It is bitter cold tonight and it was cold all day. I don’t know who the stronger troopers were today…the motorcycles or the guys from Janus. Think twisties, 200 miles, and temps just above freezing for much of the ride. Throw in breathtaking scenery and exhilarating riding, and you’ll pretty much have it nailed. That’s what our day was like. It was great.
It was cold when we left, and the Janus guys (Devin, one of the founders, and Jordan, their PR guy) had to have been exhausted even at the start of our ride. Their flight to California was delayed last night, and when they got in at 2:00 a.m. this morning, there were no taxis at the airport. It was a mile to the hotel. They hoofed it. With their luggage and their riding gear. Hard core, to be sure. And then, we were on the road at 8:00 a.m. Do the math, folks. These guys are hard chargers.
We climbed about 1500 feet just getting from Ontario to Beaumont on Interstate 10, but that was no problem for the Janus motorcycles and their CG engines. We purred along, we had a Beaumont breakfast in a small Mexican restaurant, and then we hopped on 243 for a twisting climb up to Idyllwild (Idyllwild is a pine-scented mountain village that sits at just over 6,000 ft). Yowsers, was it ever cold! How cold? We had to watch ourselves in the corners that were still in the shade, because the ice hadn’t melted yet. Yep, that’s how cold it was. And we rode through it.
We trekked south on California 371 and 79 to Julian, stopped for lunch (hot tea and chili for me), and continued our adventure south. Today was a twisties extravaganza almost all day. I’ll probably feel the g-forces in my sleep tonight…they were nonstop as we leaned left, leaned right, rolled off and then back on the throttle, and rode on some of the best roads in southernmost California. And yep, we saw that flock of wild turkeys along the 79 (about 150 of them; they were an amazing sight). It’s San Felipe tomorrow via Mexico’s Rumarosa Grade on Highway 2 east out of Tecate, and then on to Highway 5 south for the easy roll through the volcanic fields into San Felipe. It should be a warmer ride, and I can sure use some of that!
You probably want to know: What are the Janus motorcycles like? Here’s my take: They are exquisitely crafted and they are beautiful. Fit and finish rival anything available today (or at any other time). They handle well. The CG engine has a familiar feel to it, and it’s one I like. And to no one’s surprise, the motorcycles drew a crowd wherever we parked them. At breakfast and lunch we parked the bikes where we could see them, and folks could not walk by without stopping and taking photos. It was impressive. A young guy named Dave (who works at a Vespa dealership) chatted us up for several minutes. Dave knew about Janus but these were the first ones he had seen, and he made no bones about his feelings: He was impressed. My thought is that even folks who don’t know anything about motorcycles can instantly see that these bikes are something special.
Fun times, folks. Stay tuned…there’s more good stuff coming your way!
Want to read the rest of the story? Please visit our Baja page for an index to all of the Janus Baja blog posts!
While I’m busting a new tire onto Zed I figured I might as well replace the rear wheel bearings. I could have cleaned them and re-greased them and if I was broke I would have. 
Kawasaki made a nice motorcycle when they built the Z1. Stuff like a brake shoe wear indicator was rare back in the 1970’s. Mama K even went to the trouble of recessing the brake shaft opening to fit a felt dust seal. That’s class, man. I’m not sure it does any good because the brake shoes generate more dust than you’d get kicked up from the street. Maybe it helps the shaft grease stay clean.
Kawasaki threw everything at the Z1. The sprocket carrier has its own bearing so that gives a total of three rear wheel bearings. Pretty sweet; I wish my Yamaha 360 had a better sprocket carrier design. The hub wears out and I have to feed spring-steel from a ¾-inch tape measure to take up the slack.
Part of the fun of working on motorcycles is setting up the exploded parts shot. I like to get all the parts clean before reassembly because they will never be cleaned again. Rear discs are mostly standard now but a husky rear drum like this will stop a bike just fine.
Changing tires is a lot of stress for me. If you don’t plan to use the tube or tire you can cut the work involved in half by cutting the old tire off. Use a razor, utility knife and lube the blade with a little oil. Then plunge in and pull the knife. Don’t saw at it. As you cut move around a little and you will find the thinnest part of the tire. Once you’re there, ride that sucker all the way around. After you do both sides the tread falls away leaving two beads. They pop off easy with no tire to create resistance and you can peel the remains off the rims without a tire iron.
I removed the swingarm to check the bushings and lube the mess. Zed’s battery box is pretty rusty so I removed it to clean and paint the thing. I looked at the rear of the bike and decided there wasn’t much more to take everything off and give the rusty frame tubes a lick of paint. So I did.
Reassembling the rear of the bike is going well and the 
Water Canyon Road, west of Socorro, New Mexico is paved all the way to the Water Canyon Campground. The Campground is beautiful, wooded and self-serve: You put your fees into a pipe and pitch your tent. There are clean pit toilets and yodeling coyotes along with bear-proof trash cans. I’d like to hang out here but we are heading to The Magdalena Ridge Observatory.
The mirror at the MRO is an ex-Hubble part of which there were three built; one is inside Hubble floating around space, the other is at The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
