Who's Behind Secret Reviewer
I'm a Dad and a Husband based in Singapore. The bike — a Yamaha MT-03 — is my daily ride, my weekend escape, and honestly, my moving meditation. But before any of that, there's a family at home who I ride for, and ride back to.
I've been on two wheels for over 10 years. What started as a way to get around Singapore turned into something I genuinely can't imagine my life without. Commuting, long-distance touring, tearing things apart and putting them back together — it's all part of the same love for the machine.
This blog started from scratch. And I mean from scratch — I'm writing it in raw HTML, learning as I go. I used to have an old blog but I couldn't figure out how to edit it anymore. Rather than fight with a platform I'd outgrown, I decided to just build something myself. There's a saying that feels true the older I get: learn as you age. So here we are.
If you're not growing, you're just waiting. I'd rather be figuring something out badly than sitting still perfectly.
— Something I keep reminding myselfThe Order of Things
People who ride often get asked some version of: "Isn't it dangerous? Why do you still do it?" The honest answer is that riding isn't something I do despite having a family — it's something I do as someone who has a family. It keeps me sane, focused, and present when I'm home.
But priorities are priorities. Here's mine, clearly:
Why This Blog Exists
I started Secret Reviewer because I nearly got conned by a motorcycle workshop, several thousand dollars for work that turned out to be a fraction of that cost if you just knew what you were doing. That experience lit something in me. I started learning, doing my own maintenance, doing my own mods, and realising that half the information riders need to protect themselves just isn't easy to find in one place.
So I built the place I wished had existed when I was figuring it all out. Real experiences, real costs, real mistakes. No fluff, no fake reviews, no products I haven't actually used on my own bike on Singapore roads and beyond.
Different tours changed how I looked at riding entirely. Those trip be it solo, long distance, across borders is where a lot of the gear reviews, accessory choices, and DIY lessons on this site were born. I learned more about my bike and myself in that stretch than in years of commuting around Singapore.
The HTML Thing
Yes, this site is coded in HTML. No WordPress, no Wix, no drag-and-drop. I'm not a developer by trade, but I decided that if I was going to build something I was proud of, I wanted to understand every part of it. The same reason I do my own bike maintenance — I don't like being dependent on something I don't understand.
Is it the most efficient way to build a blog? Probably not. But it's mine. Every line of it. And when something breaks or needs updating, I can actually fix it — which is more than I could say for the old blog I left behind.
Learning to build this site and learning to wrench on a bike have more in common than you'd think. You break things, you figure out why, you put it back together better. Repeat until it works. That's the whole game.
A Note to Whoever's Reading This
If you found Secret Reviewer through a DIY post, a tour log, or a gear review — welcome. If you're a fellow Singapore rider, even better. If you're a Dad who rides and sometimes wonders how to balance all of it. You're not alone, and the answer is the same as balancing a bike: keep moving forward, stay aware, and know when to lean.
Ride safe. Come home. That's the whole Story