CSC Blog

Wowee, wowee, wowee…I have more cool stuff to share with you this morning.

For starters, things are moving along (albeit slowly) on the Cafe Racer.   We are finalizing the configuration with Zongshen and hopefully I’ll be able to report more progress in the very near future.  I’ll keep you posted on when the bikes will be here.

With Zongshen’s worldwide success, they are bumping up against capacity issues, and we can’t always get the bikes we want as quickly as we want.   Stated differently, demand for Zongshen bikes all over the planet means that getting new bikes is taking a bit longer.  It’s similar to what Harley went through in the early 1990s, except you won’t ever have to pay a “market adjustment” (read: dealer gouging) price for our bikes.

High worldwide demand is keeping the plates spinning at all three Zongshen manufacturing locations.

More interesting stuff:   I received a nice note from my good buddy Greg (who owns both a TT250 and an RX3, and who rode with us on three Baja runs) telling me about his appearance on a motorcycle podcast.    You’ll remember Greg…this is a photo from the TT250 run through Baja…

Good buddy Greg on the Rumarosa Grade in northern Baja.

And just because I love the photo and the location, here’s a shot of the Rumarosa Grade…

Fabulous riding on Baja’s Rumarosa Grade.

As Greg said in his note, the podcast is a little irreverent (read: lots of profanity), but as they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.   Here’s the link:

Listen to Podcast 207: Emotional Steam and The Perfect Fling Poo from Motorcycles & Misfits in Podcasts. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/motorcycles-misfits/id687516909?mt=2&i=1000386710650

Greg did a good job explaining the TT250, the RX3, and CSC.   Greg, thanks for sending the link to me.

More good news…we’re getting more classic bikes in the showroom and in for maintenance, and I’m going to get out on Steve’s Norton later this week…

Steve’s Norton Commando…I’m riding it this week!

Watch for our report on what it’s like to ride a classic bike up in the San Gabriel Mountains in the next week or so.  I’m excited.  It’s been a while since I’ve ridden a vintage British twin and I’m really looking forward to it.

And speaking of classic bikes, you’ll remember the story I did on the MotoDoffo visit a few months ago right here in the CSC blog.   One of the photos in that feature took a little extra work to get right.   The entrance of the MotoDoffo collection is a really cool veranda overlooking the vineyard, and it has a bunch of classic bikes in the eves.   The challenge was getting a decent photo properly exposed to show both the bikes and the surrounding hills.   When I shot the vineyards, the bikes were underexposed…

The vineyards are properly exposed, but the bikes are too dark.

…and when I set the exposure to capture the bikes, the surrounding fields were overexposed…

The bikes are properly exposed in this photo, but the vineyard is overexposed.

The difference in exposures for the bikes and the fields was too dramatic to try to let the camera adjust for it using its built-in HDR feature, so the drill was to take two the photos shown above (from a tripod), and then cut and paste from one into the other in PhotoShop.  Here’s how it’s done..

The bikes properly exposed and selected in PhotoShop.

Copying and pasting the bikes on the photo with the vineyard properly exposed.

And when you roll it all together, everything looks good…

The MotoDoffo veranda, as created through the magic of PhotoShop.

That’s all for now, folks.  Stay tuned…there’s more good stuff coming your way.

I went over to the BMW dealer’s yesterday to meet my friends Marty and Dennis for lunch, and (I thought) to see the new 310cc BMW.  Alas, it was not to be…the sales guy told me the new small BMW hasn’t made it to the showrooms yet.   Ah, well, I was only going to be a looky-loo anyway, and then I spotted this stunning boxer twin…

It was stunning, it felt incredibly heavy, the ergos were terrible for this old boy, it was over $15K (which is actually kind of cheap for a new BMW), but boy oh boy, it sure was beautiful.  In another life I would have pulled out my checkbook and bought it on the spot.   That’s been known to happen, but it didn’t happen yesterday.  I sure was tempted, though.   My compliments to BMW…that boxer twin is stunning!

I guess the BMW is a cafe cacer of some sort, and that headlight fairing works for me in a retro sort of way.  When I was a teenager, the concept of a bike with a fairing was new and appealing.   One of the James Bond movies back then (Thunderball; I just found it on the Internet while writing this blog) featured a motorcycle that had the same look…a fairing with a single large headlight…

It’s a look that works.  The BMW kind of reminds of the motorcycle in the Bond movie.  I like it.  I wonder how difficult it would be to modify our new 250cc Cafe Racer with a comparable fairing…

I just received this interesting email…

Hi Joe –

Just finished your book and enjoyed it very much.  I put together a website on my experience w/ the CSC RX3:

http://davidreiss.com/RX3BEETLE.html

Hope you enjoy – love the bike.

Dave

Well, Dave, thank you very much…and I did enjoy your website!   I was out and about on my RX3 today, and seeing this in my inbox was a nice way to end the day!

The latest topic making the rounds is that Harley-Davidson might acquire Ducati.   Now that’s an interesting concept.  I can envision a few things already…

• A new marketing slogan:  Loud clutches save lives.
• A cruiser with the Harley look and a Ducati engine (the Impasta?).
• Sportbikes with tank profiles designed to clear beer bellies.
• The Desmo-Glide, or maybe the Monster-Glide, or perhaps even the Duckster.
• The Fat Boy, the Low Rider, and now, the Meatball (you  know, to counter that other V-twin company’s 8-Ball model).

And on and it on it goes.

It’s probably a good thing from a marketing perspective.   Harley needs to pull in a younger crowd to assure their long term survival, and Ducati having access to Harley showrooms can’t be a bad thing.  Here’s another thought:  Harley needs new technology to counter Indian’s flat trackers, and a Ducati-engined flat track bike might be just the thing for the Springfield mile.   And it certainly opens up a whole new range of T-shirt possibilities.   Will we see a new range of carbon fiber doodads for Harleys, or a wave of chrome plated parts for Ducatis?  Will Ducatis incorporate technology to shut down the rear cylinder at speeds below 120 mph?  Will racing leathers now come with fringe and conchos?

This is going to be fun.

I had a good visit with Zongshen last week, and I am just starting to get over the jet lag.  Recovering from the time change when returning to the US is always rugged, and the aftermath of this visit has been no exception.  I can get myself acclimatized to Asia time in one day, but the adjustment coming home always takes at least a couple of weeks.  For a good two weeks, I wake up at 3:00 a.m. every day.  That happened again this morning.  Ah, well, it’s a good time to blog.

On the Zongshen R&D test track with a (redacted) test (redacted).

Let me state the obvious:  I like Zongshen and I like the people who work there.   Zongshen is a modern, exciting company, and I always see fascinating stuff when I visit.  I wish I could tell you about all of it.  I get to see new products and technologies.   Speaking as an engineer, what I see is exciting.   Speaking as a rider, what I see (and get to ride) is exhilarating.

A display inside the inner sanctum…one of the few photos I was allowed to take inside the super-secret Zongshen R&D complex.

Another display of corporate partners on a wall inside the skunk works….recognize any of these names?

A lot of folks think that Chinese companies only copy things.  That may be true for some companies in China (just as it is true for a lot of companies in the rest of the world), but it is not what is going on at Zongshen.  Zongshen’s corporate motto is “Innovate, Don’t Imitate,” and I can tell you that’s what drives the engineers at Zongshen.  The RX3 is but one example of this.

I’ve called the RX3 an iconic bike, and not surprisingly, a few keyboard commandos out in the ether took offense at that term (which is why I now use it so frequently).   Consider where we are today…a Chinese company introduced a fully-equipped 250cc adventure touring motorcycle, and a couple of years later the rest of the industry is struggling to catch up.  Witness the Kawasaki Versys 300, the Honda 250 Africa Twin, and the new BMW 310 (rumored to soon be offered in a GS version).  The motorcycle media has been falling all over itself writing about these new bikes, and that’s cool.   Most of them mentioned that the RX3 arrived first, but one or two did not and I always jab the writers when that happens.  I know all of these guys, and I’m not afraid to call out bias or sloppy journalism when I see it.  I did that with one guy and he took offense.  His parting shot to me was this:  Did I really think the world’s largest motorcycle companies were copying Zongshen? 

Well, yeah.

That’s exactly what I think.

And by the way, Mr. Very Fake News, Zongshen also happens to be one of the world’s largest motorcycle companies.   Consider this:  Zongshen hasn’t had a year in recent history where their production was as low as Harley’s best year.  Think about that:  In their slowest years, Zongshen still sells way more motorcycles than a respected industry leader like Harley-Davidson.   One more thing to consider:  Many of the world’s premier motorcycle and automotive organizations have formed strategic alliances with Zongshen.  Names like BMW, Piaggio, Suzuki, and others aren’t doing so because they want to help Zongshen.   They’re doing it because they want to tap into what Zongshen brings to the party.  Who’d have thought?

At a gas station on the Colombia RX3 adventure ride, this attractive young attendant had but one question: What’s a like to ride a motorcycle this huge?

Zongshen produces something around a half million motorcycles and about a million engines a year (they also make engines for other motorcycle manufacturers).    Zongshen’s principal markets are their domestic market (China), the rest of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America.  Most of their production reflects what the rest of the world wants:  Small bikes, mostly in the 50cc to 125cc range.   Here in America with our predilection for big bikes, we’re the oddballs.  We think a 250 is small.  The rest of the world thinks a 250 is huge.  Me?  I think a 250 is just right.

The RX3 project was something different for Zongshen.   It was a design exercise to implement their “Innovate, Don’t Imitate” corporate philosophy.   They literally had no idea just how successful the RX3 would be.   During my recent visit, one of the Zongshen executives told me they predicted the total worldwide RX3 market might be 3,000 motorcycles.  To date, Zongshen has manufactured about 20,000 RX3s, worldwide sales are accelerating, and the RX3 is now sold all over the world.  If you’re on a round-the-world motorcycle trip, you’d probably be able to find RX3 parts easier than you would if you were on some of the other big bikes commonly used for these kinds of trips.  Think about that.

Anyway, that’s it for now.  I’m going to have another cup of coffee.   A little bit later this morning I’m going to fire up one of the 20,000 iconic RX3s riding the world (my very own iconic orange RX3) and ride over to meet my geezer buddies at the BMW dealership for lunch.   Maybe I’ll get to see to the new 310 Beemer, and if I do, I’ll post a few photos.

Later, my friends.

We are selling a lot of used bikes of all types right now, so if you have a motorcycle you are thinking about selling, please give us a call.  We’ve been selling everything from little 49cc DUI bikes all the way up to monstrous Harleys, with all manner of bikes in between.   We get a lot of folks asking us about used bikes all the time, so if you’re thinking of downsizing your stable give us a call at 909 445 0900.   Used bikes are a big part of our business and we can help you.

You may remember a few months ago I told you about a Model 70 Winchester I bought for the specific purpose of chasing pigs, and now it’s official:  My lifelong buddy Paul and I are hunting boar in September.  I’ll use that gorgeous curly maple Model 70 you see above (it’s a .30 06), and Paul is using his magnificent pre-’64 Model 70 in .270 Winchester.  That’s a rifle with a real pedigree:  It was handed down to Paul by his father, and this particular one is rifle royalty.  It doesn’t get any better than Paul’s pre-’64 Model 70, and the .270 Winchester cartridge is the quintessential chambering for it.

The Model 70 story is one I’ll tell you about some other time, but for now I’ll just mention that this particular rifle (i.e., Paul’s .270) was my very first exposure to the wonderful world of high-powered, long-distance marksmanship.  Paul’s dad used to fire that rifle across the fields behind our house, but before he did little Pauly would always knock on our door to tell us all hell was about to break loose.  That was mighty neighborly, as an unexpected bark from a .270 Winchester would have scared the bejesus out of everyone (I’m not sure what bejesus is, but I like the word so I’m using it here).  Paul and I were next-door neighbors back in those days.   We’ve literally known each other all of our lives.

Okay, back to the pig thing.  Back in the 1910s folks imported Russian boar into California so guys could hunt them without having to buy a boat ticket to Russia.  Then something happened that surprised everybody:  The Russian boars loved it over here and the population proliferated.   Then, being pigs, they cross bred with domestic hogs.   The bottom line today is that most of the US has a runaway wild pig problem…a problem guys like Paul and I are only too happy to help solve.

Here piggy, piggy, piggy…

In preparation for our hunt, I’ve been working up a load for my Model 70, and yesterday I found the Holy Grail.   Two of them, actually.   Here’s how it worked out…

100-yard Model 70 magic…

The deal on these kinds of development efforts is that you experiment with different powders, primers, bullets, and charge weights to find an individual rifle’s sweet spot, and I found two.  Over the course of two days, I fired all of the above loads at 100 yards at my gun club, and the ones in yellow are the ones I’m going with.  I’ll be using 150 grain Winchester jacketed soft point bullets (I bought a bunch of them about 7 years ago when it looked liked reloading components might dry up altogether).   You can never be too thin, too good-looking, or have too many bullets under your reloading bench.

It was brutally hot when I tested the loads in the above table (we’ve been having horrific heat here in So Cal), and the horseflies were out in force while I was shooting.   Under better conditions and with more-carefully-crafted reloads (trimmed brass, individually weighed propellant charges, etc.) I’ll bet the groups sizes will shrink even further.   My Model 70 is a sub-minute-of-angle rifle now (it will shoot into less than an inch at 100 yards).   That’s outstanding from a factory rifle, but I think it will do even better.

I’m pumped up.  Going pig hunting again is a bucket list item for me, and hunting with my good buddy Paul will make it even better.  I’ve been out for hogs before, but the only thing I ever got on those earlier adventures was poison oak.  I’m hoping to bring home the bacon this time.   Stay tuned, and you’ll read about it right here.

Hey, we thought we’d put this out there…we’re discussing potential future RX3 improvements, and we’ve got our ideas about what we think would be cool upgrades for future versions of the RX3.   But we don’t want to do like the other guys do (that is to say, drink our own bathwater).   Nope, we’re interested in hearing from you.   What would you like to see us incorporate on the RX3?   Send your thoughts to  info@cscmotorcycles.com, and thanks in advance.

There’s nothing like a ride in the San Gabriel Mountains, and July 8th, we’re riding to Crystal Lake up in the San Gabriels!   We ordinarily ride on the first Saturday of the month, but that would put us firmly in the 4th of July weekend…so we pushed our ride out to the following week.  Mark your calendars…we’re riding on the 8th!

You’ll need to be at CSC before 9:00 a.m. with a full tank of fuel.   We’ll have coffee up in Crystal Lake.   It’s going to be great.    You can sign up for the ride on our Meetup.com page here.

Our good buddy Will sent a cool note to me late last night.  It would seem Will found a new use for his RX3…

Joe,

We have started our traveling life and I had to use the RX3 as my tire shop runner this morning when I woke up to a flat in New Orleans. Who needs a pickup?

I emailed previously about Baja ’18. Please put me on the list. I am ready to go.

Thanks,

Will

Will, that’s a new application for an RX3!   Glad your travels are progressing well.  You’re on the list for Baja and I know you will love it.  It will be our fourth CSC Baja expedition, and take it from me, Baja is the best riding in the world.  I’m looking forward to it as much as you are!