Our Baja adventurers are starting to arrive…and it’s going to be fun. We’ve got folks from Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and more rolling in for the third annual CSC Baja Run, and it starts tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Good times straight ahead, folks!
I’m just back from another secret mission way up north in British Columbia and I’m turning right around for 8 days in Baja on Sunday with our select group of RX3 riders. I’m really looking forward to it. But hey, check this bit of news out…
You can read the entire story here. It goes without saying the RX3 made the list, and when I started to type this blog I initially wrote that seeing Tom Roderick’s article was a nice surprise. Then I realized…I wasn’t surprised at all!
Baja, boys and girls! We’re wheels in the wells in less than two days!
I am absolutely pumped up about the upcoming Baja ride, and we’re just 7 short days away from liftoff. I finished making the hotel reservations and our whale-watching reservations this morning (with lots of translation help from Carlos and Robert), and I’m feeling good about getting all of that buttoned down. The hotel reservations are the only stressful part of the adventure for me. You’d think it would be easy, what with our having done this tour several times already, but hotels go out of business, phone numbers change, hotels have no vacancies, and on and on it goes. But that’s all behind us now, and I’m really happy with how it all turned out. I’m ready to ride, folks.
I’m especially happy that we’ll get to spend a night in Santa Rosalia at the Frances Hotel. It’s very old, it’s constructed entirely of wood (the floors creak when you walk around), and it’s up on top of a hill overlooking the town with a commanding view of the Sea of Cortez. Santa Rosalia is an old mining town, and this hotel is actually a former brothel. Yep, like a lot of things in Baja, it has an amazing history. You’ll get to read more about this the morning after our stay in Santa Rosalia, and in the new book on Baja.
Santa Rosalia also has a beautiful and unique (for Baja) church constructed entirely of metal. It was a pre-fab building before there was such a thing as pre-fab buildings. When you see this church, there’s something eerily familiar about it, and that eerie familiarity is the architecture. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel (yep, the same architect behind the Eiffel Tower) and there’s an interesting story behind how it came to a tiny mining town in Mexico. But that’s a story for another time. Follow our adventures on the CSC blog and in our upcoming Baja book and you’ll get to read all about it.
And the whales….what can I say about this part of our adventure? Our good buddy Dan said it best after seeing the whales last year when he said it was the best part of his entire life. You probably think I’m exaggerating. I’m not. No one goes up for a close encounter of the best kind with the California gray whales in Baja and doesn’t feel as if their life has changed. It’s that good. You’ll see.
More good news…the decal dude called and the 2017 CSC Baja decals will be here today. I love the photo we used in this year’s decal. I took it from the saddle of my CSC 150 scooter when we rode the 150s down to Cabo San Lucas (my CSC 150 was one of the very first CSC Mustang replicas to roll off the line). I love that part of Baja. Hell, I love all of it.
I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody next Saturday for our pre-ride briefing and dinner. Folks, this is going to be great.
…and that’s kind of the story behind the new CSC Café Racer. We stay very close to all of the new Zongshen models being offered in other parts of the world, and when we saw the Zong’s new 150 Café Racer (for their domestic market) it captured our attention. What we noticed immediately was that it was based on the venerable CG clone engine. Hmmm. “What if we put the TT250 engine in that bike?” Steve asked.
What if, indeed…
You know, there’s a long tradition of stuffing big motors in small vehicles. One motorcycle that did this very effectively was the 750 Norton Scrambler back in the ’60s. I was a teenager and Triumph was all the rage (I still love those 650 twins). Everybody wanted to ride a Triumph, but the guys who rode them, well, they wanted to ride Nortons. The Norton Scrambler was known to be the absolute hardest-accelerating motorcycle on the market. It was a parts bin bike: Norton took their 750 twin-carb Atlas twin and stuffed it into their 500 scrambler frame. It was awesome…hard accelerating, great handling, light weight, and awesome looks…
And it wasn’t just Norton doing this. The big engine/small vehicle thing really took off with two dudes in particular who were way ahead of the pack…Pontiac’s John DeLorean (who stuffed a 389 into the Tempest in 1964 and called it the GTO) and, of course, Carroll Shelby (who shoehorned Ford V8s into AC sports cars to create the Cobra)…
Chevy got into the act with their SS396, Oldsmobile offered the 442, Plymouth had the Roadrunner and the GTX, Dodge had the Challenger, the R/T, and the SuperBee, and on and on it went. Chevy even managed to squeeze their 427 big block into the Corvette (that started in 1966, if I recall correctly) and added a monster scoop in ’67 to create what I am convinced is the best-looking automobile ever made…
So, back to our little Café Racer. Everything you’re seeing here is based on our prototypes, which have to go through the EPA, CARB, and DOT approval cycles, and then we have to get them built and shipped to us, and then we have to get the bikes through Customs. It will be a few months, but it’s going to happen.
I rode the Café Racer yesterday (that’s what we’re calling it for the time being), and it’s a sweet ride. It’s got low bars and a cool instrument cluster, with a fuel gage, a gear indicator, a speedo, and a tach. The bike offers a lot of customizing and accessories possibilities, and you can bet we’ll be offering a full complement of goodies when we bring these in. I like the flat black paint, and I think a brown leather seat and brown grips would work well with those colors (and maybe small brown leather saddlebags, like our good buddy Dan B. has on his TT250). Red and white pinstriping on the flat black tank and fenders would work well. And there will be other color options.
Check out the tires on the Café Racer…they’re DOT-compliant and they have a cool vintage pattern…
What really surprised me about the bike was its oomph. Don’t forget that this bike started life as a 150, and its weight is a scant 265 lbs. Throw a 250 in the mix, and this puppy rocks. Just fooling around in the parking lot yesterday, the bike was lifting the front end.
I know you all have questions. We’ll start answering them soon. Like we always say…stay tuned.
No word on cost or schedule yet, but take it from me, you’ll like both! It’s all coming to you from the company you know best for high quality, superior customer support, the best parts availability in the business, and the most bang for your hard-earned buck. Folks, meet our latest…the CSC 250CR Café Racer!
I rode the 250CR this afternoon, and let me tell you this: The smile is real! This thing is a hoot!
I was in the plant yesterday and when I saw these three RC3s, I had to grab a photo…
Blue sure is a color that’s getting a lot of attention these days. We used one of our all time favorite Baja photos with lots of blue in it for the 2017 CSC Baja Run decal…
And one more bit of good news…blue is back for the 2017 RX3! Yep, we’re bringing the blue RX3 back to the stable. I love that color, but then, I love all of them…
That photo above is one of the very first RX3s in North America, and I took it on a ride Steve and I did to Joshua Tree National Park. That was a 343-mile day, and it sure was fun.
Watch the blog for another surprise announcement in the very near future, folks. It’s a new bike we’re evaluating. But don’t tell anyone yet…
Our next monthly CSC ride will be on 1 April 2017 (and that’s no April Fool’s joke)!
We’re riding the San Gabriel Mountains again, and this time we’re doing Azusa Canyon Road, the East Fork Road, Glendora Mountain Road, and Glendora Ridge Road. The nature preserve along Glendora Ridge Road is one of the United States’ premier wildflower spots. With all of the rain we’ve had this winter the flowers will be in full bloom with explosions of purple, red, orange, and yellow (it really is spectacular). It will be 50 miles of magnificent scenery and amazing twisties!
Please be at the CSC plant no later than 8:45 for a pre-ride route-and-safety briefing, as we are leaving promptly at 9:00 a.m. We’ll ride Azusa Canyon, the East Fork Road, Glendora Mountain Road, and Glendora Ridge Road. We’ll stop for coffee in Camp Williams along the east fork of the San Gabriel River, we’ll make several stops along Glendora Ridge Road for photos, and we’ll have lunch at the Mt. Baldy Lodge.
Bring an appetite and a camera!
If you’d like to sign up for the Glendora Ridge Road Wildflower Extravaganza, please do so on our CSC Meetup page!
And hey, we’re getting close to the Baja ride! If you’re one of the lucky folks who are riding with us this year, we’re looking forward to seeing you on the 18th of this month. If you didn’t sign up early for the 2017 CSC Baja Run, get your oar in the water for the 2018 ride!
Whoa, you have got to check this out!
My good buddy Bruce (who rode with us to the Crystal Lake Café on Saturday) had something I had never seen before: A 360-degree camera. This is way cool. Click on this link and have fun!
Bruce, thanks for sending the link to me! I enjoyed riding with you and I think your 360 photography is just amazing.
Wow, the ride to Crystal Lake today was awesome. I think 17 people in total participated and it was perfect. Great weather, great scenery, great people, and great riding. I met new people and made new friends, and I reconnected with old friends.
First, a quick look at our group riding in the San Gabriel Mountains this morning…
And now the photos…this is Jeff and his amazing KLR…
Sara, our Baja explorer…
Dale, our intrepid blue RX3 adventurer…
On the road, headed to Crystal Lake…
It was a glorious morning…
The reservoir, with much higher water levels since the recent rains…
Another shot from the RX3 saddle on the way up…
Check out the road…it’s hard to believe this is in our backyard…the riding in the San Gabriel Mountains is magnificent…
Marty and Sara on the way up. Both are great riding partners. I’ve been riding with Marty for 15 years. Sara rode with us on the Baja trip last year, and she liked it so much she went back by herself and explored Baja on her RX3 for three weeks!
Syl, the fastest man in the world on a motor scooter. You might think I’m exaggerating or taking literary license when I say that, but I’m not. Syl holds the motor scooter land speed record, and he did it on a CSC 150!
Roland, our factory CSC RC3 racer, on his 700cc Honda. You just cannot keep up with this guy! Roland won his class the first time out on his RC3. Imagine that…two CSC motorcycle racers on this ride – Syl and Roland!
Bruce, another Honda rider with a great 360-degree photo capability. The photos and the videos he shared with us were amazing!
Good buddy Marty and his BMW rocket ship!
Steven, one of the scooter riders…
Marc, another scooterista…
Good buddy Dan’s TT250…check out the custom leather saddlebags!
Steve and our good friend Adam at the Crystal Lake Café…
Me, reflected in a chrome Moto Guzzi gas tank…
Kitty and Sean, a couple of IT folks who are definitely not geeks!
The gang at the top of the trail…
I grabbed a bunch of shots on the way down. It’s a lot easier to work the camera going downhill…
I was somewhere in the middle of the pack on the ride back to Azusa…
Sean and Kitty on their Honda V4…
Wow, check out the road…the views on this ride are stunning!
There were lots of hairpin turns…
My good buddy Marty on the road…
Dan the Man…on his TT250 in the San Gabriels…
Twin Peaks Steve on his fully-equipped and awesomely red RX3…Steve has done a lot of traveling on his RX3.
Duane on his CSC 250 Mustang replica…Duane is a cool guy…
Peter on his customized RX3…I’ve got a couple more cool shots of him I’ll show you in a bit.
The grand treat at the end of the ride was lunch at the California Grill Express. You just can’t get a bad meal there…everything is delicious!
Sean and Kitty, a very photogenic couple…check out their burgers!
Burgers, onion rings, great motorcycle riding…life just doesn’t get any better than this!
Peter and his RX3 after lunch…
..and one more photo of Peter. Check out the custom exhaust system!
Today was a grand day, but today is over and planning for our next CSC ride is in work. Stay tuned, and we’ll announce the April ride right here on the CSC blog and on our Meetup.com web page!
TT250 Enduro
RX1E Electric Motorcycle
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer