Our Janus Experience, Chapter 3

Our Janus Experience, The 3rd and Final Chapter

For anyone that has been visiting my little corner of the interwebs for a few years, you'll know that in August of 2022, Mrs. MotoWriter and I embarked on a new kind of motorcycling "journey", if you will. While doing some research about new motorcycles, I came across the Janus Motorcycles website and my wife immediately became interested. I won't re-tell the full story, but if you want to read more, I'll link it here, here, and here. Go ahead and click those links and get caught up if you need to, I'll be right here.

Back already? Cool, let's get back into it, then. This weekend, as the title of this post implies, our Janus Experience officially came to an end. 

I Missed A Chapter

In preparing to write this, I realized that, with all the hecticness of last year, while I was wrapping up my payin' gig and getting ready for retirement, that I missed an important update to this story- the fate of Mrs. MotoWriter's bike (#909), back in May of last year.

As a certified motorcycle instructor, I've taught a lot of people how to operate a large, heavy motorcycle with safety, precision and confidence. As a matter of fact, a friend and I just wrapped up another class a couple of weeks ago. Some of the easiest students to teach, are the ones that have no experience with motorcycles at all, because they don't have to break any bad habits or relearn any preconceived notions they may have had about motorcycles and riding. Mrs. MotoWriter was, by all accounts, the perfect candidate to learn. 

Based on the feedback I've gotten from my students throughout the years, I consider myself to be a pretty good teacher. I'm passionate about motorcycle riding and I want my students to learn how to ride out, and then get back home, safely. 

Teaching your spouse hits differently, though.

There's a realization in every class, that at least one of your students, despite your best teaching efforts, might not make it back home one day. Whether it's because they failed to adhere to your instruction (or outright ignored it), or because someone else driving two tons of metal, plastic and bad decisions did something careless or they were driving distracted. Either way, it's a sobering realization, especially since you, as the teacher, inevitably form bonds, and sometimes friendships, with your students. When that person, sitting nervously on the saddle, is your best friend and partner in life... the pressure is really on. 

I won't get into the specific details on here, but I will tell you that Mrs. MotoWriter was doing good in learning how to ride, but a Janus Halcyon 250 is not a good bike to learn on. First of all, the riding position is very wonky and unnatural for a beginner, especially a beginner with a short stature, such as my lovely bride. The hardtail frame and sprung solo seat provide way too much feedback to a new rider just learning what to do, and the Earles-style springer front fork gives the bike a peculiar anti-dive quality that takes a bit to get used to, even for an experienced rider. To be clear, I'm not bashing the Janus, far from it, but they are not "beginner bikes" and in all fairness to the good folks at Janus, they never claimed them to be. If anything, Janus focuses most of their marketing on appealing to experienced riders, rather than newbies, because they know that their custom, hand-built motorcycles are unique, and fairly expensive for a small bore machine. My wife has only been a passenger on the bike with me, but when she saw that the Janus was such a beautiful machine, which really appealed to her inner aesthete, and that it was only powered by a 229cc single cylinder engine, it seemed very approachable to her. 

After a few successful rides through the yard, and a couple of spills (as can be expected), Mrs. MotoWriter was done. Over the next year or so, there were a lot of factors at play that kept her off the bike, and in all honesty, it probably didn't help that her instructor crashed his Dyna.

Regardless of the reason why, she had lost interest in riding her own, and after my not-so-little crash that left me with a lot of internal bruising and a wicked slice across my back, I was completely fine with her decision to not ride her own motorcycle. The only problem was, we had an extra bike in the garage that we were still paying on, and no one was riding. Mrs. MotoWriter ultimately made the decision to let her bike go, and in May 2025, after two and a half years and only 3/4 of a mile on the odometer... we sold Halcyon 250 #909, and her Janus journey was officially over.

Riding and Retirement

2025 was a significant year for us. Retirement was close, and I was busy getting my affairs in order so that I could actually make it happen. Financially, we were in good enough shape for me to leave my payin' gig and start this new retirement life, but the one thing that kept nagging at me was my Janus payment. After we sold #909, the only vehicle that I was still making payments on was the same bike that I rarely ever rode, which was my Janus (Halcyon #908). Since it was delivered to our house in October 2022, I had put less than 1,400 miles on it.

It's not that I didn't enjoy riding it, on the contrary. The Janus Halcyon is one of the most fun bikes to ride, because it feels like the first time, every time. Maybe it's the hardtail frame, the small, single cylinder engine, or the weight and size, or maybe it's all of these things, but the Janus always made me smile when I would ride it. 

In the past 10 months that I've been retired, I have put well over 7,000 miles on my Road King and over 700 miles on my Dyna, and I've still got a couple of more trips planned before the end of 2026. Riding motorcycles is so much more than just a hobby for me. I would call it an obsession, but there's a certain, maybe specific, negativity that goes hand in hand with that word. I think it's best described as an insatiable passion... which still sort of sounds bad, but I suppose it is what it is; I look at motorcycles, I ride motorcycles, I read about motorcycles, I write about motorcycles... you get the point. While I love riding the Janus, there are limitations for me when I ride it. For example, I live in the country... and most of these folks only know two speeds- Running Deer or John Deere! One is fast and sometimes erratic, and the other is slow and steady. There's not much in-between, so when I ride a 14 hp motorcycle that comfortably tops out around 55 mph before it starts feeling sketchy on these backroads, it gets a bit nerve-racking trying to watch the mirrors to make sure ole Bubba Hayseed isn't about to run straight over me in his old Chevy farm truck. 

Not to mention, every time I stop... every... single... time... the Janus gets attention. People see it and have to come up and look at it. Most just look, but there's always one that comes walking up with a hundred questions. Don't get me wrong, I like talking to folks, especially about motorcycles... but sometimes I just want to gas up and get back to my ride. The Janus only has a 1.9 gallon fuel tank, so fueling up takes less time than answering the question, "what is that beautiful bike and what year is it?" That means, I spend more time talking to folks at the gas station than I do actually gassing up. My Dyna and Road King look cool, and they both start a gas station conversation every once in a while, but the Janus starts conversations every time I stop... even at traffic lights. 

Motorcycles, Money and Making Good Choices

In February of this year, as any good motorcycle enthusiast would do, I bought myself an old dirtbike as a retirement gift. Between tinkering with it in the garage, and riding it for hours at a time in the woods, I quickly rediscovered how much fun dirt bikes were. When I decided to get a dirty bike, I didn't set out to get a 37 year old, 600cc, Baja 500 bred monster. A 250cc 4-stroke was what I wanted, but the older XRs are hard to find, especially since Honda replaced them with the CRF in 2003.

For 2026, Honda punched out the CRF250F to 300cc and gave it back a 6th gear... and by all accounts... I want one. Here's the catch, though- I have restricted myself to a maximum of one vehicle payment at a time now that I'm on this new "fixed income", so that meant I had a decision to make. Since my Janus was the only vehicle that still wasn't paid for and it sits more than it's ridden (I've put less than 350 miles a year on it since I've had it), I knew what I had to do. 

I'm better at buying motorcycles than I am at selling them. It's not that I don't possess good negotiating skills, it's that I don't like parting ways with my motorcycles. Halcyon #909 wasn't technically mine, so it wasn't that difficult for me to see it go. #908, however, has been tough to let go. I listed it locally first, and had several good trade offers and a few decent cash offers. My goal was never to make any extra money off of it, and trades (as tempting as they were) didn't accomplish the goal of paying off the loan. After a few months of entertaining various offers locally, I decided to list it nationally. After several weeks of getting the same kinds of offers, I started losing my patience with folks. After all, I was only asking for what I owed, and the bike was practically brand new. Then, as I was contemplating just keeping it (again), I was contacted by a gentleman, who I won't name for his privacy, from the other side of the country. We spoke briefly on the phone, then went to a video call (sometimes, technology is pretty cool) so that we could talk while I showed him the bike in real time. He told me that he knew that I was asking a fair price for the bike, and when I told him what I was doing and why, we struck the deal before we hung up the phone. A few days later, he paid for it and made all of the arrangements to have it shipped to his house. 

Kindred Spirits

Throughout your life, you occasionally meet kindred spirits, and this was the case with both of the guys that bought our Janus Halcyons. When you buy a Janus, you don't just buy a motorcycle, you join a community. The Janus community is a small, tight-knit community that is made up of a variety of different personalities, backgrounds, income levels, ethnicities and ages. Motorcycle culture is exclusively inclusive, which is something that is unique to this community as a whole, but the Janus community takes that even further. They pride themselves on being different, of being unique among their, already unique, peers. Janus motorcycles are also very personal, right from the factory. Where a mass produced motorcycle from a major brand has to be customized to each individual owner after it goes home with them, a Janus is customized for that individual owner, starting on the build sheet, before the first bolt is ever turned. Before it ever leaves the factory, a Janus motorcycle was built for a specific person. I think that's why it was so difficult to find the right buyers for our bikes... we weren't just selling our motorcycles, we were finding the right homes for them. I know that we accomplished that for both #909 and #908.

The Final Chapter

When I met the carrier to drop off #908, it was a cloudy, dreary day. The weather reflected my mood, perfectly. Just as the driver was about to record the video walk-a-round before loading it, the skies opened up, and the rain soaked us in an instant- it was the first time that little bike had ever been in the rain. Watching #908 get soaked, then loaded up into a tractor trailer with a dozen other bikes was bittersweet. I knew that my little "smile machine" was going to a good home, to a gentleman that was going to enjoy it and give it the road time and mileage that it deserved, but realizing that it would soon be gone was tough. After all, it was the last of our Janus motorcycles- bikes that my wife and I had such lofty ideas for, motorcycles that my wife and I had special ordered, customized with our personalities and put a little bit of who we are into, and the realization that this was likely the last time I would ever see it again, was kind of sad to think about. As the rain kept coming down, I got into my little pickup truck, and headed back home. 

It was a stark contrast from the jubilation of beginning our Janus Journey, almost four years ago to the day.  Our new, sequentially numbered, Janus motorcycles were delivered together, in the company delivery van right to our home, on a bright and sunny morning. They went to their new homes, separately, over a year apart. Our Janus Journey came to a final, drab and woeful end, on a rainy, dreary afternoon, in the parking lot of a truck stop. I know that to most people, motorcycles are just machines, but to those of us who are true enthusiasts... they are much more. 

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Janus Motorcycles, and I wish them all the best in their continued efforts of carving out their place in motorcycle history. Maybe, one day, I'll rejoin the community of Janus Motorcycle owners once again... but for now, I'm going to be doubling down on spending more seat time on my beloved Road King Special. Before I jump into buying a new dirty bike, I think I'm going to enjoy some time without a vehicle payment and just spend my off-road time ripping through the woods on my old XR. 

Until next time, MotoReaders...

Ride safe and make good choices

 

New Collab- Epoch Eyewear

My current personal favorite- the Victors

Epoch Eyewear

Good morning my loyal MotoReaders! I've got a new collaboration to share with you and in all honesty, I'm pretty stoked about this one!

When I first started this blog, I never imagined it would have almost a half a million visitors in such a relatively short amount of time, especially considering that I don't advertise and I rarely ever post it on the socials. I never expected it to reach, and have regular visitors from, around the world and I certainly never imagined that anyone would ever want to "collaborate" with me because of it. After the first couple of companies reached out to me, though... it got me thinking- if I can share the products and companies that I like with all of you, and at the same time, help these places keep the doors open and the lights on another day or two, and get all of my loyal MotoReaders a few discounts here and there, why not do it? It doesn't cost me anything extra to help them out, and, to show their appreciation, most of them will even give me a small percentage from the sales when you use my code. While the little bit that I earn certainly doesn't pay my light bill, it does help to keep the website up and running, so at least my little corner of the interweb isn't costing me anything extra to run anymore.

Now, I told you all of that, so that I could tell you about how this new collab came about. They are a small company, based out of Colorado, and I've been wearing their glasses for YEARS. They are Epoch Eyewear and they truly are, and have been, my favorite brand of sunglasses. 

Epoch

Epoch, as defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary is as follows:

epoch

noun

ep·​och ˈe-pək ˈe-ˌpäk US also and British usually ˈē-ˌpäk

a: meaning, an event or a time marked by an event that begins a new period or development

b: a memorable event or date

According to their website, this company was built around "living an epoch lifestyle" (not to be confused with "epic", which means a long story or a grand, heroic action). The folks at Epoch Eyewear believe in making memories over money and they strive to be a great service to their community. They are veteran owned and they make a point to give back to those among us that sacrifice daily, to make our world a better place- the hard working men and women in our communities, our military, our veterans and our first responders. Those are core beliefs that I personally appreciate, and I'm sure that we can all stand behind. 

Rebecca Milner, Founder and CEO

The company started in 2014 after the founder and CEO, Rebecca Milner, decided that she wanted to build a high quality brand of sunglasses, that were actually affordable. With major brands, that I won't name, charging hundreds of dollars for a pair of sunglasses, there was definitely a need for Rebecca's "vision." See what I did there? So, Rebecca started this company from her dining room table while she was pregnant with her first child. The whole operation began with, as they say, "only 30 cases of sunglasses, a riff-raff group of misfits, and a dream." 

Hell yeah. 

Six years later, in 2020, at a time when businesses were failing because of the covid pandemic, Epoch's business took off. Why, you might ask? Because quality doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. 

Price and Quality

Now, you've heard me say, more than once, that "cheap gear isn't good and good gear isn't cheap", but let me make this point of clarification, if you will- there is a huge difference between affordable and cheap. Affordable gear is good quality stuff that doesn't require any justification to buy. Epoch Eyewear sunglasses are affordable, not cheap.

In my former career, I was hard on glasses; hell, even now, in my retirement, I am still hard on them. I drop them, toss them into a saddlebag, pull them from the arms and I rarely ever keep them in a hard case. I also tend to get headaches and the wrong pair of glasses will cause enough eye strain that my head will be throbbing in less time than it takes to get to the next rest stop. Because of this, I've tried glasses of every shape, size, darkness, and lens material over the years, except glass- for obvious reasons. I've tried everything from major name brands to dollar store and gas station shades, but the one problem was consistency. Every major brand gave me eye strain headaches, all of the "cheap" brands gave me eye strain headaches, broke quickly or there was no consistency from one pair to the next. I refused to pay over $200 for a pair of sunglasses that I would, inevitably, drop and break, so I just suffered in my search... until I came across Epoch's website. I figured, for less than $30, I'd give them a shot. After getting that first pair of shades and wearing them everyday with no eye strain, no headaches and no breakage- I was sold. I've been a loyal Epoch Eyewear customer ever since. 

I've literally bought several pairs, and several styles, over the years. Some of you might read that and say, "well, ya know... you probably spent as much, or more, on those as you would have on one pair of the expensive ones." To that, I'll say... yeah, maybe... however, the problem is that if I had spent all that money on one pair of sunglasses, I would have broken them immediately, then had to spend even more money on repairing or replacing them. Instead, I'm able to sustain good, high quality pairs of glasses over the years for the same, or less, money. Whenever I do pull, drop or drag them a little too hard, I just get online, order a new pair, and in a few days, I've got a new pair for about what I pay for a decent lunch somewhere.

I Reached Out To Them, For You

Sporting the Midways in Florida

I always like to put my little "disclosure notices" out there any time I do a review or a new collaboration announcement, and this one is no different. While I've had some companies reach out to me, I've done most of the reaching out since I realized that I can actually save my MotoReaders some money by asking these companies to collaborate with me. Like I said, I've been wearing Epoch Eyewear sunglasses for years and it never occurred to me to reach out to them until recently. I figured that, since I love their products, why not see if they would want to work with me, so I reached out to them and asked. To my surprise, Rebecca (the CEO, herself), replied to give me the good news! To say I'm stoked about this collaboration is an understatement. In part, because I love their products, but also because it's a brand that I've been pushing on my friends and family ever since I discovered them all those years ago. Now, with this new collab, I'm not only able to support this awesome company by hopefully increasing their sales by a few extra pairs a month, but I'm able to get you, my loyal MotoReaders, a 15% discount on them! They are already a great price, but you get an extra 15% off by smashing the link on the upper right side of my page or using the discount code "RIDE_WRITE_REPEAT"! 

I think this code might be a one-time use only, though, so just in case it is, make sure to buy a few pair so that you can save the most amount of your hard-earned dollars. 

You can click any of the links in this post to get the discount, click on the "Epoch Eyewear" banner on the upper right side of the page, click here, or just put in the code RIDE_WRITE_REPEAT at checkout.

Until next time, MotoReaders...

Ride safe, Look Good, and Save Money!

https://epocheyewear.com/RIDE_WRITE_REPEAT

Here are just a few of my personal favorites...

The Victor- my favorite to wear on or off the bike, for classic, casual style.

The Foam (great for riding)... I've got them in shades and clears, and I keep them on the bike at all times.

The Brodie- Also great for riding, no foam, but the lack of a lower frame makes it easy to see the tank mounted speedometer without moving my head down.