Not so long ago, Vulcan wrote a post about FreeW, an Alison Green startup that offers bike classes for women interested in learning and just having fun.
They actually run their courses on an off-road track in Kampung Sungei Penchala called the Most Fun Gym (MFG).
MFG also offers its own motorcycle driving courses. Currently it is run by a 66 year old man named Oh Kah Beng or Foreman Oh in his glory days.
It's a motocross bike facility designed for city dwellers who want to experiment with two-wheelers in a safe and controlled environment not far from home.
Dictionary time: Motocross is a time-controlled motorcycle race over a closed track that consists of a winding dirt road with hills, jumps, sharp turns and often muddy terrain.
Dictionary.com
Coaching his students / Image Credit: Most Fun Gym
Growing up around big toys
Oh Kah Beng earned his nickname Foreman Oh when he was a little boy because he spent a lot of time in his father's bike shop. For him it was almost like a playground.
“When kids went to Toys" R "Us, I would play on a motorcycle, sweep the floor in the shop, and help my father. I just felt very at home getting dirty in a workshop, ”Kah Beng told the Vulcan Post.
"I was lucky enough to be surrounded by big toys at such a young age, but at the same time I broke a lot of bones playing with them."
When Kah Beng helped his father in the workshop, one of their customers was an Australian motorsport club whose motorcycles Kah Beng's father had serviced.
While he was helping, he also had the opportunity to test these bikes out for himself. Finally, one day, he was offered the chance to try racing in a motocross facility.
He's even now training kids to ride bikes / Image Credit: Most Fun Gym
It was borrowed from one of the Australians on a dirt bike trail with a Montessa. Kah Beng was only 16 years old at the time, he told Biker & # 39; s Republic.
After that experience, he couldn't get enough of his newfound love for cycling, so he ventured into road racing from childhood, nicknamed Foreman Oh.
In contrast to motocross, the road race is carried out on a closed track like in Sepang and not on a dirt road.
From repairing bicycles in a workshop to becoming a national champion
After a lot of time and practice in road racing, Kah Beng was finally crowned national champion in the 1980s.
Foreman Oh in his element / Photo Credit: Most Fun Gym
He won the national Grand Prix championship races for Kawasaki and Suzuki. Kah Beng's greatest personal achievement was racing with Wayne Gardner, a former Australian GP motorcycle racer.
Wayne Gardner is world champion, but Kah Beng shared that he managed to beat Wayne when they raced together in Kuala Lumpur.
Years of existence as a national top driver brought Kah Beng a certain amount of traction, especially from oil companies.
Kah Beng worked for Shell, Lotus 17 and another oil company for almost 14 years for 4 years.
“I was lucky that one of the oil companies hired me as a technical salesman. I rode this motorcycle which was the first of its kind in Malaysia. It was a very powerful bike that was also very expensive, ”he recalled.
While working in companies was very different from a racing career, he didn't mind doing it as everything cycling to do was his passion. To Kah Beng, it felt like getting paid for your hobby.
Retire early from the race
While Kah Beng has always known that his passion comes with risk, it has never stopped him from pursuing it.
Have a drink before he goes racing again / Image Credit: Most Fun Gym
Unfortunately, he could not avoid this risk as he had a serious accident while racing at the age of 28.
“I flew 100 mph over the handlebars and watched the race while waiting for the ambulance with a broken arm. The bone was sticking out of my leather, but I wasn't in pain because I had so much adrenaline, ”he told Vulcan Post.
At that time he was also married and was already working with Shell. His parents told him to just forget about the race and focus on his marriage and work.
In fact, his wife even told him to stop running if he wanted to have children and start a family.
After recovering, he drove for another year, although he was already half retired.
In addition, his broken arm was still recovering at the time, which affected his confidence and put a strain on him.
But he did it anyway, not wanting to disappoint those who paid him to race.
Don't give up on your first love
As damaging as the accident was for Kah Beng, it wasn't the last time we'd see him on a racetrack.
In 2014, Kah Beng left the corporate world to return to his passion for racing one last time and founded MFG.
The timing was perfect as Kah Beng was almost 60 years old at the time and was about to retire from his job. He had found a piece of land in Kampung Sungei Penchala and decided to build a private motocross track on it.
Creating a Motocross Track / Image Credit: Most Fun Gym
As of 2015, he received requests from people who wanted to learn about cycling, which led him to open up the route and burden people for it.
Today they have about 20 students a week and expanded their inventory from 3 bikes to 15 bikes when they started out.
- Find out more about Most Fun Gym here.
- Here you can find out more about other Malaysian startups we've written about.
Featured image source: Oh Kah Beng, founder of Most Fun Gym
