Feel Good Stuff – Page 3 – The ExhaustNotes Blog

ExNotes Review: A Complete Unknown

By Joe Berk

I don’t go to the movies too much anymore, although the theatres have dramatically improved their seating and some even sell complete meals you can eat while watching the movie. We have Netflix, Prime, and Max at home, once in a while I’ll watch something on regular TV besides Fox News, and we pretty much have all the home entertainment needs covered with our TV and the aforementioned subscriptions. Susie wanted to see the new Bob Dylan show, though, and I thought it might be good to get out for a bit.

A fake Dylan filming a fake motorcycle scene.

As movies go, A Complete Unknown was not too bad. The Joan Baez sound tracks were great, as was Zimmerman’s music (I’ll bet you didn’t know Bobby Zimmerman was beatnikized into Bob Dylan, did you?).

I have to comment on the motorcycle scenes, though…after all, this is a motorcycle website.

In the very first Dylan motorcycle scene, he’s riding an early Norton Atlas. You don’t see too many of those with their black trapezoidal fuel tanks and huge chrome valanced fenders, so it had my attention. In all the remaining motorcycle scenes, Dylan is on a mid-’60s Triumph Tiger. He didn’t wear a helmet in any of those scenes, and the action was ostensibly set in New York City. Seeing a helmetless Dylan slicing through Manhattan traffic made me uneasy, even though I knew it was all Hollywood tomfoolery. The really goofy parts were the closeup riding scenes in which Dylan’s ample curls were unruffled by cruising speed winds, and the 500cc Triumph starting without Dylan using the Triumph’s sole wakeruppery mechanism (i.e., a kickstarter). Nope, the moto scenes were as fake as a Joe Biden promise, and that made me put A Complete Unknown in the Complete Fake column.

Like I said above, the music was good. Somewhere there’s a probably a Scriptwriting for Dummies guide that says a movie has to have conflict injected into the plot, so in this flick it was Dylan doing “his music” at the Newport Folk Festival instead of their desired folk music. Dylan and Pete Seeger almost started a fist fight over that (I know, it’s silly, but I’m just reporting here, folks). At the concert’s end Dylan sang one folk song, so all was forgiven.

I can’t leave out the best part: Johnny Cash (played by a real complete unknown, Boyd Holbrook) was in the movie and he was superb. If anyone ever does another Johnny Cash movie, casting anyone other than Holbrook in that role would be a crime against nature.

If you can ignore the motorcycle phoniness, A Complete Unknown is worth the price of admission. The motorcycle inaccuracies notwithstanding, I enjoyed it and I think you will, too.

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ADV Cannonball Press Release

By Joe Berk

This press release came in the mail a few days ago and I thought I would share it here.

ADV Cannonball Rally

A mix of curated motorcycle roads and a checkpoint rally for the ultimate cannonball rally, ADV moto style.

Port Angeles, WA — A new kind of annual adventure motorcycle event is in the works. It will take riders across the United States on amazing roads hand-selected specifically for riders. But this isn’t a tour – it’s a competitive GPS-based rally. Go for glory. Go for adventure.

The 2025 ADV Cannonball Rally will take place October 6-14, 2025. This year it will start in historic Kittyhawk, North Carolina on the Outer Banks and ends in Redondo Beach, California at the famous Portofino Hotel & Marina – a staple finish line for many cannonball rallies throughout history. This unique 3,550-mile experience is open to motorcycles of all types, will include nine days of riding, and has GPS-based checkpoint competitions located at epic places.

This coast-to-coast rally will have an emphasis on overland GPS navigation, endurance, preparedness, self-reliance, and rider skill. Aaron Pufal, the event’s organizer, says, “Each day, participants will leave the official hotel at specific times. Navigating by provided GPX tracks, competitors will ride on paved and optional unpaved roads to checkpoints, electronically earning points while experiencing a highly curated and painstakingly vetted motorcycle route.”

Pufal, an experienced rally planner and ADV moto enthusiast believes there’s a secret sauce to a good motorcycle road, and this route is carefully crafted by motorcycle enthusiasts for enthusiasts. The event will take riders through iconic, amazing locations—all with remarkable riding roads as the backbone. “This route isn’t for the faint of heart,” Pufal states, “but riders will appreciate the hundreds of hours of planning and prerunning.”

This isn’t a race; It’s a rally; and it’s self-supported. No team chase vehicles. No support crews. No whining. Riders must rely on themselves or any public resources available to any competitor to stay the course on the road to victory.

The ADV Cannonball Rally is a friendly competition. Here, riders are scored on their ability to reach specific checkpoints. Bonus points are awarded for the first rider to arrive at the next official hotel each day of the rally. Special achievements and separate extreme checkpoints revealed throughout the event will allow the chance to get a leg up on the competition with some extra points. The event is scored via a GPS app. The rider with the most points at the end is the winner.

Trophies will be awarded at the rally’s banquet for various achievements. The overall winner will have their name embossed on the ADV Cannonball perpetual trophy in perpetuity.

Entrants can be as competitive as they’d like—go for glory, adventure, or a bit of both. No rally experience? There will be opportunities for learning and guidance before the starting gun is fired, ensuring entrants understand how the competition aspect works.

Entries Are Limited: This event is open to the public. Anyone is welcome on any motorcycle. Current entries are exactly what you’d expect, big ADV bikes, but, we’d surely welcome the wacky, brave, or oddball entry!

Currently, we have enough paid signups to proceed with the event but we are limiting the entries to 30 hotel rooms for the 2025 rally.

Learn More: Complete info is available at the rally website, ADVCannonball.com. There, visitors will find the rules and regulations, interactive route map, FAQs, ADV Cannonball Podcast Links, and the official entry form. The ADV Cannonball Motorcycle Rally is sure to be an amazing journey. “Come have a good time,” says Pufal. “This is going to be for like-minded riders who are sick of sitting behind the computer and ordering accessories for their bikes—and definitely not for ADV Weenies.”

We’re seeking: Press interactions, sponsors, and partnerships in the ADV-Biz and motorcycle social media. We feel the inaugural running of the ADV Cannonball is a great story that deserves to be told.

It looks exciting. It’s worth considering. I checked out the website and it’s interesting reading.

Happy New Year, folks. I’m looking forward to a great 2025. We’ll keep the stories and the photos coming. You keep clicking on those popup ads and please consider making a donation via the Donate buttons below!

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ExNotes Review: Shooting Iron

By Joe Berk

Mike Venturino was one of the greatest gun writers who ever lived. Whenever I’d see his byline in a gun magazine, I would carefully read every word in the accompanying article. He was a guy who wrote about things that exactly matched my interests: Handguns, rifles, military surplus weaponry, reloading, reloading for accuracy, and more. His style was relaxed and friendly, and his writing was easy to follow and understand. I felt like I knew the guy, even though we had never met. His writing style, I’m sure, influenced mine.

Mike Venturino passed away recently, and FMG Publications assembled a collection of his articles originally published in American Handgunner magazine. As soon as I heard about Shooting Iron, I ordered a couple of copies on Amazon (one for me, and one for a good friend). If you like good writing, good storytelling, and all things firearms related, I think you should pick up a copy, too. You can order Shooting Iron here.

As I read through Shooting Iron, I came across two descriptions in which Venturino described blowing up a 9mm handgun. You may recall that I did the same, and I shared that experience with you here and here. Based on what Venturino wrote and what I experienced, I am rethinking my 9mm 1911 Springfield blow up. I previously concluded that I must have had a double charge in one of the cartridges (particularly because I was using a new turret press). Now I am thinking that wasn’t it at all, but it was instead the bullet being pushed back into the case. This is based on the following:

- I was using powder coated Gardner bullets, which are very slippery. It’s would have been easy to push one of them back into the case if the crimp was not strong. I don’t know if I had a really tight crimp when I loaded the round that burst. I use a very strong crimp now. Back then, I don’t know if I did.
- I checked about 1500 cartridges after that event (ones I had previously loaded but not fired) by pulling them apart and examining the charge. None were double charged. That doesn’t prove I didn’t double charge one, but it suggests it was unlikely.
- In reading the articles in Shooting Iron, I found where Venturino describes the 9mm bullet pushback phenomenon in two places (when you buy your copy, take a look at Pages 32 and 63). On Page 32, he describes this having occurred with a 9mm round, and he shows a burst case that looks just like mine. He further describes this episode with “…the escaping gas spitting (he probably meant splitting) the two grip panels and stinging my hand.” That’s precisely what I experienced. On Page 63, Venturino shows a burst case that looks like my case. I don’t know if the two instances described in the book are the same event. They both sound like what I experienced.

The bottom line is I don’t know exactly what happened when I blew up my 9mm 1911 and I never will. But after reading Mike Venturino’s Shooting Iron experiences, I am more convinced it was a bullet being pushed back into the case. In either event (bullet pushback or a double charge), I’m guilty of careless reloading, but somehow messing up on the crimp makes me feel less dumb than double charging a case. And I especially feel less dumb knowing that one of my literary heroes (Mike Venturino) did the same thing.

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Too Pretty To Fight?

By Joe Berk

The Harley WLA at the National Infantry Museum was a lot prettier than any other WLA I had ever seen, but I wasn’t impressed. It was way over-restored, finished in gloss OD green (something I had never seen on a WLA before). I couldn’t find anything in my research to show that any World War II Harleys might have had such a paint treatment. I found a reference that indicated Army administrative vehicles were sometimes painted gloss OD, but nothing about motorcycles.

Fancy leather. I doubt anyone ever sat in this saddle.

I once saw General William Westmoreland’s Cadillac Sedan de Ville in Washington, DC, and it was gloss OD. But WLAs had been out of service long before that, and in any event, when I spoke with General Westmoreland he didn’t mention anything about riding motorcycles. If anyone out there knows anything about WLAs with glossy paint, please leave a comment.

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An XR1000 Barn Find!

By Joe Berk

Boy oh boy oh boy! Talk about an interesting barn find! We all have regrets filed under “I shoulda bought that when I had the chance,” and in my case, one of those items is the Harley XR1000. I did a Dream Bikes feature on it a ways back, and as soon as I did, Joe Gresh let me know that he had been planning to do the same (I beat him to it).

I always thought the Sportsters had a cool look, and to me, the XR1000 was cool raised to an exponent. It did what it was supposed to in my mind: It evoked images of Bart Markel drifting around a half mile dirt track (which I actually saw many times at East Windsor Speedway when I was a teenager), and it made me want to be that guy.

On a whim, I typed “XR1000 for sale” on Google, and this popped up. Wow, talk about a barn find!

The ad text says it all:

2,486 ORIGINAL MILE INCREDIBLY ORIGINAL BARN FIND!!! Untouched “barn find” condition very original XR1000 in absolutely amazing condition! Although I am using the term “barn find,” this bike was properly stored in an attached climate controlled garage after being completely serviced and prepared for long term storage, including cylinder fogging, fuel draining, oil change, battery removal, and a full check over and service including: head and valve spring check by the Harley-Davidson dealer race program lead technician (back in the day), fork seals, brake fluid, chain lube, etc. We have tested all non-running systems including front and rear brakes, turned over the engine, lights, starter operation, horn, tires holding air, suspension compliance, etc. and confirmed all to be in proper working order. If the new owner would like us to fill the fuel tank and get the bike running, we would be happy to do that as well, or we will leave it as it is in “barn find” condition. It is up to the buyer’s preference. The condition of all the paint, chrome, and metal is excellent with only dirt and dust covering, no corrosion. The only slight surface corrosion I see is limited to the exhaust heat shields only and could easily be remedied. The rest of any “rust colored” things you may see is simply dirt that I have confirmed in a couple small spots will clean off. Of course, I can’t say the bike will look like brand new with a simple wash after sitting for 20 years, but I am saying the chrome and trim IS NOT corroded. The bike does come complete with 2 keys (one ORIGINAL Harley key), books and manuals, and some records from the Harley Dealership when it was gone through and fully serviced and readied for storage in 2005. The bike also comes with the original longer black mufflers, while the optional accessory shorter less baffled mufflers are currently installed on the bike. We purchased the bike directly from the previous older collector owner as part of a seven Harley-Davidson collection and rolled it out of his garage into our enclosed trailer and brought it here for inspection. I have described everything to the best of my ability and provided lots of detailed photos and information for your consideration. Please feel free to contact Jason for any intelligent unanswered questions if you are interested in purchasing the bike. Without a doubt an incredibly rare opportunity to own a piece of Harley-Davidson history, and the only one like it for sale nationwide.

Wow! Somebody buy this before my “Want” overcomes my “Need.” Will it get away? Man, $27K sure is a lot of money. But how much is $27K these days of $4/gallon gasoline and runaway inflation, anyway?

Like I said: Wow! Will there ever be another opportunity like this?

Check out these photos of this incredible find:

A special thanks to Jason for allowing us to use these photos and the description above. You can reach Jason at The Auto Livery (telephone 513-738-1115).

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Zed’s Not Dead: We Get It Right The Tenth Time

By Joe Gresh

I like to think of myself as handy with a wrench. I try to fix most things even if I have no clue and oftentimes succeed. This Kawasaki 900 though, this Zed has been giving me fits. It almost makes me question my do-it-yourself mantra. Almost…

After initially getting Zed running a few years ago I enjoyed 4000 relatively trouble-ree miles. Zed had a slight hitch in its giddy-up right off idle but otherwise it ran fine. Then the bike started fouling spark plugs and missing. Occasionally gasoline would pour out the carb overflow tubes and a sharp rap with a screwdriver handle was needed to stop the flow.

So my first line of attack was the float needles because they were original and came out of corroded carbs. I went online and bought some cheap carb kits that included needles and seats.

Setting float height on carbs using plastic hose screwed into float bowl drain.

On a 1975 Z1 Kawasaki the carbs sit up high off the engine block so you can do a lot of tinkering without removing the carb bank. I changed all the needles and set the float height using the clear tube tool that screws into the carb bowl drain.

This didn’t really cure anything. Plugs were still fouling. I started to suspect an ignition problem. After messing with the points and several test runs I was getting nowhere so I purchased a new, aftermarket ignition system. They’re cheap, like $90 or so.

Carbs removed from Zed. A scene I got accustomed to. After the 4th round trip I decided to look elsewhere.

The new system came complete with new coils and wires. This was nice as the old coils were butchered by the previous owner. I installed the new ignition system and the bike still ran terrible and fouled plugs.

I rechecked the aftermarket floats and upon examination I found the needle seats miss-punched with what looked like lettering for the needle size. This caused a wrinkle in the exact spot the needle needed to seat.

.030 tool for setting baseline carb slide height.

Next, I bought new Mikuni needles and seats. I put the Mikuni stuff in and re-set the float levels. The bike ran like crap and foiled the plugs. At least I knew the ignition system was ok.

I was at my limit of understanding, my attention went back to the carburetors. I pulled the carbs, dismantled them and cleaned everything.

Zeds carbs sat like this for 2 years. I was befuddled, vexed, stressed right the “F” out.

I bought another, more expensive carb kit and new Mikuni enrichener plungers. The carbs were in a million pieces on my bench and I lost interest. Other things were happening, concrete need pouring and the carbs gathered dust for two years.

A few months ago I decided to get Zed running for the Motorado vintage motorcycle show up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Buckling down, I reassembled the carbs and using new rubber manifolds (the others had dry rotted in only a few years!) I slid the carbs back into Zed and the bike ran like crap, still fouling plugs.

I couldn’t get the bike running well enough to sync the carbs. A bad condenser was messing up two cylinders.

I took the carbs off the bike and went through them again making sure everything was spotless. And the bike ran like crap. Again, I took the carbs apart racking my brain over the flooding issue. And the bike ran like crap. I changed jets, I changed float heights, I swapped pilot air jets, I swapped emulsion tubes. The third time I took the carbs apart and triple checked everything the bike still ran terrible.

I was in the weeds bad-like and decided to think hard on the situation. I told myself that carbs aren’t all that complicated and that even if I didn’t get them perfect it should still run. And that the bike ran fine for 4000 miles with those carbs. That was when I decided to go back to the new ignition system.

One of the new points had a whitish coating. I thought maybe the bike sat so long the points corroded. Then inspiration hit me: the condensers! I checked the condensers with an ohm meter and found one of the two condensers bad.

I had started with one problem: fouling plugs and by using aftermarket needles I installed a worse set of needles. By removing the original ignition system I installed an entirely new problem with the bad condenser.

These two errors were compounded by my inability to believe that the new parts were bad out of the box so I kept rebuilding the carbs over and over.

The condensers on the old ignition system tested ok and I swapped them into the new plate. And the bike ran. Not perfectly because I had all the jets wrong in my attempts to make the bike run.

I walked the carbs back to their original settings. First the old slide needles and emulsion tubes went back in. Then the main jets, then the pilot jets until finally everything was back to where I started from two years ago.

Zed was running pretty good so I took a little 300 mile test loop. No fouled plugs. Stupid hurts and I was so damn stupid chasing gremlins that I was creating even as I was installing new gremlins.

Home built replica of the official Kawasaki carb sync tool.

Next up is a good carb sync and since parts are so crappy now I will try an electronic ignition system just for fun because I haven’t screwed things up enough yet. Stay tuned.

New electronic ignition. Only $68 on Amazon. Cheaper than points! What could go wrong?

Want to follow the initial resurrection of Zed? It’s right here!

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Shinya Kimura at the Harley Museum

By Joe Berk

Astute readers will remember our post on Shinya Kimura, an artist who works with metal and motorcycles to create motorcycle art. I was both pleased and surprised to see one of his creations at the Harley Museum during our recent Milwaukee content safari.

“Spike,” Mr. Kimura’s custom Knucklehead, was in a Harley museum hall that focused on custom motorcycles, and even before I saw his name, I knew whose work it was.

I believe “Spike” is the very same motorcycle featured in this video:

The Shinya Kimura shop, located in Azusa, California (not far from CSC Motorcycles) is one of the more interesting places I’ve ever visited. I think you would enjoy it, too, although it is not open to the public. I was there on business reasons, and I captured some great photos. If you have a chance, check out our earlier blog.

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Krabi, Thailand

By Mike Huber

After 5 weeks on Koh Tao it was time to move on to explore more of Thailand. I was becoming complacent and really had a lot more to experience in Thailand before my visa expired. Being comfortable in one place was a new feeling for me, and although it was a wonderful feeling it also meant that I wasn’t growing, which was a huge part of undertaking this journey. There was a lot of Thailand I hadn’t explored yet, but I wasn’t up for a flight. So, after talking with others the city of Krabi kept coming up as a place of beauty. So Krabi it was.

Krabi is a rather large city and after having recently spent two weeks in Bangkok, I was really done with large cities. As with most cities you really cannot absorb the full culture there. Yes, there are museums, temples, and other tourist attractions, but to fully feel the true heartbeat of a region you need to travel off the beaten path, which in most cases means meandering around the countryside.

Ao Nang is the “countryside” of Krabi, and although Ao Nang wasn’t that far off the beaten path, it was near the Andaman Sea. There is easy access to ferries that could bring you to any number of islands quickly. This would make for a perfect base for a week in order to partake in island hopping day trips and even an overnight trip to Railay Beach.

Railay Beach wasn’t an island, but a remote peninsula that was only accessible by long tail boat. Just a 15-minute boat ride and you were on what felt like on another planet. The beach was beautiful with crystal clear waters around limestone mountains that popped out of the ocean in every direction. There were monkeys running around and even parrots in the trees above me. The people here were on island time; there was no rush or hurry to do anything. Railay Beach was the perfect place to watch the sunset while drinking a cold Chang beer listening to a local play classic rock tunes in a smoky bar while people sat almost invisible in the far back on cushions enjoying their mushroom shakes with neon paintings glowing to guide the journeys they were on. It was really a unique place, and for me to be saying that means a lot.

The remainder of the time in Krabi I spent on the beaten path joining in tours of the many islands. The days were lazily spent snorkeling, sunning on the white sands, and embracing the emerald-green waters. Ao Nang is yet another location on this trip where I seemed to continually extend my hotel stay day by day until I realized a week had passed and it was now time to move on to the next adventure. My urge to leave was fueled by my new hobby of scuba diving. Once again it didn’t take too long to decide my next destination: The Phi Phi Islands.

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A Stag Film?

By Joe Berk

For a guy who doesn’t collect knives, I sure seem to have a lot of them laying around. The one you see above came to me as part of what is perhaps the greatest sales gimmick of all time: The “$100 Ships Free!” offer.

You know, the MidwayUSA.com come on…orders over $100 ship free. I ordered a Safariland 1¾-inch wide belt in a smaller size because I lost weight, I got down to the last belt buckle hole on my old Safariland belt, and my pants were still loose. The new belt was $71 (a lot, I know, but it works well when carrying concealed and Safariland makes a very high quality item). If I could kick the order over $100 the belt would ship free. Shipping if I didn’t make the $100 hurdle was $15. So this Uncle Henry knife popped up, and it was like getting the knife for half price, because it ordinarily cost just over $30.

Bam! Add to cart. A no brainer, if ever there was one.

The knife is a Schrade, part of their Uncle Henry line. I don’t know if that means it’s good or not so good. I couldn’t find anywhere on the knife that says it’s made in China, but I guessed that it was. A quick Google check confirmed it. That’s not a bad thing, though. The knife appears to be well made. A lot of things that are made in China are good.

The Uncle Henry knife came with a sheath and a tiny sharpening stone in another piggy-backed sheath (the idea being that you’ll always have a way to sharpen your knife), not that I’ll ever use the sharpening stone. The stone is small enough that I could see myself slicing my hand open trying to hold it.

The Stagalon grip material is some sort of plastic that is supposed to look like, you know, stag. That’s okay by me. For just over $30, I wasn’t expecting real stag. I wasn’t expecting the Stagalon to look as good as it does, either. That was a nice surprise. Stagalon. I guess I could make a video of the knife and call it a stag film. Maybe just saying stag film will result in a lot of hits. Do they still call them stag films these days, or is that no longer politically correct?. Isn’t that terminology kind of insulting to all the deer out there sweating out this hunting season? Anyway, to get back to Stagalon, the handle doesn’t quite match the look and feel of real stag, but it is kind of cool and it is nice.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my Uncle Henry Stagalon knife, other than look at it for awhile and write a blog about it. If I was a camper I suppose I could wear it in the woods, but I don’t camp much these days (in my golden years, I find I like motels a lot better). No, this knife will go on the shelf, along with a bunch of other “$100 Ships Free!” knives. It is kind of cool, though.

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A.J. Baime’s WSJ Enfield Piece

By Joe Berk

A.J. Baime writes a weekly “My Ride” column for the Wall Street Journal. It’s something I greatly enjoy. The stories are always interesting. Most of the time, the Baime columns are about cars. This week’s piece was about a motorcycle; to be specific, a 650 Royal Enfield twin. That’s a marvelous motorcycle. I know. I ride one. Mine is the orange one you see above.

Marc Forgione on his Royal Enfield 650 INT in New York City.

This week’s story was about a chef (Marc Forgione), a man who owns three restaurants in New York City. Mr. Forgione appropriately concluded that a motorcycle is a great way to navigate New York City’s traffic and parking challenges. I think that’s pretty cool. New York law does not allow splitting lanes, but my guess is that Forgione is a well-known guy and local police officers look the other way (Lord knows they have enough real crime on their beats). Lane splitting is legal here in California and I do it all the time. It really makes a difference in getting through congested areas; it was a way of life for us in Colombia and China.

Mr. Baime, our compliments on your Wall Street Journal column, and especially on the one you wrote for yesterday’s edition.

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