Mat Rempit

A Mat Rempit is a Malaysian term for 'an individual who participates in illegal street racing', usually involving underbone motorcycles (Kapcai) or scooters. Minah Rempit can refer to either the female counterpart, or a female companion of a Mat Rempit. Not all Mat Rempits involve in street racing, some of them just ride their motorcycle's dangerously on public roads just for thrills. Mat Rempits usually travel in groups and race in bustling city centres on weekend nights. As of recently, Mat Rempits have been linked to gangsterism, gang robbery, fighting, vandalism, thefts and bullying. Most motorcycles used by the Mat Rempits do not meet standard specifications, or have been modified extensively. Additionally, some Mat Rempit do not have valid licenses, do not pay road taxes, and ride stolen motorcycles.More and more housing estates were turned into racing tracks.It is estimated that there are about 200,000 Mat Rempits in Malaysia.The terms of Mat Rempit also used in Singapore and Indonesia for the same reason.

Lingo and Tricks

1. Wheelie: standing motorcycle on rear wheel while front wheel on the air.
2. Superman : Laying on the bike with both hand still hold the handle.
3. Baring : Laying on the bike where the leg is touching the handle, the inverse way of Superman.
4. Skating : Standing on the motorcycle with a leg on the handle bar and the other on the seat.
5. Cilok : Weaving left and right between cars at high speeds. Wikang: The name wikang is actually a contraction of wheelie belakang in Malay.
6. Korner: Rounding a turn with enough lean to bring the side of the motorcycle in contact with the ground.
7. Pacak: Literally means standing idle like a stick in Malay, the pacak technique is the technique of lifting the motorcycle 90-degrees vertical with the front wheel raised. The pacak technique is almost as same as the wheelie, but is performed when the motorcycle is stationary with the rider standing.
8. Layang : Standing on the motorcycle with 1 leg on the seat and the other 1 must acting like flying and the two hand lift the handle like wheelie.
9. Seret/Sereng : Drag the motorcycles tail while performing the wheelie
10. Twins Kapal Layar : This technique must be done with 2 person.The 1st person must put the left leg at the gear section to control the gear.The right leg at the left back carrier.The 2nd person must put the right leg at the rear brake section to control the velocity of the motorcycle and the left leg at the right back carrier.Then the 2 person must perform a wheelie using that motorcycle together
    
    

Modifications

1. Larger carburetors - One of the most common engine modifications is the installation of larger carburetor to deliver more air-fuel mixture flow to the engine, which increases the engine power at the expense of fuel consumption.
2. Performance exhaust systems - Many Mat Rempits install low restriction custom exhaust systems. These increase power slightly and make the exhaust note more pronounced which is generally preferred by riders.
3. Removed air filters - A typical air filter element for an underbone motorcycle is made of either a paper element of a foam element, which restricts air flow. Furthermore, the air intake duct is often facing backwards. Removing the air filter can not only provide zero restriction for the air flow but also provides 'ram-air effect' which may improve the engine power further.
4. Larger bore - Increasing the engine's bore increases the engine displacement, thus increasing engine power. However, the rebored engines may have shorter service life due to risks of engine overheating and jammed pistons.
5. Cylinder porting - Some 2-stroke Mat Rempits make more transfer ports at the cylinder to deliver more air-fuel-2T (2-stroke lubricant) mixture to the combustion chamber for a significant power increase at the expense of fuel and lubricant consumption.
6. High-lift camshafts - Some Mat Rempits who use 4-stroke motorcycles modify their engine aggressively by using high-lift camshafts for better volumetric efficiency which may significantly increase the engine power but with the risks of the valves hitting the piston.
7. Performance CDI - A capacitor discharge ignition module controls the ignition timing advance for every engine speed. A performance CDI module provides more advanced ignition timing than the standard ones which may increase power and torque, but users of performance CDI modules can only use gasoline with higher octane rating numbers (RON) - commonly RON 97 in Malaysia - due to the risk of detonation.
8. Smaller rims and tyres - A smaller rims will increase the bike acceleration due to smaller size tyre that touches the road but with poorer handling at sharp corners.
9. Removed cover sets, rear lights, etc. - Many Mat Rempits remove components from their bikes for weight reduction, including essential components such as rear brakes and lights.
10. Tinted rear lights - Smoked rear lights, indicators, fog and brake lights to give the motorbike a custom look.
11. Shrunken number plate - Reduceing the size of the number plate for aesthetics.
12. Modified braking system - Some Mat Rempits modify their braking systems for better stopping power. For instance, front drum brakes are replaced with disc brakes, while those who have already got disc brakes replace the stock disc rotors with the larger ones. However, there are some Mat Rempits who remove rear brakes for weight reduction.
    
    

Misconception of Mat Rempit

Most of the public, the media and even politicians may misconception about Mat Rempits. For some of them, Mat Rempit means anyone who riding an underbone motorcycle or low budget motorcycle as most of them belonging to low income group of people. In Indonesia and Singapore, the terms of Mat Rempit usually means motorcycle lover or riders not illegal street racers.

In Malaysia, motorcyclists are fond of zig-zagging/squeezing in and out between other vehicles (cars, lorry, and bus) on the road to overtake them during a traffic jam. It is a normal but irresponsible and dangerous practice. Due to their small sizes, underbone motorcycles and scooters are the fastest forms of transportation in a city with lots of traffic problems. It also been practice in many countries with small motorcycle (underbone or moped) or scooter such as Taiwan, Singapore, Greece, United Kingdom and Japan.

There are a few reasons as to why motorcyclists prefer zig-zagging during traffic jams apart from wanting to arrive at their destinations quickly. The other reasons are the hot weather in Malaysia, smoke from vehicles around them and the engine heat coming from other vehicles. While keep moving will helping them to get fresher air to cold them down. However, they usually cause traffic accidents and other mishaps such as hitting the side mirror of other vehicle.

Beside that many motorcyclist in Malaysia have a bad habit of riding their motorcycle into pedestrian street or wrong way. As their motorcycle is smaller as they threat it like a bicycle. There even some motorcyclists run off the red traffic light as they don’t have patient to wait it turn to green.

There is some who blame on motorcyclist who refuse to use the motorcycle lane which provided in some major roads/highways in Malaysia. However most of the motorcycle lanes are in bad shape due to the lack of maintenance and poor planning before construction. Most the motorcycle lanes are sandy, not level, covered with potholes and flooded even though the weather is dry. The width of most motorcycle lanes is about 2m which is considered too narrow and only half of the width on normal lane on the highways. They have dangerous and sharp curves and corners compare to the main roads and when at night, the motorcycle lane become dangerous as there are many tunnel that some of them are very dark and there are sometimes robbers waiting at the end of the tunnel to rob the motorcyclist.

One good example is the motorcycle lane on the Shah Alam Expressway and Federal Highway. Most of the motorcycle lanes are not provided with streetlights and countless robberies happen on these lanes, especially during late hours when it is dark. It become a trap at night when some culprit work by putting nail on the motorcycle lane, and advertise for replacement tire for motorcycle at a ridiculous price.

Dealing with Mat Rempits

According to some former Mat Rempits, it is very hard to approach the Mat Rempits and bring them to be useful assets to the community, as they are very stubborn. It is due to the fact that most Mat Rempits are often under high influence of drugs (especially marijuana) which was said to give maximum "feel" to them when racing. As a result, they often attack policemen and anyone who tries to stop them, causing the public to label Mat Rempits as "the public enemies".
Therefore, many people criticize the viability of the attempt by Khairy Jamaluddin and Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim to rebrand Mat Rempits as "Mat Cemerlang". This attempt has not only fueled anger among former victims of Mat Rempits whose vehicles were hit by Mat Rempits, but also among former Mat Rempits as well.
Some believe the only way to change Mat Rempit is to provide them with legal sanctioned motor racing tournament such as Malaysian Cub Prix. Some of the successful Malaysian professional motorcycle racers are former Mat Rempits such as Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini and Wazi Abdul Hamid. According to them, if the Mat Rempits are being brought to legal motorcycle racing tournaments, their talents can be unleashed even to international level. However it was not cheap to enter a legal motorcycle race for the Mat Rempit, therefore some motorcycle racing tournaments such as Malaysian Cub Prix and Pesta Pasti Honda offer subsidies and incentives to newbies.