November 2018 – Page 3 – The ExhaustNotes Blog

RX3 to RX4 Comparisons: Part 4

The RX3-to-RX4 comparison continues. We’ll pick up several more areas in this blog. Note that we’ve added an RX4 page to the ExhaustNotes website, too. More on that in a bit; for now, on to the comparo!

Starting at the back of both bikes, the RX4 has a subfender behind the rear wheel. The RX3 does not. Take a look…

The RX3 rear wheel. Note that there’s no subfender.

The RX4 subfender. This was something CSC could have added to the RX3, but chose not to (wisely, in my opinion)..

When CSC specified what they wanted on the RX3 a few years ago, they opted to leave the subfender off. I didn’t like the subfender, I thought it was ugly, and I didn’t see a need for it. I thought leaving it off was a good move.

You might think the RX3 subfender could have been added as an aftermarket accessory. It can, but it’s not easy. On the RX3, adding the subfender actually requires a different swingarm, so if you wanted to add a subfender you would have to replace the entire swingarm. That’s because the swingarm mounting points for the subfender are built into the swingarm (you can see that on the RX4 subfender photo, too). When CSC was defining the RX3 configuration, the question became why not just specify the swingarm that can accept the subfender, and offer the subfender later as an accessory? The reason is that because without the subfender, the swingarm looks goofy. It’s got this big mounting bracket at the rear on the right side, hanging out in space with nothing mounted on it.

Personally, I could do without the subfender on either bike. It just adds weight and I don’t care for the look. But that’s my preference. Your mileage may vary.

Moving back to the front of the bikes, the RX4 incorporates a radiator bottle fill port on the bodywork to the right of the fuel tank. It’s easily accessible (far more so than the radiator bottle fill port on the RX3, which is tucked under the fairing). This was a good way to go on the RX4. You know that if you have ever needed to add fluid on the RX3 it’s not easy to get the radiator bottle. Score one for the RX4. I like the RX4 approach better.

The RX4 radiator bottle fill port. It makes it a lot easier to add coolant.

The sidestands (or kickstands) on the two bikes are similar…and in the two photos below, you can see that the two bikes use the same footpegs. These are good footpegs, I think, because you can remove the rubber inserts if you wish. I never have done that, but I suppose there are guys out there who think they need to do that.

The RX3 kickstand. I found it easier to reach than the kickstand on the RX4.

The RX4 kickstand. Note the “wing” to make extension easier.

I find it very easy to reach the kickstand on my RX3; on the RX4 it was not as easy for me. That could just be me being used to the RX3.

Neither the RX3 nor the RX4 have a centerstand as standard equipment. It’s an option on the RX3 and I imagine it will become an option on the RX4, although it will be little harder for CSC to add a centerstand to the RX4. On the rear suspension linkage photos (they’re coming up next), you’ll notice that the RX3 has two mounting points that CSC uses for the bike’s optional centerstand. When I first saw those underframe mounting points on the RX3 in China, I assumed Zongshen added them because they anticipated adding a centerstand, but that wasn’t the reason. Zongshen uses the below-the-frame mounting points as an assembly aid during RX3 production as the bike is traveling down the assembly line.

Zongshen also has temporary centerstands (it takes two of these to lift the bike’s rear wheel off the ground) for use if you need to fix a flat tire, and I think CSC sells them if you want to buy a pair. I have a couple I carry around in my RX3, but (knock wood) I have never used them. I got a flat on the ride across China, though, and one of the RX3 clubmen we rode with in Beijing had the accessory maintenance centerstands with him. They work well, and that guy had my flat fixed in no time flat (pardon the pun).

That said, let’s move on to the rear suspension comparison. Here’s the rear suspension linkage on the RX3. Note that the RX3 linkage is constructed of stamped metal pieces. This is the setup that CSC changes when you buy an RX3 lowering kit.

The RX3 rear suspension linkage. Note the stamped metal parts, the rear damping adjustment point, and the centerstand mounting points below the bike.

The RX4 rear suspension linkage is substantially beefier, and it uses cast metal bits instead of stampings. It’s one of the reasons why the RX4 is heavier than the RX3.

The RX4 rear suspension linkage. I don’t think the RX4’s rear damping adjuster is as easily accessible as is the RX3’s.

The shift levers and the rear brake levers are different on the two bikes. The RX3 uses cast parts; the RX4 uses what appear to be stamped weldments. The photos below show the shift and brake levers on the RX3. Note that they are cast bits, they are painted silver, and they have a nice look to them.

The RX3 rear brake lever. It’s a nicely-finished casting.

The RX3 shift lever, another nicely-finished casting.

On the RX4, the shift and brake levers appear to be stamped weldments painted black to match the frame. In my opinion, they are not as nice looking as the ones on the RX3, but I suppose you could make the argument that if you bend the RX4 parts in a spill, the levers on the RX4 will be easier to fix than would be the RX3’s castings.

The RX4 rear brake lever. It’s fabricated from a stamped weldment.

The RX4 I’ve been riding has two ignition keys. One looks like a regular ignition key, and it fits the ignition lock, the standard luggage, the gas cap, and the rear seat release (just like the RX3). The other key that comes with the RX4 has a smaller black plastic handle. I don’t know why the two RX4 keys are different. I had a similar two-key arrangement when I owned a 1997 Suzuki TL1000S. The regular key (with the larger black plastic handle) was for normal use, and the one with the smaller black handle was in case the bike had an electrical issue and the fuel injection didn’t work correctly. It was designed to put the TL into a “limp home” mode. I never had to use it. I don’t think that’s what’s going on here, but I don’t know for sure. It’s one of those things I’ll have to ask the wizards at Zongshen about.

The black plastic handle on the RX4 key is larger than is the one on the RX3 key. Here’s a photo showing the RX4 key and the RX3 key…

The RX4 (on the left) and RX3 (on the right) ignition keys.

The rear brake master cylinders on the two motorcycles are also different. Here’s what they look like…

I like the rear master cylinder on the RX4 much more than the one on the RX3. You can just unscrew the RX4 cap to get to the reservoir, while on the RX3 rear master cylinder you need a Phillips head screwdriver and you have to remove two screws. The more-complicated RX3 design has a story behind it. Originally, the RX3 rear master cylinder was a much smaller affair. One of the CSC consultants advised that it was too small for its location near the exhaust pipe (the concern was that the master cylinder would be heated by the exhaust pipe and this could adversely affect brake performance). It never was an issue when riding the preproduction RX3 motorcycles or the RX3s we rode across China (both had the original design master cylinder), but I guess if you pay consultants you take their advice. On the RX3 I would have just gone with a conventional master cylinder like the one on the RX4 (which is similar to master cylinders on just about every other motorcycle on the planet). But Zongshen wanted to design a custom rear master cylinder for the RX3, and that’s how that strange-looking tapered affair on the RX3 came to be. In my opinion, the one on the RX4 is a better approach.

That’s enough for this blog, folks. Again, CSC asked me to mention that they are taking deposits now on the RX4, and if you want to get on board, here’s the link to do so.

Okay, okay….just two more things.

I’ve got a couple more blogs coming up on the RX4, including one I’m polishing now comparing the CSC RX4 to the Kawasaki KLR 650 (as my good buddy Chris suggested; it’s one that will probably draw lots of comments). You’ll want to keep an eye on the ExNotes site for the latest tech info on the RX4. And as promised, here’s the ExhaustNotes RX4 index page! Click on it and you’ll find an easy way to get to all of our RX4 articles.

And as mentioned before, please consider adding your email address for an auto-notify every time we post a blog (there’s a place do to that near the top of this page on the right). Do that and you’ll be eligible for our newest contest. On a quarterly basis, provided we get at least another 200 folks sign up each quarter, we’ll give away a copy of either Moto Colombia, Riding China, or 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM to a name drawn at random from our email database. The first winner will be announced sometime around Christmas this year. Please encourage your friends to sign up, too. If you’re already on the list, you’re eligible for the first drawing. We don’t give or sell our email list to anyone, so your address is safe with us.

Wild Conjecture: Kawasaki W800 Café

Kawasaki’s bold new W800 Café looks a lot like a restyled W800 standard but we here at Wild Conjecture have no way of confirming this statement. You see, Wild Conjecture by its very name is nothing but guesses bulked up with opinion into a plausible hunch.

The standard Kawasaki 800cc was a traditional British vertical twin brought into the modern world and for some reason sold poorly in the USA. I loved the thing from afar because I never saw one in the flesh. Before the 800cc version there was a 650 model that also suffered from desultory sales. Everyone who owned either model raved about them online but both were released before the latest wave of nostalgia motorcycles crashed ashore.

Kawasaki claims the styling is inspired by Kawasaki’s W1 650, which taken to its logical conclusion would mean the Café was inspired by an ancient 1950’s BSA A7 (later becoming the A10) twin. And that’s not a bad thing. For years the W1 650 held the title of the largest displacement motorcycle built in Japan until the CB750 Honda came sauntering into the room.

For me, the Café looks good overall but misses the mark in a few key areas. The colors shown on Kawasaki’s web site are dreadful. The faring and side covers are a mismatch for the fenders and gas tank. I know this is done on purpose but a bike like this should have an all alloy tank with chrome fenders. Kudos to Kawasaki for trying something different. Better luck next time.

The seat isn’t bad, in fact it looks good but I would prefer a dual seat without the hump on the back. The gas tank is a wee bit too short. Café Racers have long tanks for the rider to hunch over while he’s puffing on a fag. The short W800 Café tank would look better on Kawasaki’s W800 Scrambler. (No one has told Wild Conjecture that the Scrambler will be released early next year.)

The forks, side covers, rear fender and exhaust all look great to me. I like the shaft-driven camshaft and the air-cooling system. Hopefully you’ll be able to buy the thing without anti-lock brakes but I suspect the days of ABS delete are nearly over.

I’m sure the bike will ride well and the brakes and mechanicals will function perfectly. I’m also sure it’ll have a rev limiter that kicks in way too soon. I don’t see this engine leading Kawasaki’s push to retake the Flat Track series from Indian. It’ll be mild, maybe 50 horsepower.

At a list price of almost ten thousand dollars the W800 Café is up against stiff vertical-twin competition from Royal Enfield and Triumph. Both have better Café styling in my view. The Royal Oilfield has the added plus of an extremely low price.

But those other two aren’t built by Kawasaki. I’m kind of a Kawasaki fan boy so having the “K” beats not having the “K.” I think I’ll wait for the non-existent Scrambler version because a high-pipe model will work so much better with the cycle parts included on the W800 Café.

Back in the Day: Another Bell helmet

Like everyone else who read the “Back in the Day” Bell Star piece, I greatly enjoyed Gresh’s blog. I never owned a Star, but I bought one of the modern Bell helmets Joe referenced about 10 years ago from my good buddy Mike over at NoHo Scooters in Hollywood. It was a lightweight, inexpensive full-face deal with artwork that made it an instant “I want” item. The Boss was with me and she gave the nod, and Mike gave me a good price, so I bought it.

Not politically correct. But cool. I liked it. Bombs Away!

The helmet had a World War II aviation motif. It’s not politically correct, so if you’re going to get your shorts in a knot over the artwork, my advice is this: You’re young. Go to your safe space and take a nap. You’ll probably get over it.

The military theme worked perfectly, I think, with a CSC motorcycle Steve Seidner (CSC’s CEO) built. He called it “The Sarge” and it was his personal bike. I liked both the motorcycle and the helmet so much that as soon as Steve’s bike came together (and he wasn’t around) I raced off to a spot I knew would make for a good photo…

The Sarge and my Bell helmet. The motif worked. For me, anyway. Cue in the music from “Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder…”

I wore that helmet all the way down to Cabo and back on the CSC 150 Baja run. It was a nice hat. I really liked it. It made me taller, thinner, and faster. Better looking, too, if I kept the visor down.

The Bell on my CSC 150. I called my bike the Baja Blaster.

They say you are supposed to replace a motorcycle helmet every three years (“they” are the guys who make helmets, of course). I don’t know if that’s really necessary, but it’s what I do. After three years the insides of my helmets get pretty funky, and in my case aromatic reasons drive the need for a new lid.

But the three-year rule wasn’t what ended my relationship with the Bell you see here. It was a different reason: The outside surface got tacky. Not in the good taste or politically correct sense (if that’s what you’re thinking), but tacky in an adhesive sense. It got sticky to the touch, like flypaper. I think it was because the adhesive bonding the wrap (the thin layer of artwork) to the helmet’s shell seeped through to the outside. Whatever. It would stick to my hands when I picked it up and I don’t like a clingy thingy. A Bell guy told me he knew of the problem and it had been fixed, but they no longer offered the helmet I had come to love.

I sure wish Bell still made that helmet. I would buy a new one and it’s what I’d be wearing today.

Zed’s Not Dead: Part 8

Progress has slowed on Zed. I really wanted to start the beast up. The problem is I haven’t figured out the ignition advancer issue yet. My E-buddy Skip sent me two of the things but neither one will work on the 1975 Z1 crankshaft end. I feel bad that Skip is trying to do me a favor and that the poor guy has to keep digging around in his parts stash. It goes to show you: no good deed goes unpunished. I am going to suck it up and buy a new, $159 advancer from Z1 Enterprises. Hopefully it will be the correct one and fit the crankshaft.

Meanwhile, I’m not ignoring the rest of the bike. Let’s face it, even if the engine is shot I have to get this bike running. The front forks were leaking and contained about 3 ounces of oil between both fork legs. This is down a bit from the 5.7 ounces per leg suggested in my shop manual. I know I said this was not going to be a show bike restoration but I couldn’t bear a future staring at this gouged fork cap bolt so I sanded the thing smooth and gave it a lick of polish. Of course this means that I have to do the other side also.

The internals of the forks were covered in sticky black goo, which required a ton of solvent and liberal doses of carb cleaner to cut loose. Then came rags stuffed down the tubes and pushed back and forth using a drill bit extension. The sliders came polished from the factory and since they were preserved under a coat of oil it took no time at all to spiff them up without crossing over to the dreaded Show Bike threshold.

All the fork parts look usable if not perfect. The upper section of the fork tubes that were covered by the headlight brackets is pretty rusty. I’ve polished it off a bit and will lube the rusty areas to prevent further rust. None of the rust will show on the assembled forks but I’ll have to deduct points when the bike is in the Pebble Beach show.

The fork sliders are held to the damping rod via this Allen-head bolt. There was a fiber washer to seal in the fork oil but I don’t have any fiber washers. I ended up grinding a copper washer to fit and I only have one of those. Looks like a trip to Harbor Freight is in order to buy their 5090 Copper Washer Warehouse kit.

The clutch actuator was in good shape but dirty and dry. Most of the ones I bought for my old Yamaha had the helix cracked. I suffered along with the cracked helix until Hunter found a new, re-pop part and sent it to me, asking if he could have some of the ones I’d stolen from him in exchange. I have no idea what the old man is on about. This Kawasaki part is much sturdier than the Yamaha part and crack free so that’s one point to Kawasaki in the red-hot clutch actuator wars.

I gave the sprocket/clutch actuator cover a quick polish. The aluminum on Zed is in great shape. It took about 5 minutes to shine this cover because it was smooth to start with. I’ll let the cover oxidize naturally after the bike is built. I can’t be expected to clean a motorcycle more than once.

I’m placing another big order with Z1 Enterprises today. They stock a lot of hard-to-find Z1 parts. It’s easier for me to order from one place and if your order is over $200 shipping is free. Who doesn’t blow $200 on bike parts? I don’t like filling out the credit card fields twenty times from a bunch of fly-by-night vendors and Z1E’s prices are in line with eBay sellers and other vintage parts sellers.

Want to catch up on the rest of the Z1 resurrection? Just click here!

A Tale of Two No. 1s

…and those two would be Ruger No. 1 single-shot rifles, arguably the classiest rifles on the planet. I smile when I hear folks talking about high-capacity magazines and black assault rifles. One shot, folks. That’s all it takes if you know what you’re doing. When you see someone hunting with a single-shot rifle, you know that rifleman knows how true sportsmen play the game.

My Ruger No. 1 in 7mm Remington Magnum. It has a period-correct Redfield Widefield 3×9 scope, and magnificent walnut.

Ruger introduced these rifles in the late 1960s, and they are still in production. In 1976, like I mentioned in an earlier blog, Ruger stamped every firearm they manufactured with a “Made in the 200th Year of American Liberty” inscription. I bought my first one back then, and I’ve had a soft spot for the Ruger single-shot rifles ever since. Both of the rifles you see in this blog (mine and good buddy Greg’s) are 200th Year Rugers.

Several years ago, I found a clean, used No. 1 in 7mm Remington Magnum. I had never owned a rifle in that caliber before, and I always wanted one. I bought it and I kept it for several years without shooting it, and then good buddy Marty gave me a stash of new-old-stock 7mm Mag brass. A few years before that, good buddy Jim had given me a set of 7mm RCBS dies. With the addition of Marty’s brass, all of a sudden I was in the 7mm game. I had the rifle, the dies, and the brass.

I loaded some 7mm ammo last summer and took the No. 1 to the range. I was disappointed but not surprised that it did not group well with that first load. It takes a while to find the right load, and the load I tried that day was only the first of many. It’s okay. These things take time.

Good buddy Greg’s No. 1, also in 7mm Remington Mag, and also a 200th Year Ruger. You just don’t see walnut like this on rifles today. The wood on Greg’s rifle is nicer than mine.

Good buddy Greg (I have a lot of good buddies) saw my No. 1 and he decided that his life would not be complete unless he owned one, too. He found one with even nicer wood than mine, and it, too, was a 200th Year Ruger. Yowwee, our load development time was cut in half! Greg was chasing the proverbial secret sauce and so was I.

So about this load development business: Every rifle is an entity unto itself. I’m not certain what that phrase means, but I like the way it rolls off the keyboard. I think it means every rifle is different, and if that’s the case, it sure is an accurate statement. What you do when you reload ammo (what most of us do, anyway) is look for a load that delivers superior accuracy. The gold standard is getting a rifle to consistently shoot three shots into an inch at 100 yards. Most of the time, factory ammo won’t do that. You’ve got to experiment with different combinations of bullet weight, bullet design, bullet manufacturer, bullet seating depth, crimp, powder type, powder charge, primer type, and brass case manufacturer, and if you get lucky, you might find that magic MOA load (minute of angle, or one inch at 100 yards) before you run out of money for reloading components. It is amazing how much difference finding the right load can make. It can take a rifle from 4-inch groups to the magic MOA.

In the case of my 7mm No .1, I’m getting pretty close. I tested a load this past weekend that averaged 1.080 inches at 100 yards. It shot one group into 0.656 inches…

Getting there…that old No. 1 sure likes this load!

I think I’m just about there. This weekend I was using old brass with old primers, it had not been trimmed to assure consistent length, and I did not weigh each powder charge individually (I just let the powder dispenser add the same volume with each throw). Those are all tricks we use to improve accuracy. If I resize and trim the brass, use new primers, and individually weigh each charge, things should get even better. That’s the next step. Then I’ll start experimenting with bullet seating depths. I’m thinking I might get this nearly-50-year-old rifle to shoot in a half-inch at 100 yards. That would be cool.

Like I said, it took awhile to get here. Here are the loads I tried before I shot that group above….

The best and most consistently accurate load is the second one from the bottom. The next steps will be to refine this load.

Want to see all of our gun stories? Just click here!

Back in The Day: The Bell Star Helmet

Different versions of the Bell Star. As the design evolved, the window grew and the helmet added a flip-up visor. They were the ultimate in cool.

In the early 1970’s I worked at The Art Colony, an art supply and picture-framing store on Westward Drive. Back then I fancied myself a sort of artist and I got discounts on oil paints, brushes, and different sizes of the pre-stretched canvas we made on site. The place smelled great. They had clay and water color supplies but I never messed with that stuff because I felt those materials were inferior to oil painting. Oils were good enough for the Old Masters so they were good enough for me. Even at 15 years old I didn’t like anything new.

Motorcycle vandalism was a problem at our school. Any nice-looking bike would be attacked in the school’s parking area. You’d get your seat cut or a bunch of rocks in your gas tank if the vandals were in a good mood. If they were in a bad mood your chain might be welded solid (the motorcycle parking area was next to the metal shop, a tactical error on the school administration’s part) or sugar poured in your tank. At the time I was riding a sweet, red Honda SL70, fully street legal and had a learner’s permit to ride in the daylight hours. I never took the bike to school. I’d ride to Carlson’s house, leave the SL70 there and walk to school.

After school I’d ride to The Art Colony and work a few hours until they closed. I earned fifteen or eighteen dollars a week, which was plenty to keep the SL70 in gas and tires. At least until Wilson got a Bell Star helmet. Damn, that helmet was cool. The rest of us had open face, jet-style lids that either slid back on our head and tried to choke us or pushed down onto our nose blocking most of the road. It was probably a fitment issue but we used whatever helmet no one else wanted. Buying a helmet was an unknown concept.

Wilson’s Bell Star fit his head and had a flip down visor that was great for riding in the rain. It rained a lot in Florida. Naturally, everyone started getting Bell Star helmets and whoever bought one became instantly cool. I had to have one. Murray Auto, in Hialeah had the best price on Bell Helmets: Fifty-one dollars out the door. This was a huge sum of money back when you could buy a running Japanese motorcycle for thirty-five bucks. Regardless, I had to have one. I wanted to be cool, too.

I beavered away at The Art Colony making frames, stretching canvas and skimped on everything I could. It took about two months before I saved enough to buy a Bell. Since I was working and couldn’t get to Murray’s during business hours I handed the money to Wilson for the helmet (he had an XL70 which was nearly the same motorcycle as an SL70) and he went to Murray’s to get the lid.

He brought the helmet back to the Art shop and when we opened the box the thing positively glowed. The paint was flawless, the interior was made of an exotic brushed rayon material. It was so clean. It was like the Playboy Mansion inside. Sliding the Bell onto my head was like entering another world. The intimate view from the Star’s porthole framed a world that had changed. I felt invincible wearing that helmet. I could batter down doors, go into space or ride through the worst rainstorm safe and dry inside. If you didn’t count the rest of my body.

Bell Helmets as I knew them went out of business. I don’t know what happened. I heard lawsuits killed them off. Another company bought the name and started making all sorts of Bell-branded stuff. Mostly for bicycles. You can still buy Bell-branded helmets, they even have a cool Star Classic model.

As for me, I’m back to wearing hand me downs or freebie helmets. I got a good deal on a twenty-five dollar no-brand helmet at Pep Boys. I feel my head is worth less and less with each passing day. Back when I was 15 I had my whole life ahead of me, a quality helmet was a good investment. Now, even with inflation-adjusted money I’ll probably never spend what that old Bell Star cost on another helmet.

A quick update…

Wow, we sure are generating a lot of interest, a lot of hits, and a lot of comments here on the ExNotes website and blog. We appreciate the comments, folks, so please keep them coming.

I need more form-generated junk emails like I need a summer cold, and I’m willing to bet you feel the same way. That said, please consider adding your email address to the list of folks we auto-notify every time we post a new blog. We try to post every day, and I know many of you probably just check in when it’s convenient. Getting on our email list, though, will add one advantage you won’t otherwise get. On a quarterly basis, provided we get at least another 200 folks sign up each quarter, we’ll give away a copy of either Moto Colombia, Riding China, or 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM to a name drawn at random from our email database. The first winner will be announced sometime around Christmas this year. Please encourage your friends to sign up, too. If you’re already on the list, you’re eligible for the first drawing. We don’t give or sell our email list to anyone, so your address is safe with us.

More news: The next Long Beach Moto Show is just around the corner. I’ll be there, and I’ll have lots of photos of Bold New Graphics from the Big 4, and interesting new models from everyone else. And yeah, I’ll get a few photos of the young ladies in the Ducati, Harley, and Indian booths, too.

Make sure you check the newsstands for the latest offering from Motorcycle Classics magazine. It’s titled Tales from the Road, and it’s a dynamite collection of great travel stories that MC, one of the greatest motorcycle magazines ever, has run in the past. Two of my stories are in there, and I know you’ll enjoy them.

We’re going to be adding a couple more index pages to the ExhaustNotes site, as we have already done for the Resurrections, Baja, Dream Bikes, YouTube, Tales of the Gun, and Books pages. We’re thinking the next index pages will be on e-bikes, and another one for the CSC RX4. Those areas are getting a lot of attention and a lot of hits on the blogs we’ve done, and the idea is to make it easy for you to find all of our blogs on a particular topic. And speaking of resurrections, Joe Gresh tells me we may not be too far from hearing Zed, the star of the Resurrections page, fire up. I’m excited about that. Joe’s work on that barn-find Kawasaki Z1 sure is interesting. And there’s more good stuff in the works…a feature on an old Ruger rifle in 7mm Remington Magnum for which I finally found the secret sauce (a load delivering less than 1-inch groups at 100 yards), and a special feature on something that weighs more and has less power than a full-dress potato-potato-potato cruiser (I know you didn’t think that was possible, but I have the photos to prove it).

It’s getting dark what with the time change being in effect, and my keepers are telling me I have to take my pills and get ready for bed. Stay tuned; there’s more good stuff coming your way.

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RX3 to RX4 Comparisons: Part 3

The RX4 on the road. I wanted to get a shot at the truck scale, but conditions were not conducive to good photography.

The next two blogs (this one and the next) address more differences between the RX3 and the RX4, including the weight, the dash and instrumentation, the rear fender, tire sizes, the radiators, the radiator bottle fill port, the kickstand, the rear brake and gearshift levers, the rear wheel adjust mechanism, the swingarm, and the engine mounts. This blog will focus on the bike’s weight and the two bikes’ highway performance. I’ll sweep up the other differences mentioned above in the next blog.

Let’s talk about the 450-lb gorilla in the room first, and that’s the RX4’s weight. The RX4 is a heavier bike than the RX3, and I guess the question is: Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It’s all a question of perspective and intended purpose.

For starters, I still don’t have an accurate, measured weight on either bike. That’s a shame on me, although I will tell you that I tried.

My plan was to get the RX4 weighed first, and then return with my RX3 to do the same. I took the RX4 to our local certified truck scale, but the bike was too light to register on the scale and a loudspeaker-borne voice basically told me to get out of Dodge. It was a scary experience. There’s a monstrous Petro truck stop on the I-10 freeway about 10 miles from where I live, and I thought it would be a simple matter to roll the RX4 onto the scales and come back with The Number. That was my plan, anyway.

I entered the super-busy truck stop through an area teaming with idling 18-wheelers, engines barking and belching, crammed together weighting (or is that waiting?) to funnel onto the Petro parking lot scales. On my RX4, I was acutely aware of three things: The guys driving these monsters couldn’t see me, the engine noise and fumes were overwhelming, and the RX4’s fat rear end (those Tourfella bags are wider than the bike’s handlebars) made maneuvering through the 18-wheeler maze a dicey proposition. The pucker factor was elevated, folks. Big time.

I made it through, though, and I was finally on a scale with a platform as long as, well, an 18-wheeler. There was this elevated control house sort of thing next to the platform. It wasn’t clear to me what was supposed to happen next, as I couldn’t see anybody running the operation, and there was no digital or analog readout telling me the weight. I stopped the bike and dismounted, and I walked toward the elevated control house when an electronic voice from the Heavens boomed. It was way louder then the idling diesel engines surrounding me and I could tell: It was pissed. At me.

“Can I help you?” It didn’t come across as a request that implied an intent to be helpful. It implied anger. Seething anger. Directed at me. As a two-wheeler, I was but one-ninth the vehicle I was supposed to be.

Well, yeah, I want to weigh my bike. I mean, why else would a normal person be here?

“You’re setting off my alarms.”

Sorry about that, dude. What alarms?

“You’re too light and my alarms are going off!”

I want to weigh my bike (sometimes repetition helps, I thought).

“You need to get out!” There it was. No more implying or inferring. It was out in the open now. It was as if I was wearing a MAGA hat on the Harvard campus. I was not welcome.

Okay, I can take a hint. Hell, a weight is just a number anyway.

Which brings me to my next point. What’s in a number?

Whatever the answer is to that question, I can tell you these three things: One, the RX4’s official number from Zongshen is 450 lbs. As I said before, I don’t know if that is the right number, but I suspect it is not. Two, the RX4 is substantially heavier than my RX3, and weigh heavier (or should that be way heavier?) than my TT250. It feels it, and it feels to me like the weight rides higher. Three, the RX4 is a substantially better road bike than the RX3, and the bike’s added heft and longer wheelbase (along with that marvelous 450cc motor) probably plays a role here. Anyway, the bottom line here is this: There’s no Joe Berk official weight yet (read that to mean a weight actually measured on a scale).

Like I said, I can feel the difference in heft between the RX3 and the RX4. It’s enough to make me wonder: Am I man enough to take this puppy off road? I suppose I could be. I know there are a few guys who actually take GS 1200 BMWs off road, and those things have seat heights and weights that require altimeters and maybe truck scales to measure. But would I want to go off road?

The short answer, I think, is this: If your main objective is off-road riding, there are other choices. I’d go for my TT250 or something else. If you are primarily a road rider, though, with the occasional off-road excursion, then the RX4 is a good choice. In my opinion, the RX3 would be better off road, but that’s just what I said it was: My opinion. Your mileage may vary, as they say. I was thinking about the stretch to the Sierra San Francisco cave paintings in Baja, and to me, I’m right at the limits of what I feel comfortable with on that gnarly stretch on my RX3. It’s heavily rutted, there are big boulders, and it’s a challenge. But then, I freely admit I’m not a dirt biker. I know there are guys reading this who are thinking they would have no problem taking the RX4 off road. If you’re one of them, you’re probably right.

If you are primarily a road rider, though, the RX4 is the better choice. I put about 100 miles on the RX4 on freeways and surface streets here in So Cal, and I can tell you this: The RX4 is clearly a more capable road machine than is the RX3, especially at freeway speeds. I didn’t get a long enough stretch to measure the RX4’s top speed, but I can tell you there were spurts where I cranked it up to an indicated 99 mph and there was still more left. That’s indicated (not actual) top speed, and the speedo is 10-12% optimistic. Zongshen claims a top speed of 97.5 mph for the RX4, and that’s probably accurate. The RX4 is a bike that can cruise comfortably at 80+ mph all day long; the RX3 has essentially run out of steam at that speed. The RX4 makes running with the big dogs seem easy. It is rock steady at high speeds, and it’s comfortable. It feels secure.

In many ways, the RX4 reminded me more of my Triumph Tiger than it reminded me of my RX3. The Triumph was essentially a touring machine/sports bike styled like an off-roader with saddlebags. The Triumph was heavy and I only took it off road once on purpose (and that was enough). I rode the Triumph off road a few more times when I had to in Mexico, but it really was not an off-road bike. I know there are guys who ride the big Tigers off road, but it’s not where the bike wants to be. It wants to be headed to the next state, or maybe the next international border. That’s what the RX4 wants, too.

My Triumph Tiger. In many ways, the RX4 is quite similar to the Tiger. It was a stellar long-distance touring machine; I think the RX4 is, too.

I’ll make a prediction: Within the next two years, someone (perhaps several someones) will do the Iron Butt on the RX4. I don’t mean a single 1000-mile Baby Butt day (good buddy Rob Morel has already done that on his RX3). I’m talking the full-tilt boogie here: The 11,000-mile, 11-day Iron Butt. I think that’s going to happen. And I think the RX4 is the bike that will do it.

I was talking to Steve Seidner about this a day or two ago, and he asked me to mention to you that CSC is taking deposits now on the RX4 (here’s a link to get to their page for placing your deposit). CSC will sell a lot of RX4s. The bike is that good.

Dream Bike: 1931 Excelsior-Henderson

Seriously? A 1931 Excelsior-Henderson? That’s my dream bike? Well, sort of. This was a bike that had its day well before I was born, and you might wonder: How did it come to be my dream bike?

The story goes like this: In April of 2006, my good buddy Marty and I rode to the Hansen Dam British Bike Meet here in southern California. It’s a cool event that happens once of twice a year (the next one is this weekend, as a matter of fact). The Hansen Dam meet is a photo op on steroids, as the classic British and other bikes that show up are incredibly beautiful. I’ve been going for years and I have a lot of photos to show for it.

Anyway, the events run like this: The bikes all gather (typically around 400 or so show up), and after everybody socializes and oogles the bikes for a couple of hours (that’s oogles, not Googles), most of the bikes leave for a big ride through the mountains. On advice of counsel (that would be Marty), I never went on the ride. To hear Marty explain it, these are old British bikes, and riding in that parade involves a lot of dodging and weaving to avoid oil spills and, you know, pieces of old British motorcycles. We always wait for the mass exodus to leave, and then Marty and I bail.

That’s what we had done on that April morning back in 2006. Most of the older classics had left and Marty and I were just about to saddle up and go home when this really classy old bike rode in. I was intrigued by the bike, it looked to be all original, and I snapped a quick photo when it rolled to a stop…

Most of the other classics had already left, and this old masterpiece arrived…it was magnificent!

I was totally focused on the bike and I was snapping away with my little Sony Mavica (those early digital cameras were awesome). I hardly noticed the rider…even after he took his helmet off. But then…wowee!

You know, you always think of the great things to say after the fact. I should have asked, “Can I have your autograph, Mr. Letterman?”

Yep, it was Jay Leno. At first, I was the only guy there taking pictures. I asked what the bike was and he told me: A ’31 Henderson. Where’d you find it, I asked. “I just got it. This 92-year-old guy called me from Vegas, said he was getting a divorce, and he needed cash fast…”

I thought old Jay was pulling my leg, and then I saw the video I’ve included below. I guess that was a true story. Go figure.

Jay was pretty pumped up about the bike. I think it might have been the first time he had it out. He told me the bike was running 70 mph on the way over, and he pointed out the speedo telltale to prove it (Mr. Leno talks about that in the YouTube below, too).

Hey, but that’s enough of my yapping and keyboard tapping…check out the photos!

A thing of beauty. Look at this inline four and its cooling fins.

What a cool dash! Look at the speedometer’s telltale.

The view from the left. Today’s faired motorcycles just don’t get it. You’re supposed to be able to see the motor on a motorcycle! Modern faired bikes look kind of like a washing machine when you take the fairings off. This is a motorcycle!

That’s not shaft drive, my friends. Those giant gears drive the speedo cable. That’s how they rolled in the early 1930s. And how about that rear brake!

The horn, the headlight, and the front suspension. We don’t need no stinkin’ fork seals!

With a crowd watching, it took Jay two or three kicks to get the Henderson fired up. In the video below, he does it with a single kick. The badge on Jay’s jacket is from the California Highway Patrol. I’ll bet there’s a cool story behind that, too.

I sort of remembered Jay telling me the bike was a ’36, but I guess my memory is fuzzy. I found a video online and it’s a 1931 model. The video is cool, and I’m including it here for you to enjoy…

I’ve seen Jay Leno a half dozen times or so at motorcycle gatherings here in southern California. He really is a nice guy. There’s no pretentiousness or arrogance at all, and no security entourage. It’s just Jay, a fellow gearhead. I remember talking to this nice elderly woman at the Rock Store souvenir shop and she told me Jay was a nice guy. She went on to tell me that most of the other celebs who show up at the Rock Store were (to use her words) “real assholes.”

When Jay arrives at an event, he is swamped with folks wanting photos and autographs as soon as he takes his helmet off, and he always goes along with the requests. The pattern I’ve observed is that the attention lasts 15 or 20 minutes, folks get their photos and autographs, and then the King of Late Night Comedy is just another one of the guys wandering around checking out the other bikes. I’ve got a few photos of Jay over the years, and it’s always a treat to see him. I came home and told everybody I knew about seeing Jay Leno the first time it happened, and hey, maybe he went home and told everybody he knew about seeing me. I’ve seen Jay Leno at the Rock Store, at Newcomb’s, and at the Hansen Dam events. I even bumped into him once at Warner Brothers, but that’s a story for another time and another blog.

Want to see our other Dream Bikes? Just click here and you will!

Baja, 150cc at a time: Part VI

As you’ll recall from our last installment of the CSC Mustang Baja saga, we left Ciudad Constitucion the next morning and we continued south. We wanted to make Cabo San Lucas that evening. That would be the turnaround point for our journey from southern California to the tip of the Baja peninsula, and we rode the entire distance on our little single-cylinder, 150cc, hardtail Mustang replicas.

Our intent was to bypass La Paz, as it is a large city and we didn’t want to get bogged down getting through it. The map showed a bypass road, and that’s what we intended to grab. But, our plans meant nothing. We missed the bypass road, and we found ourselves in downtown La Paz. Like I said, it’s a big town, and the temperature was over 100 degrees again. We were getting goofy from the heat. It’s almost hard to describe how oppressive the heat was. We were literally in the tropics, having descended past the Tropic of Cancer. High heat, high humidity, the hottest month of the year in Baja, fully suited in our riding gear…it was tough sledding. Simon had the best idea…he started shedding the heavy riding gear.

Simon, with red suspenders flying…all the gear, all the time!

John and Arlene, suited up and sweating.

Simon wrote an entry on his blog that said it all…

La Paz is a hot sweaty city on the Sea of Cortez. We are hot and sweaty (other than J. who travels in air-conditioned splendour). We miss the bypass and are lost. I ask a lady for directions. She begins describing the route. I understand individual words, even entire sentences. The whole becomes a jumble. My eyes betray a fatalistic acceptance of inadequacy.
The woman halts her instructions. Her smile is familiar. It is the generous female’s smile of understanding when faced by male incompetence. Men are men. They have their uses. However, rational thought is not the male’s strong point (expect even vaguely mature thought and you will be disappointed). Humour them. Lead them by the hand. Such is the Latin way…

In brief, she stops giving directions and says, “It will be best if you follow me…”

A very patient woman and her daughter in La Paz, who guided us out of downtown…

Once we were out of La Paz, we were on the open road again and it was much better. Even when it’s hot, you can still stay cool on a motorcycle if you are moving. When you stop, though, it gets warm and it does so immediately. So, we kept moving. We were approaching the Pacific Ocean on the other side of Baja, and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees.

After La Paz on the eastern side of Baja, it was about 70 miles directly across the peninsula to Todos Santos on the Pacific side. It was a nice ride.

We stopped in Todos Santos for lunch. I grabbed this shot of my bike and I want you to notice the BajaBound.com decal.

Taking a lunch break in Todos Santos. BajaBound!

BajaBound was one of our sponsors on the CSC 150 run, and they are one of our advertisers now. We were very grateful to Geoff and the good folks at BajaBound for their help on this adventure.

I wish I could remember the name of the place we had lunch in when we stopped in Todos Santos. It was great.

John and J enjoying lunch in Todos Santos.

After lunch, we were on the road again…headed to our next stop and our destination for the evening, Cabo San Lucas!

Simon taking a break just north of Cabo San Lucas. He was 77 years old when I took that photo. I really admire him.

Curva Peligrosa means “dangerous curve.” I don’t know how you say “watch out for the goats.”

Just north of Cabo. This guy pulled out right in front of us…anybody who would do this has to be a real ass…

We encountered a lot of construction during our trip, which gave the CSC Mustangs a real workout. I would guess that we probably did about 50 miles or so on dirt roads where the main highway was under repair.

We didn’t intend to do any dirt riding on this trip, but we sure rolled through a lot of dirt. One of the things that surprised me was how well the little Mustangs handled in the dirt, and in particular, in soft sand. Soft sand has always scared me on a motorcycle. At the time, I also owned a KLR 650 and a monstrous 955cc Triumph Tiger. With their narrow tires, these bikes would just sink into soft sand and do their best to toss me. The Mustangs didn’t do that. They had wide tires (almost balloon tires) and they were very light. They handled the soft stuff just fine. I’m not advocating using a CSC 150 as a dirt bike, but if you find yourself on a dirt road with soft sand, these bikes handled it with grace.

And finally, the California Scooter contingent arrived in Cabo after 1100 tortuous, hot, and beautiful miles through Baja! This was the perspective from our guest villa.

Cabo San Lucas! That’s the Sea of Cortez on the left, and the Pacific Ocean on the right.

Yep, some of the toughest riding in the world…and we did it! We ran the entire length of the Baja peninsula! I will tell you that I was absolutely beat when we finally made it to Cabo. The heat was bothering all of us, my leg was giving me a lot of grief from a prior injury, and we were all feeling the burn of a long ride. But we made it.

More good Baja trips on all different kinds of motorcycles…check out the ExhaustNotes Baja page!

If you would like to get up to speed on the prior installments of our CSC 150 Mustang replica ride to Cabo San Lucas, you can do so at this link: The CSC 150 Cabo Run

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Learn more about motorcycling through paradise in Moto Baja!