CSC Blog

Being our chief engineer, Steve likes to make our product designs authentic, and he’s not afraid to reach back to the original Mustang days for inspiration.  As you know from watching our blog, we have a very exciting CSC trike project in work right now.  It’s so exciting, in fact, that even the world-famous Cyril Huze blog picked up the story a week or so ago, and Cyril’s blog elicited quite a few comments.  This new CSC concept is getting a lot of attention.

Steve Seidner on an unfinished engineering development CSC Trike prototype!

An Original Mustang DeliverCycle

Anyway, back to our story…Steve located a fellow who had a basket case Mustang DeliverCycle for sale (the DeliverCycle was the original Mustang trike), so Steve fired up his truck, pointed it north, and blitzed out over the weekend to buy it.  Steve’s intent is to use our new Mustang three-wheeler as a model and an inspiration for further development on our trike.

The Boss had a great surprise, though…the fellow from whom he purchased the DeliverCycle had a virtual museum and classic bike parts repository under his roof.  He’s been collecting cool stuff for decades, and Steve got the grand tour.  Steve told me there were bikes and bike parts everywhere…bikes inside the house, engines in the living room, bikes in the basement, and lots more cool stuff.  If you’ve ever watched that great TV show, American Pickers, you gotta know that this place would make for a great episode.  We love that show and we watch it every chance we get (I’ll bet if you’re reading this blog, you do, too!).

My words wouldn’t do Steve’s photos justice, so I’ll just show the photos Steve grabbed for our blog.  The very last photo shows the new-to-us Mustang DeliverCycle in our CSC “SkunkWorks” development area. 

Steve, it looks to us like you are having entirely too much fun!   Thanks for grabbing these great photos.   We (and apparently the rest of the motorcycle industry) are going to be watching how this story develops!

Spotted this beauty earlier today, and you’ll never guess where!   A hint:  It wasn’t in Milwaukee!

High fashion indeed...a Harley 45 flathead a long way from home!

Harley made quite a few of these flathead 45 cubic inch bikes for the US Army during World War II (in military guise, it was the WL-A, with the A standing for “Army”).   Harley survived and thrived after the war, while Indian closed its doors just a few years after the war ended.   Ever wonder why?

Both Indian and Harley built bikes for the Army, but Harley was a lot more independent-minded in its dealings with the Feds.  The Army told Harley they really wanted a 500cc bike, but Harley told the Army this is what we have…take it or leave it (the 45 was a 750cc motorcycle).   The Army also told Harley and Indian they wanted 100% of both companies’ production capacity focused on making military bikes.   Indian did like they were told, but Harley again told Uncle Sam “no, we’ll do it our way…” and Harley kept building bikes for the US government and the public.   The result?  Harley was able to hang onto the civilian market after the war ended, and Indian did not.  Indian never fully recovered, but Harley…well, you know the story.

Jimbo Cavanaugh, that is…motorcyclist extraordinaire, and his lovely wife. Jim is in town this week and he stopped by the CSC plant.   Steve grabbed these great photos and sent them to me to post on the blog…

Jimbo Cavanaugh on a sidecar-equipped CSC motorcycle!

Here’s another one I particularly like…

Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh with Wade's ultra-sleek and ultra-engineered HD!

Jimbo, I am sure you and Mrs. Cavanaugh are having a great visit in beautiful La Verne.  Me, I’m off on one of my secret missions and I sure regret not seeing you at the CSC plant. 

And about this secret mission business…I can’t reveal too much (hey, it wouldn’t be a secret if I did), but you tell me…does it look like these boys could use new motors, maybe a fleet of new CSC-150P police pursuit motorcycles?

Rode hard and put away wet...for sure!

Need another hint where Steve sent me this time?    Okay, here’s what was on the lunch menu today…

A very spicy lunch...!!!

 More to come, boys and girls…stay tuned!

No, it’s not one of ours, but it sure is tempting…take a look at this photo our good buddy Don Gillock just sent…

My guess is that it’s a 250cc or 305cc Honda twin from the mid-1960s shoehorned into a Mustang Pony from the 1950s..but I could be wrong.  I am on a secret mission right now, so I couldn’t get to the Mustang site to check it out.

Don, if you have more information on this puppy, please send it to us!  It sure is pretty. 

My father used to own a 1965 Honda Super Hawk, and that bike would just touch 100 mph (don’t ask how I know…).   My Dad’s old Super Hawk weighed about 400 lbs, too, so I would imagine the HondaStang must really rip!

Take a look at our new colors for 2012! 

So, what’s your favorite?

I like all the new colors, but my favorite is still lipstick red. That’s the color of my Baja Blaster, and I sure like it. But that blue one is special. And the Corvette copper…wow! And when I’m out on the yellow test mule, everybody wants to stop and talk to me about it!

Your call, boys and girls…they are coming off the line now!

We recently sold a real pretty yellow CSC motorcycle to our good buddy Steve Whittle, and look at the nice note that arrived in the mail today!

Steve, thanks very much for taking the time to write to us.   We always enjoy hearing from our good friends.  Ride safe and enjoy your beautiful motorcycle!

My good buddy J Brandon found this one…it’s great…and it’s long.  Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

THE WALL OF DEATH from benedict campbell on Vimeo.

GRR, of course, being Glendora Ridge Road.  The Boss did a great job grabbing fantastic photos this morning, and here are a few…

The photo above (and the one below) both show TK and Ian at the intersection of Glendora Ridge Road, Glendora Mountain Road, and the East Fork Road up in the San Gabriel Mountains.  This is just awesome riding country, and yeah, looking at these pictures, now I wish I had gone with the guys.  Ian owns Magnum Performance, our distributor in Australia, and as you all know, TK is our US sales manager.   We just shipped another container full of CSC motorcycles to Australia, and we’re glad Ian was here to visit with us.

Another photo of TK and Ian…a couple of hard core California Scooter bikers… 

Did you happen to notice that blue Suzuki in the background?   More on that one in a moment…

One of the cool things about riding GRR is that it is a motorcyclist’s road, and you can see some pretty exotic machinery up there.  Like Steve’s personal ride, for instance…the Sarge…

The boys encountered a group of CanAm Spyders, too.   Check out the custom paint on this one…

So, back to that “firemist blue” Suzuki in the background I mentioned above…it’s a 1975 RE5, which was Suzuki’s foray into rotary-engined motorcycles.  Heavy, hot, thirsty, and slow, the rotary Suzuki was not commercially successful, but it sure was a step or three ahead of everything else 37 years ago!  And our boys actually saw one on the road…Glendora Ridge Road!

And speaking of unusual bikes, how many of you have ever seen a real Rokon?  Our guys spotted this one up in the mountains today.  Rokon still makes these…the bikes are two-wheel drive, they go all the way back to the 1950s, and our very own Jimbo Cavanaugh worked with this company!  

And when the guys got to Mt. Baldy Village, Steve grabbed this last shot of a herd of Harleys!

An interesting morning, and yeah, I’m regretting not getting my knees in the breeze today.  Next time…and Steve, thanks for the great photos!

Steve, Ian, and the boys are out riding today, and I stayed home.  I probably should have gone with them, but I had too many things going on here at the house, not the least of which was getting ready for the next secret mission.  Ian is our CSC distributor in Australia (he owns Magnum Performance), and it would have been a fun ride.  I asked Steve to grab a few photos, and I’ll post them here on the blog for you in the next day or so.

Speaking of photos, I received a nice email from Arlene Battishill over at Go Go Gear.  Arlene just turned 10,000 miles on her California Scooter, and she sent an odo-photo to me showing that super-cool accomplishment.  I believe Arlene is our highest mileage rider (if I’m wrong and any of our readers have racked up more than 10,000 miles, please let me know).

Arlene on the Baja ride...in a restaurant in Todos Santos at the southern tip of the peninsula, on the road just south of Tijuana, and in front of the best loncheria in Nueva Chapala!

We first met Arlene at one of the International Motorcycle Shows, and my boss asked me to invite her to visit (we’re both in So Cal). We did, she did, one thing led to another, and Arlene quickly signed onto the California Scooter lifestyle. I got to know Arlene a bit better on our Baja trip. She’s a hoot!

Arlene racked up 2,300 of her 10,000 CSC miles on our September 2010 Baja trip...I grabbed this shot of Arlene on her California Scooter just south of La Paz...we were on our way to Cabo San Lucas!

Arlene is out there living large.   She’s an entrepeneur creating jobs, her company makes things that protect folks who ride, and she’s a real rider!

PS:  Wow, a small world indeed!

Just after I posted this blog, my good buddy Brad posted this photo on his Facebook page…it’s none other than our very own Steve up on Glendora Ridge Road on his personal ride, the “Sarge…”

Steve on the "Sarge" up on Glendora Ridge Road just a few minutes ago...what a small world!

Saw this posted by my good friend Art over at Douglas Motorcycles showing the grandest of all motorsports! Enjoy!