Tips of surviving spore traffic with panniers

[blue_ave]

What bike are you riding??

 

Haha it's not that I ride bug bike, I just didn't realized it can be quite wide with panniers and the handle bar, 800mm minimum lol

 

Fazer 6 bro. Yes, its not the bike, but the panniers which increase the width of the bike.

 

I avoid the biometric lane at Woodlands checkpoint. I would either graze the wall or hit the poles or go really slow and hold up everybody.

 

Whenever possible, I also avoid. But sometimes when the bike queue is long and I just don't want to inhale all the cub smoke, i'd take a chance with the 'narrow plank'.

[scubasimon]

I ride with all the boxes on my bike all the time. My pannier width are slightly wider than my handle bars which makes gauging a little more tricky but with practice it eventually becomes second nature.

 

The key is to be patient with yourself and give yourself time to get familiar with your bike's width. Hug the tank with your thighs, steady throttle roll on and off, don't ride too fast in relation to traffic on your left and right, give way when you are not able to squeeze (usually 10% of the time) and enjoy your ride.

[slayer2cool]

I kinda agree with the hugging of tank, it helps. Haha use more rear brakes to scrub off speed, got it. Think I will install back my panniers once more and give it a go lol though I work in jurong island and morning traffic into the island is just crap especially with panniers. Haha

 

Btw your pillions got problem mounting the bike with the panniers?

[Keoni]

Btw your pillions got problem mounting the bike with the panniers?

 

My pillion gets on first on the rider's seat then slides back to the pillion seat. Then I get on.

[ahpuila1]

Some feats...

[slayer2cool]

My pillion gets on first on the rider's seat then slides back to the pillion seat. Then I get on.

 

Your bike on side/ main stand?? Haha i find it harder to get the bike up right from the stand when my pillion goes up like that

[Keoni]

On side stand. I always get on with the side stand down, with or without pillion.

[slayer2cool]

On side stand. I always get on with the side stand down, with or without pillion.

 

Will try it out with my pillion.

[rhema83]

When I rode VFR800, the panniers were wider than my handlebars and I had to be careful. My "trick" was to visualise. Can I imagine my VFR with panniers fitting between the cars in front of me? If it is a confident "yes", I will go. If not, I wait for the gap to widen. You cannot be impatient when riding with panniers, cos it's going to cost you (from minor scratches to accident).

 

I made the mistake of trying to use the biometric lanes at Woodlands and Tuas. On both occasions my panniers got scratched. At Woodlands, it was just a string of scratching sounds and cursing as I slowly moved between the pillars and metal poles. But for Tuas, the bike was squeezed between the fingerprint scanner counter and the divider. It was so bad that I nearly lost balance. My leg was getting pinned between the bike the divider, and I couldn't move the bike the other way because of the ERP machine that sticks out.

 

Needless to say, I always used manual lanes after that.

[slayer2cool]

When I rode VFR800, the panniers were wider than my handlebars and I had to be careful. My "trick" was to visualise. Can I imagine my VFR with panniers fitting between the cars in front of me? If it is a confident "yes", I will go. If not, I wait for the gap to widen. You cannot be impatient when riding with panniers, cos it's going to cost you (from minor scratches to accident).

 

I made the mistake of trying to use the biometric lanes at Woodlands and Tuas. On both occasions my panniers got scratched. At Woodlands, it was just a string of scratching sounds and cursing as I slowly moved between the pillars and metal poles. But for Tuas, the bike was squeezed between the fingerprint scanner counter and the divider. It was so bad that I nearly lost balance. My leg was getting pinned between the bike the divider, and I couldn't move the bike the other way because of the ERP machine that sticks out.

 

Needless to say, I always used manual lanes after that.

 

Oh I always had the impression the tuas lane are bigger haha. For me the problem is worst when traffic is really slow or at a stand still. But the visualization trick really work, it gives you the confidence to move or not. I'm still trying to work on my patience though haha

[Limiter]

really need good skill and estimation to lane split