Baby Sportster?

I saw an ad in the latest AMA magazine for this bike. It's from QJ Motors - a firm I'd never heard of before. The ad listed SSR Motorsports as the exclusive distributor for the SRV 300. At first glance it looked like another iteration of a Sportster, but it's only 300cc and $5,000. Too small and not near expensive enough to be a HD. QJ Motors and Benelli are both owned by the same company, QJ Group. I'm familiar with the Benelli name, but they're now Chinese rather than Italian. The link will give you a short update on the brand.

And speaking of Sportsters, I put the cam chest back together but neglected to install the rear brake pivot shaft through the hole in the cover. I'll blame that on the fact I didn't take it apart along with the fact I had the cable and shaft zip-tied out of the way - out of sight, out of mind. Fortunately, I bought two gaskets when I ordered, so no real harm done. Just a pain in the ass having to take it apart again. I finished up installing the lifters and pushrods yesterday, so the engine work should be complete now. 

Next up is deciding if I want to make a rack for behind the seat while I've got the rear wheel off. If so, need to get that completed and then I can install the new tire. I still need to get a front tire and decide if I want to replace the drag pipes, which I do. I just don't know if I can buy something like I want at a reasonable price or if I want to go through the trouble of making a set. I'm leaning toward fabbing up a set and then sending them out for the Jet Hot coating like I did on the jitney. A couple of short slip-on mufflers would be an easy improvement from a noise stand-point. Something else to think about.

And while we're talking motorbikes, The AMA magazine also had an article about the Royal Enfield motor bicycle from 1901. Basically, this is a brand new, hand-built machine to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the company in 2021. Interesting article. Royal Enfield has some sharp people in their marketing, as well as in their engineering department. I don't have any firm sales figures, but they seem to be selling a lot of motorcycles here in the US now. I'm happy with my Himalayan. It was fun riding it on my little road-trip last weekend. The 650 models are probably more in line with what riders here in the US are looking for. Most American riders think even a 650 is too small but I'd be willing to ride my 411cc Himalayan cross country, but I'm a guy who has ridden a good part of the country on a bicycle. 

And now for something completely different, I picked up a couple of loaves of sourdough bread the other day as payment for the repair on the cart at the CSA. That's one of the prettiest loaves of bread I've ever seen - tastes as good as it looks also. The bartering system is still alive and well and with the way things are going, might be making a real solid comeback in the not too distant future.