Nihontochicken

In my neighborhood. That looks like the (rare) straight-as-a-string two mile stretch just south of San Carpoforo Creek, immediately north of which the road gets very twisty as it rises off the flat and into the coastal ridges. It was on this segment years ago when a bunch of us on sport bikes (Duc 750 for me) were on the way to view a Luguna Seca road race. A laggard whom we woke up on our way through Morro Bay passed me here in a red shift blur on his Yamaha R1. When we stopped at Gorda for lunch, I asked him, a road race instructor, how fast he was going when he blew by. He answered, "A bill and a half." I.E., 150 mph. So what happens when you smack a critter at that speed??? In any event, you picked a unique time to ride through the neighborhood, the first major rain front of the season, and a damned cold one to boot. Snow on the coastal ridges is a fairly rare event here. I for one am keeping Claudia (V11 Sport Naked) snug and warm in the garage, no chill rain or snow on her delicate parts. YMMV.

I think I see a Roper line: https://photohosting.azureedge.net/vmp/Dealers/71033/135817207/Photo/ZGUKTC029M111161-17.jpg Would be interesting if closer, but then I guess one temperamental Italian hottie is enough for me to handle.

As an aside. in the early/mid 2000s I bought a MG 850 LeMans that was shipped in a crate from out of state. I was told the shipping company would not help getting it off the truck. So I built a platform out of leftover railroad ties from the front retaining wall and used a come along to yank the crate out of the truck. I then proceeded to deconstruct the platform by hand, tie by tie. Well, on one lift I gave myself a hernia. Oops. As it turned out, the LeMans had two dented wheels (they were pretty soft in those days), and by the time I acquired two new ones (no small feat even back then), I lost interest and sold the bike on, alas. It was only a year or so ago that I filled the void (2004 Sport Naked). Just another MG trivia tale.

What he said. The MGS-01 was perhaps "a bridge too far". But there hasn't been a sport/touring bike yet out of Guzzi to match the styling of the V11. Power, yes. Handing, I suppose. Styling, no way. Strange that Piaggio should push the new path of adventure touring mis-marked by the Stelvio with the entirely new engine and chassis of the V85. Why not instead simply put the Stelvio engine in an updated V11 frame and body work? Maybe not ideal, but surely a cost-effective step in the right direction. Sigh.

So why can't Piaggio do something like this???????????????????

Just visited my old school buddy and got the answer. "Sophia" and "Gina" are Sonus Farber speakers, didn't catch the model, cost in the mid $30k range, so maybe only half the price of his BMW auto (M340i, he had an M4 but didn't like it).

I guess mine is properly termed a V11 Sport Naked, but I call her Claudia (as in Cardinale). Why? Because Sophia (Loren) and Gina (Lollobrigida) were already taken by my buddy's Italian stereo speakers that cost nearly as much as his BMW car.

Escaped West El Lay after high school in 1967, went to the San Diego area when it was nice. But then coastal North SD County was trashed by the developers in a metastatic southern migration from Orange County in 1976-80 while I was out of state in the Navy, so I then relocated to SLO Town (San Luis Obispo), at that time relatively unknown to me, but found clean air and low population density charm that had been eradicated in So. Cal. Been a great 40 years, but the cancerous real estate development feeding frenzy has finally hit here. Big developments used to be 50 to100 units or so, now the numbers are ten times that large. Sorry for the unrequested rant, but I'm really pissed off by the current So. Californication of this once beautiful community. Then again, by the time it's thoroughly effed over, I'll likely be past worrying.

Not looking to buy any longer, too old, too tired to wrench a lot (so why do I have a V11?), too little available garage space. Just look on them with nostalgic fantasy, kinda like the prom queen.

Not likely now to score any of the below, though I do have a 2004 V11 Sport Naked consolation prize in lieu of number three. My grail bikes in decreasing order of beauty:

My two scooters are a Suzuki DR650 and a Guzzi V11 Sport. Both have the turn signal and horn actuators on the left grip module, but the positions are reversed. Has resulted in some problematic situations when I forget the difference and try to operate the Guzzi turn signal with Suzuki muscle memory.

Just came across this 10/1/19 ad in LA Craigslist while looking for something else. No relation to or knowledge of the seller. or https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/mcy/d/west-covina-low-miles-moto-guzzi-v11/6987459267.html

Sorry, I wasn't slicing the pie quite that fine. By "same niche" I was merely implying some dirt worthy pretensions, not going so narrow as to differentiating between "adventure bike" and flat tracker wannabee. Neither one is capable of anything much more difficult than a graded fire road, and the Guzzi is more a touring bike mainly due to its larger gas tank and perhaps, believe it or not, somewhat less weight. Despite its looks, the Indian is over 500 pounds. Uffda. My major point was styling. Of course, an "adventure bike" has a small canvas for styling flair. The Guzzi V85TT is a nice looking scooter, given its purpose. It is certainly no head turner as is the V11 in its own venue. The Indian is also a good looking bike, again not in the hunt with a V11, but a decent looker for a street legal flat track replica (though ungodly heavy). The Guzzis since the V11 have generally been stylistic duds across the board, from the homely Griso to the yawner V7/V9 to the fugly, "kill it before it multiplies" Audace/MGX-21. Yes, they address different markets, but they're all crappy looking (JMHO). Of course, we here all want an technically upgraded V11 with the stylistic flair traceable back to the original LeMans. Looks like it ain't gonna happen in my lifetime, as Piaggio is just trading on the Guzzi name nostalgia, a commodity in ever decreasing supply as we old farts die out. Not that I could afford a truly new V11 if they indeed produced such. So I will be happy with my 2004 model as I watch Moto Guzzi sadly swirl down the drain into cycling irrelevance and eventual corporate cardiac failure. Unfortunate. Sigh.

Just noticed this new Indian model in the same niche as the V85 TT, a lot more bucks than the Guzzi, but much more a looker, really makes one fantasize about sideways madness. JMHO.

Good to see your first ride starting off from the sidewalk! Given my steep driveway with no turnaround room leading down to a steep, high crown road with fall line at a right angle, I have to back out my V11 and turn it 90 degrees to put it on the sidewalk to get started. It's rewarding to see someone do similar, if not regularly or for the same reason.