Joe Berk

Baja, 150cc at a time: Part III….

So we’re back on the story about our trek to Cabo San Lucas on reborn Mustangs, the little CG clone 150cc hardtails. We’re doing this story in installments. This is the third, and if you are new the ExNotes blog, you might not have seen Part I and Part II. My advice? Take a few minutes and read them before continuing with Part III (this part of our ongoing 150cc adventure ride)…

Part I: Baja, 150cc at a time…

Part II: Baja, 150cc at a time…

And with that, I’ll pick up where I left off at the end of our Part II Colonet coffee stop. After our coffee stop, we rolled on for another hour and stopped for breakfast. Here we were, in this little Baja restaurant, and they had wireless Internet access. That’s where I posted the first CSC blog entry on our Baja trip (and we wanted to keep moving, so it was short).

Check this out…Simon Gandolfi checking his email on my laptop!

What is the world coming to, though? Wireless Internet access in Baja. I was surprised. That trip was the first time I had Internet access in Baja. I knew the peninsula was changing.

Breakfast was good, and after that, it was a short hop down to El Rosario to top off the tanks before climbing into the Valle de los Cirios. Our bikes climbed, and so did the temperature. I’ll bet we had a 60-degree temperature swing that day. It was right at about 100 degrees in the desert. September is the hottest month of the year in Baja. Why make it easy? We stopped several times to peel off our layered riding gear as the temperatures continued to climb.

Arlene, dropping layers and trying to stay cool.

When Catavina came into view, we decided to call it a day. We might have pushed on to Guerrero Negro, but there is literally nothing between Catavina and Guerrero Negro, and it’s another 140 miles or so down the road. Too hot, too far, and we didn’t want to ride after dark.

We had a lot of fun with Simon, and we quickly dubbed him “the world’s most interesting man.” Do you remember those Dos Equis commercials? You know…the ones where a guy holding a Dos Equis beer is proclaimed the world’s most interesting man…with descriptors like “he never uses lip balm” and “his mother has a tattoo that says ‘Son.’” We really enjoyed getting to know Simon, and he most definitely is the world’s most interesting man. Before I left, someone gave me a list of “world’s most interesting man” descriptions he grabbed off the Internet, and I dribbled them out to our group as we journeyed through Baja. The one that got the best laugh was “Simon Gandolfi is the world’s most interesting man…he once called a psychic…to warn her.”

I grabbed this shot of Simon with his California Scooter in the Valle de los Cirios south of El Rosario. It’s one of my all time favorites.

Simon was also keeping a blog for his readers. Here’s an entry from Simon’s blog…

The bikes are small and pretty, surely an unusual description of a bike. Best of all they make people smile, not with scorn but with pleasure – as does watching your children play out in the yard.

The bikes were performing well. We had two current production bikes (mine and Arlene’s), and two preproduction bikes (Simon’s and John’s). During development Steve and the boys found a few improvement opportunities on the preproduction bikes, and these resulted in upgrades on the production bikes. Simon’s and John’s preproduction bikes have had some of the problems we found earlier, but the production bikes performed flawlessly.

We didn’t coddle the little Mustangs. We ran on some pretty rough roads, and the speed bumps (topes) in every little town we pass through were brutal. The Mexicans don’t just use one speed bump. They use about 20 of the things in a row, maybe 30 feet apart, one after the other. When they tell you to slow down, they mean it. We’d slow down for the speed bumps when we saw them in time (which didn’t always happen), and then we’d speed up after the topes. As I said earlier, the bikes liked running around 45 mph. We occasionally cranked them up to over 60 mph, but then we’d settle into a relaxed putt to enjoy the scenery and the ride. It’s a sweet way to see Baja.

Here’s another cool entry from Simon’s blog…

The desert here is a vast up-and-down jumble of immense gray boulders, candelabra cactus, Judas trees and skinny scrub. To the south and west lie mountains scrubbed to their stone core by a few million years of wind and occasional rain. To the east a long roll of cloud or fog lies low over the ocean. The dawn light washes the mountains a pale chalky blue. The cloud bank is touched with pink.

I have ridden on ahead. I haven’t met another car or truck in twenty minutes. Cut the engine and the silence is total. Two buzzard glide overhead. Nothing else moves. I am absorbed into the stillness and the quiet and the beauty and find myself shivering, not with cold, but with that exultation that comes sometimes when, tired yet wonderfully content, you get into a bed spread with Egyptian cotton sheets stiff from the laundry and wriggle in minor ecstasy as you clutch yourself in your own arms. Never done that? Never slept between Egyptian cotton sheets? How sad…

And if you have never visited Baja California, start planning. Right now this is about as close as you can get to heaven without a one-way ticket.

We rode into the Catavina boulder fields, one of the prettiest parts of Baja. It’s a surreal region with huge white boulder and enormous Cardon cactus.

You’ve seen this photo before. It’s another one of my favorites. I shot it from the saddle with my old D200 Nikon and 24-120 lens as we rolled through the Catavina boulder fields.

Our destination that night was Catavina, where we would spend the night in the Desert Inn. It was a grand day and a great place to call it a night. I’d stayed there many times before on prior Baja adventures, and I knew it was good. The Desert Inn is nice. It’s 100 miles from anywhere.

The courtyard in Catavina’s Desert Inn Hotel.

Our bikes parked in front of the Catavina Desert Inn.

They turn the generators off from 12:00 to 4:00 at the Desert Inn, so there’s no electricity in the afternoon. The desolation and the surrounding landscape just make it a cool place to be, even if was 100 degrees (as it was when we stopped that day). We ate in the Desert Inn’s restaurant, we sampled their Tequilas (hey, our riding was over that day), and then we hung out in the pool. Wow, that sure felt good.

To be continued…stay tuned for Part IV!

Want to learn more about riding in Baja? Check out the ExhaustNotes Baja page!

Dream Bike: 1969 Kawasaki 500cc Triple

The ’69 Kawasaki Mach III 500cc two-stroke triple: Wow! It was a watershed wunderbike back in the days when the Big Four had serious engineering, the kind that went way beyond Bold New Graphics. They were trying all kinds of mechanically wild and wonderful things then. It was a magnificent time to start a motorcycle riding career.

Nicknamed the Widowmaker for its tendency to wobble and wheelie, the Mach III was the fastest motorcycle of its era, its MSRP was under $1000, and it would whomp a Honda CB750 in a drag race. I know because I was there. I had a Honda 750 and my college compadre Keith had the Kawi triple. I had a 50% displacement advantage and that extra cylinder, but it was to no avail. Keith cleaned my clock at every light.

Good buddy Gobi Gresh is all gaga on these bikes, so I guess that’s what induced my heightened sensitivity to the topic of all things two-stroke triple. Yesterday morning a note arrived in my email from Motorcycle Classics (the gold standard of motorcycle magazines, in my opinion), and it mentioned an article on a Mach III restoration by Anders Carlson. I sent it on to Arjiu knowing his perverted puttster predilections, he told me the story was really good, and I read it. I agree. I’ve never met Mr. Carlson, but let me tell you, the man can write.

Truth be told, I never wanted a Kawasaki Triple back then in any of the four flavors (I believe that as the line grew, they offered a 250, a 350, the original 500, and a 750 version). Now, maybe having one would be cool. I’d be a better man, I think, if I owned one.

I did my first international motorcycle ride ever with good buddy Keith back in the early ’70s. Keith rode his ferociously fast 500 triple and I rode my Honda 4 from central Jersey to Montreal. We were in high spirits, as might be expected. We were two young guys riding our bikes to Canada. Canada! It would almost be like going to another country! We were in engineering school back then, both of us were in Army ROTC, and it was a fun ride. We joked that folks might think we were draft dodgers, heading to Canada and all.

We swapped bikes for a while somewhere in Vermont and I thought the Kawasaki was downright painful. That bike could have been an enhanced interrogation tool before the term was invented. It felt like sitting a two-by-four plank. The 500 triple was fast in a digital sort of way (full on, or full off) and I didn’t care for it. My CB750 was a much more comfortable bike and it sounded the way I thought a motorcycle ought to. You know, like an Offenhauser. The Kawi sounded like a chain saw.

My buddy Peter had one of the Kawasaki 750 triples. I didn’t know him then, but he told me a story about that bike going into a high speed wobble coming down California’s Cajon Pass (the result being one pitched Peter with a broken shoulder that bothers him to this day). “I can’t tell you how many times I ran out of gas on that thing,” was his only other comment. I guess it liked fuel.

Still, the Kawi two-stroke triples are iconic bikes, and the Carlson article I mentioned above is a great read. If I was going to have a Kawi triple, it would be a white one with blue stripes (the original colors), just like Keith’s and the one you see in the photo above.

Required Baja Paperwork

We’re often asked: What kind of documentation will I need to ride a motorcycle or drive a car in Baja? Here’s the list of what documents are required for a trip into Baja:

1. You’ll need your US passport, or a passport card. I’ve always used my passport; I’ve never had the passport card (the passport card is issued by the US State Department). Either one will work.

2. You’ll need a Mexican tourist visa. This is something you get immediately after you enter Mexico, not before. If you enter through Tijuana or Tecate (my typical points of entry), there are Mexican immigration offices off to the right as soon as you enter. That’s where the tourist visas are issued. You might be tempted to just blow this off because you can drive by and continue your trip into Baja, but if you’re stopped further inland and you don’t have the tourist visa, you’ll have to go back to the border to get one (don’t ask me how I know this). The good news is that if you’re planning a stay of less than 7 days, the tourist visa is free. If you staying longer, it’s $20.

3. You’ll need your US driver’s license.

4. You’ll need your vehicle registration.

5. You’ll need Mexican insurance for your motor vehicle (your US insurance is not adequate). We use BajaBound insurance exclusively, and we did a post about that great company here on the ExNotes blog a short time ago.

You can contact BajaBound directly at this link or by clicking on the photo above. If you get stopped in Mexico and you can’t show proof of Mexican insurance, you’ll have a real problem (like we said above, your regular US insurance won’t cover you in Mexico). You’ll need to print a copy of your policy (which you can do online after you purchase it from BajaBound) and bring that with you.

And that’s it, folks.

Want to know more about riding in Baja? Check out our Baja page!

Dr. Dave!

Dave Reiss is another one of our good riding buddies and blogging friends who recently told us about a ride on his Yamaha Seca, proving yet again that you don’t have to sell the farm to have a grand motorcycle adventure. Dave’s post is right here. You’ll enjoy reading it. We sure did!

Wild Conjecture II: The KLR 650

The Kawasaki 1M-BC.

One Million Years BC. Raquel Welch. Who was John Richardson?

I was laughing so hard reading Gresh’s piece on the KLR 650 it took me a few minutes to get that “One Million BC” designator, and then I started laughing even harder. For reasons reaching back to my teenage years, I had visions of Raquel Welch scantily clad in strategically-draped animal skins atop a KLR 650. Yeah, that could work.

Ah, the KLR. Nearly all of us have owned one at one time or another. I wanted a KLR for a long time and I waited too long to buy one (mostly because none of the dealers allowed test rides), but I finally pulled the trigger on a new one in 2006. The bike was $5250 out the door (I know, you did better on yours). That price included an obscenely-inflated-but-successfully-negotiated-lower dealer setup fee. The windshield fell off on the 4-mile ride home.

I loved my KLR and I kept it for 10 years. I’d heard, off and on, that it was Kawasaki’s best-selling motorcycle. It was a sensibly priced and simple motorcycle. Top heavy, yeah. Heavy, yeah. Well supported with tech days and a great online community, yeah. Fun to ride, yeah. Easy to maintain, yeah. A great adventure touring bike, absolutely yeah.

My KLR 650 near the salt fields of Guerrero Negro, B.C.S. I had a lot of fun on that motorcycle.

Even though I started on small bikes (I was one of those nicest people you met on a Honda; I only became mean later in life) the KLR was the first bike of my adult life that made me realize I’d been brainwashed: I did not need a big bike. I also owned a Harley Softail with an S&S 96-inch motor at the same time I owned the KLR, and one day after inadvertent back-to-back rides, I realized the KLR was faster, more comfortable, and handled better. I’d spent more for just the S&S motor than the entire KLR cost new. The Softail went on CycleTrader that same day and was gone by the weekend.

My Harley Heritage Softail in Baja. This is a good example of how not to pack for a motorcycle trip.

The US motorcycle market is in the crapper for a lot of different reasons (none of which current industry leadership has been able to address). Sales dropped by 50% with the onset of the Great Recession of 2008, and today (10 years later), sales are still essentially at that same 50% level. It’s a double or triple or quadruple (or more) whammy…banks aren’t giving 6th mortgages on homes to buy a Harley, millennials are more interested in iPhones and Instagram than motorcycles, folks who were buying motorcycles are increasingly interested in adult diapers, motorcycles are too big and too expensive, and more than a few dealers are still price gouging with fraudulent and flatulent setup and freight fees. And there hasn’t been a good motorcycle movie (think The Great Escape or Easy Rider) in years. The answer is obvious to all but those heavily-invested in heavy, large, overpriced motorcycles (i.e., the same current industry leadership mentioned at the beginning of this paragaph): Smaller, lighter, way less expensive bikes. And maybe a good movie or two would help prime the pump.

So what do I think will be the follow on to the iconic KLR 650?

I see two options, and maybe a third…

Option 1 is for Kawasaki not to do anything because they already have a KLR 650 replacement. That bike is the Versys 300. The Good Times people may have pulled a fast one on us, and introduced a replacement without telling us it was a replacement. Hell, the Versys basically costs the same as a KLR 650. From a price point perspective, it is the replacement.

Option 2 would be an entirely new Kawasaki. If the Big K goes this way, my guess is it will be something around 450cc, it will be a single, it will be too tall, it will be fuel injected, and it will be too expensive. It will not be manufactured in Japan; my guess is Thailand (where the KLR 650 has been manufactured for decades). Or maybe China. I think Kawasaki is mulling this one very carefully. Such a bike would have to go head to head with the new RX4 and RX3S to be offered by Zongshen (and in the US, CSC), the Royal Enfield 400cc Himalayan, and maybe others. That would be a tough competition. My guess is the Zongs will be a good $2,000 (probably more) less expensive than anything the Good Times People bring to us as a KLR 650 successor, and the Big 4 dealers will exacerbate the price problem by tacking on their ingrained and irrational $1500 freight and setup fees. Maybe Kawasaki realizes this, and if so, that makes a good argument for them to just pick up their marbles and go home (which they may have already done; see Option No. 1 above).

The Zongshen RX3S on display at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou. It’s hard to imagine how any KLR replacement can compete with this or the Zongshen RX4, given Kawasaki’s traditional path to market and dealer fees.

There is, of course, a third option, and that’s to just keep building the KLR 650. The tooling was paid for years ago and there’s no real expense in continuing the line. This makes a lot of sense, unless the bikes are just not selling, and that may be the case. As mentioned earlier, the US market is flat and outside the US, bikes over 250cc are viewed as freakishly huge. I don’t buy the argument that because the KLR 650 is carbureted it won’t meet emissions requirements; the bike has been carbureted its entire life and new carbureted bikes are being approved in the US all the time. If my last name was Kawasaki, I’d keep the KLR 650 on the market, drop the price dramatically, find a way to limit the dealer larceny that passes as freight and setup fees, and sell the hell out of that bike.

We’ll see. This will be interesting.

Check out our other Dream Bikes!

Named, noted, and quoted…

A comparo…Slick and Zero. It was fun doing this one.

Hey, this is cool. Our story on the CSC City Slicker and Zero electric motorcycles was picked up (and quoted extensively) by a website called Electrek, an Internet magazine focused on electric vehicles. Imagine that…being quoted in a magazine. That’s cool…other people quoting me. I’m working on learning how to write gud (spelling and grammar mistakes intended, folks) because when I grow up I want to write as well as Arjiu (and that would be my good buddy and literary hero, Joe Gresh).

Okay, enough on that. I said I would someday explain the Dajiu and Arjiu business, and this is that day.

Dajiu and Arjiu in China. Yeah, we like gladiator movies…

So I’m Dajiu (which means big uncle, I’m told) and Joe Gresh is Arjiu (which means little uncle). Our Chinese buddies gave us those names on the Western America Adventure Ride (you can read about that in 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM). Joe and I were leading a ride around the western US with a group of guys from China, and they were having difficulty with both of us having the same first name. It’s funny…most of the Chinese guys had adopted English names (Hugo, Leonard, Kyle, etc.) to make it easier for us, but they were having trouble with us having the same English name (Joe and Joe). On the second day of that ride, Hugo (Zongshen’s factory guy) fixed it by giving us new names, Dajiu and Arjiu. Hugo called us all together to make a formal announcement, and he handled it in a very solemn manner. I imagine the ceremony was similar to becoming a made man in the Mafia, or maybe a Bar Mitzvah. The Chinese guys thought it was marvelous.

The pronunciation is “Dah Geo” and “Ar Jeo” and our new Chinese names stuck. Whenever we’re with the Chinese guys, they simply refer to us as Dajiu and Arjiu, as if those were our given names. That’s how we’re introduced to others in China. It’s pretty cool. You can call us that, too, if you wish.

The Atlantic Highlands…

New Jersey may not be a place you would ordinarily think of for a motorcycle ride, but I grew up back there and I’m here to tell you that you can have a good time on a motorcycle in the Garden State. One of the rides I particularly like is along the Jersey shore from Pt. Pleasant to the Atlantic Highlands. Once you’re in Pt. Pleasant, aim your front wheel north and do your best to hug the coastline. It’s Highway 36 for much of that run (it’s called a highway, but it’s really a nice non-highway ride all the way up). Your destination might be (as mine usually is) the Atlantic Highlands, Sandy Hook, and the Gateway National Recreation Area.

I have several recent photos from this area (I was there this past June), and rather than a long narrative, I thought I might simply share the captioned photos…

The view from Mt. Mitchill in the Atlantic Highlands, the highest point on the US east coast south of Maine. That’s the Manhattan skyline at the far horizon. The land across the bay is the actual “Sandy Hook.”

The 9/11 memorial atop Mt. Mitchill. The eagle is carrying an actual piece of I-beam from the Twin Towers. Everyone who lives around here knew people who died on that day.

Names of just a few who died in the Towers on the base of the 9/11 monument.

Another view of Sandy Hook Bay from Mt. Mitchell.

Sandy Hook Light, the oldest operating lighthouse in America. It was built in 1764, 12 years before American independence.

A Nike Ajax along Hartshorne Road, the entrance to the Gateway National Recreation Area, on the way into Fort Hancock.

The Nike Hercules air defense missile, directly across the street from the Nike Ajax shown above. These were a later missile, and they could be configured to carry a nuclear warhead.

Before Fort Hancock provided air defense for New York City, it used coastal artillery to protect the region from seaborne invaders. Some of these guns go back to the early 1800s.

Battery Potter, with steam-powered retractable hidden cannons. Sandy Hook was an early Army proving ground, and the advanced coastal artillery pieces hidden underground behind these walls were tested here. Boom boom!

Two young ladies checking out a hidden mortar base on Fort Hancock. The photo ops here are amazing.

An old Army building on Fort Hancock. Ah, the stories these places could tell…

And there you have it. I like visiting New Jersey, and I never miss an opportunity to ride the Jersey shore. I’m thinking it might make sense to keep a motorcycle back there.

Hmmmm…

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Motorcycles and milsurps…

Zombies. No matter how many times you hit them, they won’t go down…goofy targets, to be sure, but lots of fun.

No motorcycle rides today…just a fun day at the range with some of my motorcycle and shooting buddies, and the milsurp rifles.

We get together every month or so to do this, and sometimes we let a few too many months slide by. That was the case this time; it had probably been 3 or 4 months since we last had one of our informal matches. We ordinarily have around 10 shooters show up. This one was on short notice but we still had 5 of us get together. It’s grand fun and we always have a great Mexican lunch following the match. There’s something about having a rifle match (informal or otherwise) with firearms that are 70 to 110 years old. It’s cool.

About this match business…it’s relaxed as hell, as you can probably tell from the targets, and it really isn’t a competition. It’s just a bunch of guys with a common interest getting together to have fun. Most of the time we don’t even bother to score the targets. The company and the conversation are the best parts; we really don’t care about declaring a winner. We have some interesting firearms, too.

Duane and his German K98 Mauser. Duane rides an RX3 and an Indian. The rifle is a Nazi-proof-marked World War II weapon, which makes it about 70 years old.

Willie and his US M1 Carbine. Willie also brought along a German Mauser (it’s to his right). Willie rides an RX3 and a TT250. The M1 is a World War II weapon.

My Russian Mosin-Nagant. The Mosin-Nagant was designed in the early 1890s. This particular one was built in 1942, and most likely saw service in World War II. It’s very accurate.

Here’s a short video of Duane firing his World War II K98 Mauser…

You might wonder…why a gun article on a motorcycle blog?

Well, there are a couple of reasons. The first is that I’m always amazed at how many riders are also into shooting. The two interests seem to go hand in hand. And then there’s another aspect: The companies that manufactured both firearms and motorcycles. There are more than a few manufacturers who have done that.

You guys and gals into vintage bikes certainly know of BSA. The BSA initials stand for Birmingham Small Arms, and if you look closely at the emblem on older BSAs, you’ll see it’s a set of three stacked rifles…

A 1939 BSA M20. Note the stacked rifle logo on the engine.

Royal Enfield is another company with a military lineage. Enfield was originally a British company (their motorcycles are manufactured in India today). Take another look at Rick’s Lee Enfield rifle up above. Yep, there’s a connection.

Hey, how about Benelli? That was an Italian motorcycle company (Benelli motorcycles are now made in China), but they also have a line of shotguns. Benelli made pistols for a while, too. I have a Benelli 9mm handgun.

Iver Johnson is yet another company with a dual lineage. They made motorcycles a century ago, and they are still manufacturing firearms.

I don’t know that Harley ever made guns, but they manufactured munitions components until very recently. I know about that because I used to work for a company in that industry.

I’m sure there are more companies than just the few I’ve listed here, and I’m going to research this a bit more. I don’t think it’s just coincidence that more than a few manufacturers decided to make both bikes and guns. Motorcycles and firearms are two products with something in common: They have a special feel to them, an appeal that reaches into our souls. They are more than just mashed-up machined metal mechanisms. There’s a commonality, a similarity, and maybe a sympatico between motorcycles and firearms, one that attracts both manufacturers and riders. We see it right here on the ExhaustNotes blog (every time we post a firearms-related piece, our hits go through the roof). I’ll post a more in-depth blog on this motorcycle/firearm connection down the road. It’s a fascinating topic. Maybe there’s a book in it!

Want to read more Tales of the Gun? Just click here!

Baja, 150cc at a time: Part II….

To pick up where we left off, we’ll roll as far south as breakfast in Colonet in this blog. This was to be our first full day on the road, headed south to Cabo San Lucas!

We trucked the bikes down to San Ysidro just north of the border, hopped on the little Mustangs and we were off, with J following us in the chase truck. We had a spare bike in the back of the truck, and that’s when the fun began. We went through the border and took off; J was stopped immediately. Damn, we’re in the Tijuana traffic crucible, we lost J, and we didn’t have any telephone communications. But we did have a plan. Our rendezvous point in case we became separated was the Rosarito Beach Hotel, about 35 miles south of the border.

J was basically kicked out of Mexico as soon as he crossed the border because he didn’t have ownership documents and I guess the Mexican border agents didn’t want him bringing a motorcycle in the back of his truck into Mexico. It just never dawned on me that this would be a problem. Well, maybe it had…he had a letter from CSC authorizing use of the bike, but that wouldn’t cut it with the Mexican immigration folks.

Once he was back on the US side, J was able to reach the CSC truck by phone before it got too far north of the border. J and the CSC guys moved the bike from J’s truck to the CSC truck, and J hotfooted it down to Rosarito Beach, where we had a great lunch.

Simon Gandolfi, Mustang rider, having an early lunch at the Rosarito Beach Hotel.

We rode through Ensenada, and then continued south into the northern Baja wine country. It was grand. Here we were, trekking south, on 150cc hardtail bikes, living large. We stopped in Palomar to top off at a Pemex station, had a snack, and continued.

Yep, you read that right. The CSC Mustangs were all hardtails. The only suspension was in the seat springs. Old school. Cool. You’d think our butts and back would take a beating, but that wasn’t the case at all. Those seat springs did what they were supposed. Surprisingly, at the end of the day we’d be feeling it in our wrists. The handlebars weren’t rubber mounted on the Mustangs, and when the rear wheel hit a bump, the shock went directly to your hands. But I digress. Back to the main attraction…our trek south…

Our little 150cc California Scooters purred. The bikes liked to run right at 45 mph. They just felt relaxed at that speed, and it’s about the perfect speed for riding on Mexico’s Transpeninsular Highway. Here’s a bit more on the impressively-named Transpeninsular Highway. Once you’re south of Ensenada, it’s a two-lane country road (one lane each way) that runs north and south (with lots of zigging and zagging along the way) for a cool 1000 miles, all the way down to Cabo.

A stop for fuel and a snack in Palomar, headed south on the Mustangs…

After the wine country, Mexico Highway 1 (that’s the Transpensular Highway’s numeric designation) winds through little farming towns. In these little agricultural towns, the road is 4 or 5 feet higher than everything else. When you get off the road, you go down a pretty steep hill to get to the same level as the stores and other businesses, and there’s about a 30-foot dirt area between the street and the town on both sides of the street. People use this dirt area as sort of a parking lot and a street, so there’s traffic on the main road and the dirt areas on either side of the paved road. Which way the traffic flows in these dirt lanes depends mostly on…well, I don’t know. If I ever break the code, I’ll let you know.

We called it a night in San Vincente, and we checked into an inexpensive hotel (they’re all inexpensive down there). San Vincente was a hopping place that Friday night, which was a bit surprising to me. What wasn’t surprising is that we were the only gringos in San Vincente. That notwithstanding, we felt completely safe. All the bad press in the LA Times in those days about Mexico being dangerous was bunk (“bunk” is a nice word for, well, you know). There was so much bunk in the world back then about Mexico being dangerous that I sometimes wonder where it all came from. Is there a high-volume-production bunk factory out there I haven’t heard about? The mainstream media, and the LA Times in particular, was hell bent on portraying Mexico as a war zone. It’s not.

The point I’m making is that the Bajaenos are friendly, warm, and grateful that we visited this wonderful place. They had a double whammy down there…the recession, and the news media sensationalism painting all of Mexico as a terrible place. Not that San Vincente is a tourist area (it is not), but my sense of things is that the people we hung out with in San Vincente were glad to see us.

J waiting for tacos in San Vincente. The smile is real. Good times.

Dinner in San Vincente. Wow, that was good!

Arlene and I wandered around a bit, checked out a couple of mercados (grocery stores), and we ended up at another little place that was cooking up a bunch of stuff. Folks were lined up and there were barstools at a makeshift counter. All of this was outdoors. Arlene and I had quesadillas (I had two, actually). The guy who took care of us had this cool meat cooker that looked a lot like the ones I’ve seen in Turkey. He was cool with it all and he seemed to be greatly amused that I was taking his photo.

Vinny and his brother, part of the San Vincente welcoming committee…

While we were enjoying the festive atmosphere and dinner, two young kids came up to us as I was savoring a real quesadilla (Taco Bell has no idea how good these are). It was pretty obvious we were out-of-towners, and one of the boys slowly said to me in perfect, unaccented English “It is very good, isn’t it?” I told him it was and asked his name. “Vinny,” he said. I took a flyer and asked if the other boy was his cousin. “No, he is my brother,” he said. Ah, okay. Not his cousin Vinny. Too bad. It would have added to the story.

We were up with the sun and on the road early the next morning, and it was cold. I had checked out the bikes the night before and all were fine (oil, tire pressure, the standard big-road-trip-preflight-stuff for loose nuts and bolts, etc.). I was surprised at how cold it was, because September is the hottest month of the year in Baja. I guess nobody told the weather people, though. Then the fog rolled in. It was thick. Not so thick that we couldn’t ride in it, but thick enough to soak my jeans and my gloves. We saw a coffee shop in Colonet and stopped for a caffeine fix.

Baja John, Mustang-mounted on a cold and damp morning in Colonet. That’s the Transpeninsular Highway in the background.

I’ve done this run on big bikes many times previously and before we left I had a bit of trepidation about doing it on a 150cc motorcycle, but my fears were groundless. The seating position on those little Mustangs was perfect for this kind of riding, and the ergos were about the same as a Harley Sportster. Simon was surprised…he told me he felt the bike was extremely comfortable, and that it felt to him like a full-sized motorcycle (which is kind of what I was thinking). And this was coming from a guy who rode a 125 cc pizza delivery bike to the southernmost tip of South America and back, and then rode another bike across the length of India.

After that great cup of Colonet coffee, our 150cc trek south resumed…

To be continued…

Baja John weighs in…

Baja John with Joe Gresh in the Grand Tetons.

A week or so ago we posted a blog about my good buddy Baja John considering the purchase of a bike to keep at his home in Bahia de Los Angeles. We asked for your inputs and we received several (thanks very much). John pulled the trigger, and he wrote a guest blog to tell us about the rationale behind his decision. Here you go, folks…

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As Joe mentioned in an earlier post, I have been considering a bike to keep at my house in Mexico. Although I’ve had the house for several years, I never kept a motorcycle there because I had no secure place to store it. Thus, my motorcycle riding in Mexico was limited to bikes that I could ride long distances at highway speeds from my home in the U.S. Both my KLR 650 and my CSC RX3 250 fit this bill, however, I recently built a garage at the house in Mexico, and now I can keep a motorcycle there. Since this motorcycle will only be ridden in Mexico, and primarily on the Baja Peninsula, I don’t necessarily need a bike that can do more than 60mph comfortably. I also want a bike that will probably see on and off road equally. So, I laid out the requirements, and set out to find a bike.

My requirements are a bike that is 1: reliable, 2: simple to work on in the field, 3: lightweight with a smooth power band, 4: comfortable for long distances, 5: a range of at least 150 miles on a tank of gas, 6: has enough ground clearance for the majority of off-road riding that I will do, and if I’m lucky, 7: has a kick starter that will fire the engine up in the event of a dead battery. That last requirement is tough to satisfy these days, so it became more of a desire. If I were going to ride in cold weather, I would also require enough wattage to power heated gear, but fortunately, the majority of my riding will be in temperate climates.

So, why the desire for the bike to start with a dead battery. For me it boils down to peace of mind. Many years ago, when I rode the 2,200 mile round trip to Cabo San Lucas on a small 150cc bike, the battery died before I was halfway through. No problem. I used the kick starter and rode that bike all the way back to the border with a dead battery. I thought that all motorcycles would start with a dead battery, as long as you could turn the engine over. I recently found out that this is not the case when I went to the movies on my RX3. I came out of the movie theater and started the bike. It cranked over as usual, and started. About 2 blocks down the street, I came to a stop sign. The engine died. I hit the starter, but nothing. I thought that I had inadvertently hit the kill switch. Nope. I pushed the bike to a nearby downgrade, rode it down, popped the clutch, the engine sputtered a little, but would not run. Put in a new battery and it was business as usual. I called Gerry, the mechanic at CSC at that time, and he explained that fuel injected motorcycles will not run without a good battery. Lesson learned. Thus, my strong desire to find a bike that won’t leave me stranded in the desert because the battery died.

My first thought was to use my KLR, but the riding height always bothered me even though I am 6’ tall. That’s OK though, because I can get some lowering links, but it is also a heavy bike with enough power to get me into trouble. I know that dirt bikers rely on a bike with a good power band to maintain control with the throttle when they need to, but I’m not a dirt bike rider, and I prefer not to throttle my way out of trouble. Buying another RX3 also crossed my mind. A gentleman near my home in AZ is selling one with 9K miles for $2,195 with a few extras already installed. I like the RX3 for the majority of off-road riding that I do in the U.S. I like the lower seat height so that I can plant both feet firmly on the ground when I need to. I like the smooth power band so that I don’t break the rear tire loose if I accidentally blip the throttle. No surprises with the RX3. I like the confidence that it instills in me to take roads that I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking on the KLR, however, I don’t want to have to carry a small alternate battery with me in Mexico with enough power for the EFI system, and then attempt to find a way to push start it in the desert. It is also a heavier bike than I prefer for the dirt, and as an adventure bike, it doesn’t have quite the ground clearance of a dual-sport bike.

So, how heavy is the RX3? The internet says 385lbs wet with the stock side bags and trunk. I decided to find out by taking my RX3 to the local scale. It weighed in at 420lbs with a half-tank of gas and my aluminum Tourfella trunk on the back with no side bags attached. The Tourfella just had a few tools, air pump, and some tie-down straps in it. The internet says that my KLR is 370lbs dry, so it shouldn’t be much heavier than the RX3 when wet, but I’m staying in Wisconsin for the summer, so I currently don’t have the KLR with me to take to the scales, but it feels like it’s quite a bit heavier than the RX3, and it definitely feels more top heavy. Based on the discrepancy between the RX3 advertised wet weight and the actual wet weight that I saw at the local scale, I’m going to guess that the KLR is close to 500lbs. Although neither of these bikes are too heavy to pick up by myself, I’m 65, and it appears that I’m never going to get any younger, no matter how much wishful thinking I do, so I prefer something lighter. Enter the Yamaha XT250.

The XT250 pretty much checks all of the boxes. I recently stopped by a dealership to see one. I wanted to sit on it and check out my riding position and standing position. Everything good so far. The tank is only 2.4 gal, but at the advertised 78mpg, it should meet the 150 mile range. It’s Yamaha reliable, easy to work on, and less than 300lbs wet with a very comfortable 32” seat height. I would still have to ride one to get some feel of the power band and comfort while riding, but at a price of $5,200, I decided that a new one was out of the question, so I didn’t bother with a test ride at the dealer. A little research told me that the 2008 to 2012 models were carbureted, so I searched Craigslist and Cycle trader to find a used one. The pre-2013 models were running a much more reasonable $2,500 to $3,200, but I couldn’t confirm whether there was a kickstarter kit available for them like there was for the Yamaha TW200. Yep, this bike is looking good, but I still prefer to find a bike with a kickstarter that is post-1980’s and not a pure dirt bike, so the search continued, however, I may still buy a used XT250 in addition to another motorcycle. After all, it’s always good to have a spare bike, especially in Mexico where my bike may be down for a couple of weeks waiting for someone to bring me a part from the U.S.

I remember seeing the CSC TT250 when I was visiting CSC a couple of years ago when I returned from one of the CSC sponsored rides, so I went online to review the specs. Wow, this bike had possibilities. Although it’s a Chinese bike, my RX3 has been very reliable, and probably the best motorcycle that I’ve ever owned, due to its reliability, versatility, and comfort. I take that bike with me wherever I go, either on the back of my motorhome or on a hitch carrier attached to my Jeep. Manufactured by Zongshen, the same company that builds the RX3, I was sure it would be well made and reliable. Plus the Honda CG clone engine has been known for its reliability for decades. So, let’s check the boxes.

I went online to the ADV and China Rider forums to see what TT250 owners had to say about the bike. 1: Reliable: Yes. 2: Simple to work on: Obviously, being a CG clone engine. Plus CSC provides a service manual and online service tutorials. 3: Lightweight with a smooth power band: Advertised at 309lbs it looks like it will be about 100lbs lighter than the RX3, and riders say it has a smooth power band. 4: Comfortable for long distances: Riders say that they like the wider seat, the riding position, and apparently there is not too much wind buffeting. 5: Range of 150 miles: At 65mpg, the 2.9 gallon tank should make 150 miles even if only 2.3 gallons is usable. 6: Good ground clearance: Yes. 7: Kickstarter that will fire up the engine even with a dead battery: Yes to the kickstarter, but I haven’t been able to verify whether it will start with a dead battery. I suspect that this is true since it’s a carbureted engine. Steve at CSC Motorcycles said that he believes that this is true as well. One other thing that I like about the TT250 is that CSC offers a seat that will reduce the seat height to 32” if I feel uncomfortable with the 34” stock seat height.

So, what did I decide to do? Looks like that answer would be obvious, but first I wanted to verify the price out the door for a CSC TT250. $2,195 seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? So many times we find that things cost much more than the advertised price by the time the dealer tacks on fees for everything that they can think of. So, I asked Steve what the price would be shipped to my home. He said that they only add $400 to the price of the bike for prep, documentation, and shipping, so the cost to my door would be $2,595. At this point I was close to ordering one, but I had one last thing to check; accessories. I wanted to see what kind of accessories CSC offered, as well as the prices. Turns out, CSC offers a number of accessories, although not as many as the RX3. That’s understandable due to the type of rider and riding that the TT250 is designed for. Also the accessories are much less expensive than those for the majority of motorcycles manufactured today, so I chose a power outlet kit, rear luggage rack, handguards, helmet lock, and a 47 tooth rear sprocket in case I want a little more speed and less torque than the OEM 50 tooth provides. I was still thinking about waiting a few weeks until I returned home to Arizona to order one, but Steve said that they could hold the bike for me and ship it when I arrived home in October if I wanted to buy it now. Steve also told me that the next shipment of bikes arriving in October might be more expensive due to the possibility of additional tariffs imposed on Chinese products. In addition, he said that CSC stocks all accessories and OEM parts that you need for the bike, and they will usually arrive at your home within 2 or 3 days of ordering them. At that point I said, “Sold”, and ordered the bike. Within 15 minutes I had received and approved the invoice from Sara. They will ship it to my home in Arizona shortly after I arrive during the 3rd week of October.

Now that I pulled the trigger, I’m very happy with my decision. During my lifetime, I’ve seen customer service slowly decline over the decades. It’s refreshing to deal with a company that has a strong customer service ethic. I’m anxious to get home, break the bike in, and change the oil before I take it to Mexico at the end of October. I’m also going to run the battery down and see if I can kickstart it with a nearly dead battery. It turns out that there was an added bonus to ordering the bike when I did, since I found out after the fact that I bought the last white one that CSC had in stock. “Hoorah!!!”

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Awesome inputs, John, and thanks very much. We think you made a good decision. CSC is one of our advertisers, so we are glad to see that you bought the TT250. For those of you following the ExNotes blog installments about the CSC 150 Mustang ride to Cabo and back, John was one of the guys on that ride. And those of you who read Moto Baja! will know that John is the guy with whom I’ve ridden many, many miles in Mexico (he and I rode my first trip ever to that magical land).