Fall Is For Riding (plus Traveling, Designing)

October 10, 2016

It’s been a busy couple weeks here at Mosko HQ!

Horizons Unlimited Traveler’s Gathering

Two weeks ago, Ash and I headed down to Mariposa, CA for the HU Travelers Gathering. This was my third HU, Ashley’s first, and we had SO much fun. HU always attracts a very cool, eclectic group of adventurers. Good peeps.

Ash and I gave our first ever presentation. The topic was ‘Going Where the Rental Companies Aren’t,” about how to find a bike in countries that don’t have bike rentals. The guys from CSC motorcycles loaned us a 250 to use as a demo. Most of the presentation was verbal, but we also had a slideshow outline. Here’s the link:

Going Where the Rental Companies Aren’t

About 30 people showed up, we were stoked! Thanks Joe Berk from CSC for snapping this pic. We’d love to do more of these in the future.

We met Alex and Chelsea, who are prepping for a 4 year round the world trip, first to the tip of South America, then to Australia, up through Asia and across India and the Middle East to Europe, and then down the African continent starting on the west coast and then crossing to the east coast mid-way down. Looks like an epic route!

They’ll be taking the Backcountry pannier/duffle kit on their journey. Here’s what their current packing setup looks like. Stoked to be along for the ride guys!

We get a lot of questions about whether the Reckless 80 fits on the new Africa Twin. Some folks say it does, some folks say it doesn’t, due to the grab handles. I had the opportunity to mount one and my feeling is that it fits fine. I can see why the grab handles bug some folks, but if it was my bike… no problem, I’d totally rock this bag.

This gap under the bag may be part of why people have fit concerns. Personally I’d probably stuff another little drybag under here to take advantage of the space. Maybe for spare tubes or rain gear or something like that.

At HU, we confirmed once and for all that the BMW R1200 Adapter we sell on our website will fit on Jesse Luggage racks with no modification.

On the way to Mariposa, we stopped to visit with the crew at BMW Motorcycles of Western Oregon in Eugene and provide some additional info on the BMW Atacama Luggage system (which is based on our Backcountry pannier/duffle platform).

Ash’s family lives in Mariposa so we got to visit with her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Her father Walt and brother Brandon drove up from LA for a morning visit as well.

HU is always one of my favorite events of the year. Can’t wait for next year!

Photo Shoot

Last week, Lee, Andrew, Ashley, and I went out for a couple days of shooting and camping with Amarett Jans, who did a bunch of the photography on the website and this year’s catalog. Andrew and Lee rode motos, Ashley and I brought the trailer with samples and bikes, and Amarett and her boyfriend Kent drove their van with photo gear. We met at an assortment of locations in the Cascade mountains and Eastern Oregon desert to camp and ride. This trip we focused on current products. Later we’ll do another shoot for new products.

It was such a blast! Campfires were lit, whiskey poured, photos snapped.

New Tee’s

Andrew has been working on some new Mosko tee designs with unique throwback graphics. We’d love your feedback! Got a favorite? Let us know which one. We can only do a few.

Women’s Shirts

Note: if you already saw the women’s designs on FB, we have since changed the color schemes.

Men’s Shirts

The Bolt-On (aka the new Scout 25 Pannier)

The new bolt-on Scout pannier is coming along well. We got our latest sample – not a factory prototype, just a quick and dirty version we sewed here – and it looks great.

Andrew’s been busy turning this new proto into a factory spec.

This is what the outside of the beavertail looks like with logos. The dark grey areas are hypalon, the light grey areas are ballistic 1680d nylon.

In Other News

Fall is here, temps are dropping. We got our annual delivery of firewood at the shop.

I got a new (to me) dirt bike, replacing my old 450 that blew up this summer. Just in time for the burn ban to lift and fall riding to start.

It’s sunny out, the trails are drying after the weekend rain, and Lee, Ash, and I are riding after work today. Stoked!