CSC Blog

Wow, the last few months have just been a blur, with no end in sight…I’ve been on the road a lot!  Some of it on motorcycles…

And a lot of it in the air…

Some of it to exotic locales….

With exotic drinks…

And exotic foods…

Some of it in the US…

And some of it to locales overseas with extremely advanced manufacturing capabilities…

And some of it with cool stuff that’s a couple of centuries old, like this cool old mortar referred to as “the Dictator..”

And there’s lots more to come, folks…

I’m off to the windy city and then China next month (hopefully before it gets too hot), on to Baja for another bike trip, and then northern British Columbia (hopefully before it gets too cold).   You can bet that I’ll keep an eye out for cool bike stuff and great photo ops along the way, and I’ll be squeezing in great rides on the Baja Blaster the entire time.    I’m hitting a lot of new places these days, but I sure wish I was riding with my good buddy Simon in India and across Europe!    Wow, is that ever going to be an adventure!  

I’m “wheels in the well” at 0:Dark:30 again tomorrow, and then I’ll be back in the new plant for a few days.

And, I’m happy to tell you that we’ve received a whole bunch of suggested captions for that photo below with TK moving one of the CSC trikes around.   Keep ’em coming (you can email your suggested captions to me at jberk@californiascooterco.com), and we’ll announce a winner at the end of next week!

Ride safe and stay tuned, my friends…

Here’s our good buddy Simon Gandolfi spreading the word around the world on California Scooter Company.   And when we say spreading the word around the world, that’s what we really mean.  Simon is in the editorial offices of India’s premier bike magazine, xBhp, in Delhi, India!

And here’s a shot of Simon with xBhp’s editorial staff!

Simon’s getting ready to ride from Delhi to London.   This is going to be an awesome adventure!

One of my favorite photos from the move….that’s TK on the forklift!

We’ll take entries for the caption that best goes with this photo through the end of next week, and we’ll give the winner a free CSC T-shirt!   Send them to me at jberk@californiascooterco.com!

You guys will remember our good friend and CSC rider Joel…

Our good buddy Joel at the start of our fuel economy testJoel in the hills above Malibu

Joel is a Cal Poly Pomona mechanical engineering student who is graduating pretty soon.  He recently posted this video on Facebook…it’s an internal combustion engine video created with Solidworks (one of the key engineering design programs our engineers learn at Cal Poly)…

Nice work, Joel, and congratulations on your approaching graduation!

This just in from Alan Spears regarding The Real Cannonball…a small-displacement scooter and motorcycle run from New York City to Redondo Beach…

The Real Cannonball Race Results:  Dr. Hixon won 1st Place Overall on his 70cc kitted Aprilia RS-50! BRAVO! CONGRATS!

Two Ninja 250cc, Bill and Deb, tied for second.

Stan’s Honda Helix 250cc broke in Barstow.

My Gilera 175cc broke just outside of Needles.  

Ryan (250cc) and Arthur (175cc) did not start.

A third 250cc motorcycle (Honda CBR250-R?) did not start, but made it as far as a New Jersey motel.

So three “Loopers” — aka Murar’s Marauders  — were the only ones to finish, taking the top spots.

I have no clue what mechanical ailments Stan’s Helix suffered.  Despite the problems with the exhaust, I probably could have nursed the Gilera to Redondo Beach had I been able to install the spare drive belt. Oh, well. . . that’s racing, eh?

Pix to follow. 

Alan Spears, President/CEO, http://www.motorscooterlandspeedfederation.org 

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This is exciting stuff, folks.  

Just imagine…riding across the US on a 70cc bike…and winning!

When I received the above email from our good buddy Alan, I immediately responded and asked for his permission to post his update on the CSC blog. 

Our good buddy Alan Spears at the MSILSF LSR trials

Alan was kind to give us permission to do so, and then a short while later I received a phone message from my good buddy Bill Murar.  You will remember Bill as the fellow who rode a California Scooter in the Lake Erie Loop about three years ago.   That was a 600+ mile one day circumnavigation around Lake Erie on a California Scooter. 

Bill Murar, motorcyclist extraordinaire, in the CSC jacket he wore during The Real Cannonball

Bill wanted us to know that he wore his California Scooter jacket during entire Real Cannonball coast-to-coast run, and I wanted to share that information with you!

Chasing Arlene and TK into Death Valley on the Hell's Loop run

And Alan is one of our great friends…he’s the guy who organized the Death Valley Hell’s Loop run (Arlene, TK, and I rode in that one), the Salton Sea races (Arlene and Joel rode their California Scooters in that event), and the International Land Speed trials (CSC took the trophy in the hybrid 150cc class when Syl Binau rode our specially-prepared LSR bike).  

Syl setting the Land Speed Record on a specially-prepared CSC motorcycle!

All good stuff!   Alan and Bill, a tip of our helmets to you for your great results in The Real Cannonball!  And Alan…a special thanks to you for all the great work you do in organizing these awesome events!

Yep, we’re in the new plant and we’re open for business!   Stop by to see us!

The new facility is awesome.  We’re at 1331 West Foothill Boulevard in Azusa, just off the 210 freeway and right across the street from Costco!

Our phone numbers, email, and everything else stays the same, except we have a more modern and much more accessible plant and showroom now!  We’ll be announcing a grand opening celebration in the near future, but we are in the new plant and we are ready to make a new CSC motorcycle just for you.

I saw the bike above on the Cal Poly campus during a lull in the rainstorms we experienced in So Cal yesterday.   A Duck in the rain…how cool is that?  I don’t know who the rider is, but he must be one hard core dude (or dudette, as the case may be) if he or she was out in that rain yesterday!   You’ll notice that the Ducati above was the only bike out there…normally, that stretch of parking space is grip-to-grip packed with motorcycles.

The sun is gingerly peeking out today, so if I get home early enough I may fire up the old Baja Blaster and grab a few photos.  Keep an eye on the blog tomorrow and you’ll know!

Wow.  Rain.  Here in So Cal.   Who’d have thought?   

When I woke up this morning it was still dark outside, but I could hear the rain.   No riding for me today.   Just as well, I suppose…Mondays are always long days for me and I suppose a nice dry ride in the Subie listening to my XM radio would be just the ticket.  Love that XM…music from the ’40s, the ’50s, the ’60s, my right wing radio, comedy, and whatever else you can think of, without the endless and annoying commercials…

But hey, back to the plant!

The new plant in Azusa, California!

Saturday morning I took a ride over to the new plant, and folks, it’s exciting!   Steve was there with a full crew, putting up new racks in the warehouse, overseeing construction, and all the stuff that goes with a major move.  

This is going to be a great location for us.   We’re right on Foothill Boulevard directly across the street from a Costco (love that store), and we’ll be a lot more accessible to the public compared to our Brackett Airfield location.   The move is a good thing.

Our new showroom area before we move the bikes...

I’ll keep posting new photos as our move progresses, but let me share another whimsical picture with you.   On my way home from the plant, I stopped on the Cal Poly campus again and I walked by the turtle pond.   I caught a photo of this guy and I wanted to share it with you…

So what are you looking at?

That turtle was fascinated by me and my camera.    He was checking me out like I owed him money.  It’s a guy thing, I guess. I just like taking pictures of turtles.  I’ll have some photos of motorcycles for you soon.   I promise.

Later, folks!

Yep, we’ve been hard at it…upgrading our website and making the move to our new facility in Azusa.  I’m riding over to the new plant a little later this morning, and we’ve been adding new things to the CSC website since the rooster crowed this morning!  Stop by and check out our new navigation buttons when you get a chance on the updated CSC website!

There’s another great Destinations piece in Motorcycle Classics magazine this month, and it’s on the USS Alabama museum in, well, Alabama!   

Sue and I visited the Alabama about a year ago, and Motorcycle Classics ran several stories we did on cool spots to visit in the southeastern United States.   Working with Landon, Richard, and the crew at Motorcycle Classics is great fun.   We’ve got a new travel series coming up soon, so keep an eye on Motorcycle Classics.    I think it’s the best moto mag in print, and a lot of folks agree with me!