CSC Blog

Even though it looks like rain is rolling in, I wanted to ride my motorcycle this afternoon….and I have an app for that…

I rode one of my favorite roads this afternoon…Glendora Ridge Road.  I had not been up there for a while and it felt good to ride it again.

There were some cool bikes up there today, including a white Triumph Speed Triple….

I’ve always thought the Speed Triple to be a beautiful motorcycle.  That white one above is a 2008; my lime green S-3 was a 2007.   Here’s a photo of it…

When I owned the Speed Triple, I was amazed at the power it had, but I always felt it wasn’t really usable power in the twisties.  I like a light and responsive bike, and that describes my RX3 perfectly.

Well, today, after stopping and chatting with the Triumph guy for a bit at the intersection of Glendora Ridge Road and Glendora Mountain Road, the white Triumph headed east and I followed.   He was hitting the corners pretty aggressively.   Hmmm, I thought.   I knew he would walk away from me on the straights, but I wondered…

The bottom line?  I’m not wondering now.   If there was any kind of a straight, that Triumph was gone.   But in the corners, he couldn’t shake me, and in fact, when the road stayed twisty, I gained.   That felt good.

That’s all for now, folks.   Stay tuned.   As always, more to follow…

Our good buddy Mt. Ranier Mark sent this nice note to Ryan with great photos of his RX3, and we thought we would share them with you:

Hello Ryan:

I just placed an order for a few parts and I then remembered the link to purchase Moto Colombia on the CSC blog.  I was wondering if you had copies of Joe’s book in your shop?  If you do could you please include one with my order and adjust the charge on my CC.  I really enjoyed 5K at 8K and look forward to reading Moto Colombia as the weather is changing and riding trips are in the works (the books are an inspiration).

I have included a few pictures of a fun little ride we took last weekend.  Mt Rainier is a short 150+ miles from my house and I have made that ride on every bike I have owned over the years.

Mark

Those are great photos, Mark, and we sure appreciate you sending them to us!  The area around Mt. Ranier is beautiful.  Sue and I did that drive in a rental car more than 20 years ago.  I’ve never ridden it on a motorcycle…but one of these days I will.   Thanks again for your kind words and for sharing your experiences with us.   You’ll enjoy Moto Colombia!  I had a lot of fun on the Colombia adventure and I had a lot of fun remembering it as I wrote the book.

I thought I would share with you a couple of the photos we’ll be boosting on Facebook in the next day or so.   It’s a chance to get a peek at the copper TT250, too!

You’ll remember John and Louis, about whom I wrote last Saturday here on the blog.   It seems they both put their RX3s to work immediately on  the ride home, and Louis sent this incredible photo to me…

Louis, thanks for sharing your photo with us!

More good stuff…I was out and and about over the last couple of days following up on the RX3-P police motorcycles.   We’ll be posting more about that in the near future, but for now, check this out…

More to follow, folks.   Stay tuned…

We had a great weekend and Monday looks like it’s going to be an equally great day.   The stock market is up (hey, the Dow broke 18,000 today!), it’s 90 degrees and sunny out here in So Cal this afternoon, and life is good.

We had a fantastic afternoon yesterday.   My good buddy Willie was the subject of a surprise birthday party yesterday (that’s Willie in the photo above in front of the Mulege mission), and Willie’s wife Dalia invited the folks who were on the CSC 2016 Baja run.   I partied with Willie, Sara, Fathi, and Doina yesterday, and we relived parts of the Baja adventure (you can see my Baja buddies in the two photos below).   It sure was a great party.  The stories get more interesting and we get to be faster and better riders each time we tell them!

I’m headed north on another secret mission for CSC tomorrow, so I may not get to post on the blog for a day or two.   Hey, I’m having fun, and you should, too!  The weather is great….get out there and ride!

You’ve probably already seen our good buddy Willie on the 2016 CSC Baja “Most Interesting Man in the World” video…

I was watching that video again this evening, and when it finished, this one followed…enjoy, my friends!

…of ADVPulse magazine’s Top 10 All-Time Lightest Adventure Bikes, that is.   It’s a cool read and a cool story.   You can read it here!

After my morning cup of coffee and a not-too-shabby spinach omelet this morning, I suited up for my Saturday morning ride to the plant.   I looked at the two bikes in the garage (my trusty Baja-blasting RX3 and my KLR), and I realized…I just don’t ever ride the KLR any more.   “Why am I keeping it?” I wondered, and I realized that was a good question….so I fired up the KLR, I rode it to the plant, and I asked Steve to sell it for me.

I had a lot of fun with the KLR, but the truth is the RX3 is just a much better motorcycle.  It handles better than the KLR, it’s lighter, it gets better fuel economy, and for me (to borrow a phrase from my good friend Melissa Pierson) it’s the perfect vehicle.

The KLR has been a good bike, and a few months ago, Gerry went through and did everything:  Valves (they were in spec), coolant, oil, fork oil, new chain, carburetor overhaul, and all the rest.   This KLR has the doo installed, the Kawi soft bags, it has good Shinko tires that Ryan sold to me, a good battery, and it looks about like a new KLR would look.   I’m the original owner (I bought it new in 2006 from my good buddy Art Wood at the local Kawi dealer), and the bike has never been down.  Ever.  Oh, yeah…it has 14,600 miles on the clock.   Just nicely broken in, as they say.

This is going to be interesting.  When the trolls come at us on the Internet knocking the RX3, one of the comments we sometimes hear is “but you could buy a good used KLR for what an RX3 costs.”

Well, boys, here’s your chance!

One of my good friends and colleagues at Cal Poly Pomona (Dr. Jawa) posted this photo of himself on Facebook earlier today…

Very cool.   And as the title says, don’t wait for the movie.   There was some discussion about making a movie with Warner Bros., but I wanted Matt Damon to play me.   The studio countered with Danny DeVito, and the discussions kind of fell apart after that.

I rode into the CSC plant to continue working on the TT250 Service Manual (rode my soon-to-be-former KLR, too, but that’s a story for another blog) when I met John and Louis, two of our new good buddies.   John and Louis both bought brand-new RX3 motorcycles, and here’s a photo of the two of them I took just a few minutes ago…

That’s Louis on the left, and John on the right.   Louis picked up his new orange RX3 (rumored to be the fastest color) and John bought a pearlescent white bike.  Both are beautiful colors and both bikes are tastefully and functionally accessorized, with knobby tires, our upgraded seats, and more.   These guys are going to have a great time on their RX3s.   Interestingly, they are BMW guys (many of our owners have a BMW motorcycle or two in their fleet).

You can have a lot of fun with a wide angle lens, and the photos you’re seeing here found their way into my D3300 Nikon through a Tokina 11-16mm lens (cranked all the way over to 11 mm).    It induces distortion that can make for a fun photo.   Take a look at a few more photos of the bikes John and Louis picked up this morning…

Louis and John, you are going to have a ton of fun on your RX3s.   Ride safe, ride often, and let me know when you want to blast through Baja!