Dirt biking day trip to Malaysia from Singapore

Best Bits

Leaving our beloved, clean, Singapore to get down and dusty in the plantations of Malaysia, and then coming back to our clean city at the end of the day!

The sense of accomplishment we shared as a big group on this challenging outing.

Everyone was able to do it! We split ourselves into 2 groups - the helmet heads and the beginners, which included people who had never ridden a motorbike before and we all managed and enjoyed ourselves.

Worst Bits

None really - I was expecting havoc at the JB border crossing between Singapore and Malaysia and although it was swarming with people, it was really smooth.

Trip Dates and Comments on Timing

Mid-May — Excellent. It didn’t rain which is the main thing. The weather is the same as it is in Singapore - hot, humid and with the potential for hard rains any day. The shade of the palm trees and constant movement on the bikes made it feel a little less hot but it’s a really sweaty day.

Arrival Logistics

Our 21-seater coaster bus picked us up at our chosen pick-up points in Singapore starting at 7am. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the Johor Bahru border crossing and then another 20 minutes or so from JB to the dirt biking office which is a house in a residential area. Crossing the border probably took around 30 minutes max. The bus company was recommended by the dirt biking company which was handy because they knew where they were going and communicated directly with the company.

Main Activities

Dirt biking and dinner

Food and Drink Highlights

Most of brought a packed lunch and for those who preferred, there was the option to buy something from one of the nearby coffee shops (local food centre, not expat cafe) to pack. Once we got out on the trail we weren’t near any services.

At the end of the day we stopped at Makanan Yew Meng restaurant in JB for dinner - a friend recommended it, specifically their cereal prawns and pork ribs. It was a great place to share some delicious local food, down some beers and tell stories about the day. It was also dirt cheap - about SGD $15 / person for a massive amount of food including lots of seafood, and copious bottles of Tiger beer.

Essential Packing for this Trip

The dirt biking company will provide you with a comprehensive list of what they have and what you should bring. From experience, I would recommend you take the following:

• lots of water (at least 2 L each)
• a packed lunch
• a backpack (bikes have no panniers)
• a waterproof bag in case it rains
• your passport
• Malaysian ringgit
• a full face helmet if you have one, otherwise you wear the ones they have (included in rental cost)
• towel if you want to use their shower after
• long, loose fitting jeans or cargo pants or yoga pants - important so it’s easy to put on the shin and knee guards under the riding pants and jersey they provide, and it also provides extra protection from the heat of the exhaust pipe
• boots if you choose not to rent theirs
• riding gloves if you don’t want to wear theirs
• sunglasses, sun cream if you’re left with any skin showing, like the bit where your sleeve comes away from your glove or the back of your neck!
• your rental includes: bike, full face helmet, gloves, elbow guards, knee+shin guards
• they also have to rent: Go Pro, riding boots, riding pants and jersey, goggles

Our Experience…

We organised this activity as a weekend outing for colleagues, partners and friends. There are a few companies in JB who run dirt biking outings. We chose Tristan Group because some of the group had been out with them once before. They were really good to deal with, organised, they were friendly and professional and the prices were competitive (chart later). The equipment was decent but worn, they didn’t have the perfect size of boots for everyone, but we made it work. The only real downside was that they only had 2 higher powered bikes in use at the time, so some of our more experienced riders were on a KLX 150S when they would have liked to have been on the KTM 200 or CRF 250. Two people in our group rode ATVs instead of motorbikes. Those are harder than they look, mostly because many of the trails are better suited to 2 wheels, not 4.

It took a while to get everyone kitted out and dressed at the office (we were 19 people) and then we piled into trucks (including into the truck bed) to make another pit stop at the bike garage to the load bikes while we had coffee and snacks at the coffee shop next door, before finally heading out to the starting point.

It seemed to take ages and was a bit uncomfortable dressed in so many layers, but you quickly forget how long it took to get there when you put your hands on your bike.

As a ‘warm-up’, they sent us out to do a few loops on a small track to test the bikes and determine how we would split into groups. This was nuts. It was a really small track with deep sand and 19 of us chomping at the bit, so for the beginners it was not a confidence-building exercise. Nevertheless, they were fearless and threw caution to the wind as we headed out to the trail. It always felt like there were enough guides to keep us together and accommodate the different paces, even in our beginner group. For anyone looking for a challenge, there was plenty of that too, and the helmet head group had plenty of great video material navigating tricky passes and hills.

It was super cool to be riding amongst the palm trees and through the plantations. For anyone with a social interest in the debates over palm oil, it was also insightful to see what a plantation actually looks like, how much land is cleared to grow this commodity and what kind of destruction the natural habitat endures.

We met up mid-afternoon for a lunch break on a grassy hill top. A packed lunch has never tasted better!

At that point our beginner group decided to call it a day and head back in instead of back out on the trails. The helmet heads hit the trails again.

Lots of people fell off their bikes “going for it” that day, but there were no significant injuries.

We were all back at the dirt biking office by 4pm, ready for beers and a victory dinner before heading back to Singapore. We were back by about 7:30pm. What a day!

Cost

The bus for the day cost RM1100 + 6% GST which came to about SGD $20 each for the 19 of us.

Depending on the bike you choose and whether or not you use their gear or bring your own, the hire cost ranges between SGD $90 and $200. Our day averaged $150 / person.

Our amazing dinner was about $15 each.

Total cost: approx. SGD $185 for the day

About The Traveller

Gender & Age Range
Female, 30 - 34

I’m from
The Canadian Rockies

Occupation
Entrepreneur

My favourite trip as of late
A long weekend in Byron Bay

Travelling Style
Book the important stuff, but leave some flexibility in the schedule.

I like to go on the following types of trips
Culture, sporty, beach, gourmet, relax

It’s a dealbreaker when
Fatty meat. It’s a weird one, but it’s true and it makes enjoying meat around Asia a bit of a challenge. So if I ever recommend restaurants, you can bet I ate nice, lean, tasty meat there!

Continent I know the best
Asia