Tag: Douglas Motorcycles

Guilt trips…

I haven’t been riding the new Enfield all that much since I bought it, which was exactly one week before the virus hit our shores.   You know, Covid 19, the lockdown, autonomous zone crises, and all that.  And as a consequence, I’ve come under heavy criticism from two good buddies for my failure to accumulate miles on the Taj Mahal (as I sometimes refer to my orange Interceptor).

“I can’t believe you’re not riding that new Enfield all the time,” said Joe Gresh.  Guilt.  The guy reminds me of my Mom.  You should try riding across China with him.

And then after I published that bit about getting out on the RX3, good buddy Rob had to weigh in:  “Take the Enfield on the same road,” he said.  “It will be a completely different ride.”  Guilt again.  If you don’t believe me, read the comments on the RX3 blog a few entries down.  Rob, a guy who rode with us on the Western America Adventure Ride.  He was waiting for us on a lawn chair by the side of the road early in the morning when we first met, already suited up, just before we crossed into Idaho.  Rob’s RX3 was parked right alongside, both man and motorcycle ready to roll as soon as we approached so we wouldn’t have to wait. He seemed like such a nice guy back then.

Well, it worked, guys.  Your guilt tripping got me out on the Enfield two days later, and it was awesome.  I didn’t do the Glendora Ridge Road ride, but I was up in the San Gabriels.  The very eastern end of that range, actually, riding deep into those glorious So Cal mountains through the little town of Lytle Creek.  I went right past the West End Gun Club without stopping to send lead downrange, and that doesn’t happen too often.  Not stopping in, that is.

So this is another one of those blogs where I’ll let the photos do the talking.  Here we go, folks.

The first time I ever put gas in the new Enfield, and it returned 58 mpg and change. That’s consistent with what I saw on the first tankful on the Enfield I rode in Baja. By the end of that trip (nearly 1500 miles later), the bike was consistently getting between 70 and 72 mpg. Not too shabby for a 650 twin.
This is a good-looking motorcycle. My good buddy Art over at Douglas Motorcycles gave me a hell of a deal on it.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I take a good photo. I look better in a full face helmet, people tell me.
Not today, but I had to stop for the photo op.  Top gun. That’s what I want to be.
You could interpret that sign to mean it’s okay to shoot at my street legal vehicle. Time to move along.
Ah, the great San Gabriels, just west of the little town of Lytle Creek. The road dead ends a few miles further.
A man, a motorcycle, America, and a mirror. Gets me every time.
Time to open her up a bit. But not too much. I’m still breaking in the Royal Enfield.
Editors hate these “motorcycle by the side of the road” shots. I kind of like them, especially when the road is in the San Gabriels.
And finally, re-entering the burbs. Lawrence of Suburbia, as Gresh sometimes calls me.  Look at those donuts.  There’s probably 20,000 miles of tire wear there;  the guy who did it probably owns stock in a tire company.  I used to have tire company shares when I worked for GenCorp, the corporation that owns General Tire, but that’s a story for another blog.

Wanna know a secret?  The ride above occurred several days ago.  I went for another ride this past Friday with good buddy Duane.  Duane was on his Indian, a motorcycle made in America.  I was on my Enfield, formerly a British motorcycle but now made in India.  As you can see above, the Enfield is a glorious orange and that’s the fastest color…just ask my good buddy Orlando (about the orange thing, that is).  Duane and I had a hell of a ride, and along the way we bumped into good buddies Steve and Rosemary by Silverwood.  But that, too, is a story for another blog.  Stay tuned!

Want to read about the Royal Enfield ride in Baja?   Just click here!  Want to know more about the CSC RX3 I mentioned above?  The skinny is just a click away.  Are you interested in a killer deal on a Triumph or a Royal Enfield?  Check out Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino!

Want to read a story about another beautiful motorcycle?  Motorcycle Classics recently published my piece about good buddy Steve’s stunning and brilliantly bright red ’82 Yamaha Seca.   You can read it here.

The Royal Enfield, the RX3, the TT 250, and more…

So you’ve probably noticed I haven’t been riding too much lately.   You know how it goes…it gets cold, you have other things going on in your life, you want to send some lead downrange, and on and on it goes.

I needed to break that pattern, and there’s no better way to do that than to buy a motorcycle.   Yeah, I know…I already have two motorcycles (what has to be the world’s most well-traveled RX3, and a pristine, low miles TT 250). I like CSC motorcycles.  But you may recall that Uncle Joe Gresh and I road tested two Enfields last year and I fell in love with the 650 Interceptor.

Down Mexico way…dinner at the San Remedio in Guerrero Negro. Life is good, folks.

I was primed to buy a Royal Enfield when I returned from Mexico, but the Enfield dealer in Glendale had done a God-awful job prepping the Bullet (I wouldn’t buy squat from those guys now), and the Enfield dealer in Brea was doing the normal bend-you-over-a-barrel, here-comes-the-setup-and-freight-charges routine.   Folks, I’ve worked in the industry, and I know what setup and freight costs actually are.  Trust me on this…they ain’t $1500.  So I didn’t buy an Enfield.

Then an amazing thing happened.  One of the few dealerships I trust picked up the Enfield line last week.  It’s Art Guilfoil’s Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino.  I asked Art what he could do for me on a new Enfield, I was shocked at how low the number was (don’t ask, because I won’t tell), and, well…

I think this is No. 42 or No. 43 or something. I’ve owned a lot of motorcycles. This is the latest. Sue is cool with it, too!

I’m picking up my new 650 Royal Enfield on Thursday, and to say I’m excited would be an understatement of immense proportions.  It was a tough call for me between the Enfield and the new CSC RX4, but truth be told, I love my RX3 and it checks all the boxes for what I want in an adventure touring motorcycle.  Arguably, the RX3 is the finest adventure touring motorcycle in the world if you’re going places other than the corner burger joint (for all the reasons I explained in my piece titled Why a 250?).  I know.  I’ve been to places other than the corner burger joint, and I’ve made most of those trips on an RX3.

So with my new Royal Enfield coming in, it begged the question:  What should I do with my RX3 and TT 250?  My first thought was that I’d sell them.   Then I got to thinking about the RX3.   I’ve done some miles on that thing, folks, and we’ve bonded.  Nope, I’m going to hang on to it.  Baja beckons, and all that.  The RX3 is perfect for poking around the peninsula.  And next, month, that’s where I’m headed.   Susie’s going with me, and we’ll share a Tequila or two with Baja John.  You can read about it here.

That leaves the TT 250.  Hey, I was involved in bringing the TT 250 to America, and it all started when I eyeballed the 150cc version on display in Zongshen headquarters.  It was a bit of an uphill struggle…you know, getting Zongshen to make a 250cc version, and then selling the idea in Azusa.  I got the powers that be to go along and then I was out of town when the prototypes arrived in California.   A couple of the CSC underlings didn’t like the bike, and I had to sell it in Azusa all over again.  But it worked out, and the TT 250 is one of CSC’s best selling motorcycles ever.  It should be…it is a hell of a bike for a stunningly low price.

My TT 250 on the road at La Rumarosa in Baja.

With the Enfield coming in, I thought I would sell my TT 250.   Hell, it’s pristine, but because I don’t ride it too much, the carb gummed up on me.  I thought maybe I’d bring it to CSC and have them make it perfect again, and then another serendipitous thing occurred.  A few days ago, a post popped up on Facebook (why do I spend so much time on that moronic site?) from Revzilla, and what do you know, it was about doing your own maintenance on a CSC motorcycle.  In this case, it was the San Gabriel (a wonderful name for a motorcycle if ever there was one), and the guys from Revzilla said the CSC shop manuals were wonderful.  I thought that was great for a lot of different reasons, including the fact that, along with help from Gerry Edwards and the guys in the shop, I wrote many of the CSC manuals.  Then I realized…hey, I wrote the TT 250 manual.  I can fix my own carburetor.  I looked up the carb stuff and this afternoon I took mine apart, I cleaned the low and high speed jets, and now my TT 250 is running great.  There’s something uniquely satisfying about fixing your own motorcycle, and the Revzilla boys were right:  Those CSC manuals are amazing.  So are the motorcycles.  And so is the 650 Enfield.   I know, because I took one on what had to be the longest demo ride ever…all the way to Baja and back!

More good times coming up, folks, on the Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor!