Legacy Motorist, Piggeh, Taco, Husky and Northern California

Moving isn’t fun, especially when you have a garage full of spare engines, motorcycles and random stuff hoarded over the years. I even had to depart with my XS650 motor, among other stuff, but the engine is in good hands now and will find its place in a motorcycle with a sidecar and will breathe through a single carburettor, with milder cams pushing the rockers.

I dislike buying new vehicles, but I ended up with a Toyota Tacoma; Brand new 2012 TX double cab… to help me with the big move to Nor Cal. Everything I had was squeezed into the truck and my small utility trailer and hauled to Nor Cal. I couldn’t have made the move as safely without the Tacoma, especially because of the snow storm that almost put me in a ditch in Wyoming. Thank you ABS, AWD and traction control. Currently, the truck is under hauler duty, transporting two motorcycles and associated gear to off-road riding areas.

Speaking of off-road riding areas, I now own a 2004 Husqvarna WR250 two-smoker (new to me) which is simply a blast. The two stroke powerband took a little getting used to, but two crashes later, I was ripping through fairly technical single track on my way to the top of Goat Mountain.

The mountain roads here are amazing and thanks to my new hooligan riding buddies here, every weekend is a highly satisfying learning experience. It is fun, but scary sometimes, especially when riding supermoto on my XR650R with DOT knobbies. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the Dunlop D606s are, gripping pretty well on tarmac as well as gravel and mud. Unfortunately, I went through more than 50% of the tread in just 300 miles of aggressive riding.

Also, Piggeh went through a bunch of modifications, going back to the braced stock subframe, and a bunch of other billet bling additions. Each time I ride the XR, I love it even more. I don’t think I am ever going to sell it…