Wow, we’re here in San Felipe, we just returned from a great dinner along the malecon, and yep, it’s still cold. I’ll have more photos than text this evening, boys and girls, mostly because I want to get a good night’s sleep. We’re staying in the beautiful Costa Azul Hotel right on the Sea of Cortez, and with that, let me get into a recap of the day’s ride.
One of the funniest things that’s happened on this trip occurred this morning. When we stopped for our Mexican visas at their immigration office, Devin mentioned he was looking forward to great salsa with our dinner.
“I make the best salsa,” the Mexican immigration officer said.
“What time should we be over for dinner?” I asked.
“You can buy my salsa,” he answered, and with that comment he paused in his review of our visas and pulled out a variety of salsas and other condiments. He arranged them neatly on his desk. Devin and I looked at each other, and then we looked at the immigration dude.
“They are very good…” he said.
“I’ll take one of these and one of those,” Devin said. Tourist visas approved, salsa in hand, and we were on our way. I can’t make up stuff this good, folks. That’s Baja for you.
So we were on the bikes, and our first big stop was the Rumarosa Grade. It’s breathtaking. Take a look at the photos we grabbed there on this cold and sunny day…
Devin and Jordan, with the Rumarosa Grade mountains in the background.Jordan’s Gryffin. The colors just flat work. So do the bikes. I am savoring the ride and I am enjoying the motorcycles.I’m riding the charcoal Gryffin in the foreground. The polished aluminum tank is an option.Kids. Whatcha gonna do? That’s Jordan photographing Devin over the Rumarosa Grade. Devin is earning his hazardous duty pay.
We rode east on Highway 2 and as we descended from the Rumarosa Grade, we found what we had been seeking: Warmth. It was still a bit on the cold side (and we’re riding with lots of layered clothing), but it was an escape from the frigid high-altitude air we had been riding through for the last day and a half. The warmer temps felt great.
We took the bypass around Mexicali, and we were soon southbound on Highway 5. That meant a stop for lunch at my favorite open air taco stand, and wow, was it ever good. Devin went back for seconds. It was awesome.
Carne on the chopping block…I give this place 5 stars. It was a great lunch.Jordan’s tacos. They were great.Devin, Round 2.A quesadilla that was extraordinary. Wow, was it ever good!The vanity plate on my motorcycle. I am seriously enjoying this machine!
After our fabulous lunch we rolled across the upper Sea of Cortez plains. It was a glorious ride on a glorious day. Jordan was grabbing video and taking photos. Me? I was just enjoying the ride.
We checked into the hotel and went to dinner. Fish tacos tonight, folks. Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a motorcycle blog! All I’m doing is talking about food!
All right, one more. After dinner, Jordan and Devin stopped at a churro stand. The churros looked good, but I’ve got my figure to think about. I took a pass. That didn’t slow Jordan and Devin down, though!
A San Felipe churro chef. She enjoyed me taking her picture, I think…The Janus Motorcycles Baja churro judges. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. I think they approve.
And folks, that’s a wrap for tonight. Tomorrow we’re riding across the peninsula to Ensenada, we’ll ride along the Pacific for a bit, and then it’s through northern Baja’s wine country.
Stay tuned!
Want to read the rest of the story? Please visit our Baja page for an index to all of the Janus Baja blog posts!
Devin and Jordan with the Janus motorcycles riding into Idyllwild, California. We were at about 6000 feet when I took this photo.
It is bitter cold tonight and it was cold all day. I don’t know who the stronger troopers were today…the motorcycles or the guys from Janus. Think twisties, 200 miles, and temps just above freezing for much of the ride. Throw in breathtaking scenery and exhilarating riding, and you’ll pretty much have it nailed. That’s what our day was like. It was great.
It was cold when we left, and the Janus guys (Devin, one of the founders, and Jordan, their PR guy) had to have been exhausted even at the start of our ride. Their flight to California was delayed last night, and when they got in at 2:00 a.m. this morning, there were no taxis at the airport. It was a mile to the hotel. They hoofed it. With their luggage and their riding gear. Hard core, to be sure. And then, we were on the road at 8:00 a.m. Do the math, folks. These guys are hard chargers.
The Janus Gryffin, a stunning motorcycle.
We climbed about 1500 feet just getting from Ontario to Beaumont on Interstate 10, but that was no problem for the Janus motorcycles and their CG engines. We purred along, we had a Beaumont breakfast in a small Mexican restaurant, and then we hopped on 243 for a twisting climb up to Idyllwild (Idyllwild is a pine-scented mountain village that sits at just over 6,000 ft). Yowsers, was it ever cold! How cold? We had to watch ourselves in the corners that were still in the shade, because the ice hadn’t melted yet. Yep, that’s how cold it was. And we rode through it.
We trekked south on California 371 and 79 to Julian, stopped for lunch (hot tea and chili for me), and continued our adventure south. Today was a twisties extravaganza almost all day. I’ll probably feel the g-forces in my sleep tonight…they were nonstop as we leaned left, leaned right, rolled off and then back on the throttle, and rode on some of the best roads in southernmost California. And yep, we saw that flock of wild turkeys along the 79 (about 150 of them; they were an amazing sight). It’s San Felipe tomorrow via Mexico’s Rumarosa Grade on Highway 2 east out of Tecate, and then on to Highway 5 south for the easy roll through the volcanic fields into San Felipe. It should be a warmer ride, and I can sure use some of that!
You probably want to know: What are the Janus motorcycles like? Here’s my take: They are exquisitely crafted and they are beautiful. Fit and finish rival anything available today (or at any other time). They handle well. The CG engine has a familiar feel to it, and it’s one I like. And to no one’s surprise, the motorcycles drew a crowd wherever we parked them. At breakfast and lunch we parked the bikes where we could see them, and folks could not walk by without stopping and taking photos. It was impressive. A young guy named Dave (who works at a Vespa dealership) chatted us up for several minutes. Dave knew about Janus but these were the first ones he had seen, and he made no bones about his feelings: He was impressed. My thought is that even folks who don’t know anything about motorcycles can instantly see that these bikes are something special.
Fun times, folks. Stay tuned…there’s more good stuff coming your way!
The stars of this show, put away for the evening.
Want to read the rest of the story? Please visit our Baja page for an index to all of the Janus Baja blog posts!
Yours truly on an earlier ride to San Felipe. I’m buggy about riding in Baja!
By the time most of you read this, I’ll be on the road on a Janus Gryffin with Devin and Jordan headed toward San Felipe. It’s something I’m really looking forward to…a road trip on an exotic 250cc motorcycle in Baja. That’s a formula for a good time, any time.
I’m always a little apprehensive before a big ride and I probably will not have slept well the night before you read this. But I’m relaxed in the knowledge that as soon as the wheels start turning I’ll be completely at ease. I know I’m going to have an awesome time. And I know the memories will last a lifetime. It’s always that way. If you ride big rides, you have had these same feelings before, during, and after any adventure.
Yesterday afternoon was packing time. I always travel light. It actually takes more time to pack light than it does when you can just bring whatever you want. I’ve get a set of Wolfman soft bags I’ll pull off one of my other motorcycles, and I’ve got a Nelson Rigg tailpack I’ll use for carrying my laptop and my camera. I’m thinking I won’t need the Wolfman bags, as I want to get everything into the tailpack. A change or two of underwear, an extra pair of socks, my meds (all us old guys need our meds), my riding gear, and I’m good to go.
There are all kinds of riders in the world. I’m the kind that lives for big miles on rides that cross borders. I guess folks call that adventure riding, but I’ve been doing it before it had the label. Back in the day, we simply called these things motorcycle trips. My first one ever, when I was a college kid, was from New Jersey to Canada. You know what they say about Canada: It’s almost like going to another country. All kidding aside, that was a great ride. This one will be, too. They all are.
I love what Janus is doing, I know the CG engine is a classic stone-cold reliable motor, and I love riding in Baja. I know many of you reading this were alerted to the ExNotes blog by Janus’ Facebook posts. Thanks for joining us. If you’d like to get more info on where we are headed (and Baja in general), please take a look at our Baja page. Our ExNotes site has a lot on Baja, and that’s for good reason: It’s a great motorcycle destination. If you’d like to know more about San Felipe (our destination on the Sea of Cortez), please take a look at this “Destinations” piece I did for Motorcycle Classics magazine a few years ago. And for those of you who are loyal ExNotes blogistos y blogistas but you haven’t heard about Janus yet, please take a look at this awesome review my good buddy Richard Backus did on the bikes earlier this year in Motorcycle Classics magazine.
This is going to be a fun ride, my friends. Hang with us here on the blog, and you’ll be a virtual reality Bajaeno. One of these days, I hope our paths will cross on a Baja ride!
Don’t forget…if you’d like to get automatic updates on the ride and on future ExNotes blogs, please sign up for automatic email notifications on the widget you see here on the blog. We’ll never provide your email address to anyone else, and you’ll be eligible for a drawing for one of our moto-adventure books!
Want to read the rest of the story? Please visit our Baja page for an index to all of the Janus Baja blog posts!
Bright and early Sunday morning (that’s tomorrow), we’re headed south on Janus motorcycles! It’s cold here in the Southland and it promises to be a chilly ride tomorrow, but I’m going to be dressed for it and I’m ready.
The Janus Gryffin. That’s not me in the photo. My wheelie license expired.
I’ll be riding with Devin and Jordan from Janus, and I’ll be on a Gryffin. It’s going to be a grand thousand-mile adventure ride, and you’ll be able to follow us each day right here on the ExNotes blog. I’ll have my laptop and my Nikon with me, and I promise I’ll do my best to post lots of photos and descriptions of our ride. Our bikes will be covered by BajaBound Insurance (the only insurance I ever use in Mexico).
Along the Malecon in San Felipe!
Mexico’s had a tough go of it lately, what with the caravan arrival in Tijuana and the storms along Highway 5 washing out portions of the road. We won’t be near TJ, but we will be traveling on Highway 5 down to San Felipe. Whatever. It’s not an adventure ride until something goes wrong, because that’s when the adventure starts. Like I said, we’ll keep you posted right here!
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Want to read the rest of the story? Please visit our Baja page for an index to all of the Janus Baja blog posts!
It was one of the things my 10th grade English teacher drilled into us, although in my case it didn’t take too well. I always alliterate at every opportunity, and I always appreciate it when others similarly sin. That’s why this video, which I noticed in my Facebook feed (oops, uh oh, and all that…I did it again) was immediately appealing. Stetsons, Steers, and Lone Stars…who could refuse to review such a stunningly-subtitled YouTube?
I may be that kid your mother always warned you about. You know, the bad influence. The one who might do something she wouldn’t like, and then you follow suit. Moms live in fear of guys like me.
Paul’s .45 70 Marlin 1895. These are impressive rifles.
When it comes to guns, I am pretty sure I’m the guy she had in mind. On more than a few occasions, I’ll get fired up about a firearm (no pun intended), and then several of my friends will buy the same thing. It’s happened with Mosin-Nagants, 1911 .45 autos, Ruger No. 1 rifles, and most recently, big-bore Marlins. Caliber .45 70 Model 1895s, to be precise. Several of my friends now own these rifles and they are a hoot. One of these days we’ll have one of our informal West End Gun Club matches and restrict it to .45 70 rifles only. That should be fun.
Paul and I both appreciate fine walnut, and Paul’s recent purchase of his brand-new Marlin is no exception. It’s unusual to see wood this highly figured on a production rifle. Take your time, peruse what’s available on Gunbroker.com on a regular basis, visit every gun store you can, and every once in a great while you find something like this.
I was in northern California last week and that’s always a good opportunity to visit with my good buddy Paul and send a little lead downrange. Well, maybe not a little. You see, Paul recently purchased a .45 70 Marlin 1895, and these rifles send lead downrange at the rate of 400 grains a shot. There are 7,000 grains in a pound. Do the math…that’s a big-ass bullet. Hell, they used to use these things for shooting buffalo.
There’s no way I’d ever shoot one of these magnificent creatures, but back in the day when the buffalo hunters did, more often than not they were using a .45 70 rifle. I grabbed this photo on a recent trip to Tennessee.
The Marlins are great rifles, and you can pick up a 45 70 Model 1895 for around $600 if you shop around for a bit. Marlin was acquired by Remington a few years ago, and their quality took a hit during the transition as they moved production from the old Marlin factory in Connecticut to the Remington plant in New York. Judging by the recent rifles I’ve examined (including Paul’s), the quality issues are all in the rear-view mirror now. The new Marlins sure shoot well, too.
A Williams peep sight on Paul’s Marlin. If you know what you’re doing (and Paul does) these can shrink your groups significantly.
Paul added a Williams aperture rear sight to his 1895, and this was the first time he shot it. I had spotting duties. The first round went low left about 10 inches, and then Paul walked succeeding rounds up and to the right by adjusting the rear sight as I called the shots to him. It didn’t take too many shots to zero the rifle, and from that point on, it was simply a question of evaluating which of several different handloads grouped best. Paul had prepared test rounds using Unique and IMR 4227 propellant, all using the Missouri 400 grain cast lead bullet. The winner was 13.0 grains of Unique behind the mighty Missouri slug. At 50 yards, this load grouped well.
The target. Low, adjust, a bit higher, adjust some more, and well, you get the idea. It took only a few shots to get the Marlin dialed.
We were at a Santa Clara County public range and it was a rainy day, but we managed to have fun on both the rifle and handgun ranges. We shot the .45 70 and then my personal favorite handgun, the 1911 .45 Auto. Yep, Paul had his 1911 out, and we had fun with it, too.
Paul shooting his 1895 at the local gun club.
Paul let me try the Marlin. He tried to capture the muzzle blast, but timing the camera to the shot is tough.
Yours truly behind the 1895. From the rear, Paul and I could be twins. We’ve been shooting buddies for more than 60 years. This photo shows the smoke just after I fired, and that’s good enough.Paul’s “Mil Spec” model Springfield 1911. These are fine guns, way better than what I carried in the Army.
Other folks on the range are always intrigued by the .45 70 cartridge. Compared to the most common rounds seen on rifle ranges these days, they’re huge. The perception is that the recoil must be horrendous. It can be if you load near the upper end of the propellant charge spectrum, but at the lower powder charge ranges, these guns are a lot of fun. That’s a topic for another blog, one that will appear here soon. Stay tuned!
Want to read our other ExhaustNotes Tales of the Gun stories? Just click here!
I grabbed just a few vintage motorcycle shots at the Long Beach show last weekend. There were quite a few vintage bikes there, but there were also many other interesting things to photograph. Here are just a few.
A Husky dirt bike. Very cool. Love the colors.A Vincent in the MotoDoffo exhibit. The Doffo Winery has an impressive collection.There were several Kawasaki two-stroke triples, all in pristine condition. Joe Gresh, eat your heart out!A very classy BMW boxer, which the larger-capacity fuel tank. These are stunningly beautiful motorcycles.I had to include this shot, even though it’s not vintage. It’s the new 650cc Royal Enfield twins. Royal Enfield has out-Triumphed Triumph. I can see one of these in my garage.
Like I said, there were many more vintage machines at Long Beach this year, and what I included here is just a small sample. It was a grand show.
Okay, one more…of little old me reflected in one of the Royal Enfield fuel tanks.
We sure enjoyed our time at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show, and I had a great time photographing the custom bikes. The concept behind the motorcycle shows is that the manufacturers get to display their bikes, vendors get to display (and sell) their products, and in the midst of all, the aisles are peppered with custom bikes. The audience gets to vote and someone gets a trophy, I guess. I just like seeing the latest trends and the craftsmanship that goes into these customs. Take a look.
A café racer early Honda CB750 Four.Shades of Joe Gresh…an ultra-cool Kawasaki Four.An early Triumph unit construction twin in Gulf Oil livery.This one was very wild. It’s another Honda 750 Four with a Terminator-style, heavy-duty, industrial motif. Check out the air intake on the right.This was a cool headlight nacelle on an Indian. Something different.
I think one of the great aspects of these shows is that the custom motorcycles suggest ideas for future customs. They’re fun to see and fun to photograph. All of these photos were shot with available light (no flash) with my Nikon D810 at ISO 1000 and the 24-120 Nikon lens. There were many more customs than just the ones I’m showing here, but this blog is getting long enough already, and I have other things I want to share with you from the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show. Stay tuned!
One of the best parts of the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show is always running into good friends. Here are a few good buddies we saw last weekend at the show.
Good buddy Pete, who rode with us twice on the CSC Baja adventure rides!Good buddy Steve at the CSC booth, which was absolutely packed with folks taking in the new RX4, the new San Gabriel, the new City Slicker, and the iconic RX3 and TT250 motorcycles. That’s Steve in the background, second from the left. Check out the crowd!Good buddy Marcelo, owner of the Doffo Winery and the MotoDoffo Collection in Temecula!Good buddy Bill, of Butler Maps! I see Bill every year at these events.Good buddies Ash and Pete, of Mosko Moto. These folks make awesome ADV soft luggage!
I always enjoy seeing friends at the Long Beach Moto Show. It’s the best part of the show for me.
This is a blog I wrote for CSC Motorcycles a little more than 4 years ago (time sure flies when you’re having fun). The topic was as timely then as it is today. I like big bikes, but I like small bikes more, and I’m convinced that a small bike makes way more sense than a big bike for real world adventure touring. I thought I would post the blog again, as we are having way too much fun with CSC, BMW, Janus, and other companies who have seen the light. Here’s the blog from back in September 2014…
A 250cc bike seems too small to many riders. Is it?
The 250cc CSC Cyclone.
The motorcycle craze in the US really started in the mid-1960s. I know motorcycling goes back way before that, but motorcycling was essentially a fringe endeavor until Honda came on the scene. We met the nicest people on Hondas, if you remember, and that ad tagline was a winner (so is “Don’t Miss The Boat,” by the way). (Note: “Don’t Miss The Boat” was CSC’s tagline for the US RX3 introduction, and those who didn’t miss the boat participated in one of the best deals in the history of motorcycling.)
Honda’s sales model was a good one. They pulled us in with small bikes and then convinced us we needed larger and larger bikes. Many of us started with a Honda Cub (the 50cc step-through), we progressed to the Super 90 (that was my jump in), then the 160cc baby Super Hawk, then the 305cc Super Hawk, and at that point in about 1967 that was it for Honda. They didn’t have anything bigger (yet). After the 305cc Super Hawk, the next step for most folks was either a Harley or a Triumph.
Yours Truly, on a Honda Super 90 in the mid-’60s.
You know, back in those days, a 650cc motorcycle was a BIG motorcycle. And it was.
But Honda kept on trucking…they offered a 450 that sort of flopped, and then in 1969 they delivered the CB-750. That bike was so far out in front of everyone else it killed the British motorcycle industry and (with a lot of self-inflicted wounds) it almost killed Harley.
The Japanese manufacturers piled on. Kawasaki one-upped Honda with a 900. (Another note…it’s one of those early Kawi 900s that Gobi Gresh is restoring in the Zed’s Not Dead series.) Honda came back with a 1000cc Gold Wing (which subsequently grew to 1100cc, then 1500cc, and is now an 1800cc). Triumph has a 2300cc road bike. Harley gave up on cubic centimeters and now describes their bikes with cubic inches. And on and on it went. It seems to keep on going. The bikes keep on getting bigger. And bigger. And bigger. And taller. And heavier. And bigger. In a society where everything was being supersized (burgers, bikes, and unfortunately, our beltlines), bigger bikes have ruled the roost for a long time. Too long, in my opinion.
Is this where it’s going? (Note: I shot this photo at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show about 15 years ago.)
Weirdly, today many folks think of a 750 as a small bike. It’s a world gone nuts. But I digress…
I’ve done a lot of riding. Real riding. My bikes get used. A lot. I don’t much care for the idea of bikes as driveway jewelry, and on a lot of my rides in the US, Mexico, and Canada, I kind of realized that this “bigger is better” mentality is just flat wrong. It worked as a motorcycle marketing strategy for a while, but when you’re wrestling with a 700-lb bike in the soft stuff, you realize it doesn’t make any sense.
Really?
I’ve had some killer big bikes. A Triumph Daytona 1200. A Harley Softail. A TL1000S Suzuki. A Triumph Speed Triple (often called the Speed Cripple, which in my case sort of turned out to be true). All the while I was riding these monsters, I’d see guys on Gold Wings and other 2-liter leviathans and wonder…what are these folks thinking?
I’d always wanted a KLR-650 for a lot of reasons. The biggest reasons were the bikes were inexpensive back then and they were lighter than the armored vehicles I had been riding. I liked the idea of a bike I could travel on, take off road, and lift by myself if I dropped it. To make a long story short, I bought the KLR and I liked it. I still have it. But it’s tall, and it’s heavy (well over 500 lbs fully fueled). But it was a better deal than the bigger bikes for real world riding. Nobody buys a KLR to be a poser, nobody chromes out a KLR, and nobody buys leather fringe for a KLR, but if that’s what you want in a motorcycle, hey, more power to you.
More background…if you’ve been on this blog for more than 10 minutes you know I love riding in Baja. I talk about it all the time. My friends tell me I should be on the Baja Tourism Board. Whatever. It is some of the best riding in the world. I’ll get down there the first week I take delivery on my CSC Cyclone, and if you want to ride with me, you’re more than welcome. (Note: And I did. We did a lot of CSC Baja tours, and CSC introduced a lot of folks to riding and to Baja. That one innocent little sentence became a cornerstone of CSC’s marketing strategy.)
I was talking up Baja one day at the First Church of Bob (the BMW dealership where me and some of my buddies hang out on Saturday mornings). There I was, talking about the road to San Felipe through Tecate, when my good buddy Bob said “let’s do it.” Baja it was…the other guys were on their Harleys and uber-Beemers, and I was on my “small bore” KLR. The next weekend we pointed the bars south, wicked it up, and rode to San Felipe.
The Boys…bound for San Felipe with my KLR leading the pack
That was a fun trip. I took a lot of ribbing about the KLR, but the funny thing was I had no problem keeping up with the monster motos. In fact, most of the time, I was in the lead. And Bob? Well, he just kept studying the KLR. On Saturday night, he opened up a bit. Bob is the real deal…he rode the length of Baja before there was a road. That’s why he was enjoying this trip so much, and it’s why he was so interested in my smaller bike. In fact, he announced his intent to buy a smaller bike, which surprised everybody at the table.
Holding court on the Sea of Cortez. That’s Bob on the right.
Bob told us about a months-long moto trip he made to Alaska decades ago, and his dream about someday riding to Tierra del Fuego. That’s the southernmost tip of South America. He’d been to the Arctic Circle, and he wanted to be able to say that he’d been all the way south, too.
I thought all of this was incredibly interesting. Bob is usually a very quiet guy. He’s the best rider I’ve ever known, and I’ve watched him smoke Ricky Racers on the Angeles Crest Highway with what appeared to be no effort whatsoever. Sometimes he’d do it on a BMW trade-in police bike standing straight up on the pegs passing youngsters on Gixxers and Ducksters. Those kids had bikes with twice the horsepower and two-thirds the weight of Bob’s bike, and he could still out ride them. Awesome stuff. Anyway, Bob usually doesn’t talk much, but during dinner that night on the Sea of Cortez he was opening up about some of his epic rides. It was good stuff.
Finally, I asked: Bob, what bike would you use for a trip through South America?
Bob’s answer was immediate: A 250.
That surprised me, but only for an instant. I asked why and he told me, but I kind of knew the answer already. Bob’s take on why a 250: It’s light, it’s fast enough, it’s small enough that you can pick it up when it falls, you can change tires on it easily, you can take it off road, you can get across streams, and it gets good gas mileage.
Bob’s answer about a 250 really stuck in my mind. This guy knows more about motorcycles than I ever will, he is the best rider I’ve ever known, and he didn’t blink an eye before immediately answering that a 250 is the best bike for serious world travel.
It all made a lot of sense to me. I had ridden my liter-sized Triumph Tiger in Mexico, but when I took it off road the thing was terrifying. The bike weighed north of 600 lbs, it was way too tall, and I had nearly dropped it several times in soft sand. It was not fun. I remembered another ride with my friend Dave when he dropped his FJR in an ocean-sized puddle. It took three of us to get the thing upright, and we dropped it a couple of more times in our attempt to do so. John and I had taken my Harley and his Virago on some fun trips, but folks, those bikes made no sense at all for the kind of riding we did.
Upright in this photo, but it was like wrestling a pig in mud a few minutes earlier.
You might be wondering…what about the other so-called adventure bikes, like the BMW GS series, the Yamaha Tenere, or the Triumph Tiger? Good bikes, to be sure, but truth be told, they’re really street bikes dressed up like dirt bikes. Big street bikes dressed up like dirt bikes. Two things to keep in mind…seat height and weight. I can’t touch the ground when I get on a BMW GS, and as you’ve heard me say before, my days of spending $20K or $30K on a motorcycle are over. Nice bikes and super nice for freeway travel, but for around town or off road or long trips into unknown territory, these bikes are just too big, too heavy, and too tall.
There’s one other benefit to a small bike. Remember that stuff above about Honda’s 1960s marketing strategy? You know, starting on smaller bikes? Call me crazy, but when I get on bikes this size, I feel like a kid again. It’s fun.
I’ve thought about this long and hard. For my kind of riding, a 250 makes perfect sense. My invitation to you is to do the same kind of thinking.
So there you have it. That was the blog that helped to get the RX3 rolling, and CSC sold a lot of RX3 motorcycles. Back in the day, CSC was way out in front of everybody on the Internet publicizing the Zongshen 250cc ADV bikes, and other countries took notice. Colombia ordered several thousand RX3s based on what they CSC doing, other countries followed, and things just kept getting better and better. The central premise is still there, and it still makes sense. A 250 may well be the perfect motorcycle.
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