Time to plan for our annual picnic on Sunday June 26th here at the shop.

We set up around noon and begin to cook around 1pm – chicken, burgers, polish sausages are the basics. Feel free to share sides, desserts. Jay is sourcing his dunk tank!

Ethanol/Cushman

To ban noisy leaf blowers the State of California’s  governor signed a law preventing sale of small engine gasoline powered motors; not only does this regulation rid the state of new gas powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers, it covers gas engines of 25 horsepower and less from sale in CA. Final regulations due from the California Air Resources Board due next month with time line

That’s where the magic comes in…25 horsepower…that covers generators, dirt bikes, ATVs and Cushman.  Cushman’s had engines of 9 or 14 horsepower. new gas powered engines will be banned from sale in 2024; emergency generators will be banned in 2028 and dirt bikes in 2023 on public land unless  displaying properly red or green stickers.

The new Cushman II scooters introduced in 2013 ran modified Fuji Heavy Metal Industries (Subaru) generator engines. To get the Cushmans legal in all 50 states, the manufacturer K Jack Motors spent 7 years obtaining all the regulatory approvals with the final approval coming from the California Air Resources Board in October 2012.

Our humble beginnings began as a Cushman dealer in this spot in 1950 and now new Cushmans are gone.

Since we’re on the subject of gas and engines…ALERT – the feds have authorized an increase to 15% ethanol in gas.  Many of you have lived thru the nightmares of what 10% ethanol has done to your engines when bikes are left sitting with gas in the tank. This ethanol increase is supposed to decrease cost and improve supply.  r i g h t….

We STRONGLY URGE adding a supplement to your fuel supply. STARTRON (the blue stuff) is about $8 a bottle and will treat up to 48 gallons of gas. BMW offers a Fuel System Cleaner Plus which you add every 3k miles for around $10.  Sure, either will increase the cost of riding, but not as much as repairs or reduced performance.

Bike /Parts Availability

Allocation and decreased production means not many choices. We recently received a 22 1250GS Exclusive and have a F750 coming in the next month. A sporty G310 in Motorrad trim looks like an RR from a distance will be on the floor next week.  Still awaiting our K1600, looks like at least a month away.  On the allocation front, we will be looking for a couple of 1250GSA’s.

Until the end of June, R18’s all carry customer cash and .9% financing thru FS. Considering conventional retail financing starts at 7.10 and goes up. We are starting to see a few pieces of  apparel and accessories arrive in limited quantities; radio hardware for the 1250RT’s delivered months ago are slowly arriving. Batteries remain hard to come by with some BMW batteries backordered to end of July.  Most popular tires are shipping from the east coast when available, costing more and longer to get.

The new cell phone cradle to replace GPS units are turning out to be a winner as well as the frame bags to store small items on the bike for easy access.

Time to ride…

Several customers have taken off on their spring/summer rides to all parts of the US. We sent a few on the long road to Alaska in the last 2 weeks. Personal envy all around as we wish we could join them. Jay is splitting his time between his “Packer Green” R18, trusty K1200R Sport and a beautiful LT he built and rode first to get the last miles to turn over 100K. Joseph has his 650’s and S1000R while Sade has mastered her 310GS. Michael wrangles his 1200GSA like the pro he is. Ellen is currently a backseat rider on Howard’s 1250RT.

Fresh air, brisk wind and the entire world rolling by…that’s why we ride.

Safe journeys and see you at the picnic or soon.

Te West Valley Cycle Gang