except the rear shock was already fucking knackered and the TPMS light was on. But the 790 Adv engine was really the star of the show on the 800MT.

This post has been edited by ZZR-Pilot: May 8 2023, 12:03 PM