CSC Blog

The sincerest form of flattery…clockwise from top, an original CSC RX3 in Baja on one of our free adventure tours, the Suzuki DL250, the BMW 310 GS, the Kawasaki Versys, and the Honda 250 Rally.

It’s no secret that several manufacturers are playing catchup with CSC and Zongshen.  Imagine that…other companies copying the Chinese!   What I’m referring to, of course, are the several new entries into the 250cc-class ADV bike category.   There’s been a lot on the Internet lately about the Honda 250cc Rally, the Kawasaki Versys, the Suzuki PeeWeeStrom, and BMW’s Mumbai Special, and of course, preproduction versions of these bikes (the only ones that currently exist) put in an appearance at some of the  international motorcycle shows

We’ve had folks ask if the new market entrants make us nervous.  The short answer is absolutely not.  We love it.  You’ll recall we did a blog a couple of years back about 250cc being the perfect size for real-world adventure travel (see our Why a 250? blog), and we still believe that.  It’s  nice to see others thinking the same way.   Our path to market puts us in a very strong position.  And there’s another factor…so far, none of these bikes are actually available….it’s all been smoke and mirrors and Internet postings and show bikes.   They’re coming, though, and that’s a good thing for growing the small adventure bike market.   It can only help us.

Not all of the information is available yet, but based on what’s out there, I assembled a comparison chart this morning…

I estimated the freight and setup fees on the Kawi, the Honda, and the Suzuki based on what I see dealers doing on their other bikes.  Actually, some of the combined freight and setup fees on dealership bikes run up to over $1400, so I’m being conservative with my estimates.  You might be able to negotiate the freight and setup down to $750 (you  might even be able to get these typically inflated fees even lower, but not by much; freight and setup is a major profit center for most dealerships).  BMW’s freight and setup is typically included in their list price, and I don’t know if they’re going to do that with their new 310 GS (so I just left it as a TBD for now).  I showed our freight and setup as “included” because right now it is; we’ll probably add that back to the price in 2017, but it will never be as high as the charges you normally see for these items at typical dealerships.

What surprised me were the motorcycles’ published weights.  We took a little gas from the keyboard commandos when we first published the weight on the RX3, but as you can see from the comparisons above, we slot right in with the rest of the new market entrants.

Where CSC has clear advantages are in the areas of price, our free online maintenance tutorials and service manual, and the freedom from the typical shenanigans you run into when buying a new bike from a dealer.  Plus, you can actually buy our bike today.   You can’t do that with any of the others yet.  There are other things, too, that you can’t really put a price on that come with every RX3:

• The RX3 has a proven world-wide adventure touring reputation (in my case, that includes China, Mexico, Colombia, and the US; others have traveled all over the world on Zongshen motorcycles).
• The solid reputation CSC has for customer support.   As I always say, don’t take my word on this; check out ADVRider.com and ChinaRiders.net to see what others say about us.
• Our free Baja adventure rides.
• Our really cool CSC blog!

As I said above, the new entrants are a welcome addition to the mix.    These bikes will bring other folks’ attention to the small ADV market segment, and anyone who does their homework will soon realize that the RX3 is the best (and least expensive) bike available.

A couple of months ago I recommended a tool kit for the TT250.   This new tool popped up on Facebook and I thought I would show it on the blog…

That looks like a worthwhile addition, but I’m waiting until they offer one with a Whitworth feature.  I used to ride older Triumphs, and their nuts and bolts were all Whitworth sizes…

Y0u’ve probably heard of William Randolph Hearst, and if not, you’ve almost certainly heard of Hearst Castle.  It’s the former private residence of William Randolph Hearst, who was about as eccentric a figure as ever lived.   As I hear it, every US President was in his back pocket during his reign, and the guy had more money than God.   The original family fortune was made in silver mining and then publishing.   Old Hearst built himself a castle along (you guessed it) the Pacific Coast Highway.   We passed right by it yesterday, and I’ve taken the Hearst Castle tour no fewer than four times.  If you’re ever out that way, I think it’s a “must see” part of any inaugural trip along the PCH.  When we do our CSC tour, we’ll take a half-day to do just that.

Anyway, to get to the point, on all of my prior visits I heard from  the tour guides that Hearst’s eccentricities included a world class zoo, and wild animals (including zebra) could still occasionally be spotted running free on the Hearst Castle’s substantial grounds.  I had never seen any of these rumored remnants from the Hearst reign…until yesterday, that is.

Look what we spotted on our way back to So Cal!

I had my Nikon D810 with me, and I brought along the 70-300 lens (the same one I grabbed those dynamite vulture photos with on the RX3 expedition in Colombia).   The zebras were a good 400 to 500 yards from the road, but that 300mm lens with vibration reduction really pulls them in.  It was a lucky break.  I’d never seen the zebras before and I thought the stories about them were baloney, but I was happy to be proven wrong!

That black-and-white paint theme is interesting, and on the way back, I wondered what a TT250 would look like done up in a zebra design.  Hmmm…

But I’ve never seen wild pigs here.  I’ve been out for wild boar twice in the People’s Republik of Kalifornia, but all I ever got was poison oak.   I sure would like to get out again, and one of my resolutions for 2017 is to do exactly that with a new Model 70 Winchester I’m picking up later today.  Probably not in California, though.  The hunting laws here are too restrictive and the prohibition on lead bullets is just plain weird.  I’m going to chase pigs next year, probably in the southeastern United States, where the wild pig population is (I’m told) out of control.  2017 is going to be a great year.

Anyway, that rather unusual pig crossing sign you see in the photo above is the real deal, and it was posted just south of Monterey, California, along the Pacific Coast Highway.   I grabbed that photo yesterday morning.  I didn’t see any pigs, but the sign caught my attention.  I did see a few zebras later in the day (no kidding), and I’ll tell you about those later.

If you’re on the Pacific Coast Highway and you’re riding through the little fishing village of Moss Landing, it’s nearly impossible to miss the moto art at the J&S Eagle Iron and Leather Shop, although that’s exactly what I did on the trek north (no doubt because it was raining so hard).  On the way back, though, the sun was out and I when I saw these I knew I had to stop for a few photos.

Ernie Buck, the store manager, told me these gigantic bike sculptures are Hecho en Mexico and go for about $20K each.   Wowee!   But I guess that’s not that far fetched considering what a new Harley or BMW costs these days, and these things are easily three times the size of those bikes!   They are enormous, they sure are interesting, and they were worthy of a spot on the CSC blog!

The first moto gigante was constructed mostly of license plates.  Bear in mind that all three of these sculptures use giant tractor tires (that will give you a sense of their size).  Like I said above, they’re huge!

The next one  was fabricated from horseshoes.   Horseshoes!  Imagine that!   Where do artists get their ideas?

It was cool.  I liked the gangster whitewalls.  I had a set of those on my ’92 Softail.    You know, the tops of those tires were about the same height as me!

The third bike was what I guess the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act might call a shovel-ready project.  Yep, it was fabricated almost entirely of shovels…

Maybe the bike above is a Shovelhead.  You know, like the one that came after the Panhead.    Anyway, it was cool.

You know, the bikes above make for interesting displays, but I wondered where I would put such a thing if I owned it.  You’d need a huge lawn or a spacious home in which to display this kind of art, and even then, I’m pretty sure Sue would have none of it.  They sure were interesting and they made for cool photos, though.

The Pacific Coast Highway is an amazing road.  The best parts are between Cambria and Carmel.  I’ll put some photos of that stretch up a little later.  It would be a cool two- or three-day CSC ride.   Any takers?

Just got home from a run up to San Francisco, and the scenery on the Pacific Coast Highway was beyond breathtaking.  It was wet, and cold, and sometimes both, but it sure was great!

More to follow after I warm up!

I’ve probably watched the China video 20 times already, and I’ll probably watch it again after I finish this blog.   The China expedition was one hell of a ride and I find myself thinking about it a lot.   It’s almost as if I don’t even need the video…I can still see the scenes from the Tibetan Plateau, the Gobi Desert, Lanzhou, Ping Yao, Liqian, Qufu, Qingdao, and elsewhere vividly in my mind.  It was the ride of lifetime, and I did it on the world’s most perfect motorcycle.

I sure had a great weekend.  It started on Friday for me when I saw my good buddy Willie with his fully accessorized TT250.   Willie rode with us in Baja twice (don’t forget that he’s the world’s most interesting man).  I had not seen Willie’s TT250 since the Tecate run, and he had a couple of new mods he’s added since then.  One was the RX3 headlight guard; the other was swapping the stock footpegs for those from the RX3.  Both look like they were designed for the TT250.

Saturday morning saw me running around getting tires for our Subie Crosstrek (the original tires went over 61,000 miles and I probably could have made it to 70,000, but I don’t like to take chances on tires).   The shop that works on my cars (Scooter Patrick’s in Montclair, California) always does a great job for me.  They get to work on interesting cars.   While I was at Scooter’s I spotted a dynamite ’71 Vette and it brought back a lot of memories…

I love Vettes, and I really like the Coke-bottle C3 Corvette design.   The C3 came on the scene in 1968, and I wanted one so bad back then I could taste it.  I was just a teenager and there was no way I could afford a Corvette in those days.  I had to wait another 36 years before I finally pulled the trigger on one, and I can tell you it was worth the wait.  I love my Corvette.

More cool stuff…I took a ride in the Vette and visited my good friends Art, Jeremy, and the rest of the crew out at Doug Douglas Motorcycles in San Bernardino.   I don’t ride big bikes any more, but there’s nothing that says I can’t look.  And if I did ride a big bike, you can bet it would be a Triumph.  There are two models I especially like…the new 900cc Street Cup and the 1200cc Thruxton…I’d like to have both just so I could sit in my garage and stare at them!

Triumph sure nailed it with the styling on those bikes, and the folks at Douglas Motorcycles are good people.  I knew Doug Douglas, and he had a keenly-developed sense of humor.   I bought a new Triumph Tiger from Doug personally in late 2005 (it was love at first sight when I saw that bike).  Here’s a shot of it at the Old Mill Hotel in Baja a decade ago…

When I first spotted that Tiger 10 years back in the Douglas Motorcycles showroom, Doug saw the look in my eye and he told me I could get it for some price.  I don’t remember the number he named, and I was way beyond caring what the number was at that point.  I simply said, “okay.”   When Sue took me back to pick up the Tiger, she told Doug he must be an incredible salesman to get me to agree to a price without making a counteroffer.   Doug just smiled and told her that he was a pretty good motorcycle salesman, but where he really excelled (according to Doug) was in selling living room and bedroom furniture.  Both Sue and I gave Doug a quizzical look.   “Oh, yeah,” he said, “I can’t tell you how many bedroom suites and how much living room furniture got sold because I sold somebody’s husband a motorcycle…”

Old Doug has gone on to his reward (RIP, Doug), but the atmosphere he created at Douglas Motorcycles lives on.  He sure was a character.

More good times continued earlier today when the crew got together to send some copper-jacketed lead downrange at the West End Gun Club (followed by a great Mexican lunch at Rancho Las Magueys).   Half the crew that shows up for our informal range sessions these days consists of CSC motorcycle riders, including guys like my good buddies Duane, Fathi, and Willie.   It’s fun getting together to shoot and it’s as much fun getting together for lunch afterward….

The c0nversations at lunch are always great.  It’s mostly motorcycles, guns, and politics.   We solve all of the world’s problems at these get-togethers.   We realized at the end of our meal that the problem is this:   All the people who know how to run the country are out riding motorcycles and hanging around at the rifle range!

Joe Gresh previously prepared a magnificent video about our ride through China last summer, and now Zongshen posted the video their film crew shot while they accompanied us. It’s awesome!

My stop later today was in Singapore’s Muslim Quarter, which isn’t actually a full quarter of the city, but its size notwithstanding, it sure was a photographer’s dream.   The area is anchored by the Masjid Sultan mosque, which is an elegant house of worship.   Take a look…

I enjoyed photographing the Masjid Sultan mosque, and I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood.  I was surprised to see a handful of very large ADV bikes, including a GS1200 BMW and a Honda Africa Twin.   I thought the motorcycle parking situation was interesting, too.   Check this out…it’s 65 Singaporean cents per day to park your motorcycle!  That’s got to be chump change to a guy on a GS1200!

There was a Honda Africa Twin parked across the street from the restaurant where I had lunch.  It got my attention because it was the first Africa Twin I’ve ever seen, other than on the Internet or in magazines.   I think the license plate on the Africa Twin was Singaporean, but I’m not sure.  The bike looks like it has an aftermarket skid plate and crash bars.

I wanted to talk to the Africa Twin’s owner to see how he liked it (I’m assuming the owner was a guy), but I didn’t get a chance to do so.   I was enjoying my lunch too much, I guess.  I looked up and the bike was gone.  It must be very quiet.  I thought I would hear it start, but I never did.   I’m not interested in buying one; I just wanted to hear what the owner had to say about it.   When I saw the Africa Twin and the BMW, I had the same reaction I always do when seeing these large roadburners.  Who would actually want to ride something that monstrous off road?

There was another aspect of the Muslim Quarter I enjoyed seeing:  The Turkish carpet stores.   I love these things and our home is fully stocked with Turkish carpets.  I bought all of them 25 years ago on a gig in Turkey (my first visit there was to a Turkish carpet manufacturing facility), and I’ve had an interest in these carpets ever since.   The guys who sell them in these little stores are amazing; they could teach Donald Trump how to negotiate (people from the Middle East, and in particular carpet salesmen, are the best negotiators I’ve ever met).   I wasn’t interested in buying a carpet (we don’t have any more floor space in my home), but I always enjoy looking at them.   Some of the carpets have amazing designs.

You might wonder how you get things like a Turkish carpet home when you buy them overseas.  I did it by rolling up the four carpets I bought in Turkey and checking them as baggage.   One of the carpets I bought was 5 meters long (that’s more than 15 feet!) and you can imagine what it was like lugging it into the airport and checking it as baggage.  On that flight, we flew from Istanbul to Tel Aviv (I had a few days business in Israel), and going through the drill of checking and then reclaiming the carpets at Ben Gurion Airport was something else.   In Israel, getting back on the flight was a serious challenge.  The Israeli security people made me unroll all four of the carpets I was taking home to Los Angeles.  Then when I arrived in Los Angeles, the US Customs dude gave me a hard time because he thought the carpets were textiles.  He wanted to hit me up with a huge import tariff.  I was the first guy off that 747 to get to the Customs point, and I was still arguing with the Customs guy after all of the other passengers had passed through.  I finally told the Customs guy that I basically thought he was stupid and he was abusing his power (I used pretty much those exact words), and I asked him to call for a supervisor.   I could tell that infuriated him, but he did what I asked.   The supervisor listened to the story for all of 60 seconds and allowed me through.   That Customs guy is probably still mad at me (or not; hell, it was 25 years ago and he’s probably retired by now).

So, back to Singapore’s Muslim district and my adventure today.  I picked a Turkish restaurant for lunch and I had a chicken doner plate.   I’m not sure what “doner” means in Turkish, but whenever I’ve had a dish with that word in its name it’s always been great, and today was no exception.

After lunch, I experienced a special treat when I left the restaurant.   I spotted a very clean mid-1960’s Honda CB160 parked in among all of the other bikes at the curb.  It wasn’t there when I went into the restaurant, so it must have snuck in while I was eating.

The CB160 holds a special place in my heart.  It’s the first motorcycle my Dad ever owned.   In those days, Honda referred to the CB160 as a baby Super Hawk.  The Super Hawk was a 305cc motorcycle that was ahead of its time; the CB160 was basically a scaled-down version of the larger Super Hawk.  Like the full-sized Super Hawk, it had twin carbs, electric starting, and a host of other features.  Dad’s bike was black, just like the one you see here.   Seeing it today really brought back a lot of memories.  I hung around for a little bit hoping the owner would show up, but he (or she) didn’t.   That’s too bad; I would have really enjoyed a conversation about the bike.

And folks, that’s it for now.   The jet lag is catching up with me.  I’m going to read a bit and then call it a night.