CSC Blog

This is fun, watching new owners meeting their new RX3 motorcycles.    We’re not able to grab photos of everyone, but we managed to catch a few of the folks at the plant yesterday…

Here’s Ernest from Sacramento…

Keith from Monterey…

Tim from San Diego…

Serge and his wife from Arizona….

And Jim…yet another rider from Sacramento…

If you have a photo of you and your RX3 you’d like to share, send it to us and we’ll add it to the blog!

We’re gearheads, and if you’re reading this blog, so are you.   If you’re like me, you liked being a gearhead ever since you were a kid.  I’ll bet you enjoyed taking things apart.   Do you remember that funny feeling you would get when you put something back together and there were pieces left over?

Well, that’s the subject of this blog, my friends.

We’re continuously improving, and what we’re showing you here is info we’re also sending to the Zong.   We’ve discovered (as have those of you who are setting up your bikes yourself) that Zongshen sent extra parts in each container.   In some cases lots of extra parts.   I guess it’s better to have parts and not need them than it is to need parts and not have them, but it is a little unnerving to finish assembling a bike and have parts left over.   Lots of parts, in some cases.

To address this problem, we laid out all of the nuts, bolts, washers, and other goodies by setup installation subassembly.   We’re providing photos with this blog so you can see what goes where.   Here we go…

We’ve had a couple of calls and emails from you about having parts left over, and we’re finding the same thing on the bikes we set up here.   It varies from bike to bike and it’s always been an overage.

Here’s a photo of the extra bits we had left over on a bike we set up this morning…

So if you find you have a few parts left over when you’re assembling your bike, don’t be alarmed.   If you should happen to be missing a nut or bolt, give us a yell.   We’ll have plenty of extras.

These hardware overages are an improvement opportunity we’ll have squared away on the next big lot of RX3 motorcycles we’re bringing in to the US (which, by the way, we ordered this week).   Yep, the response has been that good, thanks to all of you!

I thought I would add a few comments to the blog today on things you might consider bringing with you to Baja.  Folks, this is an adventure ride, and not everything is going to go perfectly.   Right now we have 16 folks (including me) riding with us.   There are going to be some things go wrong.   Hey, that’s when the adventure begins, so don’t get all wound up thinking about what might happen.

One of my buddies at the plant asked me a day or two ago what are we going to do if someone gets bit by a rattlesnake.   The question immediately reminded me of that old joke with a punchline that goes “the doc said you’re gonna die…”

I can’t put that joke on the blog, but on the off chance you’re one of the three people in the world who hasn’t heard it, I might be tempted to tell the story on our Baja ride.   But the question is a serious one…and the answer is this.   That rattlesnake you see above is the only one I’ve ever seen in Baja in 20+ years of riding the peninsula.   It’s not like they’re all over.   If we happen to see one, just don’t mess with it.   They say they’re more afraid of us than we are of them.   I guess that could be true, but when I saw that Mexican diamondback in the photo above a few weeks ago, I’ll confess:   I was plenty scared.   I mean, look at that thing!

On to other stuff.   With 16 bikes, it’s possible one of us might pick up a nail or something and get a flat.   We stock the tubes you’ll need if that happens, and you might want to pick up a pair before we leave….

A more real concern is the motorcycle phenomenon called monkey butt.   If you spend hours and hours in the saddle on any motorcycle, you’re going to get a sore butt.   It doesn’t matter what kind of motorcycle you ride.   I’ve struggled with it on Harleys, Triumphs, the KLR (particularly bad), my CBX, my TL1000S, and a bunch of other bikes.   The RX3 is no exception.   My answer is a sheepskin seat cover.   We’ve got them in stock and I would advise you to get one.  It’s the first thing I added to my bike…

If you’re going to change your oil in Baja, you’ll want oil (10W-40 weight), the tools you need for the oil change, a filter, and a drip tray and funnel.   We’ve got all of that, too.   Just give us a call.

Make sure you bring raingear.   Like I said earlier, I’ve never been through Baja without seeing some rain.   It’s raining here today, by the way.

And one last thing…if you think you need a new helmet, Ryan brought in a bunch of really nice HJC full-face helmets in red, blue, orange, and black.   And get this:  They’re just $99!  I’m tempted to buy one myself, but I’ll probably stick with my old HJC.   HJC makes good helmets.   It’s what I wear, and I’ve been wearing HJC helmets for years.   I’ve gone through three of them (you should replace a helmet every few years).

That’s it for now…more to follow on Baja and all of the other exciting things we’re doing here at CSC!

We have a fix for the breaking centerstand spring, and we’ll be shipping new springs out to those who purchased the RX3 accessory centerstand early next week.   If you’re riding to Baja with us, we’ll have the spring here to put on your bike before we leave.

One or two guys were going all kerblooey on the Internet worrying about the sidestand spring.   No need to panic, folks.   The centerstand spring was an aftermarket US part (it was our design, not Zongshen’s) and it is a different part than the Zongshen sidestand spring.   We’ve had no sidestand springs break.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience the centerstand spring failures have caused.   As always, we’ll make it right.   We’re doing our best to make the bike as close to perfect as we can for you, our riders.   When we hit a speed bump in that quest, we’ll get over it and make things right.   You can count on us being upfront with you on every issue as we encounter them.

I insured my RX3 with Geico early this morning (this is my regular motorcycle insurance, not the insurance I’m getting for Baja).  I tried to do it online but the online form wouldn’t let me, so I called the nice young lady on Geico’s 800 number and it was a snap.   My annual policy is a whopping $77 (the silver lining to being an old man, I guess).

For the Baja insurance, the place to go is BajaBound, and you’ll want to get it from 29 April through 3 May (the 5 days we’ll be in Mexico).   The link for BajaBound insurance is:  www.bajabound.com/buy.    I’m buying my BajaBound insurance later today.   They make it real easy, and you can print the form you’ll need to keep with you when we go into Mexico.

Our good buddy Ruben picked up his white RX3 last week and immediately commenced a four corners trot around the US!

Somewhere in the middle of his four corners adventure, Ruben is headed back to LA in time to ride with us on the Baja Run.   This man is a serious roadburner!

Ruben has a blog on his adventures and you can follow it here.

If you have a blog or a photo and you’d like us to mention it here, just drop us a line and we’ll do so!

Folks, we have a problem with the springs on our accessory centerstands.    We’ve had reports of several breaking, and our advice is this:

• Remove the centerstand if it is already on your bike.
• Do not install the centerstand if you purchased one but have not yet installed it.

We’re sourcing a new spring and we’ll be providing a replacement as soon as we get them.     We’ll keep you posted right here.

We apologize for this, and we’re working to fix the problem as quickly as we can.

As the title says, that’s what I’m doing today.   I stopped at the Planes of Fame Museum this morning in Chino and grabbed a few shots…

I’m going out on the bike again later.   This is fun!

Up at 3:30 a.m. today to make a 5:10 flight out of British Columbia, a hop to Vancouver, the long stretch down to LA (flew right over a snow-capped Mt. Saint Helens), back to CSC headquarters, and folks, she’s all mine!   What could be better than putting the first 50 miles on a new RX3 on Glendora Ridge Road?   Putting the first 50 miles on my new RX3 on Glendora Ridge Road…that’s what!

And here she is…

If you click on the photos, they’ll get bigger.   Go ahead…click on each one…the photos are awesome, and so is the bike!

Folks, my bike is awesome.   I’ll put some serious miles on the new Cyclone tomorrow, but let me give you my first impressions:

• The bike feels faster than the three test mules we’ve been riding.   I was keeping it below 5,000 rpm riding along Glendora Ridge Road, but it definitely has more grunt on the bottom end.
• The pipe sounds better than the test mules.   It’s throatier.  It sounds great.
• The orange is way more orange than our orange test bike.   You can see it in the above photos.   I wondered why Zongshen called the bike orange (our test bike is more of a yellow than an orange), but the new ones are definitely orange.  I like it.   A lot.
• The speedometer optimism has been cut in half.   It’s still a bit optimistic, but it’s a lot closer to reality now.
• The 17-inch rear wheel doesn’t change the height of the bike at all.   The handling is crisper with the 17-inch rear wheel than with the 15-inch rear wheel.   I thought both bikes (the 15-inch and the 17-inch rear wheel) rode about the same, but I’ve changed my opinion.   The 17-inch rear wheel makes the bike more responsive.   I’ll make a confession…when all you guys on the Internet were asking for the 17-inch rear wheel, I couldn’t see why you thought it was a good idea.   You were right and I was wrong.   The 17-inch wheel is a significant improvement.

So that’s it for now.   Tomorrow…I’m in the wind!

Alex is yet another new RX3 rider, and it looks like he is planning some serious travel!

Alex, you are going to have some grand adventures on your awesome pearlescent white RX3!   Send us some photos when you get a chance!