Tag: RX3

CSC’s new colors and some good adventure video…

I stopped by CSC Motorcycles last week to visit with my friend Steve and see the new TT250, San Gabriel, and RX3 colors.   I and my camera will try to do justice to the new CSC paint themes, and hey, while we here, we’ll share a few videos.

The TT250 line has an entirely new set of colors, and I like the new look.

There’s a cool decal on the TT250 side panel, too, which i like a lot.  It reminds me a bit of what new Triumphs had in the 1960s, when every one of their bikes had a “world’s fastest motorcycle” decal on the tank.

As you know, I have a TT250, and mine is from the very first shipment that came into CSC a few years ago.  Mine is black with bold TT lettering on the tank and side panels.  I like that bike, I’ve ridden it in Baja (the video below is taking it through the Rumarosa Grade in northern Baja), and I’m going to fire it up and ride it around a bit today.

Next up is a photo of the San Gabriels. The new colors on the SG250 work well, too.

You know, I did one of the very first San Gabriel videos when those bikes first came to America.  It, too, was a hoot.

And here are a few photos of the CSC RX3, a bike that has generated lots of smiles and lots of miles since its introduction to the United States in 2015.  The new colors are much more interesting and maybe a little more subtle than what we’ve seen on RX3 motorcycles in the past.  There’s a gray and turquoise theme, and a silver and red alternative.  They both look good.

I like the new RX3 paint themes, and I like the original ones, too.  I ride an RX3.  Mine’s a 2015 model and, like my TT250, it’s one from the very first shipment to the US.  My RX3 is orange (the fastest color, as good buddy Orlando knows), and it’s one of the early ones that faded to a kind of subdued yellow (that’s before Zongshen started adding color stabilizers to the paint).   I like that look and I’ve had a lot of great rides on RX3 motorcycles, starting with our initial CSC Baja run.  That ride was a hoot and a half.  Imagine that:  A brand new shipment of RX3 motorcycles (the first in the US), and yours truly and 15 other intrepid CSC riders did 1700 miles in Baja on these bikes.   Take a look:

Our next big RX3 ride was the Western America Adventure Ride…5000 miles across the Western US, from So Cal to Sturgis to Portland and then down the Pacific coast to home. I didn’t do a video on that ride, but good buddy Joe Gresh sure did!

We did several more CSC Baja rides, a bunch of rides in the US, and our absolutely amazing 6000-mile ride across the ancient kingdom on RX3 motorcycles:

Not enough?  Hey, how about a ride through magical Colombia on RS3 motorcycles?   The RS3 is the carbureted version of the RX3, and it, too, was an amazing adventure:

If you enjoy watching YouTube videos, we have quite a few more on our YouTubby page.   Grab a cup of coffee, click on the YouTubby link, and have fun.  I sure did.

A note from Sergeant Zuo

Sergeant Zuo on our 2016 ride across China, somewhere along the Silk Road.

I recently wrote to my good buddy Sergeant Zuo, who led our 2016 ride across China.  Zuo lives in Lanzhou, a huge refining center we visited on the China ride.  He and I became great friends on that 38-day adventure.  Zuo is a former Chinese Army senior NCO and in an earlier life I was a lowly lieutenant in the US Army.  But hey, a lieutenant outranks even a senior noncommissioned officer, and every morning (even though we served in different armies), he’d snap to attention and salute me.  And I would then return the salute.  It was cool and it added to the good nature and relaxed camaraderie we all felt on the China adventure.  Zuo is that rare natural leader you sometimes encounter when groups gather and he was perfect for the China ride.  He made what could have a been a scary undertaking into a grand adventure.  I would follow him anywhere, and I imagine the troops in the Army units he led felt the same way.

Sergeant Zuo along Qinghai Lake, one of the largest salt water lakes on the planet.  We were about a third of the way into our ride when I took this photo.

Zuo owns an RX3 (he was one of the very first people to buy an RX3 in China) and it is his daily driver.  He doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Chinese, but that had no impact on us.  We spoke RX3 and riding, I guess, and we formed an immediate bond.  A good motorcycle can do that, you know.

Sergeant Zuo on the ferry ride to Qingdao.  Qingdao was our final destination on the China ride.

Our trip started in Chongqing, we rode to northwest China (the Tibetan Plateau and the Gobi Desert), then back to central China, and finally over to Beijing and then Qingdao.  Qingdao was a name that stuck in my mind.  Nearly 50 years ago I was on a US Army missile site in Korea and our primary target line pointed straight across the Yellow Sea at Qingdao.  And now, here we were at the end of our China ride five decades later in that very same city.

Zuo, Gresh, I, and a dozen others rode our motorcycles right onto the beach at Qingdao, stripped down, and went swimming in the Yellow Sea’s cool waters.  Damn, that felt good.  After fighting the oppressive heat and humidity of a damp Chinese summer, I could have spent all day in that cool ocean water. Back in the day I was ready to launch missiles at bad guys coming from Qingdao; 50 years later I swam in the Yellow Sea with Zuo at that very same spot to wrap up the grandest adventure of my life.

Our route on the ride across China.

With that as a backdrop, here’s the note from my good buddy Zuo:

Joe(大舅）：

谢谢您给我的信。

从网络里看到新型冠状病毒（CV-19）在美国蔓延，这个可怕的家伙成了人类共同的敌人，但是我们应该相信，它是会被战胜的！

我们这里的疫情虽然得到控制和缓解，但是疫情警戒还没有结束。

J，我很好，谢谢您。

阅读您和二舅的博客是我生活中的最大乐趣，看到你们快乐的玩很是高兴。因为你一直相信在大洋彼岸有一个和你惺惺相惜的好朋友一直在关注这您们，是吗？

等到疫情结束，如果能和您一起摩旅那将是我最幸福的等待。

非常想念您——我的良师益友。

代为向您的爱人问好。

祝愿您和二舅一切安好。

—— 左振义 2020年3月20日 于中国.兰州

Yeah, I know, you don’t speak Chinese.  That’s not a problem; we’ll just turn to Google’s translation site:

Joe (big uncle):

Thank you for your letter.

Seeing the spread of the new coronavirus (CV-19) in the United States from the Internet, this terrible guy has become a common enemy of humanity, but we should believe that it will be defeated!  Although the epidemic situation here has been controlled and alleviated, the epidemic alert has not ended.

J, I’m fine, thank you.

Reading your and Erji’s blog is the biggest joy in my life, and it’s great to see you playing happily. Because you have always believed that there is a good friend who cares about you on the other side of the ocean, has you been paying attention to you.

When the epidemic is over, it will be my happiest waiting if I can travel with you.

I miss you so much–my mentor.

Say hello to your friend.

I wish you and Erji all the best.

—- Zuo Zhenyi in Lanzhou, China, March 20, 2020

About that “Erji” business…the Chinese quickly gave Gresh and me Chinese names.  I was Dajiu (big uncle), and Joe was Erji (little uncle).   After that initial christening, those were our names for the entire trip.  It was cool.

You know, when this CV19 business is over, it would be grand to get Zuo over here for a US and Baja ride.  It’s something to look forward to, and I promise you it’s going to happen.

Edit:  Just in case you haven’t seen these videos, here you go.  The first is Gresh’s China Ride video, the second is the one released by Zongshen.  They’re both great.

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!

Lunch with Marty and the boys

Marty and his 145,000-mile BMW K1200RS.  That’s my RX3 in the background.

I’ve been riding with good buddy Marty since the early 2000s (it’s been close to 20 years now), and we’ve covered miles all over the US, Mexico, and Canada.  Marty has owned the BMW K1200RS you see in the above photo since it was new.  He owns and has owned a bunch of exotic bikes (Ducatis, Aprilias, Triumphs, other BMWs, and more), but he prefers the K1200RS and he told me he’s keeping it forever.

I’ve got a bunch of good friends I ride and socialize with, and I know all of them through Marty.   We all get together for coffee at the Brown’s BMW dealership on Saturday morning.  That’s followed by lunch, and maybe we’ll talk about the next big ride.  We frequently talk about rides we’ve done in the past.  Sometimes the conversation turns to politics, and we all have strong opinions.  Some of the guys are right (the ones who agree with me), and some of them are wrong (the ones who don’t), but it doesn’t matter.   Every once in a while I inject the thought that the problem in America is that the guys who really know how to run the country are screwing around drinking coffee at Brown’s and riding their motorcycles.  It usually gets a laugh, even though the guys have heard that line about 800 times.

I like the get-togethers at Brown’s, although sometimes I’ll go months without getting over there.   I don’t know why, because I always enjoy it when I go.  And I like riding my RX3 to our Saturday morning meetings.  It’s an excuse to get out on my favorite motorcycle (not that anyone needs an excuse to go for a motorcycle ride).  Sometimes folks ask about my motorcycle; more than a few motorcycle riders have never seen an RX3.  Some folks think it’s a BMW, even though BMW has their own competitor in the small adventure touring motorcycle category (that’s the BMW G 310 GS and you can read our road test of it here).  Whatever.  My RX3 is slathered with decals denoting some of the big rides I’ve done, and I guess that gets it some credibility in a crowd known for high mileage.

While I’m at the Brown BMW dealership, I like to check out the vintage and new motorcycles.  The old bikes are beautiful, and some of the new ones are, too…

A mid-’60s 600cc BMW. Those old bikes are drop dead gorgeous.
A new old stock (that is to say, a leftover) 2017 Boxer café bike. It’s stunning. It’s a hell of a deal, but there’s no package deal for a chiropractor, and I’d need one if I rode this bike. I can dream, though. The styling on this bike really makes it for me.
I tried to show the difference in size between a brand new GS 1250 and the mid-’60s BMW, and I failed. The photo doesn’t do the bikes justice. Side-by-side, the difference in size is shocking. The GS is outrageously huge. The older BMW seems to be the perfect size for me.

So that’s it for today, folks, except to ask a quick question:  Do you have a riding buddy like Marty in your life?  Hey, we’d love to hear about it, so drop us a comment or two and let us know!

On being a Gym Rat, the RX3, Yoo-Hoo, and Lucas Fuel Treatment

I’ve been drinking my stash of Yoo-Hoo (the review is in the works), but wouldn’t you know it, each of those little containers is 100 calories.   To a male model like myself, that means more time at the gym, and that’s what I’ve been doing.  Usually I roll over there in the Subie, but today was a bit different.  I rode to the gym on my old RX3.

It sounds funny to refer to the RX3 as old.  Four years ago, it was the hottest thing since sliced bread, and news of an inexpensive, fully-equipped, adventure touring machine was big news indeed.   The RX3 price has gone up since then, but the RX3 is still a hot smoking hot deal.  Mine came in on the very first shipment from Chongqing, it has about 20,000 miles on it, and it’s still going strong.  I don’t ride my RX3 much these days because I’m usually on someone else’s motorcycle for an ExNotes blog (the RX4, the Royal Enfields, the Janus bikes, the Genuine G400c), but every time I get on my bike I still feel the excitement I first felt when I rode an RX3 for the first time.  That was in China.  You can badmouth small bikes and Chinese bikes all you want, but I know better.  The RX3 is one of the world’s great motorcycles.

I’m going to do a trip on my RX3, most likely up the Pacific Coast, in the next couple of months.  I’m thinking something leisurely, around 200 miles each day, with stops at the La Purisima Mission, Jocko’s in Nipomo (best barbeque on the planet), a run up the Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel, and then a jaunt east through Hollister to Pinnacles, Highway 25, and the 198 down the center of California.   I’ll probably swing further east for a Del Taco burrito in Barstow (it’s the location of the original Del Taco, and if I had to explain why that’s significant, you might not get it).  Yeah, that could work.  Lots of photos, lots of meeting new people, and lots of fun.

What would be particularly cool on a trip like that is the RX3’s fuel economy.  We’re up around $4 per gallon here in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia (about a dollar of that is taxes), and being on a bike that sips fuel always makes me feel like I’m getting away with something.  I consistently get better than 70 mpg on my RX3.  That’s a good thing.  Gresh seems to have stumbled on to something on his B0nneville adventure using Lucas fuel treatment in his Husky.  His fuel economy improved significantly after adding Lucas.  I’ve always used Lucas fuel treatment in my bike, and I’m wondering if that’s part of the reason I’ve always had great fuel economy.

Anyway, lots more coming up, folks.  Stay tuned.

Read about some of our other adventures on the ExhaustNotes Epic Rides page!

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5K@8K

As Gomer Pyle would say:   Golllleeeee!

That was my reaction when the photos you see below popped up on my Facebook feed, telling me it had been four years since I posted them.  Yep, it was in July of 2015 that yours truly, Joe Gresh, and riders from China and Colombia descended on CSC Motorcycles to christen the RX3 with a ride through the great American West.  So Cal to Sturgis, due west to Washington and Oregon, and then a run down the coast home, hitting every National Park and site worth seeing along the way. It was an amazing adventure, and truth be told, I was shocked that it has been four years already.  That meant it was about four years ago that CSC brought the RX3 to America, it was four years ago that I first met Joe Gresh in person (a living legend, in my mind), and it was four years ago that we took a ride that made the entire motorcycle world sit up and take notice.   A dozen guys, a dozen 250cc motorcycles fresh off the boat from China, 5000 miles, and not a single breakdown.  Tell me again about Chinese motorcycles are no good?  Nah, don’t waste your breath.  I know better.

It was a hell of a ride, and good buddy John Welker did a hell of a job as our very own Ferdinand Magellan, defining the route, making all of the hotel reservations, keeping us entertained with great stories, and more.  These are the same photos (I took them all) that popped up on Facebook.  They represent only a small portion of the ride, but they give you an idea of what it was like.  It was grand.

Somewhere along Highway 89 in Arizona. The guy in the foreground is our very own Baja John Welker.   That’s Joe Gresh way at the other end of this row of motorcycles.
Same location, with Hugo out front. Hugo is the Zongshen factory rep. He’s a great guy who kept us constantly entertained.
Mr. Tso, posing for me in Zion National Park. This guy makes for a great photograph. He rode with us in China, too!
We stayed in Panguitch, Utah, the night before we visited Bryce Canyon National Park. Dinner that evening was at the Cowboy’s Smoke House. I liked it so much I later returned with my wife just to have dinner there.
Tony and his mascot inside Cowboy’s. Great times.
Bryce Canyon National Park. Everyone was captivated by this place. It was awesome.
Kyle, one of the Chinese riders, and Big John, our chase vehicle driver. Good guys both.
Tony and Kyle, posing at Bryce.
The crew when we returned to So Cal. From left to right, it’s Juan from Colombia, Joe Gresh, Tony from China, Mr. Tso from China, John Welker, Lester from China, Kong from China, Big John Gallardo, Hugo Liu, Gabriel from Colombia, and Kyle from China.
The obligatory photo at Roy’s in Amboy, somewhere in the Mojave Desert. God Almighty it was hot that day.
The guys at the Grand Canyon…Lester, Kong, Tso, and Hugo.
In Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, at an impromptu photo stop.
I grabbed this photo of Joe Gresh along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It looks like he’s Photoshopped into the picture, but he’s not.
Same spot, different guys: Gabriel and Juan from Colombia. Juan later invited me to ride with him in Colombia, and I went. That, too, was an incredible ride.

So there you have it, or at least snippets of what was one of the greatest rides I’ve ever done.  I’m hoping Facebook has more of these anniversary photos pop up for me, as the ride lasted 19 days and I know I posted more on that ride.   Good times.  Great riders.  Superior camaraderie.

As always, there’s more good stuff coming your way.   Stay tuned!

Hey, the whole story of that ride is here.   You can get the whole nine yards by buying your own copy of 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM.   There’s a lot more good information in there, too, like CSC’s no-dealer approach to market, how we dealt with the Internet trolls who tried to hurt the company, the first CSC Baja trip, the RX3’s strengths and weaknesses, and much, much more!

3FC19 and more…

First up today…our good buddy Gary’s Vintage Yamaha Enduro site.  Gary alerted me to it a few days ago, I’ve enjoyed poking around on it, and you will, too.

This is a cool site about cool bikes.   Spend some time here; you’ll be a better person for doing so!

I’ve always admired those vintage Yamaha enduros.  Gresh has one and it’s one his favorite motorcycles.  I remember the maroon 360 Yamaha offered back in the early 1970s (I was still in college then).  I always wanted one, but it’s an itch I haven’t scratched yet.  Maybe someday.  I’m still young.

Good buddy Buffalo, a world-class artist who rode with us on one of the Baja rides, created a line art RX3 motorcycle and it’s available in several formats.  Buffalo loves riding and he loves his RX3.  Hey, what’s not to like?

This is muey cool, and it’s from a muey cool dude.

Buffalo is a very cool guy who’s done some very cool things.  We’ve written about Buffalo before here on the ExNotes blog.  Buffalo also has a very cool blog (MotoFritz.com), and it’s another I recommend you visit.  Buffalo (along with his cousin and niece) recently toured Vietnam on motorcycles, and there are cool videos on the MotoFritz blog from that trip.

I’m going hunting.  Deer this time, in Idaho.  Good buddy J invited me to head up north with him later this year to chase Bambi, and I’ll be posting about that here on the ExNotes blog.

Good buddy J and the Power Wagon on an earlier Baja expedition.

I mentioned J recently when I described his new website (Sierra Mountain Passes), but J and I go back a few years.  We first met when we were involved in manufacturing high performance sails for ocean racing yachts.  Think a million bucks for a set of sails for one boat (and the sails are only good for one season).  Good times, those were.

Whoa!  Talk about adventure!

But back on the deer quest…I’m starting to research venison recipes (yeah, I know, it’s a little early for that and I am counting my chickens before the eggs have hatched).  I’m really looking forward to this adventure.  We may get a deer, or we may get skunked.  Either way, it’s going to be fun.  I’m thinking I’ll take my .300 Weatherby Vanguard.  It’s way more power than I’ll need, but we’ll be in some rugged country, the Vanguard is my only composite-stocked rifle, and the thing is a tack driver.

The Weatherby Vanguard in 300 Weatherby Magnum.

More cool stuff…you’ve seen the series we did on the 2005 Three Flags Classic Rally from Mexico to Canada.  I rode with good buddy Marty, and it was a hell of an adventure.

Good buddy Marty on the left and yours truly at Lake Louise in Canada during 3FC05.  There were signs warning us of grizzlies in the area!

The 3FC is one of the world’s premier motorcycle events, and it’s sponsored by one of the world’s premier motorcycle clubs:  The Southern California Motorcycle Association.   As it turns out, the SCMA is one of our biggest ExNotes fans.   They’ve run our ExNotes stories in the SCMA newsletter and they follow our zany ramblings daily.  Good buddy Gonzo, their president, suggested that I join the festivities again this year for the 3FC19 rally, and you know what?  I’m going.  I’ll be on a new CSC RX4 (one from the very first shipment), and I’ll be blogging the hell out of the ride the entire way from Mexico through the United States and on up into Canada.  And then I’ll do the same thing on the way home, for which I’ll take a different (to be determined) route.

The CSC RX4 up in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The CSC RX4 is an exciting motorcycle.  There was a recent article on this bike in Adventure Motorcycle magazine, but I thought that review was a bit on the short side.  (How about that?  A review of a review!)  You can read a lot more about the RX4 right here on ExNotes, and you’ll see a whole lot more when I do the 3FC19 on one of the new CSC 450cc RX4 adventure bikes.

My RX3 and its campaign ribbons…

I thought it might make for a nice change of pace if I actually posted something about motorcycles on this here motorcycle blog, so yesterday I fired up my faithful old RX3 and rode over to CSC Motorcycles.  Steve has a very cool 1982 Yamaha Seca that he said I could ride, and I wanted to experience what it’s like to ride a nearly-40-year-old motorcycle, built during the Reagan Administration, with only 1700 miles on the clock.   I’ll have a story on that later (Spoiler Alert:  The RX3 is a nicer motorcycle).  For today, I grabbed a few photos of my RX3 and I wanted to talk about my bike and its decals a bit.

Restaurants, Baja Runs, and more…my RX3 wears its decals like campaign ribbons. In a very real sense, that’s exactly what they are.

My RX3 is one of the very first ones delivered to America when CSC starting importing the bikes, and the story behind that is well told (if I do say so myself) in 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM.  It’s orange, which became sort of a nice orange-yellow over the years, and I like the look.  I also like the look of a lot of decals.  I always thought that was a cool aspect of the whole ADV thing, telling folks where you’ve been and (with the help of a little artwork and adhesive) bragging about it a bit.   And my RX3 and I have covered a few miles.

My first big RX3 ride, and one of the things that I think put CSC and the RX3 on the map was the 2015 Baja Run (our first, and maybe a first in the motorcycle industry for a new bike introduction).   I didn’t know how that would go, I was nervous as hell that the bikes wouldn’t fare well, but my fears were unfounded. It was an incredible ride.  And, it was our first decal.  That’s the big round one you see just above the my saddle in the photo above.

Next up:  The Chinese and a couple of cool guys from Colombia wanted to come to the US and ride with us.   And I got to meet a cool guy named Joe Gresh, who Motorcyclist magazine sent to ride with us.  You need to read 5000 Miles At 5000 RPM to get the full story on that adventure tour, too.  It was grand.  Azusa to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, ride west across Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington, and then a turn left at the ocean to ride the western US coast back to So Cal.  The relevant point here is that ride made for a bitchin’ decal, which you can see in the photo below.

The Western America Adventure Ride. It was grand. 5000 miles, lots of bikes, and not a single breakdown. Gresh staged a burnout with his RX3 in Port Orford, Oregon…the burnout heard around the world. John Welker planned our stops and navigated for us. It was a magnificent ride.

Then we did a bunch more CSC Baja rides, and with each one came another decal.  Then I did a ride across China with Gresh on a couple of RX3s we borrowed from Zongshen (I wrote a book about that one, too).  Then it was a ride around the Andes Mountains in Colombia with my good buddies Juan (who was on ride across America with us) and Carlos, both supercool guys who took great care of me in Medellin, Barichara, Mompos, and a whole bunch of other magnificent Colombian destinations.  Yep, that resulted in yet another book.

Luggage decals…Mama Espinoza’s in El Rosario (incredible lobster burritos), BajaBound Mexican insurance (the best), and the Horizons Unlimited Rally in northern California.
My Chinese buddies gave me a Chinese flag to put on my bike, I had to add a US flag to show where my loyalties lie, and a decal good buddy Juan’s Colombian motorcycle magazine, DeMotos.com.co.

I could ask if you knew how many RX3 breakdowns I experienced in all those miles, but I know you already know the answer: Zero.

Yep, that little 250 has taken me to hell and back, and my RX3 just keeps running and running and running.   An added benefit?  Mine is orange (it’s the fastest color, Orlando).

And that brings us to now, and the latest decal to adorn my well-broken-in, trusty, faithful and fearless companion.   It’s the supercool ExhaustNotes.us decal, and it’s perfect on my RX3.

Joe Gresh had a magnificent idea in creating an ExhaustNotes.us decal. I had just enough real estate to add it to my RX3!

So there you have it.  Imagine that:  A motorcycle story on a motorcycle blog!  And there’s more motorcycle stuff in the pipeline.  Truth be told, I enjoyed my RX3 sprint this morning, and it helped me realize I need to ride it more.  Welker called me about Sturgis a couple of says ago.  That might be fun.  If I go, I’d do it on the RX3.  I’d forgotten just how magnificent a motorcycle the RX3 is.

Stay tuned, folks…there’s more coming!

Would you like your very own ExNotes decal?  Hey, sign up for our automatic email updates, and we’ll shoot a couple out to you!

Baja Riding Gear

The right bike and the right clothes make for good traveling, and this is especially important when you’re riding Baja.   Travel light and travel right is the way to go.  What you don’t want to do is travel like I did on my first Baja trip.  On that one, my Harley looked like that opening scene in The Beverly Hillbillies (you know, the one with everything strapped to Jed Clampett’s old pickup, including Granny in a rocking chair on top).

How not to do it. My old Harley was way overloaded on this early Baja trip.

I guess it all starts with the right bike, and for all of us, that’s the bike we have.   I’ve ridden Baja on many different motorcycles, and they all worked for me.  My preferred bike for Baja riding, though, is my CSC RX3, which I think is perfect (especially with its standard luggage).  I’ve settled on a 250 as the perfect size for real adventure travel (your choice may be different, I’m not trying to pick a fight, and if my choice upsets you, hey, you’re young…you’ll get over it).

My RX3 early in its life. I can pack everything I bring with me on a Baja ride in its luggage. My bike also has a sheepskin seat cover, which makes for a more comfortable ride.

When I’m on the RX3, I can carry everything I need in its two panniers and the top case, with nothing strapped onto the bike with bungee cords.  I don’t like to carry stuff outside the luggage, because everything is locked and I can leave the bike when we stop to eat or take pictures without worrying about anyone stealing anything.   I’m usually carrying more than most of the folks I ride with, too, because I’ve got my Nikon DSLR, a laptop computer, the power supply and cord for the laptop, the recharger for the camera battery, an extra camera battery, and a laptop mouse.  I need to keep the beast fed (i.e., this blog), and I blog daily from the road.   The top case is devoted to the computer and the camera gear.  I keep tools, spare parts (you can read about recommended Baja spares here), and chain lube in the right pannier, and clothes in the left pannier.   Remember what I said above…travel light and travel right.

If I’m on a bike that doesn’t have luggage, my preferred approach includes an older Nelson Rigg tailpack and a set of Wolfman soft pannier bags.  That’s all I need.  These two items go on and off the bike easily and they are high quality items.   I bought the Nelson-Rigg tailpack 20 years ago when I rode Baja on my TL1000S, and I bought the Wolfman bags from CSC when I rode Baja with my TT250.  I’ve been impressed with both the Wolfman and Nelson-Rigg brands.   Wolfman, especially…it’s good gear.

My old TL1000S (the first year for that bike…it was a ’97) and the Nelson-Rigg tailpack. The TL is long gone; the tailpack is still covering miles with me.
My TT250 with my Joe Rocket gloves, HJC helmet, Wolfman soft luggage, and Nelson-Rigg Tailpack (the same one you see on the TL1000S above, but 20 years later in this photo).  All good gear.

My helmet is another item I bought from CSC.  It’s an HJC and I like it.  It’s not heavy (which makes a huge difference when you’re covering hundreds of miles day after day) and it’s comfortable.  I’ve tried others, but I keep coming back to the HJC line.   I have a Scorpion, but it doesn’t have a visor position that allows opening the visor slightly for air flow.  Others don’t form a good seal between the visor and the helmet, so when it rains the visor gets wet on both the inside and the outside.  Nope, for me that HJC works.

The HJC helmet I currently use. It’s comfortable and it’s not heavy.

My jacket is made by Olympia.  I like it because of the color (fluorescent yellow), and the fact that it is all one color.  Most (maybe all) of the other fluorescent yellow jackets available today have black panels along with the fluorescent yellow and I don’t care for that approach.  My jacket has a removable liner and it keeps me warm, and at night if it’s cool and I’m off the bike, I can wear just the liner as a light jacket.

A selfie showing my Joe Rocket gloves and my Olympia riding jacket. I didn’t realize it when I bought it, but keeping that Oly jacket on the road required more maintenance than the motorcycles.

I should mention that I hated the Olympia jacket the first two years I owned it.  Olympia used cheap stitching when they had these made, and most of it came undone.  Every time I washed that jacket, more stitching came apart.  Oly wouldn’t make good on it (they were quick to point out that the jacket had a 1-year warranty).  I paid a tailor to resew all the seams, though, and after that, it stayed together (even after repeated washings).  It’s the jacket I wear most often now.

I always bring along my R Heroes 505 workshirt, an ultra-high quality sweatshirt I wrote about in an ExNotes blog a few months ago.  I own two of these shirts (one of which has held up for 10 years now).  It’s warm and it’s extremely comfortable.  It’s also loose enough that if you’re carrying a concealed sidearm, it provides good coverage (don’t do that in Baja, though). I love my R Heroes shirts.

My R Heroes 505 workshirt. I love it.

I wear Walmart jeans (I’m not into fancy jeans and I think anybody that pays big bucks for blue jeans is bonkers) and an old set of motorcycle pants.  On  warmer days, the motorcycle pants go into one of my bags and it’s just the jeans.  On cooler days or if it’s raining, I wear both.  My motorcycle pants are water resistant but not waterproof (if the rain lasts long enough, they’ll soak through).   Every year or so, I’ll spray the paints with Kiwi water repellant to refresh the Scotchguard.  I’m kind of embarrassed that I don’t know who made the motorcycle pants.  I’ve had them for more than 20 years and the labels are long gone.

My gloves are Joe Rocket.  Joe Rocket gear is reasonably priced and the quality is there.  I have two pair.  I cut off the right index finger tip off on one so I can work my iPhone when I’m using it as a nav system.  I also have an older set of BMW cold weather riding gloves, and they work gangbusters. I think I paid a hundred bucks for the BMW gloves (everything that says BMW is big bucks), but on supercold mornings, I’m constantly reminded that was money well spent.

The last item I’ll mention are my boots.  I’m not a big fan of any of the motorcycle-specific boots because they are too big, too heavy, and too uncomfortable when you get off the bike.  I like military or police style boots, and my preferred brand is from an outfit called HAIX.  They’re Austrian (the boots are actually manufactured in Croatia).  They’re expensive (about $200), but they are worth it. The first pair I bought lasted 10 years.   I bought a new pair a year or two ago, and I’ll get 10 years with them, too.

The RX3-P Police Motorcycle

A few years ago when visiting the Zongshen plant in Chongqing, I spotted an RX3 set up as a police bike.  It caught my eye for several reasons.  First and foremost, it was a snappy looking motorcycle.  I had written the police motorcycle book a few years ago and I was naturally interested in any police motorcycle.  I thought (mistakenly, as it turned out) that there might be a market for such a machine in the US.  And finally, I was interested in the bike because of something I had discovered while researching police motorcycles:  Police motorcycles generally had beefed-up electrical systems (particularly with regard to alternator output) because of the added demands of sirens, emergency lights, radios, and more.

I asked my good buddy Fan about the electrical issues on the 250cc RX3 police bike, and he told me that the police version had a 300-watt alternator (the standard bike had a 220-watt alternator).   The standard 220 watts wasn’t bad, and that was actually more than the ’06 KLR I owned at the time provided.   ADV riders like big alternators, because we add stuff like driving lights, heated vests, heated grips, cell phone chargers, and more.  At the time, I was coordinating the first CSC RX3 order, and I asked if the police alternator could be had on the CSC civilian bikes.  “Sure, no problem,” Fan answered.  That was a big deal, and it cinched the sale for more than a few riders when CSC brought the RX3 to America.

I was still pumped about the police bike, though, and I convinced CSC to bring the RX3-P to the US for a trial marketing period.   You can see my enthusiasm in the video we put together on the bike…

I thought the idea of a 250cc, urban-oriented police motorcycle made a lot of sense for the United States, but it wasn’t to be.   We shipped a bike to the NYPD (I knew they used Vespa scooters, and the RX3-P cost a hell of a lot less than a Vespa), we loaned a bike to a California police agency up north, and I called and visited a bunch of police departments.   It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed riding the RX3-P to visit agencies in So Cal.  Traffic just opened up on the freeway.  Nobody tailgated me.   I put my blinkers on and people slowed to make room for me to change lanes.  Traffic generally dropped to the speed limit wherever I went.  At one of the agencies, a police captain told me I wasn’t supposed to be riding around with police emergency lights and such on the bike.  “It’s okay,” I told him.  “I only put that stuff on if somebody won’t move over or if they’re really being an asshole.”  We had a good laugh about that.

My enthusiasm notwithstanding, I couldn’t close the deal with any of the police departments.  There were a variety of reasons, mostly centered around the RX3-P’s newness and the fact that US motor officers like big bikes (Beemers, Harleys, Honda’s ST1300, and the like).   Or maybe I was just a lousy salesman.  Who knows?

There are a lot of good reasons for a smaller police motorcycle with offroad capabilities and Zongshen wanted to make it happen, but it just wasn’t meant to be here in the US.  That’s unfortunate.  A Zongshen police bike is about the same price as a civilian RX3 (roughly $4K); a new Harley or BMW police motor is five to seven times that amount.  And the maintenance costs on a police motorcycle are very high.   The needs brakes, clutches, and tires about every three months, and most agencies have that work done at a Harley or BMW dealer (places not known for their low service fees).  One of the police execs I spoke with told me it actually costs a department more to keep a police motorcycle on the road than a police car.  Do the math.

We publicized the bike big time on the CSC blog, and I think that got noticed around the world.   The RX3-P found a home with several large police departments in Asia and South America.   That’s a good thing, because it’s a great bike.  I’d still like to see it happen here in America.  I imagine Zongshen will introduce a police version of their RX4, and maybe that larger bike will have a better chance at breaking into the US police motorcycle market.   Someday.  Maybe.  We’ll see.