So, checking an item off his bucket list, he bought a big BMW 1250 GS ADV bike, and headed South.
As a successful TV show Producer, with projects such as “The World’s Deadliest Catch”, “Ice Road Truckers”, and “Storage Wars” on his resume, George decided that he wasn’t quite living large enough. In the second segment, I chat with a dear friend of mine, Gentleman George Puckhaber. These relatively entry-level bikes, but man, we had huge fun on them, and in several ways both bikes surprised us. The first was relatively local, and pretty short, to Moab, Utah, where Associate Editor Teejay Adams and I tested the Yamaha TW200 and the Kawasaki KLX230 on a long, local fire road trail and later on the street. This week on Motos & Friends we take you on a couple of journeys. The all-new 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle is here-check it out at or of course, at your local dealer. Welcome to Motos and Friends, an Ultimate Motorcycling Podcast brought to you by Suzuki motorcycles.
In today’s arena of hyper-powered race machines masquerading as street bikes, there’s something truly invigorating about being able to ride a motorcycle to its full capabilities. You can twist the throttle all the way to the stop if you want, the sound of the engine will build and there’s more vibration, but oddly, you are not going to go any faster. The nostalgia is kept buzzing with carefully synchronized shifts through the gearbox at half-throttle, keeping the motor at a lazily thumping drone.
( Click image to enlarge)īarreling down the cracked asphalt that splits a labyrinth of orange groves, the Bullet Electra X whisks me back to my early forays into motorcycling. The Enfield gets an estimated 70 mpg, and with a fuel capacity of 3.8 gallons, you’re not going to be on a first name basis with your local gas station attendant. It is a little like driving a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle, and even has similar drinking habits. Due to its low horsepower output, the key to riding the Electra is maintaining momentum. In fact, the Electra X doesn’t do anything remarkably well, which paradoxically contributes to its considerable charm. Despite the catchy, suggestive moniker of the line, the Bullets are anything but. The riding experience garnered on the Enfield is, without a doubt, a return to a time when motorcycles’ raw and youthful enthusiasm far outweighed any mechanical shortcomings. When was the last time you kickstarted a street bike? Despite being equipped with a quirky electric starter, the Bullets come with a genuine old-school kick start as well. For safety reasons, the transmission was converted years ago into a left side shift, one-down/four-up.
It wasn’t until 2005 that the five-speeds became standard issue, and the Classic is still available as a four-speed for vintage racing. "5-Speed" is prominently forged into the engine cases for a reason. The Lean-Burn engine with electronic ignition, a rare acknowledgement of the calendar, complies with a more stringent spectrum of emission laws than the somewhat liberal levels imposed in India, allowing the company to look past its own borders for sales. With the inevitable swing of the fashion pendulum catapulting dated items back into the realm of cool, the humble little Indian manufacturer unexpectedly finds itself at the vanguard of style-a hip and fashionable icon of pop culture.The five flavors of Bullets imported into America are propelled by a 499cc air-cooled, four-stroke, single cylinder engine that produces 23 horsepower at 5,000 rpm. In a serendipitous turn of events-with the current craze of retro chic that has major motorcycle manufacturers proffering knock-offs of their former glories-Royal Enfield found itself in vogue simply by virtue of never having fixed what wasn’t broken.