CSC Blog

You guys and gals will remember our good buddy Washington Joe, who rode with us on the Baja ride last March.  He’s a hell of a nice guy and he’s into adventure riding big time.   Joe retired from the computer biz at a young age, he bought a motorhome and an RX3, and he is living large.  I recently received a great note from Joe detailing his latest adventure, and we’re sharing it with you here on the CSC blog!

Hey Joe and CSC crew,

It’s Joe, the other Joe from the Pacific Northwest, and I wanted to drop you a note on my adventures with the RX3.  To date I have 9838.7 miles on the odometer since the bike arrived last Sept 24^th.  It’s been a blast to own and I haven’t had a single mechanical issue.  I’ve sent you notes on many of my other adventures like the Mojave Desert and Death Valley and we have our shared fun in Baja along with many other short rides to build up my skills for adventure riding.  My first true test of being an adventure motorcyclist came this week.  A friend of mine and myself headed out for a 3 day fully unsupported adventure to ride the first 3 sections of the Washington Back-Country Discovery Route (http://ridebdr.com/WABDR).  The WABDR starts at the Bridge of the Gods in Oregon and traverses up the Cascade mountain range on primarily forest service roads and just a bit of pavement to come out in Nighthawk in Canada.  The route goes from smooth dirt on rolling terrain to some fear inspiring loose rocky climbs and descents with exposure.  The views along the way are spectacular.  Our trip started out by taking some freeway and forest roads from the Seattle area down to Hood River, OR. 

Mt. St. Helens from NF-25 on the way to Hood River

The next morning, we headed to Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods to start the route.  We went up the highway a bit and then turned into dirt for a 122-mile trek on Section 1.

Takhlakh Lake and Mt. Adams

Guler Ice Caves (formations are taller than me)

We rolled into the small town of Packwood, WA for fuel and some food and it was early enough in the day that we started out on Section 2.  This is a 121 mile section that contains two advanced areas.  Both have bypass options available.  We decided to take the hard route for Bethel ridge but took the bypass for Umtanum as we’d heard it was H, E, double hockey sticks level hard and just not worth the effort.

We worked our way up to Bethel Ridge which was pretty technical for me but the views from the lookout were amazing.

Bethel Ridge Lookout

Viewpoint from Bethel Ridge

The descent from Bethel ridge was fairly terrifying for me with very steep downhill grades covered in baseball and football sized rocks that just rolled around under the bike.  Just had to let it roll and hold on!  We eventually came to the small town of Nile but it’s so small there aren’t any services so we kept rolling and climbed up and up on dirt until it started to get late and we pulled off and made camp for the night.

RX3 resting for the evening

The next morning, we wrapped up section 2 and rolled into Ellensburg, WA for gas, water and snacks.  It was about noon so we jumped into section 3 which is about 75 miles long due to a re-route required since a large section of trail is washed out.  Section 3 had some great riding through an old burned out forest.

Narrow and winding paved road in burned out forest which turned into fun dirt

We were a bit bummed at first to have to re-route from the main WABDR route due to the slide but as we were in the hills above Leavenworth, WA we found some golden photo opportunities in this case, a narrow-gauge railroad line and tunnel with ornate doors used by a gold mining operation.

100ft tunnel with ornate wood doors on both ends

Narrow Gauge Railway

After we dropped into the Bavarian themed town of Leavenworth, WA we hit Highway 2 for the 2-hour ride home but had to stop at the candy store for a soda and some famous fudge.

The Alps Fudge/Candy Store

After having desert, we decided to get some real food so we stopped for a burger.  A bit of a story on this.  The 59’er diner was an amazing 50’s themed restaurant off rural Hwy 2 but it burned down last year.  So, while they are getting things together to rebuild they setup a food truck to keep this little slice of heaven operating and the employees employed.

59’er Diner Food Truck

After this stop we headed home to scrape off 3 days of dust and sweat and plan the next adventure.

That next adventure for me will be joining up with a bunch of other Pacific Northwest RX3 and TT250 owners and riding sections 4, 5 and 6 of the WABDR so I can proudly put this sticker on my RX3.

Washington Backcountry Discovery Route. Check out http://ridebdr.com/ for information on the various routes, upcoming routes and to get involved.

As always Joe and Crew, take care and we’ll talk to you all very soon!

Joe…The other one!

Joe, that is easily one of the best ride reports we’ve ever received.  The writing and the photography are superb!  Thanks so much for sending it to us and allowing us to share it with our readers.  Please let us know the next time you’re down this way.  We need to get together for fish tacos and a Tecate!

…is just something you have to do on a motorcycle. I was reminded of that when my good buddy Dan the K posted that he discovered his countershaft sprocket nut was loosening during a routine maintenance check.  Good for you, Dan, and thanks for the “heads up.”

Bikes are not like cars where you just drive them until the wheels fall off.   A motorcycle is a high-performance machine subjected to more vibration and other adverse environments, and you need to check fittings, fasteners, tire pressure, oil level, chain lubrication, and other things on a regular basis.

If you’d like to see the recommended checks for RX3 chain and sprocket maintenance, here’s a blog we did on that topic a ways back.   And here’s a video with Gerry explaining things to check on your TT250 before each ride.   The concepts are the same for the RX3 and RC3.

Sue and I were up in northern California last week, and instead of making the run back on Interstate 5 we opted to swing by Pinnacles National Park.   There were three reasons for that.  One was that we wanted to see Pinnacles, our newest National Park.  Another was that we wanted to explore Highways 25 and 198, two roads I had never taken before.  And the third was that the best deal ever is about to expire…that’s the $10 US National Park senior citizen lifetime pass.  I bought one of those lifetime passes a few years ago after seeing one of my geezer buddies use it on a motorcycle ride through Yosemite.   Sue is eligible now (but don’t tell her I told you), and we wanted to score one for her before the price goes up to $80 (still a hell of a deal, in my opinion).

Pinnacles National Park is on Highway 25, which cuts east off the 101 through Hollister and turns into a truly magnificent motorcycle road after you get past Hollister.   Highway 25 is kind of boring up to Hollister, but when you continue east, the road goes from humdrum to magnificent.

Pinnacles National Park, we learned, is mostly a place for hikers.  It has some dramatic geology formed by volcanic activity, but you have to be willing to hoof it to get there.

There are two entrances to the park (one from the east off of Highway 25, and the other from the west), and the road does not go through the park.

It was already 95 degrees and the sun was brutal at 10:00 a.m. the day we were there.  We picked up Sue’s lifetime National Park pass, took a few photos, and then we were back on the road.  Highway 25 was simply magnificent.

We had only gone a few miles when Sue spotted these guys walking along in a field…

They reminded me of the wild turkeys we saw on the TT250 Baja ride.   I actually got a video of those.  We sure do have magnificent roads in California.

And here’s one last shot along Highway 25.  I know it looks like it’s been tweaked in PhotoShop, but you’re seeing this one directly as it came from the camera.   The road had recently been repaved along this stretch, and its dark texture really jumps out in the picture.

Highway 25 runs into Highway 198, and it is another awesome California road.   It drops down into Coalinga, and from there it’s a straight shot down I-5 to So Cal.   Coalinga, incidentally, gets its name from its railroad heritage.  It used to be a coal stop (Coaling Station A, to be exact) and the name morphed into Coalinga.  Cool stuff.

This is another multi-day ride I’d like to do as a CSC ride.  If you’re interested, let me know.   We’d have to wait until a little later in the year, but it would be a great one.

On the off chance there’s someone out there who hasn’t seen this (and with no claims for fact-checking the numbers), here’s something that arrived in the mail from my good buddy Paul this morning….

We are in deep trouble.

The population of this country is 300 million.

160 million are retired, and that leaves 140 million to do the work.

There are 85 million in school, which leaves 55 million to do the work.

Of this there are 35 million employed by the federal government, leaving 20 million to do the work.

2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with keeping us safe, and that leaves 17.2 million to do the work.

Take from that total the 15.8 million people who work for state and city governments, and that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.

At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals, leaving 1,212,000 to do the work.

There are 1,211,998 people in prisons.  That leaves just two people to do the work.  That’s you and me, and there you are, sitting on your butt, reading the CSC blog.

Nice.  Real nice. 

DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING?!!

You gotta love my good buddy Duane…

Duane and I have been riding together for maybe 4 or 5 years now, ever since the CSC Mustang days.  When the Rx3s came to the United States, Duane (like me) grabbed one from the very first shipment.   Duane makes just about every CSC company ride and event.  And, the guy is a shooter.  Duane is a regular at our milsurp matches (the ones you’ve read about here on the blog).

Steve told me a few weeks ago that Duane was working on a ’55 Chevy, but it kind of went in one ear and out the other.  Today as I left the plant this absolutely drop-dead gorgeous blue ’55 was pulling in the parking lot, and without even looking at the driver I was blown away at how stunning the car was.  Visually arresting is the phrase that comes to mind.  It stopped me in my tracks.

When Duane stepped out, I remembered what Steve had told me about Duane’s ’55 Chevy project, and there it was, right in front of me.  Wow!

You need to see Duane’s ’55 in person; these photos just don’t do it justice.  The body is absolutely flawless.  I couldn’t see a wave or any imperfections in the sheet metal at all.   New cars don’t look this good!

Check out the interior…that custom dash and the instrumentation are awesome!

Duane’s car has a 350 cubic inch small block Chevy engine (arguably the best V8 engine in the world) and an automatic transmission, along with air-conditioning, power steering, power disk brakes, power windows, new upholstery, and the list just goes on and on.    Wow again!

You know, I’m old enough to have known ’55 Chevys when they were new (my uncle bought a new turquoise-and-white ’55 when I was a kid), and even though those cars were cool then, too, they were nowhere near this nice back in the day.   It kind of got me to thinking…wouldn’t it be cool if Chevy made a modern car that looked just like Duane’s ’55?  It’s something that could never happen with the regs the automakers have to meet today, but it sure would be awesome.  I’d buy one!

Well done, Duane! Your car is magnificent!

We’ve received several inputs in response to my query about the next company ride, and we’re going to go with my good buddy Marty’s suggestion:

Hi Joe,

I missd the Crystal Lake ride Saturday and would vote 1st for that one. That said I would join in on any of your part day rides. One thing you could do to spruce up a Flo’s ride is lead the group over Carbon Canyon into Orange County. Living in Chino Hills I use that route to go to my shooting range in Brea. Returning from there I will come home by using Brea Canyon road to come through Diamond Bar and back to Chino Hills. I can do it all without getting on the freeway. That loop starting and finishing at Flo’s would be about 40 miles. Not a huge ride but something that could make a Flo’s outing a bit more interesting.

Marty

Thanks very much, Marty.  The Carbon Canyon ride is a good one and it will be something new for us.  We’ll ride east on the 210 from the CSC plant, take the 57 south, and then we’ll pick up the Carbon Carbon pass to the Chino area.   It’s going to be fun, and there are a lot of cool airplanes to see at the Chino Airport.   August 5th, folks, so mark your calendars!

The Chino Airport is an amazing place.   Here are a few photos from one of my earlier Chino Airport visits…

You’ll definitely want to pack a camera on this ride.   The photo ops at the Chino Airport “Planes of Fame” Museum are awesome.

And speaking of shooting, my old geezer buddies and I sure had a good time at our informal Milsurp match this past Sunday.  I shot my ancient Mosin-Nagant rifle and a new snubbie 1911.  Our course of fire was 20 rounds with open sights at 100 yards for the rifle stage, and 20 rounds at 50 feet for the handgun stage.  We always have fun at these things and the lunch that follows.

It was super hot and humid on Sunday (just like the Saturday before when we had our bear encounter), but the heat didn’t slow us down at all.   We started on the rifle leg and after I shot my 100-yard rifle stage, I was one happy camper.  Only one round was outside the bullseye and I thought I had shot a 199, which it ain’t too shabby for this old boy at 100 yards with an 80-year-old rifle.

We next fired the handgun stage, and I used my snub-nosed 1911 with cheap .45 factory bulk ammo (which is not known for its accuracy).   Hey, another good stage, and I was happy again.  My 20 shots are the ones circled in yellow in the photo below.

The other shots on the target above were from my friends trying my .45 and from me shooting at the little black emblem in the upper right corner.  Four of my 20 shots were in the 9 ring and the rest were in the 10 ring, so that was a 196 (if you’re keeping score).   All of my shots would have been in the 10 ring if I aimed a little higher (I held at 6:00 on the orange bullseye).

I bought both of these guns from Turner’s, a local gunstore chain here in So Cal.  The service and the prices at Turner’s are always outstanding…they are kind of like the CSC of the gun world.  I bought the Mosin-Nagant rifle at Turner’s about 3 years ago for a paltry $139 (I’ve posted about the Mosin here on the blog before).   The real deal, though, was my new mini .45 auto.   It’s the Rock Island “Compact Service” model, and I’m really enjoying it.  Get this:  The 1911 was only $429!  It recoils a bit more fiercely than a full-sized 1911, but I like the feel of it and the no-nonsense Parkerized finish.   It is accurate enough.   Good enough, as they say, for government work.

At the lunch that followed our range session we scored our targets.  I was surprised to see 21 holes on my rifle target (I knew I had only fired 20 rounds).  One of my buddies whose target was right next to mine only had 15 shots on paper (he was in the classic “spray and pray” mode with his SKS).  We looked at my flyer in the 9 ring (the one to the right of the orange 10-ring bullseye) and its hole was slightly elongated.  It matched the holes on my SKS buddy’s target (his rounds were just starting to tumble at 100 yards).  The bottom line is that I had all 20 shots in the 10 ring, and that’s a good thing (yeah, I’m bragging a little bit).  So, for Marty and any of our other blog readers out there:  If you want to join us on the next milsurp get together, drop me an email!

…will be on Saturday, August 5th.  Steve and I were talking about where we might go on this one, and we decided to ask for your input.   Please send an email to us (info@cscmotorcycles.com, and only if you’re going to ride with us) telling us which of these ideas you like best:

• Our Glendora Ridge Road ride (this is a half-day ride).
• Our Crystal Lake Ride (this is a half-day ride).
• Angeles Crest Highway (this is about a 5-6 hour ride).
• Flo’s Cafe for breakfast at the Chino Airport (the ride is kind of boring as it’s all surface streets, but the breakfasts are great).
• Top of Mt. Baldy (up and down, lunch at the Mt. Baldy Lodge, lots of tight switchbacks, could possibly combine with a Glendora Ridge Road ride).
• The grand circle around the San Gabriels (Angeles Crest Highway, Angeles Forest Road, Mt. Emma Road, ride along northern edge of the San Gabriels, Wrightwood, return home on I-15 and Hwy 210; this is an all-day ride).
• Big Bear (this is an all-day ride).
• The Doffo Winery and MotoDoffo Collection in Temecula (this is an all-day ride).
• Joshua Tree National Monument (this is all-day, 400-mile, very warm ride).

Let us know what you’re thinking, and we’ll make a decision in the next couple of days!

…and some days the bear gets you (or so the saying goes).  More on that later, folks…

We had a great ride on Saturday up to Crystal Lake.  It’s one of our favorite destinations because, well, it’s just a great ride.  It’s an easy one for us, too.   We just grab Azusa Canyon Road (that’s Highway 39) and follow it all the way to Crystal Lake.

On the ride up, as we leaned left and leaned right through the San Gabriel’s magnificent twisties, I spotted a gorgeous C5 Corvette parked by the side of the road and there was a guy taking photos of us as we rode by.  It was good buddy Bill, who owns a couple of CSC 150 Mustangs.   Bill’s ridden with us before, and a fascination with CSC motorcycles is an activity he shares in common with his grandson (more on that in a second, too).   Bill shared a few of his photos with us…this first one is Bill’s shot of me on my TT250.

Here’s one of Steve on his Triumph…

And here’s one of Terry on his KTM…it has cool LED headlights…

So, about Bill’s family-fascination-with-CSC thing:  Two years ago while we were on the 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride with our friends from China, we had been on the road about 18 days when something really wild happened.  We were on the 101 heading back to Azusa after riding through California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.   It was early in the morning and I was the guy in front when a pickup pulled up alongside and a young guy started waving enthusiastically at me.   I had no idea who he was.  I thought he was either somebody who just liked seeing a group of 10 or 12 RX3s out enjoying a great ride, or maybe he was somebody who had been following our grand adventure on the blog.   The pickup fell back and I forgot about it, and then it caught up with me again.   This time, the young fellow held up a message he had scribbled on a McDonald’s bag…

I didn’t have a clue who the youngster was, but I was fascinated by the encounter and I posted a blog about it that night.  Bill emailed me within the hour to tell me it was his grandson!

Okay, back to the Saturday ride…

I rode my TT250 on this one.   I’ve been giving a lot of seat time to the TT250 lately.  Yeah, my RX3 is a lot faster, but the TT250 is super light and I love riding it in the mountains. It’s my “go to” bike most of the time.

On the way to the plant early that morning I stopped for gas at the Shell station and I did a quick fuel economy calculation…

Not quite as good as the RX3 (the RX3 typically gets over 70 mpg), but good enough.   The RX3 is fuel injected, and the TT250 has a carburetor.   That alone explains the fuel economy difference.

After that it was coffee and donuts at CSC, and meeting the guys who would be joining us on this ride.

It sure was hot on Saturday.  We’ve been having horrendous heat here in So Cal (which is typical this time of year) and the humidity was high (which is unusual for us).   Once we were on the move, though, the heat didn’t bother me.  That reminded me a lot of what it was like riding in China:  Oppressive heat and humidity, and blessed relief once we started rolling.

The ride up was amazing, as it always is.  I wasn’t wearing my camera because I had photographed the road so many times before, but I captured photos of the guys who rode with us once we arrived at my good buddy Adam’s Crystal Lake Cafe…

This is Terry, who rides a brand new KTM 1290.  It’s a beautiful bike.

I did a double take when I first met Terry.   I thought he could be my good buddy Pete’s twin.   You’ll remember Pete from the first CSC Baja ride (see the Baja photo below)…and you tell me:  Do these two guys look like brothers?

Here’s Eric, who rides a 300cc Kawasaki Ninja…

You guys know Roland, our factory WERA rider who is tearing up the track on his CSC RC3 racebike…Roland is leading the field in points with his CSC right now.  He rides a Yamaha R3 on the street…

My good buddies Duane and Dan rode with us.   Duane rides an RX3, and Dan rides a TT250.

Good buddy Steve rides a Triumph Bonneville.  He’s been with us on several of our monthly CSC rides…

As  you can probably tell from the above photos, it was brutally hot Saturday morning.   It’s a challenge photographing things on these hot and bright days because the lighting is so harsh.  Hey, I did my best!

Ordinarily, I would wear my Nikon around my neck while riding, but it was so hot I didn’t do that on our Saturday ride.  That was a mistake, because what happened next was absolutely amazing (give me a second and I’ll get to it).   We were at the Crystal Lake Cafe for maybe half an hour (where I enjoyed the world’s best hamburger with a cold drink) and then we geared up for the ride down.   ATGATT, and all that.  Wow, the heat was oppressive, and wearing a jacket, gloves, boots, and a helmet intensified the sauna that was our Saturday ride.

I knew the road glare in this kind of heat and brilliant sunshine would make for poor photos, and I was lazy.   Like I said above, I left the Nikon in its case and the camera in my TT250’s Wolfman luggage (which I love), and then we started the easy (but twisty) run back down from Crystal Lake.   Ah, the self-induced breeze kicked in as we picked up speed, and I immediately felt cooler.

We hadn’t ridden down through the twisties two miles when I came around a corner, and there, right in front of me, was an enormous bear!  My first thought was:  Am I imagining this?

Nope, it was real.

My second thought was:   Damn, no camera!  What a shot that would have made…an over-the-TT250-handlebars photo of a bear!

I passed within just a few feet of the bear, who looked at me with what I took to be an admiring glance.   He was either sizing me up as a meal, or taking in my beautiful black TT250 (and maybe wishing he could ride one, too, in this intense heat).  It was an amazing encounter.  I’ve never been that close to a bear in the wild.  In fact,  I’ve never seen a bear in California on any of my rides.  What an experience!

My third thought was to turn around, get the camera out, and go back for a bear photo.   I quickly ruled that out.  For starters, sudden stops in the twisties when you’re leading a group of fellow riders is not a good idea.  For all I knew, by the time I got back up there, the bear would have probably run back into the woods to do what bears do in the woods.   And then if the bear was still there, was it really a good idea to get close to it?

Nope, my bear encounter was grand experience, but a photo was not to be.  It just wasn’t in the cards that day.  Tough luck for you (I’ll try to do my best describing it with mere words), but a great experience for me.   I’ve got the image in my mind and it will last forever.  The bear seemed enormous, it looked to me like he was smiling, he was light brown with a blond tint to his back, his claws were black and looked to be about 2 inches long, and he had a yellow tag on his right ear (apparently this bear liked getting close to people and our encounter was not his first rodeo).

All of the guys behind me saw the bear, too, and they were as excited about it as I was.  It all happened so fast that as was the case with me, none of them got a photo, either.   But here’s the best part:  With each re-telling of our story, the bear keeps getting bigger.  He’s up to about 1200 pounds now!

I’d like to be able to tell you this is our bear, but he’s not (it’s just a photo I found on the Internet).  It sure captures the spirit of our close encounter, though!

So that’s it for now, folks.  Another day, another grand CSC adventure.   You could be part of it.  Give us a call on Tuesday.  There’s a bike here at the plant with your name on it…

You may not know this, but our very own Steve has one of the finest vintage Mustang collections on the planet…so much so, that Motorcycle Classics magazine ran a story about it a few years ago.  When I was in the plant yesterday, Steve’s ’53 Special was on display and I had my Nikon with me (along with a couple of wide angle lenses).   So….

I love those old Mustangs.  There were a lot of US companies making small motorcycles in the 1950s, and Mustang was the one everyone wanted.  Mustangs were the hot rods of the day, and the Special was the high performance model in the very elite line of Mustang motorcycles.  The Special was indeed special, with a high performance engine that made it the fastest of the fastest.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.  It’s when we’ll have our monthly company ride, and we’re heading up to Crystal Lake.  It’s been incredibly hot here and we’re expecting more of the same tomorrow, but we’re leaving and returning early enough that the heat should not be a problem.  I’ll have photos for you right here on the CSC blog!

…and he’s a CSC fan all the way.  Paul owns both a TT250 and an RC3.  I met Paul today when he was picking up his TT250 after having it serviced.

Paul told me he loves his CSC bikes.  He’s a new motorcyclist and he bought the TT250 because he thought it would make a good first bike.   My TT250 is something like No. 39 or 40.  Yep, they’re great first bikes.  They are a lot of fun if you’ve been riding a while, too!

Paul and I talked about the TT250’s light weight and easy maneuverability, and how well they handle off road and on.  I’m riding mine on the company ride up to Crystal Lake this Saturday.   It’s going to be hot, and it’s going to be fun.