CSC Blog

And we’ll have photos of them right here, folks…but for now, take a look at this beauty! 

Keep your eyes on the blog…there’s more coming!

As you may know, I teach in the College of Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona.  We teach more than a few technical topics, and we also try to teach our students life skills.   One of those is being on time.   I don’t like it when people are late and I ordinarily make a fuss when a student is late to class.   The way I view it, it’s part of the maturation process, and there are seldom good reasons for being late (usually when a student is late it’s because they overslept).   I’m kind of a meanie about being late, the students know it, and they’re not late very often.

This morning one of my students, a young lady who is normally prompt and always submits exemplary work, was about 10 minutes late for our 8:00 a.m. class.   When she walked into class, she was carrying a full face helmet.  I had to ask… 

“What do you ride?”

“A Zuma,” she answered.  “I’m sorry I’m late.”

That’s a scooter, I knew.   A 125cc step-through scooter.  

Hmmm.

“And where did you ride from?” I asked.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said.

“Yeah, I get that,” I said.   “So where did you ride from?”

“Yucaipa.  I’m sorry I’m late.”

Yucaipa.   Wow.   That’s about 60 miles from the University, and that’s if you take the freeway.   Which she couldn’t have done, because you can’t ride on the freeway unless your bike is a 150cc or larger.  But I asked the question, anyway…

“Do you ride on the freeway?” I asked.

“No, my bike isn’t legal on the freeway.   I take the surface streets,”  she said.   “I’m sorry I’m late.”

I was shocked.  That’s about a 75-mile commute.   On surface streets.  On a 125cc scooter.

I wasn’t thinking at all about her being late.   A commute all the way from Yucaipa on a scooter.   That’s what had my attention.  I was impressed…maybe even a bit in awe.  I had thought about riding my California Scooter to school this morning (it’s about an 18-mile ride), but I wussed out because it was too cold.

“How long does it take you to get here on that 125?”  I asked.  

“Usually about an hour and 40 minutes,” she said, “but there was an accident on one of the roads, so it took two hours this morning.   I’m sorry I’m late.”

Wow again.  This student is one hard core rider.  She reminded me of Arlene, my Baja riding buddy. 

And no, I couldn’t be a blue meanie because she was 10 minutes late.  Not after riding a 125cc scooter for two hours.  From Yucaipa. 

This young woman is going to be a dynamite engineer.  Whoever hires her will be lucky.   And I’ll bet she’ll be on time every day.

I saw this cutie yesterday just after Lupe finished it…

That fringed seat really works.   I have the same one on the Baja Blaster but in black, and I like it.

Well, it’s early here, folks…back to my cup of coffee and reading the newspapers.

So when I was exploring the shop today, I spotted these wheels waiting to go on the next bikes coming down the line…

As my good buddy Elmer Fudd would say (and if you’ll pardon a really bad pun), they’re wheely cool!  We make a wot of wheely cool wheels, folks!  

Wire wheels, billet aluminum, chromed billet aluminum, painted billet wheels, two tone billet wheels, painted stock wheels, and more.   And those are just our standard stock and custom wheel offerings.   There’s wheely no limit on what we can do.  On occasion, we’ll even customize our custom wheels, like we did on this set of pin-striped and painted billet wheels for our good buddy Indiana James…

In addition to our wheel choices, you can also order our diamond pattern gangster whitewall tires.   They dress a bike up even more…in fact, I need a new set of tires on my Baja Blaster and I’m thinking about the whitewalls.   They sure look cool.

You know, on this topic of custom wheels, I think what would really look cool is a set of wire wheels with chrome spokes and powder coated rims.  I’m thinking black powder coated rims on a black Classic, or maybe on a red Classic.   Or maybe the ones on the red Classic should have red powder coated rims.   That would look cool.

Okay, that’s enough thinking out loud for now, folks. 

As always, ride safe, my friends…

I had to share this great photo with you, folks…it’s Burbank John with his awesome P-51 250cc California Scooter…

John, it was good seeing you today and we look forward to seeing you out on the road!

We do a lot of company logo bikes…you know, bikes with a custom tank showing a company’s logo.   When I stopped by the plant earlier today, Lupe showed me this cool one we just completed for the Racing Power Company.   The good folks over at RPC are going to display it at the upcoming SEMA show.

You know, our custom touches range from mild to wild, and what really struck me about the RPC bike was how it stood out with just a single change.   It’s our standard CSC-150 in Racing Red, and the only change is the custom tank with the RPC logo.   It really works, and we can do bikes like this with your logo at a surprisingly low price.  

If you think you might want one with your logo, give us a call!

You can bet I wasn’t the only guy snapping photos on our ride last week.   Howard captured several as well, which he was nice enough to send to us.   Check these out, folks…

The first two are at Camp Roberts, which was a morning coffee stop.    Trixie took real good care of us and that coffee sure was good…it was cold when we left in the morning and hot coffee really hit the spot.  

And this next one is at the western end of Glendora Ridge Road.   The views are magnificent (including this view of all the bikes)…

Great photos, Howard, and thanks very much for sharing them with us!

You know, I’m still thinking about how much fun we had on Friday, and I can’t wait for the next ride.   I’ll keep you posted on our upcoming plans right here on the blog, folks.   We’d love to have all of you ride with us the next time we head for the hills.   Like we always say…stay tuned and keep an eye on the blog!

The question du jour is this:   Do you think old things look better when they are made to look new again, or do you think they look better with the patina of natural aging?

Consider Steve’s original Mustang Pony, as shown in the above photo.   Steve made the call to leave it as is, and I like it.  It’s the real deal.   It’s the paint that Jim Cavanaugh saw on that bike when it left the Mustang factory in 1954.

Here’s another example:  Take a look at this 1936 Excelsior Henderson motorcycle I saw roll into Hansen Dam back in 2006…

It, too, is the real deal…all original with nothing repainted or replated.  

Check out some of the macro shots I grabbed of this majestic original motorcycle…I was going to town with my camera while the rider was taking off his helmet…

There were a lot of things about that motorcycle that impressed me, and three things in particular stood out.

The first was the speedo drive off the rear wheel.  Folks, this is industrial strength!

The second was the speedometer and its “tell tale” (you know, the needle follower that indicates the highest speed attained)…

And the third thing that absolutely knocked my socks off was the rider.    Boy oh boy, was I ever surprised when the helmet came off!

 And just in case you didn’t recognize the profile, here’s another shot…

Ol’ Jay kind of has his own patina thing going on there, but it sure hasn’t slowed him down any.  

Jay’s a nice guy, and I asked him about the bike.   Jay took off on me.  It was like being on the Tonight show.

“Yeah, it’s a 1936 Henderson, all original….this guy in Vegas is 93 years old and he’s getting a divorce.  Called me because he needed to raise some cash…”

“Really?” I said.  

Jay just smiled.   There’s one born every minute, I guess, and I had just had my moment…

WARNING!

The Surgeon General of the United States has determined that the photos and video you are about to view and the California Scooter blog may be habit forming.   Viewing these items may induce uncontrollable urges to ride or purchase a California Scooter.   If you experience such symptoms, you should immediately call the CSC Control Center at 800 884 4173 and ask for TK or Steve.

***************************************** 

Folks, the ride yesterday was one for the ages…it was one of the best I’ve ever had.  

Oh, I’ve ridden these roads before (many times, in fact), but there was just something about yesterday’s putt that was incredible.  Perfect weather, great bikes, and great roads were a big part of it…but let’s get to the point:   It was the group.   The guys on this ride are awesome.  

Take a look…

From left to right, that’s Howard, Bill, Bruce, Steve, and Steve…great folks and super riding buddies!

The clear cool weather yesterday made it all…well, I was going to say awesome, but I’ll have to be careful not to overuse that word.   But it was awesome.   And the photography and photo ops….wowee!   It just doesn’t get much better than what we experienced yesterday.

So here’s how it went…we all met at the CSC factory in Azusa early in the morning, fired up the Scooters, and headed north into the mountains.  

At our very first photo stop, I was clicking away like a madman with my Nikon.   I caught some great shots. 

I really like this photo of Bill and Howard…

So who are these guys?  Well, let me tell you a bit about each…

Our good buddy Bruce has ridden with us several times.   I always like to joke around with Bruce…he’s ready to ride anywhere at the drop of a hat, and he’s been on all of our company rides.   Bruce likes CSC motorcycles so much he actually owns two….but the one he mostly rides is his P-51 250cc custom in turquoise and white…

Bruce is a particularly photogenic guy.   I’ve grabbed a bunch of photos of Bruce on our different rides, and they always look great.   This is one of my favorites from yesterday…

There’s a spot up in the mountains where three roads come together at the western end of Glendora Ridge Road, and we always stop there.   The views are great, and so are the photo ops. 

Here’s another photo I really like of Howard and Twin Peaks Steve… 

Howard is an interesting man.   So’s Twin Peaks Steve, but we’ll get to him in a minute. 

You’ve seen Howard on the blog before.   Retired from the US Air Force, Howard covers a lot of miles.   He rides a P-51 motorcycle, and he was the undisputed mileage king of our group yesterday.     As you know from Howard’s exploits, he’s been all over the country on his California Scooter.   He came in from Nevada just for this ride!

During a great lunch at the Mt. Baldy Lodge yesterday, Howard told us about his travels.   Lots of places and lots of miles.  Several of us, like Howard, had been to the Black Hills of South Dakota, but none of us other than Howard did it on a California Scooter.   It was a cool conversation.   Buffalo, antelope, deer, porcupine, bighorn sheep…riding through the Black Hills was like riding through a zoo.   And Mt. Rushmore.   And Crazy Horse.   You get the idea.   Good food and good conversation.

One of the things I noticed about Howard’s P-51 was its tank-mounted GPS.   Check this out, boys and girls…a CSC set up for serious road burning…

Twin Peaks Steve is another regular CSC club rider.    Shooting, ultra-light aircraft, motorcycles…Twin Peaks Steve has some interesting hobbies.   He came down from his home up in the San Bernardino Mountains to roll with us on his drop-dead gorgeous Bobber.  

You’ve all seen Twin Peaks Steve’s Bobber…it’s one of the prettiest customs we’ve ever done!   Here’s a shot I grabbed of that bike when we first built it…

But that wasn’t the only Bobber on our ride yesterday.   Our good buddy Bill had his as well…check this out!

This was our first ride with Bill, and he’s a cool guy.  Bill’s another one of those folks who likes CSC bikes so much he owns two of them! 

It was fun watching the two Bobbers weaving and, well, bobbing around the curves yesterday.  In fact, I hung back at the end of the group for a couple of reasons…I was catching it on video, and I just liked watching the bikes carving up the twisties.   It was awesome (there’s that word again).   But you’ll see…wait ’til we get to the video!

You all know this guy…our fearless leader and motorcycle maestro Steve.   That’s Steve’s personal ride, the Sarge.  It’s one of our very first customs, and it was the start of our Military Series line…

Steve’s bike is a show stopper.   Shoot, they’re all show stoppers!   But the Sarge has something about it that just demands attention.  

While we were enjoying our lunch yesterday, we saw a woman snapping photos of the bikes parked outside the Mt. Baldy Lodge’s entrance.   She came in and asked about the bikes, but she was most interested in the Sarge.    It just sort of grabs people.  It’s a cool bike.

You know, after that happened, our lunch conversation turned to the rock star phenomenon thing.  It’s an inherent part of the CSC ownership experience.   We’ve all experienced it…every where you go on these bikes, folks want to grab photos and get close to them.   Maybe there should be a Surgeon General warning about that, too!

So that’s the guys on the ride yesterday.  

You might be asking where’s a photo of yours truly (you know, me…the blogmeister).  

Steve took a couple of photos of me with my bike.   They turned out well, but I’m the guy in charge of the blog and I get to pick the one I like best.   For that, I selected my self-portrait…a photo I grab on every ride with Bruce…

If Bruce ever loses those sunglasses, I’m in trouble!

Here’s another shot I like…the boys joking around up in the mountains…

And folks, make no mistakes…we were all boys yesterday.  

I felt like I was maybe 12 or 14 years old.   I’m not…I’ve had more medical issues than they teach you about in the first year of medical school, and I have enough pills to open a well-stocked pharmacy.  I think I’m old enough to actually start collecting Social Security.   But yesterday, up in those mountains on my California Scooter, hanging out with the great guys you are reading about here…I was a boy for the day.   I’ll bet every one of us felt that way.

Like I said…it was awesome!   I can’t remember having as much fun or enjoying a ride more.

Here’s another favorite photo of the boys…

So, enough of this boys being boys business….

Let’s get on these bikes and ride!

It was awesome!

Oops, there I go again!

As you can see from the tail end of the YouTube video above, we stopped at the Mt. Baldy Lodge…

After lunch, a couple of guys were just pulling up on Triumphs.  

The Triumph riders were intrigued by our California Scooters (there’s that rock star thing again), and we were having a great time showing off our bikes.  

One of the Triumph riders mentioned that he had read about CSC in one of his motorcycle magazines and he knew that Steve Seidner was the CEO and Founder of California Scooter.   I pointed out Steve to him, and to everyone’s surprise, the guy announced “Steve, I was your high school history teacher!”

Whoa, what are the odds of that happening?    Check this out, boys and girls…Steve Seidner and Mr. Taylor!

So that’s it for now, my friends.   But it’s only for now.  

I mentioned that Howard came in from Nevada just for this ride.   Howard has a travel trailer that he pulled in with his pickup, and he spent the night down here.

That got Steve to thinking about the next grand event.   It will be our First Annual Spring Fling! 

We know many of our riders also own RVs.   Well, we’ll coordinate with a local campground to get you set up for a few days next March, we’ll have a big barbeque dinner, and we’ll run a series of rides up in the San Gabriel Mountains like we did yesterday.   

Start your planning now and let us know if you’ll be attending.  I promise you…it will be…   

Awesome!

Just got back from the ride, folks.   Let’s see…how can I put this….

Today was one of the best rides I’ve ever had!  

Yep, it was that good!    Take a look at the view from my saddle just a couple of hours ago…

And if you want to see how I grabbed that photo…well, here you go!

That’s the boys riding the ridge (as in Glendora Ridge Road).   And it’s just a quick teaser…there’s much, much more to follow on the blog in the next day or so.   Steve, Bill, Bruce, Steve and Howard, thanks so much for an awesome experience!

Folks, stay tuned!