Okay, maybe I’m a little predisposed in favor of CSC Motorcycles, but when I watched this video one thought kept occurring to me…this fellow could be describing a California Scooter.
Listen to the words Don Hall uses when describing the Brough Superior, one of the world’s all time great classic motorcycles. Don’s words describe us perfectly, with the possible exception of that part about the guaranteed 100 mph…
The CSC Greaser...flat black, red wheels, and gangster whitewalls...
A CSC Classic in blue...this is a stunning color, especially with wire wheels, chrome wheels, or chrome billet wheels...
A CSC Classic in black...this is one of our most popular bikes...
A red Classic...my colors...I have the Greaser's red wheels on my bike, too...
One of our newest colors...Vintage Green...this one has wire wheels...
And another one of our new colors...Burgundy...and it looks great with wire wheels, too...
One of my all time favorites...our Military Series in Desert Camo...
The only colors I’m not showing in this blog entry are Grabber Orange, the Babydoll, and our customs. You can see the Babydoll a blog entry or two down. The Grabber Orange bikes went out almost immediately…I had to hustle to get a photo while the guys were putting the last one in the crate (you can see that a few entries below, too). And I’ll keep you posted on our customs as we create them…
Oh, and one more photo…Jim Swanson, our VMMC guy, also rides a Triumph. He and I talked about that this morning, and he stopped by just a little while ago on his very cool green Bonneville. Sensing a photo op, the guys helped out by setting a Vintage Green Classic in front of Jim’s Bonneville…and here it is…
Classic Vintage Green bikes and wire wheels...Andy, Jim, Lupe, and Tony with a new CSC and Jim's Bonneville...
Jim Swanson, a 2nd-generation VMMC rider
Jim Swanson is realizing a first…his CSC bike will have black-and-white police colors. Jim’s not a police officer…he’s a Victor McLaglen Motor Corps rider! Victor McLaglen was a movie star back in the 1930s who had an interest in motorcycles and precision drill teams, and he created and sponsored the VMMC. These guys are impressive. I’ve seen them perform several times, and each time is a real treat. You gotta check out the VMMC video at the end of this blog; trust me, you’ll enjoy it.
Jim stopped by the factory this morning to deliver his custom painted CSC tank and fenders (he had the VMMC guy paint them to match the team’s colors), and we’ll be assembling the bike next week. It’s a special bike, and we’re going to have Wade put the bike together in our Pro-One shop (Wade’s our motorcycling Michelangelo, a maestro of all things metal). I’ll catch some video and a few still photos as the bike comes together, so keep an eye on our blog.
We had a nice surprise when Jim stopped in this morning…not only did he bring his newly-painted bodywork…he also bought an original framed Mustang ad for us to hang in our factory. It’s pretty cool and it’s very classy, but so is Jim. I had a great conversation with Jim and I learned that not only is he a VMMC rider, but he is a second generation rider (his father rode with the team, too). We are really looking forward to seeing Jim riding his California Scooter with the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps.
Jim, thanks very much. Ride safe and have fun.
And here’s the VMMC video I mentioned…this is great!
This one went to California Kristy, and her Dad bought a black Classic at the same time…
California Kristy's new Babydoll...one of the prettiest bikes we've ever built!
We love building and selling these beautiful bikes, and we especially love selling them two at a time!
Kristy’s bike is a real eye-catcher. It’s got a white leather fringe seat, our Lucky 13 chrome billet wheels, and a chrome pipe. Other than that, it’s a stock Babydoll, and those bikes already look great. The options Kristy added, though, put this one in a league all by itself.
Kristy and her Dad are in our neighborhood, so we’ll be seeing them on the road. We sell a lot of bikes in California (and elsewhere, for that matter), and I’m looking forward to riding with all of our customers this year.
I spent a lot of time staring at this bike today…it looks that good. Tony, the boys, and Lupe outdid themselves on this one.
Kristy, you are your Dad are going to enjoy some great rides!
Good news, folks, and an opportunity to dress up your CSC motorcycle…for the rest of April, we’re running a special sale on our chrome billet aluminum mirrors. These are stunningly good-looking accessories that ordinarily retail for $79.95 each…but through the end of April, you can buy these for just $59.95 each!
These mirrors add a custom touch to any California Scooter, and their billet construction works real well with the rest of the billet parts on your bike. Just give us a call at 800 884 4173, and they’ll be on their way to you!
We get phone calls from time to time with this question: What oil should I use in my California Scooter?
In our California Scooter Owner’s Manual, we recommended using oil with a service classification of SG, which is what several other motorcycle manufacturers have done. SG oil doesn’t contain any friction inhibitors, and that’s what you want in a motorcycle engine with a wet clutch (like ours). If you use automotive oil with these friction inhibitors, they’ll cause the clutch to slip.
The problem with the SG rating (as we and every other manufacturer found out) is that it is obsolete, and there is no direct replacement grade for it that everyone agrees to. It’s caused a lot of confusion. The American Petroleum Institute said SJ is the same, but BMW and several others disagreed with that. They and others jumped through hoops just like we have been doing with this same issue. I’m the culprit here at CSC, as I’m the guy that put it in our Owner’s Manual, and I subjected us to the same confusion as the other guys suffer. Mea culpa.
So, here’s the gospel:
Stay away from automotive oils with “energy conserving” or “friction inhibitors” (that’s just about all of them). Just don’t use car oil in your California Scooter.
Use a good non-synthetic motorcycle oil with either a 10W-40 or a 10W-30 rating for at least the first thousand miles. We use Drag Specialties, like you see in the picture below. You want to use a non-synthetic oil because it will allow the engine to wear in properly. You can use it after the first 1000 miles, too, if you want. It’s what we put in our new bikes. We can sell it to you, too (it’s $9.95 a quart).
After the first 1000 miles, you can switch to a good motorcycle synthetic oil. The one I like a lot is Mobil 1 4T Racing Oil. Don’t use regular Mobil 1 (the stuff cars use); you want Mobil 1 4T. When I made the switch to this oil in my California Scooter, my bike ran a bit more smoothly and it shifted a little easier. I think it’s good stuff. You can buy this oil from us for $11.49 per quart. We keep it in stock (it’s a bit tough to find).
CSC Preferred Oils. Use Drag Specialties 10W-40 for the first 1000 miles (or more). After the first 1000 miles, you can switch to Mobil 1 4T synthetic oil (or you can continue to use the Drag Specialties oil at each oil change).
If you need either of the above oils, give us a call, and we’ll ship it right out.
Changing Your Oil
Changing your oil is a pretty simple affair on a California Scooter. I always ride my bike around a bit to warm it up, and then I let it cool just a bit. You want to get the oil warmed up and circulating so that any sludge is swept away when you change the oil.
After that, I’ll put a pan under the bike and unscrew the filler cap/dipstick (on the right side of the engine) and the drain plug underneath the engine. You can see the drain plug in the photo below.
The CSC oil drain plug...it's a 17mm
The next thing I do is unscrew the oil filter screen cover. It’s located down on the lower left side of the engine…you can see it in the photo below.
The filter screen cover...it's a 23mm and it's on the engine's left side.
With the oil filter screen cover removed, you can remove the filter screen and the spring that secures it. It’s gonna look like what the photos below show.
It's a bit tough to see, but this shows the engine with the filter screen cover removed.
Here’s what that filter screen looks like.
Here's the screen, the spring, and the cover.
If you see any metal filings or other debris in the screen, just wash them out. It’s normal for an engine (especially during the break in period) to have a few metal filings show up on the screen, so if you see these, don’t worry about it. It’s what engines do, and it’s why the screen is there.
Now, about that cover that holds the filter screen in…that’s one for which you probably won’t have a socket in your tool kit. The cover is aluminum, so don’t try to get by without the right socket because you might round the flats. It’s a 23mm, and that’s an unusual size. I thought I had every socket I’d ever need, but the first time I changed the oil in my CSC, I had to make a run to the local AutoZone to pick up a 23mm.
It's a 23mm you'll need for the filter screen cover, and a 17mm for the oil drain plug.
Once you’ve drained the oil, you should pick the bike up off of its sidestand to make sure all of the oil drains, and then replace the filter, the screen, the filter screen cover, and the drain plug. The bike takes just one quart of oil, so all you need to do is put one quart of your preferred flavor (as outlined at the beginning of this blog) into the dipstick hole. After you’ve done that, screw the dipstick back in, start the bike, and let it warm up for a few minutes. You’ll want to check to make sure nothing’s leaking, and then shut the bike off and check the oil.
Checking the oil is a tiny bit tricky, too. You need to check the oil level after the bike is has warmed up, and you need to have the bike level. Don’t screw in the dipstick when you’re checking the oil level, as doing so will give you an erroneous reading. Just push it in to where the threads start, and then pull it out. Here’s what it should it look like…
The oil level should be at the top of the cross-hatched area, as the arrow shows.
That’s it. When you’re done, screw the dipstick back in, and then get out and ride!
On the road and in the wind...with a fresh oil change!
So whaddaya think of that YouTube video below? I’ll tell you what…every time I watch it, I think there’s no way I’d ever try something like that. I’m still recovering from a broken leg, and I sure don’t need another one. What those downhill bicycle racing guys do is just plain nuts. I’ll take a much safer hobby, like riding motorcycles.
My recovery is coming along nicely, but it’s still gonna be a few weeks before I’m able to ride my CSC motorcycle, and maybe a little less time until I can hop in my Corvette. The Vette’s got a 6-speed manual transmission and a very heavy clutch, and I can’t push the clutch in yet.
My toys, largely ignored for the last several weeks...
Anyway, thinking about it over the weekend, I realized it’s been 4 or 5 weeks since I fired up the Vette, and probably a couple of months since I started my California Scooter. That’s not an uncommon thing for folks in the US who own motorcycles. If we don’t use them for everyday transportation the way people elsewhere in the world do, the batteries go flat, and that’s not good. You can sometimes bring a dead battery back to life, but the best way to maximize battery life is to keep it charged all the time (you should never let a battery get completely run down).
Fortunately for us, there’s a pretty easy way to keep a battery charged. I use a Battery Tender. They are inexpensive (I think mine was about $30), and they won’t overcharge a battery. The Battery Tender has a built in circuit that senses a full charge, and from that point on, it adds just enough juice to keep it topped off. You can’t do that with other battery chargers if they don’t have an overcharge feature, and you can ruin a battery if you overcharge it. It’s not a problem with a Battery Tender, though. You can just leave it connected until you’re ready to ride, and your battery will be fully charged. I think I can feel a difference when the battery is fully charged…a motorcycle just seems to perform better.
Battery Tenders are easy to use. Plugging one into a wall socket is a slam dunk. Hooking it up to your battery is only slightly more complicated. There are two alligator clips at the end of the Battery Tender wire. The red one always goes to the battery’s positive terminal (the one with the red insulating boot), and the black one can either go to the battery’s negative terminal (the one with a black insulating boot) or to any other grounded metal part on your California Scooter. I hook my negative Battery Tender clip to the muffler bolt, like you see in the photo. It’s easy to get to.
Red goes to red, and black goes to black (or anyplace that's grounded)
A bit of advice here…when you are making these connections, take off all your jewelry. If any jewelry contacts the battery’s positive terminal and any other part of the motorcycle, it’s gonna be bad. Just take off the rings and your watch first.
The green light means the battery is fully charged
When you plug a Battery Tender into the wall socket, it first blinks with a red light. When you connect the charging leads to the battery, the blinking red light will turn to a solid red (no blinking) until the battery is fully charged. Once the battery is fully charged, the red light turns green (like you see in the photo). You can just leave it hooked up like this until you’re ready to ride.
If you hook up a Battery Tender and the light stays red for days on end, your battery is toast. It needs to be replaced. Batteries don’t last forever. If you get two years or more out of a motorcycle battery (that’s on any motorcycle, not just a California Scooter), pat yourself on the back…you’ve done good.
I forgot to hook my batteries to their Battery Tenders before I went in to get my leg squared away. I have two Battery Tenders, and this weekend I hooked one up to my red Classic, and the other to my Corvette. As I mentioned above, I hadn’t started either of my toys in more than a month. The California Scooter charged in about two hours. The Vette took a good three days (it’s a much bigger battery).
I hope you got a charge out of this blog (sorry, couldn’t resist that). I found writing it to be electrifying (oops, another one). If you already knew all about keeping your battery charged (and I’ll bet a lot of you did), don’t be negative (ah, there I go again) and don’t blow a fuse (hmmm…). You might find it shocking (uh oh) that a lot of people are in the dark about these things (gee whiz), so get them hooked up (oh boy) and turn them on to it (not another one!). They’ll find it illuminating.
I’m positive.
Wow…it’s not motorized, it’s not a California Scooter, and it’s not even in the US, but what an event! It’s the Valparaiso Cerro Abajo Race, a downhill bicycle race held in February in Valparaiso, Chile. Sit back, buckle up, and take a look at this, boys and girls…
I spend a lot of time on the Internet. Less now than I used to, but still a lot of time. One of the things I thoroughly enjoy is reading blogs, especially if they involve travel on motorcycles. And if the travel is across an international border, I’m in. But you guys already know that, because I told you all about Dave Barr and Simon Gandolfi several months ago in this blog. I’ve struck up friendships with both guys through the Internet. In Dave Barr’s case, I actually rode out to his home in Bodfish, California, and rode around Lake Isabella with him. Dave was on his round-the-world ’72 Harley, and it was a cool ride. In Simon’s case, I struck up an Internet friendship that resulted in his flying to Los Angeles and riding a California Scooter all the way down to Cabo San Lucas and back.
Lois Pryce and a matching CSC motorcycle!
What impressed me mightily about Simon and Dave is that they essentially did their world motorcycle travels on their own. You may remember a few years ago that a couple of rich English dudes went around the world on BMWs, but that didn’t impress me too much. Those dudes had an army of support staff and vehicles traveling with them, and it just didn’t seem like much of an adventure to me. They even did a TV show about it. I think they called it The Expensive, Well Supported, Zero Risk Way Down or something. Whatever.
Doing it on your own, however, is much more of an adventure. Doing it on a small bike (Simon used a 125cc Honda pizza delivery bike) or a beater (Dave Barr did it on an old Harley Superglide that had 100,000 miles on the clock when he started his trip) made those trips even more special to me. These are guys I call adventurers.
This is a great story
Maybe I’m sexist. I just think it takes enormous courage to do this…and even more if you’re a woman. Alone. Wow! I bought her book (Lois on the Loose), and it was Wow! all over again. Lois on the Loose is a great read. I sent Lois an e-mail after I read it, telling her how much I enjoyed it. She sent an e-mail thanking me.
My own signed copy of Lois On The Loose!
Hey, lot’s of interesting things coming our way…
John, Arlene, and Desiree just returned from their Baja trip, and it sounds like they had a blast. John stopped by my place for dinner on his way home last night, and we heard a lot about how much fun they had. I sure wished I could have gone with them this time. And this morning, Arlene sent me a few photos she grabbed down there…this one is my favorite…
Arlene's Go Go Gear Bike in Baja's Vizcaino Desert
Arlene’s bike has one of our corporate custom paint jobs on it to match the Go Go Gear logo, and it’s a real honey. Arlene will post a comprehensive trip report on her Go Go Gear blog this weekend, so keep your eye on it…I guarantee you her blog will be great!
Arlene, John, and Desiree made it all the way down to Catavina on their first night (that’s a long haul!), and she grabbed this great shot of her CSC motorcycle parked among a few other bikes…
Parked among the Harleys in Catavina...
One of my Vizcaino Desert buddies
Susie and I are having dinner with Arlene and Desiree at our favorite Italian restaurant tonight (it’s Di Pilla’s in Rosemead), so I’ll learn more about this latest adventure over my angel hair pasta with pesto sauce and mushrooms. But I’ve already heard a great story from Arlene and John…
When we did the first big CSC Baja trip, it was the first time Arlene was going deep into the heart of Baja. She sent an email to me asking about snakes, spiders, and other creepy crawley critters. Not wishing to miss an opportunity, I sent Arlene a long email about how dangerous it was down there because (I told her) the rattlesnakes, the tarantulas, and other venomous desert demons are everywhere. I told her that every time you stop your motorcycle in Baja, you better make sure you look where you put your foot down, because there’s no telling what kind of critter might be waiting to strike. I was laying it on pretty thick, but it was all baloney. Arlene realized that and we had a good laugh about it.
So what happend on this trip? When the crew arrived at John’s place in Bahia de los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez, they looked under a tire by John’s house and…you guessed it…there was a very nervous rattlesnake staring back at them! Ah, if only I’d been there with my Nikon!
Building the In-N-Out bike was a blast!
Okay, so, back to more good stuff, and in particular, our corporate customs. You may remember that we build these special bikes from time to time. Our guys can build and paint a bike to showcase any organization’s logo, theme, colors, etc., and we’re really good at it. We love doing it, mostly because we love building bikes and we especially love doing customs. It’s just plain fun.
One of the most exciting ones we’ve ever done is the In-N-Out burger bike. That was an enormously fun project, and the resulting bike was magnificent. Well, as I mentioned a few blog entries ago, we’re doing another project bike for In-N-Out, and the excitement around the plant is incredible.
Going once...Going twice....Sold! For over $8K! All going to the In-N-Out Charitable Foundation!
Many of you who live in the southwestern US already know about In-N-Out, but some of you who do not may not know the story of this fine organization. In a word, they make the best burgers on the planet. That’s not hyperbole; it’s fact. In-N-Out is an organization that lives the words “quality” and “service,” and if you’ve ever been there, you know what I’m talking about. They’re small (they are not a giant chain), they don’t franchise, and they are fanatics about treating their guests right, keeping their quality ultra high, and having the cleanest restaurants in the world. And the burgers…wow…they are delightfully delicious. I just can’t say enough about how good they are. Going there is always a treat, and it always makes me feel like a kid again. It’s the Epicurean equivalent of riding a California Scooter!
Only yesterday there was a big story in the LA Times about a new burger chain that the Times thought might challenge In-N-Out’s top rankings in the restaurant business. The LA Times gets things wrong a lot, and this was a story that was clearly in that category…no one can approach In-N-Out’s position in the industry. Just last night my daughter told me she tried the other chain, and I asked her how it compared to In-N-Out. “It’s no contest, Dad. In-N-Out is hands down the best!”
So, keep your eyes peeled on this blog, boys and girls, and we’ll keep you updated on the next In-N-Out bike as it comes together. Oh boy…this is gonna be fun!
Okay, one more bit of info before I sign off for today. From time to time we get questions about how we ship the bikes…so here ya go. Here’s a photo I grabbed yesterday of a bike just before we put the cardboard cover over it…
A Grabber Orange CSC, headed east...
Boxed up, and snug as a bug in a rug...
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer
TT250 Enduro
RX1E Electric Motorcycle