Peeps
Meet your neighbourhood's friendly foldie
Master mechanic and foldie extraordinaire
Johnny Ng is no stranger to the folding bike community and believes in sharing his vision of greening the Earth with pollution-free transport
Johnny Ng began his foray in to folding bikes by riding his black Polygon Urbano 3.0 20" folding bike.
That was the beginning more than six years ago and this is the man who worked very hard to promote folding bikes as a recreational machine as well as an urban transportation vehicle.
I met Johnny in late 2010 when he introduced himself at the Putrajaya Night ride.
It was New Year's Eve and as we ushered 2011, a friendship was forged.
Later, I made a trip to the man's humble business set-up, My Bicycle Shop in BU 4, Bandar Utama.
Johnny runs a simple bike servicing business from his rented premise in the township and caters mainly to families and regular customers.
Humility: the road less traveled...
The man's little shop is a hangout for cyclists.
Mostly underdogs in the competitive realm of Mountainbike races.
Not too long ago, Johnny was responsible in grooming "The fastest man on a folding bike" Shawal Shafie.
With two titles on his belt, Shawal is still one of the fastest contender on the folding bicycle category.
"I believe in grooming talents that are not given a chance to bloom.
"That's why I chose Shawal who is now racing for another team," he said.
Nevertheless, Johnny is still hot on his heels when it comes to talent-spotting.
A competitive cyclist himself, the man also takes part in many road and trail events around the country.
The master mechanic
When it comes to everything mechanical, Johnny has the know-how.
His automotive background helped in many ways and on the job, Johnny is meticulous as he pays a lot of attention to detail.
A basic service job at the bike shop would cost around RM50 and the more complicated ones can reach up to RM200.
He just takes apart the bike's components and treats it aggressively to get the best out of it.
Many folding bike owners are now sending their rides to My Bicycle Shop for their periodical maintenance.
Look and listen
Apart from the service job, Johnny also spares good advice to his customers.
Many newcomers are taught how to maintain their bikes and to get them interested in the sport, Johnny also does his part in organising weekly rides.
Take for example the Friday night leisure rides - scores of cyclists would gather at the shop and ride out on a simple 20km route.
"Its good workout. We also get to socialise with our customers and at the same time, teach the newcomers on how to use their bike the correct way.
"The weekly rides also gave us the opportunity to unwind and release tension."
On a bigger scale, Johnny also worked with other experienced cyclists on planning bikepacking expeditions around the country.
The latest fad
Right now, the bike store owner is promoting his new 16" folding bikes from China manufacturer XDS.
"A customer of mine made a personal request to me on organising a bikepacking ride.
"I never done that before and sought the expertise of my friends who are well-versed in such rides and it took form when I had my first bikepacking event from KL - Kuala Kubu Baru and the Sungai Chilling fish sanctuary."
The event, he added, was a huge success as more than 40 cyclists took part.
They set out on a train from Kuala Lumpur to Rasa and rode towards Kuala Kubu Baru.
There, the group had breakfast before they rode out into the mountains that leads to Fraser's Hill and Raub in Pahang.
Serving cyclists better
On future plans, Johnny said his little bike store will relocate to the Greatur Subang area.
"That will take at least another year or more as we are going to have a bigger retail store and a much larger service area."
He added that the biggest challenge so far, is human resources.
Good technicians are hard to come by as there is a constant demand for service and periodical bicycle maintenance.