CSC Blog

Gerry’s Roadside Tire Repair class is underway, and it’s great.  We’ve got a good crowd here and the topic is timely (hey, we’re headed to Baja in less than a month).

Gerry is a great teacher, and he knows his business.   We’ll be doing more of these maintenance tutorials, so keep an eye on the CSC blog!

This morning I’m playing with a couple of things, and one of them is designing the tank decal for our upcoming Baja ride.  (I call them tank decals, but you can put them anywhere you want on your bike…that is, if you’re riding to Baja with us next month.)

Joe Gresh, in a recent article on our Destinations Deal Tour, said I’m making the tank decals smaller and smaller because I’m running out of space on my gas tank. I took that as a grand compliment, but don’t you worry. This next decal will be a good one. I’m playing with the idea of working in one of the figures from the cave paintings we’ll see on the Baja ride.

Or maybe the whales…they are pretty cool, too!  Seeing the ballenos is one of the high points of the ride…

Hey, Gerry’s doing his roadside tire repair tutorial tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to seeing it.  I’ll post photos and more right here on the blog after that event.

Later, folks!

In exactly one month (and that’s just 4 short weeks away, as February only has 28 days) we will be “wheels in the wells” and headed for Baja.   It’s our 4th annual CSC Baja Run, and I’m really looking forward to going.     We’ve got riders who have ridden magnificent Mexico with us before, and riders who will be seeing Baja for the first time.   It’s going to be awesome.  I’ve ridden Baja on Harleys, Suzukis, Triumphs, Kawasakis, and (trust me on this) there’s no better bike to do it on than an RX3.

For all of you folks who are riding with us, you’ll want to make sure your RX3 is ready for this adventure.   Here’s some guidance I posted for our prior Baja runs.  This is a 2,000-mile ride and you will have to maintain your own bike. You absolutely do not want to leave with anything on your bike being sketchy. I’ve gone on rides with guys who thought they could get one more trip out of a set of tires, or a chain, or without changing their oil. Folks, that’s a false economy and you don’t want to do leave without your bike being fully prepped. With that in mind, here are my recommendations:

• Tires. If your rear tire is the stock CST tire and it has more than 4,000 miles on it, replace it. The CST tires are great tires and they are inexpensive. If you are running knobbies and you have more than 2,000 miles on the rear tire, replace it. Knobbies wear faster than 80/20 ADV tires (like the stock RX3 CST tires). If your front tire is showing wear, replace it.
• Chain. If your chain is the original equipment RX3 chain and it has more than 3000 miles on it, replace it. The stock rear chain is only good for 5000 or 6000 miles. You don’t want to lose a chain in Baja. The replacement chains we sell are of much higher quality and they last a lot longer. Adjust your chain before we leave and be prepared to adjust it during the ride. I will lube my chain every night on our ride and I’ll adjust the chain every 2 days. You should be prepared to do the same. Bring your own chain lube with you. You can buy it from us before we leave, but order it beforehand so we’ll have it for you.
• Brakes. If your brake pads are worn, replace them. If it’s been more than two years since you’ve replaced your brake fluid, you should do that, too, before we leave.
• Oil. Change your oil and the oil filter before you leave on this trip. As mentioned earlier, bring a quart of oil with you.
• Valve adjustment. If your bike will be in the zone for a valve adjustment during our 2000-mile ride, adjust the valves before we leave.
• Clutch. Check your clutch cable adjustment before we leave.
• Air and fuel filters. If you need a new air filter or a new fuel filter, replace them before we leave.
• Battery. If your battery will be more than a year old or if it is showing any signs of impending doom, install a new battery. You do not want to have your battery give up the ghost during our ride.
• Spokes. Make sure you don’t have any broken spokes and that all of your spokes are tight. Don’t overdo it, but do make sure they are crisp.
• Overall fastener condition. Check all of your fasteners and make sure none are loose. Common places to check include the fork bolts, the axle nuts, the swingarm, the muffler mounts, and the exhaust pipe, but don’t limit your inspection to only these items.

If you want Gerry to service your bike before we leave, please contact us well in advance of our departure to make an appointment. We’re happy to help you with this, but you need to let us know and you need to give us enough time to service your bike. Bear in mind that Gerry’s service department is always busy.

Stay tuned, folks.   We’ll be posting lots more on Baja!  Me?  I’ve got to get busy designing the ride decal for this run!  If you’re riding with us, you’ll get one!

Our good buddy and intrepid racer Roland Wheeler is at again, with yet another first place F Superstock finish this weekend with the CSC RC3!

Congratulations to you, Roland!

We rode our giant loop around the San Gabriel Mountains on Saturday, and it was a grand  ride.  Great roads, interesting people, great conversation, superb scenery, and absolutely outstanding weather.  I could tell you more, but hey, I’ll let the photos do the talking…

This was a great ride.   Ah, now I have the same problem I had last month:  How are we going to top this?

Stay tuned, folks…we’ll be announcing the next Dual Sports and Donuts Ride soon.  It won’t be next month (we’re going to Baja next month).   Watch for our March ride…it will be awesome!

Two of my favorite people are in this interview, with Joe Gresh interviewing Brian Hatano.  Brian was the guy who photographed the RX3 for Motorcyclist magazine a couple of years ago…

Our San Gabriel Mountains circumnavigation ride is this Saturday, and I sure am looking forward to it.   I’m most interested in seeing the ride reports emanating from this adventure, too.  It’s going to be great!

If you’d like to sign up for the ride, please do so on our Meetup.com page!  And remember:  You don’t have to be on a CSC motorcycle for our Saturday Dual Sports and Donuts rides.   We welcome all brands.  I hope to see you on Saturday.

Our circumnavigation of the San Gabriel Mountains is this Saturday, and interest is high.  The weather is expected to be stellar, I know the scenery is incredible, the roads are great, and the Devil’s Punchbowl is magnificent.

There are 19 folks signed up with us already (that’s more than we’ve ever had), and we’re expecting more (you can sign up here on our Meetup.com page). We want to make this more than just a great ride, though, and we want to encourage everyone who rides with us to post about the ride on the Internet forums and on social media (you know, Facebook, Instagram, and such).

To make this more interesting, we’re going to incorporate a contest with this ride. Here’s the deal: We’re going to give a brand new HJC CSR3 helmet and a signed copy of Moto Baja! to the person who wins our contest. That’s over a $130 value!

The ride is not a race, and our contest has nothing to do with speeds, hitting rally points at certain times, or anything like that. The criteria for our contest is simple: We’re basing it all on who posts the most intriguing social media or Internet forum trip report on our San Gabriel circumnavigation ride. Here’s the criteria:

• Best ride description
• Best ride photography
• Best mention of (and links to) CSC Motorcycles
• Most hits (or likes) on your posted ride report

We’ll need you to post your trip report not later than 1 week after the ride (that would put the deadline at 10 February), and you need to send a link to us at info@cscmotorcycles.com. We’ll select the winner within a week after that. It could be you!

This is going to be interesting, and I’m looking forward to the ride and to reading  your trip reports!

This photo was on Zongshen’s Facebook page a week or so ago…it’s the Zongshen Breakout…

I saw one of the Breakouts on my last visit to Zongshen and I posted a photo of it on the CSC blog.  The photos (both mine and Zongshen’s) don’t really do the bike justice.  It’s the kind of bike that stops you in your tracks (I think the term is “visually arresting”).  The Breakout looks that good.

Unlike the similar bikes Honda and Kawasaki offer, this puppy has a 150cc engine (Brand X and Brand Y have 125cc engines).  We’ve had a number of inquiries about the bike, though, and we’re taking a hard look at it again.  It could be fun, it appears there’s a market, and we know we could offer it as a higher-value alternative to either the Kawasaki or Honda (that’s a fancy way of saying it would cost way less, as there’s no dealer in the mix).

Stay tuned, folks.  There are exciting things happening at CSC.

I just saw our good buddy Joe’s most recent YouTube video on Kevin Bean’re’s ride on a 50cc bike across the US, and I knew it was something I had to put on the CSC blog.

Enjoy, my friends…