My Bike Modifications Honda CBR125R

Ok… Ok… so I know people don’t really mod these babies but this is my first bike after all and obviously I want her to look her best 🙂

The inspiration for the mods on my bike comes from Ash Bandicoot. He use to have a YouTube channel but now only shares his bike stuff on Instagram @ash_cbr_grom

There are quite a few things that I want to do on my bike but since “winter is coming”…. I’ll be focusing on some of my other hobbies for the next few months.

Wheel Stickers

Seat Cowl

The first thing I changed on my bike was the seat cowl. Its not the cowl for my bike but rather for the CBR250. It needed some modifications to make it fit. Its on…. it may not come off again but we’ll have to worry about that later.

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Seat Cowl from madhornets.com

Dark Tint Headlight Protector

The next thing was add a Dark Tint Headlight Protector. Its was a little harder to install than I thought because the M3 glue stickers they sent with the cover took forever to warm up and when it eventually did… it didn’t want to stick to the bike so I had to opt for clear valcro dots instead

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The tinted headlight protector was from ebay

Dark Tinted Double Bubble Screen

Then I changed the current screen with a Dark Tinted Double Bubble Screen. I had to take off all of the front side faring to install the screen but luckily my husband helped me with that.

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The double bubble screen was also from ebay

GSG-MOTOTECHNIK Crash Bungs –  on ebay unfortunately I don’t have the link for that one

Lastly I had to add some Crush Bungs. I only did the ones on the body. I will have to add the ones on the wheels soon too.

She’s a real beast now!!!!

 

 

Best things to do in Korea

I’m always looking for something fun to do. Korea like any other place can become boring. As you know our city isn’t really big and we don’t have all the luxuries that other cities have, therefore we have to go to Seoul or Busan to enjoy some of the activities.

There is a list of 101 things to do in Seoul/Korea of which 32 of those include eating or drinking, the rest is dedicated to tourist stuff, shopping etc. After 3 years in Korea we’ve done most of those things. Sometimes I’m looking for something more physical and although Noraebang can be fun, for someone who can’t sing its not such a great experience. The things that I enjoyed the most were things that allowed me to be physically active.

So let’s get to the few things I really enjoyed doing here in Korea

 1.Screen Baseball

earlier this year we had a new teacher join our school and she is so vibrant and energetic. She suggested that we go do Screen Baseball. I’ve seen the Screen Golf before and found it kind of boring since I’m not a golf kinda gal, but I really really enjoyed the Baseball. You can play minor or major league. As a beginner we did the minor league. the pitcher is much closer and its easier to hit. With the major league the pitcher is further away and the ball comes at an increased speed, which takes some practice. But if you like hitting stuff, Screen Baseball might be for you!

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2.Escape room games

We have some friends who do this regularly and although I’ve read about it online I haven’t really tried it until October this year. My husband and I went to the one in Busan. We had a lot of fun, some of the clues are easier than they seem and it can cause you to spend too much time on some of the puzzles but we really enjoyed working together to sort out the puzzles, it is something I would absolutely try again. The one in Busan is a franchise with branches around Korea. The entrance fee is 22,000 ($22), 2-8 players are allowed and the game lasts about an hour.

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3.Party room

Party rooms are rooms that you can hire for a few hours or an evening, they are quite expensive but as a big group you can split the bill. Some of them have swimming pools and others have in-home Kareoke areas and darts, or pool tables. In addition to the designated Party Rooms, there are a few really big apartments you can rent on Airbnb to have a house party or get together.

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4.Motorcycling 

Buying a bike in Korea was the absolute best thing for me. With a bike you have the freedom to go almost anywhere ( you can’t go on the highway with your bike). It gives you absolute freedom. You can explore your city or drive out to the country. You can even explore neighbouring cities. In summer we even went to the beach.

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5.Bowling

Its notable though that the bowling arena’s look like night clubs at night and have loud music and strobe lights which is pretty cool when you’re in the mood.

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6.Clubbing

As far as clubbing goes, most places charge a 30,000 won ($30), on free drink included, entrance fee and the drinks are around 12,000 ($12) which is pretty expensive for just a beer. You can get tables for around 450,000 – 900,000 won ($450-$900). This means if you don’t get a table you have to stand while most of the tables are empty. In addition, Koreans don’t dance on the dance floor, they just stand there and glare at their cellphones, they don’t even hop or bob or sway…. so not too much fun if you like the bodies moving around you while you’re dancing 😦

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I hope you find something fun to do in Korea

Coffee Talk- update on our Korean Bike Licenses

Hi guys… so just an update on our bike licenses. Last week we went to do the practical test and got our Korean Bike licenses Yay!!! My husband got a perfect score on his test but I was so nervous that I missed the very first turn. After that I put my foot down which is also a no-no and an immediate fail. Throughout the rest of the test all I could think of was ” Oh no I don’t want to come and do this again next week” I was so concerned about redoing the test that I didn’t concentrate on the rest of the course and made no further mistakes. When I stopped the bike at the end of the course everyone applauded me and I was really confused because according to me I put my foot down… but my husband told me that I put my foot out… but it never touched the ground. So I passed the test after all 😀

Furthermore I finally got outfits for my dolls that I ordered just before Easter. It took a very long time to get here but now I have it. I ordered it from Lovely Woods when I bought my first doll and wanted to recreate Harley Quinn and a female Joker. Since it took so long to get here however, I scrapped that idea and just made my own custom doll. I dressed Cinnamon in one of the outfits and took her outside. I’m still deciding whether or not to do a Harley Quinn doll so for now I won’t share that outfit yet but here is Cinnamon in the park 😛

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Bike Modifications

Hi guys!!! As you all know… we decided to buy motorcycles a few months ago. Since then my husband has really gotten exited about his bike and has made a few visual modifications. He hasn’t done anything to the engine yet but he has done quite a few regarding the graphics

This is what his bike looked like when he got it. It was already done up a little by the previous owner.

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The first thing my husband wanted to change was the colour of the bike. He ordered custom graphics from Scrubdesignz. He sent them this pic that he kind of designed himself. He also changed the shrouts on the side of the bike as it had a few scratches.

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He then sent it to Scrubdesignz indicating he colors he would like on the bike and this is what they sent him.

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He then on and added some rim stickers,

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brake and clutch lever,

 

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hand guards and added some rear view mirrors.

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Currently this is what it looks like now.

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What do you guys think?

5 Things to know before buying a Bike in Korea

So… I bought a bike. It all started with my husband buying one a few months ago so naturally if he can have one, I wanted one too :P. There are some things that I learned from his experience that helped me plan and budget before buying my own bike. My husband did a lot of research on his bike before purchasing it, but inevitably there will always be things the internet can’t tell you. Hopefully this post will help you decide whether a bike would be the right mode of transport for you here in Korea.

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If you are interested in buying a motorcycle in Korea, you’ll have a few options. First you can go the Bike street in Chungmuro. By subway you can go to Chungmuro  walk east out of Exit 1 or 8. You’ll walk past a few petshops and then reach the bike shops. To be honest the internet made it sound much more amazing than it actually was, however I bought my bike there :). In addition you could have a look on bikepasso.co.kr. They have all kinds of bikes for sale on there. You can phone the sellers and arrange a meeting to view the bikes you are interested in. When you’re ready to buy a bike give the man his money and make sure that you receive 3 documents namely the 1. Certificate of Ownership (ingam jeungyeongso), 2. Title Transfer Form (yangdo jeungyeongso) and 3. Release of Ownership Letter (sayong peji jeungyeongso)source

2.Insurance

Before being able to register your bike on your name and get your licence plates you have to get insurance. It only covers the other person’s vehicle if you get in an accident with another car so don’t expect to claim insurance if your bike gets stolen. The insurance is mandatory and you can’t get your bike registered without it. For a first time vehicle user in Korea you will most likely pay 300,000 Korean won for the first year. The price goes down as you build experience in Korea. ( It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been driving in other countries) Also, you pay yearly and not monthly so make sure that you have the money for the insurance ready.

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3.Bike registration fees

OK so now you’ve got your insurance paper. Now you can go to the vehicle registration department. Take your bike papers, your ARC card and proof of insurance with you. In addition you have to pay licensing fees that are supposed to be 5% of the bikes selling price but from experience I can tell you that this isn’t the case.  My husband and I bought our bikes for more or less the same price. He has a 400cc Suzuki DRZ and I have a Honda CBR125r. He paid 300,000 Korean won ($300)  for his registration and I only paid only 47,000 ($47). Evidently there is more at stake than just the price you paid for your bike but be prepared to pay at least 5%. There is also an additional 12,000 Won that you will pay to various agents within the registration department for example the number plate office.

In addition to this you have to pay taxes for your bike every 6 months. I’m not sure how true this is as I only had to pay taxes once so far but my husband seems to get an invoice every 3 months for taxes. I’m not sure if this is because of the size of his bike or what but it is curious….

4.Getting a motorcycle licence

The next step will be getting yourself to legally drive on Korean roads by getting a Korean drivers licence. Luckily this step isn’t too complicated but it will take some time to get everything you need. For a bike less than 125cc, you can just swap your drivers licence from your country of origin with a Korean drivers licence. To be able to swap your licence you’ll need your embassy to verify that your licence is legit. The embassy will just copy your licence, stamp and sign it. This is only a problem if you live far away from Seoul, and since the embassy is only open during the week you might have to take a day or a morning off from work. You then take your original licence, the certified copy and your ARC card to your local vehicle licencing department. At the licence department you’ll pay around 27,000-35,000 Won for everything. This includes an eye test and written theory test. If you’ve passed any kind of drivers licence theory test you should be OK on this as you only need to get a mark of 60 to pass.

If your bike is larger than 125cc, then you have to get a  Korean motorcycle license. I explained how to do that here.

These are the basics for buying a bike in Korea…

5. All you have to do now is  enjoy your new bike!!!

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