CSC Blog

…die hard, as they say, and I think I am probably living proof of that.   I am at a point in life that I could afford to buy factory ammo, but I just can’t leave brass laying around at the range.  I think it is actually cheaper to buy new factory-loaded 9mm ammo (at least when it goes on sale) than it is to reload it, but I still roll my own 9mm and I still pick up my brass when I’m finished shooting.  It’s what I learned as a kid, it’s what they trained us to do on the range when I was in the Army, and it’s what I still do when I get out to the range.   It’s a habit.

When I see brass laying around on the ground that other shooters don’t want, I scoop that up, too.  It’s just seems wasteful to leave it there.  The bottom line is that I probably have enough 9mm brass stashed in my reloading room to start a candelabra factory, but I’ll still keep picking it up.   I can’t buy 9mm ammo that is as accurate as the stuff I load (and in case you’re wondering, that’s a 125 gr cast roundnose bullet with 5.0 grains of Unique).  To me, the mark of a good day at the range is leaving with more brass than I had when I arrived, and I have a lot of good days at the range.

You guys will remember Joe Gresh as Mr. Cool, the “magazine guy” who rode with us on the 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride and our trek across China.   Joe did great videos on both of those rides, and just in case you haven’t seen them, here they are…

Joe wrote the foreword for both 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM and Riding China.   Like I always tell people…don’t wait for the movies.  Buy the books!

Anyway, Motorcyclist magazine had Joe in Daytona recently and he scored a big Indian for a few days.    I enjoyed watching his video on that bike, too, so I thought I would share it with you here on the CSC blog…

Old, new, slow, fast….you’ll see all kinds of moto exotica at Newcomb’s Ranch on the world-famous Angeles Crest Highway!

Our next company ride is going to be on 6 May 2017 (that’s a Saturday) and our destination will be Newcomb’s Ranch on the Angeles Crest Highway.  It’s one of my favorite rides.

Angeles Crest Highway is a great ride through the Angeles Forest to one of the world’s all time classic motorcycle destinations.    I wrote a piece about it for Motorcycle Classics magazine a while back and you can read about it here.    We’ll have a great time and I guarantee you’ll love it.   We’re posting about the ride on our Meetup.com page, too (you can get to it here).   If you’re planning to ride with us, please sign up on the CSC Meetup.com page.

We’ll leave from the CSC plant at 9:00, so if you’re going to ride with us please make sure you are here no later than 8:45 with a full tank of gas.   We’ll have a pot of coffee going when you get here (along with our famous Donut Man donuts).    It will be an easy roll west on the 210 freeway and then we’ll pick up world-famous Angeles Crest Highway near Glendale.

We’re looking forward to seeing you on the 6th!

So, give me another 60 days, and Moto Baja will be available!   This one will be heavy on photos, it will be in full color, and it will tell one hell of a story:  How we first started riding Baja, the bikes we’ve ridden there, and why our CSC adventure rides through this magical land are a key part of our marketing strategy! (Hint…it works, and it’s fun!)

Keep an eye on the blog, folks, and we’ll keep you posted as Moto Baja progresses!

Wow, another great adventure by our good buddy Joe Martin and his RX3!  I just received this note from Joe:

Last weekend I participated in the Stumpjumper’s Desert 100 event.  This is the longest running desert race in the United States and is located in Odessa, WA.  They have multiple events going on during the weekend.  I joined in on the Adventure/Dual Sport Poker Ride.  140 mile event with about 30 miles of asphalt, 70 miles of gravel and sand roads and 40 miles of full on desert singletrack.  I rode my RX3.  It did great!  I on the other hand am still a noob and had a few bobbles.  No injuries to me or the bike.  Hope you enjoy!

Joe, this is just awesome. Congrats on your accomplishment and thanks for sharing it with us!

There’s an absolutely magnificent writer named A.J. Baime who does a regular column for The Wall Street Journal focused on folks who have owned cool cars for a long time.  They don’t have to be extremely rare or ultra exclusive cars, either…the thing that makes them interesting is they have been in the same family for a very long time and they all have an interesting story.   For example, Baime did a WSJ story a few months ago about a traveling salesman who bought a new Chevy Impala back in the ’60s (and he’s still using it for his sales duties).   There was one last month about a young Army officer who bought a used MG TD when he graduated from West Point, he did his 30 years in the Army, and he recently attended a US Military Academy class reunion (and he drove to the reunion in that same MG).   And this morning I read a Baime story about a grandmother who drives a ’64 Corvette she and her husband purchased new in 1964.  All of Baime’s stories are great human interest pieces with just the right amount of automobilia (if that’s a word) in the mix.  You can read his latest story (the one about that ’64 Vette) here.

Baime has also done a few stories on motorcycles (including one on a Harley WLA), and they are similarly captivating.   You can get to them most easily through his Facebook page (Facebook.com/AJBaime).

Wow, was I ever surprised this morning.  I received an email informing me that the assets of Paisano Publications (the company that publishes Easyriders and a host of other custom V-twin magazines) is up for auction.  The link for more info is here.

My first published work ever was in Easyriders magazine.   It was back in the 1980s and I had this idea about being a published writer, so I wrote a short story and mailed it to Easyriders (I actually typed it on paper and mailed it via the US Post Office, as word processors and email had not yet been invented).   After not hearing anything for several weeks I called the good folks at Easyriders, and a very nice associate editor explained to me that my short story really wasn’t very good.  I asked what she didn’t like about it, she told me, I retyped it to address the things she didn’t like, and a few short weeks later it was published.  And they paid me for it.   Whoa, that was cool, I thought.

It’s hard to tell how the Easyriders wave is going to crash on shore.   The auction has a reserve price of $3,000,000 (think of it as 770 RX3s, or 1,367 TT250s), which means if that price isn’t reached it won’t sell.  I just don’t know that printed media periodicals are doing well these days, and I think the custom V-twin outlaw-wannabe fad pretty much went south with the advent of the Great Recession back in 2009.  It’s kind of a double whammy if you have a print magazine that focuses on custom Harleys.  We’ll see what happens.

This is a very cool video of the ride in Baja’s Sierra San Francisco Mountains to the cave paintings…as seen by my good buddy Matt, one of the outstanding folks we rode with last month!

Matt, this is great stuff! Thanks for riding with us and thanks for capturing the ride so well!

Wow, the notes just keep coming!   I was glad to get this email and several photos from good buddy Pete, one of the great guys who rode with us on the recent CSC Baja expedition!

CSC Baja Ride 2017: What a great time!  This type of ride is on every motorcyclist’s bucket list and it proved to be an excellent sample of what Baja has to offer.  I’m looking forward to going again.

Each rider on the trip brought their own RX3 and was responsible for any issues encountered.  There weren’t any of real consequence.  A few bolts on one bike needed some Loctite, checking fluid levels, tire pressure, chain tension and lubricating the chain was the sum total of maintenance performed during the ride.  We were one of two motorcycle groups encountered on the trip that didn’t have a chase vehicle which speaks to the confidence CSC and the bike owners have in the RX3.   Basically this bike goes where I point it, it gets me there and more importantly brings me back.  I use it almost daily here in Scottsdale AZ, on and off road.  It has become my “go to” motorcycle for 1-up riding.  Affordable, under 400 pounds, good fuel range, carries the gear I need for local and adventure riding, good choice for how and where I ride.

Thanks to everyone at CSC for handling the logistics and for being our guides.  After completing this ride I feel I can intelligently talk to others about the RX3 so the affiliate paperwork will soon be filled out and on its way to CSC.

I heard you say you don’t always get pictures of yourself on these rides, so I included one of you!

Pete

Pete, thanks for the note and for the photos.   I think that might be the first photo I’ve ever seen of myself with the whales, and it is a great one.  I’m glad you had a good time and I am looking forward to buzzing through Baja with you again!