NEW BIKE DAY #bikepackingmalaysia

Join us as we go bikepacking from Georgetown in the north of Malaysia all the way south to Singapore. Right, come on, stop watching that s**t, let's go, let's go. Who's this? What? What are you watching? The video's now live. Oh, it's me. Choo! On a sunbed, looking much whiter than you do now. Yes, true. Who's my talent? We couldn't be. Someone's had his wee bits. Good morning. We left the hotel. We're on the road. We're heading away from Taiping. It's 9.30 in the morning, which is a small miracle. James would be proud of us. And today we're headed towards the mountains. Francis, we've lost Ben. It's on the wheel, guys. It's left here, guys. Left here. It's this next left. I reckon it's left here. He just ignored me and just carried on straight. He's back. Oh, cheers. You all right? Yeah, went the wrong way. I was talking about my son, though, so that's all right, isn't it? Good reason not to be looking at the head unit. It was a good story you were telling, to be fair. I've got maps on my garment, Lawrence, for the first time. Why do you have a bottle of drink down your neck? Because I can't buy drinks fast enough, so I've got to stock them up. And I only decided to bring two bottles. Well, that's why I did that. Very clever. Thank you. Almost like you've done this before. So we're making really good progress into today. We are 20 kilometers in, in just under an hour. We've made it into some stunning landscapes, and it's just going to get more and more stunning as we get closer and closer towards this town we're staying in. We spent about half an hour last night looking at Google Images, and I think we're going to be in for a treat. Welcome, Bretmans! You are tripping. Sweet. What are you looking for? No gummy sweets. It was quite a last-minute decision to switch bikes, as you may have seen from a previous video with the demise of a Wiggle. But a massive thank you to the awesome guys at Team Cycles, a bike shop in the northeast of England, who came to the rescue, sent me a bike, and just before I left to fly here, I had a day in London to get it all set up. Let me show you what happened back in London. So I'm here today at Bicycle Richmond with my friend Owen. Today, the purpose of this is to make this bike a little bit more comfortable, bring in the handlebars, lower the stem, put on my trusty Fulcrum wheels, and generally just make this bike ready to ride. Make sure that the tail fin parts work and that it's ready to go. We've got that Ultegra chainset going on, a slightly narrower pair of handlebars. We have also got, this is the most exciting bit, a minus 17 degree stem. I've actually been able to get closer to my position here, and we've slammed this. So we've got rid of the massive stack on here. What's the next upgrade? Bottom bracket, well, we've got to do this. The spray taper doesn't work. What we're upgrading it to. We're getting somewhere. There we go, guys. This is the bike. For now, massive shout out to Bicycle Richmond for getting this done, and of course, Owen for looking after me with the bargain bucket finds to make this thing fully fit me without all of the expense that normally goes with it. So I found the cheapest disc brake road bike on Team Cycles, the 2024 edition Trek Domane AL2 Gen 4 road bike, and decided this bikepacking trip would be the perfect opportunity to see what it's capable of. It comes in a beautiful black lithium gray, I believe is the colorway. Full aluminum frame with a carbon fork. The rest of the bike sees an eight speed Claris groupset with an upgraded 11 speed Ultegra 5800, I think, chainset from a few years ago. Yes, it's compatible. My full carbon fulcrum gravel wheels with Hutchinson override tires in 38 millimeters. Set up tubeless, of course. I've also fitted the Garmin Raleigh SPD pedals so that I can have power for this trip and continue my training. For the front end, we've gone for a Deda Zero aluminum minus 17 degree stem with a matching pair of Deda Zero handlebars, also aluminum. The saddle is a pro logo with a cutout. The disc brakes are cable actuated Tektros. The tail fin frame pack, which has just come out, by the way, if you wanted to buy one of your own. And finally, on the back, all of my luggage is attached on the tail fin aero pack, which, as you can see, has a bit of a bodge currently, which my tail fin aero pack is then gaffer taped to. I know, I know. It's certainly a bodge, but it does the job. Also attached to this is a Thule laptop sleeve. So this is where my laptop is carried. And then on the other side, we have this little mini pannier. In terms of how it feels to ride, I've had three days on it so far, so I can give you my first thoughts. And it's actually fairly comfortable. It took a couple of days to get the bike fit, feeling a lot more similar to my other bike, which is important. The brakes, I will say, obviously not as good as the hydraulic disc that I'm used to. However, they do do the job. And it's actually a very, very capable bike. I'm really enjoying riding it. So you could say it's no longer a thousand pound bike, and you'd be right. All the gears, the brakes, the frame, everything else is the same. A bit of a change for me, just because I'm very lucky to have got used to top of the range carbon frames. This is an episode of Guess What The Sign Means with Ben Chappers. So I think this sign, like the spotted jersey, this is a sprint finish sign for cyclists that are bikepacking through Malaysia. This one? Yeah, this is the sprint finish sign. Just before a junction? Just before a junction. But what it does, it does warn you that if you are sprinting with someone, there's a junction, so you need to split off. Okay. So you don't have an accident. Got you. Yeah. Come back tomorrow for another episode of What's The Sign? I heard it was picturesque here. Welcome to Ipoh. Amazing. Can't wait to see more. I know, I know, guys. Whose idea was this? Oh, you're filming? Yeah. I didn't even realise. Hi. There we go, guys. 85 kilometres done. Oh, and we've made it to Ipoh. Our hotel should be somewhere just up here. How are we feeling? Yeah? What? I've got a spot on the side of my head. This is my haircut with Ben. Fantastic. Maybe his razors weren't very clean. They were your razors. Well, exactly. We're on the top of a... I wouldn't say skyscraper, but... It's the tallest building here. Yeah, we're halfway there. And we've got the most incredible view, and an infinity pool is just the icing on the cake, really. I've never been in an infinity pool. Have you not? Well, now I have. Let's tick the box now, guys. Have a way to round out another good day on the bike. Look at me. Ready? This is so awkward, hang on. Three, two, one.