CSC Blog

Yep, you read it right…you can order a copy of Riding China right now at this link:  Riding China

It will be around the 17th of September before Riding China is in stock at CSC (which, surprisingly, is how long I have to wait to get my copies from the publisher, too).  It’s weird…people who buy my books direct from the publisher get their copies before I get mine!  If you’ve preordered Riding China from CSC, you’re getting a hell of a deal on the book, so hang in there.  But if you want to get one right now, that link above (and I’ll repeat it here) will get a copy on its way to you immediately.

Riding China will be available on Kindle in about 4 more days,  and I’ll post the link as soon I have it.

Riding across China was an amazing experience, and writing Riding China was enormous fun.   I know you’ll enjoy it!

Wow, what a trip this has been!  I’m leaving Ankara tomorrow morning.  I flew over here this week to teach a manufacturing management course to a Turkish armored vehicle manufacturer, and it was a lot of fun.  What was even more fun was meeting three Turkish RX3 riders tonight.   Folks, meet Enes (pronounced “Ennis”), Caner (pronounced “Jonnash”), and Burak (pronounced “Barack”)…

We had a great dinner.  We told motorcycle stories, my new friends told me what it’s like riding a motorcycle in Turkey (wow, would I ever love to do that someday), and we spoke at great length about just how awesome the RX3 is.  These three guys clock a cool 400 kilometers on their RX3s every Sunday and they love doing it.   They wanted to hear all about Mexico, Colombia, and China.   It was a great evening, and it was a wonderful way to wrap up a business trip.

I’m “wheels in the wells” early tomorrow and I’m eager to get home.   It’s time for me to rack up some miles on my RX3.  Or maybe I’ll get out on the TT250.   We’ll see.

Ride safe, my friends.

Our good buddy Rob took the time to write to us.  Rob is a the real deal…he’s racking up the miles on his RX3!

Hi Joe,

I was up in Canada last week attending the Horizons Unlimited Rally in Nukusp, BC.

Here’s my favorite pic of the ride in front of the Columbia Ice Fields around Banff, Lake Louise area.  First RX3 in front of the Ice Field Glacier!

Donkey Xote got a lot of interest at the rally. Only RX3 there. A lot of people said they had heard and read about them online but hadn’t seen one yet so I was glad I could let them see it and a few even rode it and were impressed with it.

Bike ran like a Swiss watch the whole trip and was very comfortable going all day long. I tried all grades of gas and it seems to like middle or premium for going down highway all day between 6500-7500 rpm. More power for going up hills it seems.  Around 12,000 miles on it now.

Take care and I hope to see you in Mariposa.

Rob

Rob, you will be seeing me in Mariposa, and I hope to see all of our RX3 riders at that great event.   Folks, show up on your RX3 and we’ll have a free CSC T-Shirt for you!  More info on the Mariposa Horizons Unlimited Event for the rest of you guys and gals can be found here…

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/events/california-2016

The photo you sent to us is awesome, Rob.  I rode that same stretch in Canada on my Triumph Daytona 1200 during the 30th Annual Three Flags Rally 10 years ago; the RX3 would have been a much better choice.  Maybe that will be my big RX3 adventure ride for next year.  The trips you are taking on your RX3 are really something special.  Thanks for the note, Rob.  It’s always great hearing from you!

So I’m over here in Ankara, wide awake at 3:30 in the morning, and I received this nice note from our good buddy Gary…

Hi Joe!

Last November at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in Sacramento I signed up to participate in the 2016 Tour Of Honor Ride, an organization that donates to several military and first responder charities.  This year’s charities include the Fisher House Foundation, Operation Comfort Warriors, and The Fallen Heroes (Police & Fire).  All profits after expenses will be divided equally amongst these three.

The TOH Ride consists of visiting several chosen Military/First Responder type memorials throughout the states.   Each participant is assigned a Rider Number Flag, which is to be photographed with your bike at each site visited.  I haven’t been active in my site visitations up until recently where I finally visited my first site, the Clarence “Bud” Anderson-Triple Ace memorial in Auburn, CA.

There are 507 Riders participating this year.  In scanning through the 2016 TOH Riders list, I was surprised to see I am the only Cyclone RX3 motorcycle rider.   I hope to see more RX3ers sign up in future events as I’m certain we have a bunch of prior/current Military, current/retired First Responders, and diehard Supporters amongst us.  What better way to enjoy the RX3 ride experience by helping out a worthwhile organization.

http://www.tourofhonor.com/index.html

Keep up the good work at CSC!

“Follow Me”

Gary

CSC Affiliate – Galt, CA

Gary, that’s awesome!  Thanks for the photos and thanks for the note!

Wow, take a look at this, folks…a super nice note regarding the 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM book from my new good buddy Gar in Wyoming!

Joe,

I literally just finished your book. It arrived in the mail on Thursday and I have been reading it between doing chores and getting ready to take my motorcycle out for my first ride of this year. Due to an age related back problem that started late last year, and culminated in fairly significant surgery on July 7th, I have been restricted to looking at my motorcycles, and reading about motorcycles, but not riding them. But starting on Monday, I’m back in the saddle.

I really enjoyed your book for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that it is well written and engaging. Hard to put down. But one of the big reasons is that it’s about places that I have been on my motorcycles over the years. And it’s really intriguing to read about the Zong 250.

I grew up in Eagle Rock, California. Yup, just down the road from Azusa. My grandparents lived in Pomona so once a month my mother would drive us to their house on Foothill Blvd, before the freeways existed. So I learned were Azusa was early on. I always loved that drive. Lots of orange groves back in the ’50s and early ’60s.

I started riding motorcycles when I was 20 years old in 1969. My first motorcycle was a Honda CB 350 that I bought in July of 1969. In August I took off on it (thinking it was a big bike) by myself to go to Minneapolis to visit relatives there and to have an adventure. I first rode north to Washington State and then East to Minneapolis. I stayed in Minneapolis until late November. I left there in a light snow and 28 degree weather, heading due south for New Orleans. In New Orleans I met up with a friend who was driving back to LA and the two of us drove back together. He in his Toyota Land Cruiser and me on my Honda. We got back in mid December.

That was the beginning of my motorcycle life. When I got back I traded the 350 in on a new CB 750 and made two more trips to Minneapolis over the next two years, plus lots of shorter ones to the western states. In 1974 I got married and the motorcycles went away for a couple of years. From that point on there was usually one in the garage but it wasn’t the focus of things. A daughter, a Jeep, a move to the Bay Area, a couple of employment changes, kept motorcycles in the background.

In 1986 I stumbled into a 1970 Norton Commando that needed me and I bought that. For the next thirteen years, Nortons were the focus of my motorcycle world and all my riding was done locally in the Bay Area. In early 1999 I casually mention to my wife that 1999 was the 30 year anniversary of my first trip to Minneapolis. Motorcycles aren’t really her thing but she surprised me when she said, “You should do it again”! Little did I know she thought I would do it on one of my Nortons. Little did she know, that wasn’t going to happen. 4,000 miles on a 29 year old British bike. Not that it wouldn’t make it, just not what I had in mind.

I wound up finding a 1976 Honda Goldwing that hadn’t been started in 11 years and I bought that for $500. A couple of weeks of intensive work on it and off I went. The trip reminded me how much I liked long distance riding so when I go back, the Goldwing went away for a 1990 Kawasaki Concours. And I started in on the highways again. I was still involved with the Nortons but now, each year I went somewhere far off.

In 2005, I retired and we moved to Buffalo, Wyoming.

That Kawasaki gave way to a newer Concours, which in turn made way for a BMW R1100RT. Three years ago a friend in Virginia sold me his 2007 Moto Guzzi Norge, and I discovered Moto Guzzis. I loved that bike. But last fall I got the urge to buy a NEW motorcycle. I had been buying used since 1977 and all those bikes always came with POPs (Previous Owner Problems). So last fall I rode to Moto International in Seattle and traded in the Norge on a new Stelvio. I got it home just in time for the weather to close in and I haven’t ridden it since. But Monday I am headed for a three day ride to Idaho.

But back to your book. I really believe, with a couple of small exceptions, I have been down every road you wrote about. What a marvelous ride it must have been for you and your entourage. And to do them all at once. It has taken me years to hit them all. Reading about Mt. Rushmore (1969 on the Honda 350), Hell’s Backbone (several times on a Norton and once on the Beemer), Hell’s Canyon (1999 on the Goldwing), the Pacific Coast Highway (several times on several machines), Utah (practically every bike I have owned), Oregon (CB 750 again), South Dakota (Concours) has been a real trip down memory lane. Even the 210 Freeway evokes memories.

Looking back on all of that time, I never had a bad moment. But the old 350 Honda may have been the best time. Big enough to sustain highway speed and gas mileage approaching 60+ mpg. Minimal equipment and camping by the side of the road. I could leave LA with $400 in my pocket, be gone for 4 weeks, drive all the way to Minneapolis, and still have money left when I got home. Times have changed but the saga of your 250 Zongs brought back the essence of “pure” motorcycling.

I have been hoping that come September I will be up to a long ride somewhere but I have been having a hard time figuring out where I want to go.  I am now thinking that Azusa might make a good destination. I would really like to see the RX3 in person. So maybe that will be it. I am 67 years old now and as much as I like the big road bikes, they are heavy. An RX3 might be just the ticket to keep me in the saddle longer.

I really enjoyed your book. Thanks for writing it.

Gar

Hey, Gar, thank you for that wonderful email!  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and hearing about your adventures.   If you loved 5k@8K, you’ll really love Moto Colombia! and Riding China.   Moto Colombia! is in stock now at CSC (see the link to the right) and Riding China is proceeding right on schedule (it will be available at the end of this month).  I am having an absolute blast writing Riding China, and I’m reliving the adventure of a lifetime as I do so.  You can pre-order that one with the link on the right, too!   I’ve finished the first draft already and I’m going through the book adding photos now.   Here’s a photo I particularly like…it’s when we ran into the Gobi Desert camels…

Your comments about life sometimes getting in the way of riding is spot on.   And about seeing an RX3 for yourself…we have a very active Affiliate Program, and I’m sure there’s someone in your area who would like to show you their bike.  Just give us a call on Tuesday (909 445 0900) and we’ll make it happen.  And if you want to ride out to visit us in Azusa, we’d love to see you!

One last thought, Gar:  Our next RX3 Baja ride will be in March of next year, and that’s only a few months away.   Please give some thought to flying out here, picking up a new RX3, and blasting through Baja with us on the next trip.   We don’t charge anything for the Baja ride (you only have to pay for your meals, hotels, and fuel).   We sure had a ton of fun on the first two Baja expeditions, and I’d love to have a real rider like you with us on the next one!

We received a real nice note and a couple of great TT250 photos from our good buddies Bill and Scott on Friday…

These bikes have been great.  Here are some pics just above my house looking at Mount Baker and the Twin Sister peaks.  It was a great ride.    Thanks again for the great bikes.    

Bill and Scott

Our great pleasure, Bill and Scott.  Those are awesome photos.  You guys are indeed lucky to have such great riding in your area, and thanks for writing to us!

We’re offering a fantastic deal on the new RC3 sportbike: Just $2,988 with free shipping to most locations in the Lower 48! There’s a $35 documentation fee, a $150 crating fee (waived if you pick up the bike in Azusa), and a $195 assembly fee, for a total of only $3,368! Tax and license fees not included.

We have all three colors ready for immediate delivery! Give us a call at 909 445 0900, or order online at www.CSCMotorcycles.com!

…so I rode at night.  I fired up the Baja Blaster (I missed my RX3 while I was in China) and rode through downtown Upland this evening.   Cool air, great riding (I love riding in town at night) but no camera other than my cell phone….

I’m off to Nor Cal next week, Turkey the week after that, and then it’s up north again for the Horizons Unlimited event.  I’m speaking at that event about the China ride, and Steve, Ryan, and Matt will be there, too.  Show up there on your RX3 or TT250 and you’ll get a free CSC T-shirt!

Joel wrote to tell us about the options on his RX3, too.   Here’s the note from Joel with his mods…

My RX3 is customized with CSC options. I’m running with the top box only and no engine bars or side luggage.

19″ wheel

Shinko 804/805 tires

Progressive shock

Shorai lithium iron battery

CSC tall comfort seat

13T front sprocket

45T rear sprocket

That’s a tastefully executed, well-equipped RX3, Joel.  Thanks for sharing the list with us!