EP33: Iconic Gixxer, LA Fires

Jon embarks on highway journey where he discusses his most recent experiences, including winning an auction for a Gixxer 1100 motorcycle in Santa Monica and navigating the aftermath of the 2025 LA fires. He includes his road trip details, the challenges of riding different models, and his visit to Iconic Motorsports, where he picks up his newly acquired Gixxer 1100. Jon provides vivid descriptions of his journey through Northern and Southern California, emphasizing the changes and impacts of the fires on familiar LA locations.

Notes

Jon Summers is the Motoring Historian. He was a company car thrashing technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. On his show he gets together with various co-hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, motoring travel.

Firehouse – All She Wrote
The Rock Store
A third Slingshot Gixxer 1100
Challenges of 30 year old sportsbikes
California Highway 25, 198 – highly recommended
Harley Softail and Interstate 5 in the winter
Reprising my stay in Grapevine, and the following awesome morning ride
Iconic Motorcycles
The Katana
Tundra doesn’t notice Gixxer is in the bed
Firehouse – Reach For The Sky
PCH closed, troops and hummers
Santa Monica business as usual
Sunset in Ojai; 101 home
Reflecting on declining classic bike prices
In Flames – Clayman

Transcript

[00:00:00] John Summers is the motoring historian. He was a company car thrashing, technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. Hailing from California, he collects cars and bikes built with plenty of cheap and fast, and not much reliable. On his show, he gets together with various co hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, and motoring travel.

Good day. Good morning. Good afternoon. It is John Summers, the motoring historian. Look behind the third wall. I’m using a new way of recording this. Is the sound quality going to be any good? Who knows? But look, there’s still the snuffling and the rustling of pages and the general un BBC ness isn’t it? And now there’s that peculiar farting noise, which wasn’t me, but was the, I think it’s the vent doors.

I’m sat in the tundra. I [00:01:00] think that’s the vent doors moving and I’ve spent a lot of time in the tundra recently. I’ve just done about 4, 000 miles in it now, kind of, kind of talk about that a little bit. Bought two bikes in as many weeks. When I was sat by the pool in Mexico, I was thinking, you know, when you get back you’re really going to have to, you know, get your skates on with stuff, but like, to do two bikes and three pods in the space of a month, that is, uh, you know, that’s unusual progress for me, candidly.

It really is. So yeah, so you can tell by the title, can’t you? This is about the English Gixxer and, and the LA Fires. And yeah, so I did go to LA when LA had the, the fires of, of 2025. And I guess part of the reason why I wanted to go was I wanted to sort of look at the, uh, my sort of former stomping ground of, uh, you know, Topanga and, and that if you, if you [00:02:00] rode motorcycles in the LA area, everyone knew the rock store, that place up in, uh, up in the canyons there.

I was never quite sure where it was. I only ever went there following, uh, following other people. Um, usually you were faster than me. So I was usually struggling to keep up and arrived like adrenalized and exhausted, but, but yeah. I wrote that area a lot and that’s the area which has burned in, in the fires and, and it’s kind of a, a, a thing, um, partly because you know the area, partly because you, you know people who’ve been, uh, who’ve been affected by it, it, it, it’s, uh, yeah.

So the L. A. fires. Obviously, that’s not the only reason why I was in L. A. I won a motorcycle in an auction. That was the main reason why I was there. And, you know, when I realized the motorcycle was in Santa Monica, I thought it might have been when I won the auction, but I wasn’t completely sure. I didn’t really look at the description properly.

I’m gonna hold up my hand and say that because it supposedly has frame damage, and I [00:03:00] was a bit worried. But when you actually look at the bike, it’s a really nice, clean bike. Which I paid low money for, however you slice it, you know, I paid, um, low money for, for it, but it, it’s, uh, a third black 89 Gixxer 1100.

I don’t know why do you need three, I’m not even sure why I need three, but you, you, you pick this stuff up when it comes your way and the price is good. And, you know, uh, am I married to, to each one? Uh, uh, uh, the first one, very much so. The second one, yes. That third one, yes, less so. You know, I might ride it and think it’s awesome.

I quite like that it’s English, but. is a bit rusty i’ll include pictures and and you know what i’ll include the whole like iconic description i guess they’ve taken they’ve probably taken the description down now but let me see what i can can include on it so so yeah i guess the the line that amused me about it [00:04:00] in the description was that it ran when they put it in the crate in england But now, it had arrived in Santa Monica, it, it wasn’t running.

So I did the pick up in Santa Monica, and, and, you know, the traffic is normal traffic, and, you know, there was no sign or smell of the fires, I guess it was only a day or two. after the fires happened the fires happened in the week and and i went the following uh the following weekend so you know so the gist of this is to talk a little bit about that that trip so first i won the gixxer right great bike No price.

The slingshots are royal cool. Just like the slabbies. I live in regret of letting things like Capri’s and cheap Alfa Romeo’s and Lancia’s Fiat Strada 130TC’s I live in bitter regret of letting those things go. [00:05:00] With the bikes, you don’t have to because they’ll all fit in a, in a small space. So, you can have a dozen Capris if you want.

You can have a dozen muscle cars. And, and that’s what, um, I think, uh, I’ve, I’ve tried to do here. But, you know, as I say, with this 1100, I’m going to see how it feels. They, they are hard to ride, the Gixxas. You’ve said, you’ve heard me say this on, on the pod before. But, it’s worth, sort of, falling down that rat hole a little bit.

What do I mean by that? They are. uncomfortable and difficult to use. The footpegs are high, the bikes which run most enthusiastically are the ones with the race carburettors on them and those bikes have stiff throttles and, and stiff clutches. When you first sit on it you’re like, oh it’s stiff but I can handle it.

But when you live in the city and you’re through stupid stop signs and you’re exercising that clutch. [00:06:00] Oh my word, you are your your left hand, your fingers, my fingers are done before I’ve even got out of of the city riding them. So when you’ve got your legs tucked up and the clutch is heavy and and if the bike’s got Makuni flat slides, the throttle is going to be, it’s going to be sticky too.

It’s really in sharp contrast to those two 2005 bikes I have the ZX. The ZX 10 and the K5 Gixxer, both of those are fuel injected, they’ve got still high foot pegs, but it’s less of an uncompromising riding position, it’s a better riding position, uh, the bike feels more controllable and, and flickable, and the controls are just that much smoother, the clutches are, are lighter.

The ZX 10, there’s a funny lag when you turn, turn the throttle that it, it, there’s, you know, I mean, it’s a knacker 28, 000 mile bike, isn’t it? So, you know, it has its foibles, but [00:07:00] there’s, there’s, but once you get used to the fact that there’s a bit of like play in the throttle, it’s smooth and easy to use, like, like a microwave oven to use the.

80s bikes, they are not like that. There’s an viscerality about them, which is really rewarding. But you, you just like, you’re riding around the block and you’re like, fucking hell, that’s all I need of that. You know, the, the thought of, of any kind of freeway work on it. I’m just like, I just can’t imagine it now.

It’s, it, it, it’s uh, you know, I guess that’s 51, isn’t it? Not uh, 51 imagining I’m still 31.

I wasn’t a gixxer. It was in Santa Monica. Obviously, Highway 101, the normal way I’d go in, that way was, that’s a longer drive, like six hours rather than five hours kind of thing, but that way [00:08:00] was also potentially fucked by the fires. And, uh, the guys in Santa Monica where I was picking up, which is, I’ll talk about them in a minute, they were like, everything’s fine, come along.

So, I was like, alright. So, I, I drove the road less travelled. My long, rambling, four hour And I’m sorry about that. I did that in two episodes. I should have just done shorter ones, but I should have just broken it up into two episodes. But anyway, the Pebble episode, in that I talk about a road trip that I took down Highway 25 south of Hollister.

This is in Northern California, close to the, to the Bay Area. But, you know, it’s a really remote, really cool, really picturesque, empty road. And I realized looking on the map, it ran parallel all the way with Highway 5. So either way, the long and short is I did 25, then 198 to Coalinga, if you look on the map, and then 33 south, [00:09:00] and then I stayed in, in Grapevine.

Um, which is, uh, you know, where I stayed many, many years ago when I rode a Harley Softail up PCH. And then down Highway 5 in, at this time of year, in cold weather, and I wasn’t expecting the cold weather, and I was, oh my word, I was fucking cold on this Harley, and the weather was, it was raining in places, and it was literally run uncomfortably fast in the lane with the cars, or run on the bumpy piece of freeway, on the right lane that the trucks were using I didn’t know at that time just how bumpy the right lane is that you’re much better just getting left and holding the throttle open the bumps oh my word the bumps and the cold uh yeah that was uh anyway I stayed in Grapevine after that horrific ride down highway [00:10:00] five and in the morning it was absolutely beautiful and crisp and I rode up Grapevine and over the top and there’s a lake and it’s beautiful and it’s picturesque and then you arrive in the hell hole, well, the city of angels, don’t you?

Hell hole, it’s an awesome place. But I’m digressing, aren’t I? So 25 beautiful, could really recommend it, 198, twisty and awesome, more of a road for the fiesta. Um, but I’m, I mean, I, I just, I, I filmed the sunset, it, it, it’s, you know, it’s California the beautiful. And, uh, 33 was kind of boring and straight. 25 was the, uh, was the find of the, of the road trip.

Anyway, then I rocked up at Iconic Motorsports, the blokes the Gixxer off. I’ll include a, a link to them. You know, they, they were everything that the website makes them look as if they are, you know, a bunch of guys really enthusiastic about 80s 90s sports bikes Um, [00:11:00] yeah a few harleys there Yeah, a few earlier things there, but but really an emphasis on on the kind of stuff that I I really enjoy Um, warehouse in a nice pass and to Monica inside the warehouse, a workshop at one end bikes, which have either been on auction or on a buy now, or they’re getting ready for sale, knocking around on the sales floor on the, you know, on the floor, their offices at the side.

And then like a little upstairs, like kind of museum that had. just some really, uh, awesome bikes there. Um, the kind of green frame Ducati old David Gooding always has. They had a 900 SS, which I, you know, knew nothing about, but I, you know, had a blue frame, but I preferred it’s gold wheels kind of thing.

That’s how ignorant I am about Ducatis of that era. Ducatis in general, I’ve got. be uh, I’ve got to be candid. But what did tickle my fancy? A [00:12:00] katana that they had, which had been looking like it had been seriously modified and really looked like it was the, uh, it was the business that really had my, uh, about it.

Um, a number was knocked around that was, uh, a long way out of my budget, sadly. Um, yeah, so they helped me get the Gixxer 1100 loaded, which I was worried about. I mean, candidly, like I’m shit with the whole business of pushing bikes up ramps. And I bought a chalk, but the chalk didn’t go in the bed probably because of the bed liner.

But you know, the dude was like, Cory Chris, I’ll call him out, like, great, great guy. He helped me load, using ten foot ramps I’d got, six foot ones. He loaded, helped me load, um, loaded with ten foot ones. He was like, whatever, just put the chock against the back of the bed and it’ll be, uh, it’ll be fine. But, you know, the suspension doesn’t even sag on, on the truck.

And when I was [00:13:00] driving later, although I, like, like, I like to potter. in, in the truck a little bit. I like to do like 65 in the right hand lane rather than my usual, you know, faster than that in the left hand lane. But you know, it would have done bloody 95 miles an hour, probably more than that with this Jitsa in the back of it.

It like didn’t know it was there.

Couldn’t resist rolling around PCH after I got loaded up in Santa Monica. PCH itself was deserted. It was about lunchtime on a Saturday and it was absolutely deserted. So, although Santa Monica felt absolutely normal, the moment you dropped out of Santa Monica and down onto PCH, it was like 28 days. You know, it was like absolutely deserted.

So you drove along there [00:14:00] thinking at some point the road is bound to be closed. It just has to be. And sure enough, soldiers and hummers. I, I wanna say, I can’t remember the street that they forced me to, uh, to turn at, but, so they made me, like, turn in land, and then I just, like, ran along where all of the streets that went up in, into the hills there just had soldiers and hummers and, you know, move along there, sir, and unless you’re a resident, go straight there, sir.

Um, you know, when, and that was, was cool, interesting, uh, where that sort of dumped me out just as I was thinking, I, I’ve sort of seen enough of my sort of fires, uh, fire exploration such as, such as it was, because I don’t want to like. poke around in a more macabre way than that. I more wanted to go to just see how it, it felt, you know, and, uh, you know, as I [00:15:00] say, Santa Monica was business as usual.

That’s how Santa Monica felt, you know, and the four or five was, was open and quiet and no smoke in, in the air. Um, the guy did say there was a bit of more, a lot more dust on the bikes than there would normally be because of the fires, but, you know, that seemed, you know, that seemed pretty trivial, really, in comparison to what was happening just five miles away.

Really, kind of, uh, kind of bonkers. So, I guess it all burned because it’s all, A, up in the hills, and B, all of the houses were like bigger houses that were on plots of land that had trees and grass rather than, you know, concrete. I mean, that’s the, the, the hypothesis that, that I formed driving along there, being moved along by soldiers less than half my age with machine guns.

I had to do better on these road trips because I had a bit of a low blood sugar level moment and, uh, eventually organized myself a subway, [00:16:00] got myself out on the road, got us far. I was like, there’s no way I’m doing five flight on a. weekend night. I’m just like, it’s just too boring. I just can’t. But once it gets dark, there’s nothing to see.

So I thought, what am I going to try and do? And and I thought, I’ve never been to Ohio. I wonder if I could go to Ohio. I’ve heard about Ohio. Yeah, so I ran up 405 into the five as far as the 126, which I think is it. Mhm. Um, anyway, I trickled along that 126, and eventually it ended up in Ventura, which I know I could have just gone along the freeway for, but, but, you know, if you have a look at the roads, it’s better to stay on the main road than it is to cut down onto 101 on that, I think Highway 150, the really like windy one, I mean it would have been good in the day on a motorcycle, but I didn’t, you know, I didn’t want to be doing it.

In a pickup [00:17:00] truck with a load late at night when I was already, you know, I already had like a lot of miles under my belt for the day so, uh So, yeah, Ojai, uh, winding road down into almost Alpine, was already dark, you know, the sun was setting as the time, as I was there, and there were like people parked up enjoying the sunset and, you know, I was like, whatever, I parked up as well and, you know, finished up my subway.

Sandwich from earlier in the day and uh, you know, beautiful sunset and you know, I did think of the Alps a little bit as I was looking at, you know, the town nestled in the valley kind of thing. Yeah, and it was a cutesy California town when I drove down, only it was dark so I couldn’t see much. Yeah, I don’t want to prejudice you about visiting Ojai one way or another, I’m just saying it seemed like a nicey town.

To, uh, to me.[00:18:00]

So I did say to the iconic guys, uh, prices are damn right. And they went, yeah. And, uh, yeah, they are. You know, they really are. And, and, uh It’s so funny that when the prices go up you’re like great, my shit’s worth more and when the prices go down you’re like great, I can buy more easily, you know, stuff that I couldn’t normally afford I can afford.

Now it’s time to buy and uh, that’s sort of how I’ve been uh, how I’ve been feeling. It’s not a coincidence it’s January and I was like, you know, itchy to, to do something because I knew the prices were great. You know, low in this period. So this brings me to a slightly, you know, earlier conclusion than I normally come to on these things, but obviously the acquisition of a new bike was something I wanted to talk about and the fact that I’d been and looked at these LA Fires.

I felt that that was worth talking about as well, and it seemed natural to [00:19:00] sort of combine the two into this one episode. Although, as I was putting it together, I did find myself thinking, is this really worth talking about? But, you might wonder if anything that I talk about on these pods is really worth talking about.

So, I guess you do, you probably think it’s worthwhile because you’ve got right through to the end, haven’t you? But this is all the most ridiculous, behind the third wall naval contemplation, so I’m going to end it like that. Thanks for the drive through.

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