CSC Blog

I don’t watch much football, but I always catch the Super Bowl, and I do so mostly for the commercials. They’re the greatest, and sometimes they’re so edgy they cut. Heard the latest about Ford going ballistic over Chevy’s Super Bowl commercial? Seems those boys just can’t take a good-natured jab…

Personally, I liked it, but I liked Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler commercial even more…

Clint Eastwood…he’s an American original and the greatest motion picture artist in the world. I’ll bet I’ve seen every movie he’s ever made at at least three times.

All that aside, there’s even controversy about Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl commercial.  Some folks think it’s an endorsement for the auto bailouts and the Obama administration.  I didn’t view it that way.  I don’t know Mr. Eastwood personally, but if I had to guess, I’d bet his view of the world is not too different than yours and mine.

Maybe I’m just getting old and I’m not sharp enough to see the trouble other folks find where I’m pretty sure none exists.  Nah, I don’t think so. I think some of these other folks just need to lighten up a bit.

I’m still feeling pretty good and I’m still feeling pretty young…and if I ever do start to feel like I’m getting crotchety, I’ll just hop on my California Scooter and go for a ride. I know that works, and so does my good buddy Simon Gandolfi.  You’ll remember Simon from our Baja trip. This youngster turns 80 tomorrow…and he’s planning his next round-the-world motorcycle trip as he does so…

Simon Gandolfi, who turns 80 tomorrow, with his California Scooter somewhere in Baja!

Happy Birthday, Simon, and best wishes from the CSC crew for many more!

And you folks who have your shorts in a knot over those Super Bowl commercials, swing by the plant and we’ll take you for a California Scooter ride up in the San Gabriels.  Life will look better when we do!

No CSC motos in this one folks, but this video was pretty cool nonetheless…

I have been traveling almost nonstop for the last few months, and today is the first day in a long time I’m kicking back with a cup of coffee at the plant.   Feels good to unwind for a bit and catch up with the blog.   I asked the guys what’s new and what’s good to put on the blog..and the standard answer came back…”well, not a lot….”

Ha!  Not quite.   I took a quick walk around the plant and there were all kinds of goodies…like this barn bike that Steve took in a few days ago…

It’s a ’59 Mustang, and it was literally stored under a porch since the 1970s!   Here’s a few more shots of the goodies that came with Steve’s  latest acquisition…

By the way, Steve told me he’d sell that bike…and he also said if any of you have vintage bikes you’d like to unload, we’re interested!  Speaking of which, check out this cool little sidecar-equipped Trail 110 Honda Steve scored recently…

I gotta get out on that little Honda….maybe Lupe will let me take her for a sidecar ride.   And speaking of Lupe, a couple of you bloggistas asked how come she hasn’t graced the blog recently…so here you go!

I gotta confess, I love taking photos, and I especially love grabbing shots of interesting people.  I sure did a lot of that with this burst of travel over the last couple of months.   Wanna see? 

Okay, you got it…here are just a few…let’s see if you can guess the locales for these secret missions!

That’s it for today, boys and girls…and like always, there’s more to come.   Keep coming back, ’cause we’ll keep posting!

Barn finds.  Vintage bikes in pristine condition that someone discovers hidden away under the hay and maybe a tarp.  Always in an abandoned barn.   Tall tales, to be sure…

We’ve all heard the stories…somebody finds a brand new Knucklehead left in the horse stall when the owner went to war.  Or how about the rumor that went around when we were kids…surplus US Army Harley 45s for $25?

Most of those stories are the stuff of legends, but I suspect most bore a striking resemblance to what emanates from the southern end of a northbound horse.

But this one is real.

Steve found four brand new 2010 California Scooters.  Yep.  Brand new.  2010 models.  Two of them are in that gorgeous baby blue that you can’t get anymore (I always thought that was one of our best colors ever).  Another one’s a black Classic.  And the fourth one is a Greaser.    They’re all in Texas.  I’m not sure if they came out of a barn, but they’re all brand new bikes, they’re all real, and they’re all gonna go to their new owners for just…well, read on!

Don’t believe me?

Hey, a picture’s worth a thousand words.  Check this out…

So here’s the deal…Steve bought them all.   He doesn’t want to ship them back to California.   If you want one of these and you can pick them up in Houston, they’re just $3295 (except maybe the black Classic, ’cause that bike has a pipe and a rack).   You gotta pick up the bike at this low price, though.  I suppose we can make arrangements to get them shipped elsewhere, but these are gonna go fast and they’re probably gonna go to lucky folks in Texas.

Yep, that’s what the man said…$3295, and you pick up your new bike in Texas.  Brand new.    Don’t sit on this one, folks!  Give TK a call at 800 884 4173.   But you gotta act fast!

No, it’s not likely we’re going to release a boxer twin CSC any time soon, but when my good buddy Carlos sent this elegant video to me, I knew in the first couple of seconds I’d have to share it with you!

Thanks very much, Carl…it’s a super video. You know, I think in another 50 years or so people will be viewing some of the bikes we’re making right now the same way that video shows those elegant Teutonic twins. In moving from the old Mustang to the modern CSC, we’ve kept the magic while improving the breed…

Sully checking out Steve's all original '53 Pony, and our latest show bike (which sold within minutes of appearing right here on the blog)!

And maybe something a little less elegant  in the way of interesting videos…being a gearhead on a secret mission, I couldn’t resist trying out a new trike.  I’m just a passenger in this one, but boys and girls, grab a cup of coffee and let’s go for a tuk tuk ride!

About 1,000 lbs, that is…watch how gracefully Motor Officer Donnie Williams throws his weighty Harley police motor around…

Now y’all remember…you take this course, and you could ride your motorcycle just like that!

Yep, that very same one that lurks in any gearhead’s mind!  Coast-to-coast!  No rules!  Whoa!

We all know of it.  Most of the rest of the world first heard about it in one of Burt Reynold’s less-than-stellar road trip movies (I really liked Smokey and the Bandit, but ol’ Burt should have fired the writers who did The Cannonball Run).  Burt’s misadventures notwithstanding, the concept of the Cannonball is something that sticks in any gearhead’s mind…a coast to coast “rally” and all that it entails.

The Cannonball Run is actually named for Erwin “Cannonball” Baker, an early American motorcycle and automobile racer who completed no fewer than (get this) 143 coast-to-coast motorcycle runs!  Yep, you read that right, boys and girls.   143 runs across the good ol’ USA.  That’s about 550,000 miles!   The thing that makes all of this even more interesting is Cannonball Baker did this well before motorcycles attained their current reliability levels…his riding was done in an era of kick starters and baling wire repairs.  Absolutely awesome stuff. 

Cannonballers Extraordinaire...Erwin "Cannonball" Baker, Bill Murar on a California Scooter in the Lake Erie Loop, and Alan Spears of MSILSF!

Wanna hear something even more awesome?   Our good buddies Alan Spears (of Motor Scooter International Land Speed Federation fame, the same folks who sanction the Salton Sea and Hell’s Loop rallies and the land speed trials) and Bill Murar (of Lake Erie Loop fame) are organizing a Cannonball Scooter run.   Arlene Battishill (the Go Go Gear president) is riding her CSC motorcycle in the Cannonball Run, and we’re really excited about that!   Not only is she riding in the New York to California event…she’s riding from California to get to the starting point in Manhattan (as are Alan and another rider named Jeff Corsaro)!  Wowee!  A coast-to-coast run to get to a coast-to-coast run! 

If you’re one of the real riders and you want to test your mettle and your metal, you just might be interested in riding in The Real Cannonball, too!   Check out the event at the MSILSF website!

Our good buddy Lloyd and his beautiful wife in Palm Springs are the proud new owners of this beautiful CSC Classic…

In metallic ruby red and with chrome wheels and a rack, this bike’s colors really work!  Way to go Lloyd!

And in the somewhat unusual category, check out this interesting photo our friend Jimbo Cavanaugh found for us…

Seems like these fellows found a way to fix the left side/right side issue…which would work well for the cars I’m seeing on the street right now.   Yep, they drive on the wrong side of the street in this latest secret destination!

More to come, folks, including Alan’s photo of a V-twin stuffed into a little scooter frame…it’s gonna be a good one…keep coming back!

I’ve finally got a few spare minutes, and I have a bunch of cool stuff that’s been filtering into my inbox.   I’ll share it with you in bits and pieces…one cool thing at a time.  

Check this one out…we’ve all seen those goofy motivational posters.   My good buddy Bill Murar (Bill rode a California Scooter in the Lake Erie Loop a couple of years ago) sent a bunch of these posters to me.  They’re all based on motorcycling.   They’re funny, and they’re laced with a healthy dose of satire.  One in particular really caught my eye…

A motivational poster my buddy Bill sent...I feel motivated now!

It’s cool, it’s a great shot, and I knew as soon as I saw it (to borrow a phrase from Yogi) it felt like deja vu all over again.

That’s because my buddy Marty and I stopped at nearly this exact spot in the 2005 Three Flags Rally.   They call it the Three Flags Rally because we ran from Mexico to Canada (three flags…get it?) and it was one of the best motorcycle rides I’ve ever had.  What a hoot.   And whaddaya know, our photo stop was at this exact spot in Kananaskis Park in the Canadian Rockies.  Look at the profile of those beautiful Rocky Mountains in the background, and you’ll see what I mean!

Yours truly with my 1200cc Triumph Daytona road burner!

My good buddy Marty with his trusty K1200R BMW at the same Kananaskis Park stop!

 More to come, folks…so keep checking in!

Jude Roberts, that is, a proud new CSC Greaser owner from the Land Down Under…

Jude bought his new Greaser from our good buddy Ian’s Magnum Performance center in Melbourne, Australia.   Jude, the Fonz has nothing on you, mate!  You make the bike look good!