CSC Blog

On a ride with Bob, somewhere in Mexico...

Let’s see…the subject of this blog is a partial display of my friend Bob’s vintage BMW collection, but I can’t jump right into it.   I need to first tell you a bit about how I came to know Bob. 

I guess it all starts with my buddy Marty.    I first met Marty through sort of an arranged marriage.   And I have to go back even further to tell that story.   So maybe it doesn’t start with Marty…it starts with Al.  

Al is my gardener.  Before you go making any value judgments about me or Al, you need to know I live in So Cal and I don’t like messing with the lawn.  Like everybody out here, I have a gardener.   My gardener has also become a good friend.  

Al is an interesting guy.   He’s rich.   No kidding.   If you’ve ever read The Millionaire Next Door (a fascinating book), Al is the exact kind of guy the book describes.   Al is a workaholic, and while doing his gardening thing, he noticed houses in the neighborhood that were not kept up.    When Al saw this, he approached the owners, he asked if he could tend to the yard, he heard the hard luck stories about why the yards fell into disrepair, and he wound up buying more than a few of those houses.  Now he has lots of houses, a few apartment buildings, and a hotel.   But he likes gardening, and I’ll see him once a week cutting my grass along with his helpers.  Al is a great guy and it’s fun chatting with him.  

During one such chat several years ago, Al recommended that I meet the judge who lived up the street from me.   Seriously, a real judge, and Al told me that the judge also rode motorcycles.   Al even gave me his phone number.     I didn’t do anything with it, though.  

All right, fast forward a bit.   I was home recuperating from a surgery that laid me up for a few weeks about a dozen years back, and with nothing better to do (Facebook and blogging hadn’t been invented yet), I passed the days watching TV.    One of the shows was a special on the Daytona Bike Week, and part of that was a feature about five guys who rode their motorcycles from Pomona to Daytona.   One of them was a judge.   Whoa, that sounds familiar.   How many judges can there be in Pomona who ride motorcycles?

I searched for the number Al had provided a year or so earlier, I found it, and I called Marty.   That was the start of a great friendship and a lot of great motorcycle adventures in three different countries.  

After we’d been on a few rides, Marty told me I had to start attending the First Church of Bob.   Uh oh, I thought.   A religious pitch.   I wasn’t expecting that.    That wasn’t what Marty had in mind, though.  Turns out that the First Church of Bob was the weekly Saturday morning gathering at Brown BMW, our local BMW dealership founded by…you guessed it, Bob Brown.   Bob became a riding buddy and I joined Mr. Brown and others (along with Marty) on a lot of great moto adventures.  

That brings us to the subject, finally, of today’s blog.   I hadn’t been attending the weekly lunch meetings for a while and when I started “going to church” again, I found that Bob had several of his vintage Beemers on display along the walls in the dealership.   Wowee, I thought…I have to get photos to share with you guys on the blog.   And without further ado, here we go…

This first bike is a 1928 BMW.   It’s a 500cc model, and like all of the bikes in these photos, it’s a boxer twin.  

The black-and-white paint themes on the first several bikes make these photos really pop.  This used to be the classic BMW colors until maybe the 1970s, and it works.   It’s a classic color combo. 

Bob’s dealership does a lot of police motorcycle work, and Bob will usually grab a black and white police motor that’s been turned in (I think he likes those bikes because they’re black and white, like the old Beemers).   That’s a police motor you see in the photo of Bob at the start of this blog, and no matter how many times I’ve ridden with Bob, my heart still skips a beat when I see that black and white motorcycle close behind me in my rear view mirror.    It’s also a good thing when we ride in traffic…Bob takes the lead spot and every body just sort of moves over.

Okay, back to the main attraction.   Here’s a 1936 750cc flathead BMW…

The bike above is really interesting.   It’s basically the model the Chinese copied, and there are still folks riding around on Chiang Jiang motorcycles in China that are, well, Chinese copies of the old 1930s BMW flathead.  Folks were still riding them the last time I was there.   Yep, you can go to China and buy a brand new 1936 BMW (made in China under the Chiang Jiang name).  It’s the bike my good friend Carla King rode around China for her next book.

Okay, I know, back to Bob’s bikes.   Here we go.   This BMW is a 1952 600cc model…

And this one is a 1951 600cc BMW (that, my friends, was the year I was born)…

Here’s one with a great story…it’s Bob’s personal 1961 600cc BMW…

Bob calls the bike above the original GS, and for good reason.   He rode it all the way to Cabo San Lucas back in the early 1960s.   Now you might be thinking hey, what’s the big deal.   You guys (meaning me and some of my friends) rode our California Scooters all the way down to Cabo a couple of years ago, and those were little 150cc bikes.  So what’s the big deal about riding a 600cc bike to Cabo?   It’s this, my friends…when Bob did it, there were no roads.  No kidding.    Bob rode down there on trails and for a lot of the way, by just riding along the ocean.   All the way down.  Sleeping on the beach.   Spinning the rear wheel in the sand to let the bike sink in so he wouldn’t have to use the center stand.   That, my friends, is a big deal and a huge adventure.    This guy was blazing trails in Baja while I was still in elementary school!

More good vintage stuff…here’s a 1971 R75/5 750cc BMW…

And here’s the same thing in a 1972 model…

Another beautiful BMW classic is the 1976 R90S model.   This motorcycle really turned heads when it was first introduced, and it is still a show stopper…

As you can see from the above, BMW started moving away from their black and white color combo in the 1970s.   The bikes you see in these photos are all in their stock colors.    Most amazingly, most of these bikes (including the early ones) are not restorations…they are original motorcycles!

These last two are particularly beautiful…the first is the 1000cc 1977 R100RS…

And here’s the last bike BMW did in the R100RS configuration, the 1983 1000cc model in a beautiful pin-striped pearl white color combo…

Fun stuff, boys and girls, and the results of a few minutes of shutter snapping and an enjoyable lunch with Bob and the boys hearing about these bikes.   Bob, thanks for letting us share these with our California Scooter blog buddies!

And all of you blog buddies…you might be wondering if there is more to the story than just a collection of beautiful vintage BMW bikes.    Well, maybe there is.   Steve has been talking about doing a custom California Scooter based on the old German style, and I think that would be very, very cool.   An all black bike with white pin striping…wire wheels with chrome spokes and black powder coated rims…and…well, you get the idea!

Stay tuned, my friends…as always, there’s more good stuff coming your way!

Things are popping at the P-51 plant, folks!   

After a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, Susie and I hopped in my orange Subie (now known as “The Tangerine”) and braved the Black Friday freeways to stop by the California Scooter factory.    I’m happy to tell you that everything is zooming right along.   The first thing that caught my eye as soon as I entered was a dynamite high performance VW engine Steve built up to show off the Pro-One accessories line…

Wow, that engine just glistened!   The funny thing about VW engines is they remind me of motorcycle engines…air cooling, horizontally-opposed cylinders, and the mechanical beauty of the things.  It’s easy to understand why VW hot rodders often remove their engine lids.   Engines this beautiful should not be hidden!

When I wandered into the factory, our folks were hard at work on the next big order….we’re sending an entire P-51 squadron to Dubai!   That’s fascinating…a bunch of folks in Dubai zooming around on California Scooters!    Take a look at just at just a few of the bikes in work and soon to be headed to the Middle East…

And before you guys start sending the “where’s Lupe?” emails to me, here you go…

We’ve had a bit of rain in the last few days, although Thanksgiving was a gorgeous So Cal day.   It was raining again this morning and there’s snow up in the mountains behind my house.   I caught a foul weather photo at the California Scooter factory showing our favorite riding region…the San Gabriel Mountains!  This is what we see every day right out the factory door (except that usually the sky is bright blue)…

Knowing So Cal, it will only be a day or two before it’s sunny again, and then I’ll be back on the Baja Blaster making another video.   I can’t wait, folks, and if you can’t wait to get on your very own CSC-150 or the street-fighting 250cc P-51, give TK or Steve a call!   Trust me on this…these guys are in a dealing mood!

I guess that’s it for now, except for one last shot I grabbed on the way out using that dynamite VW engine Steve built…

Ride safe, and keep an eye on your CSC blog!

This very cool video came to our attention courtesy of Twin Peaks Steve….seems the bike was discovered at the end of World War II in Germany…

I’d heard of this “engine in the front wheel” concept a few years ago when my good friend Marty told me Jay Leno owned a Megola.    Seems Marty and Jay Leno had a conversation about unusual motorcycles when Mr. Leno asked Marty if he had ever heard of a Megola.   Marty had not, nor had I when Marty told the story to me.    If you’ve never heard of the Megola, don’t feel bad…most haven’t.

Take a look at this, folks…

Just in case you’re wondering, there are no plans for a front-wheel-drive California Scooter. The concept sure is something different, though. Makes me wonder if that post-World-War-II bike in the first video came from the Megola folks.

Sue and I will be stopping by the plant later today, so keep your eye on the blog for more photos, folks.    And Twin Peaks Steve, thanks for sending that first video to us!

We had a gorgeous day today, and I wanted to play around a bit with the Midland XTC video cam on a different pair of wheels…

That’s my Bianchi Campione, and don’t let the Italian name fool you.   Although Bianchi is literally the world’s oldest bicycle company and they’re from Italy, this puppy was made in China (as are all Bianchi bicycles these days).   My Campione is decidedly old school with a steel frame (not aluminum or carbon fiber like the hot rods), downtube shifters, and plain old pedals (not clips).   It may look like something expensive, but it’s not.   It’s just a basic bike and I love riding it.   When I’m two wheeling and I’m not on the California Scooter, odds are this is the set of wheels I’m on.

I love bicycling.   I got started like you probably did….on a hand-me-down Schwinn that was the coolest thing in the world.   That old balloon-tired green monster from Chicago worked.   It was my first taste of freedom.   It was the first hint of what it was like to get my knees in the breeze.    It represented independence, fun, and all that is good in the world.   I still get that feeling today when I get on a bicycle.

Haven’t been on a bicycle in a while, you say?   Hey, let’s go for a ride…

That first taste of two-wheeled freedom sticks – it’s been with me for nearly 60 years.   Not surprisingly, many of my motorcycle friends ride bicycles.   Steve does, and so do a lot of other guys and gals I putt around with.   It’s great fun and you can get into it without spending a fortune, or you can go nuts throwing cash at fancy bicycles.  I’ve done that, but these days it’s the inexpensive steel-frame Bianchi you see in the photo above that floats my boat.

We’ve sure gone from one extreme to the other in the blog this weekend.   The Big Boy weighs 1.2 million pounds.   My bicycle weighs 20 pounds.   Quite a spread.  

So, enough about bicycles, locomotives, and other cool stuff.    This week I’m going to get out on the Baja Blaster and grab some video…maybe I’ll even ride it to work one day.   We’ll see.

Later, folks!

Maybe it’s a guy thing. For me, motorcycles and trains are inextricably related.  

There’s the obvious:  The suggestions of travel and adventure suggested by both the motorcycle and the locomotive. 

There’s the subtle:  The mechanical beauty of the beast, be it a locomotive or a motorcycle. 

There’s the analogy often used for a fast motorcycle:  “This thing pulls like a locomotive.”    It’s an expression I’ve often used for my old 1995 Triumph Daytona, which makes no sense at all, considering the leisurely acceleration of a locomotive compared to even a small motorcycle.  In engineering terms, you just can’t defeat f = ma.   We still use that expression, though.  It conveys great power, an attribute we like to apply to our motorcycles.

Then there’s the musical:  Arlo Guthrie sang of motorcycles and the City of New Orleans…

That music works for me, as indicated by this YouTube Lupe and I did on a California Scooter sidecar ride….

And there’s the environmental – like many men of a certain age, I grew up in the Lionel era, dividing my drooling between things like the streamlined maroon Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 locomotive and a variety of British vertical twins (all of which in my adolescence I knew had to pull, well, like a locomotive).

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done in a long time…I had lunch with another group of men of a certain age (or, as I usually describe it, lunch with the geezers).  I’m the youngest guy in that crowd.  To put things in perspective, my good buddy Jerry (who rides both a Piaggio and a Sportster) celebrated his 84th birthday yesterday.  It was fun, and I realized I had been away from the geezers for far too long. 

My good buddy Wes showed up (he rides a six-cylinder BMW, an Uber-tourer that, you know, pulls like a locomotive) and he was excited.  He had seen the “Big Boy” at the Pomona Fairgrounds earlier.  Only half-listening to the conversation initially, I thought he was talking about a hamburger, and then I realized the focus of his attention was a steam locomotive.  My Lionel antenna immediately went to full extension and like everyone else at the table, I focused on Wes’s description of the beast.  To cut to the chase, Marty, Jim, and yours truly decided to try to steal a glimpse of this rail-borne gladiator on the way back to the shop.  As you can see from the photo I posted yesterday, luck was with us…

Here are a few more photos…what’s cool about these is that I grabbed all of them with my iPhone.  They would have been better if I had thought to bring my Nikon with me, but that little iPhone did a pretty good job…

So I’ve got a few more cool things for you to peruse today, boys and girls…the first is an interesting quotation lifted directly from RailwayAge website about Pomona’s very own Big Boy No. 4014…

Very cool stuff, folks, made all the more interesting by the fact that No. 4014 is going to be fully restored and put back into service for special runs.   Yep, the photos I grabbed yesterday show the Big Boy being maneuvered for placement on the MetroLink rails (the very rails shown in my first photo above with the Baja Blaster).   It’s going to be towed back to Union Pacific’s Wyoming repair yards for a complete restoration.   Wow!

That’s it for now, my friends. The boss told me we’re heading over to Costco to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey early, so I’ve got to wrap it up and run.

Ride safe, my friends…

Nope, we’re not talking about burgers, boys and girls…

Check this out!

Saw this puppy on the way home after having lunch with my geezer motorcycle buddies…more to follow today or tomorrow!

22 November 1963.  

I was 12 years old and in the 7^th grade (Ms. Pollack’s afternoon study hall period, to be precise) when I learned of President Kennedy’s death.   Mr. Rose, our vice principal, was an older guy who never seemed or sounded like an old person until he made that announcement over the school’s speaker system.  

Even as 12 year olds, we reacted with stunned silence.  

I remember that day and all that followed as if it happened last week.   The memories are that strong.  I had been chatting with my friend, Bob Dixon, who wondered aloud who would do such a thing.

I liked President Kennedy and all that he stood for.   He understood and pursued equality.   He served with distinction in World War II and he was the skipper of PT-109.   He put us on the path that put a man on the moon.   He approved our Special Forces wearing the green beret.   He stood up to the Soviets.   He was a charismatic leader who understood that the United States is, indeed, an exceptional place.   The media later published negative things about the President, but I don’t know why.   Some things we just don’t need to know. 

Years later when I lived in Texas, I visited Dallas and Dealey Plaza.  I wanted to see the place that I had seen on television 15 years earlier.  I saw the sixth floor window, the streets, and the grassy knoll.   The place looked so ordinary, yet it had a hushed tone and everyone seemed to know it was special.   I returned to Dallas 20 years later to interview the Dallas PD for my book on police motorcycles.  The interviews lasted well into the night (police officers like to tell stories and they had some great ones).   A couple of the motor officers drove me back to my hotel, and our route took us directly through Dealey Plaza.   I recognized the Texas School Book Depository building and started to ask…”is that…” but before I could finish one the officers simply and quietly said “yes.”   Everyone understood.

It’s been said that anyone who is old enough to remember knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first learned of the Kennedy assassination.   I sure do.   50 years have passed, but it seems like it was yesterday.  

Rest in peace, Mr. President.

We have a lot of it out here today, so no riding for me this morning.   Maybe it will clear up later.   Rain is a funny thing on a motorcycle…if I’m out on the bike and I get caught in it, I don’t mind.  But I usually won’t start a ride if it’s raining.     So, I’m doing the next best thing…and that’s looking through some of my photos from past rides.   Here’s one that’s a  favorite from our last company putt…

We sure had great weather that day.   The photo was at the intersection of Glendora Mountain Road and Glendora Ridge Road up in the San Gabriels, but it looks like it was taken at the ocean.   Funny thing is if you’re at that exact spot looking in the exact direction of this photo, on a clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean about 40 miles away (including Catalina Island). 

Well, enough tapping away on the keyboard…my mission today is to make Italian meat sauce per my daughter’s directive, and I’ll need to run to the store to pick up a few things to start that process.  It will be good.

I’ll get a few photos of the next big order at the plant tomorrow or Saturday.   It’s the Dubai order.   Yep, we’re selling in Dubai now, and the bikes are being built as we speak.  

That’s it for now, folks…duty beckons!

Stay dry and ride safe.

Do you remember that show?

Death Valley Days first aired on radio way back in 1930, and then it made the jump to television in 1954, where it remained until 1970.  

I watched Death Valley Days all the time when I was a kid.  In fact, some of you might remember a young fellow named Ronald Reagan who hosted and sometimes acted in the series (it was Reagan’s last acting job before he entered politics).  

I loved that show, and Death Valley held a special place in my mind for decades.    Living here in southern California I was only a couple of hundred miles away from it, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually visited the place.   It was all I hoped it would be and more.    Magnificent scenery, great roads, and great riding.  

It took me awhile to actually get around to visiting Death Valley.   I saw signs on the 395 and the 15 pointing toward it, but I never actually got out there until Brown’s BMW dealership sponsored a ride, and then I went on my KLR (I was the lone el cheapo KLR in a sea of uber-expensive BMWs, and that was fun all by itself).  It was an awesome ride.     Then another opportunity emerged when MSILSF ran the Hell’s Loop Endurance Rally.   TK, Arlene, and I rode that event through Death Valley on our California Scooters.   That ride was even more awesome (you can read about it here).   

Opportunity struck again when Motorcycle Classics magazine asked me to do a piece on Death Valley for their “Destinations” column.   Interestingly, that article has been picked up as a reference for other works on this magnificent place.   Suddenly, I went from knowing about Death Valley only through the television show to becoming a cited expert on the place.   Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.

What got me to thinking about Death Valley all over again was a super cool note and a couple of photos I recently received from our high mileage California Scooter pilot (and good buddy) Nevada Howard…

Joe…

I did a banzai run through Death Valley last week.    Here are a couple of pics I thought you might like.  First is from Dante’s View, overlooking Bad Water.  And a panoramic shot of Scottie’s Castle…

Be well and take care.

Howard

Howard, those are super photos.  Thanks very much for sharing them with us!

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m up for another ride through Death Valley.   Anybody want to go with me?

Whing-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding…..

You know the sound. If you’re one of us (that is to say, men of a certain age) two-strokes were a big part of the motorcycle world back in the day. And that’s what they sounded like….whing-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding…..

When I stopped by the factory on Friday, I spotted this classic moto-crosser tucked away in a corner of the warehouse.  Whoa!   What’s this?

Steve picked this puppy up last week…

It’s a 1967 Hercules Sachs, and our good buddy Jose traded it to Steve for some of our Pro-One VW parts.   The bike’s two-stroke engine is a 125…

The Earles front fork is pretty cool, too.   Better known on early BMWs, Earles forks give a very cushy ride, and folks in the know say they work way better if you’re hauling a sidecar.    I just like the way they look…

And here’s a macro shot of the logo…

This vintage stuff sure brings back memories…in 1967 I was a sophomore in high school!   It was all about Bonnevilles, Tigers, and Super Hawks in those days, but the two-strokes made their presence known…whing-ding-ding-ding-ding!

Later, boys and girls…just got some cool photos from Howard on his trip through Death Valley, and I’ve got to check those out!