Motorcycles, Rides, Road Conditions

2006 Honda Fireblade 1000RR, maybe 35k kilometers on it. I'll have to look online to see what they are selling for in the Philippines. I'll start looking to sell after this quarantine is over.

 

The blacktop is pretty good in the few places it exists in Negros. The concrete here is complete garbage, no square section of concrete is even close to being level with the next. A much bigger safety issue than traction is pedestrians and dogs in my experience. The only two times I have went down was due to those hazards.

I've taken the bike up to Luzon and back several times, going different routes each time. Negros-Panay-Mindoro-Luzon (Not bad), Luzon-Samar-Leyte-Cebu-Negros (Best route), Negros-Cebu-Masbate-Luzon (I will NEVER return to Masbate!) The last time I made that trip was around 6 years ago. I imagine road conditions have improved greatly since but back then Southern Luzon (South of Lagazpi) was by far the best stretch of road I've been on, excellent blacktop, curves, any imperfections marked well in advance with yellow spray paint, not much traffic. I've heard Mindanao is excellent roads but no thank you, not risking a drive down to Davao without a military convoy escorting me.

I used to have a YBR125. Great little bike for getting around on the island, even for longer trips to Bacolod.

There are some 300-400cc bikes that sound pretty good with a modest exhaust on it...but maybe not at 6am.

 

The roro ramp didn't reach the dock. They had to put my bike on a flimsy pallet, sling it up (very poorly) and lift it up with a forklift from the dock. My bike almost got dropped in the ocean and to top it off I had to pay the fork lift driver to do his job.

No ferry to Luzon for ~5 hours. I was low on fuel and hungry so I went to the nearest town. They only had petrol that was something like 80 octane, don't remember the exact octane but I do know I had never seen any that low prior to that. Couldn't risk going much further because I didn't know how far a gas station was from the port in Luzon. Food found near the port was not fit for human consumption (by local standards). Pesos signs lit up in almost every person's eyes I ran across and I got overcharged for pretty much everything I attempted to buy that didn't have a pricetag on it, and even some that did. Beggars constantly approached me for handouts at the port.

Port bureaucracy was ridiculous and involved a lot of back and forth to get a ticket (it was one of those places where they don't tell you all the requirements at the counter, just keep adding them as you come back with the previous one). Guards wanted to get paid to open the gate to get to the next ferry. Ferry crew was rude and seemed almost hostile, one of the few places I've felt nervous for my safety in the Philippines.

Again, this was a long time ago so it very well could have changed since then...it really couldn't do anything but improve. I'm sure if you could get away from the port and had reservations somewhere decent it might be ok.

Chickens are nothing to worry about so long as you don't attempt to avoid them, they just don't have enough mass to knock you off a scooter. Goats and cattle are rarely on the road as they are usually tied up and they are slow moving. Trucks and other vehicles are usually easy to see or predict where they could appear/try to murder you from. The pedestrians and dogs can come from anywhere and be in front of you in the blink of an eye. The vast majority of my close calls have been with either a dog or a pedestrian. With stray dogs becoming far more common in the past few years.