CSC Blog

Folks, it was quite a day.   We had lots of folks test ride the RX3 today, and while I was in the CSC booth chatting it up with a few folks, I saw Clement Salvadori checking out the bike.   That was a real treat for me!

I’ll post more photos later tonight or tomorrow morning.   We’re enjoying ourselves up here along California Highway 49 in Mariposa.   It’s a good show.

The comments and emails on the new book are coming in, and they’re good!   I don’t know which was more fun for me…writing 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM, or reading your comments on it!

Here’s one from our good buddy Texas Fred:

Hi Joe,

Just wanted to take a minute to say I really enjoyed your book.  It is very well written and I enjoy your style.  You are my all time favorite writer followed by Clement Salvadori and Bill Stermer.  At times the clarity and honesty brought tears to my eyes.

Thanks for all your posts on the blog as they pushed me to order both a Classic 150 and an RX3.  The RX3 is the only bike I own now as I drove to the gas station two weeks ago on my Classic and a passer-by decided he wanted it.  Like you always said….all Steve’s bikes draw a crowd at every stop!  I am enjoying my RX3 and plan to keep up with the blog for the duration.

Best Wishes,

Fred

And here’s another from good buddy Carlos:

A great read!  An engineering report on a new M/C/  A travel story @ the western U.S.  A study of human behavior.  An insight into the most interesting man I’ve ever met!!!

I’ll give you a call and rave about you in person!

It’s past my bedtime, I’m on page 179 and can’t put this story down!

It’s really well done and is sort of addictive for reasons I can’t quite explain!

I’ll probably finish it in one sitting or fall asleep with it in my bed!

Carl

And another from good buddy Lee:

I read your book over the weekend. I especially enjoyed the “behind the scenes” portion of development with Zongshen. They seem to be quite eager to enter the US market and flexible with your request for higher spec components in the US version of the bike. (300 watt output/stainless pipe and 17″ rear wheel).

I’ve already placed an order for a “fast orange” model with a friend earlier this month, we take delivery hopefully this week. I’ve been watching this bike closely since it was announced last year and even earlier with the “M1insk” version in Russia. You guys are setting the standard for parts availability and customer service for a Chinese manufactured motorcycle, or for any other for that matter. I can’t get parts for my Guzzi as fast as you guys ship for the RX3 and you keep them all in stock domestically. Interaction with the sales team has been highly responsive and helpful, I look forward to future business with them. It’s a hell of a deal for $3495.

I’ll be keeping a blog for maintenance for my RX3 that I’ll add here for those curious in the near future. From what I’ve seen so far nothing glaring has come up for anyone and we have some people who should be surpassing 10k miles soon. As for battery issues my Stelvio came with a leaking battery, that stuff happens to everybody. I typically cover 20-25 thousand miles per year so I expect my RX3 will be one of the higher mileage bikes relatively soon. I’m sure others are watching closely until the bike surpasses 20-30 thousand miles with few issues and proves itself among the KLR’s and DR650’s of the adventure bike world.

 Lee

Wow!  Thanks, folks, and keep your comments coming!  If you would like to buy a copy of the book, you can get one here!  And as for those comments…that one about the most interesting man in the world brings me back to the beer commercials about the most interesting man in the world.   We had fun with my good buddy Simon Gandolfi on the Baja run when we rode all the way down to Cabo and back on the little CSC 150s.   He actually is the most interesting man in the world!

We’re heading back over to the Horizons Unlimited California event in another hour, and I’m looking forward to taking test rides with more folks who are interested in the RX3.   The comments yesterday were amazing.   Literally everyone who rode the bike loved it, and we heard more than a few “you sure that’s only a 250?” questions when they got off the bike.  We’re loving it!

And another thought…my all time favorite motorcycle writers are Joe Gresh of Motorcyclist magazine, and Clement Salvadori, who literally wrote the book about motorcycle travel in Baja.   Mr. Salvadori will be here at the Horizons Unlimited event later today.  I’ve never met Clem, but I’ve read his books and I’m really looking forward to seeing him.   I brought along my copies of his books for him to sign today.  Fun stuff!

Watch for more photos tomorrow, folks!

If you haven’t watched the Joe Gresh video listed below, you might want to do so.   There are many parts of it I like (well, actually, I like all of it).   I was thinking about what the best parts of the video are, and there are many.   I like the interviews with the owners, where their unbridled enthusiasm is apparent.   I like the part with my good buddy King Kong walking through Yellowstone, when the temperatures dipped into the mid-30s.  I like the part about San Francisco.   I even like the part in the middle of the video when he talks about what the bike’s improvement opportunities are.   There’s nothing in there that we disagree with.  But I finally concluded that the best part of Joe’s video is at the very end, when he talks about our dealer-free approach to market and Mr. Gresh observed, “This is the future.”

It’s a good point.

In 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM, there’s an entire chapter devoted to the CSC decision regarding the use of dealers.  The chapter covers the reasons that made it clear why selling the RX3 through dealers was a nonstarter for us (and for you).  It’s worth a read, and here’s the link to order a copy.

We still get more than a few queries along the lines of, “Is there a dealer in my area?”   There is not and there won’t ever be a dealer in your area, but there are CSC affiliates, and they are more than happy to show their bikes to you.   If you want to see an RX3 in the flesh, give us a call at 909 445 0900 and we’ll hook you up.   And after you buy your RX3, you might want to become a CSC affiliate.   We make it worth your while to be one.

I think Joe Gresh’s enthusiasm about the RX3 is obvious, and I saw it firsthand over an 18-day period while we rode 5,000 miles together.  I mean, think it about it, folks.   This is a guy who gets paid to write about motorcycles for a major motorcycle magazine, and after putting 18 days in the saddle on this bike, he likes it.   I had a good time on that ride.

There’s a line on the left side of the engine (shown above) that is designed to collect overflow and fumes from the engine crankcase.    We’ve had a number of people ask what is in the line, and in particular, if it can contain gasoline.  What comes out of that line when draining it (there’s a plug to seal the line at the bottom) sure smells like gasoline sometimes.   We’ve asked Zongshen repeatedly if the line contains gasoline and the answer has always been that it does not.   What they communicated to us is that what is in the line is oil and not gasoline, and that there was no way for gasoline to get to that overflow line.   Until this morning, that is.    We asked the question again last night based on renewed interest in this question on a couple of the forums.    Here’s the answer we received this morning from a Zongshen engineering report dated 22 September 2015:

There are two possible reasons leading to “oil” or “gasoline” in the overflow line.

I.  If the seal of the balance shaft is broken or if the seal is not assembled well, there might be engine oil leakage.

II.  There might be some material in the overflow line, and it is normal and no problem. The material is a mixture of the gasoline and water (or just include a little engine oil).

When the rider cool starts the engine or when the engine is started in a low temperature, the some liquid gasoline may stick to the cylinder wall and goes into the crankcase when it enters into the combustion chamber. When the temperature of the engine turns higher, the liquid gasoline are volatilized and mixed with air and turns into a mixture air material. But when this mixture material comes into the overflow line, it is cooled, and it becomes a mixture liquid material of gasoline and water. It is a condensation phenomenon. Because of the special structure of NC250 and the overflow line, the condensed liquid material will not return the engine. During the road test of RX3 in 2014 we have found the liquid in the overflow line which is a mixture of gasoline and water. It is normal. It will not affect the engine or the model. The I. reason is with little possibility.

We offer our apologies for previously simply relaying what we were told (which subsequently proved to be inaccurate).

Wow! Joe Gresh, who writes the “Cranked” column every month for Motorcyclist magazine, accompanied us on our recent 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride.  Joe just published his video on the trip and on the bike, and it’s awesome!

Baja John and Joe Gresh (perpetrator of The Burnout That Changed The World) in the Grand Tetons

I received this nice note from Baja John this afternoon…

Joe,

I wanted to let you know that I ran the RX3 out of gas today.  I didn’t baby the bike during this tank of gas.  I did 73 miles of dirt, about 60 miles of highway, and the rest on city streets.  Well, I guess I babied the bike a little bit since I didn’t do a burnout (Note from Joe B:   That last comment was targeted at Joe Gresh; you’ll have to read 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM to get the whole story).

At 247.5 miles I pulled up to an intersection.  When I started to accelerate, the engine briefly lost power and then caught again.  That was the first indication of low fuel.  I tried accelerating hard again, and the same thing happened.  As long as I accelerated very gradually, the bike ran smoothly.  Finally, about 2.5 miles later, the bike starting chugging.  I managed to get almost another mile down the road before it quit at 250.9 miles.  I had gas with me, so I put a gallon in, and the bike fired right up.

My Tourfella aluminum luggage was on the bike.  Since I did a camping trip with my cousin last week (hence the 73 miles of dirt riding), they are still loaded with all of my camping gear, tools, spare tubes and pump, first aid, etc.  I weighed them after they were loaded to ensure that the side bags had balanced loads. The two sidebags weighed about 30 lbs each with all of the stuff in them, and the trunk weighed about 26 lbs with its load.  

John

That’s very interesting.   I’ve never run my tank dry to check the bike’s range, and this is a great input.   John had several things working against his optimizing the range of his RX3 on a full tank:

• John doesn’t completely fill the bike; he always leaves a little space below the fuel filler neck.
• John doesn’t put the bike on its centerstand when filling the tank (he could squeeze a little more in there if he did.
• John was carrying close to 90 lbs of additional stuff in his luggage.
• John did 70+ miles in the dirt (where fuel economy is always significantly lower), and 100+ miles on city streets (where fuel economy is not as good as steady highway driving).
• John is what we call a full-figured rider (he tips the scales at about 250 lbs).
• The Tourfella bags stick out into the airstream more, and as such, they will reduce the RX3’s fuel economy and range a little bit.

Even with all of the above, my good buddy Baja John still managed to get 250 miles out of a tank of fuel.  I think that’s pretty good.  When I get back from Yosemite this week, I’m going to run the same test on my bike to see how far I can go on a tank of gas.  I’ll get I can get at least 300 miles out of it (maybe even a little more).  I’ll keep you folks posted on this, and John, thanks for your note.

There’s lots of stuff to catch up on, folks.   By way of an explanation, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been glued to the keyboard working on 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM and I haven’t been blogging as often as I usually do.   But the book is done, it’s out in three versions (the links are B&W for $19.95, full color for $49.95, and Kindle).   I’ve got some time to get back to other things, and I’m going to start catching up this fine Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and the CSC blog.

Yesterday was a fun day for me.   I actually don’t have my own copies of 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM yet (I’m supposed to get my first copy tomorrow, and to get it that quickly, I ordered it on Amazon Prime).   My good buddy, CSC 250 and RX3 riding compadre, and shooting partner Duane received his, though, and he stopped by the CSC plant yesterday with it.   It was the first copy of the book I’ve seen, and it was a good feeling to actually hold it in my hands and look through it at the photos.   I like it a lot and I think it is the best book I’ve ever done.   I signed it for Duane and we had a good time joking around about it.

Ah, let’s see…more good stuff.  You’ll recall our notifications about the new financing program, and that is attracting many more good folks to the RX3.   Most people who buy new vehicles of any kind here in the US (and probably elsewhere in the world) do so by financing their purchase, so adding this option is making the RX3 a reality for many more people.   I like it and I like the idea of giving more people access to this great motorcycle.   The terms are very reasonable (as in $500 down and monthly payments of about $100), so if having the cash on hand was holding you back, that shouldn’t be a problem now.

When we rode the Western America Adventure Ride, Juan Carlos and Gabriel from Colombia rode with us.  They were representing AKT Moto, the Colombian RX3 importer, and their mission included three objectives:

• Have a good time (and I know that happened!).
• Gather information for a story about the Western America Adventure Ride (Juan Carlos has already published his article, and you’ve read about that here on the CSC blog).
• Learn how we in CSC do our adventure tours (because AKT wants to do the same for its customers in Colombia).

It’s that last item above that is of interest today, folks, and the reason for that is because yours truly has been invited to ride in Colombia later this year.   I’ve been to Colombia before, but it was a short business trip that involved visits to only two cities (Barranquilla and Cartegena).   This visit will involve riding the RX3 in Colombia and seeing all of it.   If I sound excited, it’s because I am.   Boy oh boy, I’ll grab some great photos on this adventure!

And speaking of photography, I wanted to give a quick review of my feelings about my two Nikon cameras, the D3300 and the D810.  The D810 is the full tilt boogie…it’s a 36-megapixel monster with incredible low light capabilities.   I love it.   But it’s not without its disadvantages.   It’s heavy, it’s very expensive, it’s physically large, and the file size hogs the C drive on my laptop.   At the same time I bought the D810 this year, I also bought the D3300 as a knockaround camera for my motorcycle trips, and I have to tell you that the little Nikon does a hell of a job.   The front and rear cover shots on 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM were both shot with that little D3300 and the lens that comes with it (a Nikon 18-55mm zoom).   I love both of these cameras and I took both with me on the Western America Adventure Ride (both fit easily into the RX3’s top case), but on most motorcycle trips I usually just take the D3300.  It does everything I need for travel photography.

The comparison between these two cameras is much like the comparison between an RX3 and a BMW GSA 1200.    They’ll both get the job done, they’re both fun, and the bigger one costs roughly 8 times what the little one costs.  Yep, you read that right.   The BMW GSA price is around $26K; the RX3 is $3,495.  The Nikon D810 (with a decent lens) is over $4K; the D3300 Nikon is $499.95.   I own both cameras and I use them both, but truth be told, I’d do fine with just the D3300.   A similar situation exists with many of our RX3 customers; quite a few of them also own a BMW.  Many of them have told us that they enjoy the RX3 more, especially when going off road.

Gerry and our Service Department sure are staying busy.   They are doing the setups on a new shipment of RX3 motorcycles, and they have quite a few other brands in for service now that the word is out about our capabilities.   When I was in the plant yesterday, Gerry was adding accessories to a new Triumph Bonneville, there were several BMWs in for repairs and routine servicing, and there were a couple of step-through scooters waiting their turn in line.  I was surprised at how many of the new RX3s included our optional 19-inch front wheel, knobby tires, the new Seat Concepts seat, and the other good stuff Ryan and Steve have developed for the RX3.   It’s exciting to see all of this happening.

Last bit of exciting news for this morning…Ryan, Matt, and I will be at the Horizons Unlimited California meeting from Thursday through Sunday of this week.  I’m giving a presentation on our adventure tours, and we’ll be offering RX3 test rides at this great event.

That’s it for now, my friends.  See you on the road!

I just saw this photo of my good buddy Pete and it brought back fond memories of the CSC Inaugural Baja Run…

That photo was in front of the San Ignacio lake formed by the volcano you see in the background.   That’s how an oasis is formed, and that’s what San Ignacio is…an oasis in the middle of the Vizcaino Desert.

5000 Miles At 8000 RPM includes the story of the Baja Run, along with a lot of good information on the RX3.  You can get the print version here, and for those of you who like Kindle, you can get the Kindle version here.   In another day or two, we’ll have the Deluxe full color version available, and we’ll post a link for it when that happens.

Pete told me he’s headed the ADVMoto Rally in West Virginia this weekend, and if you’re looking for a great time, we strongly urge you to go, too!

For more information on the ADV Moto Rally, just click right here.