a name i will always remember in my life..

豆干车

for the longest time, i remember this with me…
remember my ah mah telling me this…

she left me today…to a better place…
in her sleep….in her dreams…
i wish you can be there to receive her…

today…3 minis and a clubman…

4th november 2008

my favourite car..
at my favourite greenwood ave..

In 2009 BMW and MINI will start their Pilot Project “500 Electric MINI’s” in the United States. The MINI “E” will be shown as a world premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show November 21st to November 30th.

Plug it baby....MINI E

No real speeding here...MINI E

The plan reveals that 500 units will be distributed to private and corporate customers in California, New York and New Jersey.  The MINI will be “juiced up” through a Lithium-Ionic battery, which will be able to accelerate the car in 8.5 sec from 0-60 mph. Top-Speed will be at around 90mph.  After approximate 125 miles the MINI “E” needs to re-join its power source - a regular plug.

one time beauty - always a beauty...MINI E

But the idea has a bitter sweet taste as well. The battery will be so big that the engineers had to remove the rear seat bench to make space for the power source, and the MINI “E” will be a pure 2-Seater. To shorten the charging time each MINI “E” will have a so called “wall-box” installed in the garage, which will help to re-charge a complete empty battery in only 150 minutes.

Juice it up...MINI E

Let’s see and wait how the MINI E will make its debut and how the considered clintele will rate the “usability” for a daily life in the congested city life in CA and NY.

keep smiling...MINI E

11th october 2008

surround me…
with your love..
*sings*
i need you now..

need you when i was at holland village…

i squeezed through the traffic at orchard..
just to be close to you..

i caught up with you again on the aye..

and when night falls at tanjong pagar..
i see you in the sunset lights…

22nd september 2008

the first time i ever see you dressed up like that…
was at novotel hotel..
congratulations…
to the people who are going to start a new life..

no matter how dark joo chiat was…
i see you..

happy ending to my day…

I don’t know about you but I grew up watching little MINIs running around. It’s suppose to be the fun compact runaround vehicle that could pack a punch every now and then and it’s the one car that I’d like to have in my garage when I grow up and car of choice when I feel just a tad naughty. Essentially, my impression of a MINI was the perfect car to terrorize lady drivers in SUVs or irritate snobbish fucks in their Mercedes.

Not anymore.

For one of those times, BMW has been trying to turn MINI into a yuppie vehicle. The new MINI Cooper looks cool, but the Clubman and now this SUV? Give me a break. MINIs are supposed to be small! That’s why it’s called a “MINI” get it? Why pump steroids into a lifestyle icon and taint its legendary image?

I dread to see what will come next. MINI-truck. MINI-limo. MINIvan.

This might just signal the death of the MINI that we all know.

You can read more of this “new” MINI from Paul Tan’s blog.

Ahora MINI hace todo lo contrario para la promoción de MINI Clubman “World’s biggest MINI”, ya que el mensaje es que el nuevo modelo viene más grande. No es nuestro modelo favorito, pero las ejecuciones en la calle de nuevo nos parecen muy buenas. Cualquier similitud con los anuncios contra desórdenes alimenticios es mera coincidencia.

30th august 2008

i was waiting at clarke quay taxi stand..
when i saw you making a turn..

almost like i was waiting for you..

22th august 2008

the morning after the iphone midnight launch..
are you here for another iconic thing?

pretty clubman

awwwwwww….look those little xmas socks..

In my mind, there is a gray area when it comes to bike modification. Specifically when looking at what makes a bike a cafe racer. If one were to look at all of the potential descriptors that one could use to define the prototypical cafe racer, the list would be reasonably long: low bars (clip-on or clubman), rear-sets, custom tank, stylized rear seat, spoked wheels, and maybe modified suspension that keeps the hard parts off the ground during cornering.

So then I look at this particular bike, where it has been modified with a set of clubman bars, and I think to myself, “Is this a cafe racer? Or is it just a bike with clubman bars?” I’m not sure if I have the answer.

However, as my bike (a 2005 H-D Sportster 883) has received only a partial number of the modifications that would generally describe a cafe racer, is it even okay for me to say that it has been cafe’d? Hmmm. I think I need to post some pictures of it and get opinions from all of the readers of this blog.

Regardless, this CB500 is a good starting point for a cafe racer, although I am always happier with clip-ons than clubmans…

Buell is labeling their newest creation a “21st Century Cafe Racer”.  Now, it is up to you to decide if this is really a cafe bike, but in my eyes it’s mean either way.  HONAHA has always been a big fan of what Buell does.  I love the idea of the loud v-twin in a sport package.  This baby produces 146 HP @ 9800 rpm which is enough to get me in some serious trouble.  If I were in the market for a nice new bike, Buell would be on the top of my list.  See all the specs, prices, and photos here.

Saturday we attended the MTTS - Mini Takes The States Rally.

We’re new Mini Cooper Clubman owners, so we didn’t really know what to expect. We got up super early on Saturday, and drove down to Lincoln Park Zoo to start out the rally. Thanks to our new mini friend Dan, we got there in plenty of time, and were 5th in line for the rally!

Mini Cooper Rally!

It was a gorgeous day for motoring. After an unsatisfying continental breakfast at the Zoo, we gathered with over 400 other mini coopers and their owners for the drive up to Road America Wisconsin. It was quite a sight - hundreds of various-colored and shaped minis, all on the road together, traveling north. The only impediment to our driving fast, real rally style - was the stupid traffic on the Edens.

But we made it!

The festival was well-organized and pretty fun. The area was beautiful and the Mini-ambassadors made us feel welcome. We made Mini bumper stickers:

We also walked around, met some lovely people from Rhinelander, WI, made friends with Paul from Minnesota, talked to Steve from New Jersey, learned about teardrops from a fellow from Oklahoma, drank free vitamin-water, got swag, people watched, bought Mini t-shirts, met Todd from White Roof Radio, test drove the new Mini Cooper John Cooper Works car on a tiny track, got lots of sun, ate ice cream, and generally had a swell time.

The most surprising thing about the day was there were no two minis alike. We thought for sure that we’d find our Mini Cooper Clubman Twin, but we didn’t! There wasn’t any car that looked like ours. I love that. It makes us feel unique in this world of sameness.

The highlight of the day for us was driving on the 4.2 mile racetrack at the end of the day. It made me laugh - the sight of all these tiny minis, motoring around the track, and we were one of them! I giggled the whole time.

Sometimes, objects in mirror are smaller than they appear.

We did the wave, mini-style.

We finished driving on the racetrack and made our way back to Chicago.

A perfect day for Mini Friends, for Mini Togetherness, for Mini Fun and for a Mini Rally. The Mini owners we met were all very nice, and the event made me glad that we bought a Mini. I wish it happened more than once every two years - I’m ready for the next one!

If you listen to the Scion Underground Podcast, or check the blog often, the name Craig Stanton should be familiar to you, but in case it’s not, Craig was the second driver of the Jackson-Dawson Scion tC, aka, the first tC to road race in a professional circuit. He and Dan Gardner helped to make Scion history earlier this month.

Craig Stanton

Well the guys over at WebRidestv.com had a crazy idea to test the new Mini Cooper Clubman S on, get this, a go-kart track! Mini’s have always been known for their “go-kart like handling”, and sure enough, they’re advertising the new Clubman as having the same handling characteristics. So what better place to prove that than a go-kart track against a real gas powered go-Kart? 

Mini Cooper Clubman S

Who won? You’ll have to see for yourself!

Here is another absolutely beautiful example of a Yamaha XS650 street tracker. This bike is one of the nicest Yamahas HONAHA has ever seen.  This is an amazing mixture of old and new school styling.  Notice the Buell front end, the front and rear discs, all the  modern exhaust and wheels all seamlessly inergrated with the old frame, engine, paint scheme, and plastics.  This is a true work of art.  I think my next project my be an XS.  For more info click.  Stick around for more to come.

The latest installment from webridestv offers a humorous review of the Clubman, with a “race” between a Clubman S and a go-kart on a slick, indoor track.

Found this cool video and would like to share with you all….

Mini Cooper Clubman vs Go-Kart

Click on the Picture to see the video!

People been talking about the Go-Kart-alike driving pleasure from a Mini Cooper and this video actually race a Cooper S with a Go Kart inside a indoor Go Kart course!

The Mini finally LOooooks BIG! Isnt it

So Buell has now got a new iteration of the kick-ass 1125R. With actual clubman bars and a small bikini-faring to go with the (some might say massive) cooling pods, the new Buell 1125CR looks to be a bike that can easily hang with other street-fighter-esque machines such as the Aprilia Tuono or the Triumph Speed Triple. There has been no downgrades on the spec sheet that I could find, so it should be as light and powerful as the R model. I can’t wait to see one of these in person.
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So I am on the Sportster Cafe Racer mailing list, and the overall consensus seems to be that the bike is fugly. Is this true?!?!? I think it is a good looking bike, and certainly places function at the forefront of its design ethic. On the other hand, if enough people (read “potential buyers”) think it is ugly personified, then perhaps I can pick one up at the end of the season for a steal…

the 8ruce entry for pimp my ride uk. such a hastily made video, started, finished and edited 2 hours before entry closure!

R.I.P V.I.Poo

This one is for all you do-it-yourselfers out there. Check out this home built electric motorcycle. Looks like the guy tied a few Optima dry-cell batteries together and hooked them to a little electric motor. This baby is rumored to go up to 45 mph, and have a range of a little over 20 miles. Also, this whole project cost under $3,000. I really like this idea, and think that it would be a really fun project to build an all electric cafe racer. For all the details on this bike click here.
Something like this may just be HONAHA’S next project if gas prices get much worse. Stay tuned.

I don’t know if I’m a fan of the paint job, but this is one well-built, clean motorcycle. I’d adjust the bars if it were my bike, but what a good build! My girlfriend really likes this bike. Nice job on the Tokico brakes!

I just got back from a week long vacation to the Oregon coast, so please forgive my lack of new posts. This is just a quick post regarding a past entry that highlighted some really cool bar end mirrors, but dont worry, more fresh posts soon. I wanted to share with the readers where to buy these mirrors since last time I wasn’t doing my job. This online store sells a ton of really nice bar end mirrors… get them all day everyday here. Isn’t HONAHA great… always coming through clutch to get you the hard to find stuff. Enjoy.

Llega al país el Mini Clubman, que no es más que una versión familiar del Mini. A diferencia de Europa, donde el Clubman se vende desde noviembre del año pasado, al país llegará en una única versión con un motor 1.6 turbo de 175 CV con caja manual de seis marchas.

En materia de seguridad cuenta con ABS, sistema de distribución electrónica de la fuerza de frenado EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), sistema de regulación de frenado en curvas (CBC), control dinámico de estabilidad (DSC), y control dinámico de frenado (DBC) el cual detecta situaciones de frenado de emergencia. Seis airbags, cinturones automáticos de tres puntos de anclaje en todos los asientos con tensor y limitador de tensión en los cinturones de los asientos delanteros, advertencia de conexión de cinturón de seguridad y sistema ISOFIX de anclaje de asientos para niños de serie en los asientos posteriores.

Detalles: la puerta “trasera” lateral que abre en sentido contrario únicamente del lado derecho (Clubdoor) del automóvil y la doble puerta trasera (Splitdoor). La capacidad en su baúl es de 260 litros, y al abatir los asientos posteriores aumenta a 930 litros de espacio

Para poder adquirirlo BMW decidió ponerlo a la venta utilizando el mismo método que usó para el X6. Es decir a través de la web de Mini, donde los clientes de la marca lo pudieron hacer con algunos días de anticipación. Ah, y la posibilidad de desembolsar U$D 45.900.

Pueden ver más fotos aquí

This is way overdue, but here it is. I took these pictures of my cb550 last night, and thought I had better let everyone know what was new with my project. I don’t have a ton of time to work on this so its taken me a while to get much done, but here it is. All the details, and more pictures can be found on the “My CB550” page. I want you all to check it out, and leave me some comments about it. Also, let me know if you have questions about the bike or anything else for that matter. Look it over good here.

WOW. Back to back double picture days. You guys are really getting spoiled. Enjoy it. Always more here.

I figured it’s about time to highlight another bike today, so I chose this beautiful example of a cb750. This bike is the quintessential cb750 cafe racer. Check out the dope clip-on handle bars, the dual drilled front rotors, the giant Norton style tank, and the classic bubble cafe seat. Even the paint scheme screams classic. I really like this bike because it seems to be such a pure example of what so many of us motorcycle enthusiasts strive to create. Take notes and look it over closely because it’s the perfect mix of cafe and vintage.

Here is another view of this beauty. Double picture day. How lucky. Stick around for more posts and news here.