Buying A Bicycle in Singapore
Last week, I went scouting for a bicycle in Singapore. The first store I hit was the Trek store at Tanglin Road. The staff were very helpful but as it was the first store I visited, I didn’t get anything from there. The next day, I headed to Tay Junction at Bukit Timah to check out some Specialized, Kona, and Giant bikes.
Tay Junction 2 at Bukit Timah
Had my stay in Singapore been longer, I would have explored a few more stores in the East Coast area (where the cycle scene is) but I was also not looking to spend a few Gs so it was not necessary to be overly demanding of the features. Although my ultimate goal is to get into triathlons, I decided to get a mountain bike first so that I can cycle around Sabah’s mountainous terrain and be able to maneuver over bumps, gravel and potholes confidently.
In the end, I got a 24-speed hardtail GT Avalanche 3.0 women’s mountain bike from Tay Junction’s other store. It comes with disc breaks, a convenient suspension lock, but more importantly the frame’s geometry fits my body perfectly. A far cry from my brother’s hand-me-down which gave me back problems.
My first bike the GT Avalanche 3.0 Women's Mountain Bike
Gear
I also bought some functional gear to keep me motivated. My “Motivational Pack” includes a GT jersey, Orca bike shorts, Specialized helmet, Specialized shoes, Giant gloves and Descente socks. They aren’t particularly mountain-bike specific (more like gear for long road rides on a mountain bike if that makes sense). 
Great gear
As you can see, this was a conscious effort to make sure things matched (women huh?) I’m very impressed with the Orca pants and will likely look into trying some more of their gear in the near future. It is very well-made, really comfortable and fits my precious derriere perfectly without making me feel like I have a maligned butt graft. Well done Orca!
Taking it Back to Sabah
I thought it was going to be a pain to fly with such a chunky item, but actually it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The folks at Tay Junction were so kind to deliver the bike to my hotel free of charge, the concierge took it up to my room, took it down from my room the next day, loaded it to a pre-booked oversized taxi and when I got to the airport I paid SGD $16 for Air Asia’s Sports Equipment fee.
I made sure my dad took our widest car and when I got back to K.K., we loaded it into the boot. The bike box weighed 17kgs (2kgs overweight) but I wasn’t charged extra. A few days later, I took it to my local bike shop and it was assembled in 20 minutes. That’s pretty much it!
Shopping for a bike in Singapore is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it to anyone living in Kota Kinabalu who is considering on getting a new bike. I’ve taken my bike out around the block twice to test and it rides beautifully. The next step would be to name it and take it out on rides with other mountain bikers. My friend Spidey calls it George Tan (for GT) but I’ll forgive him for he knows not the sin he has committed!
