CSC Blog

Paint by John...and photo by Sandy!

Slow would be the way to describe my Internet connection tonight…seems like Verizon could take a few lessons from the wizards out in the shop who put Sylvain’s bike together, because it is FAST!

I’ve been posting LSR photos and videos as the bike has been coming together, and the comments have been flying.   The best question was probably from my good friend Justin who wanted to know why we painted the headlight black.  

I couldn’t resist…reaching back to my Army days, I told Justin it was an infrared headlight because we were doing our high speed work at night!  Yeah, I’m a bit of a trouble-maker, but the guys in the shop tell me I’m in the minor leagues compared to John Esposito… 

Late this afternoon we tossed the LSR bike in the back of Steve’s F-150 and snuck out to our secret high speed test track  in the Cajon Pass.   We wanted to let Sylvain get some seat time before Sunday, and maybe stretch the LSR’s legs a bit. 

Wow, this bike is impressive…Sylvain only had about a quarter of a mile to accelerate from a standing start and then decelerate to a stop…and this puppy rips!   The GPS registered 67.4 miles per hour and Sylvain didn’t have room to get the bike out of third gear!  

And the sound…no 150cc bike I’ve ever heard sounds like the beast our boys put together. 

Well, hey, listen to this yourself and tell me what you think…  And, take a close look at the video below…you’ll see why we went with a black headlight for old No. 142!

Here’s another one from our shakeout runs earlier today…

And one more…our Green Meanie flying along!

Sylvain, our land speed racer, stopped by the shop to check out his new ride today…

Sylvain and the land speed record bike

…and we had a hard time getting John Esposito to give the bike to Sylvain…John was having too much fun!

But we finally pryed John away from the green monster, and Sylvain had a chance to get some seat time on the future land speed record holder!

Sylvain’s gonna stop by tomorrow and we’re going to take the bike to our top secret desert test track…so keep an eye on our blog, folks…more to come!

Yep, that’s our LSR bike…all together, all painted…and ready to roll.   Sylvain’s coming over this afternoon to wring it out a bit, but while we’re waiting, here are a few shots for you…

The California Scooter Company LSR bike...this puppy goes for the record this Sunday!

The LSR bike's steering damper

The deadman's switch

The LSR engine is ported, polished, millled, cammed, and custom-CDI'd

There’s lots of excitement here in the California Scooter Company over the LSR bike…but we’re still making production motorcycles, too. 

Is one of these engines going into your bike?

Lupe and John setting up engines for the next production run

So I’m armed with my new Flip video camera….and I’ve been playing with it a bit.  When Sylvain rides the LSR bike today, I’ll grab a few movies. 

In the meantime, check out my commute home last night…I’m having fun with this video biz…

I may follow Sylvain around a bit today when he fires up the LSR bike to get a Heads Up Display read on just how fast this bike will be.  Like we always say, stay tuned…

Hey, another quick add…yep, it’s the LSR bike…listen to it!

Half the fun of writing these blogs is dreaming up titles…my other choice for this one was “Sylvain’s Steed Awaits….”

So, here she is, folks…not quite finished, but coming along…

Steve and I are just starting to figure out this video business (I actually ran out and bought a video camera today, too), so you can expect more videos as things progress.

And yes, it’s gonna be this Sunday…our run at the 150cc land speed record!

Our good buddy TC (not to be confused with our TK) sent this photo to us…it was taken in 1966 after TC rode his Mustang all the way to the top of Pike’s Peak! 

TC, at age 32 in 1966, sitting on top of the world on a hot Mustang

TC, thanks for sharing this great photo with us…TK and I may just have to grab our California Scooters and ride up there to grab the same shot!

Oh yeah, this is looking good…more photos to come in the next day or so, folks, but check out John Esposito’s artistry on our Land Speed Record bike’s fuel tank!

John Esposito and the future fastest fuel tank on the planet!

We’re actually using original Mustang motorcycle gas tanks on the LSR bike (they’re in halves, like on that Milwaukee motorcycle),  We’re only using one tank for fuel…the other half is going to house the LSR bike’s electronics.   Candy lime green, gloss black, silver leaf, yellow pinstriping…oh boy oh boy oh boy…this is shaping up nicely!

Stay tuned!

I originally started this blog with the title “What a day!” and then I realized it’s not just a great day…it’s been a great week!

TK, Steve, and I left Las Vegas early Saturday after the SEMA show to haul the bikes back to La Verne, and along the way, we stopped in Barstow for lunch at Del Taco’s.  You might be wondering what’s so special about that, and if you are, it’s only because you’ve never stopped in Barstow for a Del Taco burrito.

Lunch at a Del Taco in Barstow...Wow!

You see, the guy who originally started Del Taco (Ed Hackbarth) built it into a national chain and then sold the business, but he kept the three original restaurants in Barstow.  The new Del Taco corporation told Ed he could keep the original three restaurants just as they’ve always been, and that means fresh meat every day, nothing’s frozen, and the serving size is up to Ed.  Ed is a great guy who loves pleasing people, and in these restaurants, that’s what happens!  Folks, it’s incredible, and it was a great stop.   I grabbed that shot above of the mural in the back of the Del Taco just off the I-15, and I added the inset shots of Steve and TK enjoying some of the best Mexican food on the planet!

It’s windy as all get out today here in La Verne and it’s a typical crisp wintery day, but the skies are clear and it’s the first day of the NHRA Finals!   Yep, we are right across the street from the drag strip, and the sound of those AA fuelies is almost a religious experience.  It all kind of fits in with what we have going on here in the plant, which is also cool.    It’s not that cold that we can’t keep the doors open, but the wind is sure sweeping through!   Check out this shot of Steve’s Mopar…

You can thank our So Cal windy day for this good look at Steve's 500-cubic-inch hot rod!

The guys have been hard at work on Sylvain’s ride, too….our land speed record 150cc California Scooter.   John Esposito is completing the bike’s body work, and the bike (without tank and panels) is coming along nicely.   Sylvain will pilot this bike for a go at the 150cc land speed record just one week from this coming Sunday!

The California Scooter LSR bike

Love those 3-spoke billet wheels!

Very cool heat wrapping on the LSR bike header

And the last few photos I have for you today are of just a few of the big group of California Scooters destined for Magnum Performance in Australia.  Ian’s a California Scooter dealer (he also sells our Pro-One Performance motorcycles), and we have a bunch of California Scooters headed his way.  Ian ordered a few with custom paint, too, and John did his usual outstanding work…take a look at these!

Our standard blue tank with gray scallops...these colors work!

Burgundy and black...another great color combo headed to Australia

And one more...a black Classic with a red panel...these look great!

That’s it for today, folks…time to get back to work!

TK and Steve manning the California Scooter booth at the 2010 SEMA show

GM had a booth that took up half of one of the exhibit halls, and the Corvette collection was unlike anything I’d ever seen.   I’m a Corvette nut, and these cars are just gorgeous.   Old ones, new ones, concept cars built around the standard Corvette, the Z06 Corvette, the ZR1 models, racing Corvettes, and…well, here…take a look!

GM's carbon concept Z06 Corvette

A rear quarter shot of the carbon concept Z06 Corvette

I’ve got a lot Corvette photos from SEMA, and I’ll just mix it up, throwing in some of the Corvette shots as we progress through this blog.  

Oh, and the SEMA models…well, I’ll add a few photos of the SEMA models here and there, too.

The Barret-Jackson girls

The SEMA show folks fell in love with our bikes, and the new catalog Sandy put together was a winner.  Everyone wanted to get some seat time on a California Scooter and take home a California Scooter catalog.

A SEMA show attendee checking out the black Classic California Scooter

Yellow is a very popular color this year, and we saw various yellow concepts on a lot of cars.   Flat black is in, too.   I’ll show you a photo at the end of a flat black car that’s very, very cool.

Here’s a photo of a yellow racing Corvette… 

A very bright yellow racing Corvette

Flat white is in, too.   Harley has a variation of this color that I think they call Denim White.  Chevy painted a Z06 Corvette in this satiny flat white and the effect was stunning.

Flat white, a color that just works on this Z06

Ah, and this one…a Corvette Stingray from the 1960s (they made the Stingray from 1963 to 1967), completely race prepped.   The colors, the car, the details…this is a magnificent automobile.

A Stingray race car...this car was beyond awesome

Yeah, I took more than a few photos of this Corvette…

Another shot of the Stingray

One of the coolest touches on this car is the leather belt hood tiedowns.   They look almost industrial, and the effect really works…this car is all business!

A tiedown belt detail photo

 So, how about the models?

One of the SEMA show models

I still had a good time.

Here’s another happy SEMA show participant.   Nobody could get on a California Scooter without smiling…

Our new friend from South Africa

Here’s another Corvette…a race car on a trailer…something you might have seen in the early ’60s, while the original Mustangs were still coming off the assembly line in Glendale…

A 1960 Corvette race car

 And check out this early Corvette done up in turquoise and white, just like our California Scooter Beach Cruiser…

A mid-50's Corvette...a car built when the original Mustang motorcycle was being manufactured

There were other cool things in the SEMA show…I think this is what the kids call a Transformer.  Like I said, I think that’s what it is.  Whatever it is, it makes for a cool photo.

A transformer?

Custom cars were all over…there was just so much to see.  I was only at the show for a day, and I would guess I saw maybe a third of the entire show.   I was splitting my time between the California Scooter booth and wandering around taking pictures of cool cars and pretty girls.  It was a great day. 

Take a look at this old Chevy pickup truck…

A beautiful 1950's Chevy pickup

One of the booths featured chrome paint.  I’d never heard of it, but these guys make paint that looks like tinted chrome.   They had an awesome monster truck.   I don’t know which aspect of this vehicle was more fascinating…the green-tint chrome paint, the machine work, the tires, or the graphics…

Wild tires and chrome paint

These folks did up a Suzuki Hayabusa with copper-tinted chome paint, and it worked.  The original Suzuki Hayabusa had a copper color, and this bike was vaguely reminiscent of it.

Steve checking out a chrome painted Hayabusa

I went back to the California Scooter booth…and more folks were checking out your favorite motorcycles.  We saw enormous interest in our bikes from everyone, including a SEMA photographer who came to the show to photograph all the cool stuff on display…

An SEMA event photographer trying out a red Classic

 Full Throttle Videos had a cool display, and Lisa let me take her picture…

Lisa from Full Throttle Videos

Steve spotted this ATV with interesting body work.   It had that chrome paint I mentioned earlier, too.   Pretty wild stuff!

A wild ATV with chrome paint and awesome bodywork

Here’s a car I lusted after when I was a teenager…a 1965 GTO.   Wow.

A 1965 Pontiac GTO convertible

Ford had a dynamite exhibit.   Ford is doing amazingly well, and their stock is continuing to climb.  They had a lot of new and interesting models on display, and Mustangs were all over the place (Mustang cars, that is…not Mustang motorcycles).  

Here’s a shot I grabbed of the grill on a custom F-350 truck…

Steve and yours truly

I was surprised to see just how popular yellow is…there were a lot of customs, factory concept cars, and accessories with metalflake yellow, pearlescent yellow, solid yellow, and various shades of yellow.   There was a Saleen Mustang at the SEMA show with a yellow paint job that was probably the prettiest color I’ve ever seen.   And here’s a custom yellow NSX Acura.   The car, guys…look at the car…

That's an awesome yellow paint job on the car in the background

There were lots of interesting details, too.   I took a lot of photos, but there are just too many to put on the blog.  I especially liked this Mustang emblem…

An interesting Mustang grill emblem treatment

A Mustang pool table

This very cool Caddy was just around the corner from our California Scooter booth.  I was lucky, because we got there early and I could get photos before a lot of people entered the show.   By mid-morning, the place was packed.

A Cadillac not too far from our California Scooter booth

One of the prettiest cars at the 2010 SEMA show was this 1963 Impala convertible, complete with a 409 (the biggest engine Chevy offered that year).  There was a black ’63 409 hardtop right next to it, too.

A 1963 409 Chevy Impala convertible

Robert and his wife Dorothea were particulary taken with our bikes.   We greatly enjoyed our time with them and all of the other great people who stopped by our California Scooter booth.

Our new friend Robert on a blue Classic

Dorothea, the sharp-shooting Mustang collector

These are the Ford girls.   They were happy to pose for me.  I reminded them of their dads.

The Ford ladies

As I mentioned above, the Ford exhibit was pretty cool.  Ford really has its act together, and it’s great to see an American car company showing the rest of the world how to do things right.  It’s how things should be.

The Las Vegas Speedway had a booth right around the corner from ours.  They made fresh chocolate chip cookies, and I spent a lot of time over there because of that.   Monique let me grab a shot while I was there.

Monique, one of the models in a neighboring booth

There were a lot of people from other countries at the SEMA show.   We had visitors in our booth from South Africa, Lebanon, Australia, several European nations, and Mexico.  Alfonso from Mexico likes our bikes a lot…

Alfonso, from Sinaloa, Mexico, checking out our bikes

My last shot of the day was a flat black CL455 AMG Mercedes.   DPE Engineering in Irvine does this work (www.DPEWheels.com), and Manu, the owner, told me a bit about it.  It costs about $15K to do car in flat black like this.  The overall effect was visually arresting.   This is one fine-looking automobile.   I’d still rather have the Greaser (and I’ll bet you would, too), but the Mercedes would look nice parked next to it.

Two classics...a California Scooter, and a 100K Mercedes with a matching paint job

I had a little fun pushing our Greaser over from our booth for the shot above.   One of the SEMA guys came running over because he thought I was stealing the bike.  I’ve heard of the old expression “ride it like you stole it,” but I didn’t even have the engine running!  Once the SEMA guy saw my California Scooter shirt, he was okay.   It was pretty funny.

SEMA was great, and I had a great time with TK and Steve seeing beautiful cars, meeting folks interested in California Scooters, taking lots of photos, and just enyoying the excitement of being in Vegas.   

Our booth was great.  We have a new booth design (you can see it behind the guys on the California Scooters in the photos above).  Sandy created the new design and the booth’s photo montage, and she did a wonderful job.   Many of the folks who visited us complimented Sandy’s work.   I’ve been to a lot of shows in a lot of different industries, and I think the California Scooter booth is the slickest I’ve ever seen.  I like it.  A lot.

I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes, they actually pay me to take photos like the ones above.   I could tell you my standard line (you know, the one about this being a tough job and somebody has to do it), but I won’t lie to you.  Sometimes even I can’t believe my luck in landing this gig.

And there’s lots more coming up.  Like I said, tomorrow we’re off to the Griffith Park Sidecar Rally, where we’ll get to see very cool motorcycles, mingle with industry giants like Doug Bingham, and show our bikes to a lot of fine people just like you.   And then in two weeks, Sylvain’s piloting the Land Speed Record California Scooter in our quest to set the new 150cc world speed record.   

We’ll share it all with you.  Right here.

Well, whaddaya think?  I’m thinking of taking a ride up the Pacific Coast Highway (non-freeway all the way) from southern California up to and through San Francisco.  

The Pacific Coast Highway is one of the world’s great roads, and I think it’s perfect for a California Scooter ride.  If you want to buy a new Scooter, this would be a great way to break it in (we’ll even throw in the 500 mile service!), and I think I can talk Steve into giving you a special PCH price.   Let me know!

A typical scene along the Pacific Coast Highway

This will be a fun ride…we’ll skirt the Pacific Ocean all the way, and we’ll take breaks at some of the most interesting places you could ever imagine.   The California missions.  Santa Barbara.  Great restaurants.  The Monterey Bay Aquarium.   Carmel…where we might even stay at Clint Eastwood’s place!  And of course, Hearst Castle (if you’ve never been to Hearst Castle, well, we can change that).

Inside Hearst Castle, one of California's greatest treasures

You’ll have to fight a strong sense of deja vu on this ride.   We’ll pass through areas that have been in hundreds of movies, and the sensation I always get when I do that is one of having been there before.  Many times I have, but only through the movies.   No movies this time, though!  This is the real deal!

The world-famous Bixby Bridge...you've seen this in many movies!

We’ll grab some great seafood and Italian food in San Francisco, roll across the Golden Gate Bridge into the Marin Highlands, and then turn around and head home.

Rolling across the Golden Gate...yep, it's as awesome as it looks!

How about these photos?  Can you see yourself riding the Pacific Coast Highway on your very own California Scooter?

I’m in.  Are you?

As promised…I was up in the mountains on my Scooter today, and here are a couple of shots for you…

My Baja Blaster

A shot from Cow Canyon Saddle

Steve and TK are in Las Vegas for the SEMA show, and I’ll be joining them later in the week.  We sure had a beautiful day here in So Cal today.   Looks like my good buddy Carl was out on his California Scooter enjoying the weather, too…Carl sent me some great photos and I’ll post those in another day or two!