Like most of you, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I’d park in my garage if I had the money and the space for a motorcycle collection. At various times in my life I’ve owned several motorcycles at the same time and I’ve sort of realized the dream I describe here (at least in terms of how many motorcycles I owned), but this blog describes something different. The bikes I owned in the past came about as the result of having the time and the money when something cool caught my fancy. This time, I’d start from scratch and define what would go into my ideal collection. Gresh and I have theorized and fantasized and written about this in the past (see our Dream Bikes page). Here, I’m starting from scratch and I’m limiting myself to six motorcycles (just because I think that should be the right number of bikes). You might be surprised at some of my choices.
1965 Triumph Bonneville
When I was a kid in high school, one of the seniors (a fellow named Walt Skok) bought a new Triumph Bonneville. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted one. Later in life, I bought, rode, and sold several Triumph Bonnevilles, but I never scratched that itch for a ’65 model. Someday…
To me, everything about the 1965 Triumph Bonneville was perfect: The colors, the exhaust system, the exhaust notes, the tank parcel grid, the design symmetry, the little decal recognizing Triumph’s world speed record, and more. I always wanted one and I still do.
1965 Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide
I’ve owned a couple of Harley full dressers, but the one I always wanted was the 1965 Electra-Glide. That year was the first year Harley offered electric starting and it was the last year of the panhead engine (which I think is the best-looking big twin engine Harley ever made).
The ’65 Electra-Glide is another bike that, in my opinion, was styled perfectly. I like the tank contours, the 1965 paint design, the panhead engine’s look, the fishtail mufflers, the saddlebag contours, the potato-potato-potato exhaust note, and more. Apparently, my thoughts about this motorcycle’s intrinsic beauty are also shared by the U.S. Post Office (see the above postage stamp). The ’65 Electra-Glide is the bike I used to think about as a teenager when I rode around on my Schwinn bicycle, imagining that my Schwin was a Harley.
Cycle Garden 1974 Moto Guzzi El Dorado
Ah, a Cycle Garden Guzzi. This is one I tumbled to only recently. I’ve been writing a series of articles for Motorcycle Classics magazine, and one of the shops that’s been helping me is Moe Moore’s Cycle Garden in Indio, California. I always thought the mid-1970s Moto Guzzi were stunning in their stock and restored configurations. Then, during one Cycle Garden visit, I saw a custom bike that Moe and his crew had assembled for a client.
The bike was a 1974 police motorcycle, but it painted in a breathtaking battleship gray and metallic blue paint theme. I could see myself riding it, rumbling through the open roads and magnificent landscapes of Baja. It is a motorcycle that is firmly on my list.
1983 Harley XR-1000
I wrote a Dream Bike piece about this during the first year of the ExhaustNotes.us blog’s existence, and the thing that struck me about it was that Joe Gresh told me I’d beat him to it…he was thinking about doing a Dream Bike piece on the same motorcycle.
I’ve never owned or ridden an XR-1000. Come to think of it, I never heard one run. I could have bought an XR-1000 new for around $8K when they were new, but I didn’t have a spare $8K laying around in those days. It’s another one of those motorcycles bikes for which I think the visual and visceral appeal is perfect. Maybe someday I’ll get to scratch that itch.
2006 Kawasaki KLR 650
To me, this is an interesting choice with which some might take issue. I don’t care. I loved my KLR 650. Lifelong good buddy Baja John had one, too. That’s Baja John and yours truly somewhere in Baja in the photo below.
The KLR 650 is one of my all time favorite motorcycles. Mine was a first-gen KLR, and I think those are more desirable than the second gen bikes. My KLR was perfect for exploring Baja, and I did a lot of that on it. It had just the right amount of power, it was simple (except for the shim-and-bucket valve adjustments), it was a very comfortable motorcycle (the ergos were perfect), and it was inexpensive. I bought it new in 2006. It was one of the best motor vehicles (of any kind) I ever owned. If you’re wondering why I sold it, so am I.
2015 CSC RX3
The CSC RX3 motorcycle is another bike that I thought was just perfect for me. I covered a lot of miles in Baja and elsewhere in the world on it.
I think a 250 is the perfect size for a motorcycle (you can read why here). I traveled through a lot of the world on one: Through the American West, Mexico, the Andes Mountains in Colombia, and China (with Joe Gresh; Joe and I are in the photo above auditioning for a Chinese gladiator movie). All those trips and all those miles were awesome, and the RX3 didn’t miss a beat on any of them. I almost cried when I learned Zongshen discontinued the RX3, and if they were to bring it back (which they should), I would no doubt be riding the world and blogging the RX3’s virtues again.
There you have it. It was fun thinking about this, writing this blog, imagining the above six motorcycles parked in my garage, and riding them in different parts of the world. A quick mental tally tells me I could make the above wish list a reality for something around $120K in today’s dollars. Hmmmm…I don’t have a spare $120K laying around, but maybe if a few of you hit that donate below…
What about you? What would be the ideal collection you’d like to see in your garage? Let us know in the comments below.
Facebook and Meta were slammed in court yesterday, with a mega-million-dollar award going to a plaintiff claiming harm from Fecebook’s intentionally-addictive interface. I can see both sides of that argument, and I’m saying that as a guy who is hopelessly addicted. I can spend hours scrolling mindlessly through all the stupid stuff I see on Facebook (especially, for reasons that would take team a team of psychiatrists to unearth) videos of baby gorillas.
There’s a Facebook feature showing friends who are currently online, which I never paid much attention to. There’s another feature that allows you to call (through your computer and the Facebook interface) friends who are currently online. You can probably guess where this is going. I saw that Mike Huber was online yesterday morning, and I decided to give the Facebook telephone option a try.
A few rings later and Mike and I were conversing, clear as a bell, about a variety of topics. Mike is in Colombia for a few more days, and we had a great time talking about that wildly-beautiful country. Oddly enough, Mike ran into Buffalo Bonker down there in Colombia. I first met Mike on one of the CSC Baja rides when we were filling our gasolina tanks in Cataviña. Buffalo was also on that ride 8 years ago. It’s interesting how these motorcycle-based chance encounters can become lifelong friendships.
Lunch with Mike Huber at Las Casitas in Bell, California. It was as good as it looked!Mike Huber’s top case and jump wings. It led to a conversation that led to a great friendship.A Buffalo self-portrait in Baja.
That had me thinking about my trips to Colombia. I love the place. I did a lot of blogging while I was there. If you don’t see any friends you can call on Facebook, if you’re tired of listening to warped news shows pretending to be objective, or if you just want to see a bunch of cool photos and a few videos of my Colombian adventures, today is your lucky day…
I don’t know much about Urals. I had a chapter devoted to the brand in the Police and Military Motorcycles book because their motorcycles kind of had a military flavor to them, I would see a Ural at the annual Griffith Park sidecar rally here in LA (it belonged to a guy who had swapped an 800cc BMW engine into it), and our good buddy Dan from Colorado had one (I knew Dan from the CSC rides into Baja). I guess the other thing I should mention is that we often sold CSC Mustang seats to Ural owners because the wait for a seat from Ural in Russia often took a year or more. On occasion when I’d hear the latest news about Putin’s military misadventure, I would sometimes wonder how that affected Ural Motorcycles. They were always a super-small niche marque; I reckoned that they probably weren’t selling anything since that stupid war began.
I guess I was right, as an email I recently received from Ural shows. Ural is taking a different tack: They’ve pretty much dropped the Russian-made WWII BMW clones (Ural moved to Kazakhstan, but to me, that’s still Russia), and now they’re hooking up with a Chinese manufacturer to make a smaller sidecar-equipped 500cc twin. They’re calling it the Ural Neo.
The 500cc Ural Neo. Projected list price is “under $15,000.”
Man, talk about stacking the marketing cards against you: A smaller displacement bike, a bike from a Russian (sort of) company, a bike made in China, and catering to the sidecar market (when was the last time you saw a bike in America with a sidecar?). I’m guessing they will be pricey, too, but hey, what do I know?
I have no idea how I made it onto a Ural email list, but here’s the letter from Ural:
Dear Friends,
If you know our history, you know this brand was never built in comfort. The challenges of the last five years and especially the move to Kazakhstan have made the legacy Urals impossible to produce sustainably. This led us to the decision to pause manufacturing of the new legacy models for export markets. It does not, however, mean that Ural is stopping. Instead, we are pulling (yet another) one-eighty in order to keep moving forward. Below is a letter from Ilya (a long read), that explains where we are, how we see the path forward, and the answers to some of your questions and concerns.
For new subscribers – welcome to the community! You caught us amid a big change. If your interest is solely in our legacy machines, please check inventory to find models that are still available at dealers in US, Canada and Australia. If you are interested in sidecars in general, feel free to subscribe to updates on Ural Neo.
For those of you who have followed the story for a while, our customers and supporters, we know this transition is not easy, and we don’t take your trust for granted. We want you to know that every decision we’re making right now is with your experience, your bikes, and your future support in mind.
Thank you for your patience and for sharing your stories, they keep us going every single day.
We wish you and your close ones a happy Thanksgiving and a happy upcoming holiday season!
Stay tuned for new developments.
The Team at Ural
A Letter From Ilya
“Dear Friends,
It’s been a while since our last update. Much of our time was spent on reorganizing the company and evaluating what is possible that would allow Ural to continue into the future. The complex challenges we faced required difficult decisions, sharp turns in direction, and more than a few leaps of faith.
Our recent post on our Facebook page – inviting riders to test-ride the new Ural Neo at one of our dealers – received a lot of attention. As with every mention of Neo, it brought out not only curiosity and support but also strong emotions, questions, and criticism.
We understand where those emotions come from. For most of you, Ural isn’t just a motorcycle – it’s a part of your personal story, the same way it’s a part of ours.
I still struggle to find the right words to describe what happened to Ural when the war began in 2022. The best way to describe it is this: it felt like our factory in Irbit had suddenly exploded. We had to make decision quickly. Some voices suggested stopping altogether, but this thought was dismissed almost immediately. Instead we moved final assembly to Kazakhstan.
This allowed us to continue building bikes. However, operating between two countries – one under sanctions and another with almost no infrastructure for a business like ours – proved to be extremely complicated. By late 2024, it was clear that this setup couldn’t last: we were losing money with every bike we built.
That’s when the idea of a lighter, street-oriented sidecar motorcycle in a different price segment began to take shape. Our original goal was to broaden our lineup and make better use of the infrastructure we still had. At the same time, we were searching for a longer-term solution for legacy bikes: exploring new suppliers, alternative assembly locations, and possible partnerships.
Then, in April 2025, the tariffs hit. Now not only was manufacturing inefficient – selling our motorcycles in our main market, the United States, had become nearly impossible.
Building in China and Staying Ural
When we started looking for ways to continue, we knew exactly what we didn’t want: to become a badge fixed on someone else’s product (and yes, we did have such offers). We wanted partners who understood sidecars and were willing to collaborate.
That search led us to Yingang, a family-owned motorcycle company with decades of experience making sidecar-equipped models for their local market. Their capabilities and willingness to work with us to refine the product made them the right fit.
Together, we began developing what would become the Ural Neo 500 – based on an existing platform, tested and refined with our input and oversight, built to our specifications and quality requirements.
What Ural Neo Is – And What It Isn’t
Ural Neo is not meant to replace our legendary 2WD sidecars. Legacy Urals gave generations of riders the kind of experience no other motorcycle could offer.
Neo is different. It’s modern, light and by far more approachable. It’s designed to bring new riders into the sidecar world, not to take anything away from those who already love it. If the 2WD models were still part of our lineup, Neo wouldn’t compete with them — it would complement them. Instead, it now continues Ural’s story in its own way.
Think of Neo as a bridge between Ural’s past and its future – a way to keep Ural’s name, spirit and know-how alive while we’re reinventing the company for the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Now let’s address some of the big questions.
Is production of classic Ural 2wd bikes stopped permanently?
We call it “put on pause”, which in plain English means we don’t know. What we can say with certainty is that we haven’t written it off entirely. The key for restoring the production, if it ever becomes possible, is to maintain documentation, equipment, tooling and, most importantly, our experienced engineers and skilled workers. We will be doing everything we can for as long as we can to support this infrastructure.
What’s going on at the factory in Irbit?
The Irbit factory is operational, although with a smaller team. Currently the factory is assembling a limited number of bikes for domestic market from existing stock of parts and components, and making spare parts for exports. The factory also performs contract assembly for a local vehicle manufacturer. The team in Irbit continues to work relentlessly to bring more business to the factory.
What’s going on with parts supply?
No sugarcoating here – the situation is tough. It’s hurting our reputation and the hard-earned trust of our dealers and customers. Parts are still coming to the country, but not in quantities or the regularity we need. Mainly it is caused by two factors: limited financing (especially when dealing with suppliers who require large minimum orders) and extremely complex logistics. We’re doing what we can to stabilize the supply chain, but realistically, it won’t improve overnight. The success of the Neo project will play a major role in helping us rebuild a reliable parts flow for all legacy bikes.
Why not move production to the U.S.?
We explored this and many other options, the numbers just don’t work. The replication of the manufacturing infrastructure would require multi-million-dollars investments. Even setting up an assembly in the U.S. is not feasible at this time, as logistical costs, wages and the costs of maintaining the facilities would drive retail prices out of reach for most riders.
Why in China?
China is the largest motorcycle manufacturing base in the world, with a vast ecosystem of specialized suppliers of parts and components. No other place in the world can manufacture sidecar bikes of comparable quality and as affordably priced.
The Neo 500 is built in China because it’s the right choice today, not because it’s the only choice we’ll ever make. As the project grows, we will continue to evaluate where and how future models should be built.
You shouldn’t put the Ural name on anything that isn’t original bike.
That’s exactly why this project is called Ural Neo. It’s a new chapter, and we fully acknowledge the difference. The alternative was losing Ural altogether. We’d rather see the name move forward than carved on a tombstone. We hope you would too.
The main appeal of Ural was its classic look. Without that vintage charm, who’s going to buy your new bike?
We know the Neo’s design and overall direction of the company don’t match what many of our long-time customers expected. But we don’t believe that appeal of the sidecar bikes begins and ends with nostalgia. A new generation of riders is discovering sidecars for different reasons – shared experience, practicality, and curiosity. Ural Neo is built for them – let’s give them a chance to decide if there’s something there.
How is Ural Neo financed? Why Ural is spending money on new project instead of supporting existing customers?
Ural Neo is structured, financed and operating independently from legacy business. A small group of long-term partners and investors – people who believe in the brand and in our team – provided the initial capital to develop, homologate and bring the new model to the market. We’re finalizing an additional funding round to ensure Ural Neo is set for successful launch.
When will we see Ural Neo at dealers?
The EPA/CARB certification unit is already in the country and we’re starting the certification tests in a couple of weeks. Additional demo units will arrive in the US late January – early February, and we’re planning demo-tour for February – April. The first production units are expected to start reaching dealer floors late May. We’ll share timelines and updates as we go.
***
We know the past few years have tested everyone’s patience and faith in Ural. But through all the challenges our goal hasn’t changed: to make sure Ural keeps going. Ural Neo doesn’t erase our history – it keeps our story, and yours, alive.”
— Ilya Khait
President, Ural Motorcycles
Will the above approach work for Ural? Hard to say. I think they’ll sail through the EPA/CARB certification process (China’s emissions requirements are tougher than ours). The cost and marketing challenges will the toughest hurdles, I think. Here are a few things they can do based on our success at CSC with the RX3:
Bring in enough spare parts to build the things. That was one of the biggest concerns RX3 buyers had, but it was non-issue. Steve brought in enough spares to cover any need. That quickly put the spare parts issues to bed.
Be enthusiasts, spend a lot of time on the bikes yourself, and blog the hell out of your rides and adventures. A lot of people followed the CSC blog, and that blog sold a lot of bikes.
Offer free online maintenance tutorials for your bikes. CSC did, and it became a strong selling point.
Sponsor a cool ride every year for your customers. We did that at CSC with the Baja rides, and people bought the RX3 bikes just to go on those rides. It was great, it built a real community, and it gained us a lot of coverage.
Keep the price low. People aren’t going to stand in line to pay a premium price to a Russian motorcycle company for a motorcycle made in China. I read that Ural is projecting a list price “under $15,000.” Good luck with that.
Probably the most significant factor and the best advice I can offer is to keep the price low. The second most significant one would be the company rides; they did a lot for us to prove our bikes’ reliability and to quickly build a community. Here’s one of my all-time favorite videos; it’s the one from our very first CSC Baja ride.
If you would like to read more about CSC’s marketing strategies in bringing the RX3 to America, and those sponsored motorcycle rides mentioned above, pick up a copy of 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM. Don’t wait for the movie.
Back in 2014, I had never even sat on a motorcycle. Then one summer afternoon, a friend tossed me a helmet and said, “Try it.” I wobbled, stalled, and grinned my way through a parking lot. That was it. I was done for.
My First Dirt Love: Yamaha XT225
In January 2015, I bought my first bike, a 2006 Yamaha XT225. She was small, light, and forgiving, which is precisely what you want when you’re learning how not to fall over every ten feet. We learned together: I tried not to panic on steep trails, and she patiently lugged me through it all.
I still have her parked in the corner of the garage. She’s like the loyal dog you don’t ride much anymore, but will never give away.
The BMW 310 Era
By 2016, I wanted a bike that could do more than chase dusty trails. I needed a solution that could connect dirt tracks and pavement without causing itself to disintegrate. That’s how I ended up on a 2016 BMW 310GS.
She was perfect, for a while. I rode her solo through Baja, mainland Mexico, and all over the Southwest. But with a top speed of about 80 mph, I started to feel vulnerable. There were moments where I’d look in the mirror and see a semi closing fast, me already full throttle, and think, “Nope… this isn’t going to work long-term.” That’s when I started looking for something bigger.
The Tiger 800: Love at First Triple
Then came the 2018 Triumph Tiger 800. Oh man, that three-cylinder engine. If an engine could flirt, this one winked at me every time I twisted the throttle. Smooth, growly, and just plain fun.
We went everywhere together: mainland Mexico (again), Colorado, Baja, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, you name it. I thought we were set for life until Traci showed up.
Triumph Tiger and My Awakening
My friend Traci wanted to downsize from her BMW 1200, so she came to Sedona to check out my Tiger 800. A few months later, she’d found herself a shiny Triumph Tiger 900.
I had to try it, of course, strictly for research. Ten minutes later, I was hopeless. The Tiger 900 was like my 800 after a week at a spa: sharper, quicker, and somehow even smoother.
Meet Tippi: My Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro
November 2022, and I’m signing papers for a brand-new 2023 Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro. I named her Tippi because she has a habit of taking naps at the worst times, parking lots, trailheads, the occasional gas station, and the middle of a sandy road in Baja. She is a serious napper!
And then we took a big one: Arizona to Canada. Long, glorious days in the saddle. Wind that tried to push me back to Arizona, rain that soaked me down to my socks, and border guards who couldn’t believe I’d ridden all that way solo. When I finally rolled into British Columbia, I was tired, crusted in bugs, and grinning like an idiot. That trip sealed the deal, Tippi was the bike.
What Makes Tippi Different? (Specs with Soul)
The 2023 Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro is built for riders who want one bike that can do everything without drama. According to Triumph Motorcycles https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com:
Electronics: Six riding modes, cornering ABS, traction control, cruise control, and a 7-inch TFT display.
Comfort: Heated grips, heated rider/passenger seats, adjustable windscreen, and center stand.
Weight: 423 lbs dry (476 lbs wet).
Why I’ll Stick with Her (for now)
When I’m not riding, I’m outside staring at her like a teenager with a crush, sometimes having little chats about our next adventure. (Yes, I talk to my bike. No, I don’t need an intervention.)
Motorcycles come and go, but right now? Tippi’s my dream bike. My Yamaha was too small, the BMW too slow, but the Tiger 900 GT Pro was just right.
From first dirt wobble to a solo Canada run, I wouldn’t trade any of it, even the tip-overs. Especially the tip-overs, they gave her a name, and me, a story worth telling.
Boy oh boy, it’s hard to believe a dozen years have slipped by. The year was 2013, and one of CSC Motorcycles’ early marketing campaigns for the CSC 150 Scooter was the “bike in a box” program. CSC sold its Mustang revival motorcycle as a kit, with assembly to be performed by the owner. It was a brilliant marketing campaign and it worked well. So well, in fact, that when CSC started importing the iconic RX3 250cc adventure touring motorcycle a couple of years later, an option available to consumers was to buy the bike in a pre-setup format and perform the setup themselves.
In an effort to hold the line on tariffs and keep prices down, CSC is returning to its roots for the San Gabriel 250, one of its best-selling models. Buyers can get the bike pre-setup, set it up themselves, and save a whopping $495. It’s easy to put one of these motorcycles together, and to make it even easier, CSC provides a complete “how to” video. It’s a great way to bond with your bike and to learn a bit about motorcycle mechanics in the process. For more info, visit the CSC website at www.CSCMotorcycles.com.
Would you like to learn more about CSC’s early days and the role yours truly and Joe Gresh played in helping to promote CSC Motorcycles? It’s all there in 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM.
Ten weeks ago today, Tom and I set out on our bikes from Sedona, AZ, headed for a little mining town in Sonora, MX. The plan? Visit our good friends Tom and Lynn—expats who’ve built a beautiful life there with their hotel and a yearly rider meet-up that’s become a favorite stop for us.
It started like any great ride: a cool Thursday morning, Sedona fading in the mirrors, Bisbee as our stop for the night, and an early morning border crossing on Friday. I was back on Tippi, my Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro. Tom rode his Yamaha 900. Ahead of us? Three days with Tom and Lynn in their Sonoran paradise and, of course, some excellent Bacanora—a local smoky cousin of tequila.
The Perfect Morning
We left Tom’s house in that perfect early light, the red rocks glowing like they do only in the morning. Onto Highway 89A, then climbing Highway 260 toward the Mogollon Rim. First stop: Payson for fuel and a snack from the top box. It was one of those perfect riding mornings—cool air, empty roads, and that smooth hum where the bike feels like it knows what you’re thinking.
From there, we rolled onto Bush Highway, then Route 188, Lake Roosevelt flashing blue beside the desert. It’s one of those stretches that makes you forget you even have a destination. Too soon, Globe showed up—time for another quick fuel stop and stretch.
Tom looked tired when he swung off his bike. I noticed, but let it slide. That was mistake number one.
When It Went Wrong
Highway 77 is a narrow, twisty canyon road. Tom led, I followed. He was riding too close to a double-trailer semi, hugging the shoulder. I wanted to yell “Move over!” but we weren’t running headsets that day—mistake number two.
The wind blast hit him hard. He veered toward the ditch—four, maybe five feet deep—plowed through two plastic road signs, and fought like hell to keep it upright. For a moment, I thought he’d pull it off. Then the bike hit a rock the size of a pineapple and went down.
I rode past to find a safe place to stop, heart pounding so hard I could barely swing a leg over to dismount. For a second, I almost let Tippi fall so I could get to Tom faster. Somehow, I steadied myself, pulled off my helmet, and sprinted uphill.
Best sound I’ve ever heard? Tom yelling. Painful yelling, sure, but yelling. He was conscious, breathing, and already doing a self-check—old ER doctor habits die hard.
Angels on the Road
Cars kept flying by until one truck pulled over. Out stepped Chris—a firefighter, of all things. He took control like it was second nature: called for help, righted Tom’s bike, and helped him climb out of the ditch. Minutes later, paramedics loaded him into the ambulance headed for Cobre Valley Medical Center. Chris even gave me a ride to the hospital and didn’t leave until he knew we were okay.
Scans confirmed it: a broken scapula and two fractured ribs. Painful, yes, but survivable.
That night, I sat in the hotel room, had a good cry then listening to Tom breathe, whispering thanks to the road gods and to Tom’s split-second decision that might have saved his life.
Healing & Moving On
The following weeks were slow. Broken bones heal according to their schedule. Tom never complained, just kept moving, day by day.
By week six, the doctors were shaking their heads—he’d healed faster than expected. And, in classic Tom fashion, he now owns another Yamaha 900, fully loaded with more extras than I even knew existed. That crash slowed him down, but it sure didn’t stop him.
I’m still riding Tippi, and we’re already planning a fall ride back to Sonora. That Bacanora run? Just delayed, not canceled.
Lessons From the Road
If you’re tired, stop. Always.
Eat, drink, rest. These rides aren’t the place to “push through.”
Use comms. Sometimes one quick word can be the difference between safe and scary.
The question du jour (and for several upcoming blogs) is as stated above: How many pistons?
A thought occurred to me the other day: I’ve owed singles, twins, triples, fours, and even a six (a Honda CBX, which was a wonderful motorcycle). There have even been (and are) companies that offer 8-cylinder bikes. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8: What’s should be the right number of pistons for the perfect motorcycle?
Man, I don’t know. I’ve owned a lot of motorcycles of varying engine configurations. This blog focuses on the singles. There will be future blogs on other engine configurations. What I’ll describe are my experiences with singles, and (spoiler alert) they’ve all been good. Your mileage may vary.
Honda Super 90
My first motorcycle ever was a Honda Super 90 previously owned by Sherm Cooper of Cooper’s Cycle Ranch in New Jersey. Sherm was a famous flat track and ISDT racer in the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Cooper had customized the Super 90 I bought from him with an upswept pipe, a skid plate, and knobby tires.
On my Super 90 in the 1960s. It was a fun bike. I wasn’t old enough to have a driver’s license yet, but that didn’t slow me down at all.
I owned the Super 90 before I had a driver’s license, and I rode my Honda all over. It would hit 65mph given enough time and road. I had a lot of fun on that bike.
BSA Bantam
Somewhere in my misspent youth as a goofy teenager, I owned a 125cc two-stroke BSA that actually ran, but not well enough that I was willing to venture very far from the house on it. I rode it in the fields behind our place for a couple of weeks and then parked it on the front lawn with a for sale sign. My first and only Beezer sold quicky.
A BSA Bantam on display in Australia. This one was way nicer than mine.
My Bantam was all black (I don’t know if that was its original colors), it had a lot of power for a small bike, and then it was gone. I didn’t own it long enough to get a photo, but decades later when visiting a motorcycle museum in Australia, I did manage to get a photo of a concours condition Bantam.
Honda SL90
I sold the Super 90 and the BSA Bantam you read about above, and I was a working kid, so I was pretty flush with cash but I didn’t have a motorcycle. I didn’t have a driver’s license, either, but that didn’t slow me down. I bought a new Honda SL90, a model Honda had just released, and I loved it.
A Honda SL90 just like mine (I never took a photo of my SL90). This one sold for about $3500 five years ago.
The SL90 wasn’t any faster than the Super 90, but it had that SL look. Honda had a series of SL bikes back in those days, including an SL175 and an SL350. I’d really like to own an SL350 today, but the prices on those bikes are in the stratosphere. I rode the wheels off my SL90, and I kept it immaculate the entire time I owned it. You know, it’s funny: I can’t remember selling it. But I guess I did. I just checked my garage and it’s not out there.
Honda Cub
One of the families in our neighborhood had a welding business (I guess their welding business was good; they bought new Cadillacs every year). The guy who owned that business somehow acquired a 50cc Honda Cub. You know, the little ones with a step-through frame. I offered him $50 for the Cub. Suddenly, I owned a 50cc Honda Cub.
My 50cc Honda Cub. I only owned it for a short period.
The Cub had three speeds and a centrifugal clutch. I sold it a month or two later for $75 and considered myself a wheeler dealer. Seiko recently came out with series of watches commemorating the Honda Cub. I’m wearing that watch as I type this blog.
Honda Cubs are still in production (new ones MSRP for $3,899.00, not including transportation to the dealer, California emission equipment, government fees, taxes, finance charges, dealer document preparation, electronic filing fees, tire tax, and, well, you get the idea). As I understand it, more Honda Cubs have been built than any other motor vehicle of any type. I’ve traveled a bit in my life, and I can tell you that Honda Cubs are everywhere. The people who keep track of such things stopped counting when the total number of Cubs went over a hundred million. Soichiro outsold Henry Ford. Imagine that.
KLR 650
I had always wanted a Kawasaki KLR 650, and in 2006, I scratched that itch. It was one of my all time favorite motorcycles. I used mine as a touring bike, and that touring sometimes included offroad excursions here and in Mexico. I had fabulous rides in Baja with the KLR.
I covered a lot of miles in Mexico on my KLR. It never let me down. It was the perfect motorcycle for Baja.
I sold the KLR just because I was busy riding other machines. Looking back on that, I wish I’d kept it. The KLR was a fabulous motorcycle. I think it made less than 40 horsepower, and that was all I needed. I could touch 100mph on mine. The ergonomics on it were perfect for me. I loved that bike.
CSC 150
My CSC 150 Mustang replica was kind of my comeback bike after I crashed big time on a Triumph Speed Triple (that’s a story I’ll tell in a subsequent blog).
My new buddy Umberto upgrading a preproduction muffler tab to the production configuration, while simultaneously demonstrating proper personal protective equipment use. Welker is pulling fire guard duty.Our CSC 150s parked in front of the Desert Inn in Catavina, Baja California Sur, about 330 miles south of the border. My bike is the fire engine red one, second from the left.
I caught a lucky break after the above-mentioned motorcycle crash: My buddy Joseph Lee told me about a new venture, the California Scooter Company, that was resurrecting the Mustang motorcycle. I consulted for CSC for the next 6 or 7 years, and one of my brilliant ideas was to ride the little 150cc Mustang to Cabo San Lucas and back. I and three of my friends did so. You can read about it here.
Janus Gryffin
I never owned a Janus, but I spent a four day weekend riding one through southern California and northern Baja with the Janus CEO and his videographer (you can read about that ride here). It was a Janus promotional ride that I talked them into doing, it was a lot of fun, it resulted in a couple of magazine articles for me, and I had a hoot doing it.
The Janus CEO taking the Gryffin offroad in northern Baja.
The Janus Gryffin uses a CG-250 Honda clone engine (the same one used in the CSC TT 250: see below). I had a good time on that ride. Hell, I’ve had a good time on all of my rides through Baja.
CSC TT 250
I talked CSC into bringing the TT 250 to America. On one of my many visits to Zongshen (in Chongqing, China), I noticed a 150cc motorcycle on a platform in their marketing department. It was a sharp bike, I knew that the CG 150 engine has the same exterior dimensions as the 250cc engine, and I asked the Zong wizards if they would make that bike for us (us being CSC) with the larger engine. The answer was yes, and the CSC TT 250 was born.
My TT250 On Mexico Highway 2 at the Rumarosa Grade. it was a fun trip.Dangerous Dan with his TT250 in Baja.
The bike was wonderful, and they initially retailed for $1895. They sold like hotcakes, and to this day, they still comprise the bulk of CSC’s motorcycle sales. I had a blast on mine. Many of the folks who owned CSC RX3 motorcycles also purchased the TT 250, and we ended up doing a ride through Baja on those bikes. They were awesome.
CSC RX3
My last single-cylinder motorcycle was a 250cc RX3, imported to the US by CSC Motorcycles in Azusa, California. The RX3 is a Chinese motorcycle that looks a lot like a slightly scaled down GS1200 BMW.
My RX3 along the malecon in Loreto, Baja California. That’s the Sea of Cortez in the background. I covered a lot of miles on this motorcycle. It was one of the two best bikes I ever owned (the other was my KLR 650).Joe Gresh (shown here in the Gobi Desert) and I rode RX3 motorcycles across China. It was the ride of a lifetime.
A lot of the China haters claimed that Zongshen copied the styling from BMW (hey, nearly everyone else did, too, on their adventure touring bikes in those days). There sure was a big cost difference, though. BMWs were going for $25K; the RX3 sold for $2895 when it first came to America.
The RX3 proved to be a remarkably reliable motorcycle. We took a dozen Chinese riders on a 5000-mile tour through the American west, Gresh and I rode a 6000-mile loop through China, I rode around the Andes Mountains in Colombia, and we did numerous Baja rides with groups of CSC riders in Baja, all without a single mechanical breakdown (well, we had one guy break his gearbox in Baja, but he was a guy who liked to shift without using his clutch, so I’m not counting that one). The RX3 is a wonderful machine.
I was one of the key guys involved in bringing the RX3 to America, and I’m proud of that. It was one of the high points of my professional life and my riding life. I wrote a lot of blogs for CSC and several books about my adventures on the RX3. I think the RX3 is one of the best motorcycles in the world. I wish the bike was still in production.
You know what? In searching for photos of my old twins, I found another single I’d forgotten all about. It was my Triumph Cub.
I never put the Cub on the street. I just rode it a bit in the fields behind my apartment building and then sold it. It was crude compared to other bikes of the era, but it was nice. It would be worth way more today than what I paid for it or what I got when I sold it.
Next up in our Quantos Pistones series? The Twins, of course. Stay tuned.
Man, the years do fly by: It was just over a decade ago we did the inaugural CSC Baja ride!
Those were good times and the RX3 was a great motorcycle. I was shocked when Zongshen stopped making them, but I guess those guys knew what they were doing. We had a lot of fun on those annual excursions.
I need to get back down to Baja again. Maybe I’ll do so next year. I’d like to say hello to the whales!
If you’d like to learn more about our Baja adventures, pick up a copy of Moto Baja! It was a fun book to write. Doing the research that allowed me to write it was even more fun.
Wow, it’s March already. It seems like just a couple of days ago it was February. Seriously, though, the years are flying by. I had a bunch of things I wanted to mention, so this blog may meander a bit. Bear with me.
Baja John on the road to San Felipe back in 2005.
I got a note from Baja John yesterday. He’s down in San Felipe, which is not that big a stretch for him as he leaves down in Baja now. San Felipe celebrated their 100th anniversary this weekend and John wrote to tell me about it. Baja John, good buddy Marty, and I rode down there for San Felipe’s 80th anniversary, and if your Ph.D is in math, you know that means our ride was 20 years ago this past weekend. Those 20 years sure went by in a blur. It feels like that ride was maybe a couple of months ago.
John and yours truly two decades ago. I rode a Harley in those days. John rode a Virago. The BMW belonged to our friend Marty.
Man, I miss those Baja trips.
Speaking of time, I somehow made the Ball Watch email list. Their watches have a unique way of making the hands glow in the dark, which is kind of cool. I usually don’t find their style appealing, but Ball introduced a watch they call the Trainmaster a couple of years ago, and that one is beautiful. But at $2995 it’s not appealing enough (at least to me). I don’t need another watch. It sure is elegant, though.
The Ball Trainmaster. I would love to own one of these. It’s a GMT, too, one of my favorite watch types.
You may recall that several months ago we explained the origins of the expression, “Balls out.” That one means running flat out, and it is nontesticular in nature (it refers instead to a mechanical governor’s centrifugal balls being fully extended). It doesn’t have anything to do with Ball watches, either. But another expression, “on the Ball,” does. The official watch for railroads back in the 1800s was a Ball pocket watch (the same company that now makes the watch you see above), and if a train was running on schedule, it was said to be “on the Ball.”
Two Old Timers for $26 at Walmart! I already accidentally cut myself with the big one.
The pocketknife thing is in full swing. I thought I had just a few laying around in various spots in the house, so I decided to gather them up and put them all in one spot. I was a little bit embarrassed when I finished. I don’t need any more pocketknives. But that may not stop me. I have one more inbound, and I’ll probably stop after that. Or not. We’ll see.
More good stuff: I’ve had an old Savage 99 lever gun (chambered in 250 Savage) stashed away and neglected for several decades. Well, I finally dug it out a couple of months ago, and the neglect was obvious. It was rusty when I got it, but I let it get worse. Most of the rust is now off and it looks good. I bought some new 250-3000 brass cases and a set of Lee dies. I’m surprised I took this long to get around to the Savage, and I’m even more surprised at just how nice a cartridge the .250 Savage is.
A .250 Savage round in a Savage 99 rifle that is one year younger than me.I haven’t finished the dialing in the load or the rifle, and I am already getting these kinds of results at 100 yards. The .250 Savage cartridge is a winner!
Another bit of misadventuring: I had a couple of old laptops that weren’t working and I’ve held off on tossing them for fear there might still be data on the hard drives. How do you wipe a hard drive so that whatever was there can’t be recovered? After a few minutes Googling the topic, it seems that the best way is to pull the hard drive and drill a few holes through the disk. Simply deleting the files or even using programs designed to eliminate whatever’s on there really doesn’t get the job done. I have a power drill, but I had a better idea. How about putting the hard drives behind a target and having at them with a .45?
Two guys getting blown away at the West End Gun Club. There was a laptop hard drive behind the head on each target.ARX .45 ACP bullets meet hard drive. Yep, that worked.Hard drives rendered unusable: Mission accomplished.
One more last item: You remember I told you about good buddy Lance and how well his end shake shims worked in my Model 60 snubbie. His company, TriggerShims.com, also makes bolt shims for .22 rifles I have two sets coming in for two of my .22 rifles, and I’m going to see how well they work.
CZ 452 Varmint and Remington Custom Shop Model 504 22 rifles. I’m going to try Trigger Shims bolt shims in both.
Stay tuned, and you’ll get the full report right here.
I recently wrote about viewing the Triumphs and Enfields at So Cal Motorcycles in Brea, California. I included a bunch of Enfield photos with a promise to show a few Triumphs in a future blog. This is that future blog.
I’ve always considered myself to be a Triumph guy, even when I rode Harleys, Suzukis, CSCs, and my current Enfield. It’s a brand loyalty that goes back to my motoformative years in the 1960s. It was a lot easier then; Triumph’s models could be counted on one hand. Today, it’s confusing. I’d have to take off my shoes and socks to count them all. It’s too much for my 3-kilobyte mind, and I’m not going to cover all the Triumph models here. So Cal Triumph probably had them all in stock, though. There were a lot of motorcycles there, including a vintage Triumph Bonneville.
One of the most beautiful motorcycle fuel tanks in the world: A Triumph Bonneville gas tank.An original Triumph Bonneville. These are very classy motorcycles. These bikes weighed a scant 363 pounds.
There were two models I wanted to see when Sue and I visited So Cal Triumph. One was the new Triumph 400 single we wrote about a few months ago; the other was Triumph’s 2500cc triple uberbike at the opposite end of the spectrum. We saw both.
Check out the comparison photos of the vintage Bonneville’s 650cc engine and the Rocket 3 engine.
The fuel tank and powerplant on an original Triumph Bonneville.A similar view of Triumph’s latest and greatest: A 2500cc Rocket 3. For their size and weight, I found them to be surprisingly nimble.
The Rocket 3 is a study in excess in all areas, including price and fuel consumption. That said, I find this motorcycle irresistible. I test rode one at Doug Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino when Triumph’s big triple first became available. I had a beautiful blue Triumph Tiger in those days and Doug himself let me ride the new Rocket 3. The Rocket 3 was huge then and it is huge now, but it felt surprisingly light and nimble. I don’t know how Triumph did it, but they somehow made the Rocket 3 flickable. I like it and I’d like to own one. The styling on the latest iteration makes the bike look even better.
So Cal Triumph had three of these monstrous Triumphs on the showroom floor.The Rocket 3’s single-sided swingarm and industrial-sized rear tire.Another chrome surface, another selfie.
The price for this massive Triumph? Here you go:
A new world fiction record: An $1800 setup and freight fee! Have they no shame?
I mentioned that there were a bunch of different Triumph models, and I suppose I should be embarrassed that I don’t know all of them like I used to. I think the problem is that I know so many things there’s only a little bit of room available for new knowledge, and I don’t want to squander that on Triumph’s extensive offerings. I know there’s the current crop of modern Bonnevilles; I don’t know all the variants thereof. But I recognize a good chrome gas tank when I see one, and I know a selfie opportunity when it presents itself.
The modern Triumph Bonneville.In the “have you no shame?” category: One more selfie.
Back to part of the objective for this blog: Seeing the new smaller Triumphs. One of these is Triumph’s dirt bike. I have no idea what the TF or the X represent (maybe the X is related to moto X, you know, as in motocross). The 250, I’m pretty sure, is the displacement. These bikes are made in the Triumph factory in Thailand (as are all models in the Bonneville line). The 250cc Triumph is not a street bike (although they made a street 250 back in the ’60s). I’d never seen the new 250 prior to my So Cal Triumph visit.
The Triumph motocross livery.Tall, gangly, and handsome: The Triumph TF250X.
The I found what I really wanted to see: Triumph’s new 400cc singles. There are two models here: A Speed 400 (the street-oriented version), and the Scrambler 400X (another street-oriented version doing a dual sport motorcycle impersonation). The styling works for me; they both looked like what I think a Triumph should look like. We wrote about these when they were first announced; this was the first time I had seen them in person.
Triumph’s new 400cc single. The styling works. It looks like a Triumph. I like it.Another Triumph 400cc single. The fit and finish are great.
I asked a salesman in the Triumph showroom where these were made. He told me India (which I already knew, but I wanted to see if he would answer honestly). He then quickly added, “but they are built to Triumph quality requirements.” It was that “but…” qualifier in his comment that I found interesting. It was obviously a canned line, but for me, it was unnecessary. I have an Indian-made motorcycle (my Enfield) and I would put its quality up against any motorcycle made anywhere in the world. I suppose many folks assume that if a motorcycle is not made in Germany, Japan, Italy, or America, its quality and parts availability are going to be bad. But that’s not the case at all.
The price on the Street 400 is a lot lower than the Scrambler; it is about $5K.
The price on the Triumph 400 Scrambler was substantially higher than the price on the Enfields I saw at So Cal Triumph. The Speed 400 was within spitting distance of the Enfield’s price, though. Are the Triumphs really better than the Enfields? I don’t know. So Cal Enfield/So Cal Triumph probably does; they see what’s going on with both bikes when they are brought in for service. That info would be interesting.
I didn’t ride either bike, mostly because I’m not in the market and I didn’t have my helmet and gloves with me. I sat on the Triumph Street 400 and it fit me well. I recognize that’s no substitute for a road test. I also recognize that a short road test is no substitute for a 1500-mile run through Baja, which is the kind of duty my motorcycles see. I like the Triumph 400cc singles and the Enfield 350cc singles. They are both right sized, good-looking motorcycles. If money didn’t matter to me and I had room in the garage, I’d buy both bikes. They both look good and their Indian-origins don’t scare me at all. If I had to pick one, it would be a tough choice.
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
About that riding in Baja I mentioned above? Check this out!
It started like any great ride: a cool Thursday morning, Sedona fading in the mirrors, Bisbee as our stop for the night, and an early morning border crossing on Friday. I was back on Tippi, my Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro. Tom rode his Yamaha 900. Ahead of us? Three days with Tom and Lynn in their Sonoran paradise and, of course, some excellent Bacanora—a local smoky cousin of tequila.
