Seeing the countryside on a folding bike is possible if you have the right bicycle and equipment

Bicycle touring can be fun and now, you can do it on a folding bike.

HELLO foldies!
In this issue, we explore the possibilities of touring with a folding bike.

Now, many Malaysians have been abroad for their holidays without even knowing what is good in their country. I met a dude sometime back who spends his holidays in London and Los Angeles on a regular basis.

He cycles and when asked about rides around Peninsular Malaysia, the guy's reaction was: "Huh?". The only cycling he does, is a ride from his apartment to a cafe in an upmarket neighbourhood in the city. Anything beyond that draws a blank face from this yuppie dude.

Sad, but true, guys like him can tell me where find good food in Soho, London rather than where to eat in Malacca or Penang.

There's plenty to see especially in small towns around Peninsular Malaysia.

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Since getting my first folding bike in 2009, one of my dreams was to go on a short bicycling tour. It took me some time to rig and outfit my Dahon Speed P8 for this purpose and one of the first ride I planned, was a trip from Port Dickson to Malacca and back with Michelle, my wife.

In 2011, I had outfitted her with a Dahon Speed TR, one of the best folding bikes around which is built for long-distance rides. To her, its a far cry from her 3-speed Dahon Curve D3. The Speed TR has everything it takes to hit the road on long trips.

My next course of action was to outfit the bikes with a pair of panniers. We first did a tour of Betong in Thailand with renowned bikepacker TT Siang and a group of fellow folding bicyclists who pioneered this class of bikes in the country.
The Topeak panniers didn't really suit our purpose and later, I scored a set of Ortlieb back and frontroller panniers from a dealer in Singapore called Fall Factor.

But before we hit the road, Michelle and I had trained with Century rides on our foldies.  We did at least two before deciding on the Port Dickson – Malacca – Port Dickson trip.

Our plan was simple. Park in Negeri Sembilan and ride towards Malacca. This is also popular route for touring cyclists who came across from Thailand towards Singapore.

Be sure to pack a good camera as there are plenty of things to see and capture along the way.

The distance between Port Dickson to Malacca is 72.5km and to get there, we have to ride to towns like Pasir Panjang, Pengkalan Balak, Masjid Tanah and Sungai Udang.

With a minimum load of 30kgs on the panniers, the SRAM Dual-Drive II drivetrain on Michelle's Speed TR did help in making the ride smooth.

Basically, the Speed TR is a 24-speed bike that enables you to haul stuff and take on slopes, hills and the long straights. From Port Dickson, it took us more than eight hours to reach Malacca.

Michelle cycling along Pasir Panjang in Negeri Sembilan on her Dahon Speed TR.

Along the way, we pulled over to check out the scenic villages along Negeri Sembilan and Malacca's shoreline and made at least two scheduled stops for late breakfast and tea.

Since the route is populated and there is a small town on every 20km in the ride, we saw no need to pack food.
Our ride was self-supported (no back-up car), we hauled along recovery kits for repairing the bike as well as patch -up punctures. But lucky for us, the ride was puncture-free.

Michelle cycling along Pasir Panjang in Negeri Sembilan on her Dahon Speed TR.

There are no issues at all when it comes to traveling with your folding bike. These can be easily stowed in your hotel room at no additional charge.

We reached Malacca late in the afternoon and checked-in at a hotel and there was no issues at all hauling the folding bikes into our room. A night in this historical city was enough to cover our tour and the next day, we continued our ride back to Port Dickson.

The total mileage clocked was 145km and we were happy to conclude the ride without much issues. Our bikes held up pretty well and with this successful outing, we are definitely looking forward to more touring rides around the country.

An accomplishment: the writer and his wife after a successful ride from Port Dickson to Malacca.

Perhaps after seeing much of Malaysia, we are ready to take on other countries in Asia, Europe and the United States.