What a week!

A very busy week in and around the Scooter factory, folks!   I gotta type fast…my friend Jim is coming over this morning, and he and I are taking our California Scooters for a ride up in the mountains (maybe I’ll post some photos of our ride later this weekend).

Lupe, with one of John Esposito's factory custom California Scooters...this red and black Classic has my vote for the best-looking-bike built to date!

In addition to the normal production, development, and sales activities going on at the California Scooter Company, we had a number of special things happening this week.  For starters, Steve sent Tony and me on an errand to North Hollywood on Monday, and that took us right by NoHo Scooters.   When I was there a week or so ago, I saw a very cool helmet, and I wanted it.  I didn’t buy it last week, and I wasn’t about to let that mistake continue.  NoHo is closed on Monday, but I figured if I banged on the doors enough, my buddy Mike Frankovich would be in there…and I was right!  Hey, what small business owner doesn’t work on his day off?  Mike fixed me right up, and I might even wear my new Bell helmet on the Baja trip!

Artwork on the NoHo Scooters building in North Hollywood

The Man...Mike Frankovich (on the left) talking to a couple of guys about California Scooters

My new brain bucket...it's a Bell, and it's swell!

More good stuff last week…we had a trio of great fellows in from Australia to visit us….Ian (who runs a Pro-One dealership), and Paul and his son Gerard (who are engineering consultants).   The Australia contingent had heard about the Rock Store and they wanted to see it, and that made for a great evening.   Steve has this monster Mercedes van, and we all piled in for a ride to the Rock Store, Malibu, a fantastic dinner at Duke’s (right on the ocean), and a stop at the world-famous Santa Monica pier.  Wade came along, too…he builds the Pro-One bikes.   Those guys from Australia have a great sense of humor (I know they do because they laughed at all of my jokes, and they had a few good ones themselves).   We had a lot of fun.

The boys in front of the world-famous Rock Store...Gerard, Paul, Wade, Ian, and Steve

Gerard on the Santa Monica Pier with his dessert

The ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier

Paul and Gerard on the Santa Monica Pier

John and Steve are continuing to do great things on the land speed record bike, and it’s hard not to hang around and get in the way.   It’s very exciting.  The time trials are in November, and we’ll be ready!

The LSR bike, cloaked in secrecy...

And yesterday, we finished up the week with a direct descendant of the Mustang royal family…yep, Dave Cavanaugh and his beautiful wife Sandy were down from northern California, and we had a nice visit.  You’ll remember that Dave is Jim Cavanaugh’s son.  Jim Cavanaugh is an advisor to the California Scooter Company, and he was the production manager at the original Mustang Motor Products Corporation.   Steve and Dave had a lot of great stories to tell, and a lot of them were along the lines of “My Dad’s bike is faster than your Dad’s bike..”  Well, sort of…Steve’s Dad (that would be Ed) has seen photos of Jimbo Cavanaugh’s Mustang, and Ed has let it be known that he’d like to see that bike parked in his garage…so the real tag line here is “My Dad wants your Dad’s bike…”

Sandy and Dave Cavanaugh, two of the California Scooter Company's greatest fans, with Steve showing them the LSR bike..don't try asking them questions about this skunk works project...they're sworn to secrecy!

Like I said, what a week!  But wait a minute!   Yep, I hear my buddy Jim’s new California Scooter making the turn onto my street.  Gotta go!