CSC Blog

I sure didn’t plan it that way, but red and black seem to be the dominant colors in this photo of Bruce, TK, and the Boss…

Our good buddy Bruce uses his Greaser as his daily commuter bike to and from Cal Poly Pomona.   It’s a great bike for commuter duty, particularly when you consider the fuel economy and the ease of finding a parking spot.

I had stopped by the plant earlier today to take some photos of the showroom and Bruce was there.   The Pro-One Performance side of the house sells a lot of VW accessories, and we get to see pretty cool Beetles and their owners popping in and out of the plant.   It was a lucky break for me that my Cal Poly buddy Bruce just happened to be picking up his bike after the maintenance folks had serviced it.

We all had a great conversation and the topic of the next company ride came up.   We love those rides up in the San Gabriels.   We’ll be planning one in the near future, so keep your eyes posted on the blog and we’ll let you know when.

Here’s a YouTube video from the last company ride…

Ride safe, amigos and amigas!

Folks, check out this custom Greaser…

This beauty is going to our good buddy James in Indianapolis, or as he’s known in these parts, Indiana James.

There are lots of cool custom touches on James’ new motorcycle, and the combination just flat works.  It’s got our black billet wheels (James specified red pinstriping and it looks great on these wheels).   Check out the black drag bars.   And the hand-painted Mustang logo.  And the gloss black fork lowers.   And the billet mirrors.   It’s the little touches that work, and this motorcycle sure came together nicely.

I don’t know if Hollywood is going to do a movie starring Indiana James, but they sure could…I can kind of hear the Raiders of the Lost Ark music playing in the background when I look at this motorcycle and think about James.  He’s the Senior Pastor of MY FATHER’S HOUSE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST in Indianapolis and he’s also a professional barber.   What a combination!

James has a strong passion for classic cars and motorcycles (especially Mustangs), and he told me he’s going to tell everyone in Indianapolis about the California Scooter Company.   That’s a good thing for everyone!

James, your bike is shipping today, and Indianapolis just won’t be the same when you roll out on it!    Please send us some photos of you on your new CSC 150, and we’ll share them right here on the blog.

Ride safe, good buddies…and stay tuned…

Just a couple of teaser photos, friends…

This first one shows the bikes we built for the twins.   Yep, twin bikes for twin brothers…

The twins will be taking delivery of these bikes in the not-too-distant future, and you can bet we’ll have some great photos for you on that day!

And this next one…all I can say is  WOWEE!   It’s going to Indiana James (not Indiana Jones), and it is one of the coolest motorcycles we’ve ever done…

I’ll post more photos of this sleek custom in the next day or so  (and we’ll tell you more about Indiana James), so keep your eyes peeled!    And that photo above…it’s the Boss, my good buddy Marty, and yours truly.   Like I said…just a teaser photo…there’s more good stuff on the way!

I received this wonderful email from my good buddy Russ just yesterday, folks.   Take a look!

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I enjoyed fully my trip to the Eureka Springs, Arkansas area to ride the hills & many, many curves.  Taking LBB (Lil’ Boy Blue) P-51 meant “getting off the porch & running with the big dogs” as the over whelming size of bikes were 400+ ccs.  This event known as STO (Scootin’ The Ozarks) is an annual gathering of scooters which come from more than a dozen states to enjoy each other & the fantastic local geography.  I found quickly that a 250cc scoot like a CSC was at no disadvantage running with a 650cc when it came to negotiating the many curves & hills of the Arkansas mountains. (Translation: we were sort of racer guys & gals.)

Lil’ Boy Blue on my car carrier & ready to go.  I hauled it 300 miles to the Lake of the Ozarks where I met my good friend, John, and together we rode the last 200 miles on our bikes to Eureka Springs.  Which helps to explain the sissy bar shown here as this was a week long event (Sept. 2013) .  The bar was then easily removed for riding during the week but then reattached for the long ride home.  

Motel parking lot with 52 scoots of all sizes & brands, including Suzukis, Hondas, Kymcos, Yamahas, Vespas, Piaggios, & everyone’s favorite…CSC!! (more on that later).

LBB standing tall amongst the scooter giants.

A very well restored early 2-stroke Vespa.

The Beaver Dam & Lake near Eureka Springs.

L to R:  Russ, J.C., Jim, John, with Kim taking this photo.

A one-way bridge titled The Little Golden Gate Bridge.   

This sign about the Little Golden Gate Bridge.   A lot of history in this area. 

Yours truly with ATGATT (all the gear all the time) even on very warm days.

Enjoying a beautiful day along the Roaring River Trout Stream.   This is COLD CAVE…which produces the cold water so necessary for raising the young trout here at the State Fish Hatchery.

A couple cleaning their “catch” & dinner for the day.

Mr. Deadhead…or if the helmet fits wear it.

Yours truly & Lil’ Boy Blue along side his big blue brother, H.D.

War Eagle Mill near Eureka Springs, AR.   First built during pre-Civil War time.

Eating to ride…riding to eat.  Good old buddies (L to R) John, Shack, Tim, Rick, & Werner.

Summary:  CSC builds GREAT & FUN bikes!! and I was very proud on judging day with 52 bikes being judged to be awarded (FANFARE please) BEST OF SHOW!   I answered many, many questions about CSC while Lil’ Boy Blue sat quietly near by smiling & enjoying the attention.

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That’s an awesome story, Russ, made even better by your great photos.  Best of Show….that’s outstanding!

Thanks very much for sharing it with us!

Too hot to ride today, folks.   It’s 97 degrees out there right now, and that’s a notch or three above my comfort zone.   Maybe if it cools off a bit later I’ll take the Baja Blaster up for a run in the mountains, and you can bet I’ll keep my eyes open for bear.   We actually get them around here, although I’ve never seen one.   The Boss sees them all the time around his place (he’s closer to the mountains they we are).

You saw the video on the blog a few days ago…a motorcyclist in Canada actually tagged a bear doing about 87 mph.   (The bike was doing the 87 mph, not the bear.)   I wondered if that ever happened before and quick Google search showed me that it did…in New Jersey (of all places) in 2010.   I grew up in New Jersey and I never saw a bear.   I guess there are bear back there, though.  I remember a few years ago when a bear walked through a McDonald’s drive-up in New Jersey quite close to where I used to live.  I called my buddy Mike (who lives in New Jersey) to ask if he had seen it…he laughed and told me he sent his wife out to the woods behind his house to look for it.   You guys remember Mike…he rode with us not too long ago up on Glendora Ridge Road…

If I ever did tangle with a bear on the California Scooter, though, it would sure make for a good story.   If I go looking for them, you can bet I won’t spot one.   If I’m not, they may just pop up.  We’ll see what happens.

When I was a lot younger, I hunted for javelina several times and you can guess how that went.  We never saw a single javelina.   While staying at a lodge on vacation with my family, though, I walked outside our cabin and we were surrounded by a small javelina herd.  I grabbed this photo late at night with an old Minolta film camera…

I didn’t even know that mama javelina had a baby with her until I saw the photo, and folks who have seen it told me it was a dangerous spot to be in.   They told me that when javelina arch their noses or make the hair on their backs stand up it is a warning they are mad.   Not that it would have mattered to me that evening.  It was literally pitch black outside and I couldn’t see much.   I could hear the javelina moving around.  My Minolta had a flash on it (it was a older manual focus camera).  It was too dark to focus, so I just shot a series using the flash and twisting the focusing ring a little bit each time. I figured one of the shots would be in focus, and that’s what happened.  It’s the photo you see here.

And you know what?  The next time my buddies and I went hunting for javelina, we didn’t see a single one.

I had the same luck on a wild boar hunt in central California the following year.  The only thing I got was a good case of poison oak.   Wow, did that ever itch!

Things just work out that way for the animals’ benefit, I guess.   It happened again yesterday.   I took that new Weatherby out to the rifle range yesterday and wouldn’t you know it…two deer walked right in front of us like they owned the place.   While we were shooting!  You would think all that booming and thundering would have scared them away.   Nope.   The rangemaster called a ceasefire, we waited about a half hour for them to wander away, and they finally did.  The deer are pretty hard to see in this iPhone photo, but trust me, they’re in the field of view.   And yes, I know deer season starts next month.

Well, that’s if for now, folks.   I’ll be back on the Blaster as soon as it cools off.   I’ll probably spot all kinds of wildlife when I do so.   Don’t worry…I’ll have my camera with me.

More good stuff….I found another video I forgot I had from our company ride last month.   This one shows us coming down out of the San Gabriel Mountains on Glendora Mountain Road.    There’s no music on this one (some folks told me they like that better).

So here we go, folks…let’s go for a ride!

Let us know…who’s up for another company ride?

And in Tuxedo Black, no less…

This beautiful black P-51 250cc Classic was parked directly in front of the plant yesterday.    It sure caught my eye.   It’s our basic 250cc road burner, boys and girls, and this baby hasn’t been spoken for yet.   It’s your ticket in to a great time!

It’s a 1969 Beetle, and it sure is tempting.   One thing about Steve…you just never know what’s going to turn up next!

When I stopped in at the plant yesterday afternoon, that beautiful bug sure caught my attention.   I had a Beetle back in the 1970s and it was one of the best cars I’ve ever owned.  Steve put a new interior in this one, he added the chrome caps, and he’s done a whole lot more.   I actually sat in it a bit, and it felt good.   And you know what?  When I closed the door, it still had that rock solid, pressure-chamber-closing feel to it.   So please, give Steve a call (800 884 4173) and buy it before I do!

A few days ago I told you about TK selling bikes two at a time, and how he had outdone himself by not only selling two bikes at the same time, but selling them to twins!  Actual twins!

Well, folks, that build is just about complete….

There are a few more options to go on each of these classic red P-51 Classics (in my favorite color, no less), and the twins who bought them will be here this month to take ownership.   You can bet I’ll be there with my Nikon for that event!

We’re hooked on American Pickers.  I’ve mentioned that show a few times before here on the blog.  I like it.  A lot.   It’s great entertainment, the people are fascinating, it’s Americana, and they do a lot with motorcycles.   Mark my words…one of these days we’ll see them buying a Mustang.   Both Frank and Mike are gearheads, and they find interesting things.   Susie and I record every one of those shows on the DVR and we watch them at our leisure.   She loves it as much as I do.

The American Pickers episode we watched last night featured a Royal Pioneer motorcycle.  I thought I knew a lot about motorcycles, but I had never heard of Royal Pioneer.   Small wonder, as only 4 are known to exist and only about 500 were manufactured back in 1910.   The boys bought a basket case for, get this, $55,000!

The Royal Pioneer motorcycle

You know, there’s more to American Pickers than just watching a couple of cool dudes and their delightful inked-up assistant buying cool stuff.  If you think about it, it’s really a subliminal education on how business works.   Buy low, buy quality, rarity counts, treat everybody well, and sell at a profit.   I love it.

The other training topic American Pickers handles well is negotiation.   These guys view negotiation not as an adversarial endeavor, but rather, a situation in which the buyer and seller are working together to find common ground.   Backing off when things aren’t moving forward, bundling things to reach agreement, gentle suggestions…it’s all there.   The show could be titled Negotiation 101 (it wouldn’t be as catchy a title, but it sure would be accurate).  I love negotiating.   It’s a grand game and I love playing it.

Just the other day I took advantage of a negotiating opportunity.  You know I’m a firearms enthusiast.    I enjoy shooting and I enjoy reloading.   I’m always on the lookout, too, for a few guns I still have on my wish list.   One such firearm on the “someday” list has been a 300 Weatherby Magnum.   I’ve been watching the Internet auction boards for 5 or 6 years now looking for one that was priced right, realizing I’d still have to pay the transfer fees, etc., to bring it in from wherever to California.

Why a Weatherby?  Well, I once met Roy Weatherby.  He was a hell of man and a personal hero.   He designed his own rifles and cartridges.   The 300 Weatherby Magnum is his signature cartridge.   It’s why I wanted one.

So one day a couple of weeks ago Susie and I had lunch in Pasadena with a fellow from India.    That meeting may someday lead to another secret mission (this time to the subcontinent, which might be interesting as I’ve never been there).   But all that’s beside the point.    On the way home, the traffic was terrible (it was the Friday before the Labor Day holiday).   We diverted to surface streets on the way back and, what do you know, I spotted a little gun store (“The Gunrunner” in Duarte).    We stopped in and they had a consignment rifle…and it was the one I’d been seeking for several years.  A 300 Weatherby Magnum with a scope, a sling, and a case.  It looked new to me, but it was used.   Used, and in “as new” condition.

“How much?” I asked.

“$500,” the sales guy replied.   Hmmmmm.   That was actually a great price.   It was an especially great price considering I wouldn’t have to bring it in from out of state, there would be no freight or transfer fees, its condition was stellar, and it was what I had wanted for a long time.  I  didn’t answer, but I kept looking at the rifle.   Susie just stared daggers at me.    That’s another negotiating trick.   Bring your significant other with you and have her pretend to be opposed to your purchasing whatever it is you want to purchase.   In this case, though, I’m not so sure she was pretending…

I was just about to say okay when the sales guy spoke up again.

“How about $500 and I’ll pick up the DROS fees,”  he said.    (The “DROS fees” are the fees associated with the background checks, etc., so the State of California can be certain I won’t run out and hold up a gas station with the thing.)

“Make it $475 and we’ve got a deal,” I said.

And that’s how you get ‘r done, folks, as another one of my heroes would say.

My "new to me" 300 Weatherby

The test target provided with every new Weatherby...this one grouped 3 shots into an inch at 100 yards!

That’s it for now, folks…the President is about to give his address to the nation, and I don’t want to miss that!

Ride safe and stay tuned…