Mark Twain, Joe Gresh, and other Classics…

One of my favorite motorcycle forums is the ChinaRiders.net site.  They’ve got an active RX3 community and there’s a lot of good information on that site.   Somebody on ChinaRiders mentioned the venom that spews forth from the China haters when the topic of our favorite motorcycle (the RX3) emerges online.    The comment said something along the lines of “I’d be embarrassed to post some of the stuff these guys post…they are so stupid, don’t they realize they are broadcasting their ignorance to the world?”  I may not have the exact words that poster used, but I immediately agreed with the sentiment and then I thought of what Mark Twain said.  Ain’t it the truth?

My good buddy Joe Gresh, who rode the Western America Adventure Ride with us, had two interesting pieces in the latest edition of Motorcyclist magazine.  One is a piece on the Big Ride…our 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride.   You should read that one (he titled it “Red Ryder,” partly because the RX3 he rode was red, and partly, I’m guessing, because we rode through country that looked like it was lifted right off the set of a Hollywood Western).   The other piece Joe wrote in this month’s issue was his monthly column, “Cranked.”  In it, Gresh directly takes on the topic of what he calls “motoracism.”  I think that is one of the best pieces I’ve ever read.   In the article, he suggests that a lot of the animosity directed toward Chinese motorcycles is little more than racist ranting.  I agree.

Here’s what I think:   Anyone who automatically dismisses a product as inferior without knowing anything other than its country of origin is nothing more than an ignorant racist.  That’s what the Internet haters are.  That’s all they are.

Some of this motoracist ignorance and bias is almost comical.  Take the guy who posted that he only rides “quality” and that’s why he has a Harley.  Really?  That guy is too stupid to know that parts of his quality Harley are actually manufactured by Zongshen.  Take those scooter dealer clowns in Cleveland who did a podcast a few months ago slamming us, the RX3, and all two-wheeled transportation from China.  They were too stupid to realize that Vespa, the marque they sell, uses Zongshen to make some of their models.  In China.  Right next to where they make the Harley stuff.  And on and on it goes.  Ah, if stupid was money, these guys would all be rolling in dough.

Okay, that’s enough of my rant.   On to the more positive stuff.  Here’s my prediction, boys and girls:  The RX3 motorcycles you folks are buying right now are classic motorcycles.  In 20 or 30 or 40 years, they will be as classic and iconic as many of the motorcycles we get all dewey-eyed about today.   I think I’m on firm ground here when I make that prediction.   I write for Motorcycle Classics magazine, I’ve been around the block a few times, and I think I have the eye and the emotion to recognize both past and present classics.

My vote on the past classic bikes?   Glad you asked.  Here are my favorites:

• The 1965 Harley Electra-Glide.   It was the first electric-start Harley and the last panhead.   As a full dresser, with those big chrome valve covers (hence the “panhead” moniker), with saddlebags and a windshield tinted to match the bike, with its huge valanced fenders and massive amounts of chrome, it was (and is still) an absolutely stunning motorcycle.  I first saw a full dress ’65 Pan at a trapshoot when I was a kid.  It stopped me in my tracks.   I was riding a Schwinn, fantasizing about the day I’d be able to get a motorcycle, and there was this magnificent blue and chrome beast.   Right then and there, I knew that someday I would own a Harley just like that one.
• Any mid-60’s white BMW boxer twin.    I first saw one of these when I was a kid accompanying my Dad on a trip to Lucerne, Switzerland.   We were strolling down the sidewalk past all the cuckoo clock and pastry stores when I saw a Swiss motor officer on a white BMW.    If I had committed a crime and that cop needed to slap the cuffs on me, it would have been an easy collar.  That white BMW was visually arresting, and I froze in my tracks when I saw it.  My Dad was a block ahead of me when he realized I was still staring at the Beemer.  Prior to that, I had only ever seen black BMWs with white pinstriping.  This Beemer was kind of an ivory white with black pinstripes.  It was almost as if I was looking at the negative of a BMW photo…what was supposed to be black was white, and vice versa.   Earles forks.  That weird sideways kickstarter.  The low stance of the thing.  The bike was just riveting.  I still want one.  Not a new BMW, but an older R69S.  In ivory white.  Just like that one I saw in Switzerland 50+ years ago.
• The 1965 Honda Super Hawk.  In black.  With those big chrome side panels.   My Dad actually owned one of those.  It was awesome.  When he bought it home, it stopped me in my tracks.  The latest, the greatest, the fastest, and with electric starting, no less.  I kept that Super Hawk spotless for my Dad and I loved doing it (I’d detail it every other day).
• The 1971 Honda CB750.   In red.  I had one.  I bought it new for $1559.  I wish I still had it.    Compared to the Triumphs and the Harleys of that era, it sounded like a Formula 1 race car.  When I first saw one, it had turned the corner in front of my house and accelerated away, hard.  It screamed.  The look and the Offenhauser-engine-like howl stopped me in my tracks.  Nothing else mattered in the months that followed…I had to scrape up the bucks to buy a Honda 750.  I rode mine all the way up into Canada and back as a college student.  I still dream about it.
• Any mid-to-late 1960s Triumph twin.  I guess my favorite is the 1965 Triumph Bonneville.   It looked and sounded just perfect.  Blue.  Silver.   The chrome parcel grid.   The big Smiths speedo and tach.  The big chome pipes.  I’ve owned several Triumphs from that era.  I loved every one of them.   I don’t own one now, which is a character flaw I will correct one of these days.
• Any of the first-gen KLRs.   They are so ugly they’re beautiful.  They’re functional.   They handle terribly compared to my RX3, but I still love them.    I own a 2006 KLR, the next-to-last-year of the Gen 1 bikes.  When I first saw one, I knew it made sense and, like I said, it was so ugly it was beautiful.  It stopped me in my tracks.  I’ve been all over Baja on mine.  I love it and I’ll probably never sell it (even though I hardly ever ride it any more, now that I have my RX3).

And yes, the CSC RX3.  It’s the bike that is changing how America views Chinese motorcycles.  It’s the bike that is bringing serious riders like you and me back to sensibly-sized motorcycles.  I’ll probably never sell my orange 2015 RX3 (orange is the fastest color, you know).  It handles well, it gets 70 mpg, it will go 84 mph, and it will run all day and every day at 75 mph on the freeway.   I know because I’ve done it.   I’ve already had a lot of great experiences on my RX3.  And, the bike just looks right.  Like all the others described above, it stopped me in my tracks the first time I ever saw one.   The RX3 is a classic now and it will be a classic in the future.  Mark my words.