CSC Blog

Yep, that’s the Hell’s Loop Endurance Rally, and I’m in it next month. The 25th, to be exact. I had a blast in that event last year, and you can bet I’m in it again this year.  I’m going to be running it on the Baja Blaster (just like last year).

The Hell’s Loop ride was a lot of fun in one of the most scenic places on earth.  If you want to enter (and I think you should) you can sign up for it here.

Alan Spears is the guy who put the event together, and he always does a great job. Don’t be scared by the organized event aspect of it…this is basically a 400-mile fun run through an amazing area.   It’s not a race, or maybe it is…but how fast can you go on a 150? I’m in, and I hope to see you there, too.

More good news…I got a couple more emails from our good buddy Howard, who is now in Colorado on his California Scooter. What an epic ride!

Howard was passing through the Garden of the Gods yesterday, just outside of Colorado Springs.  It’s a great shot of a great guy and a great bike!

And one last cool shot I’ll post on the blog today…I grabbed this one with my i-Phone on the Cal Poly campus a day or two ago….

That bike is a Ducati 748. I like the color and I like the style, and I think of all the Ducatis ever made, this is the prettiest one.

The Ducks usually make a lot of noise…the high performance models (like the 748 shown above) have dry clutches, and they rattle around a lot when the bike is in neutral.  When I see a Ducati rider on an idling bike, I always like to tell them it sounds like there’s something wrong with the clutch.  I usually get a tolerant smile (they hear that one a lot, I’ll bet).

Motorcycle riders tend to have personalities that are pretty easy to identify by the kind of bike they ride, and you can usually have a bit of fun teasing them. Here’s a sampling of the comments and questions I’ll usually ask based on the bike…

For Gold Wing riders:  Where do you keep your bowling ball?

For BMW riders:  Excuse me…can you tell me where the nearest Charles Schwab office is?

For Harley riders (especially if they’re on a chromed-out new bike):   Wow, what a cool motorcycle…is it the new Kawasaki?   (Use this one with caution…I came pretty close to losing a couple of teeth one time when I asked that question…you have to choose who you ask this question carefully.)

For Triumph riders:  It sounds like your engine’s only hitting on three cylinders…

For KLR riders:  So how long has it been since you washed your bike?  (If you ride a KLR, you will absolutely get that one.)

There’s probably a few more, but I need another cup of coffee before I’m wide awake. If I think of any more I’ll post them later.

Later, folks.  Ride safe.

You guys and gals have heard me bragging about our So Cal weather a lot, but one of the things we don’t get to see are the leaves turning colors as winter approaches.  My good buddy Carl lives in the St. Louis area, and he sent this great photo to me late last night…

Carl shot that photo through a screen from his porch, and it looks really cool (it’s almost a PhotoShop effect).  I like it a lot.  I’ll bet the scenery riding through that part of the country is just awesome right now.   Enjoy it while you can, folks…it’s going to be cold soon enough!

Carl, thanks much, enjoy the colors, and ride safe!

My good buddy Bruce, another Cal Poly Pomona rider, sent this photo of his Cal Scooter at work.   Like yours truly, Bruce is a rider, and he commutes to work on his CSC motorcycle…

Thanks for the photo, Bruce.   I’ll see you around campus!

One of our best buddies and most valued resources is Richard Cerullo.  He’s the guy who’s in charge at Cerullo Seats.   Richard’s shop is just a hop away from us over in Pomona, and if you’ve get a custom seat on your CSC motorcycle, Richard is the guy who built it.

Most of Richard’s business is providing original equipment seating for several of the ATV companies, and Cerullo Seats does a lot of custom automotive work, too.  Cerullo Seats is a company that’s been around for years meeting the needs of custom car builders, hot rodders, and many others.   Richard used to make van seats for all the van converters in So Cal, and his company has provided custom seats for many of the trend setting vehicles coming from the So Cal custom scene.  One of his current offerings is the Cerullo sport seat, which is a pretty cool high performance street car bucket.  Fascinating stuff.

Richard and Steve are good friends who go way back, and it’s easy to understand why.  Both guys like to have a good time and they both enjoy a good joke.   (I told Richard one of my favorite jokes yesterday and he really liked it.)  Ask Richard or Steve about any of their fishing trips when you have time (a lot of time), and you’ll be in for a good story or two (or three, or four, or…well, you get the idea).

I had a pretty good time with Richard when we visited his factory and I liked hanging out there.  The upholstery materials and the aroma brought back a lot of memories (my father was an upholsterer and so was Richard’s).   Interesting stuff and it made for a great conversation.   Another thing I like about Richard…he always laughs at all of my jokes.  He either has a keen sense of humor or he’s really polite (I think both).

If you take a look at the fringed seat on my California Scooter (it’s in the blog one or two entries down), I think you’ll agree it complements the bike’s look.   It’s one of Richard’s.   If you want one, give us a call and he’ll do one for you, too.

This one is spoken for, folks.  It’s going to Gunnar in Norway, and I was lucky enough to grab a shot today when the rain stopped…

Gunnar’s new CSC has some nice custom touches…wire wheels, blacked-out luggage rack, and custom paint in what is rapidly becoming my favorite color.

We’ve got only two of the new 250cc CSC motorcycles left until the next batch, so if you don’t want to wait several more weeks until the next production lot, give us a call!

Gasoline prices are sure getting my attention.  I went to Rhode Island last week on another secret mission, and from the time I left until the time I returned home, gasoline in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia shot up about $.80 a gallon.  In two days!

To me, the solution to this unbridled thievery is obvious…let’s see…Door Number 1 is a turbocharged Subie WRX that gets 18 mpg on a good day, and Door Number 2 is my CSC that gets over 90 mpg pretty much all the time.

Hmmmm……

Yep, I’m a CSC commuter…and that’s my bike on the Cal Poly campus very early this morning.  I get there early, which explains why there weren’t more bikes in the parking lot yet (the parking lot is packed with motorcycles right now, but most kids were still asleep when I shot this photo).  I grabbed a quick shot with my i-Phone this morning, and then I was off to class.   That’s a pretty cool XS-650 Yamaha right behind the Baja Blaster.    I used to have one of those, and I can tell you that the Baja Blaster is more fun.  There are other CSC motorcycles here at Cal Poly, too.  I may grab a shot or two as I spot them around campus.

More cool stuff…that low slung building on the left side of the photo (the one behind the three palm trees) used to be the stables.   W.K. Kellogg (the cereal magnate) donated the land to Cal Poly.   The University property used to be Kellogg’s winter home.   Kellogg’s only stipulation in donating the land was that the University care for his herd of Arabian horses in perpetuity.   The descendants of those original horses still run through the Cal Poly property, and they’re beautiful.  The former stables you see in the photo above are offices now…but don’t worry about the Arabians…the horses have even better digs elsewhere on campus.

One last thought…if you ride your California Scooter to work, send me a photo of it and I’ll post it here!

I received an email from my good buddy Bib over at the SoCal Norton Club earlier today.  I’ve never owned a Norton, but I sure like looking at them and it sounds like these guys had a whale of a ride on their classic machines.  Check out the recap Bib sent to me…

Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you. Frankly, we’ve been a bit pre-occupied with the Route 66 Ride from St. Louis to Pasadena. And, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure we could pull it off ……but we did.

Thirty-five riders, well over 70,000 cumulative miles, 7 states, no accidents, no tickets, one Band-Aid from the medical kit and hundreds of great stories. You should have been there!

Yes, we had a few breakdowns, mainly electrical stuff easily (?) corrected in the evening in nearly every case. And, we had 33 running bikes on our return to California! Indeed, of the 27 bikes we shipped to St. Louis, only one was in the chase truck – a Norton P-11 on its first real outing since being put back together last year.

The “finishers” included: 19 Nortons (16 Commandos, 1 Dominator, 1 Atlas and a G-15 Matchless); 6 Triumphs including one 2003 Hinckley; 3 BSAs, (2 A65 models and a ’68 Rocket Three); 2 BMWs ( a ’51 and a ’61); a Vincent Rapide (?); a Hillman/Enfield/Norton “special”; and one Honda, a CB1100F.

There were several other DNF bikes – 2 Commandos and 2 Triumphs – which were privately hauled to St. Louis. Essentially, all four of them were ‘museum floor, fresh”, brought along as spares. We were never able to get them running properly and, in effect, they were non-starters rather than non-finishers. Another Commando, perhaps the last pre-Superblend ’72 Combat, hadn’t been ridden in several years, had a history of seizures and went on a chase truck back to Colorado on Day 1.

We averaged about 250 – 300 miles a day, mostly on old Route 66. Rain and hail just east of Albuquerque where we spent a down day and then rain again on our way to Gallop. Generally great weather everywhere else. Small towns and a local parade in Missouri, on hill country two-lanes; a several mile stretch of dirt road near Galena, Kansas where  the gravel shoulders were smoother than the old highway; long stretches of abandoned 1930-1940 era four-lanes across Oklahoma including an eerily deserted 20 miles from Sayre to the Texas state line. Erick, OK, a town on hard times, had streets named after two local boys who “made good”, Sheb Woolley and Roger Miller!

Wide open vistas the rest of the way, the Big Texan and Cadillac Ranch, Indian (?) curio shops, long abandoned motels and entrepreneurial dreams. Some riders took side trips to Clovis and Fort Sumner, NM to visit Billy the Kid’s gravesite and, later, to Sedona, AZ. We celebrated a ceremonial “last supper” in Kingman in the Andy Devine Room at the  Danbar Steakhouse where we came up with the idea to “do Route 66” about a year and a half ago! Temperatures in the low 100s from Needles to Barstow, a last night in Victorville then Cajon Pass (or Angeles Crest) back to Lucky Baldwin’s in Pasadena. Too much traffic into Santa Monica, although several hard core souls went on to the pier to complete their own obligations to the ride.

Photos and video? Check out Socal Norton on Facebook. And, please get into checking that regularly for ride updates, meetings, Café Sundays, etc.

All in all, 2012 has been a spectacular year for the club. We had record turnouts for many of our rides including the New Year’s Eve Run for the Roses which was featured in Classic Bike (February) and, over 150 bikes in the Ojai Pilgrimage. Overall attendance exceeded 2000 participants and, including the Route 66 Ride,  total routes exceeded 4000 miles! We even had our first two event weekend as Chris Hovland kept up our tradition in the Sierras leading 15 riders from Mariposa to Bridgeport and back via Yosemite on the same weekend as we started the Route 66 Ride. Well done lads!

Upcoming Fall/Winter Rides include: Hansen Dam All British, November 4; Temecula/ Mt. Palomar, December 2; Run for the Roses, December 31; and our annual Café 50s/Rock Store ride, January 13. See Calendar for details.

Our full 2013 ride schedule will be available at Hansen Dam. It will include our usual mix of rides throughout California, other events and Café Sundays. We will be returning to Death Valley in April, after a 2 year break, and we’re adding 2 other rides – a Bay Area//Wine Country/Mendocino and back to San Francisco loop, and a 1600 mile “Keep the Water on Your Right” adventure from Seattle to L.A., probably in September. We are also considering a New Orleans/Gulf Coast/Texas Hill Country route in 2014 using Haulbikes to transport out bikes to the starting points.

Keep on Norton and come along for the adventure with one of the country’s most active riding clubs, whatever you ride.

Bib, that’s a whale of a story!  Thanks very much for sending it!

My new scooter buddy Eric posted this on Facebook earlier today, and I knew I had to share it here…

And here’s another cool one I found after watching the one above…do you remember Adam (played by Pernell Roberts) on Bonanza?

Folks, check out our latest flyer…

I like it.   The new 250cc bikes look great, and I am looking forward to riding my CSC motorcycle this weekend.  I hope you get to do the same!

I sure had a great time with the 909 Scooter Club on our Saturday ride.  I posted the photos you see in the blog entry below on the Modern Buddy website (that’s the site for the Genuine Scooter line), the ADVRider site (a cool dual-sport adventure riding website), and our Facebook page.   The comments on all of these sites have been positive.   Interesting stuff, and I have to tell you, the folks who ride step-through scooters have a distinctly different personality than do folks who ride motorcycles.  I think the best way to describe it is to say that scooteristas tend to be less focused on equipment and more focused on just having fun.

The Morphmobile

Me, I’m a gearhead.  I found myself greatly interested in the scooters on this ride, and what made it more fun is I saw several bikes I had never encountered before.  Yamaha started and then quit making the Morphous (which is kind of a low-slung, Cadillac-looking, The-Empire-Strikes-Back sort of step-through) before I ever even heard of it.   My new buddy Steve, the Morphmobile pilot, got a big kick out of the photos I grabbed of it (like that action shot above).

Maybe the vibe difference is just my perception.   When I ride with other motorcycle folks, the discussions invariably center on the hardware (the motorcycles, their engines, tires, etc.).  The scooter groups I’ve ridden with are more of a rolling, laid back party, and the emphasis on all of the scooter rides (at least the ones I’ve been on) has not been on who’s faster.  You motorcycle dudes and dudettes know what I’m talking about.   On a motorcycle ride, especially in the twisties, the ride almost always turns into who can cook the corners faster.   On a scooter ride, that just doesn’t happen…it’s far more easy going.  It’s a cool experience.  I think the scooter group rides are more enjoyable.

There are guys and gals who ride both step-through scooters and motorcycles (I guess I’m in that group now).  I’m talking about folks like our good buddies Kevin J, Jerry N,  and many others.  I have to talk to them about their perceptions to see if I’m on the money here.

When I rode with the 909 club on Saturday, I was on my CSC 150, which is really a motorcycle (it’s not a step-through scooter), and I wanted to get a bunch of photos for the blog.    When we were up on Glendora Ridge Road, I found myself racing ahead to get photos of the group coming into the corners, and moving up and down in the formation to get photos of different riders and scooters in action.    I found it pretty easy to do because my CSC 150 handles incredibly well in the twisties (Howard Forrest had the right formula back in the 1940s with the original Mustang design), and the scooteristas were enjoying an easy ride.  I didn’t want to make anybody nervous and I told my new friends in advance what I was doing, but on three different occasions, the scooter folks asked if I was riding the new 250 CSC.  I wasn’t, but my ability to get through the corners quickly on my Baja Blaster 150 apparently impressed a few people.

So now I’m both a step-though scooterista and a motorcycle rider, as is the case with many other folks.  It’s a split personality kind of thing, but it feels okay.   I think it’s going to be like the differences that exist between Harley riders (the cruiser crowd) and those who ride other motorcycles.  The big joke here is that most Harley riders only wave to other Harley riders; they won’t condescend to wave (or return a wave) to riders on sports bikes, dual-sport bikes, or anything other than a cruiser.   It’s something I never quite understood, as I enjoy riding all kinds of bikes.  At one point, I owned a Harley, a Honda CBX, a Triumph Daytona, and a KLR-650 (all at the same time).   It left me in a real quandary.  I didn’t know if I should wave to myself or not.

Okay, enough philosophizing…on to other things.    Our good buddy Howard is still on the road, and I received this nice note and photo from him late last week…

Joe:

This one was taken at one of the many tunnels in Custer Park in South Dakota.  I would recommend this park to anyone who really wants to enjoy their bike.  It has been the best ride of my entire trip.

Howard

Our good buddy Howard in Custer State Park in South Dakota

Howard, you are our hero.  When I grow up, I want to be just like you!

More good stuff…there was an article in The Wall Street Journal this morning that said being bald is the new power and status look in the business world, and they listed a bunch of executives who have no hair.   Who knew?   I was ahead of the curve on this one!

That's me on the left...the powerful bald guy!

That’s it for now, folks.   Ride safe.   Oh, and if another rider waves to you…wave back.   It doesn’t matter what they’re riding…it only matters that they are riding.