Photos & MUA by Tia Snapshotz 

HOTTEST BIKE’S PROFILE
MACHINE: HUSABERG FE450 2009
OWNER: BENNY

  

SGbikemart: What make you have this passion for riding?
Benny: I've always been interested in powersports but always more fascinated with motorcycles than anything else. It's just a great sense of freedom to ride.

SGbikemart: Is off road riding more challenging?
Benny: I think yes both from a fitness- and skill- point of view. Especially for the type of technical offroad-riding that I prefer, steep hills and generally impossible terrain that many people think is unrideable.

SGbikemart: What urge your interest into participating in off road races?
Benny: I'm very competitive and would compete in anything where I think I have a chance for position. It's also challenging mentally and this part of racing I'm still trying to figure out since I have quite a bad race temper, a bad start or a silly mistake generally makes me push really hard and sometimes lose my cool.

SGbikemart: How did it start?
Benny: I met a riding instructor from New Zealand on holiday in Koh Samui late 2005 and we went trail riding together on rented bikes. He told me that I had good skill and gave some advise on how to improve. He also gave some suggestions on what bike to buy so a few months later I bought an old 2nd hand four-stroke scrambler in Singapore as he suggested. I got hooked soon after and since then I changed and upgraded bike every year and keep training harder.  

SGbikemart: What are your plans in expanding this hobby?
Benny: As always I'd like to improve my fitness level and technical skill. Eventually I would like to ride some big international Extreme Enduros like the Red Bull Romaniacs. I have also started to build race bikes and have built two so far for friends and am just about to complete the third one. I am very interested in engineering as well and love to work with four-stroke engines. The one I'm working on now will be something special with very good power to weight ratio and a winner's bike in the right hands.

SGbikemart: Any safety tip/experience you like to share with new trailing enthusiastic out there?
Benny: Two key things; 1. take your fitness seriously and do something to improve mainly your core strength and cardiovascular performance. You don't need an expensive gym membership, basic exercise is better than not doing anything. This is beneficial generally in life and when you ride offroad it will help tremendously since most mistakes that leads to crashes are when you're too tired. Of course hydration is very important as well and clearly key to stay strong in our climate. 2. Dont' compromise on safety gear, most hobby-riders like me have jobs and families to take care of so being injured is not an option if it can be avoided. I'm just about to buy a neck brace after some research and also a new helmet and with that my setup will be complete. Of course always gear up also, even for a simple test ride. I had a bad crash on a small test run and bruised my ribs badly and still suffer over a year later, just because I didn't put on my chest protector.