Let’s ride!

Oh yeah, the riding season is most definitely here. I played with the sidecar video I showed you yesterday a little more…so check out this latest version…

Yeah, I know, it’s great. There’s nothing like getting your knees in the breeze. But you know that. That’s why you bought a California Scooter, and it’s why I did, too.

So, you’ve bought your own CSC motorcycle and it’s on its way to you.  Ordinarily, we ship our bikes to dealers (and we want our customers to buy from their local dealer), but if there’s not a dealer in your area, we’ll ship direct to you.  And for a little while longer, we’re not charging for freight (we gotta pay it, but we’re absorbing the costs only through the end of May).  It’s a good deal.

Other kinds of motorcycles require relatively complex setup procedures (like installing the front wheel, repositioning the fork legs in the triple tees, etc.). There’s nothing that complex on a California Scooter.  We’ve made it simple.  Let’s walk through it and you’ll see what I mean.

When your bike arrives, it’s going to look like this…

The way it comes off the truck...

After you’ve removed the cardboard cover and the lumber used to hold the cardboard in place, you’ll see your bike strapped down to its pallet:

We put all the protective material in there to make sure your bike arrives like it left the factory, in perfect condition

All you need to do at this point is unpack the handlebars and install them in the handlebar risers. To do that, just remove the four 6mm Allen-head bolts in the risers, position the bars in the risers, and then reinstall the risers and the four Allen-head bolts.

Position the handlebars and secure the four riser bolts

Once the handlebars are installed, all you have to do is hook up the clutch cable (we unhook that so that we can dismount and turn the bars sideways for shipping).   You need to install the handlebar end of the clutch cable end first, and the photos below show how to do this.

Insert the ball end of the clutch cable into the clutch lever...this shows it from underneath the clutch lever

Align the clutch lever knurled lock nut and adjuster nut so that you can slip the cable in place, as shown here

Seat the clutch cable into the adjuster nut...you can adjust the cable after connecting it to the engine

Once you’ve got the clutch cable hooked up at the clutch lever like we’ve shown above, you need to hook it up at the other end on the right side of the engine.  Here’s what that looks like…

The engine end of the clutch cable...it's on the right side of the bike

Hook the ball end of the clutch cable into the engine's clutch actuation lever after you've rotated the clutch lever forward (if you use a wrench, as you see here, take care not to scratch the engine case)

The engine end of the clutch cable in place

All you need to do now is adjust the clutch cable at the lever end.  You want just a little bit of free play in it before you feel resistance in the clutch lever.  We look for about 1/16 to maybe 1/10 of an inch at the point shown in the photo below.   This adjustment isn’t super critical…you just don’t want zero end play in the clutch lever (there needs to be a little bit so the clutch is fully engaged when you release the lever).

Use the clutch lever adjuster and lock nut to adjust the lever to about 1/16th to 1/10 of an inch free play

That’s about it, folks. There’s already a little bit of gas in the tank, the battery’s charged, and the engine has oil in it when it leaves the factory.  Put a little more gas in, and let’s ride!

Posted in California Scooter Company | 1 Comment

A ride in the sidecar, and more colors…

Hey, that sidecar ride I mentioned yesterday…Lupe worked the flip video for most of it, so if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to go for a California Scooter sidecar ride, here ya go…

That little Flip video does a pretty good job, but what I noticed is that if you turn it sideways into the wind, the wind noise kind of overpowers everything else.  I cut the sound out where the wind noise did that (that’s why it got real quiet in a couple of places). There’s another camera out there that’s supposed to have a feature that prevents this (I think it’s called the “Go Pro”), so maybe…

And I grabbed a few more shots this morning, showing the original ’53 Mustang that inspired Steve to start the California Scooter Company…

Steve's all original '53 Pony

Like those yellow wheels?   So did we…check these out!

A black CSC Classic with yellow wheels...

...and here's a red CSC Classic with yellow wheels!

I’ll have a few more shots in the next day or so comparing the ’53 Pony details to some of our California Scooter features, so keep an eye on us…

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Two new dealers, a sidecar ride, and the winner is…

Great news today…we’ve had two new dealers join the California Scooter family…one in St Louis, Missouri, and one in Portland, Maine!  And, I took a ride with our sidecar rig today!  And, we’ve got a winner for our photo-captioning contest!  Read on, loyal CSC fans! 

Dave Mungenast, AMA Hall of Fame Motorcyclist

Mungenast Motorsports (800 445 6559) in St. Louis is a dealership with a rich heritage, having been founded by the Mungenast family all the way back in 1965.    

Dave Mungenast was one of motorcycling’s luminaries, having been an ISDT competitor nine times (with several wins), a Baja racer, a US Army Ranger (the real “best of the best”), and an AMA Hall of Fame member.   Sadly, Dave Mungenast left the party early, but his legacy lives on at Mungenast Motorsports (you can read about Dave Mungenast here) and in several other automobile dealerships he started in the St. Louis area.  If you’re in St. Louis, make sure you visit Mungenast Motorsports.   

Cumberland County Choppers is a brand new dealership up in Portland, Maine.  Maine is a magnificent state, it’s beautiful country, and Portland is a fun city.   Cumberland County Choppers opened about a month ago, and they’ve added CSC   

Our newest dealer, Cumberland County Choppers in beautiful Maine

motorcycles to their Ural and Royal Enfield lines.   I envy the folks in Maine who will get to ride California Scooters up there.     

There’s a bunch of CSC motorcycles headed toward Cumberland County Choppers, so do drop in and see them for yourself.  You can reach Cumberland County Choppers through the link posted here or by calling 314 649 1266.   

I’ve spent some time in Maine, and it’s magnificent country for motorcycling.  Rolling hills, tree-lined two-lane country roads, lots of lakes, the odd moose or two, and incredible seafood.    California Scooters will be right at home on those magnificent roads.  I gotta get up there for some seat time.   

Speaking of which, earlier today I felt like cruising over to Merendero’s for lunch.   They make an absolutely bodacious burrito, and while I was thinking about it, I looked outside and there was the CSC sidecar rig.   Hmmmm….   

We’ve talked about our California Scooter sidecar rig on the blog before, and I thought to myself…hey, it would be great to hit Merendero’s for lunch and maybe grab a photo or two in the process…ah, but I would need a passenger to work the camera, and that’s when I turned to Lupe.   Yeah, I know…what I gotta go through so I can write the blog for you guys…  

A chicken burrito at Merendero's

The new CSC Firefighter Special motorcycle...

Our buddy Tom

Oh, and our battle Vespa caption contest (see the blog from this past weekend)…we’ve had quite a few entries come in via e-mail, the blog, and Facebook (you are a California Scooter Facebook friend, aren’t you?).  The winner is our good buddy Tom Maoli, with his suggestion:   

“Are you sure I was speeding, Officer?”   

We thought that was a pretty good one, but so were the rest of the suggestions we received, which included…   

“1956 Darwin Award Nominee” from my buddy Peter Blair.   

“Do you think each tube has a different harmonic tone as the scoot rides?” from our Facebook friend Fernando Vasquez.   

“I’ve seen better bazookas on cows…” from our Facebook friend Robert James.   

and…   

“Vespa’s traffic solution,” from our buddy Gary Johnson.   

They were all great captions, guys, but Tom takes home the bacon…in the form a CSC T-shirt.   Tom’s a good guy, I’ve known him for years, he rides a Triumph Tiger, and he once tossed me the keys to his Subie WRX STI, but that’s not why he won…we just thought his caption was cool!

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More nice emails…but no movie deals

Lots of good stuff coming our way folks, and I wanted to share it with you. 

On yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that M&M Motorsports just sold a Greaser, and Mike promised to get some photos for us.   Dianna (of Mike and Dianna fame) sent us some great shots and a great note…

Heather, Cody, Ethan, and Jacob, with their brand new CSC Greaser!

And here’s Dianna’s email to me…

Cody on his CSC Greaser

Hello Joe,

We at M&M Motorsports just sold a Greaser 150.  Here are some pictures of the new owner and his family for the blog.  Cody said, “The minute I walked through the door and saw the Greaser, I knew that it was the bike for me,” and according to his wife, Heather, he couldn’t stop thinking about the motorcycle.  Cody was already wearing the CSC shirt we gave to him and we have already ordered another Greaser 150 for the store to fill the spot. 

Thanks,

Dianna, M&M Motorsports, Kansas City, MO

Well thank you, Dianna, Mike, Cody, Heather, Ethan, and Jacob, and thanks for buying a California Scooter!  You’re going to have a lot of fun!

And TK received a real nice email from our good buddy Fred Warden in the great state of Texas.   Fred just jumped on our introductory offer for the Service and Parts Manuals, and here’s what he had to say…

Hi T.K.:

Just wanted to let you know I got my service manual yesterday.  It’s a good deal and I’ll use it to keep up the maintenance.  I feel you guys did an outstanding job by not getting too technical but included enough real mechanical stuff to keep the scoot running.  I shutter to think of my scoot if you were to print up manual(s) like my two GMC’s.  I have three giant volumes for each vehicle and it is all I can do to carry one set of three books to the table to study.  Sometime just trying to find a procedure takes a while as a user has trouble identifying the proper terminology to locate the fix.

Our good buddy Fred, riding tall in Texas!

I tested the chrome muffler pipe up to 300 miles and recently I changed back to the standard black one for the next 300 miles.  Since I wear hearing aids, the wind and muffler noise really freaks me out above 30 mph……so rather than turning the aids off, with the stock muffler I can leave them on around town so I can hear surrounding noise better.  With the quiet muffler I noticed lots of little clacking and banging that I never heard before.  While idling in the drive way, I started touching different pipes and tubes to see if I could find something banging around.  Never found anything making noise but in the middle of checking stuff, the motor suddenly shut off and I didn’t think I touched anything but the carburetor! 

I tried to restart and nothing happened, no lights or anything.  I immediately remembered to check the fuse…but that was fine.  Checked the battery and it was at 13 volts.  Cleaned the battery terminals and found the ground wire a little loose.  Still nothing and I was afraid I was going to have to call you guys the next day for help.  I sat on the bike all frustrated and wondering if this was going to happen while I was a long way from home.  I then started checking all of the switches on the bars and lo and behold I had bumped the kill switch!!!  Talk about a mechanic who felt totally dumb as a door nail!  (My bikes have always had a little red button that needed turning but only affected the engine….so when the whole bike was turned off….it was a mystery to me.)  However, this is a super feature and insures no sparks will be available should you get down the shiny side down with gas pouring out.  Thanks for thinking of the extra safe stuff.

Tell all the guys and gals hello for me and I still read Joe’s blog daily and look to see if there is another item I need to add to the bike.  Catch up to you again soon. 

Fred

Fred, don’t feel too bad…we’ve all done that.  In fact, a few of us have been known to turn the kill switch off on our buddies’ bikes when they’re not looking just to watch the show when it’s time to roll…

The rest of you guys…the CSC Official Factory Parts and Service Manuals are making a good impression, and they’re still on sale for a little while longer.  You need to buy the books…don’t wait for the movies on these.   We talked about a movie with a couple of the local studios (after all, we’re only a few miles from Hollywood), but I wanted Leonardo di Caprio or Matt Damon to play me and the studios balked.   Universal suggested Danny De Vito instead, and our negotiations broke down.   So, the bottom line is don’t wait for the movie…buy the books!

Oh, and our caption contest for that battle Vespa we found over the weekend…we’ll announce the winner shortly.  We’ve had a lot of inputs and it’s been fun, so standby!

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Monday, and it’s not even lunch time yet…

Ol' Blue Eyes, working the In-N-Out bike

I’ve been out in the shop this morning grabbing photos of Tony and Lupe assembling the In-N-Out bike for a photo montage…lots of fun, and I gotta tell you, it’s gonna be a great looking motorcycle.   Keep an eye on the blog, as we’ll be showing you more of this bike as it comes together.  

My good friend Mike at M&M Motorsports called to tell me he just sold a Greaser and his client is picking it up tomorrow.   Watch the blog as we’ll have a photo of Mike’s lucky customer with his new California Scooter Greaser. 

And don’t forget if you’re in the Kansas City area that M&M Motorsports will be at the Branson Motorcycle Rally with several California Scooters from May 19 to May 22 (if Mike doesn’t sell them all first, that is…).  Mike told us Branson is a great rally that attracts upwards of 10,000 motorcyclists, so it should be a good time and a great show.   And don’t worry about Mike selling that Greaser…we’ve got another one on the way to him right now, and you’ll be able to see it at Branson!

At the Abacoa Town Center on a California Scooter

Tom Willhite (our newest dealer in West Palm Beach, Florida) sent us a great photo of a California Scooter at the Abacoa custom car event this weekend.  Tom and crew are having lots of fun in the sunshine state.   Looks like a good time, Tom!

Lots of events, folks, now that we’re firmly into the riding season…California Kristy attended the Laughlin Run a couple of weekends ago with her new Babydoll (a beautiful bike featured here on the blog not too long ago).   Laughlin is the West Coast version of the Daytona Run.  It’s awesome!

I haven’t been to Laughlin in a long time, but I found a pretty cool photo I grabbed in nearby Oatman, Arizona, on the ’94 Laughlin Run.  Oatman is an old mining town that is a very interesting…Clark Gable used to hang out there and play poker with the miners…it doesn’t get much more authentic than that!  Anyway, Oatman is about 30 miles down the road from Laughlin, and it’s a nice ride and a good getaway from the casinos.   I scanned this old photo I found from back in ‘94 and I thought I would share it with you. 

Oatman, Arizona, an excursion from the '94 Laughlin Run

Maybe next year we’ll be at the 2012 Laughlin Run on our California Scooters.   For sure, I’m gonna be in the Lake Arrowhead Invitational Endurance Rally.  I just sent in my MSILSF entry, and I am really looking forward to it.   Later, folks…I’m off to the races!

Posted in California Scooter Company | Comments Off on Monday, and it’s not even lunch time yet…

A photo-captioning contest…

All jokes aside, this is a photo of a real life military scooter used by airborne French troops during their struggles with the Algerians…

I can't make this stuff up, folks!

I spotted this on a couple of other motorcycle sites (www.motorcycleinsight.com, they picked it up from www.visordown.com, and they picked it up from E-Bay).   Yep, it turns out this old Vespa was actually offered for sale on E-Bay.

In looking at the above photo for the last several minutes, it seems like there’s a joke in there somewhere, but the thing is real.  I looked it up on Wikipedia and it turns out these bikes were manufactured in France by a licensed Vespa manufacturer from 1956 to 1959.  The gun is a US-made M20 recoilless rifle. 

Ah, the recoilless rifle…that brings back memories.  They’re called “recoilless” because when the thing fires, a significant portion of the propellant gases escape out the back of the weapon, and the forward thrust of the rearward-escaping gases exactly counteracts the weapon’s recoil.  

I fired a modern 105mm recoilless rifle when I was in the US Army, and folks, it was the loudest thing I ever heard in my life.  Terrifyingly loud, actually.  And those rearward-escaping gases, well, they’re  deadly…a recoilless rifle will do you in if you’re directly behind it as surely as it will if you’re in front of it.   These are scary weapons, to be sure.  But on a scooter?  Wow.  I had never heard of this before.

Hey, we’ll have a contest for the best caption for the above photo…and the winner gets a free California Scooter T-shirt!   Just shoot your proposed captions in as comments to the blog, or email them to me at jberk@californiascooterco.com!

Posted in California Scooter Company | 2 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day!

And while you’re enjoying it, take a look at our day visiting the Fontana NASCAR track and the Vintage Automobile Racing Association last week, courtesy of our good friend Hector Cademartori

We have a short clip of Sylvain starting his record-setting 150cc world speed run at the end of this one, too!

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A great compliment!

A few blogs ago we mentioned our new Official Factory Parts Manual and Official Factory Service Manual, and the introductory sale we have on these documents.   When we announced the release of our new books on the blog, our good buddy Jim Cavanaugh sent an email to me asking if he could get copies.   The answer, of course, was an immediate yes. 

Jim is very special to all of us at CSC Motorcycles.   He’s an advisor to our company, he’s a good friend, and he was the Production Superintendent at the original Mustang Motor Products Corporation a cool half-century ago.  Jim’s been a cornerstone of our success, and Steve sent one of our very first California Scooters to Jim when we started production a year and a half ago.  In fact, when Jim took delivery of his California Scooter we hadn’t even published the CSC Owner’s Manual yet, so Jim didn’t have any of our documention.  We fixed that oversight this week.

Jim "Jimbo" Cavanaugh as the Mustang Production Superintendent 56 years ago, and a more recent shot on his California Scooter!

We were quite pleased to send all three books to Jimbo, and here’s the nice note he sent to us today…

Hey Guys!
 
I received the three manuals today and boy, am I impressed! 
 
I have not yet studied all the data but at first glance, what great professional work!

56 years ago we really struggled to produce a decent manual.  Back then we could only use photographs, which were limited and had to processed (usually by others) and actual artist’s work for exploded view drawings (which was time consuming).  Invariably text mistakes and index mistakes would elude all those charged with accuracy.  Poor explanations and instructions haunted us!

I’m curious how and who did these tasks so well!

I salute all who contributed!

Regards to all!
 
Jimbo

That’s high praise indeed, and it’s even more meaningful coming from you, Jimbo!

Jim, like everything we do here at CSC, the documentation you received has been a team effort. Steve led the charge. He made sure everything reflected his vision of these bikes being easy to maintain. We didn’t want manuals that were tough to follow, and we didn’t want them to be ridiculously expensive (as is usually the case for other motorcycles’ shop manuals). We use an absolutely outstanding tech pubs guy (Gary Lick at Midnight Impressions), and he played a key role in all of this, too.

Thanks very much, Jimbo, and enjoy your new books!

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Welcome Aboard, Willhite Enterprises!

Tom's F-100 and CSC bike enroute to Jupiter

One of our newest dealers is Tom Willhite Enterprises in West Palm Beach, Florida.  I had a nice conversation with Tom this morning, and like everyone who’s a part of the CSC family, Tom and his team are very excited about signing on.   Tom’s dealership is located at 1711 Longwood Road in West Palm Beach, Florida, and their phone number is 561 249 0381.  

Tom told me that he’s going to be at the classic car show in Jupiter this Saturday night (the one in Florida, not the planet).  He’s taking his classic ’64 Ford F-100 pickup truck, and he’ll have a California Scooter in back to share the excitement with like-minded folks.  We do real well at classic car meets…if you want to get a personal look at a California Scooter and you’re in the Jupiter area, stop in at the classic car meet in the Abacoa Town Center.

I spotted a couple of really good looking scooters this morning in the factory destined for Yellowstone Scooters in Casper, Wyoming.   These fabulous bikes have whitewall tires and no other options, but wow, what a difference that one little change makes!   Take a look…

A Grabber Orange CSC motorcycle with whitewall tires...it's sharp!

A stock blue California Scooter with whitewalls...Casper will never be the same!

And on this subject of colors and options, we’ve got some more eye candy for you.   Everybody loves Bruce’s Turquoise Twins (the bikes featured in our blog yesterday), but did you know we also did a turquoise custom with a similar paint scheme a few weeks ago…check this one out!

Our turquoise beach cruiser...you'll be able to see it at the Calaveras County Frog Jumping Contest in Calaveras, California on May 20th and 21st

A detail shot of our turquoise beach cruiser

I mentioned Arcadia Cushman (one of our great dealers in Arcadia, Indiana) a few blog entries ago and the special orange bike we are doing for Steve Lorenz.   The tank and fenders came back from the painter yesterday, and they are awesome.   It’s a special pearlescent orange treatment, and the effect is stunning.

Steve Lorenz's custom tank and fenders...the photo doesn't do this one justice!

Lately we’ve been doing quite a few bikes with the frame painted to match the bodywork, too.   You’ll remember the orange bike we just recently shipped to Mike at M&M Motorsports in Kansas City, Missouri.   It’s a stunning motorcycle (you can see it a few blog entries down).   We’re doing another one in red with a red frame to put in our showroom (unless you buy it first), and that one is coming along nicely….I’ll have photos of the completed bike next week.

A red-framed bike...it's gonna be a show-stopper!

The fun thing about these bikes is that it’s real easy for you to describe what you have in mind, and then let us convert your dream into your reality.   It’s part of the beauty of being a small and responsive company…we’re able to quickly respond to exactly what our riders want.  And wow, you guys and gals are sure coming up with beautiful color combos.

So here’s my question for you…what colors would you like on your new CSC motorcycle?

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The Turquoise Twins!

Our good buddy Bruce recently picked up his new California Scooter with a very special paint theme.  Bruce wanted his CSC motorcycle painted to exactly match his Harley Heritage Softail, and we were happy to oblige…

The Turquoise Twins...Bruce's Softail and his painted-to-match CSC motorcycle

We think Bruce’s twin turquoise bikes are awesome…they really make a good pair.  We’re having a set of tank emblems with the CSC logo made for Bruce’s bike (they’ll be here in another week or so) to accent the white panels for a nice finishing touch.  Bruce found a set of saddlebags he bought a long time ago and they really work on this bike (yeah, we know, they’re beautiful…we’re looking for a source for these).

My S&S '92 Softail

Bruce’s Softail is a beautiful bike, too.   Those original Harley Softails are nothing short of awesome, and I like the appearance of Harley’s Evo motor a lot more than the newer Twin Cam (personal preference, I guess).   The big chrome valve covers on the Evo engines remind me of the old panheads, and I thought those were great looking bikes, too.

I had a ’92 Softail (bought it new in 1992) and I put a lot of miles on it.  When the engine finally went south after 16 years of hard riding through Mexico and the US Southwest, I had it rebuilt with an S&S motor.  It literally doubled the horsepower and I rode my old Harley for another year.   Then one day I decided it was time to sell it, I placed an ad in the local Cycle Trader, and it was gone the next day. 

When I bought my Evo back in ’92 I wanted a Harley in Bruce’s colors (that two-tone turquoise and white is just dynamite), but those were the days you had to stand in line and pay well over MSRP for a new Harley.  I found a dealer in San Bernardino who sold me mine (in Sapphire blue) at list price, and I bought it.  List price was actually a heck of a deal in 1992 for a new Harley.  That bike was fun, and seeing the turquoise color scheme and Bruce’s Harley made me think about my bike again.

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