A couple of days ago, my bike just refused to start. The ignition button doesn’t work. I had to kick start it.
Well… looks like it’s getting old. I’m not sure if it’s the battery or some other issue. Anyway, now is a good time to look back on the life of this soldier.
Learning To Ride
Up until 2012, I was riding a bicycle everywhere. To school, to work, 3 kilometres or 20 kilometres, I’d just pedal my bike there. It was an Asama bike that I bought for 1 million VND in 2007.
In 2012 I decided it’s time to learn to ride a motorcycle. My girlfriend at the time taught me (she was older than me and had a bike). We went to the the campus of National Economics University in the evening to practise. It was summer so the campus was empty. We’d practise until 8pm or so.
The first bike I learnt to ride on was also a Honda Wave S, a 110cc semi-automatic model (well every Honda Wave is a semi-automatic). My girlfriend taught me the basics, which in hindsight was hilariously bad! She said that to make things easy to remember, I should stick to the 3rd gear — that is, start the bike at 3rd and keep riding at 3rd. Don’t even bother changing gear.
So for a while, I just basically rode the bike in the 3rd gear. Luckily that only lasted a couple of weeks before I realised how egregious it was. I’ve even seen some women basically shift to 4th gear, start their bike, and away they drive. That can seriously wreak havoc to the gearbox and the engine.
(I wish my dad had taught me all that stuff, but we never really had much quality father-and-son time. I ended up having to figure out just about everything on my own.)
Another memory is that at first, I had lots of trouble learning the 180-degree kickstand turn. That’s when you put the bike on the kickstand, grab the handlebar and the rear rack, pull the bike from the side and do a 180-degree turn so that the bike now faces backwards. I was so baffled: how could this tiny woman do it effortlessly, and yet here I was struggling like an idiot? It’s a lot more skill involved than it looks! It took me weeks before I could master that manoeuvre.
Getting My Own Bike
Shortly afterwards, in October 2012 my dad took me to buy my first bike. I wanted to buy one myself, but I was broke back then. I think at that point, I had managed to save up 7 million from my various part-time jobs. Not anywhere near enough for a motorbike.
We went to the Honda showroom on Tam Trinh street. I looked around and the blue Honda Wave S caught my eye. There were two versions — one with a disc brake and one with a regular drum brake. The disc brake version costs slightly more which I eventually picked. The bike already came with 1 litre of petrol. I rode it home, and the next day I went to get the registration papers and the licence plate.
I think the cost of the bike was 20 million, and another 2 million to get the registration, so 22 mil total.
The next week, the first thing I did was to go and mount a front basket. This newer model of Wave didn’t have a basket mount like the older versions, so the mechanic had to mod it. I also bought a Doraemon sticker and stuck it in the front.
I know a basket and a Doraemon sticker would make my bike look like a damn housewife vehicle for getting groceries, but I really couldn’t care less about looking cool.
So that’s the history of my bike. Some fun facts:
- I’ve wrecked it quite a few times, but the worst one was in August 2018 when I was in a truck’s blind side. The truck made a right turn; I crashed into it and slid on the road for 20 metres. I was damn lucky I didn’t roll under the truck wheels. I ended up with some mild bleeding, but the bike was badly damaged. It cost close to 1 mil to restore it to riding conditions.
- The odometer has logged a bit over 48,000 kilometres now. That’s around 550km a month or 18km a day. Sounds about right for the level of driving I have.
- The fastest I’ve ever ridden is 90km/h on a new empty road in Hà Đông. That seems to be the top speed for this little scooter. The bike was shaking at that speed, which I maintained for 10 seconds before slowing down. That’s me when I was still young dumb and full of stupid energy. As of now I barely ride above 50kph.
- In 2016 I did an experiment to find out its fuel economy. I filled up the tank, rode until it’s empty, and kept track of the precise distance travelled. The conclusion is that the bike gets between 41 – 45 kilometres per litre, depending on how you ride it. The more acceleration and braking, the more fuel it consumes.
- The bike is surprisingly strong for its 110cc engine. Last summer me and Phong rode up Tam Đảo on this bike. That’s two guys, 140kg, plus our bags, riding up slopes of over 15 degrees! I had to keep it in 1st and 2nd gear, but somehow it still managed to reach the top.
- The storage box under the seat is spacious enough to store a half-helmet. That surprises many people. I keep a backup helmet there in case my main helmet gets stolen (which has happened several times).
What’s Next
I’ve always made sure to do the proper maintenance regularly so the bike is still running flawlessly to this day. Well everything is great, except for the ignition. I’ll get it checked soon.
I think I’ll be riding this bike for quite a while. No plan to change. I’ve thought of getting a new semi-automatic, either a Yamaha Exciter (more sturdy and better brakes), a Yamaha Jupiter FI (insane fuel economy), or a Honda Future (better fuel economy and more spacious storage box), but it just doesn’t make economic sense to change right now. The longer you use something, the more value you get out of it.