Micah Toll at ebikeschool.com put a great video on his YouTube how to ride a mid-drive electric bike. This video explains some of the differences between riding a hub motor and mid-drive electric bike. It also gives a lot of great riding tips to get the most fun, performance and longest lifespan out of your mid-drive electric bicycle. We also like that it features our CSC E-Bikes FT1000MD.
Trevor at Trerackscity Moto posted a new video of his TT250 adventures. We recommend watching it because it is a great 4K video of him exploring the amazing City Of Rocks in Idaho. We’ve been enjoying watching Trevor’s videos for awhile and they just keep getting better!
One of the best parts about buying a CSC Motorcycle is that we make your adventures more affordable. You’ll see some of the accessories that CSC Motorcycles offers for the TT250 in the video like the: Red Risk Grips, & Adventure Mirrors.
Thanks for sharing your great video with us Trevor and we look forward to seeing more of your wonderful work!
Dennis reached out to us with some great photos and a story about his experience owning our RX3 Adventure motorcycles. We love reading customers’ stories and looking at pictures and videos of the ways our customers are enjoying their motorcycles. If you own a CSC motorcycle please share your experiences with us. Send your stories to info@cscmotorcycles.com
Just thought I’d talk a little about my RX3s (I have two). I just rode a 300-mile adventure ride put on by Sierra Nevada Adventures out of Folsom, CA. It consisted of about 100 miles of dirt and 200 miles of back roads through the Sierra foothills. I’ll attach some pictures. There were 3 Ducati 950 Multistradas. 5 or more KTMs all near liter bikes, Two Triumph Tigers. The brand new Husqvarna Norden 901. I believe all these bikes have over 100 horsepower. Now, these were all very experienced riders. My 24 HP little RX3 kept up and never held them up, and we were flying through the paved stuff. The little guy was spinning between 7000 and 9000 RPM.
When we stopped for lunch they asked, “So, that’s only a 450?”
“No, it’s a 250.”
“WHAT? No way.”
Anyway, we all know it’s not a KTM or Ducati or Triumph, or Husqvarna, but I did stay with them. When we got back to Folsom we were standing around hydrating and talking, I looked over and there was one of the guys taking pictures of my bike. He said now where can you get one of these? Anyway just thought you might find that interesting.
Dennis
Thanks a lot for your story and all the photos Dennis. We look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
CSC FT1000MD high-powered electric bike review: Hitting 34 MPH on a 1,000W fat tire e-bike
Micah Toll – Mar. 2nd 2022 11:32 am PT @MicahToll
One of the many nice things about riding electric bicycles in the US is the freedom to choose from an amazingly wide selection of e-bikes, including some very high power options. I feel for my European cousins who are stuck with their 250W motors, but not as much as I feel the awesome seat-of-the-pants acceleration that I get on the CSC FT1000MD, with its 1,000W mid-drive electric motor.
That massive motor, officially referred to as the Bafang M620 or more infamously known as the Bafang Ultra, is one of the most powerful and highest torque e-bike mid-drive motors on the market.
While e-bike engineering outfits around the world are working hard while trying to top it, that motor remains the cream of the crop for high-powered e-bikes.
And it is expertly employed on the CSC FT1,000MD, a fat tire e-bike developed by a motorcycle company to blur the line between high power electric mountain bikes and light electric dirt bikes or trail bikes.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s an electric bicycle for sure (even if the purists out there would argue differently.) The torque-sensing pedal assist makes for a fun, high-response ride should you decide to pedal it. Or the throttle will open up true motorbike feelings if you just want to go full bore, getting in some truly balls-to-the-wall fun.
I definitely got some serious fun riding in, as you can see in my video review below! But keep reading after the video for the rest of my detailed review.
The beautiful thing about the FT1000MD is that despite being such a high-powered electric bike, the power is manageable. You can dial it up or roll it back to fit your riding style.
When I’m just enjoying a local field or park, moderate power is plenty. That’s especially true when I’m using pedal assist and heading out for a fun, fitness-ish leisurely ride. I enjoy have the power and torque, but I’m not going nuts with it most of the time. Occasionally, when I really want to have some fun, I’ll unleash the kraken to experience the over 1,000W of continuous power that the bike can supply.
On a flat road, that power level can push the CSC FT1000MD up to 34 mph (54 km/h). I know because I did it. But just as often though, I’ll use the power for off-roading and preventing my fat tires from getting bogged down in sand and loose soil.
The answer isn’t always “more power.” But sometimes it is.
The FT1000MD isn’t just a powerful e-bike though. It’s also well made and designed to last. The company CSC Ebikes may know their way around electric bikes, but that’s because they come from CSC Motorcycles, and thus have decades of experience in two-wheelers. That knowledge gets applied to its e-bikes as well, resulting in quality parts like a suspension fork that isn’t just ornamental like we see on a bunch of quasi off-road e-bikes, but rather actually soaks up the off-road bumps nicely.
Quality hardware and e-bike equipment designed to match the power of such a motor is also a key part of the equation. Even bike parts like the hydraulic disc brakes are designed for the extra power that a massive motor like this can create – stopping from 30 mph is a much more daunting prospect than stopping from 20 mph. There’s a lot more energy that needs to be scrubbed off. It’s the whole velocity squared thing; physics isn’t kind to higher speeds. Fortunately, the FT1000MD has the brakes to do it.
That being said, the bicycle side of the components do have one area that you’ll still want to keep watch over. The pedal drivetrain is always the weak link when it comes to such high power motors, whether on the CSC FT1000MD or any other mid-drive e-bike. While CSC did opt for a slightly higher end Shimano 8-speed Altus derailleur than we see on many budget-level electric bikes, it’s certainly not the highest end of the Shimano spectrum. Shifting under high power is a no-no, unless you want to eventually strip teeth off your gears or break a chain. Keeping the bike in high gear 100% of the time should also be avoided. Many riders will just leave a mid-drive e-bike in top gear because that’s the “fast gear”, without realizing how much wear it puts on the drivetrain due to the extra torque.
Unlike a car or motorcycle, which generally can’t be started in top gear and thus requires shifting through the gear range like a normal person, electric motors have full torque right at startup and thus can simply power their way to full speed in their highest gear. But I’ve seen plenty of people wear through that gear by using this motor on other bikes, so let this serve as a warning to you. Make sure you’re shifting properly with a heavy duty motor like this.
Another thing I really enjoy about the FT1000MD is that it includes a lot of nice-to-have components that you don’t find on other e-bikes. The adjustable stem lets you raise and lower the handlebars to find the perfect fitment and ride orientation for you, and the bright Buchel headlight is more than a glorified keychain light to warn drivers of your presence. The color display looks great and is easy to read at a glance, even in bright light.
Even the battery is larger than we typically see, coming in at 48V and 16Ah. Depending on how you ride the CSC FT1000MD and how much power you have on tap, the range from one charge will vary from “pretty darn far” to “almost nothing”. Such is life with a high power e-bike. But as long as you aren’t unreasonable with your demands, 25 miles (32 km) on throttle should be a good minimum, and 50 miles (80 km) is possible with conservative pedal assist.
Anyone intending to toss the bike up on a car rack or into a truck should note that it isn’t lightweight, tipping the scales at 75 lb (34 kg). You can remove 9 lb (4 kg) of that just by taking the battery off. With a massive motor and large battery, you didn’t expect it to be a featherweight though, did you?
Outfitting the bike with massive 4″ fat tires didn’t do the weight any favors either, though it certainly helps the FT1000MD cover just about any terrain. With that much air volume, the damn thing almost floats.
The CSC FT1000MD is obviously not going to be a cheap bike. And the $3,295 price tag confirms it. I always look out for my readers when I can though, and so you can take an extra $200 off the price with the discount code ELECTREK.
While it certainly sounds high to outsiders, the $3,295 price is about par for the course when it comes to Bafang M620-powered e-bikes. Many e-bikes with this drivetrain cost even more. It’s a specialty motor that requires powerful batteries and high enough quality parts to keep the bike safe at these performance levels.
I’ve ridden plenty of M620 e-bikes that cost more. And so while I’m sure seeing a $3k price tag will shock anyone new to the e-bike industry, this is just the going rate for something on the highest end of the power scale.
And don’t even get me started on the $6,000 fat tire e-bike coming out later this year that packs in even more power…
Obviously this is not an e-bike for everyone. CSC has some great 750W fat tire e-bikes that will take you to a comfortable 28 mph (45 km/h) and use more economical hub motors, bringing them in at $1,500 less.
But if you want a crazy powerful mid-drive motor with built-in torque sensor, larger batteries, better parts and the most extreme performance you can get, this is CSC’s top of the line offering.
It requires a responsible rider, not just one with deep pockets. This much power can be dangerous to the rider or others around them if not used responsibly.
But if you can handle it, the CSC FT1000MD can deliver it. And then some.
Originally posted on July 13, 2016 @ 10:15 am
While riding in the Gobi Desert in China we decided to trade in our RX3 Adventure motorcycles for some camels. We rode through the desert and made our way to some caves to check them out. There is some beautiful tourism photography in this post. Below is Joe Berks Full post from July 13 2016 that he did while he was in China.
There are two things I know about Dun Huang: It is a treasure unknown to nearly all Americans, and I will return to this magical city with my wife to share the excitement someday soon. The Zongshen folks are running an adventure ride for us that is absolutely fabulous.
I’m just going to post a short blog today, folks. It’s late and we’re tired, mostly because of the incredible day we just experienced. It started with another super Chinese breakfast, followed by a short ride to the Lake of the Crescent Moon out here in the Gobi Desert. While we were there, we went for a camel ride. I’m not kidding. A real camel ride…in the Gobi Desert! After that, it was yet another super Chinese lunch, and then we visited the Mo Gao caves. That’s a location with a thousand grottos previously used by ancient Buddhist monks. Whoa! Can you say Indiana Jones?
Our camels. No kidding. They were awesome!
A view from the cockpit. Me. On a camel. In the Gobi Desert. Woohoo!
A pretty girl in the Gobi Desert.
“Gobi” Gresh interviewing Shemp, his ride for the morning.
The Lake of the Crescent Moon, in the Gobi Desert. Did I mention we are in the Gobi Desert?
Lu and Furem comparing photos.
At the Mo Gao One Thousand Grottos park.
A photo I wasn’t supposed to take of a giant Buddha in one of the grottos. Folks, this place has got to be on your bucket list. I got here on my RX3 motorcycle!
Another unauthorized Nikon shot at ISO 5000!
And yet another illicit photo. The place was something right out of an Indiana Jones movie!
We only rode a little over a hundred kilometers today and tonight we’re staying in a city called Guazhou. That’s it for now, folks. Gresh and I are having a great time with our new friends, and I’m calling it a night!
If you’re interested in seeing more of our great travels you can check out all of the books Joe berk has written while riding CSC Motorcycles in China, Baja, The United Stated States, and South America by clicking the link here.
Originally posted on March 22, 2016 @ 12:00 am
It’s all about the food. There is something about the food when you’re out on a long motorcycle ride. Here are some great pictures of some of the food that everyone had on one of the CSC Baja trips. WOW! Just looking at these pictures makes you want to go on a long Motorcycle ride just for the food.
I’m in New Jersey this week, and truth be told, I enjoyed Baja way more than I’ll ever enjoy New Jersey. The food is good here in New Jersey, but it was better in Baja. Our trip through magical Baja last week was nothing short of amazing, and I feel that way for many reasons. One reason, of course, was the cuisine.
One of our group members mentioned that we could do a Baja tour focused exclusively on the food. I believe there’s something to that. I didn’t get photos of many of our meals, but I did get a few photos. Some of these photos you’ve already seen, and some are new. Many of the times when we sat down to eat the food was so inviting I just forgot to take pictures. But you can bet that there’s always a next time with Baja.
Fish tacos. Now there’s a food that absolutely represents Baja. I don’t know if fish tacos were invented in Baja, but if they weren’t, they should have been. I love them. I can’t enjoy fish tacos in the US. They’re just not the same. If you’ve ever been to Baja, you know what I mean.
On our first day in Baja, we spent the afternoon and the evening in Ensenada. My good buddy J had a favorite sidewalk taco spot, and the food there was spot on. Some of us had carne tacos, and some of us had fish tacos. I was in that second group. I’ll always go for the fish tacos…
Later that evening, we drifted over into Ensenada’s tourist district. We ordered three or four different appetizers and they all were good. The bikes were put away for the evening and the beer came out.
Our next meal at 0:dark:30 in the morning in pre-dawn Ensenada was at a 24-hour place a couple of blocks up the street from our hotel. It was good. I was too pumped about getting on the road to take photos, though. Like I said earlier…next time!
Our lunch stop that day was at Mama Espinoza’s in El Rosario, at the northern edge of the Vizcaino Desert.
I went for the chicken burritos. Wow, were they ever good!
We made Guerrero Negro that night and we ate at Malarrimmo’s restaurant. Good stuff. This is a typical pre-dinner scene, with a group of hungry RX3 riders studying the menu…
I went for sea bass that night. It was good!
We had relaxed breakfast the next morning at the same place, and then we left to go whale watching. It was quite a day.
When we returned, we had a real treat…Tony’s fish tacos. I’ve been enjoying Tony’s fish tacos since 1994, my first ever foray into Baja. I rode my ’92 Softail down through Baja with three other guys (including Baja John, who couldn’t make this trip). Tony started out with a pushcart back then, and then he graduated to a small truck, and then a bigger truck, and next year he’ll have his own restaurant.
Steve bought us all a Tony’s fish taco lunch, and it was awesome…
Ah, I missed photographing several meals after that. We checked into the Desert Inn in Guerrero Negro that night, and it was more fish and fine dining at the Desert Inn restaurant. The food was incredible. They did a similarly awesome breakfast for us the next morning at 7:00 a.m. and we were on the road again, headed for Mulege after stopping to see the cave paintings.
We stopped in San Ignacio at a small restaurant for lunch after seeing the cave paintings. More good times. I think I had chicken tacos there. No photos, but I remember it was good!
Then it was a dynamite meal at the Las Casitas restaurant in Mulege for dinner that evening. Another awesome dining experience, but no photos. The cuisine, the Tecate beer, the company, and the conversation were all great. So was the breakfast the next morning at the same place. But no photos, folks. Your Baja photographer was having too much fun.
Ah, more food. Before climbing up through the La Cuesta del Infierno twisties, we had lunch at the El Muelle in Santa Rosalia. Fish, if I remember correctly. I was enjoying it too much to break out the camera.
We stayed at another nice hotel in San Ignacio that evening, and we had a great seafood dinner there. There’s lots of outstanding seafood in Baja, my friends. The next morning, they did a dynamite breakfast buffet for us, too.
On the road again after that, we stopped in Catavina. To keep things moving (we had to cover over 350 miles that day), it was a one-size-fits-all proposition again…chicken tacos for everyone. It was just so good.
This next photo shows our next-to-the-last-night-on-the-road dinner in San Quintin…here’s a shot of the crew studying the menu one more time….
I had been eating so much on this trip I went for “just” an appetizer. That “just an appetizer” turned out to be enormous. It was a marlin-stuffed mushroom concoction with a fried bread coating. They called it some kind of a champignon relleno thingie, if I recall correctly. Wow, it was good!
I already told you about the grand breakfast we had the next morning at the restaurant on the other side of the Old Mill Hotel in San Quintin. That was a breakfast buffet fit for a king. It was incredible.
That afternoon, we had another one of our “chicken tacos only” lunches in Palomar to keep our momentum up. Good food, my friends. No photos of that one, either.
We stopped at the L.A. Cetto vineyard and snacked later that day. Willie Carlon, the most interesting man in the world, popped for a big wedge of Gouda cheese and we enjoyed it mightily. I bought a bottle of olive oil and a Cabernet marmalade there. I had some at home back in the US the next evening, and it was delicious.
And finally, when we checked into the El Dorado Hotel in Tecate, there was a Chinese restaurant across the street. Hey, we were wrapping up a 2,000-mile trip on Chinese motorcycles. Why not enjoy a great Chinese buffet?
Good times, and great food! Usually, I drop a few pounds on these epic motorcycle rides. Not this time!
Originally posted on December 30, 2016 @ 2:53 pm
This is a post that Joe Berk did in 2016 as he was getting ready for our 2017 inaugural Baja Run. If you ever decide you want to go to Baja then check out our trip reports for some great tips.
Riding through another world…the boulder fields in Catavina!
This is one of the grandest rides I’ve ever done, and one of my great joys is sharing the Baja experience with other CSC riders. If you’re looking for an awesome adventure and filling your riding story repertoire, the CSC Baja ride is the ride you want to make.
Up close and personal with the California gray whales in Scammon’s Lagoon…it’s all part of the CSC Baja experience!
Great riding, great food, great friends, the whales, and more….you’ll love it. Our dates for this 8-day adventure are 19-26 March 2017. Keep an eye on the blog…we’ll have lots more posted on this upcoming grand adventure!
If you’re interested in seeing more of our great travels you can check out all of the books Joe berk has written while riding CSC Motorcycles in China, Baja, The United Stated States, and South America by clicking the link here.
Originally posted on October 21, 2016 @ 3:17 pm
Note: This is an older post from 2016. We have improved the sprockets to no longer require spacers and added a 47T and 45T sprocket. We also have an improved bolt kit.
I have our new 49T sprocket on my TT250 Enduro, and it makes a huge difference in how the bike performs. The 49T sprocket really helps the bike for street riding. I think that with the 17T front sprocket the 49T rear sprocket is ideal. I haven’t tried a 48T, a 47T, or really anything else other than the 49T, so I can’t comment on them.
In case you were wondering, here’s what the gear ratios look like with the various sprocket combos…
The stock TT250 Enduro setup is the 17T/50T combo. It’s okay, but I felt it was slightly undergeared for street use. What that means to me is that the engine was fully wound out in top gear and it felt like it could have pulled a bit more top end with a slightly taller gear ratio.
We went with the 49T because it would provide a taller gear ratio and it was available. None of our sources had the 48T or 47T sprocket available. If you can’t buy them, you can’t test them. The bike might pull the 48T or perhaps even the 47T (and when I say “pull,” I mean the engine will wind all the way out). You can keep gearing a bike taller, but at some point the engine can’t get high enough in the RPM range to overcome aerodynamic drag, and you can actually lose top end by gearing the bike taller. My Z06 Corvette is like that; you have to drop down to 5th gear (from 6th) to attain the car’s top speed of 173 mph (or so I’ve been told).
Anyway, I like the 17T/49T combo. You may feel differently, but it’s what I found works. Another reason I like it is that we didn’t have to mess with the chain with this combo. The stock chain length works.
So, with all of the above out of the way, let me take a few minutes to walk you through the 49T sprocket installation process. I’ll first refer you to our TT250 maintenance tutorial on rear wheel removal. It will show you how to remove the TT250‘s rear wheel, which you’ll need to do to install the new rear sprocket.
Once the rear wheel is removed, remove the large Circlip on the wheel hub…
We’ve had people ask about Circlip on the hub with the new sprocket. Hey, that Circlip doesn’t do anything once the bike is assembled…it’s just along for the ride. It has no operational function. As nearly as we can guess, it’s an assembly aid when the motorcycle is manufactured. Leave it off. Like my friends in New Jersey say, fuhhgeddaboutit.
Remove the four bolts securing the old sprocket. They have lockwashers underneath; hang on to them.
Next, place two washers over each hole in the hub (a silver one and a black one). We put the dark one next to the hub and the silver one on top…
This is how the washers should look under the sprocket…
Now put the sprocket on top of the hub, with the dished side out (i.e., facing away from the hub)…
Put a dab of blue Loctite on each of the four bolts, install a lockwasher underneath the bolt head, and tighten the bolts to 35 lb-ft.
And that’s about it. Reinstall the rear wheel in accordance with our previously-published maintenance tutorial, and you’ll be on your way.
We made it to Wenchuan tonight with a couple of very interesting stops along the way. Wenchuan is a very interesting city nestled in the mountains. We’re up about 3000 feet, and it is mercifully cooler here than the weather we’ve been experiencing during the last few days. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking tonight, my friends…
My RX3 for this ride parked in front of the ancient town of Dujiangyan.
Our RX3s parked in Dujiangyan.
The hardest working basket vendor in Dujiangyan.
Another photo in Dujiangyan. That’s Mr. Ma on the bridge. He’s the Zongshen factory technician accompanying us on this ride.
Master Sergeant Zuo.
My good buddy Sean, who is accompanying us.
Yep
Another photo of Lu. The guy is a natural.
The guys staged a photo for me before lunch was served
The Chinese experienced an 8.2 earthquake in Wenchuan on 12 May 2008. The Chinese government built a memorial here leaving the damaged buildings in place.
We rode across this bridge. I shot this from the saddle of my RX3.
Wong, who is an RX3 rider and a police officer from Xian.
Meet Sasha, a young Chinese woman who goes to school in Los Angeles. She’s riding her bicycle 2500 km in China this summer.
Lu, a very photogenic RX3 rider.
An apple vendor in Wenchuan
Time to call it a night. We’re up early tomorrow. Riding China continues…
If you’re interested in seeing more of our great travels you can check out all of the books Joe berk has written while riding CSC Motorcycles in China, Baja, The United Stated States, and South America by clicking the link here.
RX1E Electric Motorcycle
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer
TT250 Enduro