Perspectives and Perceptions

Jim Swanson, a 2nd-generation VMMC rider...and the lucky new owner of a CSC motorcycle in police bike colors!

Jim Swanson is picking up his beautiful Victor McLaglen bike tomorrow, and I’m sure going to miss that motorcycle.   With its black and white police colors, it’s stunning.  I just like looking at it.

But then, I like looking at any of our CSC motorcycles.  The first time I ever saw a California Scooter, it was a bright red Classic, and I had two thoughts:

1. What a bike for a Baja trip (you guys and gals know what that led to), and…
2. What a great choice for a city police bike (I could visualize the bike in black and white, and I liked what I was imagining). 

Jim Swanson is the first person to get a California Scooter in police colors.   You saw his bike a few blog entries down.  I think it’s an awesome bike.  A California Scooter looks great in any color, but as a police bike, it’s a show stopper.   As I took in Jim’s VMMC bike, I started wondering…what if I could get a photo with an active duty motor officer on it?

I’ve been fascinated by police motorcycles for a long time, and over the years some of the writing I’ve done has led to my meeting some really cool motor officers…guys who earn their living protecting you and me, and doing it from the seat of high performance law enforcement motorcycles.  One such officer is Jim Watson of the Upland PD (not to be confused with Jim Swanson of the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps).   Officer Watson helped me a lot when I wrote an article a year and a half ago for Rider magazine on motor officers, and because I live in Upland, I see him on duty from time to time.  Seeing our guys on their police cruisers is cool.   We have a great police department in Upland, and it’s staffed by great public servants like Jim.

My friend, Motor Officer Jim Watson of the Upland PD on his Honda ST1300-P police bike

Hmmmh, I thought, Jim Swanson and Jim Watson.  I gotta reach out to Jim and Jim.  A couple of quick emails later confirmed that Jim Swanson was cool with our using his bike for a photo session with Jim Watson, and this afternoon Tony and I took a ride to the Upland PD.

We had a good time with Officer Watson.  He’s a great guy and we had a blast taking these photos.  Jim was fascinated by the bike, as were all of the other people we saw in the Upland city yard.   Everyone came over to see the bike, and quite a few pulled out their phone cameras to get a shot.  It was fun…and everybody wanted to know about our CSC bikes.   More than a few thought that Upland was buying the bike for police duty.  TK, maybe we should give the guys in Upland a call….

As I was taking my photos today, I again marveled at these bikes’ universal appeal.  Everyone falls in love with them.  They’re puppies.  Who doesn’t like puppies?

Officer Jim Watson on Jim Swanson's VMMC California Scooter, with the ST1300-P Honda police motor in the background

I was having fun working the camera and my super wide angle lens, and Officer Watson was having a good time, too.  He asked if I was getting the entire bike in the photo, because I was only about a foot away for some of these shots.   From time to time people ask me about some the photos I put on the blog and what kind of equipment I use.   I use a Nikon D200 digital camera (it’s awesome), and one of my favorite lenses is my Tokina 12-24mm wide angle zoom.  It’s an impressively sharp lens, and you can create some really wild effects with it cranked way over on the 12mm super wide setting.  I shot all of today’s photos with it.

A super wide angle lens lets me create interesting perceptions simply by shifting my perspective.  I can make the bikes look like their actual size, or smaller than they actually are, or bigger than they actually are (as you can see here).  It’s all a question of perspective.  If I get down low in front of the bike, it looks enormous.  If I get a few inches over Jim and the bike, I can make the bike look tiny.

It's all about your perspective...same Jim Watson, same California Scooter, same camera, same lens, and same distance from the camera. The shot on the left was shot from a high vantage point; the shot on the right was shot from a low vantage point. You can change your perception if you change your perspective.

Perspective…it’s what drives our attitudes, our beliefs, our perceptions, and our decisions.  Maybe it’s influencing your perceptions.   Do you think you’re too old to ride a motorcycle?   Most of my riding buddies are in their 70s; a few are in their 80s.   Simon Gandolfi did the Baja run with us, and he’s bumping up against 80.   Do you think you don’t want a small bike?  Try riding one of ours without smiling, and then tell me about your perception of small bikes.  I’m not selling, folks…I’m just making a point about about how our perspectives drive our perceptions.

Sometimes simply changing our perspective a tiny bit can help us to change our perceptions dramatically.   One of my great pleasures, for example, is bicycling.  As I got into that sport about 10 years ago, I started wondering if maybe I needed a fancier bicycle.  I found a sleek road bike, but wow, it was $1,300.  Yep, $1,300.  For a bicycle.   I visited the bicycle store repeatedly, but I couldn’t pull the trigger.  I stared at that bike so much I might have worn the paint off.   Finally, the salesman took me under his wing…

“Joe,” he said, “you’ve been in here a half dozen times looking at that bike.  You obviously want it.  What’s holding you back?”

“I’m having a hard time justifying $1,300 for a bicycle,” I said.

“Why do you want it?” he asked.

“Health reasons,” I said.  “I’m getting old and flabby, and I think I can whip my sorry butt into better shape with a new road bike.”

“Well, there’s your answer,” he said.  “Don’t look at it as a bicycle. Look at it as a training instrument.”

Wow, just like that.  He completely changed my perspective and my perception.  I bought the bike that minute, I quickly put 3,500 miles on it, and I knew it was one of the best purchases I ever made.   Then I sold it and I bought an even more expensive “training instrument.”   My current road bicycle cost more than my California Scooter, and I love it.

Then there was the time I bought my first Harley back in ’79.  It was an Electra-Glide Classic, two tone tan and cream with brown pinstripes, a full dresser that was drop dead gorgeous.  It was $5,998.30 out the door, way back then.   Seems cheap now, doesn’t it?  (There’s no doubt in my mind that if I still had that bike, I could sell it for more than that today.)   But I had a hard time justifying $6K for a motorcycle until Marvin, the sales dude, asked me what was preventing me from buying it.  Marvin had seen me staring at it during many visits to the Fort Worth Harley dealer.

“I’m having a hard time justifying spending six grand for a motorcycle,” was all I could say.

“Yeah, that’s a lot,” he said.  “Do you have the money?”  I did.  “Are you working?”  I was.  “Are you married?”  I wasn’t.  “So who do you need to justify it to?”  Oh yeah, Marvin was good.  Well, you know the way that one went.  My first Harley.  Life for a single guy with a new Harley in 1979 in Texas was very, very good.  It still is, as a matter of fact, for an old married guy in California who gets to hang around the California Scooter Company (yep, that would be me).  That’s my perception of the world, and I like it.  A lot.

Why all this rambling about lenses, bicycles, and motorcycles? 

Well, it’s all about perspective and perception.  You might be thinking about buying yourself a California Scooter.   You know the drill.   Maybe you always wanted a motorcycle and just never acted on that urge.  Maybe you always wanted a Mustang when you were a kid but you couldn’t afford one.   Maybe you ride a Harley or a Gold Wing today and you don’t want to wrestle with a 900-lb motorcycle every time you get in the wind.  Maybe you had a Mustang or a Cushman when you were younger and you want to feel that freedom again (one of the sharpest people I know told me a few days ago that scooters were cool back in the day, and they’re even cooler now).   Maybe you realize that you only get to make this trip once….and folks, the clock is ticking. 

With that in mind, think about your perspective on this grand sport of ours and your perceptions about buying a CSC motorcycle, and then check out our latest CSC ad.  It’s right here.  And make sure you read the text at the bottom of the ad.

Our latest ad...it's going in the Good Guys magazine...read the text at the bottom!

That’s it for tonight, boys and girls.  Jim and Jim (and Tony), thanks for helping with today’s photo shoot.  Ride safe, everyone.   But do ride.   We only get to make this trip once.  Don’t let the wrong perspective keep you from doing what you know is right.