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Retro Mountainbike

I've been bitten by the retro bug!
It all started when I got my greasy hands on a 1984 antique mountainbike which has exactly the same specs as the original 1984 Stumpjumper Sport.

It's an UltraliteProducts USA (UP USA). Not much info is available about the manufacturer.

Check out the bike still in pristine working condition!
More Pictures :: Here

:: TribalTalk Forum

The Tribe has finally launched it's very own cycling forum. A place for mountainbikers and roadies to hang out and discuss biking stuff.
Response has been good so far.
Check it out here www.FakawiTribe.com/tribaltalk

My Name Is Goyang and I'm a Taman Rider

Let me get straight to the point. I own the lightest mountain bike in the world.

There I’ve said it. I’ve made a claim that will probably make any sane cyclist utter words they usually don’t use in the presence of small children. But here I am, practically a nobody in KL’s elite cycling circle, telling the whole world that those ‘uber’ Specialized and fancy ‘Giant’ carbon contraptions are pork chops compared to my tacky no-name Taiwanese hardtail.

A tacky no-name bike that tips the scale at 18 lbs; have you weighed your all terrain, ringgit devouring beast lately?

Now before you start sending death threats to the Fakawi chief for letting this audacious piece of ‘crap’ slip through his server, let me remind you that he is the one responsible for getting me into all this mess in the first place. Thanks a bunch, Chief.

It all started on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I was happily minding my own business, checking out the tubing wall thickness of a couple of road bikes at a shop in Taman Tun.

Suddenly I saw him, the dude was trying to talk some guy into buying a cool Marin hardtail. The victim, also a friend of mine who later decided to invest his dough on carps, was sensible enough not to buy the bike.

But this poor sucker did!

And so the saga begins, the Doc has turned this fun loving, Kenny G worshiping hippie into a tight-assed weight weenie, a tragedy not unlike Anakin Skywalker’s shift of alliance to the dark side. The only difference is Darth Vader looks cool in his new outfit, whereas I still look like a dork on my fancy new bike.

Days passed and the weight losing obsession became more and more severe. In a time span of only a couple weeks, I have managed to upgrade everything except for the tiny fork cap that has the logo of a small rhino; just to emphasize the irony that the bike now weighs slightly less than half of my butt.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Lance Armstrong wannabe. I’ve never had cancer, never dated Sheryl Crow and I have a fitness level of a 52 year old high-court judge. This drive to have the lightest mountain bike possible is motivated by something really sinister. You see, a man like me can’t have the biggest pay check, can’t have the hottest chick, can’t have the coolest car but with god as my witness, chained to the grill of a locked room inside my burglar proof house is the world’s lightest mountain bike. It will remain my pride and joy until some jealous sod decides to burst my bubble with a claim of having a lighter bike. If you do, please e-mail me; don’t worry! I won’t hunt you down and mangle you like a rabid dog.

So there you have it, one sad story from one sad guy who is too awkward to be a roadie and too wimpy for off-road. If you happen to be in one of the ‘Tamans’ of Putrajaya and see this major geek pedaling a white hardtail with a cigarette in his mouth, honk once for support or honk twice if you feel like running him over because of this obnoxious article. And if you’re really groovy, don’t honk at all, just turn to the sexy chick sitting beside you and gently tell her this;

“See that dude over there, he’s riding the lightest mountain bike in the world”.

Thanks for reading.

:: View Gallery

- Goyangawi

Andrewawi Rides With The Fakawi

Andrewawi Initiated into the Tribe

The Fakawians?

Who are they??

What has mountain biking to do with this "tribe"???

Questions only to be left answered when I headed back to Malaysia, mid-August 2005. Before my trip, sources indicated that Malaysia was blanketed with thick smog “haze” as a result of forest fires in Sumatra. I was bummed by this. Rumor has it that Malaysia suffered an economic loss of 9.3 billion ringgit. Situation critical---businesses, schools and public institutions were incapacitated. I had visions of riding the trails looking like cousin Darth Vader. But luck was in my favor, or rather thanks to Malaysia’s natural green defenses---its tropical rainforest and with its afternoon thunderstorms---these defenses, served as a catch-sink to the smog.

In KL, I hooked-up with "Patawi", a canuckian, and we managed to arrange for a meeting with the Fakawians. My journey started out on the following coordinates on the Google Map---3 12' 57.65" N, 101 46'25.10" E---I think the coordinates are close---a place called Kampung Kemensah. The night before our ride, err! meeting, the skies opened the flood-gates, and it poured. Great!---fat chance for a meeting. The next morning, however, blue skies and cumulus clouds, a great day to ride. We brought our bikes as our offering of friendship and good gesture to the "tribe", i.e., Chief Ongawi, and Kevinawi. BTW, Chief Ongawi offered coffee and cream in return. Sweet! I guess this means that I've been accepted to join in their venture into the pristine trails of the jungle.

We arrived at the point of take-off, and as we unloaded our trusty metal steeds, I couldn’t' help but noticed that everyone had a parang holstered to the top-tube of their steeds---yikes! This is one sight that I'll never see back in BC. Patawi had a GPS mounted on his handle-bar to plot the trail routes. My hands quickly reached into my hydration pack to see what similar tool, or its equivalent, that I brought over, perhaps something that could match their parang. Alas! all I could find was a bear-bell and a whistle. Great, eh! While it's prudent to have both a bear-bell and a whistle on those long epic rides up in BC, certainly parang is not one of them.

So I sheepishly prepared my riding gear, and readied my riding steed Brodie, with the hopes of not offending anyone, and as the four of us disappeared into the jungle, for it beckons us, I was acutely aware of my thoughts and actions, but with great anticipation of the unknown of what's ahead (or who's riding behind), black spitting cobra, wild-boar, and mozzies (mosquitoes).

The jungle trails are largely single tracks with ferns, and vines lined with thorns, along the way. Certainly there were uphills, uphills, uphills…should I reiterate more? The green jungle, never changes its color, seemingly behaves like an entity taking a life of its own soon enveloped us, literally. In certain sections, pathways were partially blocked by either overgrowth of bamboo or fallen branches. Aha! I got it, having a parang handy to hack through and to clear the way would be great. These single-tracks were mostly made by Orang Asli (aboriginals). There's always abundance of food---just need to know what to look for. Me, I was looking for durians, beats a powerbar.

The treat of the day---the waterfalls. Now do you think Starbucks would ever consider opening an outlet here for folks like us? After riding in the humidity, soaking in sweat, having to sit by the waterfalls, and splashing the cool water over my steaming head was a relief. It was good to be back, and in many ways I felt all charged-up.

Like all good stories, there’s always the beginning and the end, and in my case, an end of our ride. Patawi, Chief Ongawi, and Kevinawi, and I and ended our rides by having iced-cold Milo, and roti-canai to fuel up. At that time, while brief in time, our ride ended with the forging of a bond, created by the aroma of roti canai, that I felt despite where ever we are, and who we are, we all shared a common interest---to seek single-tracks and to keep on riding. I guess in many ways I now know what the Fakawians is all about. I don’t think that this is the end of a story, but rather the beginning. Thanks guys. I’ll be back.


:: View Photo Gallery

-Andrewawi

North Shore Billet Hanger Banger

Protect Your Dangly Bits!

Product Review: North Shore Billet's Hanger Banger

Mountainbikers are outlandish creatures. They spend most of their waking hours dreaming of their bikes. When not dreaming they can be found crouched in some greasy corner tinkering with their bikes. Most of their hard earned money they spend on their bikes. Most bikers I know love their bikes to bits. But, what do they end up doing with their beloved bikes when they hit the jungle trails? They will end up treating their bikes like they hate them.

Mountainbikes endure treacherous amounts of strain to almost every weld, link or bolt every time we grab handfuls of gear changes uphill or when we ‘bomb’ them downhill. Bikes undergo more torment whenever we crash or wipe out. Why do we treat our beloved bikes costing up to 10 Grand this roughly? We don’t see Hi-Fi enthusiasts abusing their ultra expensive Denon amps or JBL speakers do we? Why? It’s because we can.

You’ve probably read the following points in boasted in numerous bike brochures and websites. Modern mountainbikes are designed to take a beating. These bikes are packed with high tech manufacturing processes like (let me see if I can cram it all into one sentence) special lightweight metal matrix alloy or carbon composite frames internally and externally butted, hollowed-out, hydroformed, gusseted, anodized, epoxy-bonded and stress-tested to give you a bike that is tough as nails but light enough to sting like a bee.

The guys at North Shore Billet are a bunch of paranoid bike freaks. They understand their bikes well. While most riders are blissfully at ease with their bike’s invulnerability, these guys have come up with protection for the rear derailleur hanger... the mountainbike’s Achilles’ heel. This component of the bike, which does have an uncanny resemblance to the human heel, is the bane all jungle bikers. All the techno talk of butted science fiction tubing and materials will get you nowhere if you are crippled in the jungle with a broken derailleur hanger.

How did North Shore Billet buff up their bikes’ Achilles’heel? Two words: Hanger Banger. The beautifully CNC’d bits which make up the Hanger Banger are made specifically for different Shimano and SRAM rear derailleurs. Assembly is as simple as releasing the quick release to loosen the rear wheel. The hooked bit on one end of the Banger hooks into the hollow of the rear derailleur hanger bolt and the other end is pressed hard against the derailleur hanger of the bike frame by a fine-looking machined nut that screws on to the QR axel.

North Shore Billet Hanger Banger

Step 1: Remove QR skewer nut.

Step 2: Slap on the Hanger Banger!

All ready for abuse

How can this strengthen the RD hanger? Studying my now pimped up RD hanger; I slowly begin to realize how ingenious the design is. The Banger essentially transforms the flat RD hanger into a ‘ring’ of two arches. These ‘arches’ together are physically stronger than the single straight flat piece of RD hanger thanks to catenary forces acting on them. The resulting new equilibrium is now able to withstand impacts from much higher forces, hence no more broken or bent rear derailleurs.

Will this new addition make me a better rider? I don’t think so. Will it make my bike lighter? Yes! I now don’t have to lug around all the spare RD hangers in my daypack. It will definitely make me a lot less paranoid knowing I can continue thrashing and abusing my beloved lightweight internally and externally butted, hollowed-out, hydroformed, gusseted, anodized, epoxy-bonded metal matrix alloy steed with total peace of mind.

More Fakawi Tech Stuff
Manufacturer's website: North Shore Billet

-Ongawi