The First (And Only) Kapcai I Ever Owned

Yes, I onced owned a kapcai when i was in university. What’s a kapcai? Its one of the millions and millions of small motorcycles usually between 70cc to 110cc. Its called ‘kapcai‘ as one of the first to be introduced in Malaya back in the 50’s was a 50cc bike was the Honda Cub, hence the name stuck until today, even though 50 & 60cc bikes have long been phased out. These days kapcais come with electronic starters and hand-clutches, and sometimes they go up to 120cc, but back then they simple 2-stroke machines with a kick starter.

The legendary Honda Cub. Looks nothing like a bear cub.

That’s a bit of history for you. But anyways, the one kapcai I owned was the Suzuki RC80, which my motor-crazy friend Neo called ‘an old man’s motorbike’. Sure, when I say Suzuki you’d probably think Jimny (another vehicle i had the misfortune of using) or Suzuki Best but no, this is what it looked like…

(Mine didn’t have that sissy-looking basket)

Yeah it looked slow, and it really was underpowered. There was a 100cc version, but my mom said 80cc was ‘fast enough’ (she was paying for it, so i couldn’t complain…) It was a 1 year old 2nd hand bike we bought for about RM2000 during my 2nd year of uni. I remember the guy at shop who sold me the bike telling me in Hokkien – “petrol goes in HERE, motor oil goes in HERE, and use RED colour 2T oil, NOT the YELLOW 4T oil ah?!”

In retrospect, it was really a crappy bike. The horn never worked no matter how many times i fixed it, and so was the handbrake (much to the detriment of my friends who borrowed the bike). While my friends were scooting around in a Honda EX5 or Honda Hurricane (was it just me or did that bike look incomplete?!) or Suzuki Best, i had to make do with a maroon RC80 minus a working horn and handbrake.

But of course, it had its upsides. RM3 of petrol could last me a week (this was when petrol cost RM1.10), and at least it was cooler than a Honda C70. And Vespa.

After i graduated, i loaded the bike onto a small lorry and brought it home. Instead of selling it, my dad used it to putter around town. He loved that bike, this is a guy who used to ride a Triumph through the estate roads before he got married… After 5-6 years when it got too heavy for him and it started leaking black oil, i heard he sold the bike for something like RM200 to the same shop we bought it from.

And so that was the story of the first and only kapcai i ever owned. Proud to say I never had an accident on it.