Belle Moto Asia – One by The Ladies

Story and Photography By: Will Yap

They came, they braved the weather and they pulled it off. The ladies formed the motive force behind Belle Moto Asia 2017. From the organizers to the participants who rode through the rain to raise awareness and show their support for the Alzheimer’s Disease Association along with its ground-up initiative, “Adventure before Dementia”, which aims to encourage Singaporeans to “get out there and get on” their own adventures, keeping their bodies and minds active in the process, decreasing the likelihood on dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

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Not Exactly a Black Tie Event

The all women’s ride was populated by a mix of motorcycle classes and ranges, from Honda Monkeys and Groms to well above litre-displacement machines from Suzuki, Ducati, BMW and Harley Davidson. A sudden heavy pour of tropical rain did nothing at all to put a stopper on the ladies, even through poor visibility. While the men, boyfriends and husbands opened bar tabs, the ladies present put on their raincoats, donned their come-what-may attitudes and rode into the rain in the name of charity and heart. Members of a local motorcycle club Warpigs volunteered to conduct marshalling duties for the ride.

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Watch Out for the Ponding

The convoy included daring women who made waves in their respective industries, Jan Pek – owner and proprietor of Handlebar and Kontiki, proper biker themed bars that trump the norm in the sea of Singaporean bars that all attempt to carve a niche for themselves and adventurer, The Wandering Wasp, Juvena Huang – the gutsy lady who showed both men and women that a solo trip spanning more than 2 years was not only achievable, that sometimes, images the media paints of each country forms but an empty shell but more importantly, that the world still holds fresh experiences for even the weary and well traveled.

On returning to Handlebar, a varied mix of activities followed, including live performances by Hirosho Sazaki, singer/songwriter/rider and strong road-safety advocate from Japan, as well as lady-fronted local indie rock band Astreal with a larger -than-life performance deserving of a sell-out crowd. The lady-rider theme spanned every aspect of the day, with presenter Nessa Anwar of Instascram provided her voice as emcee for the event, while not too far away, a hunk bike wash by local celebrity Bobby Tonelli drew cheeky glances from the women present.

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Colour Don’t Matter, Them Wheels All Feed on Gasoline Anyway

Draws were conducted in between live performances with prizes sponsored by KTM, Harley Davidson and Resurgence Gear, while food and drinks were sponsored by Handlebar, with all proceeds from registration and donations going to the Alzheimer’s Disease Association.

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Good Food and Music, Nobody’s Leaving Early For Sure!

Donations to the Alzheimer’s Disease Association can still be made under this link and clicking on the button at the bottom of the page.

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