The NEW 2018 CSC City Slicker Electric Motorcycle!
That was the title of an article that appeared earlier today about the CSC City Slicker. You can read it here. We invite you to read the story, and to post your comments if you feel like doing so. Thanks!
The new San Gabriel SG250 motorcycles are here, all colors are in stock, and they look and sound great!
If you are one of the lucky ones who pre-ordered a San Gabriel, stand by for our phone calls. We will be calling you in the order that we received the deposits, and we’ll start shipping bikes next week.
These new $1,995 motorcycles are really stunning. The colors are fantastic.
We’re open Tuesday through Saturday (we’re open this weekend), and if you need an excuse to take a ride (not that anyone ever needs an excuse to take a motorcycle ride), come on over and check out the new CSC San Gabriels!
Yep, it’s me again. Joe. Also known as Dajiu, with another in a series of now-I’m-a-guest blogger.
So, Steve lent me a City Slicker to ride around and give my impressions on the ExhaustNotes.us blog.
I’m doing that, but it felt weird to be doing it without the info also appearing on the CSC blog. Arjiu and I are doing the ExhaustNotes blog for grins; CSC is in the business of importing and selling paradigm-shifting motorcycles.
The bottom line? My impressions of the City Slicker are going to appear here, too. A double-exposure, as we say in the photography game.
With that, here’s the first of a series of City Slicker signals from yours truly (yep, I’m going to work the electrical analogy for all it’s worth).
The only one in America on the road, and it’s in my garage.
Trying to impersonate a GS…
No clutch. No noise. No gears. Best of all, no gas.
Basically, no worries. If you can work an iPhone and ride a bicycle, you’re there.
“Whoooeeeeee!” I thought. This is going to be fun.
I’m the only guy in America who has a new CSC City Slicker in his garage.
I’d like to be able to say I have a lot to learn about electric motorcycles, but there’s not a lot to learn. There’s close to zero maintenance (ooh, did I actually use that word?). One of my shooting buddies who owns a dealership in a large left-leaning California city (there’s a redundant expression if ever there was one) is dropping his line of electric bikes because there’s no follow-on maintenance. Follow-on maintenance is an important income stream for a dealership.
“Maybe we sell a tire once in a while,” he said, “but that’s it. Electric bikes just don’t need maintenance.”
So I rode a City Slicker home today. I stopped for a coffee on the way, because Slick was telling me he wanted to be a GS. “We’ll stop,” I said, echoing Lloyd Bentsen, “but you’re no GS.”
It was cool. I almost wished I had a job again, just so I could make a daily commute. I’ll bet I passed 30 or 40 gas stations on my 17-mile commute, and I was smiling the entire time. Four bucks a gallon? Who cares? One more time: This is going to be fun.
Like Arjiu and I always say, check back often.
Sunday is one of my favorite days off. It’s the day I get to do what I like to do. At least once or twice a month I like to eat at my favorite sea food restaurant, The Crab Cooker. The Crab Cooker is one of the best places in So Cal, and it’s not too far from where I live. The Crab Cooker has been around for many years, if you’re ever in So Cal and looking for seafood, check this place out. You can see the menu here http://TheCrabCooker.com
The original Crab Cooker is located in Newport Beach. The one I go to is in Tustin, which is only about a 30-minute drive (it’s not as crowded as the one in Newport).
You can spend hours looking at all the cool stuff on the walls in the restaurant. There are lots of neat old pictures and some really cool mounted fish on display.
They even have Jaws in the center of the restaurant. I wonder how he tasted?
One of the best selections is their giant Alaskan King Crab legs, and I always get a small bowl of clam chowder.
How lucky are we?, There was a car show in the parking lot when we arrived. After lunch we walked around the car show and checked out some very cool cars.
There were a lot of Cadillacs and Lincolns. This is one of my favorite cars, a 1953 Cadillac El Dorado Convertible
Boy, this was a big car…check out the chrome on this baby. You don’t see much chrome on today’s cars. This is all you need in a car, a gas pedal, a brake pedal, and a radio. There’s nothing else to focus on while driving.
Here’s a 1934 Ford pickup. This little pickup was like brand new.
Here’s an old Plymouth Woody. I didn’t catch the year, but I’m guessing it’s around a 1947. This is what people want. The patina look is the cool thing now.
Here’s a 1951 Chevy Sedan Delivery…
…and here’s a 1957 Chevy convertible.
It was a great weekend and now we’re back at the CSC plant. It’s going to be a busy week. We’re prepping the new SG250 San Gabriel motorcycles for delivery to our customers who pre-ordered one. TT250 and Rx3 sales continue to be strong. Just think: The bikes you are buying today are tomorrow’s classics, just like the cars you see above.
Hey, folks…Joe Berk here.
Sue and I had dinner with Steve and Maureen a few days ago and we were talking about the Nethercutt Museum. I mentioned that we had recently visited the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles. That led to a conversation about who was going to organize the Meetup.com rides (you know, the Dual Sports and Donuts rides CSC does on the first Saturday of each month), and Steve asked if I would set up the next ride to the Autry Museum. Happy to do it, I said, and then Steve asked about the new ExhaustNotes website (it’s going well, and I’ll tell you more on that in a second). I asked Steve if he wanted me to do a guest blog for CSC occasionally, and he thought that was a grand idea. You didn’t think you would get rid of me that easily, did you?
So, first, the ride on 4 August: It’s going to be a regular CSC D&D ride, which means we’ll meet at the CSC plant at 9:00 and roll over to the Autry Museum. Sue and I were there a couple of weeks ago and it’s awesome. The Autry Museum has fantastic artwork, an entire wing focused on the cowboy movies and music that dominated the airwaves in the ‘50s and ‘60s, and a world-class firearms collection (including an original Gatling gun). They’ve even got a vintage Indian Chief on display (the motorcycle, that is). It’s a very cool place. On the way back, we’ll stop for lunch at Zankou’s in Glendale (it’s a local treasure and it’s one of my favorites).
Now, on to this business of the new website. Last year, Maureen made a comment that it might be a good idea if Joe Gresh (the Motorcyclist “Cranked” guy) and I started a website that consisted of two razor-sharp guys (well, that covers at least one of us) going back and forth on a variety of issues, mostly related to motorcycle stuff. Hmmmm. That might work. So…
ExhaustNotes.us went live last week (note the “.us,” and that it’s not “.com”), and it’s going strong. The idea is that the site is a focus point for links leading to the various articles Joe and I have written, and we have a new blog on the site (doesn’t everybody have a blog these days?). The focus will be on Baja and other motorcycle adventures. And, there will be a lot of banter back and forth between Joe Gresh and yours truly (as is occurring now on camera gear).
ExhaustNotes.us is not a CSC venture, and it’s not going to compete with the CSC blog (hell, the CSC blog is my baby, and I’ll still post on it from time to time). We’d like to invite you to follow ExhaustNotes as regularly as you follow the CSC blog. Think of it as the Dajiu and Arjiu show (or, as Gresh would say, the Arjiu and Dajiu show). You’ll see a lot of original material from both of us there. We’d like you to comment on each post. And here’s a spoiler alert: Gresh’s stuff is a lot better than mine, but don’t tell him I told you that.
Joe Berk
How about this? Joe Berk retires and he has articles in the August issue of three magazines, all featuring CSC motorcycles (ADVMoto, RoadRUNNER, and Motorcycle Classics)! The latest is this great story about our CSC Baja tours, featured in ADVMoto magazine. If you rode with us in Baja, there’s a good chance a photo of you is in this article! We’d like you to use the link to read the entire article, but the opening sentence (which we’ll quote here) gives a good feel for what the story is all about…
I write the blog for CSC Motorcycles and one day I found myself in the motorcycle adventure touring business…well, that’s not entirely accurate. It’s not really a business because we don’t charge anything for the CSC tours. We use touring to generate interest and to make it easy for folks to get into adventure riding. And, in my opinion, there’s no better place to do that than Baja.
Take a look at the article, thanks to ADVMoto for publishing it, and thanks to Joe for writing it!
Our latest press release hit the wires last night, and it features our new City Slicker electric motorcycle:
AZUSA, Calif. – July 11, 2018 – PRLog — CSC Motorcycles announced a new electric motorcycle today, the City Slicker, a motorcycle to be initially offered at the astonishingly low price of $1995 under CSC’s introductory “Don’t Miss The Boat” program. The all-electric City Slicker motorcycle meets all US Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and California Air Resources Board requirements, and the motorcycle is approved for all 50 US states. Like CSC’s other offerings, the City Slicker is manufactured to CSC specifications by Zongshen, one of the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturers.
“We’ve done very well bringing Zongshen motorcycles to the US,” said Steve Seidner, CSC’s Chief Executive Officer. “When we first saw the City Slicker, we knew it was right for the United States,” Seidner continued. “We worked closely with Zongshen to tailor this extremely affordable, high quality motorcycle to US expectations. The build quality is world class, and the bike is just plain fun to ride. Riding an electric motorcycle is a uniquely-different experience. The City Slicker is completely silent, and it is very quick off the line. The experience is like riding a bicycle downhill or sailing. It’s different and it’s fun.”
The all-electric CSC City Slicker uses a nonhub motor and final drive is via belt drive, which eliminates the chain noise created by other electric motorcycles offered in the US. The City Slicker has two operating modes controlled from an easily-accessible handlebar-mounted switch. In the Power mode, the City Slicker has a top speed of 46.6 mph and a range of approximately 35 miles. In the Eco mode, the motorcycle has a lower top speed (37 mph) with a greater range. The City Slicker requires 6 to 8 hours to recharge a fully-discharged battery using a standard 110VAC outlet. Instrumentation includes a speedometer, odometer, and trip meter, as well as a cellphone-like battery status indicator and a motor temperature indicator. Controls are similar to conventional motorcycles, with the exception of no clutch and no gear shifting. The motorcycle has inverted forks and a large, lockable storage compartment where a conventional motorcycle fuel tank would be located. The City Slicker also has a unique reverse drive feature. The City Slicker has hydraulically-operated front and rear disk brakes.
Azusa-based CSC uses a direct path to market for its motorcycles (CSC sells direct to its customers, with no dealers). Motorcycles are shipped from CSC directly to customers’ homes, with no assembly required. The City Slicker is available in two colors (blue or red). The electric motorcycles will have a one-year, unlimited-mileage warranty.
“As we have done in the past with the RX3, the TT250, and our other motorcycles, we are offering a Don’t-Miss-The-Boat introductory price of just $1995,” Seidner explained. “We’ve found that our Don’t-Miss-The-Boat introductions get the word out quickly and accelerate market acceptance. After the initial shipment, the City Slicker’s price will be $2495. That’s still many thousands of dollars less than any other electric motorcycle offered in America,” Seidner said. “We are taking deposits now and the motorcycles will be here this fall.”
For additional information, please see the CSC website or call 909 445 0900.
We are now accepting $500 deposits on the new City Slicker electric motorcycle. We’ve ordered the 2019 City Slickers, and they’ll be here the end of September (just in time for Christmas).
The first shipment of bikes will be sold at our “Don’t Miss the Boat” price of just $1995.00 (bikes after the shipment will sell for the regular price of $2495). There’s also our low $345.00 assembly/inspection/ocean transport and $55.00 doc fees. Shipping is free. You will save $500 if you place your order from the first shipment. If you want to get your new City Slicker, please give us a call at 800-884-4173, or you can order online.
California buyers will pay sales tax and license. Out-of-state buyers will pay state sales tax and license fee when registering the bike.
Here is a picture of my TT250. This picture was taken close to the top of GMR at one of the turn out’s in the road. At this time of year you have to watch out for rattle snakes and other wild life, so I didn’t stay around in the dirt too long!!
On my way down the hill I noticed this in the road on one of the hair pin turns, Not good !! You can see the skid marks and tire marks in the dirt where some Ricky racer went over the side of the mountain in a car. Bummer…
We get a lot of tourist in the shop all the time. Most retired people go on trips like Hawaii, Europe, Asia, but this guy tours motorcycles shops. Actually, this is our good buddy Joe Berk working with Carlos to put together the shop manual and service tutorials for the new SG250 San Gabriel. The San Gabriel bikes are coming in next week and we are getting everything ready to start shipping them out to all the folks who put there deposits down on the first shipment.
This is one of the CSC service technicians Carlos. He know’s the SG250 like the back of his hand. He has taken them apart and put them back together many times over and I would say he is an San Gabriel expert tech.
We want to wish everyone a happy 4th! We will be closed on the 4th for the Holiday but will return on Thursday to our normal business hours. As you all know we have been working on our new website and it’s coming along great. We should have all the factory replacement part pages and accessory pages up by the end of the week. In the meantime if there is something you need please give us a call and we will be happy to take your order over the phone. Enjoy the day off, be with family, and eat lots of BBQ. Don’t forget to go for a ride on your CSC ZONG.
We loaded up the truck with two of the new SG 250’s and headed over to the Irwindale speedway drag strip for a night of fun. It’s only about 10 minutes from the shop and a great time for racers and viewers alike. The flyer that we had for the event said that only a helmet and proper safety gear is required to race. Gerry, Joey, Willie and Duane all rode their bikes over to the drag strip thinking they all had the proper safety gear to find out that they were misinformed.
We were only able to race one bike after going thru tech where we were told rider’s must have a leather jacket, shoes that go above the ankle, and a helmet that is Snell approved. We were able to talk the tech guy into letting us run with a non leather jacket and had to rent a Simpson Snell approved helmet. Gerry was the only one who had boots that were above the ankle and was allowed to race.
Once we got Gerry and the bike thru tech everything smoothed out and we had a great time racing the SG250. Gerry made about 5 or 6 passes through out the night and the bike ran great every pass.
The Toyota truck all loaded up with two SG250’s ready for the races. The two bikes fit perfect in the back.
Gerry in the staging lane getting ready for his first pass of the night.
First pass we got matched up with a bike twice our size.
That guy got a good hole shot off the line.
Photo by Joe Berk: capturing Gerry at about 200 feet out.
The track was a 1/8th mile which is only 660 feet. Gerry got the SG up to 54.03 MPH
It was a lot of fun talking in the Pitt’s after each pass.
Our good buddy Kirk challenged Gerry to a drag race with his SV650
I think Gerry got the hole shot on this one, I think Kirk ended up catching Gerry at the end.
There were a few nice vintage bikes there, here is a nice old Indian, didn’t get the year.
Here is a Pierce motorcycle, it’s over 100 years old. I think it is a 1912.
All in all, we had a great time at the races, and had a lot of fun with the crew. The drag strip is just a few miles from our shop and with summer here I think we will be visiting the track a little more often. I am looking forward to our SG250 shipment coming in and I am sure we will see some of our customers out at the track with their new SG250’s. Maybe we will have a CSC drag day with prizes for the fastest bike!!
RX1E Electric Motorcycle
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer
TT250 Enduro