This is shaping up to be another great week, boys and girls….lots of good things going on, not the least of which is we have only 39 more days until we point our California Scooters toward Baja!   Well, okay, actually it’s 39 days, 10 hours, and 56 minutes.  Not that I’m counting…

The San Ignacio Mission. Yep, it's on our itinerary. Still a working church after hundreds of years of use. My good buddy Dave shot this photo on his first moto trip down this way.

Stained Glass Inside the Gustav Eiffel-Designed Church in Santa Rosalia. This is the first town we'll see on the Sea of Cortez after descending about 1500 feet in just a few miles through the twisties in a region known as La Cuesta del Infierno (take a look at the video below)!

The La Cuesta del Infierno region is a cool ride…check out this video on the descent to the Sea of Cortez…what a blast…and we won’t be seeing it through a car’s windshield!

If you have a California Scooter and you want to ride along with us, you’re in!

So, in midst of all this anticipation, we have more than a few other super-cool things in the works.   I had a real nice conversation with Doug Bingham yesterday about our California Scooter sidecar project.   Doug is the guy who’s fitting a sidecar to a California Scooter.   That’s one of many cool things about Steve and the rest of the California Scooter crew…if they’re going to do something, they always go to the best.   And when it come’s to sidecars, Doug Bingham is that man.   You’ve seen his work (perhaps without knowing it) if you’ve seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the Great Escape, or just about any movie with a sidecar in it.  In that great Steve McQueen chase, yep, it was actually Doug Bingham piloting the sidecar.   And when the bad guys were chasing Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, well, it sure wasn’t Harrison Ford piloting the rig…it was none other than our man Doug.  

The Sidecar Chase Scene With Indiana Bingham...Our Motorcycle Sidecar Maestro!

Doug invited me out to his shop later this week, and if I can swing it, maybe I’ll grab a few photos for the blog.   Boy oh boy, this is gonna be fun!

I’ve also been in communication with Bill Murar this week, our Scooter Cannonball rider.   The Scooter Cannonball is just around the corner…a tiny bit more than a month away.   While I’ll be cavorting in Baja on my California Scooter, Bill will be racing from Vancouver to Maine on his bright blue Classic.  Oh yeah, things are happening!

But wait (as they say on those late night TV commercials), there’s more!   John and Steve showed me what they are cooking up for our 150cc Land Speed Record bike.   This is good stuff and it’s classified TOP SECRET, so no photos yet (actually, I forgot my camera today, but in a week or so I should be able to get a photo or two for you). 

And there’s lots more.  All good stuff.   But my focus is on Mexico!!!  It’s gonna be great!

More cool stuff today, my good CSC buddies…John brought in some of his latest custom paint jobs.   These are factory-available paint schemes that will really spice up your bike.   All I can say is…wow!

John started these jewels as bare tanks and fenders, and he worked up orange-and-black, yellow-and-black, and red-and-black combinations.   They are are all show stoppers.    Take a look at these!

And here’s a shot of Sandy with a bike John did a week ago…a black bike with copper panels (yes, the California Scooter guys actually let me hang around and take these kinds of photos!). 

I’m still suffering from the same disease…every time I see one of these (I’m talking about the bikes, guys) I fall in love all over again.  I love my red Classic (it’s an elegant little show stopper), but if I had a spare $1495 in my pocket and I was buying another California Scooter, you can bet I’d go with one of these John Esposito custom paint jobs.  He does the tanks and the fenders as a set, and they’re perfect.  I think I like the black-and-red combo best, but it’s a tough call.  They’re all beautiful. 

Working with John is a lot of fun.  He’s an incredibly bright guy, a gifted artist, and a mechanical genius.  We’ve got a few tricks in development right now, and John’s ability to come up with creative engineering solutions is awesome.   He’s one of the best, but come to think of it, so is everyone else here in the California Scooter Company.  It’s fun watching these guys develop ideas…and it’s one of many great things about this motorcycle company.  It sure is fun.

I’m going to put some miles on my California Scooter this weekend…I might head up to Big Bear.  We’ve got a lot of good things cooking…one that is particularly exciting is the 150cc scooter land speed record we’re going for in November.   That’s going to be a hoot!  When these little guys are broken in (like mine is), you can see something north of 70 mph on them.   We’re going to be working closely with Dr. Horsepower (our super-secret engine souper-upper), and I’m wondering what kind of top end we’ll see from our 150cc dry lake burner.   It’s gonna be fun!

We received a couple of cool photos in the last day or so, and I thought I’d share them with you.

Check out this one from Bill Murar, our Lake Erie Loop rider…Bill just turned 1000 miles on his blue Classic…

Bill’s getting ready to ride the Scooter Cannonball, a ride from Vancouver to Portland, Maine, and we’ll keep you posted on it right here!

And here’s a cool shot from Charles Aubuchon, who keeps his black Classic in Montana…

That’s a good-looking motorcycle, and that Ford GT in the background ain’t too shabby, either!

Thanks, Bill and Charles, for sending these great photos to us!

Good morning, folks…here’s some of our recent fan mail…Terry Timmins and Thomas Watters recently bought new California Scooters, and of course, Jimbo Cavanaugh was one of the very first to take delivery on a new CSC motorcycle.

Terry owns both an original Mustang and a California Scooter…here’s his note…

Hey y’all.  Thank you for the great service and fantastic bike.  She runs like a top and looks like a dream with those fancy extras!  Will show her off at Laguna Mopeds.  Thought you might like some photos.

Terry Timmons

PS:  Special thanks to TK, Sandy, Lupe, Patti, Tony, Carlos, and Josh

And here’s one from Thomas, who sent us photos showing his red Classic in Ohio…

Sandy!

Thanks very much.  Pictures enclosed.  Best to all of you.  Again thank the staff – Design, Production, and Assembly crews.   Excellent work.   End product is great!

Sincerely,

Thomas V. Watters

And yesterday morning I had this email from our good friend and advisor Jimbo…

Hi Guys!…Yesterday I picked up my son Gary at the Eugene airport. He’s visiting from Bakersfield California, having moved there last year for a job opportunity…He’s entered in a golf tournament here in Cottage Grove, Or. playing with a lot of his old friends and buddies…When we got home I asked him if he wanted to borrow our car or my pick-up truck…He snapped back, “heck no, I want the use the (Classic) bike”…After putting his luggage and golf clubs away he immediately jumped on the Classic…Having ridden it when I first took delivery , he was familiar with all the controls…He was gone all day and returned at supper time (smart kid) and  he advised he visited many of his old friends…He visited Myrl Walther, who visited CSC recently and both cruised most of the day checking on mutual friends..If he could, he would have taken it to play golf if he had a way to take his golf clubs…He will be  here through Tuesday and I expect he will be glued to the Classic..He just can’t get enough of it!…cheers!….

Jimbo

We really enjoy getting mail and photos from our riders, and if you have a photo you’d like to see on our blog, shoot it over and we’ll post it for you!   You can email it to me at jberk@californiascooterco.com, or snail mail it to us at the plant.

Just spotted this photo on Facebook, posted by one of our newest dealers, NoHo Scooters in North Hollywood, California…

We’ve heard a lot of good things from our fans, but this is the first time someone’s actually put us on a pedestal! 

Thanks very much, Mike and crew!

A quick shot at the plant yesterday…more California Scooters on their way to our dealers.

I’d write more for you this morning, but I’m going for a ride on my California Scooter in a few minutes.   More later, folks, and enjoy the weekend!

Eddie Brown and his 1939 Ford, winning the 2010 Texas Rock-N-Rumble Best of Show award!

We’re proud to announce that Brown Ford in Cordell, Oklahoma, is California Scooter Company’s newest authorized dealer.  When Steve told me about it, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised…lots of dealers are adding California Scooter to their lineup…but a Ford automobile dealer?  We recently had another car dealer join the team (Continental Motors, in Oceanside, California), too.   I wondered why car dealers are picking us up…I’ve not seen this with other motorcycle marques.   I called Brown’s to get the straight scoop – I wanted to find out why a car dealer selling one of America’s best brands (Ford, which is really doing well) wanted to sell motorcycles, too.   I asked for the owner and in a few seconds Eddie Brown, Jr., was on the line.

Eddie’s story is not too much different than many of our other riders…he’s a long time car and motorcycle enthusiast, and he found our California Scooters very much to his liking.   Eddie told me he also owns a few other motorcycles and two vintage Mustangs (the motorcycles, not the cars), and that he had a Mustang motorcycle when he was 15.  When I asked how he heard about us, Eddie told me one of his good riding buddies (R.B. Mathis) is a preacher, and Reverend Mathis told him about the California Scooter Company.   I guess you could say the good Reverend is spreading the California Scooter gospel!  Eddie told me one of the several motorcycles he ordered for his dealership is going to RB.  How cool is that!

On another note, did you know that July is National Women’s Motorcycle Month?   Well, I didn’t know it, either, but I should have, because our California Scooters may very well be the perfect vehicle for both women and men.   Women seem to just naturally love these bikes, especially the low seat height, the light weight, and the stunning styling.   I do, too.  I love my Triumph Tiger, but truth be told, that bike is a 600-lb monster, and pushing it out of the garage is a bit intimidating.   I can wheel my 240-lb CSC Classic around with one hand, and these days nearly all of my two-wheeled miles are on a California Scooter.  Anyway, back to the National Women’s Motorcycle Month…this was on the Today show.   I’m not a big fan of talk shows, but this clip caught my eye, and I thought you might enjoy it, too.

One last note…the local papers are picking up the story on our California Scooter motorcycle design competition.   I’ll give you the link and all the details tomorrow!