Hey, check out our good buddy Dan, who picked up his new TT250 this morning!
Dan is practically a neighbor of mine, and we both ride our TT250s in the hills above Lytle Creek. Dan, I’ll see you in the San Gabriels!
Our good buddy and jet setter Thomas was in town for just 24 hours today, en route from Colombia to Chongqing with a layover in Los Angeles. We shared a great dinner at the world-famous Derby restaurant in So Cal this evening and it was awesome. More to follow on this visit, folks, and I can tell you that (like always) there will be lots of great news in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, and Thomas, safe travels back to the Land of the Sizzling Hot Pot!
Folks, I can’t believe how much more comfortable my RX3 was with its new Seat Concepts saddle on the Baja ride. The difference was amazing…not just in seating comfort, but in my legs as well. The seat sits taller than the stock seat, and that allowed me to stretch out a bit more. I’m not a tall guy (I have a 29-inch inseam) and I had no problems reaching the ground with our “tall” seat. As far as I’m concerned this is a “must have” accessory for your RX3, and you can order it here.
Whether it’s a new TT250 or a new RX3, we’ve got them in stock in all colors! Give us a call at 909 445 0900 or go online at www.CSCMotorcycles.com to get yours!
I grabbed the photo above of our good buddy Peter earlier today when he stopped by the plant on his Harley-Davidson. Peter is a good guy and he enjoys putting the miles on his Harley. And, he is one photogenic dude!
We service a lot of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, we sell tires and accessories for them, our service is top notch, and we do a great job. If you ride a Harley and you need parts or service, please give us a call at 909 445 0900!
Peter, thanks for your service. We know it’s guys and gals like you who made a difference!
While we were on our Baja expedition earlier this month, much of our discussion during dinner and our after hours get-togethers was on the cave paintings and the missions. Baja is one of the primo places on the planet to take these in, and we were all excited about seeing them. We visited the cave paintings in the Sierra San Francisco mountains about 650 miles south of the border on the eastern edge of the Baja peninsula, and getting there involved a rough ride on an unimproved dirt road. It’s real Indiana Jones stuff.
My good buddy Dan (see his photo in the blog below) mentioned that he had purchased an excellent book on the cave paintings by Harry Crosby, and as it turns out, I also had purchased a copy of Crosby’s work a few years ago. It really is a great book with magnificent color plates, and it covers the awesome cave paintings we see every year on our CSC Baja expeditions. The book also covers Baja’s many other cave painting locations. The book is not cheap, but it’s money well spent in my opinion.
I’d like to mention another book I had talked about a few years ago, and that’s Burckhalter’s awesome work: Baja’s California Missions. Here’s what I said about it in a CSC blog entry back in 2015:
Next up, the Franciscans. Actually, they’re one of three groups of interest. First the Jesuits came to Baja, then the Franciscans (I listed them first to satisfy my allegiance to alliteration), and then the Dominicans. The topics of interest in this part of our discussion center around the Baja missions.
You may recall that I told you about a couple of books I purchased recently – one on the Baja missions and one Baja’s cave paintings. I just finished reading the one on the missions, and folks, if you have any interest at all in this topic in particular or Baja in general, you owe it to yourself to buy a copy of Burckhalter’s book. The photography and the riding are top notch…so much so I feel kind of dorky for not buying it sooner. All those trips I’ve made into Baja and I really haven’t known anything at all about the missions. It seems the missions were the Europeans’ entry ticket into Baja, and all concerned paid an extremely high price…and none more so than the native inhabitants. There were several indigenous tribes “missionized” by the Europeans with devastating effects. Smallpox, in particular, came with the Europeans and took out close to 95% of Baja’s original population.
The above notwithstanding, the missions really are majestic. I’ve seen three so far of the original eight that are still standing….San Ignacio, Mulege, and Loreto. You saw our photo of the San Ignacio Mission on the recent CSC Baja Run…
The Baja missions all go back to the 1700s. The story is a fascinating one, and Burckhalter tells it well. It’s the kind of book I know I’m going to read a few more times to get the full story. And the photos…well, let’s just say I wish I could take pictures like that.
Of course, there’s one more book I think everyone with even a passing interest in Baja should buy, and that’s my very own Moto Baja! But wait a day or two. I’m going to update it with a group photo from our most recent CSC Baja ride and fix one or two of the mistakes I’ve found in the original edition. All that should happen this week.
And here’s another magnificent book I think any motorcycle rider will enjoy…it’s Clem Salvadori’s great work on riding in Baja: Motorcycle Journeys Through Baja. If you’ve never ridden Baja on a motorcycle, this book will make you want to do so. It’s what happened to me when I first read it.
Salvadori’s book is the first one I ever bought on Baja, and it inspired me to spend more time exploring some of the more “off the beaten path” locales in this exotic motorcycling paradise. Salvadori is one of the greatest motorcycle writers ever, and I’ll be the first to admit that his book is a much better travel guide than is my Moto Baja! (my book is more of a collection of stories and photos; Clem’s book is a “real deal” travel guide).
Salvadori has great insights on traveling in Baja. In addition to covering all of the more-well-known routes, he identifies many of the lesser-known spots ideal for motorcycle adventure travel. One of my all time favorites is the shipwreck off the coast of San Jacinto on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula, a spot my good buddy Welker and I visited only after I read the Salvadori book (I would never have known about it otherwise). It’s accessible only via dirt road, and it led me to the place where Welker and I had to outrun a pack of rather rude Mexican pups. Welker got away cleanly; me, not so much. But you’ll have to read Moto Baja! to get the full story on that one!
So, that’s it for now, folks. Stay tuned…like always, there’s more good stuff coming your way, and you’ll see it first right here on the CSC blog!
That’s the subject line in an email from my good buddy Dynamic Dan, a great guy with whom I’ve had the pleasure of riding Baja four times and the Destinations Deal tour (all on CSC motorcycles, I might add).
Dan wrote to me just after our most recent Baja ride to alert me to an article in RoadRunner magazine on (get this) Highway 39. That’s the amazing ride just behind our CSC plant, and it’s one we’ve written about many times here on the blog. The RoadRunner alert even had a cool YouTube video on this great road in our San Gabriel Mountains…
The next time you visit us here at CSC Central, you might want to budget a little time to explore Highway 39 and the San Gabriels. It’s some of the best riding in the world.
And speaking of the best riding in the world and RoadRunner magazine, you might want to keep an eye out for their next issue (that would be the July/August issue). I know the folks over there and I hear it’s going to include a great article…
Wow, the new 2018 RX3 motorcycles are in stock and they sure are nice. We’ve got four new colors this year, all based on a two-tone scheme that has the front and rear trim panels in gloss black.
The first new color is our matt black/gloss black combo, and it is stunning!
How about this one in gold…isn’t it sleek?
The next color is copper (it’s the same as the gorgeous copper we’ve used on the TT250)…
And the fourth 2018 color is yellow (rumored to be our new “fastest” color)!
There are several new features included on the 2018 RX3. One is a much more accessible radiator bottle fill point…
Another is ABS braking on the front and rear wheels…
A third new feature is the 19-inch front wheel as standard equipment…
And of course, the RX3 includes all of the standard features you’ve come to love…
It’s going to be a great year, folks!
Our Gerry Edwards is one of the top BMW wrenches in the world (he holds every BMW certification there is and he’s been working on BMWs for more than 30 years). Gerry loves working on all the Beemers, and he especially loves working on Airheads. If you have a classic BMW, give us a call for a service quote for any kind of work…a tuneup, a top end overhaul, tires, or a complete custom redo!
This 1975 R75/6 is having a top end overhaul…
The magnificent 1977 R100S is in for a tuneup…
Here’s a 1981 R100 with quite a history. It’s a bike that’s spent a lot of time exploring Baja, and now it’s being redone as a custom Café Scrambler from the ground up!
You can reach us at 909 445 0900. Just ask for Gerry, and we’ll take care of you!
TT250 Enduro
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer
RX1E Electric Motorcycle