{"id":8943,"date":"2020-06-24T06:06:10","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T13:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=8943"},"modified":"2020-06-24T06:06:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T13:06:10","slug":"a-tt250-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/06\/24\/a-tt250-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"A TT250 Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I woke up last Friday with but one thought:\u00a0 I have got to get out on my motorcycle today.<\/p>\n<p>Well, I did, and I had a glorious ride up through the Cajon Pass in southern California.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the pass that cuts between the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains.\u00a0 Most folks would just take Interstate 15 from So Cal to the High Desert through the Cajon, but to me riding a motorcycle on the freeway is a bit of a crime against nature.\u00a0 There are surface streets that get you through most of the Cajon Pass, and if you know where to look, there are dirt roads that do the same.\u00a0 Those roads are way more fun, but it&#8217;s like I said&#8230;you have to know where to look.<\/p>\n<p>Me?\u00a0 I know where to look.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8967\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8967\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8967 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8092-800-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8092-800-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8092-800-600-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8967\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">On old Route 66 through the Cajon Pass. Yep, it&#8217;s still there, and it was a perfect photo op with my black CSC TT250 on a cloudy June morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Big freight trains slog through the Cajon Pass on a regular basis, and there&#8217;s a dirt road that runs along the tracks for several miles.\u00a0 It was a perfect road for the TT250.\u00a0 I was out there on my own, having a good old time when I stopped to grab a photo, and that&#8217;s when I heard it.\u00a0 The rails, that is.\u00a0 They started singing.\u00a0 They do that when there&#8217;s a train downrange.\u00a0 You can actually hear the metallic buzz the rails emit miles before the train comes into view.\u00a0 Time to switch the cell phone camera to the video mode.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t see anything for a couple of minutes, and then way down the hill in the distance I could just make out a headlight.\u00a0 Then that one orange orb became three blurry headlights, the signature of the first of several freight locomotives.\u00a0 They were working hard.\u00a0 It takes a lot of power to pull a train up a mountain pass.\u00a0 The lights grew in size, the indistinct three orange dots came into focus, and there it was:<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mVe-CFDw9FM\" width=\"695\" height=\"391\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The train was a monster.\u00a0 I finished the video, I took several stills, and then I mounted up and rode at a sedate pace in the opposite direction for a good five minutes before I saw the end of that train.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll bet it was three miles long.\u00a0 Maybe more.\u00a0 There were four locomotives pulling and there was a fifth on the tail end. It&#8217;s hard to imagine the weight and the energy of a freight train like the one I saw that morning.\u00a0 And it was doing it all going uphill, charging through the Cajon Pass from the Pomona Valley up to the High Desert. It was impressive.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8968\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8968\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8968 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8101-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8101-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8101-600-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8968\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">That train just kept coming, and coming, and coming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I had a hell of a ride that morning.\u00a0 A bit of freeway (but not too much), a fair amount of dirt, a stream crossing that was deeper than I thought it would be (and damn, there was no one to video me standing on the pegs with water splashing all over my boots and jeans), a train, Old Route 66, and nice, cool weather.\u00a0 It was grand.<\/p>\n<p>It was about 5 years ago that I was sitting in Zongshen&#8217;s marketing offices in Chongqing discussing this, that, and the other thing on the RX3 for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.CSCMotorcycles.com\">CSC Motorcycles<\/a>.\u00a0 All the while, I kept stealing peeks at a 150cc dual sport bike the Zongshen wizards had mounted on a display pedestal in their conference area.\u00a0 Finally, I asked&#8230;what&#8217;s the deal on that motorcycle?\u00a0 Can it be had with a 250cc engine?<\/p>\n<p>My good friend Chongqing Fan smiled.\u00a0 I could read that guy like a book, and what I was reading was this:\u00a0 He knew, and he knew I knew:\u00a0 The guys at Zongshen, China&#8217;s largest motorcycle manufacturer, they can do anything.\u00a0 A few quick digital pics back to CSC, a recommendation, a quick decision from a CEO who&#8217;s not afraid to make decisions (that would be Azusa Steve), and the CSC TT250 was born.\u00a0 I own one of the very first to arrive in America, and it&#8217;s been a hoot.\u00a0 We&#8217;ve even done Baja on the TT250s (talk about brand loyalty&#8230;half the guys on that ride also own an RX3).\u00a0 CSC can barely keep TT250 motorcycles in stock; they sell as soon as they arrive.\u00a0 Most of the time, they&#8217;re sold before the ship gets here.<\/p>\n<p>I selected black for my TT250 (one of three or four colors available in 2016) because I thought it would photograph well, and I was right. It does a lot more than just sit there and look pretty, though.\u00a0 The TT250 is a great motorcycle. It&#8217;s simple, torquey, easy to maintain, great handling, reliable, comfortable, and inexpensive. Plus, I know the factory and the people who make and import this motorcycle.\u00a0 Good buddy Gerry and I wrote the shop manual for this motorcycle, and I know the bike&#8217;s innards.\u00a0 You might say I know it inside and out.\u00a0 I think the fact that I know most everyone involved in creating and importing this motorcycle makes it even more of a hoot to ride.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8980\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8980\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8980 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_5959-650.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_5959-650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_5959-650-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8980\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">TT250s on the production line in Chongqing.\u00a0 Mine was in there somewhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8971\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8971\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8971 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8089-250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8089-250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_8089-250-169x300.jpg 169w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 85vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8971\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Your mileage may vary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The TT250 is about as simple as a motorcycle gets, and it has what has to be one of the most ubiquitous and reliable motorcycle engines on the planet.\u00a0 You see these motors in various versions (ranging from 125cc to 250cc) everywhere.\u00a0 They&#8217;re bulletproof.\u00a0 They&#8217;re designed to be rode hard and put away wet, and that&#8217;s what folks in South America, Central America, Asia, and the Middle East do.\u00a0 It&#8217;s no accident that my good buddies at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.JanusMotorcycles.com\">Janus Motorcycles<\/a> chose the same engine to power their amazing 250cc motorcycles. I&#8217;m going to ride my TT250 until the wheels fall off.\u00a0 Then I&#8217;ll buy replacement parts for probably something like $9 and repeat the process.<\/p>\n<p>The TT250 is a light bike.\u00a0 It&#8217;s easy to ride and easy to keep vertical (they tell me it&#8217;s easy to pick up if you drop it, but I&#8217;ve never dropped mine).\u00a0 The TT250 weighs 309 pounds wet and in an age of overweight, bloated, and expensive monster motorcycles, riding it is fun.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not an ego statement.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a motorcycle.\u00a0 It&#8217;s what a motorcycle should be.\u00a0 I feel like a kid every time I get on it (and in six months, I&#8217;ll be 70 years old).\u00a0 I started riding motorcycles on a Honda Super 90 (a 90cc single) when Lyndon Johnson was in the White House.\u00a0 Riding a simple single makes me a hooligan again, braapping the mean streets of rural New Jersey before I was old enough to have a license and loving every second of it.<\/p>\n<p>I have the 49T rear sprocket on my TT250 (one down from the stock 50T), and that&#8217;s about perfect for me.\u00a0 My bike tops out at about 66 mph indicated, and after my hundred mile ride through the Cajon Pass that morning I topped off and checked my fuel economy.\u00a0 62.5 mpg.\u00a0 Just a little better than I usually get. \u00a0 Your mileage, as they say, may vary.<\/p>\n<p>I have the Wolfman bags on my TT.\u00a0 They&#8217;re light, they don&#8217;t get in the way, they&#8217;ve held up well, and they&#8217;re handy if I want to carry stuff.\u00a0 That&#8217;s usually a few tools (just in case, but I&#8217;ve never needed them on the road), a bottle of Aleve, a change of underwear, and I&#8217;m good for a couple of weeks in Baja.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Baja, good buddy Baja John is another guy with the same affliction as me: He owns both an RX3 and a TT250.\u00a0 And a .44 Magnum or two, but that&#8217;s a story for another blog.\u00a0 Baja John keeps his TT250 at a beachfront home in Baja, and as soon as this Covid 19 business is in the rearview mirror, I&#8217;m headed down there.\u00a0 I want to photograph one or two of the more remote missions, John knows the trails, and the TT250 is the motorcycle to get us there.<\/p>\n<p>More good times are on the horizon, folks.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Epic rides reside <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ExhaustNotes.us\/Rides.html\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I woke up last Friday with but one thought:\u00a0 I have got to get out on my motorcycle today. Well, I did, and I had a glorious ride up through the Cajon Pass in southern California.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the pass that cuts between the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains.\u00a0 Most folks would just &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/06\/24\/a-tt250-ride\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A TT250 Ride&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[96,89,369],"tags":[1188,78,1189,297,207,75],"class_list":["post-8943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feel-good-stuff","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","category-zongshen","tag-cajon-pass","tag-csc-motorcycles","tag-csc-tt-250","tag-csc-tt250","tag-route-66","tag-zongshen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8943"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8994,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943\/revisions\/8994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}