Category: Motorbikes

Ok, I still don’t have my riding license yet and I know I haven’t even ridden my bike yet but already I am dreaming of my next bike, the Ducati 749. I was at TriStar yesterday and I saw a black one and it was really really really cool. It was matt black so it looked really aggressive and the front end is just super sick. The bike reminds me of Airwolf for some reason. The price was around KD4,700 but they would probably drop it to KD4,500.

Whats cool about bikes is that for KD5,000 you could get something really amazing but if you were buying a car you would end up with some low end shit like my Wrangler. Anyway everytime I pass by the dealership I fall in love with a different bike. Its crazy, now I understand why Brad Pitt has so many bikes, he probably buys one everytime he visits the dealership.

I just came back from riding my bike around Salmiya. What a big difference from last week. Last week it felt the bike was in control while this week I was in control.

My ride tonight was really fun and I didn’t want to come back home. I took the bike for a cruise around old Salmiya and then got onto Amman Street where there was a hand full of cars for me to maneuver around, I wanted to get a feel of riding around cars and I managed to do a bit of that. I then drove back and fort around my neighborhood a few times but then decided to come back home. I didn’t want to but I don’t have my license yet and didn’t want to get stopped by a cop which I doubt would have happened since it was around 6:15PM and the streets were nearly empty.

Surprisingly the biggest challenge for me tonight was getting used to the different seating position. The bike I have been riding all week in my lessons is a lot taller and the seating position is more upright, my Ducati on the other hand is much more lower and the seating position is tilted to the front, sports-bike like. That was my only issue tonight which means I think I am ready to get my riding license and start legally riding in public. I can’t wait!

I am practically done with my lessons, I think I might have one more left. I have learned nearly everything that needs to be learned, I no longer have any fears or problems. All of my problems got ironed out around 2 or 3 lessons ago and basically all I have been doing the past 3 lessons is just gaining more experience. It was getting kind of boring so today I got to try out some new things.

First thing I learned was how to climb over sidewalks, turned out to much easier then I expected. At first I thought it was going to be something like on a bicycle where you have to lift up the front wheel but in fact on a bike its much more easier.

Now the second thing I learned and really enjoyed a lot was driving on sand. The bike I am currently on is a road bike but it can go off road. Since there is a sand field next to the parking lot I spent sometime riding there. At first it was a bit scary because whenever I hit a deep patch of sand the bike would start swaying left and right. Then my trainer told me whenever that happens I should just give it some gas, watch the ass slide off a bit and then take off. After that the whole thing was just an incredible adrenaline rush.

Its basically a lot more fun to drive on the dirt then on the road. I now know my second bike has to be a dirt bike, I can imagine having a lot of fun with that.

Nat on the other hand is doing good, she had some problems yesterday where she dropped the bike like 5 or 6 times but today she didn’t drop it and never stalled so I think she has got the hang of it. Maybe she will post something about that.

Today I got set up with an old 650cc Kawasaki bike. Since I was doing so well on the smaller 180cc bike I got moved up to the bigger one. I don’t like this new bike though, its too tall and feels weird. I had two “special” moments with the bike one of which was really scary and strange.

I was turning a curb with the bike going a bit quickly when for some reason instead of pressing the brakes to slow down I pulled on the clutch, then when I realized my mistake I panicked and turned the throttle for more power.. I don’t know why I did that instead of pressing the brakes but my next move was even worse… I let go of the clutch. After that everything went really quick and blurry, I just remember I put my two feet on the ground, then front wheel of the bike lifted up and I did a wheelie and then somehow I managed to control the bike like a wild horse, I pulled it back under me and continued riding. I was in like total shock cuz I should have been thrown to the floor.

The second moment I had with the bike was when I was coming to a stand still and I don’t know what happened but I lost balance and the bike fell down on its side. The problem is this bike was big and heavy so to put it back up was really difficult, but I managed without any help.

Today was Nat’s first lesson, I can’t say anything about it because she threatened to shutdown the blog if I do.. so you can imagine how her lesson went.

I just came back from my first ride out in the public streets. I have been learning how to ride the whole week and I just wanted to get a feel of my Ducati and how much it differed from the Bajaj bike I am training on.

I strapped on my full gear, got on my bike and drove out of my underground parking lot out into the public streets. I circled the block and rode into the old Salmiya, it was around 4PM so there wasn’t much traffic, just a handful of cars but it still was very freaky. The bike is literally a monster. I have been training on the Bajaj Pulsar which is 180cc and pumps out 16.5HP. My Ducati is 618cc and pumps out 83.5HP. As you can imagine the jump between the two bikes is huge and I was prepared for it but it was still very shocking.

The bike stalled with me once and it was when I was nearly back home. Other then that I did fine. I don’t think my ride was very smooth though since I am still not used to the throttle. Just a small twist on the thing and the bike flys off leaving me hanging on like a mad man. The whole ride was just an incredible adrenaline rush but I was really glad when I got home. Next time I take it out it will be after I have more riding hours under my belt.

This is going to be me in a few weeks on the Gulf Road. [Video]

Today was pretty straight forward. Just drove around the parking lot for an hour. Its was pretty uneventful until I had my first fall. Don’t think its counted as a fall since the bike fell while I was still left standing. I was turning a curve slowly, I think a bit too slowly and the bike just fell down right under me. Luckily it was dark so it wasn’t that embarrassing…

This is the bike they have given me to train on. Its the Bajaj Pulsar, a cheap 180cc bike that I am having a ton of fun on at the moment. The name The Pulsar makes it sound a lot more hardcore then it actually is. [Link]

Today I had my second riding lesson and it went really well, much better then I imagined it would go. Yesterday I was stalling on the bike a lot except near the end of the lesson where I finally managed to get things right. Today I managed to start off exactly where I left off yesterday which was really good. I was taking off without stalling and I even started shifting. Everything just got wayyy easier today and I was having a lot of fun just driving around the parking lot stopping and going, just getting the hand of riding. The hardest part of my lesson today was actually learning how to use the turn signals, it just made my life mor confusing.

Anyway at this rate by the end of the week I should be ready to take the driving test next week. I actually think I could pass the test now since I heard the test is easy, but, I would rather get as much riding as possible in this parking lot before I go out into the streets. Tomorrow is my third lesson.

Today I had my first riding lesson. It was really cool because I got there and there were two training motorbikes, two mechanics, this cool American biker called Kevin AND Jafar Behbahani, the owner of TriStar where I got my bike from. I had heard a lot about him and how cool a guy he was so meeting him was like really great. He spent the first half of the course teaching me how to ride but then had to leave for a meeting but Kevin continued in his place.

My lesson didn’t go that bad. I was stalling a lot in the beginning but near the end of my lesson I started getting the hang of it. My left hand and right hand can not coordinate together which is what made my lesson difficult. Its hard for me to do one thing with one hand and a different thing with my other hand, but they told me with practice I will get the hang of it and I can’t wait till that day comes. My second lesson is tomorrow, I am going to try to finish up all my lessons very quickly so I can get my license ASAP.

I really have to say I am extremely impressed with TriStar, Marzouq had told me before about how good they were and thats why he had recommended I get my bike from them but I didn’t think they would be this good. They are real professionals. If anyone is interested in a Ducati, KTM or BMW motorbikes, new or used then you should pass by them or give them a call. They are located in Kuwait City, at the end of the Istiklal freeway, opposite Al Khaleejiah Complex. You can call them on 2405194 (ask for Salem) or visit their website on tristarkw.com.

Tomorrow is my second lesson, should be really fun.

Today I finally have my first biking lesson. It really sucks having a bike and not being able to ride it and now I can’t wait till I finally get my license. Since I am going to the lesson right after work I have my helmet, gloves and jacket in the car. I am also wearing my biking boots which are the Alpinestars Stroke shoes. They are pretty cool and they don’t look half bad either. They also make me feel like a biker even though I still don’t know how to ride a bike which is pretty lame.

The weather is getting really better really quickly. I can’t wait till Ramadan starts since the roads would get deserted at around 5:30pm which would be perfect for a newbie biker since I can fuck up and not have to worry about getting run over.

Two years ago I read somewhere that Ewan McGregor was going to ride a bike around the world. I didn’t think much of it then and totally forgot about it until a few weeks ago Marzouq mentioned Long Way Round on his blog. Turns out Ewan McGregor took cameras with him on the trip and he turned his adventure into a documentary. So right after I read Marzouqs post I download the series from the Internet and I watched it none stop for 2 days.

Long Way Round is a documentary that is 7 episodes long and it takes you on an adventure with Ewan McGregor and his best friend Charley Boorman on a 151 day journey from London all the way to New York. They headed East from London through a couple of countries in Europe, then they headed into Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia then Russia again followed by Siberia where they then took a plane to Alaska. From Alaska they then rode down to Calgary and then down into the US until they reached New York. It was a really incredible and extremely exhausting journey. Mongolia for example has only 80 miles of tarmac so the majority of their ride was on gravel and offroad.

It was really fun to watch the documentary and by the end of it you just want to quit your job, go out and buy a bike and then travel the world on it. I was really disappointed when it finished and I really wished it was longer because it felt like I was with them on their adventure. My final rating is easily a 5 out of 5. The only other series I have given a full 5 stars to is Band of Brothers so its not a score I give out easily unless its really worth it.

You can buy Long Way Round on DVD from Amazon

A really freak motorbike crash. [Video]

My motorbike lessons don’t start until next week and I have had my bike for two weeks now and its really frustrating not being able to ride it. Since I know how to drive a manual stick car, and I also know how to ride a bicycle, I decided to go ahead and try to ride my bike since I figured it can’t be too different from driving a stick shift and balancing it can’t be too different from a bicycle.

So around 30 minutes ago I headed down to the parking lot and turned on my bike and tried to ride it. The first 6 times I tried to drive off I ended up stalling the bike. I was releasing the clutch too early I think because as soon as I gave it some gas and moved like a centimeter the bike would stall. Finally I got the hang of it and was able to release the clutch right and my bike took off! I drove the length of my parking the whole time expecting the bike to stall with me but it never did. Once I got to the end I did a u-turn and headed back and then started driving up to higher floors of the parking. It was really cool and I loved the accelaration.

I stayed in first gear the whole time and I was able to speed up a bit and then brake with my hand when I realized I was actually riding the motorbike as if I was riding my bicycle. I wasn’t using the foot brake which I am guessing I should have been using because my braking wasn’t very smooth, I also wasn’t changing gears because I didn’t know what would happen if the bike stalled while I was moving or if the brakes would continue to work with the bike off. For my first time riding (if I can call it that) I think I did pretty good. I think I will go back down later and try riding some more and maybe even try shifting. I am really having fun with this although I am not doing much.

Today morning I went with Nat and the mandoob from TriStar to get our motorbike learners permit. I don’t know what mandoob is in English, but he is basically the guy who helps out with government paperwork. Todays experience like most government related work was exhausting, and the terrible humid weather didn’t help.

I picked up the mandoob at 9:30 and we headed to the Hawlly Traffic Department located in Jabriya. First place we went to inside was the typing room, there you give some guys your documents and for 1KD they fill out the forms for you on the computer and then print them out. Once we got the forms we headed into another much larger room filled with chairs and numbered booths. We headed to the very far end where we waited inline to get our papers signed by a high ranking police officer. This guy was very nice, he took a look at Nats form and he was like in English “you want to drive bicycle?” she was like yeah I want to ride a motorbike. He then proceeded to explain to her how driving in Kuwait is not easy and that if you are in a car its really dangerous so you can imagine how dangerous riding a bike is. He was like I could sign this paper for you if you want but I wouldn’t recommend it, she told him sign it please and he did. After that he told us we needed to go to Qurtoba to get an eye test so we left the place and headed there.

Once we got to Qurtoba I was worried I would fail the eye test. My vision isn’t perfect, I wear glasses when I am in front of the computer but I should be wearing them the whole time. Nat also has glasses which she wears in front of the computer and TV so she was worried she would fail too. So we go into the building and give in our forms and wait for our turn. 5 minutes later they call Nats name and she goes in for the test. A minute later she comes out telling me she passed although she made a mistake, her score was 24/6 for her left eye and 6/6 for her right. They called my name next and I went in. I don’t think I have seen an older eye test setup before. You sit in an old wooden school chair on one side of a room with a tall white plastic lamp behind you with the letters stuck onto it. You look ahead into a mirror stuck on the wall, cover an eye and read out the letters. It was really easy since they let me read out the big sized letters so I aced it with a score of 6/6 for both eyes. They signed the papers and we headed back to Hawally.

The weather was incredibly hot and humid and traffic was a bitch but we got to the traffic department and went back into the big room again back to the nice high ranking cop. He looked at the papers and told us to go to counter number 1. I get to counter 1 show him my papers only to have them rejected. The guy told me because I got my eye test today I needed to come back tomorrow to get the learners permit. I told him why do I have to do that, can’t I just get the permit done today? He was like come back tomorrow. So we were leaving the place when the high ranking cop asks us if we were done. I told him what the guy at counter 1 told us, he seemed irritated at the guy and took out some stamps from his pocket and stamped and signed out papers. He told us we needed to get a 10KD postage stamp and head over to counter 7. We got the stamps and headed to counter 7 where a guy took all our papers and filled them into the computer. He then told us to go get our pictures taken at the far end of the room.

There was a young woman sitting in a small room with a computer, a scanner and a small Canon digital camera attached to a cheap tripod. She told us to sit on the chair in front of the camera and she took our pictures. She then sent us back to counter 7. We got there and the guy started printing out our learners permit on his HP color laser printer. Although all the equipment they were using were off the shelf consumer electronics it was still cool that they were doing this. Finally the guy sent us to office 20, yes office, thats where the highest ranking official is located, we gave him our freshly printed learners permit and he signed it and we were done.

The whole process took around 2 hours and cost us KD11 per person. I am not sure but I am guessing this is the same process for getting cars learner permit. Below you will find some helpful information like papers needed and google map of the locations.

Papers needed for motorbike learners permit:
– 2 photographs, 3×4
– Work permit copy
– Passport copy (picture and visa page)
– Civil ID copy
– Driving license copy (if you dont have it then I believe you are required to do a medical test)

Location Maps:
– Hawally Traffic Department
– Qurtoba eye test place