Farewell Bike
Christopher Tuason, 15th October 2009
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I first rode a motorbike back in the 90s in the province of Bicol, Philippines. I was still dating my girlfriend back then who is now my beloved wife. I rode a 50cc Yamaha scooter that belonged to my father-in-law and this was when I first fell in love with bikes.
Bikes are a different breed of vehicles. Sure it is not as privileged as cars but the joy people get out of bikes are incomparable to even the most expensive Mercedes. Bikes are typically low, a lot lighter than cars, consumes far less fuel, generally cheaper to buy, and maintenance basically costs a couple of dimes. But what do riders love about bikes? The wind that blows through the whole body, the engine being right in between your legs, feeling the power of your engine as you rev up, and most of all is the complete feeling of freedom. Ask a biker what ride they prefer going to work and without hesitation, the answer is definitely, by bike. Cars are just alternativse due to the weather.
When I came to Singapore in 1996, I was looking for a bike to just casually rent. I went around shops and ran into this shop that sells bikes by installment. So I thought, I certainly can use a bike for going to work since everyday, I had to allocate 45 minutes to an hour in commuting from my home to work which by bikes was just 15 minutes away. With barely $2,000 Singapore dollars, and most of which went to insurance, I walked out of the shop with a Honda CB400. It wasn't much of a bike and in fact it was already 10 years old but it was mine, my own, my baby, my black stallion. Yes, it was color black.
The first bike I had was a Honda scooter a 100cc that I used to get me to work in the traffic of Manila. It was small but was definitely a gas saver. A little more than 3 liters was a week worth of fuel. In about 6 months, I outgrew the scooter and shifted to a 200cc China bike called Lifan, not that great quality but I love the sound of the engine and the exhaust pipe was perfect. The bike was black and had touches of chrome. I enjoyed cleaning, shining, and polishing my bike to a mirror finish. From that moment, I said to myself that from hereon, black is eternally my color when it comes to bikes. It was during that time that a friend of mine also got into bikes as he saw I found joy in riding a 200cc. He got a sports version while mine was an easy rider.
In 2009 around June, I bid farewell to my CB400. I had to give up driving for awhile as I have to update my license and had to go through some license residency before being allowed to drive the class of 400cc and above in Singapore. The process will take up to 2 years.
In the bike's remaining days with me, I took a picture of it, of course, by strobes. I never photographed something on this setup and least did I know that black is really challenging to shoot. For one,black absorbs light and as you go blast your flash to full power, the black shiny surface reflects hotspots which is not exactly ideal.
Photograph of the bike, the breakdown:
