By Musfirah Hassan
They roar and wild on the road with all eyes attach to them. All of them look tough with a mask, gloves, sunglasses and bandana wrapping their neck or wrist. They can be heard from a mile away and everyone knows it is them who will pass later. As expected, lots of them rides with style and leave their strong image in the peoples mind.
I will never ever set my foot at that place if my uncle was not there. Why must I go to a place that is full of men who look scary? Plus I know its hard to talk and hear well because of the noise. While waiting for my uncle who was late, I went for a walk with my friend around the lake and eat fruit with ˜asam boi powder. About half an hour later when my uncle and his family arrived, I officially went to the BINGIT International Bike Fest 2014 at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa to meet my sources.
My uncle walked me to a booth called Choppers Garage and I wonder what it is. I imagine the scene when a chef chops the onion with style and fast. What are the connection between chop and bikes? Im sure having lots of question to ask later. Finally, I met him who looks like a religious man with beard like some ˜Ustaz usually have. However, I was stunned when I saw his full profile. All black and almost 90 percent of his attire is made of leather. Why did I meet him?
Out of many convoys on the road, the one that grab most attention is either the superbikes or choppers group. They come passing your vehicle in a large group with a loud vroom sound. They are sure faster than ordinary motorcycles because their bikes got higher CC which makes them louder. This is the reason why I met him. I want to gain information about something that my uncle has been doing in his life since he is young.
The first information that I get is that there is a big different between superbikes and choppers. Well of course, both of them are loud. The superbikes show off their speed on the road but choppers put their pride onto the bikes design. The one who ride superbikes will wear a full tight leather black suit while the one who ride choppers looks like a country man who wears leather vest full of buttons and looks more relax than the superbike rider.
Honestly, seeing someone riding a chopper is tiring. They have to raise their hand higher than when riding a normal motorcycle to control the handle. That is what makes the chopper really different than other motorcycles because of their body features that obviously can be seen. It got long handle, big tyres and unique parts at the body. A chopper is a big bike, it means that you have to acquire a good balancing skill because if not you will be under the chopper instead of on top.
The most admirable activity in Choppers Garage is modifying chopper. The current president who is also the founder of the club since eight years ago, Ahmad Junaidi (34) is known as Joe the ˜Hungry ghost. Joe owns a workshop located at Puchong. He is gifted with a talent to remove parts of chopper and put it back together. Incredibly, it will not be the same chopper anymore. That is how good he can be. Now, do you get it why it is called chopper? This is because they design the choppers by chopping down some parts by making them smaller, bigger or remove it completely to make a huge modification.
œThe biggest activity in this club is MTP said Joe. Usually, Choppers Garage organises a short convoy trip on every weekend and they will decide whether to stay overnight or not. The most interesting journey happens once in every three months and it is called as MTP, stand for Mini Trans Peninsular. MTP only happens when a journey reached at least 1500KM. Besides that, the journey will take over almost half-peninsular of Malaysia and the convoy will have to stay overnight. Like a scout, this club also rewarded their members with batch and token based on their performance so they can put in on their black leather jacket.
In addition, Choppers Garage also organise lots of charity events involving fund raising, volunteer work and charities. Last year, they went to Kuantan Pahang to help the flood victims. They also help to raise fund for Gaza by collecting money and sell varieties of merchandise. Besides that, they even give a wonderful experience to the orphanage by taking them for a chopper ride. Its awesome!
Another interesting point is that the chopper riders financial state can be seen through the chopper brand. For those with low income, they can afford to own Modenas Jaguh chopper that cost about RM 1.5K at the lowest price. The most expensive chopper comes from the most popular brand which is Harley Davidson that can cost almost RM 200K. For a custom chopper, the price can reach up to RM 300K. That is why riders have to pay high for a road tax and some of them are more expensive from car road tax depends on their choppers brand. For example, Joe pays RM300 for his choppers road tax and it is higher than a road tax for Proton Wira that cost RM157.
Joe explained that the members of Choppers Garage come from many different backgrounds. From a taxi driver like my uncle, a business man, an architect, an engineer and many more. At the beginning, most of the riders start to ride because they like to take photo along the journey and enjoy the scenery because chopper does not need to be riding fast like superbikes. Other than Malaysian, they also have members from Singapore who always participate in events in Malaysia despite the long distance journey.
For a rider, safety aspect is the most important thing. œI will ask any rider who wear slipper to go home. Same with those who wear crocs, said Joe. Furthermore, it is not cool to ride a chopper wearing a slipper. A rider needs to put on the custom made leather boot and safety clothes like leather trousers and jacket to protect their body. Unexpectedly, choppers rider always ride in a group because of the safety aspect when they are in a convoy trip.
I notice that almost every member of Choppers Garage is friendly. Some of them interrupted me in a good way while I was interviewing Joe just to say hi. They feel like an uncle to me and also grandfather because the older member is around 65 years old. The members know each other family members very well because they bring their family when there is a gathering. œEveryone in this club is considered as brothers. My son is your son and your son is my son, exclaimed Jo. That is how close they are.***
