Sell - Used & New

Caveat Emptor!
I met a middle-aged guy recently who bought a used folding bicycle from a e-commerce site.
He complained about the bike being heavy and its parts falling off each time he goes cycling.
The bike cost him RM450 and was delivered by a truck from Johor Baru.
Upon close inspection, the 20" ride is actually a China-made folding bike which is more than 15 years old.
For starters, I won't put my life on a 'Japan imported' second-hand bike. Knowing that it was picked-up from housing estates for recycling or sale to third world countries.
To the former owner, they just want to get rid of their written-off asset and to the trader who took advantage of turning junk into profit, its money, money, money...

One man's junk is another man's treasure...
When a bicycle exchanged hands from the dealer to its new owner, the value would depreciate by 30%. 
Each year you use and keep the bike it would depreciate further.
Unless if the bike is highly sought-after (limited edition, rare, mint condition), you can demand a price. 
Otherwise, its a piece of junk.
But, having said that, there are people who take advantage of hype and marketing.
I saw a 'Bianchi' folding bike being sold at RM3,500 on a website.
The shop is in Kepong and for such a price for a 're-branded' Birdy, you can actually pay for a new bike.

Same bike different name: the Bianchi @ Birdy

 Based on the condition and for what's worth, I won't even pay RM1,000 for the bike.
To ship the used bike into Malaysia by the container load, I don't think it could command a value of RM3.5k. This is 'Basikal Bandle' to the initiated second-hand bargain hunter.
Way I see it, traders are cashing-in on the popularity of folding bikes

Bikepacking, Rawang - Sekinchan Expedition, Part 5

Man of the hour
Chris Wong had earned a chilled glass of beer.
Why? He towed Mr Tan on his little bike for more than 20km.
Rather than being told what to do, the man did this without question. 
Throughout the ride, he was the team's live-wire.

Dinner and a little side story
We made arrangements to have dinner near the paddy fields. There is a well-known seafood restaurant there.
By 7:45pm, the entire team were waiting at the entrance of our hotel. 
We stayed at a decent place and for RM68 a night, one cannot complain. It has a cold and hot shower and ample space for us to keep our bikes.
Later, we walked to the restaurant and the air-conditioned dining hall was a relief from the hot and humid weather.
The beers came non-stop as Chris had helped himself to a cool brew.
We exchanged stories and was told that the trip to Northern Thailand earlier this year was really awesome.
Siang also told me his differences with another folding bike master-guru and how they didn't get along.
I wasn't surprised at all when all the other guy did was talk, talk and talk.
The night went down really smooth as we continued to drink and indulge in a conversation...

Chris helping himself to a chilled glass of brewski

Good dinner, great company...

  Rice and shine!
All we needed, was six hours of sleep.
My back was aching and my butt hurts, with ample sleep, it had lessened the fatigue.
Michelle and I got up and started packing as early as 6:00am in the morning.
Then, we took a walk to the paddy fields to snap some photos for our record.
As the hype of activity in Sekinchan began to bloom, we assembled and checked out from our rooms.
One of the cyclists, Uncle Yeoh, was complaining about his bicycle that was kept on a dormant staircase.
He had a bad back and said he couldn't get to the bike.
I made my way down the staircase and got Mr Tan to help move the bike out.
Since his injuries were rather serious, Tan had decided to take a cab back to Kuala Lumpur, rather than completing the ride.

Sekinchan, one of the best rice producing districts in Selangor

 Saddle-up! Lock 'n load...
 From eight cyclists, only six are left to complete the 75km ride back to Bandar Country Homes.
We had breakfast at a coffeeshop across the hotel.
The fare was very decent and also cheap.
After the meal, we took a group photo in front of our accommodation place and slowly, one-by-one, we rode off to Sekinchan A.
To get to Bandar Country Homes, we have to back-track towards Sungai Tengi, Kg Raja Musa, Batang Berjuntai and the Batu Arang Road.
A series of hills awaits us at the Selangor Fruit Valley...

Checking out

A group photo in Sekinchan town

Riding towards Batang Berjuntai

Doing good time...
With the weakest-links removed, we've had six cyclists who are equally strong and capable of completing the ride.
We rode towards Sungai Burung and Sungai Tengi, covering nearly 20km in a decent timing.
From Sungai Tengi, the plan was to make a lunch stop at Kg Raja Musa, where we had a refreshment break the day earlier.
Siang was also worried about the security risk at an oil palm estate where a couple of Indian guys had harassed Angela.
We rode in a tight formation through this village and reached the Batang Berjuntai junction safely.
Instead of going into the peat swamp, Siang decided to navigate straight towards an agricultural station at the entrance of the Batang Berjuntai sand mines.
From this point, we rode about 8.5km towards the UniSel junction and then, to the Selangor Fruit Valley..

Michelle, charging through the sand on her trusty Jetstream P8

Sleep deprivation and fatigue did not deter Angela from the rigors of offroad riding with her Dahon Curve SL. By completing the ride, she put a lot of foldies to shame...

The fun is about to begin...
The sand mine and oil palm estate was moderate.
We started our journey back to Bandar Country Homes on the Batu Arang - Batang Berjuntai road.
This is a series of long and short climbs and I must say that with a broken butt and the 75km ride to Sekinchan from the other way round a day earlier, I gave this hill everything I got.
Every strand of muscle on my legs were pushed to its limit.
Even with a wide range of gear on the Jetstream EX's SRAM Dual Drive II's drivetrain, I felt the strain - especially when was hauling more than 20kgs of gear on my backpack.
This was a test of mental integrity and as we started crunching gears hill after hill, a sigh of relief was felt when we rolled down towards a junction leading to a kampung - our ticket to Bandar Country Homes.
It took us about six and a-half hours to get to the junction of Bandar Country Homes and we have completed more than 75km on our little bikes.
The last push was a slope towards the housing estate where we parked our vehicles.
At this point, I was really exhausted.
So, we got down from our bikes and started pushing it up the slope. Then, it was a smooth downhill roll towards the finish line.
Michelle and I had felt a sense of accomplishment by completing 150km of the journey on our Dahon Jetstreams.
In short, it was the perfect bike for the chore.
We thanked Siang and Angela later for organizing the ride and told them that we are looking forward to future bikepacking rides.

Packing up: Michelle giving her Jetstream a wipe-down

 Summary and statistics
I wouldn't recommend bikepacking for beginners.
Nor I would invite cycling fashionistas and pretty-boys for such a ride. Such losers should stay at home.
Doing long-distance on a folding bike and riding on mostly offroad courses demands mental strength and physical preparedness.
If you love your bike and you're obsessed about cleaning up your ride, better skip this one.
It takes a certain willingness to ride in a pack through the backroads and bumpy terrain. 
If you have what it takes, you might end up asking for more!


Stats
Total distance covered: 151.4km
Time on the road: 10:31:00
Time overall: 17:00:00 
Number of punctures: 1
Number of mechanical breakdown: 0
Dropouts: 2
Average speed: 8.6km/h
Average moving speed: 14.0km/h
Maximum speed: 46km/h
Elevation gain: 318metres
Average temperature: 31C

Bikepacking, Rawang - Sekinchan Expedition, Part 4

Out of the swamp
We cleared the sandmine and peat swamp with ease.
By the time we made our exit from the Raja Muda Musa area, our water bottles were almost empty.
I was praying for a shop or stall nearby where we can refill our drinking water.
Well, lo and behold! 
There was a Malay stall on the right hand-side of the road.
Siang and Chris who were the strongest cyclists of the lot had made a detour.
This is our rest stop as we took shelter from the scorching Sun.

At the peat swamp

Getting out of the swampy area

Refreshment break at Taman Raja Musa

 Downtime
After the refreshment break, we made our way towards the Sungai Tengi canal.
It was a straight-forward ride and as we approached a junction in the area, Tan got into trouble.
I overtook the man on the paved road and could clearly see that he was struggling. 
Even at the sandmines, he complained of his leg muscles tightening up.
As soon as he got down from his bike, Tan's thighs started to go into spasms.
I tried to seat him on the ground so that he could be more comfortable and took out my Deep Heat spray to administer First Aid.
The spray provides temporary relief.
Chris observed that Tan had not been taking any isotonic drinks.
Instead, he drank plenty of water.
On such a case, it is important to replenish our electrolytes as the body slowly depletes the mineral.
Lactic acid build-up causes cramps and this can be prevented.
Tan, who was in agonising pain, ripped up a pack of oral rehydration salt.
I gave him two Hammer Electrolyte capsules to consume as well.
About 10-minutes later, Tan was ready to give up.
This was the time Chris had decided to tow Tan on his Birdy all the way to Sekinchan.
As far as teamwork is concerned, I haven't come across anyone who is willing to sacrifice for a fellow cyclist. Well-done Chris!
With an injured cyclist, we slowly made our way to Sungai Tengi.
Its another 20km to Sekinchan from this point...

Man down: Tan being given First Aid

Riding at Sungai Tengi

The road to Sekinchan

  The final push
By the time we cycled along Sungai Tengi, we have done nearly 50km.
Our butts are starting to hurt and morale was still good among the cyclists.
What Chris had shown, was very inspiring and motivational. With 12km to go, I told Chris that the first order of the day, was a cold beer treat.

Cycling on the paddy fields

 With the down-time as a factor, we've added more haste to the ride.
On the GPS, we have spent about 8 hours cycling and taking breaks.
Tan, who was being towed by Chris had shown some relief.
We slowly made our way to Sekinchan A village which is about 7km away from town.
At this point, I knew that a hot shower was in order and the beers and seafood are waiting at the dinner table.

All in the day's work: Arrival at our hotel

We hit Sekinchan at about 6:30pm and made arrangements to walk to a restaurant at the fringe of the paddy fields for dinner.. That was the way we had planned things out..