Because they don’t expect to sell them in massive volumes, Volvo disclosed that only around 500 will make it to the U.S. and all of them will be in a single trim, the highest Platinum one. What separates the Volvo S60 Crosscountry model from the standard ones is of course, 7.9 inches more ground clearance, skid plates both in the front and the rear, all-wheel drive, hill-descent and black fender extensions. To give you an idea of just how high off the ground it really is, consider this: the S60 Crosscountry is just 0.8 inches lower than the Subaru Forester and the Renegade Trailhawk. If you’re thinking this is similar to the A4 Allroad think again. The Audi only has 7.1 inch of clearance, some 0.8 inches less than the S60.

All four-wheel S60s (and V60s) get the almost defunct 2.5 liter five-cylinder mated to a six-speed auto. Front-wheel drive variants get a much newer 2.0 liter turbo four-cylinder unit coupled to an eight-speed auto but if we’re honest, we prefer the sound and feel of the 2.5 liter. It may be a bit more rough and mechanical, but isn’t that the point? The five-cylinder churns out 250 hp and 266 pound-feet of torque, some 10 hp and 8 lb-ft of torque more than the newer four-banger. And while 250 hp is a lot, it needs to be because the S60 Crosscountry tipped the scales at 3817 pounds. You may think that’s a lot, but it’s actually some 100 pounds less than the claimed weight (3913 pounds).

Performance is stellar. The sprint to 60 miles per hour is dealt with in just 6.1 seconds. The braking distance from 70 mph is 174 feet which is just about average. All in all, it’s not bad. It’s certainly a bit worse than a standard S60 with the same engine due to the increased ride height but you do get an all-round more capable car.

And that’s really the crucial keyword here: all-round. No, it won’t be as good of a road car as a standard S60, but it is more capable in terms of what else it can do. This isn’t a car for everyone, which is probably why Volvo is only sending 500 over to the U.S. The interior is super luxurious but trunk space is limited at 12 cubic foot (the estate offers more). If you like how it looks and wouldn’t mind owning one, we do recommend it. You may not be able to buy one if they’re sold out however, so keep that in mind too. Check with your local Volvo dealer or buy one second hand.

The post The Volvo S60 Crosscountry is Limited to just 500 in the US appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

We began training with the Wolfman bags and were immediately impressed by their good looks, versatility, and thoughtful design. They easily swallowed up heaps of gear, and between their inner bag and outer closing everything remained nicely dry and clean. As far as security, sure they’re less secure than a metal case but they don’t live up to the negative hype of being like Kleenex. All the folds and clasps for waterproofing also make getting into them unintuitive for the uninitiated and the toughness of the material makes knifing them a bit more complicated and intense than the casual sneak thief is up for. Cue the rare anecdotes of lone bikers, but thieves prey on easy targets and there are simpler scores than a bundle of snaps and webbing. They are really only under threat if left unattended for decent stretches of time, and then they are so simple to remove from your bike and carry with you that there’s no reason to leave them behind. Overall, I was not expecting to be as impressed as I was with the Wolfman bags.

In the other camp we have SW-MOTECH’s TRAX ADVENTURE panniers. These classic hard panniers have been around the world more times than a rock band roadie, and tend to survive the trip with far fewer leaks afterwards. The model we tested were a gigantic 45L. We never filled them up for our two day race through the Mojave, but would doubtless find a use for every inch during longer voyages. We loved the black finish on ours, and the water-tight gasket provided peace of mind through puddles and rain. Speaking of peace of mind, it’s difficult to fault the security of hard luggage. Not only do the lids lock close, but the cases themselves are also locked to the bike through the same key. Should you wish or need to remove them (as we did several times during the race for particularly treacherous or difficult sections), you need simply unlock them from the SW-MOTECH luggage rack and lift them off with a simple tug. This process is even simpler than the buckles and loops used by the soft luggage. After campaigning through the desert with these, I completely understand why hard panniers are the choice of world travelers.

Head to head, it’s difficult to fault either hard or soft luggage. this is why this argument among adventure riders is so perpetual. Generally, most chalk up their decision to riding style or aesthetic preferences but we aren’t going to cop out like that. We’re here to deliver an honest and irrevocable verdict damnit! A battle to the death then…

The price battle easily goes to Wolfman. You can pick up a pair of soft panniers for the price of just one hard pannier. Capacity goes to the SW-MOTECH trunks, with optional capacities of 37L or 45L handily beating Wolfman’s max of 33L. Shrinking violets these metal cases are not, but you’ll never be wanting for space on a long journey. Security feels like a draw. It would take only marginally more time and a marginally more qualified thief to defeat SW-MOTECH’s locks or connectors as it would for someone to slash into your unlocked soft bags. Vigilance, situational awareness, and common sense are always going to be the most important factors here. Weatherproofing sees a slight edge for hard cases, but it’s mostly mental. We just trust aluminum and rubber gaskets more than multiple layers of technical fabric. That said, we’ve never found water in any of our Wolfman bags. Weight goes to soft luggage, with both of Wolfman’s bags weighing about 10lbs, or equal to just one of the TRAX cases.

As far as crash-worthiness, things get a little more complicated. There were multiple crashes during The Bet where the hard cases hit the ground first, both protecting the bike and making it easier to stand back up. In addition, the sheer girth of the 45L boxes we tested meant our soft pink bodies were sheltered from the bike falling on top of us during hard falls. And all that was great until we ran one of the hard panniers into a boulder with horrific consequences.

Not only did it cause a crash, nor did it just rip the pannier off the bike, but it also deformed both the box and the rack it was attached to. So there was the bike in the middle of the desert with a ruined case and no way to reattach it. The only decision was to hide it among the rocks and abandon it until the race was over a Home Depot trip could be made to procure all manner of bolts and spacers to BS something together. Even then, the lid had to be duct-taped  down since it no longer fit the non-square box. Not only would soft luggage have simply deformed and deflected the blow, but I doubt it would even have caused the bike to crash. In any event, Wolfman’s bags wouldn’t have ripped off and left me in a very bad situation. The moral of the story is if you’re going to have many small crashes (as we did), then hard luggage is your jam. If you’re going to have occasional major collisions (as we do), and would rather ruin what you’re carrying than your pannier and racks, then go with soft luggage.

After trying both and testing them to their limits (and beyond obviously), the final analysis has to come down on the side of hard panniers. The SW-MOTECH TRAX ADVENTURE luggage is a workhorse this is the choice of many hardcore adventurers for good reason. They are tough, durable, secure, attractive, and simple to take on and off. If you prefer to use your bike for commuting and milk runs, soft panniers are a better choice for you. But if you’re going to do literally anything other than ride around town, hard luggage is the way to go. They come out on top in just about every area, and we’ll be sticking with them from now on.

The post Hard Vs Soft Panniers – The Final Battle appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Wolfman Luggage out of Colorado makes what is deservedly regarded as the best soft luggage available anywhere. It’s rare to see the level of passion and obsession they posses for their craft outside of a Japanese teahouse or Amish woodworker. The Wolfman Rocky Mountain saddle bags that they have kindly supplied us with have clearly been created out of a depth of experience – there are so many small details and features that seem superfluous or fiddly at first glance, but reveal themselves to be wholly  necessary upon your first actual offroad ride with them. Take the multitude of snaps, adjusters, belts, and fasteners we found on our panniers. Upon unpacking them, my initial thought was, “This could have been done cleaner and simpler.” Design arrogance is one my better traits. But I was eating crow as I loaded my bags full of spares and camping gear, and every belt and buckle on the bags was used for the specific purpose of securely cramming as much as possible into the defined space.

Installing was a breeze at 15min or less while packing was the normal Tetris game and internal dialogue of, “Do I really need that!?” Riding with the Wolfman luggage was nice in that even when fully stuffed they are no wider than my handlebars – thus not making the bike any harder to ride or maneuver through traffic or rocks. And as far as protection, not only did almost immediately ram a bag into a concrete pole at “my” gas station to no ill effect, but the bags survived with nary a mark after several offroad crashes and drops – skilled motorcycleship being my other best trait. That is one major benefit of soft luggage, in that the eventual crashes leave no dents or scratches on your panniers. As for the other advantages over hard luggage, we’ll take a look at some aluminum examples next week then do a definitive showdown after The Bet. Stay tuned…

The post Wolfman Luggage Has Pimped Our Ride appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

At first glance, it’s the same vehicle as the 2015 Subaru Forester. That’s because it is. It’s basically a carry over with the exception of a few details. The exterior is the same, with the identical front fascias for both the 2.0 and 2.5 liter respectively. The inside follows suite. The biggest difference to previous year’s Forester is the center stack and the 4.3 inch screen which is now on the top. The 2.5 has it as standard, with the accompanying backup camera.

The interior of this generation Forester is a large improvement from the old one. The materials are much nicer, the fit and finish is better and overall, you don’t get that cheap feeling like you did before. Granted, it’s still not as good as some of its Japanese and especially European competitors but it more than makes up for with capabilities. Elsewhere, you have a 60/40 split for the rear seats and 74.7 cubic feet of space in total. The rear area alone offers 34.4 cubic feet.

The hood can house two different engines, depending on what you spec your Forester with. The 2.5 liter four-cylinder Boxer engine (horizontally opposed) develops 170 hp and 174 lb-ft of torque. It’s available with a six-speed manual and a CVT. Anyone who’s ever driven a car with a CVT will know to avoid it unless it’s a Lexus. We strongly suggest you take the manual. It’s more involving and enjoyable, even with the task of changing gears yourself in daily driving.

Weirdly, if you want more power you’re going to have to go for the turbocharged 2.0 liter flat-four. It develops an astonishing 250 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque, a big power increase over the 2.5 liter unit. Get ready to have your bubble bursted however: it’s not available with a manual. Ah Subaru, why must you do this?

Still, you get the excellent Symmetrical all-wheel drive system like on most Subarus. In our opinion it’s one of the best all-wheel drive systems out there, and a big part of why Subaru is so great. It allows the Forester to be more than just a road car. It will by no means fill in the role of an F-150 Raptor for instance, but it will be more than enough for 90% of the people who buy it. Occasional of roading is not a challenge, but it does have its limits. All in all, a great purchase for what it is.

The post The Subaru Forester is more than a road car appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Offroading and adventure riding is different beast. Sure, you’re only going 30mph down that dirt road, but you’re falling often and when you do you’re regularly greeted by sharp rocks and happy little trees that make you not so happy. When I first got my dualsport bike for training I immediately donned some old combat boots and a no-name discount armored jacked who’s zipper didn’t even last the 6mos I was training with that bike. Once I upgraded to the “big” BMW adventure bike it was time to get serious about donning real protection for my squishy bits.

Luckily, true adventure wear is a small world and Klim was the natural choice. They have the most experience with this type of gear, they’ve outfitted plenty of well-publicized expeditions, and their staff has been crazy friendly with helping us get just what we need for our planned adventures. I picked up a full Badlands suit for both myself and my competitor/nemesis (we’re twinners!) and I gotta say: I get it now. I get why people wear this stuff. Where before I cast a sideways glance at getting all suited up for a ride, once it’s on you it becomes clear that ultra-modern moto wear is much better than leather and denim for staying cool and comfortable while in the saddle for hours. The Klim Badlands just works. It’s got strategic vents to keep you cool, zippers and straps to keep you dry when it rains, and is full of fun little features like medical info pockets and zippers built to be used with chunky gloves on.

I spent a 9 hour trip through 90-100 degree heat in my Badlands and never really worked up a sweat. With all the vents open, and at speed, I was totally comfortable. The lightweight materials also make moving around in the suit easy and immediate. You don’t realize how much leather and thick denim slow you down and mute your senses until you try something different. Did it get hot when I was standing in traffic getting to gas stations? Yes. Show me any kind of real moto wear that doesn’t do that. The Badlands suit is full of armored sections with the coolest kinetic material you’ve ever seen. Normally it’s pliant and flexible, but once it encounters a sufficiently hard impact it stiffens up 100-fold to protect you. This means you can easily move around in Klim’s suits, but they still protect you in a crash.

Crashes is something I’ve had plenty of in my Badlands. Offroad training on my BMW has not been kind to any of my equipment, but I’ve yet to do anything to my suit other than make it dirty. No rips, tears, burns, or even scuffs have materialized on my kit – and not for lack of trying. Probably my favorite feature is the built in pocket for a drinking bladder right on your back panel. This means not external Kamelback to make your back sweat, and one less piece of equipment to keep track of.

I can’t believe they’ve converted me to a full on motorcycle suit guy, but Klim has done it. I still wouldn’t don it to commute to work or run to the shops, but if I’m touching freeways to go camping or go on a long tour, I’ll be sporting my Klim Badlands and I’ll be quite happy about it. Plus, it looks pro as hell!

The post Gear for The Bet: Klim Badlands Suit appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

This post is supposed to be about flaunting my new gear and talking about our new sponsors for The Bet – Klim, Wolfman Lugguage, and SW-MOTECH. It’s not though. I was planning on taking you through all the stuffs they’ve sent me to review and give you guys my honest opinions on them. That’s not going to happen today. I was going to relay to you the first time I took the Sertao offroad and how it went. Instead I’m going to give you a tale of disaster, agony, and a pinch of fun and redemption at the end.

I could start this tale of woe at the beginning with me burning my fingers on the exhaust pipe as a kind of prelude to the shitty day ahead. Or we could pull a Memento and go backwards with me discovering as I finally arrived home that I’ve broken off one the GoPros I affixed to the bike to capture some sick shots for you guys. But both of those are weak, everyday pains that can’t elevate a story to the level of fiasco. Instead, let’s skip to the middle and the real meat of the story.

First, let’s set the scene: I’m taking a 4 day trip to Southern Utah to practice my offroad skills on the fat BMW before my final contest in August against Gary. To prep for that trip, lose this bike’s dirt virginity (don’t Google it), and as discussed to test out the new gear I just got I was going to to drive an hour north of Los Angeles to Hungry Valley – a “State Vehicular Recreational Area” or offroad park for short – and spend an hour or two on the dirt, grab those aforementioned sweet GoPro shots, then call it day. Easy really. My day clearly did not go that way (thanks foreshadowing!).

I installed my Wolfman tank bag after some trial and error, got all geared up in spiffy new Klim Badlands jacket and pants, and finally,yes, burnt my fingers on the exhaust attempting to adjust the gear shift lever for my new adventure boots. Not to fear though, we’re still having a good time. After mounting some GoPros on the SW-MOTECH crashbars it was time to hit the road and take the longest freeway journey I’ve ever done on a bike, then get my first taste of dirt on the Sertao. Now this was the first time I’ve been on the Beemer tangling with freeway traffic while also wearing legit head-to-toe protective gear and a helmet designed for speed. Normally I just jump on the freeway for a mile or so and wear jeans, a jacket of dubious construction, and my offroad helmet and goggles; it’s not a pleasant experience. But in the Badlands gear and a proper adventure touring helmet, I yelled to myself, “OKAY! I get it now!” That really happened – the onramp from the 10 to the 405 at about 12:20pm on Saturday if you want to check the tapes. But yes, I get how you could eat up states on an adventure bike and not want to gouge your eyes out with a soldering iron after 50 miles. I was so insulated, protected, and comfortable that it was a totally new experience and made the LA freeways livable. That said, I have no idea why people who just commute on surface streets get all suited up and prepare for battle with full adventure gear. It’s such a major piece of equipment and real to-do to put it all on, it truly is overkill if you’re popping out to buy milk.

An hour after my exclamation of joy, and a generally really pleasant ride all the way, I arrived in a wave of triumph and excitement at the small town of Gorman, California that housed the Hungry Valley park. Now let me detail exactly what happened in what order to you: I pulled up to the ranger shack at the entrance, turned off my bike, had pleasant conversation over the exchange of paper money for a day pass receipt, started my bike, travelled about a mile into the part to an open set up area with shade and tables, parked my bike, turned it off, and dismounted to get all my gear ready and carbo load before my dirt fun. GoPros ready, cured meats and Olive Oil Triscuits ingested, helmet and gloves back on and now it’s time to get going. I insert the key the normal (and very colorful and animated) startup sequence does not appear. Instead of my MPH needle swinging around and all my lights coming on, I just get a dot matrix message saying “IGN OFF” Okaaaaaaaay. I go for the starter button and get nothing. Turning the key off and on gives me nothing except now “IGN OFF” appears when the bike is totally off. My bike is, to all appearances, dead.

No problem though! Since we live in the future, all the worlds information and help is always at hand with our handy mobile telephone machines. But there’s no service in Hungry Valley. It’s a dead zone. Shit. But not so dead that one solitary text message came through while I was panicking, as if to provide a totally false sense of hope. Bastards. I kept attempting to look up what “IGN OFF” and sending texts and calls for help, but nothing was getting through. Just to spice things up and keep my game of Sherlock from coming to any conclusions, the dashboard’s behavior kept changing. Suddenly the needle would swing around but no lights would come up, or cryptic numbers would display with no rhyme or reason. Yet every time I tried the started button, everything went blank and dead. I was going to have to try and solve this like a person from the past – by talking to strangers…

In a giant dirt farm populated with 4Wheelers, dirt bikes, and quads I was lucky to have another adventure bike pull into the same rest area as me. I sought out my fellow overland motorcycling addict and asked for a jump while eschewing into the confusing chain of events as quickly as possible lest he think I’m soft in the head, or worse, a poser. His crew had a jump pack that we hooked up and the bike fired right up. We even killed the bike and started it again just to make sure I could ride. I thanked them profusely, then tucked tail and started back home without ever even touching dirt yet. I wasn’t going to take the chance of being stranded out there again with no service and a temperamental bike. I waived to the park ranger who had only checked me in 20min ago, and got back to the main road and the to the near civilization of a McDonald’s parking lot. I pulled over, bike still running, to make a few calls and texts to let my peeps know I was in trouble and there was an above 60% chance I was going to need a ride from the middle of nowhere at some point in the next 2 hours. Done stressing everyone out, I engaged first and rolled on the throttle to pull away and the bike died. Because of course it did.

While cursing up enough of a storm to make a sailor blush, I ran to the auto shop next door to Mc’s and asked them for a jump. I figured that, while it was very stupid to put a questionable machine onto the freeway and spend an hour going 80+, the onramp was literally 50ft away and the engine would/could power everything once it was held at revs. I’m not a smart man. Second jump complete and bike successfully restarted, this time I couldn’t even get out of a 10ft driveway before it died from the stress of being alive. It was clear this bike was going nowhere. My only hope now was my arch nemesis in The Bet and the whole reason I’m on this stupid German machine in the middle of desert nowhere – Gary.

Oh the humiliation. The groveling that had to take place. The promises of free meals and upscale whiskey were numerous to get him to consider either renting a trailer or buying a new battery then coming up an hour each way to rescue me, his competitor, a day before his birthday. Pleading completed and a deal struck, I hung up and started to disassemble my bike so I could tell him exactly what tools he would need to bring to replace the battery. As I was doing that, a tow truck arrived with a dead SUV at the mechanics shop I was stranded at. Once he was had offloaded the dead Lincoln Navigator and family, I approached his Hulk Hogan mustache and asked if he knew of anywhere in this one horse town to buy a motorcycle battery. Much to my surprise, he relayed that there was a moto shop at the next freeway exit just up the road, then suggested I look them up on my phone. It was at this exact moment that I felt like an idiot for not using my future machine first. I found the shop, called and confirmed they had a battery for me, and then navigated the distance to see that it was about an hour walk. Haha screw you Gary! I’m solving this one myself!

You know how tow truck drivers pack a .357 magnum and are some of the meanest humans in existence? Well when I walked back to Hulkamania to thank him and tell him I was hoofing it to the shop, he told me jump in his cab and said he’d give me a lift there! The Hulkster turned out to be an angel. After I stashed my helmet and heavy jacket near the dead bike, I got in the truck and we chatted about different bikes we’ve owned during the trip to the moto store where he dropped me off with  smile and wave. Now it was just a matter of buying a new battery and getting back to the bike. And, of course, hoping that the problem was the battery and not the alternator/stator…

Walking the mile back along a frontage road in 94 weather while wearing new (read: not broken in) moto boots and heavy adventure pants was not fun. I threw my thumb out for the first 4 cars to drive by, but the road was so deserted I gave up hope and figured I may as well get a tan while I’m hoofing it. I ditched my shirt – effectively giving up all hope for a ride since no sane person would give a shirtless dude a ride – stuffed it haphazardly in a pocket, and started the trek uphill. Of course it was an uphill climb for the first half of my walk, why wouldn’t it be? And of course upon finally getting to the “peak” of road did I notice that my shirt had fallen out of my pants and was somewhere back down the hill, so I got to do it all over again. Regardless, I sweated my ass off for an hour in those damn pants and stiff boots and arrived back at my stranded bike.

With nothing missing off the bike and my hidden clothes and helmet still there, I set to work on replacing the battery. This was pretty quick work but it did give me time to think through my next course of action. Do I A) be a smart human and immediately take the hour trip home so I don’t possibly get stranded out here again, or B) refuse to not at least do a touch of offroading to make all this misery worth it? B, of course. Why even ask? I put the bike together, fired her up, and pointed right back into the offroad park to reclaim a tablespoon of dignity for myself.

And you know what? I had a blast. I mean, I dropped the bike pretty much immediately so that cherry is popped as well, and this bike is a hundred pounds fatter than the bike I started The Bet with, but it was great to be back on the dirt and learning about what this bike is capable of. I was shocked at how capable the Sertao is, and can clearly see why the Beemer adventure bikes are the choice for conquering the world’s terrain. There were several instances of me rounding a blind corner to find myself in a very difficult or technical situation, and each time the GS ate it up with no problem. The bike is a too easy to get going fast, and too difficult to slow down in emergencies, but overall I was carving up single track mountain trails with ease within 5 minutes. Of course there were more butt-puckering moments and one more crash (there’s that lost GoPro right there), and the looming fear that I was running on battery power and my bike would die at any moment, but I had my fun and reminded myself why it was all worth it. After an hour the fear became overwhelming, along with my very tired body, and I scooted back to LA. I arrived back at FactoryTwoFour HQ without incident, and other than discovering the missing GoPro all was well.

My 4 day trip to Southern Utah is in less than a week, so I’ve only got a few days to figure out if it was indeed a bum battery or if I have a more major problem. I’m sure it will all work out for me, nothing ever goes wrong in my life…

Click here for Part 6 and the final preparation before the big race!

The post The Bet – Overland Motorcycling Pt 5 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

In the immortal words of the great philosophers of our time – shit just got real. Half way into our year long overland motorcycling competition and the kid gloves have come off. Where my opponent Gary and I originally planned weekend excursions, practiced, and even wrenched on our machines together, now there is frosty silence and secrecy. I can’t say that thoughts of sabotage have crossed either of our minds, but I can’t not say it either.

What brought us to this point of fierce competition was the mutual decision that our current bikes, while great for learning off-road and overland motorcycling, were insufficient for both The Bet and our shared commitment to tackle long distance trips after our little wager is settled. What Gerber Baby and I had was an enduro and dirk bike respectively. What we needed was full-bore adventure bikes.

This lust and need brought us both to each buying a clean example of the BMW 650GS Sertao for the rest of The Bet. The GS series of BMW adventure bikes is world renowned for their ability to go anywhere and conquer all continents – and their ubiquity means we can still likely get them serviced in the middle of wild Africa or India when we tackle those trips (next year!). The 650 is the best possible blend of high horsepower and on-road speed with (relatively) lightweight and off-road maneuverability. And the Sertao edition is when BMW offered a more off-road centric version of the 650GS. Lastly, we decided to get matching bikes because 1) it’s super cute to be twinners, 2) repairs and emergencies become easier to handle, and 3) identical bikes level the playing field and return The Bet to a contest of skill above all else. In other words, I anticipate whining from Gary (at all times) and I’m going to refuse him any possible ammunition that I can.

So just like the beginning of this whole stupid adventure, Gerb and I picked up our new bikes within a few days of each other – and immediately started planning modifications and additions. And because we are now in The Realness of hard competition, we are no longer sharing research and ideas about panniers, lighting systems, and riding gear choices. There is frosty silence as we change spark plugs or shop online for gear. This silence will continue until the obnoxious screams of celebration from one of us takes over in mid-August.

Click here for Part 5 and our trial run for LA-to-Vegas that is a total disaster...

The post The Bet – Overland Motorcycling Pt 4 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

You guys, can we all get real for the exact same moment? We are 6mos into our 1yr overland motorcycling challenge of manhood that we have concocted, and I am feeling confident.  Between Gary and I, we have taken to this activity pretty well and learned enough in a short time to be fairly competent offroad riders. Even more so, the differences between us are growing more apparent and therefore my strategy to crush Gary in the final competition is coming into clearer focus.

See, it has become a regular occurrence during our monthly practice sessions that we will be 10 minutes into riding – warming up really – and the Gerber Baby will start whining about how tired he already is. Now, is he a whiny child in general? Absolutely. Without a doubt. Lazy too. BUT, he is also a prideful creature that wants to win this contest just as much as I do. As we train more and more it is coming into sharp relief that he has a lot of the techniques down  better than I, but he is less willing to take risks and is easily tired out. With those strengths and weaknesses in mind, I’m going to craft the perfect final challenge to test us – and utterly exploit Gary’s weaknesses. Hey, I want to win…

The ultimate test is going to have to be carefully planned. There are ample opportunities to screw up and make the test too easy, concentrated on the wrong aspects, or not easily measurable. This 12 month experiment is not a contest around buzzing around a motocross track the fastest, or bucking sick jumps yo – it’s about navigating from point A to point B with no roads or civilization. How do you take a motorcycle over wild land and survive with man and machine intact? Therefore, the final contest can not be allowed to turn into a sprinting race or held in an offroad park and just timed. It needs to be a grueling crucible of man, machine, and mind. I’m going to have to get creative…

Los Angeles to Los Vegas – first man to check in to the hotel at the end is the undisputed winner. Done the hard way and sticking to dirt only, the route takes 2 days. There are ample routes to choose from, convenient halting points and refueling stops, and there is a wealth of information from others who have done it. This kind of a route keeps it from turning into a sprint, is short enough for us to do in a 3-day weekend, and has a buffet at the end. But many questions remain… What if we each choose the same route and it turns into a race? I promise I will hurt myself if that happens because I’m too competitive to back off when common sense says I should. LA to Vegas is the current frontrunner for this contest.

But is a race the best test of our technique? We could be better served, and a lot safer, if we rode together and had an impartial adjudicator along silently – or mockingly – watching and judging our every move to determine who is the best overland rider. But it is far easier to argue or dismiss a judge than it is a stopwatch, and now that’s three people and three bike to corral…

Speaking of bikes, our current ones just won’t do for The Contest (I’m going to capitalize it now, because it’s a pretty big deal). While mine is nicely lightweight and utterly chuckable offroad, it’s quality of being kickstart only means it is impossible to restart on a hill and has led to me walking the bike down a grade several times. As for Gary, his is really a learner bike that was good to start with but is gutless and not very well suited to hardcore trail travel. So while we are still deciding on exactly what the final contest should be (got any ideas? Leave them on our Facebook page), we have decided what bikes we should be riding. And I’ve already bought mine. To be revealed next time…

Click here for Part 4 and a look at our new bikes!

The post The Bet – Overland Motorcycling Pt 3 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

For most citizens of these United States of Awesome, Thanksgiving Day is a 24 hour period of stuffing faces, throwing shade at relatives, and discreetly checking social media while the olds try to get everyone playing some board game. It’s an American tradition. And I’ll have nothing to do with it. No, for myself and my adversary/friend Thanksgiving 2015 was filled with sand, rocks, and Kielbasa. That’s right, we went overland motorcycling in Southern Utah to further our personal bet.

With 4 days away from the office to play with, we wisely chose to spend them offroading and camping in the high desert, complete with shit talking, s’mores, and red rocks. Fun! To be clear, up to this point we’d only been out 3 times on our bikes for about 4 hours at a time each. Just warmup rides really. And we’d be exhausted afterwards. So the prospect of 3 days with 8-12 hours of riding per day filled us (well at least me) with equal parts trepidation and concern. Nevertheless, we packed up our tents, marshmallows, and bikes and headed out of LA towards the border of Utah and Arizona.

6 hours later, we arrived at the edge of BLM land. Now the magic of the Bureau of Land Management is that they give exactly 2 flying squirrels what you do on their land. It’s federal land, so really it’s your land. And because the BLM is so over caring about their lands they are yours to do with as you please. Camp wherever you want, light a fire, blast away with guns, start a casino using only baby teeth as poker chips – literally most of these things are allowed. With that knowledge, and a bag of baby teeth, in hand, we pointed our car and trailer due East and drove up a dry riverbed into a secluded canyon and set up camp far away from any other humans.

Day 1 saw us exploring the various trails, canyons, and riverbeds of our little corner of wilderness. We took it fairly easy for the beginning of the day, with no jackassery from either of us. That would change. After lunch we trekked out to see some fossilized dinosaur tracks (over-hyped) and explore the trails of Arizona (under-hyped). Bikes were dropped, I can say that. With darkness closing in and us on small trails, we had a bit of time trying to find a road to get out of dodge before the desert sun disappeared and took it’s heat with it.

This bet is really a contest between two very different learning styles. My opponent Gary is all about that book-learning life. He will watch youtube videos and read articles in preparation for doing something, then go and practice that skill (and only that skill) until his next round of learning. Very stepwise and fairly risk free. I, on the other hand, prefer to throw myself into a new skill and fail – repeatedly and relentlessly – until I figure out a solution or have to go read on it if I’m truly stumped. I want to push my boundaries and never be comfortable to learn as rapidly as possible. At the outset of our contest, this put me in good stead. I was far ahead of Gary and feeling quite comfortable in my chances of winning next year. But now, oh but now, his book learning is catching up to my real-life learning. Gary is getting overland motorcycling skillz. Obviously this is worrisome to me. But there are still some rays of hope…

Day 2 brought the deep sand of Sand Hallow State Park. Acres and acres of deep rust-red sand populated by buggies and tourists. The sand challenged both of our skills and utterly destroyed our energy. After barely escaping and refueling the bike and ourselves, we tackled cattle tracks through the red rocks and practiced our hillclimbing skills. There have been many an accident already while trying to mount steep hills, so we leaned on some of Gary’s book learning to figure out how to do it correctly. I proceeded to confidently summit my first mini-mountain. He proceeded to treat that hill like his bitch and got about 7ft of air off the top. And land more gracefully than an angel bald eagle. I was, and am, jealous.

He and I have very different bikes for this first phase of the bet. While I did things properly and purchased a purpose-built race bike that had been jerry-rigged into a road legal bike, Gary went with a beginner dual-sport bike with not a lot of power and street-oriented tires. This difference in bikes is beginning to become a focus of excuses and whining from my opponent. And while his tires are certainly suboptimal compared to my big knoblies, I feel a less cowardly and more handsome rider like myself could champion his bike even the most challenging trails.

Day 3, our last day, was a near catastrophe and I loved every minute of it. In the spirit of my school of hard knocks, and to try and reclaim some confidence after Gary’s booky learning triumphed so well the previous day, I steered us up an extremely challenging single track road known as the Honeymoon Trail. Made up almost entirely of steep hills and loose house cat-sized rocks, not to mention steep cliff sides along every trail, this was a path not for the faint of heart. And faint hearts it turns out we have. I threw us up a very challenging trail to push our boundaries and move the learning needle forward, but it was beyond Gary’s books and videos so we turned around and tucked tail back towards flat ground.

After a regroup, we decided to take it easy and just hit some fun trails through the wilderness. However, at this point we are exhausted from days of riding and the previous trail. We have very little left in our physical tanks, and it is at this point that we start making lots of mistakes. Bikes were dropped again, with alarming frequency. We quickly found ourselves in the middle of nowhere with Gary’s bike loosing brake fluid and with bent brake, clutch, AND shift levers. We feared one more crash could break any or all of them, and attempted to get back to our campsite as quickly as possible. Easier said than done when in the middle of wilderness. All the trails headed in the wrong direction or where impassible (such as the way we had just come). After some deliberation and guilting, we forged our own path through the brush and riverbeds to find a trail out of wild and back to the main road. Our day, and trip, was over.

While there was some slight panic during this search for a path out, I’ve never felt more alive or involved in this challenge than I did that hour we were charging over unknown landscapes in search of a way out – moving as quickly as possible to race the sun, while not going so fast as to risk another crash of his bike and possible disaster. I loved every minute of it. It was no longer about fun, it was about doing what absolutely had to be done. It is a damn blast being in near danger, I highly recommend it. It may not be edge of catastrophe, but it is the edge of the edge, and I’ll take that for now.

Click here for Part 3 and our the full rules of the bet and a training montage!

The post The Bet – Overland Motorcycling Pt 2 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

So by now we’ve gotten our Kawasaki, stripped it down, painted it, and added a new headlight and so go-faster F24 stickers. She’s looking pretty good, but not good enough yet. It is not yet exuding it’s urban tracker feel we’re going for. To that end, this week we got rid of the sparse black seat in favor of a more old-school leather affair and add the Iron and Resin tool roll we recently took a look at.

When we got it, this moto was covered in your standard offroad accoutrement like nasty and gummy grips, a Walmart handlebar pad, and a plain-jane black seat who’s better days had seen better days. This could not stand. We are good friends of the Travlr team, we did a review of their fantanstic GoPro case in June, so we reached out to them and asked for a little advice on leatherwork. Instead of hanging up on us like smart people, they stepped up big time and not only taught us how to work with cowhide (pro tip: burn your cuts with a lighter to remove rough edges), but also sent us out a huge piece of their buttery-soft leather to work with. Great guys! Now what to do with it?

First up, we’ve always wanted try wrapping the grips of a motorcycle like you do for the bars of a bicycle. I personally have never seen this (certainly not saying it doesn’t exist), and we had the itch to do it. So we did! We cut off 2 long strips of the Travler leather and wrapped them around the existing grips so there would be some give and cushion. Next up was the god-awful handlebar pad that was the kind of shiny plastic only drugstore Halloween costumes have any right to be. We kept the phone, but cut out a new leather square to go over it. Add in some velcro for easy on-and-off (just like the plastic protector) and that’s two of the three leather pieces done. Next up – the seat.

Now the first two projects were a doddle, but the seat was a much different, much bigger, much more complicated deal. To match the wrapped grips, and for something different than the standard quilted diamond pattern, we decided to do a series of strips running up towards the front. Rather than completely strip the current seat, we used the existing black pleather as a good base for our strips to adhere to without damaging the foam underneath. One at a time, we cut strips, glued them down, and set the next one at a precise measurement overlapping. In this manner, over the course of 2 hours or so, we had the seat pretty much completed. We even included a little 4″ loose strip near the top of the seat to tuck gloves or maps into, or just hold onto like at a rodeo…

As the pièce de résistance, we strapped on Iron and Resin’s excellent tool roll to the front forks to hold our tools/Pez dispensers while we are far in the backcountry. You don’t want to do without either of those in an emergency. The FactoryTwoFour bike is really coming together now. Sometime in the future, we may tackle a new exhaust and a custom front fender, but up next we tackle some modern LED lighting for night riding!

The post FactoryTwoFour Bike Build Part 3 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

And so it is that The Bet came to pass. Because my friend Gary and I share the same broken definition of friendship, we mostly bond over competing with one other over just about everything. Women, businesses, supermarket bills – it doesn’t matter. We’re like those old men you can find in the dark corners of any horse track who will and do bet on absolutely anything. Gary and I cannot be in the same room and not attempt to declare superiority of something or another. And then recently Gary had an idea:

What if we picked an extreme sport that neither of us had ever done, practice it for a year, then compete to see who is better at it? The winner is the best man for all time.

What a beautifully simple idea. It had the right amount of possible danger, adventure, and finality to it to firmly capture my interest. I agreed in principle, and we spent the next few weeks throwing absurd ideas like squirrel-suit sky diving and moose-wrangling back and forth. That is until one day when Gary came up to me with the same excitement in his eyes that he generally reserves for Mrs. Field’s ice cream sandwiches.

Offroad motorcycling. Overland backwoods trails stuff, getting from point A to point B without roads. Let’s do that!

Now is the point where I let you know that Gary has never been on a motorcycle, while I’ve ridden for years and owned several. My immediate answer was “YES” is what I’m saying. If he wanted to run this whole bet on something I already out-experience him on, so be it. To be fair, I had never taken a bike further offroad than a parking lot, but seeing as how he would have to learn how to ride a motorcycle before he ever touched dirt gave me a very confident feeling. Game on.

If you’ve been paying attention to FactoryTwoFour, you’ll know we bought an offroad racing Kawasaki. That was for The Bet. Now we’re building it up to destroy poor Gary and his Yamaha. We both bought our bikes on the same weekend, roughly Aug. 22nd. That means that on Aug 22nd 2016, there will be a reckoning. Let the best man win.

The Rules of the final showdown next year:

We will each compete in a neutrally sanctioned overland timed rally.

Whoever has shown himself to be the most skilled rider will be declared the winner. Skill will be determined as a combination of time, route, obstacles surmounted, and general bad-assery

2-wheels only – no sidecars/Urals

No passengers

Assistance from bystanders or each other is acceptable

If either party does not have a working machine at the time of the rally, it is the other man’s decision as to whether to postpone or declare an automatic loss.

Bike’s can be outfitted/traded in any way as the owner sees fit

Click here for Part 2 and our first major foray off the pavement - I promise 
it was painful for both of us...

The post The Bet – Overland Motorcycling Pt 1 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

We’re already big fans of Iron and Resin, and we already have multiple pieces of theirs on our bikes and around our houses, so this hardly going to be an unbiased review. Instead, we’ll just skip right to the part where we say “if you want a retro tool roll for your bike, buy this one,” take some pretty pictures, and we’ll all be home in time for dinner.

Made of a thick forest green canvas with brown highlighting, this roll has expandable room for not just your basic wrenches and screwdrivers, but also spare spark plugs, bandages, and even a spare satellite phone if you venture WAY off the map. This thing is massive, yet cinches down to smaller than some burritos when empty or lightly filled. It is as simple to install on your bike as wrapping and tying the leather straps around whichever section of frame or handlebars you heart desires. Obviously, it is just as easy to undue if you should unfortunately need to access it in an emergency.

We have never had any problems with any of our Iron and Resin parts, and we expect this tool roll to be serving us for years to come. We think it looks rather fetching on our adventure bike, but we’ll let you be the judge:

The post Iron and Resin’s Motorcycle Tool Roll appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

As I hit 4th gear bombing down the boulevard, it hits me that a vehicle doesn’t feel like mine unless I’ve made design decisions I have to defend. Mods and tweaks are fine, but until I’ve gone out on a limb and done something aesthetically that I’ve never seen before I’m not happy. Until then, I’m just piloting around some designers idea of good looks. But let’s backup.

A few weeks ago, I picked up an off road bike – a Kawasaki KLX 300R – to learn the art of dirt riding. In between sets in the backcountry, I would be occasionally driving the bike around town, so it also had to be somewhat streetable. So in short,  something completely antisocial and capable of all kinds of mischief.

As with most projects, this one would have to start with demolition before construction. Off came all the fairings and plastic. Gone are the SUPER RAD!!!!!1!! stickers and graphics. Let’s tone this beast down a notch. While at it, that headlight had to go. Square is for squares. I had something far more Mad Max in mind… Something like a salvaged Suzuki light from eBay, yellow film, and a rally cage. Stripped of everything, we started laying down some muted grey in healthy doses. I used more coats than was strictly necessary because this machine will be dropped frequently when off roading and needs to stand up to that abuse.

But grey and green does not a stylish bike make. No, I’d need some flair here (well, everywhere in my life really…). So I grabbed the vibrant blue I use on all my machines and got to adding some speed stripes and accents. That’s got to be good for at least 5hp right there.

While it’s apart and paint is drying, it’s an excellent time for a service. Oil, spark plugs, coolant, and a good chain lube are all done in between copious coats of primer grey and signal blue. Now I’ll have a smooth looking and smooth running little beast.

Major mods to the exhaust, seat, and possibly tank are coming, but for now the aesthetic changes will make this thing drivable around town without looking like a hillbilly who got lost. Gone are the massive front fender and headlight. Gone are the tribal stickers and bright colors. What remains is a design that I will defend as wholly my own. Next up is some custom leatherwork on the seat and a few other places, then on to trying our hands and creating a custom exhaust. Should be fun! But in the meantime, I present to you FactoryTwoFours off road tracker:

You can catch up with read Part 3 now!

The post FactoryTwoFour Bike Build Part 2 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

What we bought is a Kawasaki KLX300R. We choose this bike for a variety of reasons, listed below:

• It’s not a Honda CB something something. I.e., we can’t just bolt on parts to make something cool – we’ve got to actually fabricate. Which is cool.
• It’s a dual sport (or at least was converted into being road-legal by the previous owner), so we can ride anywhere and everywhere. Which is cool.
• Kawasaki is as close as I can get to my big Polish last name in a motorcycle manufacturer. Which is admittedly not cool at all, but my reasons are my own.

What we are going to do to it is as follows:

• NOT make a cafe or cruiser or chopper or bobber. Absolutely not.
• Make a badass offroad machine that is capable of scaling a mountain and still popping down the road for brunch on Sunday comfortably.
• Get rid of all the plastic and bright color scheme. We’re not Riff Raff, we like a more muted color scheme.
• Change out the seat, light, and exhaust. There will be countless other small tweaks that we’ll document along the way as we run into them.

Our custom KLX 300R will be ridden hard and dropped ruthlessly on back trails. It’s got to be able to put up with any and all abuse. But we are not interested in an offroad-only beast; we need an interesting bike with which to cruise around Los Angeles and upset small children. Follow along here as we build just such a machine.

You can read Part 2 now!

The post FactoryTwoFour Bike Build Part 1 appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Considering Jeep’s gradual departure from an off-roading focus toward expanding growth in city worthy vehicles, it felt like a good time to see how the brand was adapting courtesy of the newly released Cherokee. The most notable and immediately apparent change is the radical shark nose slotted grille design, which hasn’t been so apparent on a vehicle since mid-’80s BMWs. It’s proving to be a love or hate style generating mixed reviews, though I’m finding it to be different enough that it exudes a sliver of charm. As defining characteristics are proving a vague challenge when comparing segment competitors, I was drawn toward the masculine yet quirky design cues of this Jeep.

The pull to the FIAT based crossover grew ever stronger when testing the “trail rated” Trailhawk model. In all honesty, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect before driving a car-based platform engineered to tackle moderate off-road obstacles. The visual cues all pointed to a rough and tough SUV: skid plates, red tow hooks, aggressive all-terrain tires and a higher ground clearance. However, driving around town proved to be just as civilized as anything else in the segment, if not more so. At no point did I find complaint with road comfort or steering feel during my routine trips. As an added bonus, the engine delivered plenty of punch when merging onto highways. Unfortunately, the complete drivetrain experience wasn’t as sweet. The new 9-speed transmission seemed to occasionally shuffle between gears when navigating busier and varying levels of traffic. Despite early growing pains, this new, little Jeep adapted to the city lifestyle without fuss. But how did its temperament change when met with snow covered dirt trails?

It’s reassuring to announce that the Cherokee wasn’t fazed by the Michigan back trails found nearby. Admittedly, I didn’t and couldn’t push it through Moab levels of difficulty but I tried my best to roll through the biggest challenges scattered along the trails. Unsurprisingly, dedicated A/T tires helped to crawl over most muddy hills but the adaption of the four wheel drive worked as expected. Without upgrading to the Wrangler, the level of off-road capabilities offered by this Jeep will prove more than capable for those owners that seek mild weekend backwoods adventures. It’s certainly more trail worthy than its predecessors, the Patriot or Liberty. The farther I drove the Cherokee the more its inherent character shown through the mud covered exterior.

Overall, the Cherokee proved to be a surprisingly capable and enjoyable SUV. I chose to label it as such because the crossover descriptor didn’t seem to capture the true off-road nature of this vehicle. When pairing the driving impressions with the interior comforts and infotainment system quality we’ve come to expect in Chrysler products, it’s easier to see how the Cherokee is out-classing its competitors in most every category. Despite the largest departure from the iconic Jeep grille, I’ve grown to admire the Cherokee design and its bold approach at redefining the theme of crossovers and small-scale SUVs. It’s certainly a vehicle that deserves consideration by any individual interested in city and off-road driving.

The post Is the Cherokee a Two-Faced Jeep? appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.