CSC Blog

I’m enjoying my morning cup of coffee and watching the Dow Jones Industrial Average pound through 15,000!  This is good stuff!

Like everyone says, there’s still a lot of work to do, but the Dow isn’t climbing because people think the market is going to go down.   I’d like to see job growth in the manufacturing sector, but hey, it’s still good to see positive economic news.  And for those of you who are watching your stocks hit new highs….well, I’ve got an idea for your next investment…and it’s the kind you can ride!

I inserted that photo of our 250 Greaser just because the P-51 Greaser is larger than life!   It’s a screamer and it looks even better in person than it does in the photo!    Folks, this is a bike that needs to be a part of any well diversified portfolio, and the ROI is darn near infinite!

Speaking of diversification, last weekend Arlene and I took a quick hop up to Big Bear on the big  bikes…our Kawasakis.   My KLR 650 was making me feel guilty…it usually just sits in the garage on a battery tender (as it’s done ever since I picked up my CSC motorcycle three years ago).  

I hadn’t started the KLR in several months and I knew I needed to run it a bit to keep the fuel from varnishing up.   With no further apologies, here’s a quick video showing the ride through the San Bernardino Mountains with my good buddy Arlene…

That’s about it for now. Time for another cup of coffee. It’s been unusually hot out here the last few days so I don’t know if I’ll get my knees in the breeze today, but I know I will this weekend. Stay tuned!

Got something motorcycle related you want to sell?  Send it to us for review and we’ll post it for free on our new Classifieds page!    Our first ad came from our good buddy Russ, and it’s a dynamite engine package!   Check it out!

Ah, I misspelled that…it’s actually lynx, not links…

Our very own Patty is in Texas right now, and she and her husband Randy just posted this very cool video…

More to follow, folks, including info on our new Classifieds Board over on the CSC site…

You guys and gals old enough to remember Bonanza probably still think about that show from time to time.  Sponsored by Chevrolet, it ran on Sunday nights, and when I was a kid we all gathered around to watch it.  The show was great.  So were the commercials.   It’s where I caught my first glimpse of the new Sting Ray back in 1962 when the split window coupes were first introduced to the public.  It was awesome.

So my good buddy Eric captured this shot of an original ’63 split window Vette in Burbank and he posted it on Facebook this morning…

Wow, Eric’s photo took me back.  All the way back  to October 1962, sitting in the TV room with Mom, Dad, and my little sister.  When Chevy showed the Vette in their Bonanza commercial, it was exciting.  My Dad was really pumped up about the car.  As was I.   I knew that I’d have one someday.   And I knew it would be silver, just like the one in Eric’s photo.

It took about 40 years, but back in ’04 I made that dream come true…

I don’t use the Vette that much (I’ve had it 10 years, and I only have about 33,000 miles on it), but it sure is fun.   Sue and I love our motor trips in the Vette, and we’ve been all over the Southwest in it.  That photo above is on Highway 50 (America’s Loneliest Road) somewhere in northern Nevada.

The Vette works real well as a background prop for our CSC motorcycles, too, as the following photos show…

That’s it for now, folks…ride safe and we’ll have more for you later!

Birthday, that is.

Intrepid adventurer, moto explorer magnificent, story teller supreme, and good friend Simon Gandolfi is going to ride solo from New Delhi to London in just a few weeks to celebrate his 80th birthday.  As you will recall, Simon is one of the riders who rode with us from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas and back on CSC 150 motorcycles a couple of years ago…

Simon Gandolfi on a CSC 150 somewhere in Baja, photographed by yours truly

We had a lot of fun with Simon on the Cabo run, and I can only imagine what his trip from India to England will be like.   Wow, I wish I was tagging along!

Simon’s going to be blogging about the ride, and as soon as his blog is up and running I’ll post a link here.    He blogged about his trip to Tierra del Fuego a few years ago, and I instantly became a Simon Gandolfi fan.  Riding with him on the Baja trip was a dream come true.

Ride safe, Simon, and your friends at CSC will be riding with you!

If you’re not smiling by the end of this video…you’ve probably never ridden a motorcycle!

For starters…my apologies on not posting too much in the last week or so.   I’ve been busy traveling again, and the places I’ve been didn’t really lend themselves to photos or stories.   Flights that leave on time, airports that seem to be functioning just fine despite all the sequester scare tactics, boring rental cars….where’s the story there?

Plus, as you know, we’re in the middle of a move.   After nearly 4 years of fun on Brackett Airfield, we’re moving to a magnificent new location on Foothill Boulevard in Azusa, almost directly across the street from the original Bert’s location.   Steve and crew gutted the new building and they’re in the middle of remodeling, repainting, and re-everythinging.   It’s looking good!

Inside the new CSC World Headquarters building

Steve and the crew are busily working the move.   We’re packing up in La Verne, and getting ready in Azusa.   It’s gonna be good, and the new location is great.  We’re on a very busy street, and we’ll be much more accessible than we were on Brackett.   I like it.  A lot.

More cool stuff…when I was on the Cal Poly campus last week, I saw a most unusual turtle.  Yep, you read that right…a turtle.   We have a couple of small ponds on campus, the the wildlife those two little ponds attract is amazing.  In particular, one of the ponds has zillions of turtles in it.   They’re almost all red ears, and that’s a species that I used to see in the lakes and streams in central Jersey where I grew up.  In those days you couldn’t get within 50 yards of a turtle without it sliding back into the water.  Not so on campus, though.  The turtles in the Cal Poly ponds have lost all fear of people.  The students bring food from the dining hall and toss crumbs to the turtles.   The turtles get fed, the students get a break from their studies, and the turtles live long and prosper.   It’s a win-win all the way around.

Last year, I noticed a turtle that was different than the others.  It was underwater, and it just poked its nose out of the water to catch a breath of fresh air.   I never could get a good look at the rest of that turtle.  It was cagey.   Last week, though, all that changed.  I finally spied it out of the water sunning itself…and it was a Duesy!

A spiny softshell turtle sunning itself on the Cal Poly campus

As the caption states, it’s a spiny softshell turtle, and the thing was huge.   To put it in perspective, the shells on the other turtles were about 8 inches long.  The big turtle was a monster!   I’ll bet its shell was a good 15 inches long.   My research indicates it’s a female, as they grow much bigger than the males.   Interesting stuff.    The students were pretty intrigued by it…there were lots of iPhones out snapping photos, including mine.

Ah, let’s see…more news.   With all of the traveling I’ve been doing, I let my youngest daughter drive my Subie WRX while I was in Barbados, Missouri, and then Chicago.    When I got home, she didn’t pull any punches.   “Dad, I want that car…”

Well, I didn’t need much of an excuse.  I’ve been thinking real hard about Subaru’s new Cross Trek XV, and my kid’s claim on the WRX gave me the push I needed.  Yep, I pulled the trigger a week or so ago….

The new Subie Cross Trek

All indications are that the new Subie is going to be one of the great ones.    The XV attained 30 mpg on its first full tank of fuel in mixed driving (city and freeway), it’s comfortable, and it looks cool.  At least to me.   I had a great Mexican lunch with my motorcycle and shooting buddy Jim yesterday.   When Jim saw my new Subie, his first question was…

“They don’t make it in any other color?”  

Hey, I like the color!

One last tidbit…I saw some cool Vespa photos on Facebook earlier as I was enjoying my morning cup of coffee.   This first one is either a custom or a military model…I’m not sure which, but either way, I like it…

A military scooter, or a custom?

And here’s one more…I just like the way the photog staged this one…

A great photo...and one I want to duplicate with a California Scooter

When I see photos like that one above, the gears in my mind start spinning.   I know Vespas aren’t amphibious, but it made me wonder….could I get a similar shot with a CSC motorcycle?  It’s something I’ll keep in mind.  I either have to find a shallow puddle with the sun setting in the background, or I need to hose down the street at sundown, or … ?

Anyway, that photo is a good source of ideas, and I’ll keep it in mind for a future shot of your favorite motorcycle and mine.

Ride safe, my friends.

Steve and the guys were busy this weekend working on the new facility…there’s lots of cool stuff happening out here, folks!

We’re going to make the move next month, folks, so stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted right here!

My good buddy Richard Backus, editor over at Motorcycle Classics magazine (the best motorcycle magazine out there in my opinion), has a great video from a Barber Vintage Festival race in 2008.   If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a view!

For our Corvette fans (and I am certainly one of those), the Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on the Vette’s 60 year history.   I thought I’d share a link to that article with our blog readers.    The article is a bit flowery, but the photos are pretty cool and you might enjoy reading it.