Visit to Mosko Moto HQ

USA | July 2023 |

I recently visited Mosko Moto headquarters in White Salmon Washington, to collect a Reckless 80L v3 and Nomax Tank Bag, stay at their Bates Mototel campsite, and just see the showroom and operation in person. It was great to go direct to the source, as I am a big fan of Mosko, and my Reckless 80 v2 has served me well in SE Asia and BC in three different configurations, as shown below.

Background: I purchased a used Reckless 80 v2 in Singapore for S$450 on the Carousell app, a great local source of used, new, and unused moto gear. I then strapped that baby onto my BMW 310gs and proceeded to ride 13,000 km around SE Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia; the Stinger Tailbag joined me on an epic North Sumatra diversion). The Revolver 80 was a great choice for this trip, and I managed to carry the right amount of gear (perhaps a bit too much). The SE Asia climate is tough on rubber and plastic, and it's common for things like shoe soles to eventually start to disintegrate. About halfway through my trip, my Reckless 80 started showing signs of advanced wear, with stitching and some of the rubber gear coming apart. I sent an email with some pics to Mosko, purely as an FYI, not asking or expecting anything in return for a second-hand unit that was no longer under warranty. Amazingly, they responded back with an offer of a substantial discount on a new replacement Reckless 80 (per Mosko, it turns out I may have had gear from a bad batch; I know QC can be a tough process and such things do happen from time to time). The offer really struck me: here's a company truly committed to its customers and offering top-notch customer service. The Mosko customer support person I was connected with, Donzi, was really professional and patient with the many questions I had.

SE Asia trip over and back in BC for the summer, it wasn't until 6 months later that I actually submitted the order for the replacement Reckless kit, as well as a Nomax Tank Bag. I mulled over having it shipped to me, which would have involved tax and duty costs, coming from the USA to Canada. But instead, I decided to ride my KLR from Salmon Arm BC to White Salmon WA to collect the gear (to Portland actually, more to follow). After a pleasant 2-day ride of about 800 km, I got to White Salmon, rode into town, stopped to get my bearings, and lo and behold it turned out I was parked right outside Mosko HQ. Got off the bike, went into the office, and my next surprise was meeting Donzi, who is actually based right at Mosko HQ. Now, I realize Mosko is a small company, but most firms big or small typically do not have customer support personnel located in HQ, they are usually remote, often offshore. Donzi helped me confirm my booking at Mosko's Bates Mototel. And off I went, a quick 10 minutes out of town.

Bates Mototel is just another amazing element of the Mosko customer experience. Here you have a free campsite for Mosko customers (and even not customers sometimes, I believe), with world-class amenities, like a lounge tent full of sofas, a full kitchen and BBQ, hot shower, and Starlink wifi, and cool guests. While not Psycho in the least, it is located on Bates Road, in what I think is Mosko Pete's backyard (didn't see him, but pretty sure his house is the one below the campsite). I stayed 2-nights, the first night along with some 890-enthusiast good-old boys from Texas, and van campers from Portland. The second night I was the only guest, so had a hugely chill stay all alone.

On day two, I rode to the Mosko fulfillment center in Portland, collected my gear, and set it up in the parking lot. Rode back to White Salmon via Hood River, got a few good views of the famous waterfall along the way and of Portland on what was otherwise a plodding freeway ride riddled with semis.

Back in White Salmon, I stopped by the Mosko showroom for an extended tour. It was great to see and play with all the Mosko gear on display and to meet a few of the team, including the dude who aptly hosted me (name slipped my mind). I ended up strapping the Revolver V3 onto the V2 for the ride back to BC.

The whole experience just further extended my fandom of Mosko Moto. These folks really do a great job, offer solid well-designed gear, deliver world-class customer experience and support, and have a cool persona, especially via CEO and key spokesperson Mosko Pete. Since collecting my Reckless 80 v3, I managed to locate second-hand but unused Mosko Pinner and Fatty tool rolls, and they too exceeded expectations. The Nomax Tank Bag is superb, the an incredibly high level of design detail, and a huge step up from a single receptacle Wolfman tank bag that I was using. I sometimes mix some Giant Loop gear with the Mosko stuff on my KLR (Tillamook and Fender bags), and they are also excellent quality.

Lastly: coming from BC, it's cool to see Mosko (as well as Klim and Giant Loop) based in the Pacific Northwest (albeit on the other side of the border).

I wrote a trip report of the ride there and back, read it here. Click the "window" at the top-left on the map for more details of my rides each day of the trip.