I finished another Youtube video of my incredible ride on the new CSC 250cc dual sport motorcycle, but it’s been processing for the last two hours.   You might have noticed that the video I posted in the blog below this one doesn’t show anything except a field of gray until you run it (then it works normally).  So, I plugged into Google to ask what was going on, and it seems quite a few folks are having Youtube issues with their uploads.

So, my apologies, folks.   Hopefully this Youtube nonsense will sort itself out in the next day or so.

In the meantime, let me change gears and talk about Mosin mania a bit.   My buddy Jim and I went out the range yesterday and we had a ball with his new Mosin-Nagant…new to Jim, that is…his Mosin rifle was manufactured in 1942!

Jim shot ammo that I loaded for him, and because I had nothing better to do a week or two ago, I played with my Flip video a bit and made a movie showing how to reload ammo.   The music is from Enemy at the Gates.  It’s one of my favorite movies.

Our next Mosin match will be next weekend, and I know a few of you will be out there, including my good buddy Duane with his Mauser.

Tommy M, I know you’d enjoy this match as much as you’ve enjoyed riding with us up on Glendora Ridge Road, so if you want to tag along, let me know.   You can use my Mosin if you’d like.

I’ll be on the road this weekend with the boys, and I’ll riding my new orange CSC 250cc dual sport.  I plan to grab a whole bunch more photos, so stay tuned, my friends.

Just got back from 35 miles on the new motorcycle.

The title of this blog says it all.

More to follow…

Folks, you may remember a blog I did not too long ago that I titled “My definition of the perfect bike….”

You can read that entire blog by clicking here…and when you do, you’ll see the last part of it, which I’ve copied for you….

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So, where is this going…and what would my definition of the perfect touring/dual sport bike be?

Here’s what I’d like to see:

• Something with a 250cc single-cylinder engine.   My experience with small bikes as a teenager and my more recent experience with CSC has convinced me that this is probably the perfect engine size.  Big engines mean big bikes, and that kind of gets away from what a motorcycle should be all about.  Water cooled would be even better.  The Kawi KLR is water cooled, and I like that.
• A dual sport style, with a comfortable riding position.   No more silly road racing stuff.  I’m a grown man who likes to ride hundreds of miles a day.   I want my bike to have a riding position that will let me do that.
• A windshield.   It doesn’t have to be big…just something that will flip the wind over my helmet.   The Kawi and the Triumph got it right in that department.
• Integrated luggage.   The Triumph Tiger got that part right.  The KLR, not so much.
• Light weight.   Folks, it’s a motorcycle…not half a car.   Something under 400 lbs works for me.   If it gets stuck, I want to be able to pull it out of a puddle.  If it drops, I want to be able to pick it up without a hoist or a road crew.   None of the current crop of big road bikes meets this requirement.
• Something that looks right and is comfortable.   I liked the Triumph’s looks.   But I want it to be comfortable.
• Something under $5K.   Again, it’s a motorcycle, not a car.  My days of dropping $10K or so on a motorcycle are over.   I’ve got the money, but I’ve also got the life experiences that tell me I don’t need to spend stupidly to have fun.

The question is:  Who has such a bike out there?

Right now, no one.

But who knows what’s coming down the trail?

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Well, I know.   And now you do, too!

Much, much more to come on this exciting new venture, folks!   Suffice it to say, Steve and I will have our knees in the breeze this weekend!

One of the best moto adventure books I’ve ever read is Emilio Scotto’s The Longest Ride.   I’ve never met Emilio, although I have corresponded with him via email.   So when I saw this video, I knew I had to post it on the blog…

The video is cool, but The Longest Ride is better.   The photography and the story, in my opinion, make The Longest Ride a “must read” book for any motorcyclist.

Well, this cup of coffee needs to be refreshed and the sun is coming up, so I will talk to you later, my friends…

Hey, who would have guessed?

An update from the LA Times…

LAPD finds motorcycle cop’s missing shotgun; man arrested

That lost shotgun story got me to thinking about another motor officer…

That episode was a classic, and I can remember watching it the first time it appeared on TV.   Different times.   I spent the morning on the rifle range and I think I’ll go fire up the Baja Blaster.   Life is good.   See you on the road…

Ever had a bad day on your motorcycle?

Folks, we love our law enforcement officers, especially the ones who are out there on motorcycles.  The weather has been oppressive here in So Cal, and it’s got to be doubly so for motor officers, bundled up and carrying 35 pounds of gear every time they go out.

This poor guy (an LAPD motor officer) lost his shotgun in what is arguably one of the roughest areas of LA.  Seems the motorcycle gun lock broke and it fell off his motorcycle.   During a search (with an intensity that can only be imagined), one of the police dogs (a shotgun-sniffing hound?) turned on an LAPD officer and bit him so badly he required surgery.   Yikes.  Not a good day.

The story was in the LA Times this morning, and I found it online (grammatical mistakes and all)…

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An LAPD K-9 has been suspended after attacking an LAPD officer that was part of a frantic search for a LAPD motorcycle officer’s missing a loaded tactical shotgun.

A search for an officer’s loaded shotgun turned up empty Thursday night nearly 12 hours after the weapon fell off a police motorcycle in South Los Angeles.

The search temporarily shut down streets near W. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near South Normandie Avenue in South LA, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

An officer noticed his loaded shotgun had fallen out of its motorcycle holster, prompting dozens of officers to scour the area in search of the weapon.

The LAPD motorcycle in question was supposed to be equipped like this…

… but instead, it looks like this.

Authorities are claiming that the motorcycle was equipped an older horizontal carrier, and the lock on the carrier appears to have failed, possibly from age and wear. The agency is transitioning to vertical carry systems which should offer better retention.

Area residents interviewed by NBC-LA essentially laughed at the efforts of police who were searching for the shotgun. They suggested that it was likely snatched up immediately after hitting the pavement by area residents and that chances someone will turn in the weapon are slim. The area where the police search focused is just five blocks from the intersection of Florence and Normandie, the epicenter of the 1992 Los Angeles riots that saw more than 2,000 people injured and 53 people killed.

This is the second serious incident involving a long gun scabbard on a police motorcycle within the past nine months. In late October, 2013, an Ar-15 attached to a Chino PD motorcycle unit participating in a drug prevention rally at an elementary school wasn’t properly secured and a student fired the rifle into the ground, causing several minor injuries.

The police officer who was bitten by the K-9 during yesterday’s search required surgery, and is recovering.

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A tough day, indeed.   We hope the officer who was bitten recovers quickly.   As for finding that shotgun, somehow I don’t think so…

Wow, it’s hot and humid out here this week.   We’ve been having temperatures in the very 90s and low 100s, and it’s been humid.   Not a good combination.   Several folks were struck by lightning in So Cal this weekend, which has never happened in the 30+ years I’ve been in California.

The bottom line is me and the boss (the one I have at home) have been laying low and trying to stay cool.   We took a ride out to the plant today and I grabbed a couple of photos…the first one includes three bikes from Steve’s stable of super sleek Mustangs…

….and the next one is the one you all keep asking about…a photo of our magnificent Mustang model and manufacturing maven, Miss Lupe…

Sunday night Steve and I and our two bosses (you know who I’m talking about) had a great dinner, and on the way home one of the new Dodge Challengers passed us, and then within a minute a new Shelby Mustang passed by, too.   That morphed into a discussion about great American cars.   Steve likes Mopars, and I’m a GM man.   I had wanted a Vette all my life and 11 years ago I finally pulled the trigger.    I’ll never sell that car.  In fact, I may write into my will that when my time comes, just find a good taxidermy man and stuff me.   Put me on display in my Z-06.   If you can get that guy to stuff me with baloney and motorize my fingers, I’ll keep writing the blog, too.

Anyway, my comment to Steve was that the most beautiful car ever made anywhere in the world was the ’67 big block Corvette.   Wow, I used to drool over those things.   I could have bought one new in ’67 for $5K (of course, to me in 1967, $5k was an inconceivable amount of money).   Those same cars trade hands today for well over a quarter of million dollars.   Ah, who knew?

Well, whaddaya know, when I got home and tuned into Facebook (the greatest time suck in the history of the world), one of my friends had posted this video…

That is pretty cool stuff, folks.

One last thing…staying inside with the air conditioning running full bore 24/7 in all of this heat has been boring.   With a bad case of cabin fever and my Mosin-Nagant antique rifle fascination, I started a new website focused on those magnificent old Russian infantry weapons.  I bought my own domain name (www.Mosin-Nagant.us) for the princely sum of $4.99, put it on line, and within the first few hours I had over 1,000 hits!   Owing to the synchronicity of interests (lots of shooters ride, and vice versa), I think I’ll add a link to the CSC motorcycle site, too!

That’s it for now, folks.  Ride safe, stay cool, and watch out for the lightning bolts!

…on the news, I suppose.   Hmmm….

Folks, do not try this on your CSC motorcycle!

…and some cool Colt photos!  It seems my photos of the Colt a few blogs down prompted our good buddy and trusted advisor Jimbo to alert his friend Tom, who forwarded photos of his Colt!

So, without further ado, here’s Jim’s email to me and the string of Jim and Tom emails…

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Joe:

Here’s an interesting email story that should be told…Tom Lawson gave me permission to send it on for your use…Tom is our kind of guy!

Cheers!

Jimbo

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Thanks, Jim!  I will follow that Blog!

As promised, here are some photos of my little Colt!  Enjoy!

All the best,

Tom

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Tom:

I noticed a good photo of the early Colt on the CSC Blog today..In case you don’t follow the Blog, here’s the pic!

Regards!

Jimbo

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Tom:

Again, thanks for your most interesting and the most beautiful Phaeton I have ever seen…Even the photography is awesome…I have filed them to share with others!

I think you should know that you are corresponding with an 83 year old “has been”…I grew up during the “heyday” of the evolution of the flat head Ford early Hot Rod era…I was fortunate to been able to hang out at a leading hot rod shop in Glendale California during my teen years and

leaned to “talk the talk and walk the walk”…Looking back, I’m surprised I survived it all…Then later 15 years at Mustang Motorcycle, building 10 bikes each day and testing thousands of them, it’s a wonder I’m sitting here writing this!..Oh yea, the stories I could tell you…Through all this I was closely associated with some very talented guys, geniuses actually and some of it rubbed off on me and I too developed skills and craftsmanship that later allowed me to build some projects that I too was very proud of so I know the “feeling”!

About the year 2000, I built a 1948 Ford truck muscle project that won many awards…I did all the work except the painting but I was probably the first to ever powder coat the entire truck, including the frame and cab…The powder coat was an ideal primer for the finish paint…I won the war over rust!…I recently sold the truck and it now resides in Auckland New Zealand…

I restored the 1961 Mustang my wife located  about 10 years ago and I did it my way!…After building thousands, I was not about to build another one with out personalizing it to fit me…

I’ll wait until you send the pics of your Colt before I send your story on..

Cheers!

Jimbo

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Well, Good Sunday Morning, Jim!

What a delightful response – you are right, we would likely have gotten into trouble had we met sooner!

After I wrote to you, I thought about it and I suspect that you are correct – all adjustable bars need to be adjustable is to cut off the bars, and weld a cradle on the forks for new bars.  My Dad, an avid mechanic might just have done that himself – knowing how he was (if it didn’t fit he made it fit) he may have actually been the culprit!

I suppose that makes my Colt a bit out of the ordinary and so I won’t ever win a Concours because the handle bars are wrong and of course the mufflers are not exactly correct, (and needless to say, the color isn’t right) but as you can see by the attached photos, I am a bit stymied by convention…(I just finished resurrecting the REATH Automotive Fiat Altered and I just got my dragster back from the NHRA Museum).  I have also attached some photos of my last Grand National Roadster Show Winning car a ’27 Chrysler Phaeton – it was originally the official parade car for Victoria Australia from 1927 through 1966 and I thought it would be better as a dual-quad Hemi -powered street rod.

This may confirm to you that I am a bit irreverent!  Cars and bikes were meant to be personalized – I have had 100-point Mopars, Pontiac’s, and most recently a 1951 Chris-Craft Mahogany Speedboat (if you want picky judges, just go out and restore a wooden speedboat) and all that I take away from ‘restoring’ scores of vehicles back to original is to realize why there is an aftermarket….BORRRR-ING!!!!

I will send you photos of my little Colt after I clean her up and get her running ( I took her home from my museum after I wrote you in order to get her fired up – I never even started her up after the last resto in 1996 –  that shows you how busy I’ve been!)

You are more than welcome to publish whatever you want – I was an MMCOA Member for years but somehow I dropped off of the list and never received a renewal request so I figured it went out of business, but now I see that it is still going so I will likely re-join.  I suppose I need to get my Colt in the Registry….

Anyway, Cheers, and I will get those Mustang photos to you soon.

Thanks again for your thoughtfulness, Jim!

Tom  

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Hi Tom:

Thank you for your very descriptive and enlightening message…Oh, how I wish I could have met you sooner…You are a man after my own heart! Oh the stories we could tell each other…

First the bad news!..I’m not expert on the original Colt models…I started with the company in 1949 and the Colts were no longer produced…However, there were a few left around so I can relate some…I remember Frankson Scooter Mart still…

I worked at the plant from 1949 to 1961 and I can  say with confidence that we never offered or made adjustable handlebars…I’m quite sure someone modified it to suit there needs… About ten years ago my wife located and bought me a 1961 Mustang Thoroughbred and the first thing I did was install adjustable handlebars because I’m 6’4″ tall…I still have it and it brings back fond memories…I remember the “fish tail” mufflers…They were chrome plated and dressed the bike up nicely…Again. I’m sorry i can not help with this either…

Tom, you’ve told me an amazing story and I would love to share it with the Mustang Club members…If you agree, a photo or two of your one of a kind Colt would be a good read for the boys…Perhaps some member could help you with some answers…I would also like to send it to the CSC Blog, a dynamic web site that caters to small bike happenings…

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Cheers!

Jimbo

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Hi, Jim,

My Dad bought my 1946 Mustang Colt, used in 1949 from Frankson Scooter Mart in Glendale. We lived in Hastings Ranch in Pasadena, all of my early life so it regularly ferry’d my Dad and I up to Crystal Lake to go fishin’ when I was a tyke – I rode on the rear fender wedge buddy seat, feet on the axle nuts holding the bag with the Peanut Butter & Jelly & Lettuce Sandwiches and the two fishing poles with one hand and my other hand holding onto Dad’s belt up Azusa Canyon Road and all the way through High School, my trusty Mustang was there for me.  In one of the many restorations I did on the bike, I even won the Pasadena High School Car show in my Junior Year (1972) with it.

A few years back, I painted it House of Kolor, Gold-Base Kandy Apple Red, chromed the chain guard, battery box, pipes, mufflers & wheels;  polished the exhaust manifolds put Camel-colored leather on the seat and it sits in my car museum in terrific company.  I’m sure Dave Coffman, who tried to buy the bike once or twice over the years and other aficionados like yourself, Al Simmons or Roy Stone would strangle me for customizing my Colt, but to me, it is a member of the family, and let’s face it, Model 1’s weren’t the best looking bikes with those ugly cream-colored wheels and non-descript black everything else.  Trust me when I tell you, my Kandy Apple Red & Chrome Colt is a very Bitchin’ looking little bike and sucks people to it like white on rice!

I don’t know who else to ask (I asked Ed Justice of the Justice Brother’ Museum in Duarte, CA – another proud owner of a Model 1 Colt [who, by the way needs a front fender for his Colt] and he didn’t know) but might you know why my Colt has adjustable handlebars and what my Dad always called “butterfly” mufflers (that look almost identical to the original mufflers but have a tapered chromed acorn nut in between the flattened exhaust exits, and why is the top of the flattened exit on the top, about an inch longer that the lower flattened exit and with a much more graceful windswept look to them than the originals?

I assume that the mufflers may be an aftermarket addition by the owner that sold it to Frankson Scooter Mart, but I can’t seem to find out why the handlebars on all other Colt’s I’ve seen are fixed to the front forks, and mine has chromed bars sitting in cradles with chromed caps on them, and fully adjustable.  The front fork vertical springs are there but the bars are removable and it is the only Colt I’ve seen that way.

Any ideas?  Let me know if you need to see photos, and I’ll send you some.

Thanks in advance and Greetings from The Peoples’ Republic of Kalifornia,

All the best,

Tom

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Very cool stuff, guys, and Jimbo and Tom, thanks for those great Colt photos!