Ryan S

I had the opportunity to travel to Surabaya, Indonesia for a week long event consisting of a motorcycle racing series consisting of scooters. LOL these aren't just your normal run of the mill scooters however, they are extremely fast ( a step down from watching moto gp 125cc). In Indonesia EVERYBODY rides a 150cc bike, whether it's 2 stroke for 4 stroke. Similar to China, there are very few big bikes in the country and the ones that are, well lets just say they aren't exactly legal. this trip just proved to me a little about the nature of humans---we all want to race and stunt ride, no matter how fast we can go or how big of a bike we have, there is a certain genetic strain in the human body that pushes certain people to go fast--all over the world

i'm going to start from the top, so here goes.

I finally got in about 10 hours ago.....here's how my
trip went.

After getting to o'hare at 10am monday morning, I got
on my flight at 12:45pm luckily i got an emergency
exit seat ( a trick i have learned from
flying---unlimited leg room) the food sucked on this
flight and i didn't sleep more than 2 of the 13 hour
flight...I landed in Tokyo, Japan and had a 2 hour
layover, i went and bought some macdonalds so i could
get some japanese yen in change haha they have some
cool looking money, but their mcdonalds tastes like
**** just like any mcdonalds. I boarded my next
flight and got another emergency exit seat out of this
7 hour flight i was awake maybe 45 minutes, i fell
asleep before the plane even took off!!! luckily i
didn't have to force myself to eat the crappy meal
that i'm sure they served, but i was starving by the
time i got to singapore. Mathew's buddy andrew picked
me up from the airport at 11pm, he gave me a tour
around singapore and then i went over to mathew's
house. I had the brilliant idea to NOT sleep since i
hadn't seen mathew in so long and my jet lag would
probably be worse......6am mathew took me to the
airport to jump on singapore airlines---MUCH nicer
than united airlines i must add. After just an hour
in the air i landed in Jakarta, Indonesia.....WOW

I met up with Edhy, my agent in indonesia, very cool
guy, was there on time to pick me up from the
airport.....it was like walking into an oven off that
plane, its extremely hot in indonesia. We needed to
take a plane at 1:30 to Surabaya via indonesian
airlines-----i knew this was going to suck after being
on a chinese airline last year.....i just knew it.

so we go to get on the plane in this peice of ****
airport (no air conditioning, bums laying everywhere
etc.) find out the flight is delayed an hour--care to
explain to me how you get a delay on a perfect weather
day???? whatever, so we wait, finally board the plane
by 2:45.....it's PACKED because they sell tickets for
30 dollars usd for an hour long flight, general public
can afford this....they shut the door and sit on the
runway for about 30 mins, air conditioning didn't work
on the runway, it was WAY over 110 degrees in that
airplane, kids screaming, i'm just praying that we
take off soon.....finally....i fall asleep right after
take off.....just to be awakened by my ear about to
burst, for some reason my ear wouldn't pop until we
were on the ground, it hurt like hell i though my ear
drum was going to come poping out on the window next
to me.

so i get to go check out my bike-to my surprise it's
beautiful, white wheels, with blue bodywork, just
looks awesome, way more than what i expected-i gave
the mechanics my parts and went to eat some steak at a
restaurant (i have learned to request steak because
that will lead me to more western
food--hamburgers-YEAH RIGHT.)

so after getting my internet hooked up last night and
finding out that i have to sit in a hotel loby to use
it, i decided that i better just sleep.....i got to
sleep on a bed at 11pm wed. night after taking off to
chicago ohare at 7am monday morning.

Ryan S

So i had thursday and friday to get used to an 05 636...i figured it wouldn't be a big deal because i ride an 03-04 636.....the thing i didn't take into account is the fact that this bike has a european spec motor which provides plenty of high end power, but very little low end, which SUCKS for circles, no handers, and event highchairs and spreaders....

thursday the bike wasn't going to be ready till noon, which was fine because i had jet lag and needed the sleep anyways.....when i arrive to the track every little possible thing seemed to go wrong, i thought i could run with the clip ons below the tripple like stock, but i ended up needing every bit of control i could get out of this bike so i had them put on top and the mechanics went to town hacking the upper fairing apart. the rear brake rotor and pads were glazing on me due to something being on the rotor.....like i said, i rode well past dark and still hadn't turned a circle on this bike.....


friday we are going to get up early and get to the track with plenty of the day to get used to the bike....lol after braking my handbrake lever last night, the mechanics were running around town trying to find a welder......we got to the track at 11am lol no big deal.....i got one session in and the brakes felt like **** again.....it's 1pm and i had to go to a press conference....i still hadn't turned a single circle, havent ridden a balance point highchair and a couple suck *** spreaders.....i pretty much feel like the worlds biggest retard at this point---i honestly wanted to quit and say sorry, i'm heading back home guys!!!! so i go to this press conference and give my professional sounding speach as always and ate a big fancy dinner...which was nice, i was hungry. we get back to the track at 6pm and decide to go down the road a little way to a different practice area

so we pull up to this road and to my amazement there are a bunch of guys riding circle wheelies on 150 cc bikes (which are all over here, no big bikes) we just happened to pull up to the practice spot of the only stunt riders in indonesia....which is just what i needed....it was like back home hanging at the spot with the guys....i started crankin circles in about 15 mins and made a bunch of fans.....these guys know all about stuntlife.com and american stuntriding, they showed up to this event because they heard that i was showing up. which i was quite honored by!!!! it felt good to finally be able to ride this thing halfway decent. at 9pm i went to the radio station for an interview (most people here understand english and also speak it)

so i had 3 shows today.....after one of my patended Ryan S burnouts my bike shuts off.....dead battery...no big deal, just cut that show short and throw a new battery in......next show i do one seat stander, then go for a long stoppie, after 100 feet into the stoppie i hear that horrid sound of a rod bearing exploding....chucked the motor.....i now have 4 mechanics working through the night tearing the motor out and trying to fit a gsxr rod bearing in the motor for me to limp it through tommorow's shows.....talk about feeling like an ***.....


on a lighter note, the food provided by room service is tasting great right now!!!!

Sunday morning came and i went downstairs to meet with everybody at 7am...the mechanics and everybody were there with smiles on their faces it was 5am when the finally restarted the bike and discovered that it wasn't making noise anymore. Turns out that i blew 3 rod bearings, which means the crank, 3 rods, and 3 sets of bearings were destroyed...i shut the motor down just in time to severely damage the crank, but they ended up taking 3 rods and bearings out of a GSXR 400 motor they had laying around and made them fit in a 2005 kawi 636 LOL when they told me this, i was CERTAIN that this motor was going to grenade after one show.

I had a lot on the line sunday, there were over 20k people in attendance and my shows pretty much dictated whether or not my future with this company was going to happen. I put marks on my gauges between 10k and 12k and told myself i wasn't going to rev it past 12 if my life depended on it. long story short, the bike made it all the way to the end of the day and was still running strong!!! i couldn't believe it....i still can't

somebody was looking out for my future, that's for sure


so after the race event i traveled to singapore to meet up with my buddy matthew who was the reason i went to china in the first place last year...he arranged a trip for me to go to malaysia and ride at a track day at a circuit in malaysia....i was totally looking forward to this, kind of a true vacation......moto gp and world superbike raced at this track in the 90's, but have moved onto bigger and better circuits, this place was like walking into a ghost town, which was cool as hell

i rode an 06 r6 which was all race prepped....i was only 20 seconds off the race speed times, but there was no way i was going to push it any more than that.....i made it all of last week without going to the medical shed....i didn't need that at all....i was happy with my times.

we ate at the best seafood restaurant that night.....we traveled along a gravel road for a few miles and came to a clearing in the jungle alongside the ocean....i was like WHOA where the hell did you guys bring me?! it looked like the biggest dump...whatever, so we walk out onto a peir/restaurant (it had a roof over the top) you litterally walk down another set of peirs to the ocean where they have the catch of the day hanging out in nets....pick whatever you want them to fry up....crab, grouper, mussles....whatever......it was the best seafood i've ever ate....damn awesome.

i hung out in singapore for a day traveling to all the bike shops and lining up some shows for this fall....typical buisness stuff....and then got on a plane at 3am and enjoyed my 20 hour flight back home....i'm posting all this at 3 am because i have jet lag.

Ryan S

the first two pics are my favorite...i've been in a lot of magazines and newspapers, but this is my first ever cover....definately a great honor.




i had to get a tire changed and the guys at the work station recognized me from the paper the night before LOL that was pretty cool








here's my bike the nite before the big show LOL










sounding all professional and stuff.

Ryan S

these are the "scooters" that they were racing....keep in mind, yamaha, honda, kawi, suzuki all have factory sponsorships for this series.






no pull tabs, but returnable glass bottles LOL




quick story on this scene....i saw a guy ride up on a bicycle with two goats on a leash.....i ran back to get my camera and when i came back he was gone...he left his bicycle....i thought to myself "if i were a guy walking two goats, where would i exactly go?" then i realized.....nope, not going to figure that one out....so here's his bike.

welder.

Ryan S

pizza hut!




typical bike shop in surabaya...take note of the pool table outside.

Ryan S

surabaya stunt team








what's wrong with this pic?

Ryan S

people overseas really like the "reckless" american style....so we must all be doing something right!!!

TheRomanSF415x

that is cool as ****!
man youre goin all over asia what spot is next?

Ryan S

i'm keeping my fingers crossed.....hopefully i will be going to indonesia a lot more next year....can't really say too much yet, but it's sounding pretty decent.....sounds like i'll be in singapore this fall as well for a big show....gotta hustle to stay in this sport!!

sytfu_RR

sick pics, and sounded like a fun trip.

aaronloi

Good event bro. Next stop to Malaysia. You shoulda tape some videos of illegal bike racer over asia eg. in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and others, they are zig zagging over at a quite heavy traffic at speeds up to 150 km/h or 110 mph

aaronloi

Especially country like indonesia, malaysia, thailand. They even race illegally at road at speeds up to 150 kmh. Some of the illegal racer didnt stop for red light instead they rush out and weaved even there are oncoming cars at the other side.

Schultzy

Glad to have you back home buddy...

T'RIC'KY

When will we see the "Ryan S" with a brandmark on your bike?...lol
Absolutely great job Ryan, Im always surprised how you get all that **** managed. I mean, where do you get the bikes from with full stunt setup and paintjob? I know you have mc dealers that get the bikes for you but who makes it stuntable?
It´s amazing to see such a professional performance in a country like Indonesia.
Must be a assload of work long before you start the trip.
Congrats once again!

Lukas

That looks like a amazing trip! Sweet pictures, the bike looked AWSOME! Great paint job! You should have taken it with you to US!

Ryan S

actually it is a lot of work to get a bike set up....i hand carry the sprocket and handbrake and bars....but i basically request a stock setup bike....i can modify it from there....these guys were able to make a 12 bar and cage for me which was cool....but the days before the event starts is the most stressfull, trying to get the bike to feel somewhat similar to what i'm used to back home.....it becomes even harder when you have to worry about the motor blowing at any second and the clutch cable fraying and your riding one of the only 2 636's in the country LOL

Joker

Sweet pics man, looks like it was a good time.

joey b

looks like alot of fun and dam your bike looks great

ksolo

awesome bro. travelin the globe gettin paid to ride. i here that the women over flock to american guys like crazy, true or not?

Righteous 1

Great story! Way to represent!