I had just a few more photos from our most recent TT250 San Felipe run I wanted to share with you…
That sure was a fun ride. I’m ready to do it again.
I had just a few more photos from our most recent TT250 San Felipe run I wanted to share with you…
That sure was a fun ride. I’m ready to do it again.
Based on our insanely-restrictive California firearms laws, that beautiful Mk IV Turnbull Ruger I showed in the blog below is not available in my home state. It seems the gun doesn’t have a feature on the firing pin that would allow for identifying the firearm from a shell casing in the unlikely case it was ever used in a crime. It’s called microstamping, and rather than implement it on this gun, Ruger basically told California to, well, you can imagine. Ah, well, that’s one new toy I won’t be getting. I suppose I could send the barrel from my old Mk I to Turnbull for the color case hardening treatment, but I really wanted that new Mk IV.
Win some, lose some, I guess.
Color case hardening (a process of using bone on metal under extreme heat to produce a dazzling exotic finish) was pretty much a lost art until Turnbull Manufacturing brought it back to life a few years ago. Turnbull specializes in firearms restoration and manufacturing limited runs of new guns with their unique finish. I bought one such limited run firearm about 10 years ago…it was a Smith and Wesson resurrection of their awesome Model 1917 in .45 ACP…with the frame getting the Turnbull treatment.
The 1917 .45 ACP revolver is an amazing story in itself. The US had already switched to the 1911 .45 auto, but when World War I broke out, we didn’t have enough of the new automatics to go around. Our military already knew that the new .45 ACP cartridge was the way to go, so they convinced both Colt and Smith & Wesson to chamber their large frame double action revolvers in that cartridge. I used to own a 1917 Colt, but I foolishly sold it when the prices were still in the “yeah, that seems okay” range (now they are stratospheric).
Anyway, I received an email last night that Turnbull is offering a limited run of the Ruger Mk IV .22 automatic pistol with their signature color case hardened finish…
I think I’m going to (pardon the pun) pull the trigger on one if I can find a dealer to order one for me, and if it is still legal to own one here in the Peoples’ Republik of Kalifornia. (We’ve got some really nutty gun laws in this state. You have to take the good with the bad, I suppose. We have great weather, great roads, and great riding, but on this gun thing, the inmates have taken over the asylum.) Back to the main attraction for a minute…I own a Mk I Ruger .22 auto. It is accurate and it is a lot of fun, so I know the gun will be good. With that Turnbull treatment, a Mk IV Ruger is going to be awesome. I’ll keep you posted on what I find out about buying one here in California.
Now that we’ve shown it is indeed possible to travel long distances on the TT250 and use it as a touring platform, check out these Cortech saddlebags on the TT250…
The Cortech bags look good and they have a lot of space. If there’s enough interest, we’ll stock them. Let us know what you think.
I showed a photograph of this vintage BMW hot rod last week before we left for Baja, and when I returned to the plant this morning Gerry had it pushed out front. It was an opportunity to grab a few more photos and I did…
The bike is cool. It’s a 1962 R50, which was originally a 500cc BMW boxer twin. The “boxer” nomenclature refers to the engine configuration. The pistons move back and forth horizontally (like a boxer throwing punches), with one cylinder sticking out on either side of the bike.
The boxer in those days was an overhead valve engine, which means the valves were above the cylinder and they were actuated through pushrods, which were in turn driven by a cam lower in the engine. The chrome tubes you see above the cylinder in the photo above house the pushrods.
Pushrod engines are definitely old school, and the pushrod overhead valve engine design has been around for at least 60 years. It still works well, though, and it generally makes an engine easier to maintain. Our TT250 is an overhead valve pushrod engine, and I am more than pleased with the performance of mine. It’s a little torque monster. On the recent Baja trip, I found I could pretty much leave the TT250 in 5th gear once I hit 30 mph. I rode through most of the mountains without ever downshifting.
BMW made both a 500cc and a 600cc model back then (I’m pretty sure the bikes were the same, other than engine displacement). They also offered a high-performance version of the 600cc engine and that model was designated as the R69S. This bike has the R69S engine and, of course, a sidecar. Sidecars are cool. They’re not my cup of tea, but that’s okay. Some folks love them. Our good buddy Dan has two Urals (a contemporary Russian motorcycle based on the BMW boxer twin design) with sidecars. Oh, one other thing I almost forgot…BMW also offered a smaller single-cylinder bike back then. The size? It was a 250, of course…the ideal size for real-world adventure travel. It was based on just one of the BMW’s cylinders, with the piston traveling straight up and down (much like the TT250).
Another oddity that distinguished the BMWs of an earlier era were the Earles forks. Instead of using a telescopic fork design, BMW used the Earles concept, which is sort of a reversed swingarm for the front wheel…
The Earles design, I’ve read, works better on a bike with a sidecar.
I’m a vintage bike fan, and I always have been. I’d love to own one of those early BMWs like you see in the photos above. They’re just cool. Tomorrow I’m headed to the Doffo vineyards here in southern California, where the owner has a large collection of vintage bikes. It’s for a story I’m doing for one of the motorcycle magazines. Watch for photos here on the CSC blog.
Speaking of classic bikes, my money is on the RX3 as a future classic. The bike’s design is iconic, and it certainly is making waves in the motorcycle world. We’ll see.
Today was one of those days when I didn’t feel like taking any photos or doing any video. We had already experienced three great days on our San Felipe TT250 adventure ride, and on this, our fourth and last day, all I wanted to do was go for a motorcycle ride with my friends. And I did. But let me back up to yesterday.
We were up early yesterday in San Felipe, and when I went out to watch the sunrise over the Sea of Cortez, Captain Dan was already out there taking pictures. I took a bunch, including several to create a panoramic shot from the hotel’s new wing to the north all the way to points south. This was the first shot of that series…
And this is the panoramic shot I put together from six shots…it’s a full 180-degrees from north to south, with the sun rising in the east..
The ride out of San Felipe yesterday morning was great. It was already hot in San Felipe, but the temperatures dropped as we rolled north on Mexico’s Highway 5. We turned left 31 miles later to ride roughly diagonally northwest to Ensenada. I didn’t stop for photos, but I captured great video. This is what it looks like from the seat of a TT250 riding Highway 3 across the desert…
We rode all the way across northern Baja and rolled into downtown Ensenada shortly after noon. We stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant Willie knows well. I don’t eat lobster any more (you know, old guy cholesterol restrictions and all that), but I can still dream. The lobsters were live, and this guy looked like he knew his day wasn’t going to end well…
We’d been riding for 3 days, and everybody was in good spirits. Dan said that sometimes you just have to slow down and smell the roses, and I was there to capture the moment…
From there it was back on Highway 3 where it turned northeast through northern Baja’s wine country. I bought a bottle of cabernet at the L.A. Cetto vineyard with the thought that we’d open it with our dinner later in Tecate that night. We did, too, but I’ll get to that part of the story in a minute or two.
The vineyard visit was fun. Here’s a shot of our crew there…that’s Matt, Dan 1, Willie, Mike, Dan 2, and yours truly. A very nice young lady took this photo with my iPhone…
We stayed in the Hacienda Hotel last night in Tecate (the El Dorado Hotel, where we had stayed two nights earlier, had no rooms). After we checked in, we kicked around in the Hacienda courtyard for a bit…
We asked about nearby restaurants, and the hotel dude recommended a taco place just up the street. We walked over to Dumas Tacos. You can guess at the jokes we made when we saw the sign…
Tacos Dumas had about every kind of taco you can imagine, except chicken. I wasn’t up for tripe or tongue, so I opted for plain old asada tacos (that’s beef), and they were beyond delicious. Willie explained what all of the different meats were, and watching the guy making tacos was a treat all by itself…
The restaurant gave us little Styrofoam cups, I opened my bottle of cabernet sauvignon, and it all went down well. It was quite a night.
We were up early this morning, and the ride home today was cool. Abe and Greg taught us a trick the last time we did a CSC Baja run through Tecate, and we know how to go to the head of the border crossing line on a motorcycle. It took us less than two minutes to get through the US border checkpoint. Willie, Matt, and Mike went home on Interstate 5. The two Dans wanted to ride the same road back that we came in on through the California countryside, and I did, too. It was another glorious ride.
The take-aways on all this? Hey, there are several…
So there you have it…our first adventure ride on the TT250s, a fun-filled 4-day adventure, a great new motorcycle, and another cool tank decal. I had a great time, and I’m pretty sure Dan 1, Dan 2, Matt, Mike, and Willie did, too.
Keep an eye on the blog, my friends. There are many more great stories and adventures coming your way from your favorite motorcycle company!
Possibly one of the most dramatic stretches of road in the world, it’s what we rode yesterday. Folks, it just doesn’t get any better than this!
Wow, what a day! The Rumarosa grade, riding across the desert to San Felipe, and swimming in the Sea of Cortez! The bikes are running great and so are we. Good buddies Greg and Abe met us in Tecate last night and the eight of us had a fabulous ride!
Check out the photos from a fantastic day in no particular order (I uploaded them to the blog in roughly the same sequence as I took them)…
After descending through the Rumarosa Grade, we headed south on Mexico Highway 5 toward San Felipe. We stopped at a roadside taco stand in the middle of the desert for some incredible goat tacos (it’s called birria down here). Wow, they were fantastic!
After lunch, it was an easy run to San Felipe. We stopped for a photo beneath the San Felipe light house…
We checked in to the El Cortez hotel in San Felipe and immediately went for a swim in the Sea of Cortez. This is a great ride!
I couldn’t get a good Internet connection in San Felipe last night, so I’m posting this from Tecate. It’s our last night in Mexico. I’ll post photos of today’s ride later. We sure are having a great time. I know you’re wondering, and here’s the answer: The bikes are running great. It’s funny…our bikes cost $2,195 brand new. We’re seeing guys down here on $25,000 KTMs and Beemers, and I don’t think they’re having as much fun as we are.
Just $2,195 for a new TT250. Think about that, and think about this: It could be you in those photos above. It should be you!
Oh, one more thing…boy oh boy, am I getting awesome video! I won’t be able to post it from Mexico, but when I return to the plant you are going to see some awesome stuff!
Later, my friends!