CSC Blog

When I visited the plant yesterday, Twin Peaks Steve was in getting a new rear tire for his beautiful black Bobber.   Our gangster whitewalls sure work on a black bike, and in particular, Steve’s Bobber.  It’s one of the best-looking motorcycles we’ve ever made!

The Twin Peaks Steve Bobber! Check out the whitewalls!

The weather yesterday was so outstanding Twin Peaks Steve and I decided to go for a putt, and that’s just what we did.   We were having a nice chat when we both sort of realized we could be out riding, and we sure fixed that in a hurry.  The only problem was that I had driven my Subie over to the plant, so I was without a bike.   I looked around, the other Steve (i.e., the Boss) was busy doing something else, so I kind of snuck out on the Sarge.    It hadn’t been on the road for awhile, so I had Lupe give it a quick once-over before getting my knees in the breeze.

Lupe spinning up the Boss's Sarge before I snuck out on it...

Check out a few of these photos from our ride up Azusa Canyon, the East Fork Road, and Glendora Ridge Road…

Steve and his Bobber

That first shot above is at a stop along Azusa Canyon.   One of the Sarge’s mirrors was loose and it was bugging me that I couldn’t see who was behind me, so we stopped to tighten it up a bit.   I used to always carry a Swiss Army knife with me, but ever since 9/11 I stopped doing that (I had to give up one of those red beauties going through airport security a few years ago, so I just stopped carrying them).   Steve had tools on his bike, so we stopped and cinched the mirror down..and all was right with the world again…

Here’s another shot on the way up the East Fork Road.   These are some of my favorite places to ride, and I think you can see why…

Lots of twisties and lots of great riding...

The weather was perfect.    It was comfortable riding, and because it was during the week, we pretty much had the road to ourselves.  We stopped frequently to take in the beauty of this very special place, and to take a few pictures.

On the East Fork Road

We only saw two cars on Glendora Ridge Road, and one group of BMW riders.   The Beemer group had a couple of Triumphs mixed in, too.    The Beemers and the Triumphs were enormous, especially when you see them next to a California Scooter…

A close encounter of the third kind...

Seeing the Boss’s Sarge parked among the big Beemers made for an interesting shot…

Running with the big boys...

After the European gigondo bike contingent steamed away, Steve and I continued along Glendora Ridge Road. The road actually follows the ridgeline in several spots, so we stopped for another photo. Here’s Steve on his Bobber with Glendora Ridge Road in the background…

Twin Peaks Steve

Steve bought lunch for me at the Mt. Baldy Lodge, and then it was a quick run down the mountain and back to the plant.   The ride yesterday was a real treat for me.   Steve, thanks for a great time!

Ride safe and stay tuned, folks…

My good buddy Jerry sent this YouTube video to me, and as soon as I saw it I knew it was going on the blog.   It has nothing to do with motorcycles (or does it?…more on that in a moment), but in the meantime, take a look at this…

So back to this idea of bullets, bombs, bombers, and bikes…what’s the connection?

All of these things involve volume production, and that has led to some interesting family trees.   Many years ago I worked in the munitions industry.   What always struck me as fascinating was this:  One of our biggest competitors was none other than, yep, you guessed it:  Harley-Davidson.   Harley had a plant (somewhere in Pennsylvania, I believe) that manufactured bomb casings.

The linkage goes back further than that, though.   Ever hear of Enfield motorcycles?  Their history is long and interesting, and it includes production of Enfield rifles.   And how about BSA?  That actually stands for Birmingham Small Arms, and those folks manufactured rifles, too.  In fact, in the old days if you looked closely at the original BSA logo, it consisted of three stacked rifles.   BMW made engines and other things for the Germans in World War II.   And our very own Mustang was an offshoot of Gladden Products, an aerospace components manufacturer during World War II.   There’s even a thought that the original Mustang name was based on John Gladden’s aerospace work and the P-51 Mustang (one of the most beautiful airplanes ever made, in my opinion).

The aviation and military motif emerges constantly in both regular production and custom motorcycles, as exhibited by our first P-51 custom bike…one that sold within minutes of being posted on the blog…

That’s it for now, folks.  Twin Peaks Steve stopped by the plant a short while ago with his beautiful Bobber, and he and I are going for a ride.  In keeping with the theme of the day, I think I’ll sneak out on Steve’s personal ride…the Sarge!

Later, my friends…

The new customs, that is….the good folks at CSC Motorcycles continue the stream of custom motorcycles coming out of our top secret custom cycle works.  Take a look at the latest two…

The two customs above are shipping this week, and we have more coming down the line.   Whether it’s a stock CSC-150 motorcycle, the powerful new 250cc P-51 road rocket, a mildly-accessorized bike, or an all-out custom creation, we’ll build one exactly the way you want it!

And folks, we’ve got a bunch more waiting in the wings…

Look closely…does one of those frames have your name on  it?

Can we build one for you?

Folks, take a look at this red-white-and-blue Bobber!

It’s one of our very latest…a satin blue Bobber customized with red wheels and white wall tires!  I like it.  This particular bike is bound for Acapulco, Mexico, and the young lady it’s going to will have a very special motorcycle!

And here’s another cool photo…our good buddy Jimbo sent us a copy of his original Mustang and his CSC-150…he calls this photo “Five Decades Apart” because that’s the time warp from his Mustang to his CSC-150!

My good friend Jim goes all the way back to the original Mustang days…he was the Production Superintendent when Mustangs were manufactured in Glendale 50+ years ago!    Jimbo, thanks for a great photo!

I woke up at a ridiculous hour this morning and I couldn’t all asleep.   You know how that happens sometimes.   I was looking through earlier CSC blog entries and I found a few photographs I really like.  I thought you might enjoy seeing them, too, so here we go.

One of my favorites…a very young Sully with the ’53 Mustang…

Kevin having a good time…

Steve on his Mustang…

Tony and Sandy having a good time in front of the camera…

A charity raffle bike, red on red…this bike is what made me select the color combo I wanted…

Taking in a CSC-150…

Joel and Peter at the start of a great ride…

A custom paint job on a California Scooter tank…

A Mt . Baldy firefighter on my bike…

Building the In-N-Out bike…

That’s it for now, boys and girls.  I’m headed to the range with a couple of friends this morning to poke holes in paper.   If it’s not too hot later today I’m going to get out and ride…

Folks, we want your CSC photos.

If you have a shot of you and your California Scooter, or just of your bike, please shoot it to us in digital format.   You can email it to me at jberk@cscmotorcycles.com.   We want to run more of our riders’ rides here on the blog, so if you’ve got a shot please send it over to us.   I get email all the time and folks tell me they just love seeing other riders here on the blog.

When I was at the plant yesterday I noticed that the Euro project bike is lonely.  It’s the last of our special project bikes from the blowout sale we ran a week or so ago, and it wants to find a good home.   Steve or TK will work you a great deal on it (it’s the bike shown in the photo to the right).

Things are really jumping at the plant.  TK is selling bikes two at a time and the Pro-One side of the house is doing very well.   Steve has a long history of custom bikes and cars, not the least of which includes developing and selling VW Beetle performance and other parts.   I used to have a VW Beetle and this stuff is really intriguing.   Because of the Pro-One connection I’m more tuned in to noticing VWs, and there are still a lot of them out there.   While waiting for a light to change yesterday, I noticed three Beetles at the same intersection…and this is a car that went out of US production back in the 1970s!

We’re doing some things to upgrade our online presence in the Pro-One Facebook arena, and I’d like to ask another favor…sign up on Facebook and give a “like” to our CSC Motorcycles page (just  click on the link and you’ll get there), and our Pro-One Performance Products page (same deal…just click on the link).   When you get there, there will be a button that says “like.”   Click on that and both CSC and Pro-One updates will show up in your Facebook newsfeed.   We often show sales and other promotions on one or the other of these pages, so if you’re into Harleys, metric cruisers, hot VWs, or California Scooters, you’ll want to be a Facebook friend on these two pages.

That’s it for now, folks.   Ride safe and stay tuned!

Check out the great colors coming in for a couple of cool custom P-51s!

I know…I said a couple and that photo above actually shows three tanks.   The orange tank is one of our stock colors, but it’s so pretty I didn’t have the heart to take it out of the above photo.   It’s the center and left tank that are going on our next two custom bikes, and wow, the story behind them is cool!

Imagine a family so into CSC motorcycles they weren’t happy with just one, or two, or three…

Yep, the Todd family in Houston bought no fewer than four of these modern Mustangs!

The Todds started with two 250cc P-51 Classics (one in Ruby Red and the other in our classic Gloss Black).   Two bikes weren’t enough for the Todds, though…they came back with an order for two more!  Yes, friends, you read that right.  All four of the Todds are going to be rolling around in Houston on California Scooters!

The next two Todd cycles are custom bikes.   One has a theme we’ve sparingly used before…it’s the two-tone turquoise and white tank in middle of the above photo.   We did a Beach Cruiser in those colors about three years ago…it’s similar to our Baby Doll paint theme, except instead of pink and white it will be turquoise and white.  This is going to be a magnificent motorcycle.

The other Todd custom is an all-out green affair with silver accents.  When its painted parts arrived in the factory yesterday morning, the reaction was simple:   Wow!

Check out the tank for this bad boy, folks…

And how about the matching frame…

The Todds are going  all the way with this one…take a look at the detail parts…

We do quite a few custom bikes…it’s one of our greatest strengths.   And you know, you can get on a pretty wild custom California Scooter built to your specifications for a surprisingly small chunk of change.   These bikes are art, folks…art you can ride and admire.  It just doesn’t get too much better than that.

When I was in the plant yesterday, Steve shared some ideas he has in mind for his next two custom bikes.  Most of the time we build customs to our clients’ specifications, like the two described above.  On occasion, though, Steve does a wild bike or two just because it’s in his nature.  He’s an engineering artist, and he likes working with the P-51 palette to keep his creative talents tuned.

Steve is cooking up a couple of creative California Scooters that will be unlike any we’ve done before.   Consider an all black CSC motorcycle with styling cues from old German bikes.   Maybe another one based on a famous mechanical movie character.   Oh, he was on a roll yesterday…right down to the details on a set of custom-spoked wire wheels he has in mind.  Folks, it’s great fun being around the California Scooter Company.   When Steve spins up his creativity, though, the fun factor goes off the charts!

I’ll post more photos as the Todd bikes come together and share them with you right here on the blog, boys and girls.  Who knows…you might get an idea or two for your dream bike, and we’d sure be happy to build it for you!

Nope, this blog is not going to be a political rant…it’s about the History Channel’s newest reality TV show, God, Guns, and Automobiles…along with a couple of other great shows.

I’ll admit it…I used to think reality TV was for people born without brains. But I’ve changed and I think the shows have changed.   These newer shows aren’t about the real housewives of (fill in the blank) or the oppressive stupidity of single-digit IQ teenagers from New Jersey.   The new reality TV shows have gearheads as their target audience, and I’m one they’ve reached.   There are three in particular to which I’m addicted.  God, Guns, and Automobiles is just the newest.  American Pickers is definitely on the list, and so is Pawn Stars.

God, Guns, and Automobiles is great television entertainment.   I have my DVR set up to record every episode.   I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I watched two full episodes (I’m still struggling with the time change after returning from Asia).  If you haven’t seen this new show yet, folks, you should take a look.  It’s fun.

Steve is the guy who told me about the other two shows and I’m hooked on them, too.  We’ve similarly got the DVR set up to capture every episode of Pawn Stars and American Pickers.  There’s something about both shows that I really like, not the least of which is a healthy fixation on motorcycles, cars, and other neat stuff.   My good buddy TK has actually been to the Pawn Stars store in Las Vegas.   And get this:  Much to my surprise, my wife Susie shares my enthusiasm for both American Pickers and Pawn Stars.

There’s a lot of cool merchandise that floats into all of these shows.   Motorcycles, guns, cool cars, interesting antiques, and lots of Americana.  You get the idea.   Pawn shops, car dealerships, people who collect old stuff…all my life I’ve been unable to resist these things.  To this day, I still can’t pass a pawn shop without stopping in to see what they’ve got.   They are magnets for me.   Sometimes I’ve scored big, too, including once when I nailed a polished stainless steel .45 Colt automatic I’m taking to the range later today.   You know the excitement of such places….it’s that great feeling when you enter a place knowing there will be cool things inside.  Fun times, folks!

Later today (after playing around at the gun club), I’ll be swinging by the shop.  Steve has a couple of custom paint jobs he told me about and I want to see them…which means you’ll get to see them, too….so stay tuned, my friends!

That’s probably the best way to describe this bike.   I spotted it on my most recent adventure, parked in an outlying area of one of China’s largest cities…

There’s something about a well used and well worn machine that looks cool, and if patina sets the bar, the bike above is off the charts!

I was in Guangzhou, the same name you see on the tank above.  The bike was right outside the police station.   The police use 125s over there, and I guess that’s good enough for them.   It’s kind of funny, really.   Most of our police bikes have more than 10 times that displacement.

I’m just about back on US time after getting home very early Sunday morning.  We had heavy rain nearly the entire time I was overseas (trust me on this…monsoon season in the tropics is no fun), and that’s the reason for the blue hue in the photo above.   The flight back to LA had me squeezed into an A380 for 14 hours, and that was after weather delays of several hours in China.  The A380 is a monster of an airplane…it seats over 800 passengers and with that capacity you can guess the seats were tiny.   It sure felt good to be back in the USA after being sardined in that big ol’ tin can!

That’s it for now, folks.   I’ve got an errand or two to run this morning and I’m going to do it on the Baja Blaster.  You can bet mine won’t have the scrapes and scratches you see on the bike above!

Folks, my secret mission is just about over (it’s “wheels in the well” for me tomorrow), but it absolutely pales in comparison to what my good buddy Simon has been up to….you have to check this one out!

What an adventure, Simon!