Motorcycle Adventure Ride – Page 23

My 1st International Motorcycle Adventure, Eh?

Everybody has their preferred riding schtick and for me it’s international motorcycle travel. Anyone can ride their cruiser to a local hangout for a beer or their GS to Starbuck’s for a $6 cup of coffee. My riding is all about crossing international borders and collecting cool photos in places most two-legged mammals only dream about. Just to make a point, I once rode a 150cc scooter (my CSC Mustang) to Cabo San Lucas and back. The day after we returned, I needed something at Costco and I rode the little CSC there. When I parked it, a beer-bellied dude in a gigondo 4×4 pickup told me, “that’s a little cute bike.” He didn’t intend it to be a compliment.

“Thanks,” I said.

“I ride a (brand name deleted to protect the guilty),” he announced, his chest swelling with Made in ‘Merica pride to the point it almost equalled his waistline. “We ride all over.” He emphasized the “all” to make sure I got the point.

“Cool,” I said. “Where do you go?”

Cook’s Corner, the ultimate So Cal burger/biker stand.

“Last week,” he told me, “we rode to Cook’s Corner!”

Cook’s Corner is a southern California burger joint about 40 miles from where we were talking.

“Where do you all go on that little thang?” He actually said “you all” and “thang,” but he didn’t have the accent to match the colloquialisms. Okay, I had the guy dialed.

“Well, we rode to Cabo San Lucas and back last week.” I said.

Mr. 4×4’s jaw dropped. Literally. He looked at me, speechless, dumbfoundedly breathing through his open mouth. Without another word he climbed into his big truck and rode off. Our conversation was over. So much for the biker brotherhood, I guess.

My 150cc CSC Baja Blaster. I had a lot of fun and covered a lot of miles on that little Mustang.

The international motorcycle travel bug bit me when I was still in school. I had a ’71 Honda 750 Four back in the day (that’s me 50 years ago in the big photo up top). One of my Army ROTC buddies had the first-year Kawasaki 500cc triple. It was a hellaciously-fast two stroke with a white gas tank and blue competition stripes. We were in New Jersey and we wanted to do something different, so we dialed in Canada as our destination. They say it’s almost like going to another country.

And so we left. Our gear consisted of jeans, tennis shoes, windbreaker jackets, and in a nod toward safety, cheap helmets (ATGATT hadn’t been invented yet). We carried whatever else we needed in small gym bags bungied to our seats. Unfortunately, in those days “whatever else we needed” did not include cameras so I don’t have any photos from that trip. That’s okay, because all they would have shown was rain.

A 1969 Kawasaki 500cc, two-stroke triple. Widowmakers, they were called, in a nod to their often unpredictable handling.

As two Army guys about to become Second Louies, we joked about being draft dodgers in reverse. We were looking forward to active duty (me in Artillery and Keith in Infantry). We were going to Canada not to duck the draft, but as a fling before wearing fatigues full time. We didn’t really know what we were doing, so we took freeways all the way up to the border. It rained nearly the entire time. All the way up and all the way back. We bought sleeping bags because they looked cool on the bikes (it was a Then Came Bronson thing), but we stayed in hotels. It was raining too hard to camp, and besides, the sleeping bags were soaked through and we didn’t think to bring a tent. We got as far as Montreal, which seemed far enough to give us Canada bragging rights. We spent that single Montreal night in a cheap dive and pointed the bikes south the next day.

These days, I know to check the weather, bring rain gear (even if none is forecast), and study a map to find the most interesting roads (rather than the fastest). But hey, we were young and dumb, it was an adventure ride, it crossed an internationational border, and riding four days in a steady cold rain was a lot of fun. I didn’t think so at the time, but that’s how I remember it today. In fact, I remember that ride like it was last month. And it got me hooked on international motorcycle adventures. Canada was to be the first of many.

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More epic international rides? Right here, folks!

The Springfield Mile

That photo above? It’s the Springfield mile, with riders exiting Turn 4 at over 100 mph on their way up to 140 or so. These boys are really flying. It is an incredible thing to see.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Two blogs back I wrote about the East Windsor half-mile dirt track, which has gone the way of the dodo bird. The Springfield Mile is bigger and better and last I checked it’s still with us. A dozen years ago I made the trek out to Illinois watch the big boys (and a lady or two) mix it up and it was awesome. I don’t know if this is accurate or if it’s more biker bullshit, but the guys claim the bikes hit 140 mph in the straights and maintain a cool 100 in the turns. And “straights” is a relative term. The track is basically a big oval, with the straights being less of a curve. What’s nice about oval track racing, though, is you usually can see all the action all the time. When you go to a grand prix type event, you get to see the bikes or the cars for just an instant when they scream past wherever you are. Oval tracks are a better deal, I think.

We planned to ride to Springfield from So Cal, but just before it was wheels-in-the-wells time my good buddy Larry passed and I stayed for his funeral. We flew instead and because that gave us a little bit more of our most precious commodity (time), we bopped around Springfield a bit more. We visited Springfield’s Lincoln Museum and had a lot of fun getting there. I drove our rental car and we promptly got lost (it was in the pre-GPS era). We pulled alongside a police officer and he gave us directions. As soon as I pulled away, I asked my buds which way to go. “I don’t know,” they answered, “we weren’t listening…” Neither was I. We all had a good laugh over that one.

An interesting Norton in the fairgrounds parking lot.

The Illinois State Fairgrounds has two tracks, on a quarter-mile dirt oval and the other the big mile. The quarter-mile races were awesome. This racing, all by itself, would have been worth the trip out there. I love watching the flat trackers.

These boys are kicking up some dirt coming out of Turn 4 on the Illinois State Fairgrounds quarter-mile track.

One of the riders lost it coming our of Turn 4 and he crashed hard directly in front of us.

I didn’t think he was going to get up, but he did. The next day, this guy won a heat on the 1-mile track. The announcer said he was “tougher than a $2 steak.” I believe it.

The next day, we went to the 1-mile track on the other side of the State Fairgrounds.

The field entering Turn 2 at over 100 mph on the Springfield 1-mile track. The noise is incredible and there’s nothing like it. These guys are drifting sideways at 100 mph, just a few inches apart!

The same shot as above, but with the two fastest riders at the Springfield Mile identified. The arrows point to Chris Carr (National No. 4 in the white and orange leathers) and Kenny Coolbeth (National No. 1 in the black leathers). Coolbeth won on Sunday and Carr won on Monday. This photo was just after the start.

One lap later: Coolbeth and Carr are riding as a closely-matched pair well ahead of the group.

I was really happy with these shots. I had my old Nikon D200 and a cheap lens (a 10-year old, mostly plastic, $139 Sigma 70-300). I zoomed out to 300 mm, set the ISO to 1000 for a very high shutter speed (even though it was a bright day), and the lens at f5.6 (the fastest the inexpensive Sigma would go at 300mm). The camera’s autofocus wouldn’t keep up with the motorcycles at this speed, so I manually focused on Turn 2 and waited (but not for long) for the motorcycles to enter the viewfinder. It was close enough for government work, freezing the 100 mph action for the photos you see above.

Kenny Coolbeth, after winning the Springfield Mile.

Nicole Cheza, a very fast rider. She won the “Dash for Cash” and the crowd loved it.

As you might expect, there were quite a few things happening off the track, too. Johnsonville Brats had a huge tractor trailer onsite equipped with grills, and they were serving free grilled brat sandwiches. It was a first for me, and it worked…I’ve been buying Johnsonville brats ever since. There were hundreds of interesting motorcycles on display and a vintage World War II bomber orbiting the area.

An old B-17 flying above the track…it made several appearances that weekend.

An old Ariel Square Four. The owner started it and it sounded like two Triumph 650s.

An old two-stroke Bridgestone, a marque that never quite made it in the US. Imagine the marketing discussions in Japan: “Let’s logo it the BS…that will work!”

So there you have it, along with a bit of advice from yours truly: If you ever have an opportunity to see the Springfield Mile, go for it. I had a great time and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

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Riding With The Carrizozo Mud Chuckers

Sixty-one miles north of my place in La Luz, New Mexico lies the town of Carrizozo. The seat of Lincoln County, Carrizozo’s streets are laid out at an angle to the intersection of Carrizozo’s two main highways, 380 and 54. There are colorful donkey statues stationed around, a junkyard church on the outskirts of town and the Carrizozo Mud Chuckers motorcycle club.

The Mud Chuckers MC, founded by my riding buddy, Mike, is primarily a dirt-based riding club. The area around Carrizozo has hundreds of graded farm roads and tight mountain trails. It’s an ideal spot for racking up miles on the dirt. I recently joined them on one of their frequent moto-camping rides. The Chuckers shun traditional campgrounds preferring instead to camp anywhere they can find a spot with no people around.

Like all the ‘Chuckers rides I’ve been on the pace was downright leisurely with frequent stops to look at old mine sites, hunt for geodes, gold deposits and old metal objects or just sit in the shade to discuss unimportant things. The ‘Chuckers are in no hurry to get anywhere and that suits me just fine.

On this day we rode west to Socorro, NM and took the Escondida Lake exit to the Back Country Byway. The Byway meanders generally east-west then south with the terrain ranging from desert scrub to medium-high trees. At the speed we operate it’s best to look for a campsite early because ‘Chuckers don’t like stress. We checked out several places but nothing looked appealing. There was either no shade or no firewood or a stinky dead cow rotting nearby so we pushed on.

Eddie dropped his KLR 650 in a sand wash and bent his clutch hand so that it didn’t want to work right. He was doing 45mph so the impact, while soft, still hurt. The ‘Chuckers are not spring chickens. In perfect tune we can hardly swing a leg over the motorcycle. Eddie called it a day. Since we never leave a man behind we short cut the Byway and followed him back to his house in Carrizozo where we had begun this adventure.

With Eddie’s DNF, that left me, Dan and Mike still on the lead lap. By now it was getting late so we abandoned our plan to camp on the Back Country Byway and decided the higher mountains behind White Oaks would be the best option. It was late and we still had a 30-mile ride to the forest.

We found a spot with plenty of firewood and soft ground. We managed to get camp set up just before dark, which is always a good idea. Once they find a place to roost the Carrizozo Mud Chuckers really come on the pipe. The fire was roaring, Mike brought along pork chops and a metal grill to cook with. I don’t know where he stores all that junk on his 390 KTM. Sizzling pork chops, boiling coffee, cookies, beef jerky, Wheat Thins: man, things were hopping at camp this evening. The altitude we were camping was around 7000 feet, it got pretty cold, probably in the 30’s but around the fire it was 75 degrees.

Campfire nights last longer than regular ones and I turned in at midnight. Mike and Dan sat up longer. Flickering lights and murmured shadow conversation played across the inside of my tent. I felt safe knowing the bear would go after them before me. The next morning The Mud Chucker’s were in no hurry to leave. We restarted the fire and had coffee with whatever scraps of food we had left over from last night’s feast. The Mud Chuckers always leave their campsites cleaner than they found them and the way they put out a campfire borders on obsessive.

When I got back home it felt like I had been away a month instead of only two days. Camping on a motorcycle seems to distort time and distance. Changing your observation point really does have a profound effect.

Mike and Eddie want to start a motorcycle tour business. Their plan is to buy a few TW200 Yamahas and run all inclusive, guided camping tours around New Mexico. It sounds like a pain in the butt to me. Why ruin a nice motorcycle ride with business?

I’ll let you know if the tour company idea works out. Maybe a full ExhaustNotes.us tour review or something. Get the ‘Chuckers to kick in a free tour as an ExhaustNotes subscriber gimmick?

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Tulsa and Oklahoma’s Green Country

You may recall that about a year and a half ago I did a blog on our visit to Oklahoma and the great riding in the eastern half of the state around the Tulsa area. I wrote a piece about that for Motorcycle Classics magazine and you can get to most of it online here. You can pick up a copy of the latest issue at your local newstand. Better yet, subscribe to Motorcycle Classics.

Your two blogmeisters (yours truly and Joe Gresh) have been published in several motorcycle magazines and other publications both in print and in the digital world. You can get to a partial compendium of our articles by clicking here for me and here for Gresh (or by clicking on either of the above photos).

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Favorite Baja Hotels: Guerrero Negro’s Malarrimo’s

This blog grew longer than I had planned. I thought I would touch on Malarrimo’s (one of my favorite hotels in Baja) and that would be it, but I realized once I got into it that there’s a lot more to the story and Guerrero Negro.

If you’re headed into Baja, especially if you’re headed there to see the whales, you’d be hardpressed to find a better hotel than Malarrimo’s in Guerrero Negro. Guerrero Negro is at the halfway point when headed down the Baja peninsula (it’s about 450 miles south of the border). It’s located along the 28th Parallel, the dividing line between Baja and Baja Sur (Baja’s two Mexican states).

Although some might be inclined to dismiss Guerrero Negro because as little more than a gritty industrial town, it’s actually a pretty cool place to visit and a good base for further explorations. There’s whale watching, the ecological preserve, salt mining, the nearby cave paintings, the food, and more.

Ah, the food. As Gresh so aptly put it, no one loses weight on a Baja ride with me. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Don Enrique Achoy founded Malarimmo’s about a half century ago, and it has remained a family business. He was ahead of his time, offering eco tours to see the whales, the ecological preserve surrounding Scammon’s Lagoon, and more. There are other hotels in Guerrero Negro, but I always check Malarimmo’s first. It’s not fancy and at around $65 per night it’s a tiny bit expensive for Baja, but it is inviting. it’s clean, and I just feel good there. The restaurant is arguably the best in town, and I love the bar (more on both in just a bit).

Getting There

Malarrimo’s is easy to find. Just head south on the Transpeninsular Highway from the border for 450 miles. You’ll see a huge metal eagle at Parallelo 28 and a Mexican military base. Shortly after that, you’ll see a sign pointing to the right and Guerrero Negro.

Take that right, and Malarimmo’s will be on your right as you enter town. You can’t miss it. Incidentally, the lagoon you see in the satellite photo above is Scammon’s Lagoon. It’s where the whales will be, which takes me to our next topic.

Whale Watching

Whale watching tours are available from January through March when the California gray whales are in town, and it is a life changing experience. Those are strong words and you might be tempted to dismiss them as hyperbole. Take one of Malarrimo’s 4-hour, $50 whale watching tours out on Scammon’s Lagoon and then you tell me. I’ll bet you come away feeling the same way.

We have a lot more on whale watching on our Baja page, so I won’t spend too much time here on it. Trust me on this, though: It is like nothing you have ever done.

The Ecological Preserve

When you get a whale tour at Malarimmo’s, it will take about a half hour in a Malarimmo van to get to the where the pangas (the small boats that take you out to see the whales) are docked, and on that ride, you pass through an ecological preserve that is home to more than 150 wildlife species. You’ll see many nesting ospreys (a bird of prey), and if you’re lucky (like we have been) you’ll get to see an osprey enjoying a bit of sushi. It’s a fun thing to encounter.

Salt Mining

Guerrero Negro is a company town, and the company is Mitsubishi, which owns (along with the Mexican government) the salt processing operation. It’s one of the largest salt producing regions in the world. They use an interesting approach: Flooding the coastal plains near the town with seawater, allowing the water to evaporate, and then using earth moving equipment to scrape up the salt that remains behind.

Guerrero Negro Cuisine

No discussion of Guerrero Negro would be complete without a discussion of the cuisine down there. In a word, it’s wonderful. My favorite meal? Fish tacos, served right off the truck (caught fresh daily) by my good buddy Tony. No one I’ve ever taken there has had anything but high praise for these incredible treats.

Another place I like is San Remedios, a restaurant a block or two north of the man drag through Guerrero Negro. Just head west a few blocks from Malarrimo’s, turn right, and you’ll find it. The food is awesome and the young ladies who serve it are stunning.

I’ve already mentioned the restaurant and bar at Malarimmo’s. You can’t have a bad meal at the Malarrimo’s restaurant, and the bar…wow, it’s interesting. The Guerrero Negro area forms a big hook out in the Pacific Ocean with the hook’s U facing north (you can see that in the satellite photo above). As a result, a lot of interesting stuff washes up on shore in that area, and Malarrimo’s has a collection of it hanging from the roof in their bar. It’s pretty cool.

There are other restaurants in Guerrero Negro, too, and I try to make it a point to try a new one each time I am there. Baja John and I enjoyed an amazing Chinese dinner in Guerrero Negro on one trip; try Lucky’s if you feel like something different.

The Cave Paintings

There are several cave paintings located throughout Baja. This is real Indiana Jones stuff; the cave paintings are estimated to be about 10,000 years old and not much is known about the people who put them there. They are all relatively remote, too, but one of the easier (I’m using that word in a comparative sense) ones to get to are the cave paintings in Baja’s Sierra San Francisco Mountains.

The cave paintings near Guerrero Negro are further south and east of the Transpeninsular Highway (Highway 1, the main and often only road running north and south in Baja). You take Highway 1 south and then turn left after passing through the town of Vizcaino to head east and up into the Sierra Francisco mountains. It’s a magnificent ride with an awesome climb into the mountains, then the road turns to dirt and then it becomes, for lack of a better word, gnarly. You buy tickets and secure a guide in a small village, and then double back for maybe a mile to see the paintings. If you have a 4WD car or a dual sport (or ADV) motorcycle, you can get there on your own; if you don’t, you can grab a tour that leaves from Malarimmo’s. It will take most of a day to get out there, see the paintings, and get back to Guerrero Negro, but it’s well worth it.

There’s a lot more to Baja’s cave paintings, but it’s too much to include here. Watch for a future blog on this topic.

So there you have it: Guerrero Negro, Malarimmo’s, and a bunch of things you can do while in that area. I love everything about Baja, and I especially love the Guerrero Negro area. You will, too.

When you head into Mexico, make sure you insure with BajaBound. They are the best, and they are the only insurance company we will ever use.

More Baja, including a list of our other favorite Baja hotels and things to see and do, is here on the ExNotes Baja page.

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CSC’s New 400 Twins!

Boy oh boy, the 400cc market segment is hot. It was the RX4, then we learned the Janus 450cc Halcyon is coming, and now, CSC just announced two stunning 400cc twins! Check this out!

I’ve seen both bikes in person at CSC, and I can tell you the bikes look even better up close and personal than they do in the photos. CSC has quite an extensive line of motorcycles, electric motorcycles, and ebikes, and now these new 400cc twins will broaden their appeal even further. Check them out at the CSC Motorcycles website!

A New BajaBound Atlas

Wow, check this out…a new Baja road and recreation atlas brought to us by the folks who know Baja best: BajaBound Insurance!

I ordered mine already and I’m looking forward to getting it. You can be sure I’ll put it to good use. If you want to order yours, you can do so here!

If you’re headed into Baja, make sure you have your BajaBound motorcycle insurance!

Check our adventures in Baja!

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Tough Rides: Brazil

We recently wrote a review of Tough Rides China, and as it turns out, that was one of three rides Ryan Pyle did that are available on Amazon Prime. A couple of days ago I watched Tough Rides Brazil, one of the other two. It was a six-part series about a circumnavigation around Brazil, and Ryan did this one without his brother Colin.

Although I enjoyed it, I didn’t think Tough Rides China was as good as the Himalaya Calling series about going overland from Germany to India, and I said so in my earlier review. Tough Rides Brazil, however, was stellar, and it was every bit the equal of Himalaya Calling. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A gold-lined church in one of the mining towns in Brazil. Pyle took us into many worthy destinations on his Tough Rides Brazil series.

You know, it’s a funny thing. I’ve been down on motorcycle adventure stories that focus too much on mysticism, philosophy, and other wordcount-inflating bullhockey and not enough on motorcycle riding (which is why I didn’t think much of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance but I loved Dave Barr’s Riding the Edge). Somehow in Tough Rides Brazil, Pyle focused only a bit on the riding and spent most of his time on the things he did in each of perhaps a dozen destinations on his 14,000 kilometer journey around Brazil, and it worked. I watched all six Tough Rides Brazil episodes in a single sitting (it was that good). It’s easy to do; they are each not that long and the story line and photography are superior.

You might check out Tough Rides Brazil on either Amazon Prime (by buying each episode) or by joining Amazon Prime and watching it on your TV or your computer. Tough Rides Brazil is included with Amazon Prime. Trust me on this: I think you will enjoy it. It’s got me thinking about visiting Brazil. This is heresy, but I don’t think I’d want to do it on a motorcycle. I’d like to fly there and see the place as a regular non-moto-borne tourist. Brazil looks like a fascinating place and the Tough Rides Brazil series has me thinking deep thoughts in that direction.

See our other television, movie, and book reviews here.

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Tough Rides: China

Here’s another Amazon Prime television show and video review. This one (as the blog title suggests) is on a series titled Tough Rides China. It’s about two Canadian brothers (Ryan and Colin Pyle) who circumnavigated China on BMW F800 motorcycles, and you can either watch it on Amazon Prime (if you have that streaming service) on your TV or on your computer.

The bottom line first: I enjoyed this 6-part series. A big part of that was because Joe Gresh and I rode around China with the cult of the Zong and we had a whale of a time, so it was easy to relate to what these two fellows did.

I didn’t think this series was as good as the one I reviewed recently about the two German dudes who rode from Germany to India (Himalaya Calling, which was a stellar production), but I still enjoyed it.

Surprisingly, the Pyle brothers’ BMWs broke down a couple of times during the trip, which suprised me. They were concerned about how long it would take to get parts and the lack of a strong BMW presence in China (now there’s a switch). For the record, our ten Zongshen RX1 and Rx3 motorcycles didn’t have a single breakdown during our ride. The Pyle brothers had breakdowns that mandated trucking the bikes significant portions of the trip (does GS actually stand for Go Slow?).

The Pyles also put their bikes on trucks when they wanted to get on the freeways because motorcycles are not allowed on some Chinese freeways. When Gresh and I were over there with the Zongers, we rode them anyway. It made me nervous that we rode around the toll gate arms (without paying the toll) and I asked one of our Chinese brothers about it. “We’re not allowed on the freeways, so if we tried to pay, they wouldn’t know what to do,” he told me.

Tough Rides China has a long introduction at the beginning of every episode, and it was the same in every episode. That became a bit distracting, and I blitzed through the lengthy and redundant intro after watching the first two episodes.

Tough Rides China featured the giant sand dunes and camels in the Gobi Desert around Dun Huang. Gresh and I were there. It was an awesome place, as was all of China. It really was the adventure of a lifetime.

Tough Rides China is part of a series. The Pyle brothers have done similar series in Brazil and India, too. I’ll have to look for those. While I didn’t think this series was as good the Himalaya Calling adventure ride we recently reviewed, it was still good and I recommend seeing it.

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Would you like to read about the Zong trip when Gresh and I rode around China? Hey, just click right here!

CSC’s 2021 RX4 Colors

The new CSC RX4 is here, and they are moving out quickly from the CSC plant in Azusa, California. CSC Motorcycles is offering two colors on the new RX4, as shown in the photo above Steve Seidner recently sent to me. One is a vibrant yellow and the other is a deep, rich blue. I like them. If I had to pick one, I’d go with the yellow. Yellow just seems to work on ADV bike. There are a number of changes incorporated on the new RX4 motorcycles, as outlined in the CSC mailer below. The big ones are the spoked tubeless wheels, the new TFT dash, and a tire pressure monitoring system.

We tested the RX4 extensively when it first came to America and published a comparison between it, the CSC RX3, and the Kawasasaki KLR 650. You can see those reports here. I may well have been the first American to ever ride an RX4 when I was in China visiting the Zongshen factory not that long ago. I rode the prototype (literally a 450cc engine in an RX3), and on a subsequent visit, one of the early preproduction models.

Tooling around the Zongshen test track on a preproduction RX4…those were fun times.

I love traveling to China, and I particularly like visiting the Zongshen plant and Chongqing. It’s a city most folks haven’t heard of here in the US, even though at 34 million inhabitants it is one of the largest cities on the planet. With that, here’s the info from CSC Motorcycles:

Get More Than Ever! CSCMOTORCYCLES.COM

The new 2021 CSC RX4 is the motorcycle ADV riders have been waiting for. Powerful. Economical. Modern. The RX4 is an all-around versatile motorcycle that is perfect for real-world riding – including highway cruising, adventure touring, or simply commuting to work economically.

The 450cc single-cylinder, 4-valve, overhead cam, counter-balanced engine produces 40.2 horsepower and achieves a top speed over 95 miles per hour. The RX4 is water-cooled and equipped with Delphi fuel injection and electric start. The bike features a six-speed transmission.

The new RX4 includes an adjustable windscreen, comfortable touring seat and foot pegs with removable rubber inserts. The RX4 features an all digital TFT Display Gauges: dash with digital speedometer, tachometer, odometer, trip odometer, fuel gauge, gear indicator, neutral light, temperature gauge, clock, turn signal and high beam indicators, and Bluetooth connectivity for caller ID. Above the dash there are USB and 12-volt charging outlets included as standard equipment.

The new CSC RX4 includes a 300-watt alternator to power accessories with two prewired outlets under the seat.

The RX4 features LED turn signals and brake light plus LED day-time running lights. The headlamps are controlled by an automatic light sensor. The RX4 has a standard 5.3-gallon gas tank with locking cap. With fuel consumption exceeding 60 miles per gallon, the RX4 has an honest range approaching 300 miles.

The CSC RX4 is outfitted with spoked wheels, black anodized aluminum rims and 80/20 tubeless tires.

The RX4 comes standard with molded side cases, mounting racks and a TALL rear top box – which is large enough for a full-face helmet. Or RX4 owners can select the OPTIONAL package of Tourfella aluminum side cases and rear top box, all with custom side pannier and rear mounting racks.

The CSC RX4 is an unmatched value in the adventure motorcycle category. The powerful and economical 450cc motor is paired with a huge list of standard features that cannot be duplicated elsewhere.

CSC RX4 Standard Features:

- - 450cc liquid-cooled engine, 4-valve, overhead cam, with counter-balancer.
  - Long maintenance intervals (5,000-mile valve adjustment) and easy repairs backed by a full Owner’s Manual and online service tutorials.
  - US Delphi EFI system.
  - 6-speed transmission.
  - Stainless steel twin pipe exhaust.
  - 5.3-gallon fuel tank with locking gas cap keyed to ignition.
  - All Digital TFT Display Gauges: dash with digital speedometer, tachometer, odometer, trip odometer, fuel gauge, gear indicator, neutral light, temperature gauge, clock, turn signal and high beam indicators.
  - Adjustable windshield.
  - 12-volt and USB charging outlets on dash.
  - LED turn signals and brake light.
  - Dual-flash hazard lights.
  - 3D Anti-fog headlamp with LED day-time running light. Low light sensor with handlebar switch controls.
  - 300-watt alternator.
  - Automotive-type waterproof connectors under the seat. An optional handlebar-switch for accessory outlets is available.
  - Adjustable inverted front forks with anodized finish. Fork lock keyed to ignition.
  - Adjustable rear shock absorber.
  - Large diameter dual front and single rear disk brakes with ABS.
  - Front 110/80-19 spoked wheel with tubeless dual sport tire, black aluminum rim.
  - Rear 150/70-17 spoked wheel with tubeless dual sport tire, black aluminum rim.
  - Tire Pressure Monitoring System {TPMS}.
  - Front and rear mud guards, with added rear lower mud guard.
  - Steel engine skid plate. An optional full coverage aluminum skid plate upgrade is available.
  - Frame-mounted engine guards.
  - Comes standard with molded luggage. An upgraded aluminum luggage package is available.
  - Wide foot pegs with removable rubber inserts.
  - Passenger foot pegs and grab rails.
  - Tapered aluminum handlebars with bar-end weights.
  - Dual rear view mirrors.
  - Ergonomic rider and passenger seat.
  - Available Colors: Fire Yellow or Saphire Blue.
  - The RX4 is covered by a ONE YEAR unlimited mileage warranty.

If you’re a serious international adventure rider, the RX4 is one of the best motorcycles available. I believe it is one of the six best motorcycles you can take into Baja if you are seeking a great bike at a super price. You can read more about the new RX4 on the CSC blog.

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