CSC Blog

There’s lots more to come, folks…but in the meantime, a couple of teaser photos and a quick video…

Steve and TK took me to the VW drag races in Irwindale this morning, and all I can say is wowee!   How about a VW hitting 113 mph in 1/8 of a mile!  

Stay tuned, as there’s lots more to come!

Most folks know about the James Dean crash in his Porsche.  It happened right here in California about 150 miles north of where I am right now.    I’ve been through that intersection in my silver sports car (slowly, of course).

Dean and his car make for an iconic image….

A couple of days ago TK grabbed these photos in front of our plant.   Fibersteel (http://www.fibersteel.net/catalog/) manufactures kits to build replicas, and from the looks of these photos, they really nailed it…yep, this is a replica, folks…

Those are great photos, TK, and thanks for sending them to me.

Here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know…James Dean only got that car because someone else turned it down.   The Dean Porsche was originally ordered by another person who decided he didn’t want it after it arrived at the dealer.   I met that man, and I can tell you he was a far more interesting person and he accomplished way more than James Dean ever would have.   Interestingly, their last names rhymed.   But that’s another story for another time…if you want to know about it, let me know.

Later, folks….the water heater broke at my house today, and after mopping up, I’m hanging around waiting for the plumber to arrive.   

And we’ll have photos of them right here, folks…but for now, take a look at this beauty! 

Keep your eyes on the blog…there’s more coming!

As you may know, I teach in the College of Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona.  We teach more than a few technical topics, and we also try to teach our students life skills.   One of those is being on time.   I don’t like it when people are late and I ordinarily make a fuss when a student is late to class.   The way I view it, it’s part of the maturation process, and there are seldom good reasons for being late (usually when a student is late it’s because they overslept).   I’m kind of a meanie about being late, the students know it, and they’re not late very often.

This morning one of my students, a young lady who is normally prompt and always submits exemplary work, was about 10 minutes late for our 8:00 a.m. class.   When she walked into class, she was carrying a full face helmet.  I had to ask… 

“What do you ride?”

“A Zuma,” she answered.  “I’m sorry I’m late.”

That’s a scooter, I knew.   A 125cc step-through scooter.  

Hmmm.

“And where did you ride from?” I asked.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said.

“Yeah, I get that,” I said.   “So where did you ride from?”

“Yucaipa.  I’m sorry I’m late.”

Yucaipa.   Wow.   That’s about 60 miles from the University, and that’s if you take the freeway.   Which she couldn’t have done, because you can’t ride on the freeway unless your bike is a 150cc or larger.  But I asked the question, anyway…

“Do you ride on the freeway?” I asked.

“No, my bike isn’t legal on the freeway.   I take the surface streets,”  she said.   “I’m sorry I’m late.”

I was shocked.  That’s about a 75-mile commute.   On surface streets.  On a 125cc scooter.

I wasn’t thinking at all about her being late.   A commute all the way from Yucaipa on a scooter.   That’s what had my attention.  I was impressed…maybe even a bit in awe.  I had thought about riding my California Scooter to school this morning (it’s about an 18-mile ride), but I wussed out because it was too cold.

“How long does it take you to get here on that 125?”  I asked.  

“Usually about an hour and 40 minutes,” she said, “but there was an accident on one of the roads, so it took two hours this morning.   I’m sorry I’m late.”

Wow again.  This student is one hard core rider.  She reminded me of Arlene, my Baja riding buddy. 

And no, I couldn’t be a blue meanie because she was 10 minutes late.  Not after riding a 125cc scooter for two hours.  From Yucaipa. 

This young woman is going to be a dynamite engineer.  Whoever hires her will be lucky.   And I’ll bet she’ll be on time every day.

I saw this cutie yesterday just after Lupe finished it…

That fringed seat really works.   I have the same one on the Baja Blaster but in black, and I like it.

Well, it’s early here, folks…back to my cup of coffee and reading the newspapers.

So when I was exploring the shop today, I spotted these wheels waiting to go on the next bikes coming down the line…

As my good buddy Elmer Fudd would say (and if you’ll pardon a really bad pun), they’re wheely cool!  We make a wot of wheely cool wheels, folks!  

Wire wheels, billet aluminum, chromed billet aluminum, painted billet wheels, two tone billet wheels, painted stock wheels, and more.   And those are just our standard stock and custom wheel offerings.   There’s wheely no limit on what we can do.  On occasion, we’ll even customize our custom wheels, like we did on this set of pin-striped and painted billet wheels for our good buddy Indiana James…

In addition to our wheel choices, you can also order our diamond pattern gangster whitewall tires.   They dress a bike up even more…in fact, I need a new set of tires on my Baja Blaster and I’m thinking about the whitewalls.   They sure look cool.

You know, on this topic of custom wheels, I think what would really look cool is a set of wire wheels with chrome spokes and powder coated rims.  I’m thinking black powder coated rims on a black Classic, or maybe on a red Classic.   Or maybe the ones on the red Classic should have red powder coated rims.   That would look cool.

Okay, that’s enough thinking out loud for now, folks. 

As always, ride safe, my friends…

I had to share this great photo with you, folks…it’s Burbank John with his awesome P-51 250cc California Scooter…

John, it was good seeing you today and we look forward to seeing you out on the road!

We do a lot of company logo bikes…you know, bikes with a custom tank showing a company’s logo.   When I stopped by the plant earlier today, Lupe showed me this cool one we just completed for the Racing Power Company.   The good folks over at RPC are going to display it at the upcoming SEMA show.

You know, our custom touches range from mild to wild, and what really struck me about the RPC bike was how it stood out with just a single change.   It’s our standard CSC-150 in Racing Red, and the only change is the custom tank with the RPC logo.   It really works, and we can do bikes like this with your logo at a surprisingly low price.  

If you think you might want one with your logo, give us a call!

You can bet I wasn’t the only guy snapping photos on our ride last week.   Howard captured several as well, which he was nice enough to send to us.   Check these out, folks…

The first two are at Camp Roberts, which was a morning coffee stop.    Trixie took real good care of us and that coffee sure was good…it was cold when we left in the morning and hot coffee really hit the spot.  

And this next one is at the western end of Glendora Ridge Road.   The views are magnificent (including this view of all the bikes)…

Great photos, Howard, and thanks very much for sharing them with us!

You know, I’m still thinking about how much fun we had on Friday, and I can’t wait for the next ride.   I’ll keep you posted on our upcoming plans right here on the blog, folks.   We’d love to have all of you ride with us the next time we head for the hills.   Like we always say…stay tuned and keep an eye on the blog!

The question du jour is this:   Do you think old things look better when they are made to look new again, or do you think they look better with the patina of natural aging?

Consider Steve’s original Mustang Pony, as shown in the above photo.   Steve made the call to leave it as is, and I like it.  It’s the real deal.   It’s the paint that Jim Cavanaugh saw on that bike when it left the Mustang factory in 1954.

Here’s another example:  Take a look at this 1936 Excelsior Henderson motorcycle I saw roll into Hansen Dam back in 2006…

It, too, is the real deal…all original with nothing repainted or replated.  

Check out some of the macro shots I grabbed of this majestic original motorcycle…I was going to town with my camera while the rider was taking off his helmet…

There were a lot of things about that motorcycle that impressed me, and three things in particular stood out.

The first was the speedo drive off the rear wheel.  Folks, this is industrial strength!

The second was the speedometer and its “tell tale” (you know, the needle follower that indicates the highest speed attained)…

And the third thing that absolutely knocked my socks off was the rider.    Boy oh boy, was I ever surprised when the helmet came off!

 And just in case you didn’t recognize the profile, here’s another shot…

Ol’ Jay kind of has his own patina thing going on there, but it sure hasn’t slowed him down any.  

Jay’s a nice guy, and I asked him about the bike.   Jay took off on me.  It was like being on the Tonight show.

“Yeah, it’s a 1936 Henderson, all original….this guy in Vegas is 93 years old and he’s getting a divorce.  Called me because he needed to raise some cash…”

“Really?” I said.  

Jay just smiled.   There’s one born every minute, I guess, and I had just had my moment…