Category: RX4

Coimbra, Portugal

I photographed the Honda VFR you see in the big photo above in Coimbra, Portugal.   Bait and switch?  Perhaps.  We are a motorcycle site, sort of.   I’ll try to work in a little moto content when and where I can.  For us on this adventure, it was all walking, buses, and high-speed rail transport (and that was really cool).  But that’s coming up later.

Coimbra was another stop on our recent trip to the Iberian peninsula.  Coimbra is a college town on the Rio Mondego.  It was Portugal’s medieval capital before the Portuguese government relocated to Lisbon.  But this college town was particularly cool.   The UNESCO-recognized Universidade de Coimbra is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Europe.

On the Universidade square in the medical school area in Coimbra. It was a stunning day.

Like many areas in Portugal, Coimbra also has a rich wine producing heritage.  Many of the signs display this heritage.

The shape of signs in Coimbra. Wine was everywhere in Spain and Portugal. We had wine with virtually every meal except breakfast.

The  Biblioteca Joanina is one of the world’s great libraries.  One of the things that is particularly interesting is the way the librarians protect the ancient manuscripts from insects (insects are the books’ natural enemies, because they eat the pages).  Bats reside in the library.  They live behind the books.  The bats come out at night and eat the insects in the library.  I can’t make this stuff up, folks.  This really happens.

In the Joanina Library.
Books, books, and more books. The principal threat to these books is insects eating the pages. The University has an app for that.

I grabbed a macro shot or two as we wandered the campus.  This sidewalk guardpost was interesting.

Photo ops galore. Nothing fancy with equipment here…all these shots are with a basic Nikon consumer-grade D3300 DSLR and 18-55mm kit lens.

As we would find to be the case in virtually every Portuguese and Spanish town, Coimbra has a cathedral.  Actually, it has three.  We visited St. Michael’s at the University of Coimbra.  That’s where I grabbed the interior photos below.

Inside St. Michael’s with our fellow travelers.
The tile work, the organ, the roof colors…I had a great time on this trip.
A coat of arms, surrounded by scrollwork.
A statue in St. Michael’s.

After walking around the University, we walked into the city.    It was pleasant.  The weather was comfortable, the city was beautiful, and the photo ops continued.

One of many statues in downtown Coimbra.
This almost looks like a fancy ancient church or castle. Actually, it was a store catering to tourists with a unique product line: Canned sardines.
Another statue in the Coimbra town square.
A street menu for one of the many restaurants in downtown Coimbra. The food was excellent; the prices were reasonable.

I enjoyed Coimbra.   As a retired college professor, I thought visiting a campus was a cool thing to do.   We had a fabulous lunch, and then our journey continued.

Back on the motorcycle thing again…I’ve traveled by motorcycle in some pretty exotic locales.  I think bopping around Europe on a motorcycle would be a fun way to see the continent.  I wouldn’t want a big bike, and even on the freeways, the speeds are such that a 250 or a 400 would be just fine.  Maybe someday.   I know my friends in Chongqing read the ExNotes blog.  If you need somebody to ride around Europe on your motorcycles to spread the gospel, the ExhaustNotes staff is available.  We’re your boys (and one girl).  Call us.

Stay tuned.  I’ll work in more from Spain and Portugal as time and other blogs permit.

Keep the content flowing…please click on the popup ads!

More Spain and Portugal stories?  You bet!

Spain and Portugal
Camino de Santiago:  Part 1
The Sportster of Seville
Évora
Lisbon
Gibraltar

Live on Amazon!

A Cup O’ Joes is available now on Amazon.  Every bathroom in every motorcycle shop and every motorcyclist’s home needs this book.  They make great gifts.  Check out the blurb:

Joe Gresh and Joe Berk bring you a collection of their favorite articles and stories from the ExhaustNotes.us website, Motorcycle Classics magazine, Rider magazine, Motorcyclist magazine, ADVMoto magazine, and other publications.  Ride with the Joes in China, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, the former Soviet Union, and the United States.  Read their opinions on motorcycles, accessories, and more.  Humor, wit, insight, and great reading…this collection of motoliterature belongs in your library.  Published in black and white.

You could wait for the movie, but the movie deal fell through.  You know the story…I wanted Leonardo di Caprio to play me or Gresh, the studio countered with Danny DeVito, and things fell apart after that.

Seriously, though, you need this book.  It will make you taller, skinnier, more attractive, and a faster rider.  Trust us on this.

Never miss an ExNotes blog:

Cannibalize, mayhem, and other mototerms

Gee, I was gonna buy the RX3 and then I heard they were coming out with the RX4.  Then I was gonna buy the RX4 and I heard they were coming out with a 400cc twin.   Then I was gonna buy the 400cc twin and I heard they were coming out with a 650cc twin.  Then I was gonna buy the 650 and I heard about this new 850cc Zongshen adventure bike.

I’m going to guess the above is a thought that has trickled through more than a few minds.   It’s what I’m guessing occurs everytime Zongshen announces or leaks (I’m not sure what the appropriate word should be) that they have something newer, bigger, and better coming down the pike (like the RX850 you see above).  Webster defines mayhem as “needless or willful damage or violence” (in a criminal context it’s the intentional mutilation or disfigurement of another human being) and Dictionary.com defines cannibalize as “to cut into; cause to become reduced; diminish.”  Both words (i.e., cannibalize and mayhem) somehow seem relevant to Zongshen’s marketing practice of announcing new models just as (and sometimes even before) the preceding displacement model enters the marketplace.  You’d think it would cannibalize sales of the models currently in showrooms, especially given our brainwashed belief that more displacement is always a good thing.

But what do I know?   I sell one or two used motorcycles every decade or so, while Zongshen sells something like a million new motorcycles every year.  I suspect companies selling Zongs both here and in other countries sell every bike they get (I know that’s the case with CSC, and I’ve seen it to be the case in Colombia).  I once had a guy write to me who wanted to buy two RX3s so he and his wife could tour Colombia, but he couldn’t find a dealer in Colombia who wasn’t sold out.  He wrote to me after reading Moto Colombia to ask if I could intervene with the AKT Motos general manager (I did, good buddy Enrique obliged, and that couple’s ride through magical Colombia went well).

My advice?  Buy what you can get now.  The 650 Zongshen hasn’t even hit the streets yet, so don’t wait for it or the RX850 you see above.  If you want to have a lot of fun for a little money, any of the available Zongs will serve you well.  I put a lot of miles on my RX3 and I got good money when I sold it 5 years later.

Oh, one more word I wanted to address, and it’s an adjective:  Dormant.  Webster defines it as being asleep or inactive.  It is a word that is not in Zongshen’s dictionary.

Epic motorcycle rides on Zongshens, Harleys, KLRs, Enfields, and more?  It’s all right here!

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!

The KLR 650 is back!

An new exciting thing is that Kawasaki brought back the KLR 650.  A review of the Kawi info makes it look like the big change is fuel injection, along with a few other things (like digital instrumentation, accessory and USB outlets, higher alternator output, optional integrated locking luggage, and optional ABS).  Per the Kawasaki announcement:

The all-new KLR®650 dual-sport motorcycle is built to empower your passion to escape and explore. Featuring a 652cc engine, new fuel injection system, all-digital instrumentation, disc brakes, and optional ABS, the KLR650 is ready and eager to make new memories. Dual-sport capability allows the journey to go on- and off-road with all three available models, including two special edition models that are equipped with factory-installed Kawasaki Genuine Accessories. With the KLR650, KLR650 Traveler, and KLR650 Adventure motorcycles, your next great expedition awaits.

This is good; Kawasaki is finally catching up to CSC’s RX3 and RX4 series of adventure motorcycles.  Don’t get me wrong; I owned a KLR 650 (first gen) and it was a stellar motorcycle.  One of my good buddies is still riding it.  They were fabulous motorcycles; I hope the new one is as good.  By the way, if you’d like to read our comparison of the KLR 650 to the CSC RX4, you can do so here.

My 2006 KLR 650 in Baja.

Pricing, per Kawasaki, is $6699 for the base model and $7,999 for the fully-loaded model, with a Kawasaki-listed destination charge of $410.   There’s no mention of the setup fee.  But they do mention in the small print that the dealer sets the actual destination charge and your price may vary.  You think?  Mark my words…dealers will throw on a $1500 freight and setup fee on this bike.  When you enter the green room, be forewarned: Having worked in the motorcycle industry, I can tell you that actual freight (what the dealer really pays) is well under $400, and setup on a KLR 650 takes under an hour.  And as point of reference, when I bought my ’06 KLR 650 new, it was $5200 out the door.  Let the good times roll.

RX3 vs RX4: John Franklin’s Perspective

Good buddy John’s RX3 (photo by John Franklin).

I noticed my good buddy and Facebook friend John’s post about his decision to purchase the RX3 instead of the new RX4 on the Facebook CSC page and I thought it was well done.  Both the RX3 and the RX4 are great motorcycles and I enjoyed reading John’s analysis, so I wrote to John and asked if I could post it here on ExNotes.  John said yes (thanks much, Amigo), so here it is.

RX3 versus RX4
By John Franklin

I recently bought a new RX3, and yes the RX4 was available at the time. I have gotten more than one pm asking me why I didn’t go with the RX4. It’s a very valid question. My last ride was a 2016 KLR650, so the RX4 is much closer in power. While that is true, it’s only part of the picture. I paid $5700 for my KLR, the close to another $3500 for givi luggage, panniers, crash bars, skid plate, tires, USB power, heated grips, progressive front suspension, better seat, folding gearshift, handguards, GPS and on and on. Yes I rode it; I spent more time off road than on road. I did several two week long adventures. Then I had back surgery.

There’s good riding in John’s neck of the woods (photo by John Franklin).

In considering a new bike, post back surgery, I was really looking at what I could do without hurting myself, and what I really needed, as well as what I could spend. I was out of work for a year, and kinda tight on funds. My list was fairly firm on what I had to have. I wanted a lighter bike to start with. I needed luggage, hard panniers and a top box big enough for my helmet. Crash bars, skid plate, and real hand guards were also a non-negotiable must. Heated grips were also high up there.

A shot of John’s RX3 in it’s natural surroundings (photo by John Franklin).

With that firmly established, I started looking. I found used bikes and older bikes. A random link in a article I was reading led me to the RX3. I ignored it; then I began to see more and more mentions of the RX3. So I really dug in. The chinariders forum was a great resource. I have ridden bikes all over the world and ridden all kinds of makes, so I was not initially put off by the non USA mainstream brand.

Once I decided that it was a valid option and I started looking, here is how it broke down.

The 2019 RX3 with heated grips, handguards, taller top box, Wolfman tank bag, USB power outlet, led headlight upgrade and extra oil filters was $4602.95. That’s what I paid CSC. I had to pay SC sales tax, SC property tax and the registration fee. Grand total was $5100.63. That is what it cost me for everything. All fees, taxes and bribes.

A RX4 starts at $4995, add the $400 shipping fee, handguards $109, luggage $490, tank bag $90, heated grips $109, skid plate $160, crash bars not available for RX4 and oil filters $50 we are at $6403. SC sales tax, property tax and tag fee would put it right at $7200. A difference of $2100. And at the $7000 range I could find a good used BMW 650GS, on which I could get out of the sales tax and not being new, the property tax would be a joke. Plus I would have to create a set of crash bars (which was actually a plus, because I love fun stuff like that).

Go ahead…what’s the worst that could happen? (Photo by John Franklin.)

I admit, I have put more than a little into the RX3 after deciding I like it. Bar risers, better tires, better chain, 13T front sprocket, folding shift lever, GPS mount… You get the idea. But I would have done the same to anything I decided to keep and ride.  It honestly came down to two things for me. Value of the purchase (not price in and of itself), and weight.

CSC has been great, and it is a wonderful company, even if the service guy hates replying to emails, but he reads them and will talk for hours on the phone. I don’t regret it. Hopefully in a couple of years I will be able to ride a larger, taller bike again, but this thing was a good purchase.

If you’d like to see more on the RX4, and comparisons of the RX4 to the RX3 and the KLR 650, please check out our ExNotes RX4 page!  And if you’d like to know more about the RX3 and the RX4, mosey on over to the CSC Motorcycles page.   Hey, one more thing…if you’d like to read about real world adventures on the RX3 (I’m talking good stuff here, folks, like riding across China, Colombia, the US, and Mexico), you should buy any or all of the books listed below!

The New RX4 Video!

As many of you know, good buddy and motojournalist extraordinaire Kevin Duke is now a Brand Manager with CSC Motorcycles, which is good for CSC and good for Kevin.   Kevin and CSC recently released this video on the new 450cc RX4 motorcycle, and it’s the best one to ever come out of CSC (the video and the motorcycle).  But don’t take my word for it…check it out yourself!

If you’d like to see more about how the RX4 compares to the RX3 (and to the KLR 650) please check out our RX4 pages.

Good buddy Chris checking in…

You guys will remember good buddy Chris C., an RX3 and RX4 rider and a loyal blog reader.   I was shocked when I received this email from him a day or two ago:

Hi Joe.

Just wanted to drop you a quick note about my recent time in the hospital.

Doctors found a benign tumor in my head and I underwent successful surgery to have it removed.

Exactly 1 week after surgery I was riding a bicycle, and 2 weeks after surgery I was riding my RX4.  Don’t tell my doctor. The first thing I did after surgery was catch up on reading ExhaustNotes blog.

You know, after brain surgery I seem to have found deeper meaning in Gresh’s blog posts.

Feel free to use any of this and the attached photo in the ExhaustNotes blog.

Chris

Wow, Chris, I am so glad you got through this okay. You have our best wishes for a continuing successful and speedy recovery, and thanks so much for writing to us.

My Three Flags Classic RX4

My 3FC19 RX4 motorcycle on the road last night. It’s a great motorcycle.

I’m getting excited about the upcoming Southern California Motorcycle Association’s Three Flags Classic adventure and the CSC RX4 I’ll be riding on this epic rally.  I’ve been putting a few miles on the RX4 CSC graciously provided and I thought I would fill you in on a few of the specifics I’m discovering on this bike.

I have a measured mile by my home and I was happy to see that the RX4 clocked it at exactly 1.0 miles.  I think that’s pretty much what all the motorcycles do these days for obvious reasons.  If the odometer read more miles than you actually covered, the manufacturer would be cheating you out of a portion of the warranty, and if the odometer read fewer miles, they’d be warranting the bike for longer than they intended to.  The point is moot with a CSC motorcycle; their bikes are warranted for unlimited miles.  But it’s nice to know that whatever distance it says you’ve gone is the real distance.

Command central and my high-tech data bank. The ergos on this bike are good.

The next thing I checked was fuel economy, and I did so based on a mix of freeway, city, and mountain road riding.  The bike I rode, with roughly 1200 miles on the clock, returned 66.34 mpg.  I think CSC advertises 60 mpg for the RX4; I did 10% better than that with the one I’m riding.

Next up was motorcycle speed indicated by the speedometer versus GPS indicated speed.  I found that the speedometer was 15% to 8% optimistic, depending on velocity.  At higher speeds, the speedometer error decreased to the 8% range.  It’s pretty common for motorcycle speedometers to be about 10% optimistic.  It’s also very common for the percentage difference between actual speed and speedometer-indicated speed to not be constant (the error percentage changes with speed).

Indicated versus Actual MPH on the RX4 I’m riding in the 2019 Three Flags Classic. Speedometer error, as a percentage, decreased as velocity increased. The bike will do way more than 80 mph; I just didn’t want to go any faster for this test.

Next up was a quick look at engine RPM versus indicated speed.  The RX4 cranks way less RPM at every speed compared to the RX3.   Here’s what it looks like on the RX4…

Velocity versus RPM on the RX4.  The RX4 engine runs at lower rpm for any given speed than does the RX3.

The RX4 has a torquey motor, and I was surprised at how low the RPM is at any given speed compared to the RX3.  I know on my RX3, 80 mph is somewhere near the redline at 9000 RPM.  On the RX4, the engine is just loafing along at a meager 6000 RPM.   The RX4 engine pulls strongly from anything above 3000 RPM.   You can downshift to move away more quickly, but you don’t need to on this bike.

And hey, because I know you’ll ask, here’s what the bike sounds like…

Another area in which the RX4 excels is its lighting.  The headlight does a fantastic job; I was impressed riding it at night.

Up above the Pomona Valley with the sun going down. An orange bike photographs well, don’t you think? And hey, Orlando, what’s the fastest color?

That’s it for now.  I’ll have a lot more info on the RX4 and the 3FC19 ride, and I’ll be posting from the road every day.  Make sure you sign up for our automatic blog updates so you don’t miss anything!

Want to learn more about the RX4 motorcycle?  Take a look at our comparisons of the RX4 to the RX3 and the KLR 650 here.  And don’t forget to visit CSC’s website, too, for more information on the RX4 and CSC’s other motorcycles.

My 3FC19 Scooter

Yep, it’s going to be the CSC RX4, and I’m pumped about the ride.  There’s not a lot of information out there on this bike yet other than here on the ExNotes site, and I’ll give you the link for that at the end of this post.

Steve Seidner (President and CEO of CSC Motorcycles) and good buddy Matt (motorcycle maestro extraordinaire), the two guys who are prepping my RX4 for the 3FC19 ride.

I’ll be the first guy to take the RX4 on a major road trip in the US, and I’ll be the first guy to ride it internationally on a single ride.  I think that’s pretty cool.

Steve and Matt prepped the bike for me by changing the oil, adjusting the valves, installing spotlights, installing the cell phone holder so I can use Waze to navigate, and more.  It was cool visit, and I enjoyed seeing the guys at CSC again.

Down to the frame, just to make sure everything is ready for my 4,500-mile epic international journey. It wasn’t necessary. The guys found nothing wrong.
These are going to turn night into day for me. I like them!
Check out the double disks, and hey, Orlando…look, it’s orange…the fastest color!
A subfender. Cool!
A new rear tire and chain lube. It’s going to be a great ride.
I spec’d out the Tourfella aluminum luggage on this bike…I’ll be carrying my laptop and all my camera gear, and like always, I’ll be blogging from the road every night. You’ll be able to follow the entire trip right here on the ExNotes blog. Hey, do you think the top dawgs at Harley or Honda personally prep bikes for their rally riders?

So, about that additional RX4 information…you can find it right here on our RX4 page!  And hey, check out the CSC Motorcycles site, too!

What?  You haven’t signed up for our automatic email blog updates yet?  Hey, you can do that right here!

Want to read about some of our other epic rides on CSC motorcycles, Royal Enfield motorcycles, Janus motorcycles, and the odd Harley or two?   Take a look at our Epic Rides page!