Motorbike: Upside and Downside

Good evening, everyone! Tonight I am looking at the fact that I just return home after a pleasant dinner with my friend in a completely soggy outfits. I was initially sort of taking him to dinner and on the road out of nowhere, the rain started to pour heavily and since we only drove for a not quite far distance, we decided not to pull over and wait until the rain to stop. Obviously, we had to drive under the shimmering, freezing drizzle and after we arrived, I believe that it had given us a painful look not far from a Czechoslovakian civil war victim of the mid nineteenth century. (Frightfully sorry, mate! Couldn’t do anything about it…) Anyway, what I want to point out is, I am living in a developing country where the sales number of motorbikes has been staggeringly increasing every year. The approximation sales value of year 2008 was even predicted to be able to outnumber a whopping 5 million units of motorbikes and the figure mind you, is actually nearly 10 times more than the sales number of cars in the whole country! I was absolutely stunned by the fact as I was looking for a statistic data to support my arguments for this note. I am actually a motorbike driver and therefore, I would like to point out several positive points, as well as the negative ones, of having a motorbike. Moreover, this note is especially dedicated to those who currently has a motorbike and at the same time, planning for replacing his bike with a car in the future.

In case anyone is interested, may I first introduce the bike which I have used for almost three years, the 2006 Yamaha Nouvo Z. It is presumably a good bike for several reasons: it is automatic which I suppose is fairly easy and simple to drive, though it is only equipped with 1 cylinder 4 strokes 115 cc engine which developed a pathetic 8.9 break horse power. There must be consequences on having an automatic transmission and yes, it has a painfully slow acceleration thanks to its CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) gearbox; the Z is also a slightly fatter bike compare to other contenders in its class. Apart from being heavier, a bigger size also means an upside of course: it has a big boot for a full size helmet with additional storage on front compartment, which means it is quite practical; it has a massive size of fuel tank (approximately 4.8l tank) and that means it has a good driving range before you drive into the next filling station; it also has a wide and comfortable seat for two people; Lastly, it has an acceptably high ground clearance and I once proved it during the rainy season: my bike still able to be driven in a quite deep flooded road even it was dying to stay on, meanwhile other bikes should have been dead because of a lower air intake position. I like the Z and despite its downsides, it is still my favorite one. After more than two years of usage, thought of selling it had never crossed my mind even though several scratches, cracks and holes can be easily found around the bike body. It had been crashed to a bicycle and countless other motorbikes by me; crashed to the road pavement by a fellow friend of mine who appeared had no bike driving experience at all and the steering column is tragically bended afterwards; crossed a thickly muddy off-road course and an estate construction site; had a stall for twice after facing an excessively high flood; exposed under steaming hot sun and freezing cold rain throughout the years; meanwhile potholes and bumpy roads has been its daily menu for the last about.. Well, about its whole lifetime actually.

"Even my English teacher sometimes fancies for an ojek coming to the university."

I don’t know whether people are aware about the fact that bikes are widely used in this country for a very various functions, such as people carrier, goods or even poultry transporter and of course.. ojek. Sorry for my language, but I couldn’t find its translation in online Cambridge and Oxford dictionary, maybe anyone mind correcting me. Well, I could understand why people love the bikes so much and that is mainly because they are cheap to run. People who had motorbikes pay a much lower tax to the government every year than a car and it use only a surprisingly small amount of fuel. When they broke down in front of your house or even on the side of the road, you could immediately find a workshop specializing in various brands and types of bikes. What’s more? The spare parts and service cost are also cheaper than other transportation devices which are equipped with engine. There is also a room for creativity for those who enjoy modifying their bikes since thousands of modification parts from ostentatiously designed wheels to annoyingly noisy mufflers can be easily found in automotive stores or even on-line. The last upside is of course people could reach their destination faster than cars which stuck in a bloody traffic jam, since bikes could sneak through them which cars unfortunately just can’t. Even my English teacher sometimes fancies for an ojek coming to the university. Don’t know why, but I just suppose because it is fast and cheap. Apart from these reasons, I couldn’t find another reason of why would people buy a motorbike instead of a car.

Still, riding a bike is not the ideal transportation solution for a city with dreadful traffic jams like Jakarta. Death traps for those who are inexperienced can be found almost everywhere and I am not joking, most of them at least ended up with fatal accidents and countless severely wounded casualties. Additionally, you would face a massive discomfort at anytime you ride a bike. On a sunny day, the heat inside the helmet could steam the brain up and what’s worse, most helmets sold in the market have no special feature to protect the eyes from the unsafe UV sunlight which is reflected from the helmet’s windshield. A long term of driving without proper protection against this harmful effect could render the fitness of the eyes or even result in hideous eyes infection. Sadly, things don’t go any better if you ride a bike on rainy season since you would face the biggest enemy of most motorcyclists: the weather. Driving under a heavily pouring rain is factually more risky than during on a dry road. When I ride my bike under such condition, I couldn’t care less about people who cross the road suddenly or some other cars clip on my lane, I am more worried about the potholes or flooded road and it is actually for a very good reason too. When you hit a hole with a car on high speed, you could just drive on safely and no body is killed. Even if the hole is so big that it damaged the wheels or tires, you just drive the car into a workshop and have a new set of tires replaced. Meanwhile when you hit a hole with a bike on high speed as well, it is possible that you lose the balance, front wheel starts to wobble tremendously, you can’t control the bike direction anymore and you fell, and then you might by any chance be run over by a five tons lorry truck. End of story.

In conclusion, I would recommend people to buy a car instead of a motorbike, since motorbikes are frequently the raison d'être of chaotic traffic jams. I fancy the cars very much more than motorbikes and I obviously don’t want to ride a motorbike for the whole of my life. God forbid! However, I still do not want to sell my bike. I even think that people back in several hundred years ago had harnessed a great ingenuity and managed to channel their ideas into one of world’s greatest inventions that will never extinct, partly because for me most journeys on it carry a distinctive, pleasant feel which is strangely indescribable and cars will never resemble that odd feeling in any ways, not even slightly.