Key points about the Supra motorbike

Many visitors to Bali rent motorbikes and a lot of them have never ridden one before.

I was in that category back in February when I rented a 110cc Honda Supra from a shop on Jalan Legian. I must admit after having ridden a bicycle all my life getting on to something with an engine was a strange experience.

For newcomers I think the Supra is a user friendly vehicle as the controls are simple and its not a super heavy bike.

Here’s an idea of some of the features you get with this bike.

First of all there is no clutch. You do have a left side foot pedal that changes gears ( there are 4 gears plus neutral ). The gears are indicated on the dashboard and basically starting off in neutral its forward to go up in gears ( 1 through 4 ).

You might say, ‘how can I change gears without a clutch?’. You accelerate to the top end of one gear, ease off the gas for a split second, then click through to the next gear. The accelerator is the right hand grip.

The right hand lever is the front brake, the right foot pedal the rear brake. My tactic is to use a combo of both brakes, plus a downshift to slow down at speed. As soon as you click through to a lower gear and it engages, you have the same effect as slowing with a clutch.

The speedo is in kilometers and the gas gauge just has grade line.

Filling up at the gas station or street vendor means you’ll have to turn off the bike and open the seat, the gas tank being located underneath. There is a small space in the seat compartment to keep paperwork like license and registration, 2 documents you will always need when being pulled over.

The Supra has an electric starter on the right side of the handlebar. If your battery is low there is a kick start on the right side. Make sure you start in neutral, particularly with the kick start. I remember once in Kuta my gear was jammed in 2nd and my battery was almost flat. I had the exciting experience of starting the bike in gear using the kicker!

The Supra can carry 2 people and foot-rests are located down by the exhaust pipe. The chrome exhaust pipe gets very hot and you should take special care not to touch it when dismounting, you’ll get a blister. Also the engine, located low own between the 2 wheels gets similarly hot.

You’ll see many locals riding without mirrors and your rented bike may only have one mirror. Make sure you tell the owner to attach both mirrors. When riding there are a lot of things going on and you don’t want to take that look behind you. Having 2 mirrors to quickly glance into is the way to go.

On the area between your legs you’ll find a metal rack with has a spring that allows you to put a water bottle of other items, this is very handy and I always keep a bottle of water there. It has a hook that can be used to hand your spare helmet on.

With so many bikes in Bali it can be helpful to put something on your bike to help you identify it quickly in a crowded parking area. I use a couple of stickers.

On the left side in the steering column is a space where the choke lever is located. Turn this 90 degrees and the bike won’t start. There’s a scam here whereby a local will wait for you to return to your bike and ‘help you’ try to start it for money. If your bike mysteriously won’t start check the choke.

Wearing a helmet over here is compulsory. Doesn’t matter what kind of helmet just as long as you’ve got something on your head. My helmet is the typical locally made thing. It looks good from a distance but on closer inspection you realize it is not very good quality. Most of these helmets do not provide full-face protection and do not fit the head tightly. The strap mechanism is so loose it sometimes ends up around my throat when I’m riding, plus the fact that strap is only pulling the helmet in one direction. If you had an accident wearing a locally made helmet the chances are you’d still have head injuries, though of course its still way better than having no helmet at all.

For a single rider of average size this bike will get you all over the island including the mountains. For 2 people of average size the Supra will get you around the island using the coastal roads and down to the Bukit. A 200cc Honda Tiger would be better for larger people or 2 riders exploring the highlands.

The bike’s steering column can be locked to the left by turning the column and the key. The front wheel can also be locked using another key at the front axle.

All the people on my street take their bikes into their compounds at night. I never used to do this but have started to. One wonders why bike thieves don’t just go down the Matahari department stores and steal a bike rather than going to someone’s house, but the locals don’t take chances.

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