All Activity

since there are other V85tt owners on this forum, figured i'd add a comment or two here on my ongoing relationship with the V85, for any that may be interested. Maybe take the liberty to have this be a little bit more of a V85tt thread. over the winter, i skipped the Guzzitech mods after some consideration (another story) and just did a SAS delete, Agostini exhaust/decat, added the heated grips via the popular mod from WildGuzzi (popular aftermarket slip-on heated grips which we tie into the factory switch), and a few other odds and ends, and all worked out great. Just an incredibly pleasant bike. Still doesn't strike me as a beautiful machine, but one of the best all-around machines i've owned, based on my current perspective (which has been known to change...). i'm done taking her off-road, other than gravel and such, for while she handled all that just fine last year, it was cruel abuse, and I'm just happier on a real off-road bike when on single track and fire roads. win-win. next i'll likely go for the fork cartridge inserts/upgrades, that were well spoken of at John Day last year by other V85-ers. front end is ok, but would benefit from some upgrade. the rear hugger fender i sourced from a chinese site works well, but the mounting setup is crap. It won't fall apart, but its hokey, so will noodle a better way to attach it. Fyi for anyone interested in a hugger. I live on a gravel road, so tend toward those kind of mods more than i would if I didn't live on gravel. i've mostly had (and have) older bikes, so was mildly shocked to learn that AF-1 had gas tank body work for sale, new-in-box, to match factory paint scheme. for a couple hundred bucks i was able to clean up the cosmetic damage (replace it) from the rash the previous owner did to it. the damage is what helped me get the bike at a great discount, which i figured i'd just live with, but was a cheap fix and she looks like new.

some great weather for that shot (and ride). none of the birds I work with or fly are as sexy as the fighter or the older birds that Chuck gets to play with. Well, not since we had to retire the DC-7's... they were lovely old gals. (captured here by someone at an opportune time with the lightning).

As far as I see it, plastic is not only to do with price. It is also lightweight. Alternatives to plastic for the same weight are significantly more expensive to produce. Ok, so maybe it is just price. Anyway, I can see that. Changing out plastic bits for metal bits, without increasing the weight, makes sense. Can be expensive, but I can understand that There are a few things on the aforementioned V35 Imola that I would like to change. The seat, for instance. It is really heavy, and that on a bike with not much power, and a total weight of not much more than 160 kg. It would have to look the same as the original, but I have a vision of how it could be done. Saving weight on that bike would be an advantage, but very expensive, I fear. There are also any number of bits that one could exchange for Titanium substitutes. Probably wont happen, but maybe. One day.

I generally agree audiomick - for sure taking care of any mechanicals comes before aesthetics. However, seems that every decade that goes by, new bikes have more and more cheap plastic covers and body parts, that look like crap on an otherwise great bike. I understand the reason is to keep the msrp down. Case in point - last year I bought the first brand new bike in my life, an Aprilia Tuono V4 1100. I got a great deal on a leftover 2023 model. I can't begin to tell you how incredible the bike is in every category (the sound alone!), and an absolute ball to ride. And I generally like the styling, as far as modern bikes go. But it has SO much plastic, which cheapens the look of this fine Italian moto. So I am, little by little, upgrading those plastic bits, purely for aesthetic reasons. And its entirely worth it (for me), as the mechanicals are all new and in need of nothing.

That is a very pertinent point, I reckon. And this What good arguments are there for mucking up a perfectly good bike when one can just buy a different one that fulfills the objective? On the other hand, I can perfectly understand wanting to build the "ideal bike" oneself. I've always wanted to, but have never managed it. The closest I have come is my V35 Imola. I bought on a whim, and it was dead when I bought it. It had been in a cellar for about 19 years, had no ignition switch, and the wiring and ignition system was in a dismal state. In the meantime, it has a Silent Hektik electronic ignition and alternator, a short-throw throttle grip, Koni rear shocks, and a clutch from a V9 which is much lighter to activate and lighter in weight than the original. I'm working on a Valeo starter motor because it is lighter than the 3 ton Lucas original. And I've got a fair bit of a 4-Valve 350 motor that I might one day get complete and install. The real point is, I have dis- and reassembled everything on that bike myself, except the final drive assembly. I gave that to a workshop who has experience with that, as I wasn't inclined to learn how to set it up properly by trial and error, or to buy the necessary bucket full of shims to get it set up. So that bike is mine. I know it, in every last detail, intimately. I like that. In that perspective, I can understand wanting to modify a bike to make it "personal". But, as @Lucky Phil has already written, it should be all about making it better. Putting things on a bike purely for visual reasons is bullshit. Individuality is also a thing. I can understand it, but somehow the quest for individuality seems to inevitably lead to "one more cafe racer" or "one more chopper". So called "custom bikes" tend to always end up fitting to a pattern. And when a bike is visually "customised" without first paying attention to getting it mechanically perfect, well, that is bullshit too.

In the US old ‘Touring’ Tonti’s may still be commonplace. Over here? Not so much. They are currently much sought after and a decent, unmolested one is very hard to find.

R/R

With the hundreds of thousands of Guzzis and BMW air-head twins manufactured in the past 5+ decades, I really don't think you need to lose any sleep over the 0.5% that are customized. Really. I'd suggest the people to direct your anger towards is the far bigger group of morons who, over the decades, have let their bikes sit and rot for years without basic maintenance, and are now beyond reasonable repair. If it weren't for these types, 90% of your original air-heads would still be on the road.

Direct to the battery from ?

More confirmation, now with a few hundred miles. A dedicated line direct to the battery has solved this. Finally!

I'm with Pete on this. Great bikes, created by designers and engineers, are being destroyed by morons. It's cultural vandalism; our motorcycling heritage is being laid waste. The same horror is being wrought on BMW airhead twins.

That brings back memories. The other bloke, with a lot of Australian accent, is Darrell Eastlake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Eastlake Listening to those two whilst watching the bike races was a compulsory event.

This weekend we have the Le Mans race! it should be an interesting race; well, hopefully it will be. The is racetrack is the one with the most braking, 35% of the time, according to Brembo. Ducati should not be getting too much of an advantage, maybe. It is said that Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins will race with a new inline 4. The French GP broke the racetrack attendance record the last two years, and they are hopeful to beat 297,471 this year. Meanwhile, have a little taste, back in 1988 when the French GP was taking place on the Paul Ricard racetrack, on 2 strokes bikes, and with Barry Sheene commenting with a bit of an Australian accent... lol...

pure aussie gold

Personal goods should not be subject to retaliatory taxes. As I have moved from country to country during my professional career, with some of my personal belongings in tow, I never had to pay import duty. Those so-called "tariffs", derived from the French "Tarif" meaning "price list", are directed towards new goods, for commercial resale. Say you are transferred to work in South America. Because cars in manufactured in South America are usually boxes with wheels, four generation older than the rest of the world, and more expensive, you decide to take your own Opel with you. After a few years of work in Macae (Brazil), your company transfers you back to Stuttgart. Germany is not going to charge you import taxes on your car, purchased in Germany.

I thought Nigel was no longer setting speed traps?!

OK. So they ‘Design and machine countless custom parts’. Why then do all their bikes look exactly the same? Few, if any of them, have any air filtration and their HP figures are the usual fantasy bullshit to mug the punters. I’m sorry, it’s been done to death, again and again and again. Sure their execution is better than Joe Blow brush painting his ruined SP but it’s still the same shit. Sorry. I hate it. What makes a bike like Phil’s, or Paul Minaert’s outstanding is the attention to detail and the ‘Outside the box’ thinking and effort that goes into them and they still look outstanding and WORK! The usual response to me criticising things like this is that “You couldn’t do it yourself”! Damn f*cking straight I couldn’t! I have neither the skill or the patience to embark on such a project. I did, back around the middle of the first decade of this century build a short stroke roundfin that produced 80+ hp on a couple of Dino’s but it was only 891cc and it had to rev to nearly 10,000 RPM to do so. At those sorts of engine speeds, even though the MEPS was fine it torched its big ends regularly through oil pump cavitation! In 2006 I bought an 1100 Griso and it did everything my little hot rod did but was a turn-key machine! It also handled better, even without work on the suspension, and didn’t run its big ends with tiresome regularity! Looked far better than those tiresome two wheeled ‘Artworks’ too. Look if you like that sort of thing? All power to you. I’m sure that whoever runs that business is far richer than I’ll ever be. I prefer just finding problems and solving them to make a good product better rather than making fantasies for rich dimbulbs who will probably ‘Ride’ their bikes once or twice a year. Im strange like that though……

Apologies. I became concerned some local would take exception to the speeding (they love a good snitch here), so set it as private. I'll do a better one, earlier in the morning with less traffic, and with better sound. And a less visible speedo...

Yes, I forgot to say mine is a ballabio already with risers. but i am getting too old and its starting to get a bit of a reach. probably best left where it is. the bars are wider diameter in the center out to a few cm beyond the clamps.

did you get anywhere on the fairing ?

My aim when modifying a motorcycle docc is to enhance the original concept with better components and create something that is unique but looks like it could have come out of the factory. So not trying to create a "racer" out of a tourer or GT bike and no just stripping it down and making it an uncomfortable, impractical and often illegal bike for the road. There needs to be balance, and an elegance about it and the retention of the original bikes DNA and character. This is why my V11 Sport for instance still retains the non radial callipers. Radial callipers would mean Aprilia RSV forks and a different front guard and that would have eliminated part of the V11 Sports recognisable aesthetic signature. Hanging gaudy aftermarket bit's off it is something i like to avoid as well. Phil

Thanks but I can't view it. Phi

Pete, as far as the Kaffemaschine bikes go, I invite you to check out their website and see that they are anything but "built from a catalogue". https://www.kaffee-maschine.net/philosophie_en They design and machine countless custom parts, frequently one-offs for a particular projects, including engine parts. If you know of a higher quality custom motorcycle shop (other than perhaps Walt Siegel), I'd love to know about it!

@p6x The retaliatory tariff is the big nut here. It is a different animal.

It is understood , when you personalize a bike .......you personalize YOUR bike.