West Malaysia loop ride

Most people who go on these long motorcycle tours do it on bikes that has an engine capacity of 400cc or more. There are many good reasons for this. For starters, a bigger capacity bike will have the capability to carry more gear, go faster and have better range. This loop ride will be different in that all but one bike will be 200cc machines: one Yamaha TW200 and two Suzuki DR200SE bikes. The other bike is a Honda Steed 400. Here’s a little more about the bikes.

Yamaha TW200

I’ll start first with the distinctive Yamaha TW200. You will know that you are looking at one of Yamaha’s most reliable workhorses when you see one due to the beefy tires that simply jump out at you. It is designed to be a rugged machine that will go to places that no man has been before. In fact, it was so reliable that Shinji Kazama rode this bike all the way to the North Pole in 1987!

A simple and straightforward dual sport bike designed for easy riding across the most impossible terrain. Powered by a four stroke 196cc air cooled engine with a five speed transmission, this bike is as basic as it gets! Yamaha produced the first TW200 back in 1987 and it is still in production today (its 2010 today)!

Marley (my TW200) was born in 1994 and kept in stock condition until I bought him on 27 August 2009. I elected to keep him in the same stock condition with the exception of a new paint job and a new set of hard panniers. The only drawback that I see with Marley is that he has a relatively short range of 120-140 kilometers. I bought an external two gallon (7.5L) fuel tank to effectively double his range.

The only other extras I will have on Marley for this ride will be my bag, and maybe a net. I want to keep things simple so that weight can be kept to a minimum and the ride can be enjoyed to the maximum!

Suzuki DR200SE

Two of the riders on this trip will be riding the Suzuki DR200SE dual sport motorcycle. Introduced by Suzuki into their line up of “DR” badged bikes in 1996, the DR200SE was the street legal version of the earlier DR200 (without the SE). This bike is virtually identical in weight to the Yamaha TW200, and is similarly light and agile both on and off road.

The DR200SE is powered by a four stroke 199cc air cooled engine with a five speed transmission, the bike provides ample torque to handle any terrain you can throw at it. An electric start and large capacity fuel tank completes the bike and makes it ideal for any long trip.

Dan’s DR200SE was born in 1995 and, from the looks of it, has seen plenty of action! I heard that Dan bought it for the sole purpose of taking it off road, to places where most people would probably never see in their entire lifetime! This particular DR200SE was kept in stock condition with the exception of a rear hard box.

The only thing Dan is going to do with his bike is to change the brakes and clutch…and do a good service. I suppose with a tough bike like the DR200SE, there really isn’t much that needs to be done!

Tony’s DR200SE was born about the same time as Dan’s…and mine. He bought it from a shop with the bike in need of restoration. Being the D.I.Y. fanatic that he is, he spent countless hours doing up his bike…and this is how it looks like.

While Dan and I have elected to keep our bikes stock, Tony has made quite a number of additions to his on top of the obvious hard boxes. He installed an 18L fuel tank for extended range, fog lamps, pole lights, electric chain oiler, steel brake hoses and a GPS. Now THAT is one tricked out DR200SE!

So essentially we have a trio of really old bikes at the moment going on a 2000 kilometer journey around the West Malaysian peninsular…cool! Now onto the last bike on this trip…the Honda Steed 400.

Honda Steed 400

The Honda Steed 400 cannot be more different from the three other bikes on this trip. Other than being the largest capacity (engine-wise), it is also a cruiser that is more suited to on-road escapades that inspires easy-rider attitudes. I tried out a Honda Phantom before (the younger and much smaller sized brother to the Steed) and almost fell asleep! Hahaha! Seriously though, this bike is characteristic of Honda’s ability to make good machines better.

Powered by a four stroke 398cc liquid cooled engine with a five speed transmission, the Steed is capable of acceleration far surpassing that of the other three bikes on this trip. This is a nice bike for long tours if you are able to handle the super relaxed riding posture. The only down side is that it will struggle massively on less than perfect terrain. So let’s hope the roads are good!

Alex was riding his Phantom for awhile and recently purchased this bike. In fact, I have not laid my eyes on his new bike as yet…so I am really excited to see it in our next pre-trip meeting.

Here is a picture of his bike for your viewing pleasure. It sure looks like a nice one. Just look at those pipes!!