CSC Blog

We always advise our customers to check their oil every time they take their bike out for a ride.  It’s real easy to do on a CSC motorcycle:  Just hold the bike straight up and look in the view port on the right side of the engine.  If you see oil between the lines, you’re good.  There’s more detail on this in our maintenance tutorials, which you can find on the CSC website.

A motorcycle uses more oil when it’s new (that’s because the rings haven’t fully seated yet).   The TT250, being a CG clone, will also use more oil when it is ridden at high rpm (high speed) or if the bike is heavily loaded, so checking the oil frequently is even more important under these conditions.   There’s only a little over a quart of oil in the TT250, so checking your oil frequently is mandatory.  On our ride down to San Felipe (about a thousand-mile round trip) I checked my oil every morning, and I had to add a little bit every couple of days.   It’s part of riding a motorcycle and it’s just one of those things you have to do, like checking your chain and lubing it every day on long trips.  If you take a brand new TT250 and ride it at freeway speeds, for starters you’re not breaking the bike in properly and it’s likely you’ll deplete the oil within 7oo or 8oo miles.  You have to keep an eye on your oil level.

A set of different topics this morning, folks.  Some moto-related, others not, and all interesting (at least in my opinion!), so here goes…

We’re up to 11 riders for the March Baja expedition, which leaves 4 slots open.  It you want to ride with us, let me know at info@cscmotorcycles.com.   It’s going to be another grand adventure.  I can’t wait to get down there again.

We’re back to having wacky weather here in La La Land.   It was bitter cold and wet for us all last week (with the emphasis on “for us,” which means it was down in the mid 30-degree range), and the forecast was for clear weather on Saturday.  That was supposed to be the day of our ride on Angeles Crest Highway.   I was going to change the route to Glendora Ridge Road because the Crest was blocked due to the snow we had on Thursday and Friday.   But it was not to be.   It was pouring katz and dawgs Saturday morning (and it was cold).  So, no ride, but by noon the sun was out and by Sunday, we had sunshine and the more normal 70-degree weather we’re used to here in So Cal.   I would have gone for a motorcycle ride on Sunday, but this Sunday was our monthly shooting get-together, and the boys and I all converged on the West End Gun Club to send steel downrange.   That was grand fun.   It’s always great getting together with the guys for a few hours at the range and a Mexican lunch afterwards.   Several of my shooting buddies ride CSC motorcycles, so there’s always plenty of good conversation.

After Sunday’s beautiful weather, it turned cold and wet again, which brings us to this week.   When I arrived at the plant this morning, I saw a bunch of non-CSC motorcycles in the service area (we work on all bikes), with BMW being the dominant marque.  Our Gerry has a reputation for excellence in the BMW community (as he has earned in the CSC community), and we see a lot of Beemers here.

Steve’s good buddy Paul (our Pro-One rep; Pro-One is our sister company) was in the plant this morning.

I’d heard of Paul before, but today was the first day I actually met him.  Being a watch guy (one of my many weaknesses), I immediately noticed Paul’s really cool wristwatch.  You’ll notice he’s not wearing it in the above photo.   That’s because I asked about it and Paul took it off so I could see it.   Check this out…

It’s a Nicky Hayden commemorative watch and Paul received it because of his connection to the industry.   It’s very cool, including the disk-brake-inspired bezel.  I like orange on a watch, and that one really stands out.  I like it.

Okay, one more watch story…40+ years ago when I was a young second lieutenant in Korea, some of the guys purchased Japanese Orient watches.   Orient was the brand name.   That would have been in the mid 1970s, and those were the good old days when you could buy a Rolex at the Post Exchange for $300.  Who in their right mind, I remember thinking back then, would spend $300 for a watch?  Anyway, I never heard of the Orient brand again until somebody posted a photo of a really cool Orient diver’s watch on the ADVRider.com “Shiny Things” thread.   That lit up a long-lost memory neuron or two, and I looked for Orient watches on Google.  I didn’t want another diver’s watch, but I saw another really cool Orient watch on the OrientUSA website.  I sent an email to Orient, they responded to my question and included a discount code in case I decided to order a watch, one thing led to another, and my new Orient arrived via UPS last night.   I really like it…

It’s a self winding mechanical watch (as a mechanical engineer, that appeals greatly to me), it’s rose gold (which I like a lot), and it’s just cool.  It’s beautiful, actually.  It’s even got a feature that tells me whether the sun or the moon is out.   A short while ago when I shot the above photo, it told me the sun was out (it’s not, because it’s raining bigly out here, but you get the idea).

Keep an eye on the blog, folks.   I’ll have more info up shortly about our rescheduled Saturday ride.   Several of you have asked about the ride I mentioned up the Pacific Coast Highway from Cambria to Carmel, and I’ll have more info about that one, too.

That’s all for now.  Ride safe and stay warm!

Rain, rain, more rain, and road conditions in the mountains make cancelling today’s ride to Newcomb’s the right thing to do. We’ll be at the plant, though, if you want to stop by for coffee and donuts.

We’ll announce a reschedule on the ride shortly.

Wow, check out my good buddy Josh’s TT250 video!

This is awesome stuff, folks! And Josh, thanks for a great video!

Hey, we’re starting a new video series called “Shop Talk” in which Gerry and I will discuss some of the more-frequent questions we get from our customers about maintaining their bikes.   We’re going to be launching these at a rate of about one or two each month.  Here’s our first Shop Talk video, and it’s on prepping your bike for storage…

Do you have a suggestion for a Shop Talk topic?   If you want to add your idea to those we are considering, drop us a note at info@cscsmotorcycles.com!

I read this piece a short while ago on the Fox News website (no comments necessary about my preferred news outlet, folks).  Check this out, as quoted from the Fox News story…

Motorcycle racer struck by lightning during event, finishes anyway

Motorcycle racer Ivan Jakes isn’t faster than lighting, but he’s tough as nails.

The Slovakian rider was competing in the grueling Dakar rally in Argentina on Wednesday when he was struck by a bolt of lightning as he sped through the Salar Centenario region….and he just kept going.

Jakes was barely past the midway point of the 485-mile-long stage when he got jolted, but managed to finish the third day of the 12-day-long endurance event in 15th place with just a pain in his arm, according to Motorsport.com.

Upon arrival at base camp, Jakes was checked out by medical professionals, and his team credited the insulating effect of the motorcycle’s rubber tires for limiting injuries, saying that if he’d had his feet on the ground at the time of the hit it would’ve been a much different story.

After taking blood tests and putting him through a period of observation, the doctors cleared him to continue on Thursday with stage four — just a short 318-mile route into Bolivia that he finished in 11th place.

The race winds its way through the wilds of Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia, finishing in Buenos Aires on January 14.

This is Jakes’ 10th try at the Dakar rally. His best result was 4th in 2013.

I just can’t make up stuff this good.   Imagine that…struck by lightning, but he kept going anyway!

I’ve been reading about unrest in Mexico in the last few days as a result of the Mexican government bumping the price of gasoline 20%.  From a cost perspective, it would be no big deal to us for the Baja ride (even at the increased prices, it’s still about the same as what we pay for gas here in California), but it’s a big jump for the Mexicans.  The Mexican government has subsidized the price of fuel in Mexico for decades and now that’s changing (old Maggie Thatcher had it right…socialism only works until you run out of other people’s money).  I think it should all be smoothed over by the time we ride into Baja in March, but we’ll be keeping our eyes on the situation down there.

Sue and I were caught in a Mexican labor riot on one of our CSC ride scouting expeditions in April 2015 (you can read my blog about that here), and I can tell you it’s no fun.

We’ll keep you posted on developments south of the border and how it might affect our ride.   If things look rough, we’ll just divert to someplace here in the western US.

Hey, we created a riding group on Meetup.com, and you can see it here.   We’ll be posting future company rides on the Meetup.com site as well as our blog and company calendar.    And, just to remind everyone, we’re riding this Saturday either in the San Gabriels or up Angeles Crest Highway.   We hope to see you at the CSC plant prior to 8:30 a.m. (that’s our departure time).   Make sure you have a full tank of gas when you get here!

A familiar bike and familiar roads….these two videos popped up in my YouTube feed earlier today, and I thought you might enjoy them!

Weather and road conditions permitting, we’re headed for Angeles Crest Highway (known the world over as “The Crest”) and Newcomb’s to take in the exotic bikes always present at that iconic location and to have lunch.  We’re leaving the CSC plant in Azusa at 8:30 a.m. (we’ll have a pot of coffee going and I think I can talk the Boss into stopping at The Donut Man on his way in).   The Crest is one of So Cal’s great rides, and we’d sure like to see you there!

You don’t have to be on a CSC motorcycle to ride with us (in fact, we encourage you stop by if you’re on another bike…it will be a good opportunity to see what all the excitement is about, check us out, and see the RX3, the RC3, and the TT250).   You don’t have to RSVP, but if you want to, drop us a line at info@cscmotorcycles.com.

I’ll call ahead, and if The Crest is icy, we’ll divert instead to our Glendora Ridge Road run…it’s another great ride.  Either way, join us and you’re in for some of the best riding in southern California!