The ExhaustNotes Blog

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 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!

Loaded for bear…

Good buddy Jason, a Ruger No. 1 in .338 Win Mag, and a 400-lb, 7-ft Alaskan black bear.

As the title of this blog implies and in this case, my good buddy Jason was literally loaded for bear. For several years I had owned a Ruger No. 1 single-shot rifle in .338 Win Mag. That’s a monster of a magnum. I had never fired the rifle and I sold it to Jason. He told me he was going on a bear hunt in Alaska (something I’ve always wanted to do), and I was happy to the see the rifle go to a good home. Most recently, Jason sent the photo you see above and a recap of his hunt to me to share here on the ExNotes blog. Here you go, folks!

It all started in 2016 when I purchased my first Ruger No. 1 in 338 Win Mag from Joe. I’ve always wanted a Ruger No. 1, but I already had a Winchester Model 70 in 338 Win Mag. I planned to go on a bear hunt in 2018, so what I did was sell my Winchester Model 70 to my best friend, who went on the bear hunt, too. I would be using my Ruger No. 1. So this is a story about me and my new rifle and our quest for a big Southeast Alaskan black bear. It was a guided hunt through Alaskan Coastal Outfitters.

Our base camp was on a boat and in the evening we would take a skiff and cruise around all the little islands and bays looking for the right bear. We saw lots of bears (a lot of sows with cubs). We also saw a lot of boars. On Day 4 of our hunt we saw a really nice bear. We got as close as we could without spooking him. My guide told me to get out of the boat and he held the boat still for me. Then, as I was pulling my leg over the side of the boat I got hooked on to the edge of the boat and I fell face down in 8 inches of water.

The bear ran off and my beautiful Ruger No.1 was laying in 8 inches of salt water, so we raced back to the boat, took the rifle apart, and cleaned it up so it was like new.

The next day we went out again and this time I was extra cautious not to fall in when we came across the bear you see in the picture. He was about 300 yards from the skiff when we spotted him. We got as close as we could without spooking him, which was about 140 yards, and my guide kept on asking me if I could make the shot. I always answered “yes, no problem.” I lay down and rested my rifle on my pack. Wouldn’t you know it, I had to lay down in a little creek so I got wet again. We lay there for what seemed to be an eternity. My guide made sure it was a boar and not a sow. Finally, he gave me the OK.

Just then, the bear turned so he had his back to me (so I couldn’t shoot). It gave me an opportunity to situate my follow-up shot. I decided the quickest way to get a follow-up shot (if I needed one) was to shoot with the next round in my hand.

The bear finally turned broadside and I dropped the hammer. I hit him just behind the shoulder and he dropped. My guide backed me up with a 375 H&H rifle, but he didn’t need to fire it. The bear went down, and when we reached him, we saw he was the monster he appeared to be from a distance. The bear measured 7 feet and weighed about 400 lbs.

Jason, that’s an awesome story and a magnificent photograph. I was sorry to see that rifle go, but it obviously went to a good home and you sure put it to good use. You know, it takes a real sportsman to do what you did…going after bear with a single-shot rifle. Congratulations on a successful hunt, and thanks much for sharing your adventure with us here on the ExhaustNotes blog!

Read our other Tales of the Gun stories!

Would you like to write a guest blog for ExNotes? It could be a gun story, a hunting story, a motorcycle story, or any other idea you think might work for our audience. If you have an idea, please let us know at info@exhaustnotes.us. If we publish your story, you’ll get a signed copy of Destinations with our compliments and gratitude!

Back in the saddle again…

Yep, just like that song, we’re back in the saddle again. We’ve got the email thing on the road to being fully squared away, and we’ve had a bunch of new folks sign up in the last day. Things are looking good.

Automatic Email Notifications

If you haven’t heard the word already, we’re having a limited time contest for folks who sign up for our automatic email notifications. Just add your email to the list, and for every 50 folks who sign up (even if you are already signed up), we’re going to give away a free copy of Destinations. You can sign up here:

The CSC RX4

I’m stopping by CSC Motorcycles tomorrow to get a photo of the RX4 I’ll be riding in the SCMA Three Flags Classic. Good buddy Steve asked how I wanted the bike configured and I told him what he already knew: Spotlights, the big Tourfella luggage, a phone mount, and I’m good to go. This is going to be one hell of a ride. Mexico to Canada on a CSC RX4. I’ll be the first to do this. More good times. I’m pumped and I’m eager to get on the road.

It’s going to be hot on the southern part of the ride, as the temps will be above 110 degrees. But as they say, it’s a dry heat. I’ve ridden in that kind of heat before, and I have a few strategies for dealing with it. I’ll be blogging the entire ride, so be sure to follow us right here on ExhaustNotes! And hey, if there are questions you want me to answer or things you want my opinion on related to the RX4, please post your questions here in the blog’s comments section.

The Triple Deuce

Nope, it’s not a car and it’s not a US Army truck. I’m talking about my .222 Remington Savage 340, a used rifle I picked up on the consignment gun rack at a local store 2 1/2 years ago for the whopping sum of $180. The Triple Deuce (as the .222 Remington cartridge is known) is one of those inherently accurate cartridges that just groups great without a lot of work (three others are the .308 Winchester, the .375 H&H, and the relatively new 6.5 Creedmoor). These are rounds that are just flat accurate. My .222 certainly groups way better than any $180 rifle has a right to do. I’m having a lot of fun with it.

I had the Savage out this past Sunday and it was shooting sub-minute-of-angle at 100 yards, and that’s close enough for government work. The stock has a few surface finish scratches (but no gouges that reach into the wood) and I’m going to refinish it. Before any of you get your shorts in a knot, the rifle is not an uber-collectible piece (so I’m not destroying its value with a refinish). I’m going to do my TruOil-to-perfection number on it. I may add a little stain to darken the walnut a bit. Or not. We’ll see. All the metal work on this rifle is perfect and I want the lumber to match. I’ll be posting the step-by-step project here on the ExhaustNotes blog, and you’ll be able to follow along as this labor of love progresses. And hey, if you want to read our other gun stories, take a look at our Tales of the Gun page!

Good times straight ahead, folks!

And yet more likes and dislikes…

We like seeing big numbers of folks on the ExhaustNotes site. We can tell how many people are on the site at any given time, which pages they’re viewing, and where they’re located (to the city or town level). We see folks from literally all over the world, and it’s cool seeing folks in really out of the way (for us, anyway) places.

Take a peek at the blog below about our email signup contest. You could win a free copy of Destinations just by signing up, even if you are already on the list. And yeah, we already had a healthy response, and yeah, we already randomly selected our first contest winner from the first group of 50. That’s good buddy Colorado Dan, and Dan, your copy of Destinations is going in the mail today. Sign up here, folks, and you might win a copy, too!

More likes and dislikes…

The good news is that it looks like we have this email thing fixed! Whew, we’re software geniuses! Who knew?

Okay, back to our likes and dislikes: We like giving stuff away, and we need to get our email list updated again, so here’s what we’re going to do. Whether you’re on the email list or not, sign up for our automatic email updates. For every 50 signups, even if you are already signed up, we’re going to give away a copy of Destinations, our latest book, to one person drawn randomly from each group of 50. Hey, that gives you a 2% chance of winning, and that’s damn near a sure thing!

Likes and dislikes…

I needed to do a blog to see if this nutty automatic email program is working again, and even though Joe G. and I have a rich repertoire to draw from as far as blog topics go, I thought I’d briefly hit a few likes and dislikes to check out the email notification system. We usually try to limit ourselves to one blog a day to keep your email inbox from getting overwhelmed, so bear with me while I test this system.

I’ll do two or three blogs today to see if I can get this thing sorted. Patience, my friends.

The first is a dislike. I dislike mindless software updates, as apparently occurred with the Icegram software (that’s the plug-in we use for the auto email update feature). Something updated, it stopped working, and then it dumped half the names on our list. I could tell you if you haven’t received an email from us and you should have to let us know, but that would be like asking all the kids who aren’t in class to raise their hands, and that would be about as mindless as a software update when everything was working fine before the update. Ah, here we go.

Hey, if you want to be on the list for automatic email updates, please add your email here:

Stand by, there’s more to follow in a subsequent blog or two.

Pioneer Day in Idaho…

Here’s another great day from the Western America Adventure Ride back in 2015 when we rode across the US with our guests from China and Colombia. It was an interesting day for many reasons, but what happened in Carey, Idaho, will stay with me for a long time.

Craters of the Moon

Baja John, our navigator and lodging consultant on the Western America Adventure Ride.

We had left the Craters of the Moon (a National Monument in the middle of nowhere in Idaho) earlier that morning and ridden another 50 miles or so (with literally nothing in between except open plains, rolling hills, and beautiful scenery) when we entered Carey. You have to understand that Carey is basically a wide spot in the road with maybe 40 or 50 buildings along the way. I was focused on getting there, filling the bikes, and getting back on the road.

Pioneer Day and a Parade

When we pulled into Carey, it was like my home town in the early afternoon on the 4th of July. You know, everybody was sitting on lawn chairs, lining the street, waving American flags, and waiting for the parade. That’s literally what we encountered. The good citizens of Carey were waiting for the parade, except it wasn’t the 4th of July.

Gresh and I were leading the pack at about 15 miles an hour when we rode into town, and everybody starting cheering and waving when they saw us. We didn’t know what was going on. I had been blogging every night and Gresh had been kidding me about that. Gresh lifted his face shield and looked at me while we were still rolling. “Boy, a lot of people are following the blog,” he said.

Okay, so we rolled into town on our RX3s. All of us, on RX3 motorcycles, with the town cheering. You can guess where this is going…the good people of Carey thought we were the start of the parade. The Carey people waved and welcomed us. What the Chinese and the Colombian guys were thinking I can only guess.

The Pioneer Day Parade followed us into town.

We pulled into a Shell station (the only one in town). I wanted to get gas and get going. I went into the station and asked what was going on. The girl behind the counter looked at me like I was crazy. I didn’t know it, but it was Pioneer Day in Idaho. It’s a holiday they take very seriously. I imagine everybody in town was out there on both sides of the street.

A lady driving a horse-drawn cart asked Hugo where he was from, and when he said China she told him, “Well, hop on up here with us, honey!”

Like I said, I wanted to get gas and get out of town before the parade hit. The Chinese guys and the Colombians wanted to stay and watch the parade.
You can guess which way it went.

The Wild West, on the Western America Adventure Ride.

We had a pretty good time in Carey. Our Chinese and Colombian visitors were seeing a good old fashioned American parade, and the good folks in Carey met folks from the other side of the world. I can only imagine the stories our visitors took home. I sure landed a good story to share with you!

Want to read more about our Epic Rides? Just click here!

Hi Joe

Wow, was I ever surprised when a young guy in a pickup truck held up this note as we rode south on Highway 101!

The photo you see above popped up in my Facebook feed this morning letting me know it was 4 years ago that I posted it, and that meant it was four years ago that we finished the 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride. Here’s what I originally posted on the CSC blog about that “Hi Joe” sign:

We are in Santa Maria tonight. It was an easy roll once we got past San Jose, but the traffic on the 101 leaving San Francisco and all the way down past San Jose was rough this morning. After that, we basically put the bikes on cruise control and ran 75 mph all the way down.

Here’s a cool thing…on the 101, just past San Luis Obispo, a couple of guys in a gray pickup truck pulled up alongside our convoy and starting beeping and waving at us. When they were alongside me, one held up a sign that said “Hi, Joe!” Cool stuff. I have no idea who those guys were, but it’s a safe bet they’ll read this. Guys, when you do, shoot me an email. It made my day seeing you today. I had a good laugh over it.

I mentioned the above in the CSC blog, and later that same day I received this email from my good buddy San Marino Bill:

Joe:

My son just called me (3 pm) from the Paso Robles area and wanted to know where the CSC group was riding today. He is up there picking up his son. He was following a group of good looking bikes (10 or 12). I told him to make a sign that said HI JOE and show it to the leader. I hope it was you.

Bill

That was a pretty cool experience, and it kind of wrapped up how well the ride was received and how much good it did for the RX3 motorcycle and our efforts to show the world it is a great motorcycle. You can read more about that in 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM, the book about bringing the RX3 to America and the Western America Adventure Ride.

My 4-year-old RX3, with its Western America Adventure Ride decal. I still own the bike. It’s in my garage right now, just a few feet from where I sit typing this blog.

We sure had a blast on that ride, and people were following it on the CSC blog all over the world. I remember Pioneer Day in Idaho on that ride, where we literally rode in a parade and people lined the streets awaiting our arrival on the CSC motorcycles. I’ll post that story in another day or two.

Another grand adventure is a little less than a month away. I’ll be riding the new RX4 from Mexico to Canada in the Southern California Motorcycle Association’s 2019 Three Flags Classic. I last did that ride in 2005 (you can read the story about that here), and I’m looking forward to doing it again on the RX4. I’ll be blogging the ride daily, I have a commission for two magazine articles on it, and I’m toying with the idea of a short book on the ride, the RX4 bike, the SCMA, CSC, and Zongshen. That’s going to be good for CSC, Zongshen, the SCMA, and the Three Flags Classic event. It will be another grand adventure. Stay tuned, because I’ll be posting much more here on the ExNotes blog.

My 2019 3FC ride: The CSC RX4. You can read more about the bike here.

Bike Mags gone by…

Good buddy Buzz Kanter, publisher of American Iron magazine, posted an interesting list on Facebook yesterday. It’s the motorcycle magazines that have folded their tents since 1998. I asked Buzz if I could post it here and Buzz said it was okay:

American Rider
American Thunder
Big Twin
Biker
Biker Parties
Cycle News
Cycle World Buyers Guide
Dirt Bike Buyers Guide
Easyriders
Easyriders’ Buyers Guide
Hot Bike
Hot Bike Specials
Hot Rod Bikes
Indian Motorcycle Illustrated
In The Wind
Iron Horse
IronWorks
Motorcycle Cruiser
Motorcycle Performance
Motorcycle Price Guide
Motorcycle Shopper
Motorcycle Tour & Cruiser
Motorcyclist
Motorcyclist Buyers Guide
MX Racer
Old Bike Journal
On The Road
Outlaw Biker
Outlaw Biker Presents
Quick Throttle
Sport Rider
Twistgrip
V-Twin
VQ
Walnecks Classic Cycle Trader

Buzz’s magazine, American Iron, is still going strong and it is still published every 4 weeks (I can’t imagine publishing to that kind of schedule, but Buzz, Steve Lita, and the AIM crew somehow make it happen). The focus at AIM is on U.S. motorcycles, great writing, and great photography, and it all works. I don’t own a Harley or an Indian and I still enjoy reading American Iron. If you want to subscribe to AIM (and I think you should), you can do so here.

Buzz is an interesting guy. Like a lot of riders, he’s a shooter, too, and I enjoy seeing his shooting-related posts on Facebook. A lot of folks who are into motorcycles often have similar other interests, including shooting, cameras and photography, watches, bicycles, travel, and more. It’s what drives the kind of things we talk about here on ExhaustNotes.

So what’s coming up? Good stuff, my friends. Arjiu is headed to Bonneville in the near future. I’m doing the 2019 Three Flags Classic on a CSC RX4. Good buddy J and I just got back from a deer hunt scouting expedition (whoa, the mosquitoes sure got us good). And more. There’s always more, so stay tuned!

Do you have an interesting story you’d like to share here on ExNotes? Send it to us (info@ExhaustNotes.us), and if it is right for the blog, we’ll post it here. Don’t worry about typos or spelling errors…our editorial crew is standing by and if there are any mistakes, we’ll fix ’em!

Want to be taller, thinner, better looking, and a faster rider? Hey, sign up for our automatic email blog update notifications here!

Check out the Sierra Mountain Passes website from our good buddies J and Val!

Table Salt – Prepping a Husky for Bonneville

Selecting A Bonneville Ride

It amazes me when guys post photos of their garages full of motorcycles and every one of them runs. You can hop on any motorcycle they own and it’ll start right up and function perfectly, like the day it left the factory. I’m amazed but unaffected. Those people might as well be from Pluto. Here on earth, my motorcycle collection continues to fall apart faster than I can put it back together.

Your hard-working ExhaustNotes.us correspondent is headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats in a few weeks and since I don’t want to try and mooch a loaner motorcycle on such short notice that means I’ll have to ride one of my clunkers.

The obvious choice would be one of the big Kawasaki street bikes except neither the Z1900 or the ZRX1100 are close to running. I could take Godzilla, it always runs, but this ride will have some high speed sections and while Godzilla can run 70 mph on the highway she gets 30 miles per gallon doing it.

The Husqvarna 510 SMR

So that leaves the most uncomfortable bike I own, a Husqvarna 510 SMR for long distance touring. The Husky is not without its problems, though. The fork seals are puking oil all over the front tire and if they didn’t hold ¾ of a quart in each leg I’d just let the forks bleed out and ride the thing as is.

Husqvarna Fork Repair

Amazon had the seal kits I needed and after watching a few how-to videos on YouTube I took apart the upside-downies. The forks came apart easily. I’d say no harder than the right-side-up forks I’m used to. Man, they do hold some oil!

Pressing in the new seal required a custom PVC seal tool that I copied from a YouTuber and you’ll need to remember to pre-install all the parts in the correct order or you’ll have to start all over. After reassembly I dumped some 5wt fork oil inside and primed the damper rod to get all the air bubbles out. I was dreading this job but it was easy as pie. Don’t fear the new style forks, my brothers.

Husqvarna Chain Replacement

The Husqvarna’s chain had 11,000 miles on it and it was still in fair shape. I think I could have easily gotten another 3000 or so miles on it but I’m not riding solo on this trip and I don’t want to be That Guy. The RK chain I ordered came with one of those rivet-type master links. The kind of master link that I hate.

I’ve got it half-assed riveted but will need CT to hold a backing hammer against the pins while I do a more through job of peening over the hollow head of the link. I know I should use the correct chain riveting tool but at some point you’ve got to stop buying every tool for every job. Don’t make your loved ones last memories of you be bitter resentment for having to dispose of your junk. I’m bringing along the old, clip-type link just in case.

Husqvarna Lever Repair

A while back I broke the clutch lever when I dropped the Husky on a muddy trail at Big Bend Park in Texas. The little stub lever was working ok mostly because the clutch itself had quit working due to a bad O-ring on the slave cylinder. You know me: I keep my stuff in top shape. I priced a new lever and they were more than a Mini Motor top end overhaul kit, my new gold standard of affordability.

I had a donor lever in stock and hacked it to the proper length. Next, I used some of that Harbor Freight aluminum-welding rod that works with a regular torch. It’s odd stuff. You have to scratch and push the rod to get it to stick to your base metal and the work tends to fall away without warning. The rods work great on flat welds but things did not go too well with the lever. After melting two sticks of the welding rod I had a nice, tumorous blob to cut away and grind smooth. It looks like hell, there’s no two ways about it.

The fault line on the repaired lever matches the pre-cut, breakaway slots that came from the factory. We will see if the chewing gum will hold. I may be forced into buying a new lever but not today.

Since the Bonneville area does not have many motel rooms and the few they do have are expensive we will be camping at the KOA. I hate camping on a motorcycle because all the junk you need to carry makes the ride so much less enjoyable. My next project will be fabricating a pipe cage to fit around the Husky’s existing luggage rack. This will give me a secure place to strap all the camping gear: right before it catches fire and falls into the wheel.

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