CSC Blog

Here we are, Father’s Day, 2016.   Wow.

First, our best wishes to all of you Dads out there.  Today is a special day.  It’s one of my favorites.  It’s been close to 35 years since I lost my Dad, and I still think about him every day.  I’m a Dad, and now I’m also a Grandfather.   It’s a good feeling.  I have two daughters and one granddaughter.   One of my daughters (the local one) is coming over for lunch later today, and Sue and I (and my little girl) are going to go to Bass Pro for lunch.   I love walking around in that place, and their fish tacos are good, too.

I thought I would do something a little bit different today and share with you what some of my favorite photos have been in the 6½ years I’ve been writing the CSC blog (yep, that’s 6½ years and more than 1800 blog entries).  I’ll be adding to the list of photos in the next two months.   As you know, I’m headed to China next week for a 37-day romp through the Old Kingdom, and you can bet I’ll be getting a ton of great photos on that ride.  You’ll be able to see them right here on the blog, but I’ll be saving the best ones for the book I’m going to write about the China adventure.   I haven’t thought of a title for the China book yet, but I’ll have 37 days and 3,500 miles to think of one.

So, on to the favorites.   Some of these you’ve never seen before, and some have been on the blog and in either 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM or Moto Colombia!   The first favorite is a photo that is appearing here for the first time.   It’s the Zongshen GY200.

The reason I like the photo you see above is that it is the seed that started what ultimately became the CSC TT250.   The GY was on display in Zongshen’s office area when I was over there finalizing details on the original RX3 contract back in December 2014.

That GY200 glistened, and my eye kept returning to it during our discussions.  I showed the photo to Steve and his reaction was the same as mine…the GY would be great if we could get it as a 250 and add our signature CSC upgrades (inverted forks, 300-watt alternator, improved switchgear, adjustable suspension, and more).   And that’s exactly what happened.   It all started with the bike you see above.   It was a brilliant move on Zongshen’s part to display it right next to their conference room.   And, as mentioned above, all this led directly to the CSC TT250, which brings me to another favorite photo…

Many of my favorite photos came from our motorcycle adventure rides.   The rides are a big deal for us.  Nobody (none of the other motorcycle manufacturers or importers) do what we do with our adventure rides, which is to offer real adventure at no charge to our riders.   It’s been a hoot for me, and the folks who have been on our rides tell me they feel the same way.

Here’s one from the most recent Baja ride, with my good buddy J enjoying a brewski in Ensenada…

From that same trip, here’s a shot I particularly like of my good buddy Keith when we were motoring out to see the whales, and another one of Doina photographing the whales…

Turning back the clock a solid year, I have a few favorites from our first CSC Baja run, too.   Here’s one of my good buddy Tucson Greg.   It’s on the road in Baja’s Sierra San Francisco Mountains, en route to the ancient cave paintings…

Here’s another one from that same trip…this is good buddy and intrepid adventurer Justin on the San Ignacio Mission steps…

On that same ride, here’s a first Sea of Cortez view through my RX3’s windshield while descending through La Cuesta del Infierno.   Trust me, that’s a ride you want to have on your bucket list…

Of course, the Western America Adventure Ride was a solid 18 days of nonstop riding with tons of great photos and stories.   I’d say I could write a book about that one, but hey, you know I already did!   From that ride, here’s a photo of good buddy Joe Gresh I shot in Idaho, with Lester (aka Yul Brynner) in the background.  I’m going be riding with all of these guys in China next week…

Another shot of Gresh at the Grand Canyon.   It looks like it’s been Photoshopped, but it is untouched…you see it the way it came out of the camera.

And, of course, there was the adventure of a lifetime…my ride through Colombia’s Andes Mountains with good buddies Juan and Carlos.   That’s the Volcan Nevado del Ruiz, an active volcano that killed something north of 20,000 people when it erupted in the 1980s, you see steaming in the background.

The Cauca River Valley in Colombia…

Andean twisties, with chicken strips to match…

Here’s a photo I like of Carlos and Juan at the edge of the world, just outside of Barichara en route to Guane…

And a few shots of a great pizza dinner and an evening in Mompos after an exciting ferry ride down the Magdalena River…

And there are a few photos from the earlier days on the CSC 150 Mustang replicas.    We had a lot of fun with those bikes!

I like this photo from the saddle of my CSC 150 (the Baja Blaster) chasing Arlene and TK into Death Valley on the Hell’s Loop Endurance Rally…

Here’s one of Simon Gandolfi, the world famous novelist and adventure rider, somewhere in Baja.   Yep, we rode our CSC 150s all the way to Cabo San Lucas and back…

And one last photo…this one is one of the very first Mustangs we built with a 250cc engine.   We called it the P-51, and Steve did it up in a World War II aviation motif…

Steve originally planned to keep that bike, but after I posted the above photo here on the blog, the offers started pouring in.   You wouldn’t believe how high they were…we scarcely could, either.   The bike sold within a day of our posting it!

I guess that’s enough for now.   Enjoy the day, folks.

We’re well into the new RC3’s service manual preparation, and I thought I would share a few preliminary photos with you.

The RC3 dash is completely digital (except for the indicator lights), and you can adjust it to three different shades.  I like the red best…

Blue is cool, too…

You can also change it to the plain OD green sort of background with black letters.   The RC3 dash has a number of cool features, including the ability to adjust brightness.  The dash includes readouts for total mileage, trip mileage, temperature, time, speed, fuel, engine rpm, and gear.  Another cool feature is the ability to record the max velocity attained on a ride…

The above are all in kilometers (this was our preproduction bike for CARB and EPA testing), so the number you see above is in kilometers per hour.  You can do the math, though.

The RC3 includes as standard equipment our 300-watt alternator (just like our RX3 and TT250), the underseat handlebar accessories outlets (with handlebar mounted Off-A1-A2 switchgear, just like our RX3 and TT250), and dash mounted additional power outlets (one in the USB configuration with a 5V feed for charging your iPhone, the other in a standard cigarette lighter 12V configuration).

Things are happening fast here, folks.   I leave for the China expedition in less than a week.   I’m excited.  It’s going to be a hoot.

Ryan forwarded this nice note from Doug (along with a great photo of Doug’s RX3)…

Ryan …

Just popping in with a quick pic for Joe … Hope all is well. I’m loving this bike! 

Doug

Doug, thanks for your note and the photo.  Your bike looks good!

When I stopped by the plant today, I met two CSC riders…Oregon Adam and So Cal Jeff.

Jeff was just leaving on his new TT250 when I pulled in.   I was getting out of my Subie when Jeff popped his visor open and said, “I’m Jeff and I know you…”

Turns out Jeff reads the blog avidly, and he buys CSC motorcycles the same way.  Jeff bought three TT250s, and he just ordered the new RC3.   Wow!  Jeff and I spoke about the TT250, and I told him about a few of the performance mods I’ve made to my personal TT.

Then Adam stopped by.  Adam rode down from Oregon on his RX3.  Wow again!

That’s putting serious miles on the RX3, but hey, you know and I know these bikes are built to go the distance.  Adam is a retired US Army NCO, and we had a great conversation about the Army, the RX3, Mosin-Nagant rifles, and more.

Good times.   I always enjoy seeing folks on their CSC motorcycles, and that’s happening more and more since we brought these great bikes to America.   If I’m in the plant when you stop by, please do say hello.   I’ll buy you a cup of CSC coffee (it comes from Colombia, you know) and, with your permission, I’ll grab a photo of you and your bike for the blog!

Yours truly in Nor Cal last weekend.

I rolled up north in my Corvette last weekend to spend a day with my buddy Paul, a guy with whom I’ve been friends my entire life (literally, my entire life…we were next door neighbors back in the Land of Tony Soprano when we were kids).

We had a great time visiting, tasting Tequilas, telling tall tales, talking about the sad state of politics in the land, and of course, sending lead downrange at the local gun club.

Paul and I grew up in a different time.  We could shoot guns in our backyards, which ended where the woods began.  It’s not that we were rich or anything.   It’s what working class blue-collar guys (our Dads) did in those days.   They bought a couple of acres and built their own houses out in the boonies (the ‘burbs hadn’t been invented yet).  It was a great way to grow up.  Our Dads were both world class trapshooters, hunters, reloaders, and gunsmiths.  These two apples (Paul and yours truly) did not fall too far from that New Jersey tree.

Paul was just finishing up a custom muzzle loader, and his new creation is awesome.  It’s art…a thing of great beauty.   It’s one of the reasons I went up there…I wanted to see it.   Paul builds these custom black powder rifles from the ground up, starting with a barrel, a maple plank, and not much more (other than a hell of a lot of talent).   The amount of craftsmanship that goes into a custom rifle like this is overwhelming.  Here’s an idea of what my good buddy Paul does to create one of these muzzle-loading masterpieces:

• He fashions the stock with a saw, files, chisels, sandpaper, and linseed oil.
• He cuts, files, crafts, and fits the metal pieces together.
• He beds the barrel and the action in the stock.
• He does the rust bluing.
• He casts the fore end tip of silver.
• And a whole lot more.

You get the idea.  Paul was approaching completion on this .50-caliber beauty, and I got to help at the range as he finalized the rifle’s fixed sight adjustments.   This is a rifle with hundreds and hundreds of hours of hand labor, and it is a world-class work of art.

Check out some of these photos, folks…

A custom-crafted black powder rifle. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Custom hand-fitted maple quilted maple, with 10 coats of linseed oil.

Loading a muzzle loader takes time.  It’s one shot at a time here, folks.  It’s all about skill.

I had the Nikon with me, of course, and I grabbed the above photos and a video of Paul in action.  Here’s a cool video of the first shot fired through Paul’s latest custom creation…

I asked Paul what inspired his interest in black powder firearms and crafting custom muzzle loading weaponry.  I knew Paul was a history buff, but he surprised me when he told me it was the Davy Crockett TV shows we watched as kids (and if that doesn’t date us, nothing will).

I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised.   Those old TV westerns and frontier shows had an impact on all folks who grew up here in America.   It wasn’t too hard to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys were, and the shows somehow managed to be entertaining (riveting, actually), without the boorish behavior and senseless violence that passes for entertainment these days.  It was a good time to be a kid, I think.

Those old cowboy shows were the same reason both Paul and I like the old single-action sixguns, too.   And yes, we both had ours on the range that same day.  I caught this very cool shot of Paul and his Single Action Army .45 Colt just as it fired.  If you look closely, you can see the thunder and lightning escaping from the barrel/cylinder interface in the photo below…

Good times, folks.   More to follow.   Stay tuned.

Sunrise in San Felipe, looking east over the Sea of Cortez…what we’ll see on the CSC TT250 Baja Run!

Whoa, the summer is getting away from me!

I want to do a TT250 Baja run, but a lot of folks have yet to receive their bikes and I don’t want to have anybody miss our TT250 expedition because they don’t have their bike yet.   And, as you know, yours truly and my good buddy Joe Gresh are taking a trot around China the last week in June, all of July, and the first week in August.  Yeah, I know…I actually get paid to do stuff like this.  Hey, somebody has to do it…

So, back to Baja.  When I return from China, I’ve got secret missions in Singapore, San Jose, and Turkey.   It’s looking like 19-22 August (that’s a Friday through a Monday) is going to work.   I’ll be posting more on this ride in the near future, but for now, here are the particulars:

• CSC TT250s only (don’t ask if other brands can ride with us; the answer is no).
• No two-up riding.
• You’ll need Mexico insurance.
• You’ll need a Mexican visa (we’ll get those as soon as we cross the border).
• You’ll need a US passport.
• The ride will be about 80% pavement and 20% dirt, including some soft sand.
• You’re responsible for your own maintenance and spares, and all of your expenses.
• I’ll be leaving at the announced departure times each morning; if you can’t make it, you’re on your own.
• The ride will be to Mike’s Sky Rancho and San Felipe, and it will be about 750 miles.

I’ll post more as our TT250 Baja run planning firms up.

Baja, folks!