Category: Adventure Motorcycle Books

World War II Harleys

By Joe Berk

Harley-Davidson built four military motorcycles during World War II: The WLA, the WLC, the Knucklehead EL Overhead Valve, and the XA. The 45-cubic inch V-twin WLA was the preferred US Army motorcycle, and it was the motorcycle Harley-Davidson produced in mass quantities.  We recently visited the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, where I was able to grab most of the photos you see here.

The WLA

The WLA Harley-Davidson (if you haven’t tumbled to it yet, the “A” in WLA stands for Army) used a detuned 750cc air-cooled engine. The motorcycle had a springer front end and a solid rear (there were no springs or shocks in the rear, other than the spring beneath the seat post).   The WLA, like other Harleys of that era, had a foot-operated clutch on the left and a hand shifter on the fuel tank’s left side.

The Harley- Davidson WLA. This 45- cubic-inch V-twin was the U.S. Army’s principal motorcycle during World War II (photo provided by the American Motorcycle Historical Foundation).   This photo is in my book, Police and Military Motorcycles.

Simplicity was the WLA’s defining theme. Its flathead engine could be disassembled using only hand tools. At the army’s request, Harley built the WLA with a carburetor that had nonadjustable needles and jets, a configuration Harley used on some of its police motorcycles. The idea was to prevent soldiers (or police officers) adjusting the carb.  The WLA didn’t even have a key.  A trooper just had to kick-start it and ride.

A US Army WLA on display at the Harley Museum. It’s authentic.

The Army quickly found WLA improvement opportunities. Travel on dusty roads tended to accelerate engine wear, so Harley added a monstrous oil-bath air filter. The second improvement was the headlight location.  WLA headlights were initially above the handlebars (like on the civilian models).  Part of the Army’s tactical doctrine, though, included a move that required the rider to use the motorcycle as a shield.  The drill in that move involved skidding the rear wheel, flipping the rear out, and then laying the bike down to form a barricade…you know, so you could shoot at the bad guys from your now-prone  motorcycle (thus giving new meaning to the time worn “I had to lay ‘er down” and similar expressions).  The problem here was that the above-the-handlebars-headlights often broke during this maneuver.  Harley remounted the headlight just above the front fender to better protect it.

The Army started buying WLA Harleys even before the United States went to war.  In 1940, the Army ordered 16,000 WLAs to be delivered in 1940 and 1941, and then after Pearl Harbor, the pace increased.  Harley won contracts for 13,000 WLAs in 1942, 24,000 in 1943, 11,000 in 1944, and more than 8,000 in 1945.

A United States Navy WLA in Navy gray. Note the headlight location above the handlebars.

Even the Navy got in the act with a WL variant painted sort of a battleship gray.  The Navy used their motorcycles for shore patrol duties (the Shore Patrol was the Navy’s Military Police function).  I saw one with a sidecar at the Harley Museum in Milwaukee.  It was a sweet-looking motorcycle.

Harley-Davidson sold 88,000 military motorcycles during the war to the United States, England, Canada, China, India, and Russia.  Many were eventually sold to the public.  Most are in collections; some are still ridden today.  In addition to the 88,000 complete motorcycles, Harley built enough spare parts to build 30,000 more motorcycles.

The WLC

During World War II, the Canadians also bought Harleys for their army, as did many other countries. The other countries used the standard WLA, but Canada had its own unique requirements.  These included an auxiliary hand clutch, interchangeable front and rear wheels, and a front wheel stand (the U.S. model had the traditional Harley side stand). Harley-Davidson built 18,000 WLC motorcycles for Canada.

The 61 EL

Harley had introduced its 61-cubic-inch EL Knucklehead engine to the civilian market in 1936. The Knucklehead and its overhead valve engine offered better performance than the flathead 45 W-series Harleys. Harley-Davidson delivered a small number of military motorcycles based on the 61-cubic-inch Knucklehead engine.  Man, that must have been a good gig…being an Army dispatch rider and drawing a Knucklehead for your ride.  The military Knuckleheads are rare (no jokes needed here, folks).  I can’t remember ever seeing one.  But, I found a video of one that was for sale in 2017.  Enjoy, my friends…

The XA

The Army preferred the Harley WLA to the Indian 30-50, but it had problems with both motorcycles. In addition to the engine wear and broken headlight problems mentioned above, the rear chain had to be adjusted and replaced frequently on both motorcycles. Engine overheating was another problem (the Harley and the Indian both had V-twin engines, and with a V-twin, the rear cylinder runs hotter than the front cylinder).  The rear cylinders could seize because of this.

None of the XA Harleys saw active duty in a war zone. This one looks ready, though, with a .45 ACP Thompson in a scabbard on the right and a .30-cal M1 Carbine in the scabbard on the left. Check out the tires!

When the British captured BMW R 12 motorcycles in North Africa and provided a few to the United States, the German machines appeared to provide the answer to the U.S. Army’s major concerns with the WLA. The BMW had a relatively maintenance-free driveshaft to provide power to the rear wheel. The BMW’s horizontally-opposed twin cylinders were both out in the airstream, and as a result the BMW engine ran about a hundred degrees cooler than the Harley and Indian engines.  The shaft drive did away with the chain and its wear and adjustment issues.  The giant oil bath air cleaner was in a great location.  And the BMW had a foot shifter and a hand clutch, a much easier to operate arrangement.

The Army asked both Harley-Davidson and Indian to develop prototypes based on the BMW R 12. Harley-Davidson’s answer was the XA, which looked, for all intents and purposes, as if the BMW engine and shaft drive had been grafted into a standard WLA. In reality, what had happened was very close to that. Harley reverse-engineered the BMW drive train and mated its version into the WLA chassis. The first few, including the prototype, even had the Harley springer front end.

A closeup of the 750cc flathead Harley boxer twin.
Another view of a non-sidecar-equipped Harley XA. Note the twin carbs, the air cleaner location behind the generator, and the foot shift.

The Army was impressed with both the Harley and Indian BMW clones, and they gave both manufacturers production contracts. Harley and Indian each built 1,000 machines based on the BMW design. Harley’s XA was more of  a direct copy; Indian’s design had the cylinders tilted up like a modern Moto Guzzi.  But while the Harley and Indian development work was under way, the army had been experimenting with other transportation concepts and found that the 4WD Willys (the Jeep) was a much better all-around military vehicle.  The Army shifted its resources to Jeep acquisition and did not take delivery on the motorcycles Harley and Indian had already produced.  The Army can be fickle like that.

Both Harley and Indian did not pursue BMW clones, since neither company saw any significant civilian demand. Both manufacturers sold their machines to the public and walked away from further development. Today, both the Harley XA and its Indian counterpart are highly collectible.

The Real Knuckleheads?

On that topic of knuckleheads mentioned above…no, not the EL model mentioned several paragraphs up, but the guys running the show in the War Department and over at Indian.   You see, the War Department’s spec for their desired military motorcycles called for a 30.5 cubic inch motorcycle (a 500cc twin).  Indian snapped to and developed the Model 741 you see in the video below.  Harley thought about things for a minute and told the Army they didn’t make a 500cc motorcycle, and they let the Army know they weren’t about to start.  Harley further informed the, er, knuckleheads that they made a very good 45 cubic inch motorcycle, and if the Army wanted Harleys, that’s what they could buy.

The knuckleheads (the ones in uniform, not the EL motorcycles) quickly found out that Harley was right.  The troops let the brass know that Harleys were better motorcycles, and that’s why the Army ordered many more Harley WLAs than Indians.

There’s one more area in which Harley had to set the knuckleheads straight.  During the war, the Army told Harley and Indian to cancel all civilian motorcycle production and make only military motorcycles.  Indian saluted and executed.  Harley let the War Department know they could go pound sand.  By keeping their civilian production going, Harley preserved their customer base.  After the war, Harley prospered.  Indian?  Well, you know how that story ends.

I wrote a story for Motorcycle Classics magazine about the Indian 30-50 (Indian’s World War II workhorse) a few years ago.  You can view it here.  I also have a video of that bike you might enjoy:

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So Cal Royal Enfield

By Joe Berk

Sue and I visited the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda (one of our favorite So Cal destinations) to hear Fox News’ Jesse Watters speak a couple of days ago.  I’ll post a blog about that in a few days.  On the way home, we stopped at a motorcycle dealership in Brea, California.  Normally, I avoid motorcycle dealerships for a lot of reasons (as outlined in 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM), but I used to have my 1200 Daytona serviced at So Cal Motorcycles and I thought I’d stop in for a visit.  So Cal Motorcycles is a multi-brand dealership selling Ducati, Triumph, Royal Enfield, and Suzuki.  I stopped with the intention of looking at the Enfields, but I also spent some time in the Triumph showroom.  This blog focuses on the Enfields; I’ll post another one on the Triumphs in the near future.

As you probably know, I ride a Royal Enfield 650cc Interceptor.  Joe Gresh and I tested two Enfields in Baja a few years ago.  You can see those bikes at the Paralelo 28 military post in the photo above (we were about 500 miles south of the border when I took that shot).  Our conclusion was that the 650cc Interceptor was a marvelous machine (I liked it so much I bought one), but the 500cc Bullet needed muey attention before it would meet our low bar for approval.  That was a few years ago, though, and that’s why we visited So Cal Motorcycles.

As soon as we parked, I noticed several Enfields parked outside.  I had not seen their new singles up close and personal yet.   The model line has become a bit confusing for me.  It used to just the Bullet (their single), then they added the Interceptor (the 650cc twin), and my 15-kilobyte mind could handle that.  Now they have several different versions of the 650 twin and a whole bunch of singles in 350cc, 411cc, and maybe other displacements.  I won’t try to explain the entire model line here, mostly because I don’t feel like expending calories trying to wrap my mind around it all.  I just wanted to see the bikes and take a few photos.  I did that, and I have to tell you:  Royal Enfields are still great looking motorcycles.   Check out the 350cc Meteor singles below:

The Meteor 350 is the bike you see at the top of this blog and the two you see immediately above.   The price on Enfields has always been attractive; on the Meteor it is even more so.  So Cal Enfield had a 2023 leftover Meteor and the price on it was especially attractive.

Next up were the Himalayan models, Enfield’s ADV bikes.

The Himalayan has a 411cc single cylinder engine.  The colors are attractive.  I didn’t see any with luggage, but I know panniers and top case are available.  I saw a guy riding one of these one time when I was returning from northern California on Interstate 5.  I was cruising along at 77mph; I think the Himalayan was running about 70mph.   Enfield’s spec sheets puts the horsepower at 25.  I guess that’s enough.   My RX3 had 24.8 horsepower, and it took me all over the western US, Mexico, Colombia, and China.

As an aside, a bunch of folks (including Royal Enfield) are offering trips through India (and the Himalayan Mountains) on Royal Enfield motorcycles.  I’m tempted.  I’ve always wanted to visit that part of the world, and the thought of doing it on a motorcycle is appealing.  The photo ops would be amazing, and I’d get another book out of it, I think.  Ah, maybe someday.  Maybe I should write a letter to Enfield and ask them to sponsor me.

Enfield’s Classic line looked good, too.  At just under $800, the freight and setup fees are ridiculous and larcenous (they were lower than what I’ve seen other dealers charging, though).  Motorcycle dealers’ posted freight and setup charges are often nothing more than a suggested negotiating starting point, but it’s still annoying to see this kind of imaginative exaggeration.  I wrote about this common dealer misrepresentation in 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM.

So Cal Enfield had what apparently is a 650 twin anniversary model.  It was a used bike with an asking price of $15,999.  Hope springs eternal, I suppose.

Like most motorcycle companies, Royal Enfield has a clothing line.  I saw a sweatshirt I thought I might want until I looked at the price.  It was $88.  I put it back on the rack.   I don’t think I would ever pay $88 for a sweatshirt.

I enjoyed viewing the Enfield line at So Cal Motorcycles.  My negative comments about freight and setup (and $88 sweatshirts) notwithstanding, I believe So Cal Motorcycles is a reputable dealer.   When I rode Triumphs, I sometimes had So Cal service my bikes, and they always did a good job.  Unlike my experience at other dealers, I never had to bring my bikes back because they botched the job.  If I was in the market for another Enfield, this would be the place I would go.

Interestingly, Sue and I were the only people in So Cal’s Enfield room.  The Ducati room was similarly empty (other than lots of outrageously expensive red motorcycles).  Maybe we just hit a lull when we were there.  The Triumph showroom, on the other hand, was hopping.  I’ll talk more about that in a near-term future blog.  Stay tuned.

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The Wayback Machine: 7 Favorite Baja Destinations

Baja is a motorcycling paradise and I have a bunch of favorite destinations there.  Seven of them, to be precise, although truth be told, I like everything in Baja except for Tijuana and maybe La Paz and Loreto.  That said, my favorites are:

      • Tecate
      • San Quintin
      • Cataviña
      • Guerrero Negro
      • San Ignacio
      • Santa Rosalia
      • Concepcion Bay

Here’s where they are on a map:

So what’s so great about these places?  Read on, my friends.

Tecate

Tecate is the gateway to the middle of northern Baja, and it’s the easiest point of entry. Both Tijuana and Mexicali are too big and too complicated, and the Mexican Customs guys are too official in those bigger cities.  Tecate is a friendly place.  The last time I picked up a tourist visa in Tecate, the Customs officer tried to sell me salsa he and his family made as a side gig.  That’s what the place is like.  I love it.

If you’re into fine dining (not as in expensive dining, but just great food), it’s hard to go wrong anywhere in Baja.  Tecate has some of the best, from street taco vendors to Malinalli’s to Amore’s.  I could spend a week just in Tecate.  It’s that good.

Uncle Joe Gresh with street tacos in Tecate. Wow, were they ever good.
The buffet at Malinalli’s is regional, awesome, and inexpensive. It’s a hidden treasure.
Dos Joes’ motos on an Enfield expedition that took us through Tecate.
The Tecate brewery dominate the Tecate skyline and is visible from just about anywhere in town. A can of ice cold Tecate with sea salt around the rim and a bit of lime juice…life doesn’t get any better.

San Quintin

San Quintin is 186.4 miles south of the border on Baja’s Pacific coast.  It’s usually a quiet ag town that has a lot of things going for it, including interesting hotels, good food, and Bahia San Quintin.  The Old Mill hotel and its associated restaurant, Eucalipto, is my personal favorite.  The hotel is about 4 miles west of the Transpeninsular Highway, and what used to be a harrowing soft sand ride to it is now easy peasy…the road is paved and riding there is no longer a test of your soft sand riding skills.  The Eucalipto restaurant is second to none.

What could be better than an ice cold Tecate overlooking Bahia San Quintin after a day’s riding in Baja? We once saw a California gray whale from this very spot.

A man, a motorcycle, and Mexico….the sign on the Transpenisular Highway pointing toward Bahia San Quintin and the Old Mill Hotel. The bike? That’s the 650cc Royal Enfield, perfect for riding Baja. But then just about any motorcycle is perfect for riding Baja.
Bahia San Quintin at dawn. It’s an awesome spot.
Uncle Joe enjoying breakfast in the Old Mill’s Eucalipto. It is an exquisite restaurant.

You’ll notice at the top of my scribblings about San Quintin I said it is usually a quiet town.  The one exception for us was when there was a labor riot and we were caught in it.  The Mexican infantryman about 80 miles north of San Quintin told me the road was closed, but his English matched my Spanish (neither are worth a caca), and without me understanding what I was riding into, he let me proceed.  It’s not an experience I would care to repeat.  But it’s the only event of its type I ever experienced in Old Mexico, and I’d go back in a heartbeat.

The Cataviña Boulder Fields

Ah, Cataviña.  Rolling down the Transpeninsular Highway, about 15 miles before you hit the wide spot in the road that is Cataviña you enter the boulder fields.  Other-worldly is not too strong a description, and if the place wasn’t so far south of the border it would probably be used more often by Hollywood in visits to other planets.  The boulders are nearly white, they are huge, and the juxtaposition of their bulk with the bright blue sky punctuated by Cardon cactus.

Pastel geology. The area really is as beautiful as the photos depict it to be.

I get a funny feeling every time I enter this part of Baja. Not funny as in bad, but funny as in I feel like I’m where I belong.  I once rolled through this region in the early morning hours with my daughter and she told me “you know, it’s weird, Dad.  I feel like I’m home.”  She understood (as in completely understood) the magic that is Baja.

I like the area and its stark scenery so much that one of my photos became the cover of Moto Baja!  I grabbed that shot from the saddle at about 30 mph on a CSC 150 Mustang replica, which I subsequently rode all the way down to Cabo San Lucas (that story is here).

You should buy a copy or three. They make great gifts.

Every time I roll through Cataviña with other riders, the dinner conversation invariably turns to how the boulders formed.   When I was teaching at Cal Poly Pomona, I asked one of my colleagues in the Geology Department.  He know the area as soon as I mentioned it.  The answer?  Wind erosion.

Guerrero Negro

The Black Warrior.  The town is named after a ship that went down just off its coast.    It’s a salt mining town exactly halfway down the peninsula, and it’s your ticket in for whale watching and the best fish tacos in Baja (and that’s saying something).  I’ve had a lot of great times in Guerrero Negro.  It’s about 500 miles south of the border.  You can see the giant steel eagle marking the 28th Parallel (the line separating Baja from Baja Sur) a good 20 miles out, and from there, it’s a right turn for the three mile ride west into town.  Malarrimo’s is the best known hotel and whale watching tour, but there are several are they are all equally good.  It you can’t get a room at Malarrimo’s, try the Hotel Don Gus.

CSC RX3 motorcycles at the Hotel Don Gus. We used to do annual Baja tours with CSC…those were fun times and great trips, and introduced a lot of folks to the beauty of Baja.
What it’s all about…getting up close and personal with the California gray whales. They are in town from January through March.
Tony, taco chef extraordinaire. You might think I’m exaggerating. I’m not.
It’s worth the 500-miles trek to Guerrero Negro just to savor Tony’s fish tacos. You might think I’m exaggerating. But like I said above…I’m not.
Man does not live by fish tacos alone, so for breakfast or dinner, it’s either the restaurant at Malaririmo’s or the San Remedio, a block north of the main drag into town. You won’t be disappointed at either.
Sue’s photo of a Guerrero Negro osprey enjoying some sushi.

After you leave Guerrero Negro and continue south, the Transpeninsular Highway turns southeast to take you diagonally across the Baja peninsula. About 70 miles down the road (which is about half the distance to the eastern shores of Baja and the Sea of Cortez along Mexico Highway 1) you’ll see the turn for San Ignacio.  It’s another one of Baja’s gems.

San Ignacio

San Ignacio is an oasis in the middle of the desert that forms much of Baja.  The Jesuits introduced date farming to the region hundreds of years ago, and it’s still here in a big way.  Leave Guerrero Negro, head southeast on Mexico Highway 1, and 70 miles later you run into a Mexican Army checkpoint, a series of switchbacks through a lava field, and when you see the date palms, turn right.

An oasis is usually formed by a volcano, and when a volcano is done discussing politics, it forms a lake. That’s the San Ignacio volcano and its lake, visible on the left as you ride into town.
The San Ignacio church, built as a mission in the 1700s, dominates the center of San Ignacio. It’s a beautiful spot, one of the most photogenic in all of Baja.
Another photo of the San Ignacio Mission. You’ll want to grab some photos in San Ignacio.
Dates? Nope, not on that trip, but dates are one of the things San Ignacio is known for. I’ll bet they are delicious.

San Ignacio has a town square that’s right out of central casting, there’s a little restaurant that serves the best chile rellenos in all of Mexico (I’m not exaggerating), and the place just has a laid back, relaxing feel about it.

Santa Rosalia

You know, this town is another one of Baja’s best kept secrets.  As you travel south on Highway 1, San Ignacio is the first town you encounter after traveling diagonally across the peninsula.  Folks dismiss it because it’s an industrial town, but they do so in ignorance.  There’s a lot of cool stuff in this place.

The ride into Santa Rosalia a few years ago with novelist Simon Gandolfi, Arlene Battishill, J Brandon, John Welker, and yours truly. That’s a dead fish I’m holding.  We did a round trip to Cabo San Lucas on 150cc Mustang replicas, just to say that we could.

One of the things that’s unique about Santa Rosalia is the all-wooden architecture.  The town was originally built by a French mining company (Boleo) and they built it they way they did in France.  Like the Hotel Frances, which sits high on a mesa overlooking the town and the Sea of Cortez.  I love staying there.

The Hotel Frances. It used to be a brothel.

There’s a cool mining musuem a block or two away from the Frances, and it’s worth a visit, too.

The mining museum in Santa Rosalia.

There are many cool things in Santa Rosalia, and one of the best is the Georg Eiffel church.  It was designed by the same guy guy who did the Eiffel town.

Santa Rosalia’s church. It’s an unexpected delight.  And I’m not even Catholic.
Inside Santa Rosalia’s Georg Eiffel church.
Stained glass. Photos ops abound in Santa Rosalia.

I’ve heard people dismiss Santa Rosalia as a gritty, industrial place not worth a stop.   Trust me on this:  They’re wrong.  It’s one of my favorite Baja spots.

Bahía Concepción

Concepción Bay is easily the most scenic spot in Baja.  It’s just south of Mulege (another delightful little town, and the subject of an upcoming ExNotes blog).  Bahía Concepción runs for maybe 20 miles along the eastern edge of the Baja peninsula.  I’ve seen whales from the highway while riding along its edge, the beaches are magnificent, and the photo ops just don’t stop.  The contrast between the mountains and Cardon cactus on one side and the pelicans diving into bright green water is view from the saddle you won’t soon forget.

On one of many rides along Bahía Concepción, good buddy Joe Lee and yours truly rode our Triumph Triples. This is a favorite shot of mine.
Besides “wow,” what can I say?
World-famous novelist and motorcycle adventurer Simon Gandolfi andn yours truly on 150cc scooters. We were on our way back from Cabo San Lucas when we stopped for this Bahía Concepción photo.  Hardtail 150cc scooters.  Up and down the length of Baja.  I think about that ride every time I see a GS parked at a Starbuck’s.

So there you have it:  My take on seven favorite spots in Baja?  How about you?  Do you have any favorite Baja destinations?  Let us know here in the comments sction!

More on Baja?  You bet!

It’s Always About The Motors

By Joe Berk

For me a motorcycle’s appearance, appeal, and personality are defined by its motor.   I’m not a chopper guy, but I like the look of a chopper because the engine absolutely dominates the bike.  I suppose to some people fully faired motorcycles are beautiful, but I’m not in that camp.  The only somewhat fully faired bike I ever had was my 1995 Triumph Daytona 1200, but you could still see a lot of the engine on that machine.  I once wrote a Destinations piece for Motorcycle Classics on the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum and while doing so I called Virgil Elings, the wealthy entrepreneur who owned it.  I asked Elings what drove his interest in collecting motorcycles.  His answer?  The motors.  He spoke about the mechanical beauty of a motorcycle’s engine, and that prompted me to ask for his thoughts on fully faired bikes.  “I suppose they’re beautiful to some,” he said, “but when you take the fairings off, they look like washing machines.”  I had a good laugh.  His observation was spot on.

A 1200cc Harley Panhead motor I photographed at the Rock Store in Malibu.

My earliest memory of drooling over a motorcycle occurred sometime in the 1950s when I was a little kid.  My Mom was shopping with me somewhere in one of those unenclosed malls on Route 18 in New Jersey, and in those days, it was no big deal to let your kid wander off and explore while you shopped.  I think it was some kind of a general store (I have no idea what Mom was looking for), and I wandered outside on the store’s sidewalk.  There was a blue Harley Panhead parked out front, and it was the first time I ever had a close look at a motorcycle.  It was beautiful, and the motor was especially beautiful.  It had those early panhead corrugated exhaust headers, fins, cables, chrome, and more.  I’ve always been fascinated by all things mechanical, and you just couldn’t find anything more mechanical than a Big Twin engine.

There have been a few Sportsters that do it for me, too, like Harley’s Cafe Racer from the late 1970s.  That was a fine-looking machine dominated by its engine.  I liked the Harley XR1000, too.

A 1000cc Harley Cafe Racer photographed at one of the Hansen Dam meets. When these were new, they sold for about $3,000.

I’ve previously mentioned my 7th grade fascination with Walt Skok’s Triumph Tiger.  It had the same mesmerizing motorrific effect as the big twin Panhead described above.  I could stare at that 500cc Triumph engine for hours (and I did).  The 650 Triumphs were somehow even more appealing.  The mid-’60s Triumphs are the most beautiful motorcycles in the world (you might think otherwise and that’s okay…you have my permission to be wrong).

A 1966 Triumph Bonneville and it’s 650cc twin-carb engine. My Dad rode a Bonneville just like this one.

BSA did a nice job with their engine design, too.  Their 650 twins in the ’60s looked a lot like Triumph’s, and that’s a good thing.  I see these bikes at the Hansen Dam Norton Owners Club meets.  They photograph incredibly well, as do nearly all vintage British twins.

A late1960s BSA at Hansen Dam. These are beautiful motorcycles, too.

When we visited good buddy Andrew in New Jersey recently, he had several interesting machines, but the one that riveted my attention was his Norton P11.  It’s 750cc air cooled engine is, well, just wonderful.  If I owned that bike I’d probably stare at it for a few minutes every day.  You know, just to keep my batteries charged.

Andrew Capone’s P-11 Norton. You can read about our visit with Andrew here.

You know, it’s kind of funny…back in the 1960s I thought Royal Enfield’s 750cc big twins were clunky looking.  Then the new Royal Enfield 650 INT (aka the Interceptor to those of us unintimidated by liability issues) emerged.  Its appearance was loosely based on those clunky old English Enfields, but the new twin’s Indian designers somehow made the engine look way better.  It’s not clunky at all, and the boys from Mumbai made their interpretive copy of an old English twin look more British than the original.  The new Enfield Interceptor is a unit construction engine, but the way the polished aluminum covers are designed it looks like a pre-unit construction engine.   The guys from the subcontinent hit a home run with that one.  I ought to know; after Gresh and I road tested one of these for Enfield North America on a Baja ride, I bought one.

The current iteration of Royal Enfield’s 650cc twin. I rode this bike through Baja and liked it so much I bought one when I returned from Mexico.  Here’s more (a lot more) about that adventure.

Another motorcycle that let you see its glorious air-cooled magnificence was the CB750 Honda.  It was awesome in every regard and presented well from any angle, including the rear (which is how most other riders saw it on the road).  The engine was beyond impressive, and when it was introduced, I knew I would have one someday (I made that dream come true in 1971).  I still can’t see one without taking my iPhone out to grab a photo.

A 1969 or 1970 Honda CB 750. This is the motorcycle that put the nail in the British motorcycle industry coffin. I had one just like it.

After Honda stunned the world with their 750 Four, the copycats piled on.  Not to be outdone, Honda stunned the world again when they introduced their six-cylinder CBX.  I had an ’82.   It was awesome.  It wasn’t the fastest motorcycle I ever owned, but it was one of the coolest (and what drove that coolness was its air-cooled straight six engine).

A Honda CBX engine photographed at the Del Mar fairgrounds near San Diego. The CBX was a motorcycle that added complexity where none was required. It was an impressive machine.

Like they did with the 750 Four, Kawasaki copied the Honda six cylinder, but the Kawasaki engine was water-cooled and from an aesthetics perspective, it was just a big lump.  The Honda was a finely-finned work of art.  I never wanted a Kawasaki Six; I still regret selling my Honda CBX.  The CBX was an extremely good-looking motorcycle.  It was all engine.  What completed the look for me were the six chrome exhaust headers emerging from in front.  I put 20,000 miles on mine and sold it for what it cost me, and now someone else is enjoying it.  The CBX was stunning motorcycle, but you don’t need six cylinders to make a motorcycle beautiful.  Some companies managed to do it with just two, and some with only one.  Consider the engines mentioned at the start of this piece (Harley, Triumph, BSA, and Norton).

I shot this photo at Hansen Dam, too. I always wanted a mid-’60s Moto Guzzi. Never scratched that itch, though. They sound amazing. Imagine a refined Harley, and you’d have this.

Moto Guzzi’s air-cooled V-twins are in a class by themselves.  I love the look and the sound of an air-cooled Guzzi V-twin.  It’s classy.  I like it.

Some motorcycle manufacturers made machines that were mesmerizing with but a single cylinder, so much so that they inspired modern reproductions, and then copies of those reproductions.  Consider Honda’s GB500, and more than a few motorcycles from China and even here in the US that use variants of the GB500 engine.

The Honda GB500, Honda’s nod to earlier British singles. It’s another one I always wanted.

The GB500 is a water cooled bike, but Sochoiro’s boys did it right.  The engine is perfect.  Like I said above, variants of that engine are still made in China and Italy; one of those engines powers the new Janus 450 Halcyon.

The Janus 450 Halcyon I rode in Goshen. That resulted in a feature story in Motorcycle Classics. It’s engine is by SWM in Italy, which is a variant of the Chinese copy of the GB500 engine.  I liked the Janus.

No discussion of mechanical magnificence would be complete without mentioning two of the most beautiful motorcycles ever made:  The Brough Superior SS100 and the mighty Vincent.  The Brits’ ability to design a visually arresting, aesthetically pleasing motorcycle engine must be a genetic trait.    Take a look at these machines.

The Brough Superior SS100. Its engine had a constant loss lubrication system. This is the same motorcycle Lawrence of Arabia rode. One of my grandsons is named T.E. Lawrence.
The mighty Vincent. This and the Brough Superior above were both photographed at Hansen Dam.

Two additional bits of moto exotica are the early inline and air-cooled four-cylinder Henderson, and the Thor, one of the very first V-twin engine designs.  Both of these boast American ancestry.

Jay Leno’s 1931 Henderson. He told me he bought it off a 92-year-old guy in Vegas who was getting a divorce and needed to raise cash, and I fell for it.

The Henderson you see above belongs to Jay Leno, who let me photograph it at one of the Hansen Dam Norton gatherings.  Incidentally, if there’s a nicer guy than Jay Leno out there, I haven’t met him.  The man is a prince.  He’s always gracious, and he’s never too busy to talk motorcycles, sign autographs, or pose for photos.  You can read about some of the times I’ve bumped into Jay Leno at the Rock Store or the Hansen Dam event right here on ExNotes.

A Thor V-twin photographed at the Franklin Auto Museum in Tucson, Arizona. You almost need a four-year mechanical engineering degree to start one of these. Thor made the first engines for Indian.

Very early vintage motorcycles’ mechanical complexity is almost puzzle-like…they are the Gordian knots of motorcycle mechanical engineering design.  I photographed a 1913 Thor for Motorcycle Classics (that story is here), and as I was optimizing the photos I found myself wondering how guys back in the 1910s started the things.  I was able to crack the code, but I had to concentrate so hard it reminded me of dear departed mentor Bob Haskell talking about the Ph.Ds and other wizards in the advanced design group when I worked in the bomb business: “Sometimes those guys think so hard they can’t think for months afterward,” Bob told me (both Bob and I thought the wizards had confused their compensation with their capability).

There’s no question in my mind that water cooling a motorcycle engine is a better way to go from an engineering perspective.  Water cooling adds weight, cost, and complexity, but the fuel efficiency and power advantages of water cooling just can’t be ignored.  I don’t like when manufacturers attempt to make a water-cooled engine look like an air-cooled engine with the addition of fake fins (it somehow conveys design dishonesty).  But some marques make water cooled engines look good (Virgil Elings’ comments notwithstanding).  My Triumph Speed Triple had a water-cooled engine.  I think the Brits got it right on that one.

My 2007 Triumph Speed Triple. Good buddy Marty told me some folks called these the Speed Cripple. In my case, that turned out to be true, but that’s another story for another blog.
My 2015 CSC RX3. Before you go all nuts on me and start whining about Chinese motorcycle quality, I need to tell you I rode these across China, through the Andes Mountains in Colombia, up and down Baja a bunch of times, and all over the American west (you can read about those adventures here). It was one of the best and most comfortable bikes I ever owned.

Zongshen is another company that makes water-cooled engines look right.  I thought my RX3 had a beautiful engine and I really loved that motorcycle.  I sold it because I wasn’t riding it too much, but the tiny bump in my bank account that resulted from the sale, in retrospect, wasn’t worth it.  I should have kept the RX3.  When The Big Book Of Best Motorcycles In The History Of The World is written, I’m convinced there will be a chapter on the RX3.

The future of “motor” cycling? This is the CSC RX1E. I rode it and liked it. The silence takes some getting used to.

With the advent of electric motorcycles, I’ve ridden a few and they are okay, but I can’t see myself ever buying one.  That’s because as I said at the beginning of this blog, for me a motorcycle is all about the motor.  I realize that’s kind of weird, because on an electric motorcycle the power plant actually is a motor, not an internal combustion engine (like all the machines described above).  What you mostly see on an electric motorcycle is the battery, which is the large featureless chingadera beneath the gas tank (which, now that I’m writing about it, isn’t a gas tank at all).   I don’t like the silence of an electric motorcycle.   They can be fast (the Zero I rode a few years ago accelerated so aggressively it scared the hell out of me), but I need some noise, I need to feel the power pulses and engine vibration, and I want other people to hear me.  The other thing I don’t care for is that on an electric motorcycle, the power curve is upside down.  They accelerate hardest off a dead stop and fade as the motor’s rpm increases; a motorcycle with an internal combustion engine accelerates harder as the revs come up.

Wow, this blog went on for longer than I thought it would.  I had fun writing it and I had fun going through my photo library for the pics you see here.  I hope you had fun reading it.

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The End Of An Era: RX3 Production Ends

By Joe Berk

Zongshen ended production of its iconic RX3 motorcycle and CSC sold the last of its RX3 inventory. I was tangentially involved in bringing the RX3 to America and I had a ton of fun on that motorcycle.  Knowing that the RX3 is no longer in production is like hearing an old friend has passed away.  In the end, the S-curve prevails for all of us, I guess.  But it still hurts.  The RX3 was and still is a great motorcycle.

An early clay mockup of what would become the RX3 in Zongshen’s Advanced Design center.

According to my sources in Chongqing, Zongshen first started thinking about a 250cc offroad and adventure touring motorcycle in 2010.  Engineering development took about two years (excluding the engine).  China’s initial and traditional 250cc was based on a Honda CG125 air-cooled engine, which evolved into 150cc, 200cc, and 250cc variants (the 250cc CG engine was actually 223cc; it is the engine that powers CSC’s current TT 250). The CG-based variants didn’t have the performance Zongshen wanted for its new adventure touring motorcycle, and that led Zongshen to develop a 250cc water-cooled, four-valve engine for Megelli in Italy.  It went into the Zongshen NC250 motorcycle.  This engine also went into the RX3.

Yours truly with former Sears president and CSC advisor Carl Mungenast on Glendora Ridge Road. I rode the CSC 150 Mustang replica in this photo to Cabo San Lucas and back.

For CSC, the Zongshen connection started with a search for a larger CSC 150 engine.  The CSC 150 was the Mustang replica Steve Seidner designed and manufactured in 2009.  I was already in China for another client, and it was only an hour flight from Guangzhou to Chonqging for the initial visit to Zongshen.  To make a long story slightly less long, CSC started purchasing the Zongshen 250cc engines for the little Mustangs.  I think most of the folks who bought those Mustangs really didn’t care if it was a 150 or a 250.  Both were capable bikes; my friends and I rode the 150cc version to Cabo and back.  It was the 250cc Mustang engine that established the relationship between CSC and Zongshen, though, and that was a good thing.

When CSC’s Steve Seidner noticed an illustration of the RX3 on the Zongshen website, he immediately recognized the RX3 sales potential in the United States.   Steve ordered three bikes for evaluation and he started the U.S. certification process.  Steve and I did a 350-mile ride on two of those bikes through the southern California desert and we both thought they were great.

Showing the Zongshen execs in Chongqing possibilities for a ride in America. The Chinese sponsored the Western America Adventure Ride as a result of that discussion. It was awesome and the bikes performed magnificently.

Zongshen was not targeting the U.S. market when they developed the RX3; they thought the U.S. market had different requirements and consumer preferences.   The initial RX3 design did not meet U.S. Department of Transportation lighting and other requirements. It was back to China for me to help set up the specs for the CSC RX3 and the initial order.

On the Western America Adventure Ride, we rode from southern California to Mt. Rushmore, back to the Pacific across the top of America, and down the Pacific Coast to return to Azusa. Here King Kong, Leonard, Hugo, and Tso emulate the American presidents at Mt. Rushmore.

On that early visit, the Chinese told me they wanted to ride in America.  They sent over a dozen bikes and as many riders, and we had an amazing 5,000-mile adventure we called the Western America Adventure Ride.  Baja John planned the itinerary and mapped out the entire ride; we even had special decals with our route outlined made up for the bikes.  We let the media know about it and it was on this ride that I first met Joe Gresh, who wrote the “Cranked” column for Motorcyclist magazine.  I made a lot of good friends on that trip.  After the trip through the American Southwest, Zongshen invited Gresh and me on a ride around China, and after that, I was invited by AKT on a ride through the Andes Mountains in Colombia.

In Medicine Bow, Wyoming, on the Western America Adventure Ride. Two Colombians also participated, which resulted in an invitation to ride in Colombia.
On the road in the Andes Mountains. The sign says the elevation is 3950 meters (that’s 13,000 feet above sea level).
Joe Gresh and I gladiating near Liqian, China. The China ride was the adventure of a lifetime.

At CSC, we had a lot of discussions on the initial marketing approach.  We were looking at a $50,000 to $100,000 hit for an advertising campaign.  Maureen Seidner, the chief marketing strategist for CSC and co-owner with Steve, had a better idea:  Sell the bikes at a loss initially, get them out in the market, and let the word spread naturally.  We knew the price would stabilize somewhere above $4K; Steve’s concept was to sell the bike for $2995.  Maureen had an even better idea.  $2995 sounded like we were just futzing the number to get it below $3K; Maureen said let’s make it $2895 for the first shipment instead.  I wrote a CSC blog about the RX3 and CSC’s plans to import the bike.  When I hit the Publish button on WordPress for that blog, the phone rang literally two minutes later and I took the first order from a guy in Alaska.  Sales took off with CSC’s introductory “Don’t Miss The Boat” marketing program.

I wrote another CSC blog a week later saying that I was eager to get my RX3 and ride it through Baja.  I thought then (and I still think now) that the RX3 is the perfect bike for Baja.  The bike does 80mph, it gets 70mpg, it has a 4-gallon gas tank, and everything you needed on an ADV touring machine was already there:  A skid plate, good range, good speeds, a six-speed gearbox, a comfortable ride, the ability to ride on dirt roads, panniers, a top case, and more.  We started getting calls from folks wanting to ride with me in Baja, and the orders continued to pile in.   That resulted in our doing an annual run through Baja for RX3 owners.  We didn’t charge anything for the Baja trips.  It was a hell of a deal that continued for the next four or five years.  I had a lot of fun on those trips and we sold a lot of bikes as a result.

The Western America Adventure Riders in Arizona. This photo is prominently displayed in the Zongshen main office building lobby.  That’s Baja John in front; he did nearly all the work organizing the ride.

CSC’s enthusiasm surrounding the RX3, the CSC company rides, and CSC’s online presence did a lot to promote the RX3 worldwide, and I know Zongshen recognized that.  I visited the Zongshen campus in Chongqing several times.  One of the best parts of any Zongshen visit for me was entering their headquarters, where a 10-foot-wide photo of the Western America Adventure Ride participants in Arizona’s red rock country dominated the lobby.

The RX3 was controversial for some.  RX3 owners loved the bike.  A few others found reasons to hate it, mostly centering around the engine size and the fact that the bike came from China.  I spent a lot of time responding to negative Internet comments until I realized that the haters were broken people, there was no reasoning with them, and none were ever actually going to buy the motorcycle anyway.  These were people who got their rocks off by throwing rocks at others.

When RX3 production ended recently, I contacted one of my friends at Zongshen and I thought you might enjoy some of what he told me.  Zongshen sold 74,100 RX3 motorcycles (35,000 in China; the rest went to other countries including Mexico, Colombia, other South American countries, Singapore, Turkey, and the United States).  Colombia alone purchased 6000 units in kit form and assembled their bikes in Medellin.  I watched RX3 motorcycles being built in the Zongshen plant in Chongqing; I was also in the AKT factory in Colombia and I saw the RS3 (the carbureted version of the RX3) being built there.  Ultimately, RX3 demand dropped off, but 74,100 motorcycles is not a number to sneeze at.  The RX3 greatly exceeded Zongshen’s expectations and their initial marketing forecasts, especially in overseas markets.  CSC had a lot to do with that success, and playing a minor role in that endeavor has been one of the high points of my life.

The CSC 650cc RX6 twin cylinder motorcycle. The Chinese motorcycle industry is moving to larger displacement bikes.

Chinese motorcycle companies today are emphasizing larger bikes.  We’ve seen that here with the CSC RX4, the 400cc twins, and the 650cc RX6.  I’ve ridden all those bikes and they are great.  I like larger bikes, but I still think a 250cc motorcycle is the perfect size for real world adventure riding.  I think the emphasis on larger bikes and the decision to drop the RX3 is a mistake, but I haven’t sold millions of motorcycles (and Zongshen, with CSC’s help, has).

That photo you see above at the top of this blog?  It’s good buddy Orlando and his wife Velma riding their RX3 up to Dante’s View in Death Valley National Park.  Orlando thinks blue is the fastest color, but I know orange is.  Sue and I recently visited Death Valley again; watch for the ride reports here on the ExNotes blog.

Visit the CSC website here.

I’ve written several books about the adventures described above.  You can order them here.

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Top 10 California Motorcycle Roads: Part 2

By Mike Huber

This is a continuation from my previous blog highlighting ten of the best roads in the beautiful state of California.

California 198 to Sequoia National Forest

Rated 5 WheeliesRoute Details.  Yes, another mind-blowing road that goes through another National Park. This route has beautiful mountain switchbacks with no towns and minimal distractions. This allows you to lose yourself while focusing on the tight corners as you speed next to some of the largest trees on the planet. This route highlights how small you as a rider next to these majestic trees in Sequoia National Park.

    • Start to Finish Points: Wood Lake to Pinehurst
    • Distance: 78 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 3 to 6 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: May to October
    • Main Point Of Interest(s): General Sherman Tree
    • Cautions / Dangers: Wildlife in early morning and evenings
    • Important Contact Numbers: CHP (Visalia) 559-734-6767

Road Description.  Although this route can be completed in a day, I would recommend you take two days. The reason for taking this slower is to allow yourself to stop and enjoy the sightseeing along this national park. The road is in excellent condition as you climb the switchbacks to crest the highest point in the park. There are no gas stations along this route so it is imperative that you fill up in either Three Rivers or Hume Lake (75 miles between the two) or outside the northern part of the park near Squaw Valley (90 miles from Three Rivers).

Points of Interest.  Since this is a National Park there is plenty to do outside of riding including hiking, sightseeing, and camping. This is one of my favorite National Parks since it is so stunning but everything is a very short hike to get to. Some of the largest trees in the World reside in this park. The General Sherman Tree is the world’s largest tree and is along this route. There are many other gigantic trees that are awe inspiring and shouldn’t be missed.  These are the points of interest I recommend:

Where to Stay/Camp.  Camping and hotels are limited to what is available in the National Park. Reservations should be made ahead of time as the park can often be booked full and will leave you no other options for 50+ miles for a place to stay.  Here’s where to check:

Fort Bragg to Bodega Bay on Highway 1

Rated 4 Wheelies

Route Details.  This route can be combined with the Fort Bragg to Garberville route, but I wanted to ensure they were written on separately as I feel the riding and terrain changes from the previous one to this route. This is Northern California at its finest. Pristine ocean views that include lighthouses and beaches for over 100 miles.

    • Start to Finish Points: Fort Bragg to Bodega Bay
    • Distance: 107 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 3-6 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: May to Oct
    • Main Point Of Interest(s): Numerous Beaches and Lighthouses
    • Cautions / Dangers: Possible heavy fog in the morning
    • Important Contact Number:  CHP (Ukiah) 707-467-4420

Road Description.  Beautiful sweeping corners that hug the cliffs consume this ride. You can feel your lungs cleanse as you breathe in the mist of the Pacific Ocean while blasting along one of the most well-known, yet less traveled roads in our country. The road is in great condition and there are plenty of small Oceanside towns that have locations to fuel up and allow you to stop in for meals or a beverage. It is important to ensure you soak up some sun while taking a breather and meet other riders at one of the many stops along this epic part of Highway 1.

Points of Interest.  This stretch of Highway 1 has some of the most beautiful and unpopulated beaches in the country along it. There are several lighthouses that are worth stopping by to visit. Mendocino Headlands State Park is a perfect place to stop and get a short hike in to regain focus for the upcoming curves you will be leaning heavily into. There are also several small beach communities like Mendocino, Fort Ross, and Gualala you will ride through, any of which make for a great stop for lunch or a stayover if you have the time.  Here are my favorite spots:

Where to Stay/Camp.  This stretch of road is one of the easier places to locate campgrounds and hotels due to the lack of crowds along it. As always making reservations ahead of time is recommended to ensure you have a safe place to rest for the evening. I have always had a pleasant experience staying along this route.  Any of these places are good:

Northern Tahoe Loop

Rated 4.5 Wheelies

Route Details.  113 miles of diverse riding from open field to challenging switchbacks as you climb the cliffs along beautiful Lake Tahoe and take in some of the most intense roads and vistas in California. The road is in excellent condition with much of it newly paved. There are plenty of turnouts for taking photos, which is fortunate because the curves are very sharp and come up quickly so the ability to pull over and take in the views is an added bonus along this trip. The route is not a letdown. You and your motorcycle will be smiling all day.

    • Start to Finish Points: Kings Beach with Reno Junction in the north as your turnaround back to Kings Beach
    • Distance: 113 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 4 to 6 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: May to September
    • Main Point Of Interest: Lake Tahoe, Reno
    • Cautions / Dangers: Quickly changing weather conditions, especially in fall
    • Important Contact Numbers:  CHP (Truckee) 530-563-9200

Road Description.  This is one of the more picturesque and challenging rides in California. This route provides such a range in diversity, both in the scenery and the road types. You start in Kings Beach where there are rolling meadows and begin to quickly climb to over 9,000 ft. where you will be skirting the edges of cliff sides with some serious switchbacks thrown in for added intensity. This road is not for beginner riders as the technical cornering along with the beautiful views can be too dangerous for a novice to safely navigate, however, for seasoned riders on a clear day the photos from this ride will soon be the background on your laptop screen.

Points of Interest.  This route has plenty of tourism along Lake Tahoe and in Reno as you loop through the stunning Tahoe National Forest. There are plenty of pullouts along this route to catch your breath and absorb the beauty that is fully surrounding you. As you traverse this loop you will not have to worry about any long stretches without gas or places to stop for food.  Here are a few favorites:

    • Gar Woods Grille & Pier is the perfect place to start or end your day with great food, beautiful views of the lake, and live music on the weekends
    • Brewforia is perfect lunch location with excellent craft brews and delicious burritos
    • The Peavine Taphouse in Tahoe at the top of the loop it is worth pulling in to get some heavily loaded pizza to fuel up for the return trip

Where to Stay/Camp.  With Tahoe National Forest surrounding you there are plenty of opportunities for dispersed camping along this ride. There is also an abundance of hotels, both high end and budget as well as state and private campgrounds. In short there is no need to worry about finding a place to lay your head and recover or to prepare for an incredible day of riding here.

Death Valley Highway 190

Rated 4 Wheelies

Route Details.  This road is quite unique from any other road in this state. It is 135 miles of just raw desert. Ensure you carry extra water to drink although there are gas stations every 35 miles or so. However, with this area having some of the hottest weather on the planet keeping an extra gallon of water (at least) on you is a wise move. The road is as desolate as you can find on a motorcycle, and the topography is like something from another planet. Even though the roads are straighter as compared to other rides I have listed, it’s the region and scenery that really make this road jaw dropping. Be very aware of the weather prior to traveling through this area.

    • Start to Finish Points: Lone Pine to Death Valley Junction
    • Distance: 135 miles
    • Ride Time/Recommended Time: 4 to 6 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: September to early May
    • Main Point Of Interest: Death Valley National Park
    • Cautions/Dangers: Extreme heat conditions, possible sand in road
    • Important Contact Numbers:  CHP (Bishop) 760-872-5150

Road Description.  If you’ve ever dreamed of driving a motorcycle on Mars this is what it would be like. This road is one that you will never forget due to the dramatic landscape and post-apocalyptic feeling as you roll through the desolate desert of this National Park. The temperatures are extremely hot so I will mention this again to confirm the weather prior to embarking on this route. Early morning is a perfect time to go if you are traveling east to west to watch the landscape change colors in front of you while you are riding.

Points of Interest.  The main attraction of this part of the country is Death Valley National Park. This area is home to the lowest point in the southern 48 with an elevation of 280 feet below sea level. As you stand in the depths of that point and turn northward you can see Mt. Whitney in the distance. Mt. Whitney is the highest point in the lower 48 rising up at over 14,000 feet. During springtime the desert erupts with beautiful fields of wildflowers that stretch across the desert. This makes February and March one of the best times to visit this area. This time also provides relief from the extreme heat of this National Park.  There’s more info on Death Valley National Park here.

Where to Stay/Camp.  This road has only a few places to stop along the way so it is important to ensure your water and fuel levels are topped off at each stop. Even though there are so few places to eat there is plenty of camping along the way during cooler months.  Here are the spots I recommend:

    • The Panamint Springs Hotel is the only place in Panamint Springs to get food, water, and a hotel room
    • Just prior to entering the National Park the Death Valley Hotel is the perfect mid-way point to either grab lunch, camp or a hotel room
    • The Oasis at Death Valley resort has a great steakhouse and saloon that is perfect for a beverage to wind out your day; on the eastern side of the park this resort will be a welcome break from the heat of the day

San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore on Route 74

Rated 4 Wheelies

Route Details.  This is a perfect ride for a Sunday afternoon to wind down from the weekend. Fun switchbacks up through the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness. The road has some beautiful pullouts for a panoramic view of the lake right before you descend down into the town of Lake Elsinore. This ride is popular with local riders so be aware of that as you travel through it and be mindful of speed traps.

    • Start to Finish Points: San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore
    • Distance: 52 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 2 to 4 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: Year round
    • Main Point Of Interest(s): Lake Elsinore
    • Cautions / Dangers: Speed Traps
    • Important Contact Numbers:  CHP (San Juan Capistrano) 949-487-4000

Road Description.  Beautifully maintained roads where you can really practice cornering on your motorcycle. This road is more of a social route that will allow you to stop and chat with fellow riders and build new friendships than a long distance run. It’s close in proximity to LA which makes it a perfect ride on any day where you have a few spare hours and are in need of wind therapy.

Points of Interest.  Once you leave San Juan Capistrano there is nothing until Lake Elsinore, except for probably one of the coolest motorcycle bars I have ever visited, Hell’s Kitchen Motorsports Bar and Grill. This is a place you have to stop at along this road to meet other riders and get a beverage and a burger. There are also several hikes with waterfalls that are worth stopping by for a break and to stretch out.

    • The Ortega Waterfalls is a lovely place to rest and take a quick swim, located at 33382 to 32806 Ortega Highway in Lake Elsinore, California
    • Hell’s Kitchen Motorsports Bar and Grill is a great stopping point to meet other riders and car enthusiasts
    • Kristy’s Country Store is the only place along this route to get snacks or water

Where to Stay/Camp.  Surprisingly for such a short stint of road there are several wonderful camping opportunities either along the beach or in the hills along Route 74. All the campgrounds along this road are very clean and well maintained. These can allow for a weekend getaway that isn’t too far of a ride to get some air and enjoy a nice fire glowing off your motorcycle as you unwind from a week at work.

    • Doheny State Beach is a great location for beach camping
    • The Orange County Park area is a perfect campground with short hikes you can start right from your campsite; closer to Lake Elsinore, this campground also has some short beautiful hikes that are closer to the waterfalls

Conclusions

As you can see there is no shortage of beautiful roads in California. These routes listed along with the bars, restaurants, and tourist points are some of my favorites in the state. The experiences you embrace along these roads are sure to create some of the fondest memories that will stay with you for a lifetime. If you found this article useful or would like to share your favorite roads and experiences in California please feel free to share so we can work together to expand our knowledge on this unforgettable state.

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Top 10 California Motorcycle Roads: Part 1

By Mike Huber

California is beautiful from every aspect, but once you climb on a motorcycle and get the full experience of this gorgeous state you’ll realize it is difficult to find a place with more riding diversity. From the northern redwoods to the people-watching along Venice beach to the eastern deserts and right up to the Sierras. California is a destination where you’ll want to spend time.  And when I say time, I mean having the ability to savor each region and each road.

Garberville to Fort Bragg

Rated 5 Wheelies

Route Details. This is a beautiful road with twisties that rival the famous Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina, with much more diversity due to the forest and ocean views.

    • Start and Finish Points: Garberville to Ft. Bragg
    • Distance: 68 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 3-4 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: May-Oct
    • Main Points of Interest(s): The stretch from Leggett to Rockport
    • Cautions / Dangers: Minimal but possible sand/rocks on road in mountain twisties
    • Important Contact Numbers  CHP (Ukiah) 707- 467-4420

Road Description. I chose this route as my #1 in California due to the technical street riding, lack of traffic, and scenery. This route also has plenty of classic Americana stops along the way that even for this short ride will add to the enrichment of this route. It is an out of this world experience and you will feel at times as if you are in Star Wars zooming through Endor on a speeder. Once you adapt to that environment you are thrust out of the forest and into views of the vast openness of the mighty Pacific Ocean. It is hard to achieve a greater riding experience from every aspect over such a short distance.

Points of Interest. Garberville is a wonderful place to start as it is a quaint little hidden California town with wonderful people. The people are down to earth and easy to talk with as you consume a cold beverage or lunch while comparing tales from the road. There aren’t a lot of restaurants or stores in Garberville but the two I recommend are:

    • The Blue Room (747 Redwood Drive in Garberville, a great place for a drink/lunch/dinner)
    • The Eel Café (801 Redwood Drive, which offers breakfast and lunch sandwiches)

Another must see spot is the Drive Thru Tree Park for an unforgettable experience and great photo opportunities.  Make sure you drive your moto through the Redwood tree.

Fort Bragg is larger compared to Garberville and offers more choices for nightlife and entertainment.   Two of my favorites are:

    • The Tip Top Lounge, a great place to stop after riding all day for a beer and a solid burge
    • The Piaci Pub & Pizzaria for great pizzas and an environment conducive to unwinding

Where to Stay/Camp. Both Garberville and Fort Bragg offer numerous hotels and camping spots, and even though this is a short ride I highly recommend making this trip an overnighter to fully absorb the culture of this part of the state and its beauty.  These are my favorite spots:

Santa Monica to Oxnard on the Pacific Coast Highway

Rated 5 Wheelies

Route Details. This is the quintessential California beach road with exhilarating sweeping corners that introduce a new view of the Pacific Ocean as you lean through each turn.

    • Start and Finish Points: Santa Monica to Oxnard
    • Distance: 50 miles
    • Ride Time/Recommended Time: 3 to 4 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: April to November
    • Main Points Of Interest: Beaches along the route
    • Cautions / Dangers: Minimal, but possible sand near beaches
    • Important Contact Number: CHP (Woodland Hills) 818-888-0980

Road Description. As far as a California dream road, this is the one. Riding it early morning can be the best time due to low traffic and the ability to taste the salt from the Pacific Ocean as you wind northbound. There are plenty of beaches and overlooks to stop at. This really allows yourself to fully absorb the beauty of this part of California.

Points of Interest. Santa Monica is a great starting (or ending) point and you can walk out to the pier or rent bicycles to ride the boardwalk down to Venice Beach which will allow for some outstanding people watching and opportunities to engage in tourist attractions along the way. As you travel north from Santa Monica there are no shortage of quaint restaurants and shops along PCH1 to visit and relax. This is a road that feels as though it’s designed for a leisurely ride in order to fully experience the sights and sounds while on two wheels. A classic place to get some seafood is Neptune’s Net right along the Pacific Coast Highway for great seafood and wonderful people.  If time allows, a worthwhile day can be spent visiting Channel Islands National Park.

Where to Stay/Camp. Camping is limited along this route but Point Mugu State Park is a great place for beach camping. Hotels are plentiful but expensive in both Santa Monica and Oxnard.

Highway 120 and Tioga Pass

Rated 5 Wheelies

Route Details. This is one of the best roads in California.  It runs through Yosemite National Park and over intense switchbacks to Tioga Pass, where you will feel as though you are on top of the world (at almost 10,000 feet elevation, that isn’t too far from the truth). There are minimal fuel stops along this way so make sure you are fueled up.

    • Start and Finish Points: Groveland to Lee Vining
    • Distance: 92 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 4 to 6 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: May-September
    • Main Points Of Interest: Yosemite National Park and Tioga Pass (elevation 9,943 feet)
    • Cautions/Dangers: Wildlife throughout the passes, loose rocks and dirt on some mountain passes
    • Important Contact Number: CHP (Bridgeport) 760-932-7995

Road Description. Some incredible scenery as you pass through Yosemite National Park and even more breathtaking as you lean into some of the tightest switchbacks you can ever hope to encounter with serious drop offs so be sure to not get too caught up in the scenery and maintain focus on the road.

Points of Interest. Although this area of California is not as populated as some of the others there are plenty of places to stop and eat. With Yosemite National Park as the centerpiece of this ride there is a plethora of beauty and experiences to be had.  My favorites are:

Where to Stay/Camp. There are numerous inns, hotels, and quaint bed and breakfasts along this route. All the ones I experienced have been wonderful experiences. Here are two of my favorites on each side of the route, and the camping opportunities within Yosemite.

    • Lakeview Lodge in Lee Vining is a clean safe place to stay with modest rates and parking for your motorcycles
    • Yosemite National Park for camping, where reservations are strongly recommended
    • The Sonora Inn in Groveland is another winner both from a price standpoint and for the quality and cleanliness of the rooms

Cotton Springs Road to Joshua Tree

Rated 4.5 Wheelies

Route Details. A short but deeply satisfying route that winds through Joshua Tree National Park. No services along this way so be sure you fill your tank either east on I-10 at the Chevron Station or in the town of Joshua Tree (depending on which way you are traveling).  Ensure you have water and are hydrated due to excessive heat during hotter times of the year.

    • Start and Finish Points: Exit 173 off I-10 to Joshua Tree
    • Distance: 94 miles
    • Ride Time/Recommended Time: 4 to 6 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: September to November, February to May
    • Main Point Of Interest(s): Joshua Tree National Park
    • Cautions/Dangers: Loose rocks/dirt on some corners
    • Important Contact Number: CHP (29 Palms) 760-366-3707

Road Description. Beautiful desert and mountain views. In spring there are fields of wildflowers that really show how much life is in the fragile ecosystem of Joshua Tree. The roads are in excellent condition and encompass fun sweeping corners then will open up with straightaways that provide majestic vistas of the region.

Points of Interest. This is a desolate road, which is great for riders looking to just check out of the crowds and embrace riding.  As previously stated there are no gas stations in the park so ensure you fill up prior to entering it.

    • Chevron off Exit 173 along Interstate 10 (62450 Chiriaco Road, Chiriaco Summit, California 92201)
    • General Patton Museum is next to the gas station and worth a visit
    • In included the added mileage here through Joshua Tree National Park to allow you to fully explore the park (including the ride out and back to Keys View
    • For a great diner to fuel up before or after your ride try the Country Kitchen restaurant

Where to Stay/Camp. With Joshua Tree National Park being so desolate, camping there is a magical experience. On a clear night you can see the stars and planets like nowhere else. The campgrounds tend to fill up during peak seasons so be sure to reserve a campsite prior to your trip. As far as hotels go, both the town of Twenty Nine Palms and Joshua Tree have numerous hotels that are perfect for unwinding after the ride.

Mulholland Highway

Rated 4 Wheelies

Route Details. This is a 50-mile route that is beyond filled with some serious mountain switchbacks. This is an incredibly intense road that to me rivals the Tail of the Dragon in NC. The switchbacks just don’t end as you climb through the Santa Monica Mountains and then spit out onto Highway 1 and views of the Pacific Ocean.  It is a motorcyclist’s dream ride.

    • Start and Finish Points: Alizondo Drive Park to El Matador Beach
    • Distance: 50 miles
    • Ride Time / Recommended Time: 2 to 4 hours
    • Recommended Time of Year: Year round
    • Main Point Of Interest(s): The Rock Shop
    • Cautions / Dangers: Speed Traps
    • Important Contact Number: CHP (Woodland Hills) 818-888-0980

Road Description. For being so near to Los Angeles this road is a real getaway without having to travel far. The quality of the road is perfection and something that people from all over the LA area flock to. For this reason be cautious with your speed as there are several places they set up speed traps, however, quite often fellow riders will park ahead of these speed traps and provide you a warning. If you are looking at getting rid of the chicken strips on your tires this is definitely the road where you can accomplish that.

Points of Interest. This road has minimal places to stop along the way, but with all these switchbacks why would you want to stop. There is one famous attraction that is a must do as you traverse these mountain roads, and it is The Rock Store. It is a popular place for riders of all types to stop and get a sandwich and a drink. Jay Leno is often seen here talking shop with the riders and being social with others riding this fantastic road.

Where to Stay/Camp. With this ride being so close to the city there are minimal camping options. Hotels are numerous on both sides of this ride however. There are plenty of canyon roads off the main highway that are worth exploring, so even though this is a shorter ride you can absolutely make a full day out of this area. This will allow you time to fully embrace the roads and fellow riders along the way.  My favorite place to camp is the Decker Canyon Camp.

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ExNotes Book Review: Lone Rider by Elspeth Beard

By Joe Berk

I recently purchased a copy of Elspeth Beard’s Lone Rider, the story of a woman riding her BMW around the world in the early 1980s.  To give you the bottom line up front:  You need to buy and read this book.  It’s that good.

I first became a fan of around the world motorcycle stories back in the early 1990s when I read Dave Barr’s Riding the Edge (another excellent read).  I think I’ve read all or nearly all of the books in this genre, and I’ve written reviews on several (I’ll provide a set of links at the end of this blog).  Some are these books are outstanding, others are truly terrible, and most are somewhere in between.  Lone Rider firmly belongs in the outstanding category.

Picture this:  A young British woman in her early 20s decides to ride her 600cc BMW around the world, and with no sponsors and nothing in the way of a support network, she does so.   By herself.  On some of the worst roads, most hostile regions, and least friendly environments on the planet.  On a street bike, for which she fashioned her own panniers and top case.  This was before you could buy a ready-made ADV bike.

It took Ms. Beard a couple of years to complete the journey, partly because she had to stop and work to fund the trip.   I was captivated by her story, appalled by the way she was treated in a couple of places, and saddened by what I would describe as a surprise discovery decades after the ride ended.

Lone Rider is well written and well organized.  The chapters are about the right length (I read one or two chapters each night before lights out), the photos are good, and the writing is superior. Prior to reading Lone Rider, I always thought I wanted to visit and photograph India; the book disabused me of that notion.  I never had any desire to own a BMW motorcycle; the book convinced me that I had that one right.

At 336 pages, Lone Rider is substantive and I found it hard to put down.  It really is a masterpiece of motoliterature.  If you’re looking for your next good motorcycle book, Lone Rider is it.  Trust me on this one.

Here’s that set of links I promised:

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Bugeyed in Beijing

By Joe Berk

That’s me that I’m talking about in the title of this blog and the story is a Riding China excerpt.  Joe Gresh and I rode with a group of Chinese riders on a 38-day motorcycle ride around China. This is a small part of it describing the ride into Beijing.

Gresh, King Kong, and yours truly in China. I’m the bugeyed old bastard on the right (after the swelling subsided).

Traffic was moving but it was heavy, and Chinese drivers in cars do not respect motorcycles.  If they want to occupy your spot on the road, they just move over.  It’s not that they don’t see you; they just don’t care.  You’re a motorcycle.  They’re a car.  They know who’s going to win.  At very low speeds in city traffic, you can scream at them or maneuver away or stop.  At freeway speeds if you don’t get out of the way, you’re a hood ornament or a big wet spot on the asphalt.  Our Chinese riders’ propensity to ride on the shoulder all the time suddenly made sense to me.

On a quiet road in China. China has delightful country roads and modern freeways. We weren’t supposed to take our motorcycles on the freeways, but we didn’t do too well with rules.  We literally rode thousands of miles, all of it illegal, on Chinese freeways.

It was dark well before we reached our hotel that night and we had to ride about 45 minutes or so after the sun set.  The Asian-configuration RX3 headlight is not very bright (our US bikes are much better), and to make a bad situation worse, as I have mentioned before I don’t see too well in the dark.  To see a little better that night, I lifted my visor.  Even though it was a clear visor it still has a slight tint to it and when I lift it at night I can see better.

In the motorcycle world, there’s another term that’s similar to ATGATT (you know, all the gear, all the time).  It’s “visor down.”   What it means is that you should keep your helmet visor down all the time.  The reason is obvious:  You don’t want to get whacked in the eye with whatever is floating in the air.  That night, I proved that “visor down” makes sense.  I caught a bug smack in my right eyeball.  It hurt immediately, but I could still see.  At that point, I put the visor down, but it was a classic case of closing the barn door after the horse got away.

We arrived at the hotel about 20 minutes later.  I was tired and cranky.  I went to my hotel room in a blue funk.  Gresh tried to calm me down, but he was fighting a losing battle.  “We have a couple of good rolls of toilet paper in this room,” he said.  That was a good point and it was definitely something to be happy about, but it didn’t help me feel any better.

I really didn’t want to eat dinner that night, but I decided that bagging dinner would be too rude.  So I went and I sat next to Sean.  After some small talk, he noticed my eye.  He was shocked.  I had not seen myself in the mirror and I guess it looked pretty bad.  My eye wasn’t white anymore; it was mostly red and swollen.  Okay, I’ve been whacked in the eye by bugs before.  I knew it would be red and it would bug me (pardon the pun) for a couple of days, and then it would be okay.

Yep, that Great Wall.

We rode through the countryside the next day to see the Great Wall at another location, but I still wasn’t over being upset and cranky from the night before.  When I lead rides in the US or in Mexico that last for more than a weekend, there’s usually one guy in the group that will get cranky at some point.  I had thought about that before this ride and I realized that on a ride lasting over five weeks someone would get to that point.  I just didn’t think that guy would be me.  But it was. I was tired, my eye was jacked up, and the stress of watching out for Chinese drivers was getting to me.

Dong drifting toward Beijing.

The next morning, I missed grabbing a good photo because of that.  We were riding to see the Great Wall at a different location.  On a lightly-traveled mountain road on a curve, we all stopped and Dong intentionally laid his RX1 on its side in the middle of the lane.  He got on the bike with his knee out and had one of the other guys photograph him from the front (to make it look like the bike was leaned way over in the corner and he was dragging his knee).  I think nearly everyone got their photo on the bike, but I declined.  I just wasn’t in the mood.  I think Dong knew I wanted that photo, though, and after I had returned to the US, he emailed a copy to me.  (It’s the photo you see above.)

When we got to the Great Wall that morning it involved a considerable hike up a steep hill to get close enough to touch it.  I’ve done that on prior visits, so I didn’t want to do it that day.  Four of us opted to wait while the rest of the guys made the hike.  It was relaxing.  Wong, Zuo, Furem, and I shared a bag of peanuts Sean had left in his car while we waited for the others to return.

As we were riding back to the hotel from that location, heading downhill through the mountains the same way we had ridden in, I started slowing down.  I didn’t realize it at first, but eventually I was the last guy in our formation.  Then I started riding even more slowly, until the rest of the guys were so far ahead of me I couldn’t see them.  My eye was still bothering me and by now I was having some problems seeing well.  To add fuel to that fire, my left shoulder was hurting (I have a pinched nerve somewhere in there and it bothers me on long motorcycle rides).

But there was more to what I was feeling than just what I described above.  Something was going on.  I suppose a shrink would call it an anxiety attack.  I was driving around every twist in the road expecting to see a truck stopped in my lane, an oncoming truck passing another vehicle in my lane, a person sweeping the street in the middle of the turn in my lane, a guy pulling out right in front of me, a bus making a U-turn in front of me, a car cornering too hard drifting into my lane, someone going the wrong way in my lane, someone pulling into my lane without looking, an old woman walking directly in front of me, people stopping to have a conversation in the middle of the street, or someone squatting down to take a dump (in my lane, of course).  On this trip, I had seen all of what I just described and more.  What was happening that morning was the enormity of the insanity that is riding a motorcycle in China caught up with me.  Yeah, it was an anxiety attack.  The nuttiness of it all, my vulnerability being on a motorcycle, and my inability to do anything about it was suddenly overwhelming.

The guys were waiting for me at the next intersection, and from there we went to a Sinopec gas station to refuel the bikes.  It was hotter than hell.  I guess it was fair to say I was miserable.  I was still feeling all of this accumulated anxiety when a guy in a black Mercedes starting blasting his horn at me in that gas station parking lot.  He didn’t want to drive around me; he wanted me to move even though there was plenty of room for him to go around.  It was more of the “I’m a car, you’re a motorcycle” bullshit that is pervasive in China.

I don’t know what came over me, but I think I just got supremely tired of being the vulnerable victim.  I looked directly at that Mercedes driver.  I made eye contact.  He looked at me, not realizing I was here with eight other guys on motorcycles.  I eased the clutch out until my bike was directly alongside his window (which was open).  I then leaned on my horn and let it rip for a good solid 20 seconds.  Then one of the other Chinese riders watching me did the same, and yet another yelled a really bad word at the Mercedes (which he probably learned from either Gresh or me).  It was pretty funny, especially hearing that kind of profanity with a Chinese accent.  The guy in the Mercedes had screwed with the wrong Marine on the wrong day.  Without realizing it, he took on the Wild Angels that hot afternoon just outside of Beijing.  He suddenly and fully realized what might happen as a result of his boorishness.  He rolled up his window, he averted his eyes, and he backed his big black Mercedes respectfully away from us.  That broke the spell.  I wasn’t helpless any more.  I felt amazingly better.

Okay, enough about me being a butthead:  On to Beijing proper.  We stopped at the Beijing Zongshen dealer that afternoon (where they were expecting us) and it was the Dajiu and Arjiu show all over again.

Gresh presenting a vest to a Zongshen rider. They thought we were celebrities.

There were the usual tons of photos with Gresh and me.  Hey, how often do Dajiu and Arjiu show up in your neighborhood?  Tracy told us the dealer had just sold five new RX1s.  He wanted to have a ceremony in which we gave the keys and Zongshen fluorescent vests to the five lucky guys who had purchased the bikes.  I was feeling my old self again.  I saw an opportunity and I took it.

“We’ll do it this time, Tracy,” I said, “but if you don’t start doing a better job getting these dealers prepped it will be the last time.”  Tracy doesn’t always know when I’m teasing him.  I could tell that this was going to be one of those times.  Gresh picked up on it, too.

“Yeah!” Gresh said.  Joe sometimes has a way with words.

“What is wrong, Dajiu?” Tracy asked, concern and maybe a little fear showing in his eyes.

“Where’s the watermelon?” I said.  “We’re supposed to have watermelon waiting for us at each dealer visit,” I said.

Joe Gresh on a Zongshen motorcycle and his contractually-mandated chilled watermelon.

“Yeah,” Gresh added, “and it’s supposed to be chilled, too.”

“It’s right there in Section 6, Paragraph 3.2 of the Dajiu and Arjiu contract,” I said, “and there’s no cold watermelon here, Tracy!”  (I don’t think I need to mention this for my readers, but I will just in case you were wondering, there is no such thing as a Dajiu and Arjiu contract, let alone any paragraphs about cold watermelon.)

“Ah, I am so sorry,” Tracy said.  “It is my bad, Dajiu.  I am so sorry.”  Then he turned to Gresh, and addressing him as Arjiu, he said the same thing.

“Tracy, relax,” I said.  “I’m just screwing with you.”  But it was too late.  Tracy heard me tell him I was joking, but it didn’t register.

We had a great ceremony and we had fun taking photos and giving those five proud new RX1 owners oversized Styrofoam keys and then their real keys.  It was one of the most fun things I did on this entire trip.  As we were doing so, I could see Tracy (who had left and returned) slicing several large (and delightfully cold) watermelons on a table in front of the showroom.  Hey, a contract’s a contract.

The Beijing dealer had an RZ3, Zongshen’s naked sportbike, parked in front.  Gresh was really impressed.  I took photos of it and put them on the CSC blog that night, but I couldn’t tell you then what you now know to be the case:  CSC is going to bring the RZ3 to North America.  I like the RZ3 a lot.  It’s essentially the RC3 with a normal seating position and upright bars without the RC3’s bodywork.  We’re going to sell a lot of RZ3s.  The RZ3 has the RX3 powertrain, and that’s both bulletproof and fast.  I already have ideas on how I’m going to customize mine.

When we got off the subway after visiting The Forbidden City, we waited on a street corner for our Uber ride back to the hotel.  I watched the scooters and small utility vehicles rolling by, and I realized that nearly every one of them was electric.   I must have seen 200 scooters during the 20 minutes we waited, and perhaps 2 had gasoline engines.   This wholesale adaption of electric scooters and small utility vehicles in China is nothing short of amazing.

An electric scooter in China.

Sean explained to me that the transition to electric vehicles started about 15 years ago, and the government has done a number of things to encourage people to convert to electricity.  For starters (once again, pardon my pun), many of the larger cities in China now prohibit motorcycles and scooters unless the vehicle is electric.  Electric scooters are allowed where gasoline-powered bikes are not.  That alone is an enormous incentive.  The next incentive is that you don’t need a driver’s license to take an electric vehicle on the street.  You just buy one and go.  And finally, as I’ve mentioned before, electricity is cheap in China.  There are windfarms, solar panel farms, coal plants, nuclear power plants, and hydroelectric power plants all over the country.  We saw scooters parked on the sidewalk and plugged into extension cords running into small stores everywhere.  People charge them like iPhones; they didn’t miss any opportunity to top off the batteries on these things.

That night was a great night.  The Zongshen dealer took us to a restaurant that specialized in Peking duck. The guys were excited about this development, but I was initially leery.  I thought I didn’t like Peking duck.  Boy, was I ever wrong!

I tried Peking duck 25 years ago when I visited Beijing with Sue.  We both thought the duck was awful.  That’s because we went to a restaurant that served tourists.  The food at that place didn’t have to be good.  They knew they would never see us again, and Yelp hadn’t been invented yet.

This night in Beijing with the Zongshen dealer and the RX3 owners club was different.  The Peking duck was incredible.  The chef sliced it paper thin right at our table.  They had thin tofu (almost like a crepe), and the guys taught me how to eat duck properly.  The deal is you put a few fresh vegetables on the tofu, you add a slice or two of duck, you add this amazing brown gravy, and then you roll the affair up like a burrito.  Wow, it was delicious!

Peking Duck, done the way it is supposed to be done, in a Beijing restaurant.  It was exquisite.  Photo by King Kong.

We had several rounds of toasts at dinner that night and the liquor flowed freely.  I got lucky.  Kong sat next to me and he schooled me in the proper way to make a Chinese toast.  To show respect, you clink your glass against the other guy’s glass, but you hold your glass at a lower level so that when the two glasses meet, the rim of yours is lower than the other person’s.  When the Zongshen dealer toasted me, I followed Kong’s advice, and the Chinese riders all nodded approvingly.  Ah, Dajiu knows.

It was funny.  Sergeant Zuo and I had made several toasts to each other, and when we touched glasses, we both tried frantically to get our glasses lower than the other, so much so that we usually crashed the bottoms of both on the table (to a hearty laugh and round of applause from everyone).  Zuo was being polite; I was being completely serious (I have enormous respect for him).

The next day we took the subway into Beijing.  We already were in Beijing when we got on the subway, but Beijing is a megacity and you can’t simply drive into the center of it.  We rode the subway for a good 45 minutes, and when we emerged, we visited the Forbidden City and Tien An Men Square.  It was all grand.  It was touristy, but it’s something that should be on any China visitor’s bucket list.

After seeing the Forbidden City, we walked around downtown Beijing for a while.  I told Tracy my eye was getting worse and I wanted to get antibiotic eye drops for it.  It was Sunday afternoon, but there was a large pharmacy right in front of us and it was open.  Tracy went in with me and he told one of the young pharmacists what I wanted.  She responded and it didn’t sound good.

“She cannot sell it to you without a prescription,” he told me.

“Well, shoot, Tracy, it’s Sunday afternoon,” I said.  “We’re not going to find a doctor.  I’ll be okay.  Let’s just go.”

“No, it is okay, Dajiu,” he said.  “We are China and we have a bureaucracy.  It is my bad.”

Good old Tracy, I thought.  The guy felt responsible for everything.  I was resigned to the fact that my eye was going to take a while to get better.  Tracy, in the meantime, had walked not more than 8 feet away to an elderly woman sitting at a wooden table.  He spoke to her in Chinese and pointed to me.  She never looked at me, nor did she look up.  She simply pulled out a white pad with a big “R” at the top.  Nah, this can’t be, I thought.  She wrote something in Chinese characters and handed the slip to Tracy.

“Our prescription,” Tracy said.  “Such a bureaucracy.”  He walked the three steps back to the pharmacist, Tracy handed her the prescription, and 30 seconds (and 24 yuan, or about $4) later, I had my antibiotic eye drops.  I put two drops in my eye.  When we rode out of Beijing the next morning, my eye was good as new.

Like the above story?  Want more?  Pick up your copy of Riding China!

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Merry Christmas…

By Joe Berk

…and Happy Hanukkah, too.  Man, it’s hard to believe the ExhaustNotes blog is 5½ years old.  We started in July 2018, and here we are, the day before Christmas, in 2023.  Where does the time go?

This is a short blog, and its purpose is simply to wish everyone a happy holiday season.  I hope 2023 was a good year for you and that you have a great holiday tomorrow.  Keep the comments coming, keep clicking on those popup ads, if you need moto clothes click on over to British Motorcycle Gear, and if you’re headed into Mexico next year, be sure to insure with BajaBound (Gresh and I are talking about another Baja trip in March, and you can be sure that’s who we’ll use).

There won’t be a blog on Christmas day…we’ll be too busy unwrapping presents.  From all of us (Joe, Mike, Bobbie, Rob, and yours truly):  Enjoy the day.

That photo above?  I shot it in La Playa de Belem, Colombia, on Christmas Eve, using my D3300 Nikon, the 18-55mm Nikon lens, and available light.  The Moto Colombia ride was one of the best ever.  You can get the whole story of our adventure in the Andes here:

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