Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Rider Profile Lee Oon Teng



Oong Teng with his AM enjoying the wonderful sunset at Punggol End
Hi, I'm Oonteng, 39, I do digital media production work for ad and media agencies for living. I ride a Pearl White AM20-2.
I grew up in a small town in Malaysia, where bicycle was a common transport for school kids. I rode an old Ah Pek bicycle to school, tuition and basically anywhere until gotten my motorbike license. I came to Singapore 20 years ago after secondary school, did Mechanical Engineering in Ngee Ann Poly. But gone straight into IT industry and work as designer after graduated. I have worked for companies before venture on my own, until now.

It was about 12 years ago I started to ride again. Gotten a $250 HASA MTB, did a few longer distance rides around island but not that consistent.

I picked up an Aleoca foldable bike from Giant Hypermarket after I moved to Kovan and discovered the new Punggol SengKang PCN. After riding only twice I pass it to a friend because the my wife and I both gotten backache after doing longer rides on it, then I realized that the ergonomics is not right.

After that, I got a Cannondale Hooligan and my wife got a Dahon Curve D3. We were happily riding the 2 bikes for a short while until Christmas 2011, a visit to LC Gemmil Lane, on impulse I got a Dahon Vector X10. It was from the Dahon Vector X10 that I experienced the different in riding quality between entry level bikes vs higher end bikes. Over the next few months I discovered and joined LCSG and PNR, my bike knowledge grew slightly more by chatting with people like Calvin Tan and Lim George , readingTaiwoon's write up, and many online resources.

To be honest, when I first saw a Moulton TSR at Gemmil Lane, I can say I was kind of put off by it. It looks weird because it resemble scaffolding. But over a very short period of time, it just grew in me, I slowly grew from liking it to quite crazy with it. Especially after learning about the heritage and history of Alex Moulton Bicycle.

I sold off the Dahon Vector X10 in May 2012, and started to hunt for a Brompton and an Alex Moulton. I was told that AM20-2 need to be pre-ordered and the delivery time can take up to a year. The price then gone up quite a bit too. I gave up hunting for it already.

A chance came upon from George during one of the PNR's night ride, some one is selling off an AM20-2. I quickly got in touch with the seller, saw the picture, fall in love with it, fixed up appointment the next day and went down to get it. I really feel grateful to George for making my dream came through :-)

My experience on riding the AM20-2 was superb. Everything just feel right! Especially love the suspensions that just work at the right time when I want them to.

The previous owner had changed a few parts to make it lighter and sporty, but that is not to my liking. I prefer a retro looking uncle's leisure bike. I want to fit pannier bags onto it, bring picnic stuffs along, a hammock and my fishing gear too.

The transformation is still in progress, pace according to my wallet :-)

This is the bike that I'd keep for life.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Rider Profile - Jeff Seah

Jeff is the creator of SG Moultoneers, a group of Moulton fans in Singapore. Here is his story!
Jeff  Photo credits Jeff Seah @ Nepal
Jeff is the 2nd from Left
 I am Jeff Seah, soon to be 54 and work as a Executive Director in HLS Electronics Pte Ltd which is a subsidiary of Enviro-Hub Holdings which is listed on SGX. Started riding as a delivery boy for my neighbout provision shop to deliver gas and other household groceries with the Big Bad Bicycle with rack and thick rubber strap to hold the goods.

I started riding mountain bikes in the late 80s with my first bike, KHS Montana and subsequently took the bike to ride to Desaru from Penggarang. It was an experience then cause nobody could afford any roadies then and it was just 7 speed with whatever tyres that came with it. Subsequently the upgrade when on as I became involve with riding changing to a Bridgestone MB zip which was one of the more expensive chromoly bike in the market then and then to a Klein Attitude and finally a Specialized M2 team replica which i bought the frame from the US and the same bike that Ned Overand use to win the US Mountain Bike race. I kept the bike and bought a Specialized FSR X Comp and rode with it for trials and whatever i needed it to do.
As age catches up, I decided to look for something portable and end up buying a Xootr Swift from Loke of Lifecycle and that got me into the game. Along came an Tyrell FX which was too tempting to resist and end up in my car. Was a good bike and still loving it.

An ads in togoparts got me into Alex Moulton and went to view the bike own my one of our member and fell in love with it ever since. Bought another Brompton S2L for the compactness and nothing since have made me like riding except on a Alex Moulton and the only changes i foresee to let this bike go will be a dream Alex Moulton New Series SS. Story short, it's like my mistress the Alex Moulton

Rider Profile - Alex Lee

Hi everyone, I am Alex Lee, 53 years young and I ride a black TSR9. Served in the SAF (Army) for almost 29 years, left the service in 2005. Since then I have been conducting United Nations Peacekeeping training and education for militaries around the world, in preparation for their deployments into peacekeeping missions. I love my job and i love my TSR9 ! Will provide more details of how Jeff Seah introduced me to Alex Moulton bikes and my personal experiences with my TSR9 !!
Ready for LCSG national day relax ride
Alex riding with LCSG on National day 2012
Alex TSR at Woodlands jetty