CSC Blog

We’ve had a lot of bikes flying out of the factory lately as people learn about the California Scooter Company. The orders we’ve been taking lately range from stock bikes to bikes with a few accessories, bikes that are loaded to the gills, and bikes that go all the way (custom paint jobs and more). We’ve had quite a few emails based on the different colors we’ve been posting here lately, and I thought I would follow up with a blog about some of the accessories and other custom touches you good folks are putting on your bikes.

Sometimes I’m just not fast enough. For example, the guys were crating up a burgundy Classic with saddlebags a day or two ago, and I gotta tell you that bike looked good.  Really good.  It’s on its way now to our good friend Bobbie in Minnesota.   Bobbie first saw a California Scooter through one of our Affiliates (that would be Jim Lorence, in Mound, Minnesota). Bobbie, the burgundy color works well with those saddlebags…you’re getting a very classy Classic. It sure got my attention.

Bill Brunton recently purchased a red Classic from us, and he put his own red-tinted windshield on it. Check out the photo of Bill’s bike waaaay up there in North Dakota…it sure looks good.  Those Lucky 13 chrome billet wheels look right at home on Bill’s bike, too.

It’s always a lot of fun for us to see how our riders customize their bikes, and we learn a lot when we see these bikes.  Bill, that tinted screen on yours is a nice touch…it reminds me of the tinted windshields Harley dressers had in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Sometimes a just a few touches completely changes the nature of a California Scooter. We received a lot of email on Kristy’s Babydoll…the only additions to Kristy’s bike are the chrome billet Lucky 13 wheels, a chrome pipe, and the white leather seat. It is an amazing bike…a real show-stopper.   You can see it a few blog entries back.

A few days ago I grabbed a photo of a red Classic with wire wheels and a rack…that’s it in the accessories department, but wow, it’s a good-looking bike. Take a look and tell me if you don’t agree…

And how about Jim Swanson’s VMMC (that’s the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps) Classic in police bike colors? I’ve just got a teaser photo on it in today’s blog, because we’ll have a lot more in the blog on this bike in the near future.   Jim had his Classic painted in police bike colors, and he’s going to ride it with the Victor McLaglen Motor Corps drill team.  That’s going to be very, very cool.

I shot a few videos of Wade assembling the VMMC bike yesterday, and Jim will be taking delivery of this fine motorcycle either later today or tomorrow.  If I’m here when Jim stops by I’ll get some video of him riding this bike.  It sure looks cool, and it sure would make a great police city bike.  Small, maneuverable, lightweight, it would be perfect for this kind of work.  The police in NYC and New Orleans use foreign-built scooters, and maybe…..well, we’ll see where this goes…

Our good buddy Joe in Michigan went for the whole nine yards on his red Classic.  I spotted Michigan Joe’s bike up on one of the lifts yesterday when Tony was putting the finishing touches on it, and I thought I would need sunglasses to look at it.   Chrome works well with any color, but on a red Classic, all I can say is…Wow!

Jim specified nearly every chrome accessory in the catalog for his bike…wheels, switch covers, clutch and brake levers, engine guard, chain guard, license plate bracket, LED turn signals, rear brake and gear shift levers, triple tees, risers, speedometer case, chrome billet hubs, battery cover, and more. 

Have some fun…scroll through the photos below and let me know if I missed anything!

You guys and gals out there especially need to check out the photos showing the front wheel (see the one in the lower right corner in the montage below).  

Nope, we haven’t gone to twin disc brakes up front (the single disk has more stopping power than you’ll ever need), but that chrome wheel sure makes it look like we’ve got twin discs. It’s just a reflection.

Steve Lorenz at Arcadia Cushman (one of our primo dealerships) just ordered an all-orange Classic. We’re even doing the frame in orange on that one, and it’s also getting a white competition stripe. Steve wants this one to recall the golden age of Chevy’s Z-28 Camaro. Those early Z-28s and their short stroke 302-cubic-inch engines were hot. I remember my good buddy Manny Zaccarelli (hey, I can’t make these names up) had one when we were in high school.

Manny’s Z-28 was a fast car…way faster than my GTO, even though the GTO had a hundred cubic inch advantage. Those were good times. Manny’s family ran an Italian restaurant that made the best pizza on the planet, and somehow we always seemed to wind up there when we were done cruising around. Our lives revolved around our cars and our bikes. Hmmm. Maybe they still do.

Ah, the 1960s. I used to think those were the good old days. When I’m on my CSC motorcycle, though, I realize it’s just like the lyrics to that old song….these are the good old days! My buddy Jimbo is coming over here for lunch today. He rides a California Scooter. We’ll probably go for Italian food and talk about…well, cars and bikes. Who says you can’t go home again?

It’s a question we hear all the time..and here’s the answer we always give: It depends on several factors, with your weight and whether the bike has a windshield being the most significant. I weigh a little more than 200 lbs, my bike has a windshield, and I can see about 62 or 63 mph on a flat road with no wind. If I have a tail wind, I’ll pick up a little bit. If I take the windshield off, I’ll lose about 4 or 5 mph off the top end (yep, the windshields actually add about 5 mph to the bike’s top end).

My bike has the 28T rear gear, and even though that’s lower overall gearing than stock, it gives me a bit more top end that does the stock 26T rear gear.  The lower gearing lets the engine get into its powerband. I’ve seen over 70 mph on my bike, but that was on a slight downhill on a long straight.

Our good friend Arlene weighs a lot less than me (I’m too nice a guy to ask her weight).    Arlene tells me she sees 72 mph all the time. When Arlene was down in Baja earlier this month, she actually grabbed a shot showing that…

Speedy Battishill in Baja!

You can read about Arlene’s latest Baja trip here, and if you would like to check out her Go Go Gear (and you should), you can see it here.

And speaking of Arlene’s recent trip in Baja, she just assembled this YouTube video…it’s really cool.   Check out Arlene’s high speed runs, the Mexican infantryman waving her through a checkpoint, and marine life in the Sea of Cortez as seen off the coast of Bahia de Los Angeles. That’s about 500 miles south of the border…

Nicely done, Arlene! Sure wish I could have made that trip with you guys. Next time for sure!

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…