Bill Hagan

You need that for beer?!

Philistines. 108K miles and still a joy. Bill

I think that Guzzi sold quite a number of the Tonti California models, especially after a major moto-mag-rag named it Cruiser of the Year in '98. Bill

Ditto. Maybe we could put our spousal units up at Tapoco Lodge for the weekend? My Kathi always emotes about the river and view there, leaving us to consider the charms of the Cubanos. OTOH ... erm ... probably not. Bill

Good evening from the Moto Grappa at the top of Virginia! Here is the slideshow I made of last weekend’s Moto Grappa Tech Days 2024 [MGTD ’24], the seventh in the MGTD series. I took 800+ pix; yes, really. On the merciful side, while, of course, there are still too many, there are fewer than 1/4 of that original number of this weekend of aging Moto Guzzi enthusiasts (sans spousal units) reliving frat house days of debauchery under the guise of working on their Italian mounts. No dummy and experienced in the squalor that follows in a MGTD’s wake, Kathi, my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess, flew to Seattle just before the event, and — aside from a cameo to swap the “airport car" for a better one — returned after the follow-on HAZMAT team left. 😄 ========= For those still reading, the link opens in landscape collage, thus allowing you to look at all at once rather than slogging through those individually. Hover your cursor over each pic to see captions. The system truncates some of those in the collage format. The best practice is to run the pix in slideshow form so the pix are larger, tho that can cause captions to disappear unless you keep the cursor in the lower left of each photo. Yes, I know a PITA. Speaking of PITA, the “buy photo” option is nuts. If, for some inexplicable reason, you want any pic, simply download it. If want higher-res, let me know. OK … at last, the link: https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/MGTD-2024/n-cRqfHF Bill P.S. I did not include the following “bonus pic" in the slideshow proper. One of the MGTD attendees left early to rent and ride a motorcycle in Nevada.. He took several pix of his MGTD souvenir cap —à la "Where’s Waldo?” — Here’s one; read the sign!

Certainly impressive riding. Says a bit about small block Royal Enfields, too. Bill P.S. Had to look up what BSF meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Security_Force

Bryan called earlier this evening, and followed with an email, to confirm we are set for 301; in Friday, out Sunday. Now to convince our travel agent that yes, we -- i.e., my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess -- want to go to Poland at (about) that time, but not at that exact time! FWIW, have touched base with some Polish Guzzisti to meet with while there. Bill

Thanks for the nudge. Have been busy for weeks (and still am) with MGTD '24 prep ... and making sure I use all of Kathi's energy in that before she launches for Seattle tomorrow. She's not about to stay around for the belching, snoring, and BS session that MGTD is. Anyway, just reserved our stay, and asked for 301 again. Bill

I don't believe this for a moment. Nope. "Retirement" is simply code for being tired of giving out free advice for decades. Now, you are going to hang out a consultant's shingle on the web, complete with (1) a bio for the two or three Guzzista on the planet who do not know of you; (2) a required waiver for those with dumb questions who bruise easily, and; (3) PayPal and CC links for take-it-to-the-bank answers to the questions that the innocent and damned might ask of the wizard from Oz. Nice plan. Seriously, best wishes to you, Jude, and Michael for success and happiness. Bill

My favorite — albeit for sentimental as well as qualitative reasons —is, regrettably, no longer made. Think I have mentioned it here before: Yellow Banks. Sigh. It had, iMO, that almost perfect hint of sweetness that made it a pleasant sipping bourbon that lingered wonderfully when the glass was empty … always too soon, no matter how one tried to be disciplined. At least one reviewer agreed with me; see: 2020 Review of Yellow Banks Bourbon I happen to have one unopened bottle left that I am saving for the right company to visit. Nearly [] everyone here qualifies. Bill

That is pretty interesting ... and annoying.

Howdy from the Moto Grappa at the top of Virginia. This is about my first Guzzi, my HDM ’98 EV, which was, oddly, been BOM here some years ago! Sadly, however, It has been hors de combat with unspecified “don’t run right” issues for almost a year. The right cylinder ran when it felt like and it didn’t feel like it much. The left ran, but was hardly perfect. This, despite a recent VA, TB balance, R&R of spark plugs, fresh fuel, and fiddling with plug cables to the coil. As it’s a favorite of Kathi’s for two-up riding, we haven’t done much of that while the EV’s been on the lift and after I sold my Norge last summer. As SSR alums know, Kathi’s a talented pillion who enjoys spirited riding — too bad I’m so old and unskilled — and I enjoy her company on rides. So, I finally Tom Sawyered two great Guzzi wrenches into coming down and setting things right this past week. The Capo Meccanico was Scott Mastrocinque, who lives, farms, and wrenches Guzzis in Lima Ohio. His able assistant was Bob Wegman, a longtime Guzzista, who drove down from Rochester, N.Y. Bob was an early Guzzi dealer under the Berliners, so, as the saying goes, this wasn't his first Italian rodeo. I had (most) everything ready for the two surgeons, as my job was primarily to have tools and beer ready when the skilled labor grunted meaningfully. Ahead of the adventure, Scott had me have new injectors, along with new plugs, and air and fuel filters waiting. The injectors were pricier at $360 than I had expected, but after 107K miles, fuel erosion of the OEM innards — that’s a tech term; RTFM! — had done its erosive thing, so new ones were needed. Aside from learning lots by watching and listening, I had a great time, and think the pros did, too. Some pix are in the link, below, but for those who are impatient for the bottom line, the EV now runs GREAT. In fact, as some of the last pix in that slideshow convey, Kathi and I took advantage of the 60ºF temps on Saturday after our guests left, to do a 200-mile loop that included the top third of Skyline Drive. Then, although I detest the slab, I dislike riding in the dark more, so we jumped on I-81 to race sunset. Two-up, we ran at 80 mph — GPS, not Veglia — for about 45 miles. The EV was rock solid and had more to give when I occasionally put spurs to it to get around a tractor-trailer convoy. The cause of the problem that led to the fix? Well, even tho we R&R’d injectors, air and fuel filters, and plugs, Scott speculated correctly that there was “old hose” debris in a fuel line south of the filter and north of the injectors. Bob also found that the right-side plug cable needed "more wire, less cable." When we cleaned out that fuel line and exposed more wire ... VAROOM! So, here are the culled pix (but, yes, still lots) in a slideshow with captions. In my defense, I started with about 150 and cut out more than 100! As with my other slideshows, the link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that. Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption. [And, again, as with my other slideshows, for maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the code to make it more seamless, please tell me.] The pix? Go here: https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Scott-Bob-Revive-the-EV-Nov-23/n-ngSPNK/ Bill

A pox on you and other haters. https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/forum/37-older-models/ My '98 EV, with its 107K, was "Bike of the Month" here many years ago. Mine sits just now on my lift in the Moto Grappa awaiting a major service, tho its only known "need" is to R&R injectors. Bill

Greetings from the top of Virginia This is a belated slideshow story of the South’n Spine Raid 19. Real life gets in the way of all the things I really want to do, so it took awhile to get these done. As attendees know, I rode my new Moto Guzzi V85 to Tennessee almost entirely on backroads; Kathi -- my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess! -- “slabbed" it in our newer Fit. It’s nice to have a “support vehicle” on motorcycle trips. As with the last several years, the SSR is on the first weekend after Labor Day, and is held, as all who have followed this thread know, at the The Lodge at Tellico in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. We return there again and again because we cannot imagine a better venue than the Lodge, or more convivial and supportive hosts than innkeepers Bryan and Catherine. As I said in my previous and similar slideshows sets, e.g., Mutton Runs, "of course there are too many photos." What's your point? I took over 300, so these mere — no, telling you now would spoil the surprise — should be easy. The link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that. Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption. The pix? Here: SSR 19 2023 [NOTE - This additional info is for the two or three of you who actually open the full pix and watch the slideshow. 😉 For maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the trick to make it more seamless, please tell me.] Ciao! Bill P.S. If anyone pictured has an objection to any photo or caption, please tell me. Naturally, I’ll laugh and laugh … erm … I mean I’ll do something about it.

Thought I had a pic in there of Moonlite. I have to say that for years I was an Old Hickory fan over Moonlite. The last several times we've been there, I've found the mutton less than I had remembered. This was a shorter visit than most, so we didn't have time. Will give OH another try next May if not sooner. Another option we'll try again is olesouthbbq.com/. The BEST mutton -- by far, IMO -- is that at St. Mary's Sure, some of that is parish pride. That said, of the many church picnics in the artea, I think that ONLY St. Mary's doesn't parboil the meat before grilling over a slow fire. Many restaurants that claim to be BBQ specialists do that, too. Have you tried the Green River bourbon yet? Bill P.S. Am working (yes, finally) on the pix of SSR XIX.

WARNING! if you detest “TLDR,” skim & scan … or just run away now. Paid by the word for 50+ years, I won’t change those spots any time soon. Oh, and I am also a Luddite WRT getting the fonts here right when I cut & paste as I have here from ADVRider where I first posted this earlier today in a V-85 thread. Apologoies. Feel free, Docc, to make it all "prettier." =============== Twice a year, I and others ride to Daviess County in western Kentucky. Why? Mutton. Yes, that’s an acquired taste that not everyone even wants to acquire … but it’s acquired me. But, of course, there’s more to it than that. The paternal “Hagan” contributors of my DNA started off in 1662 in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. In the late 1700’s, when Catholics were no longer welcome in Maryland, Hagans were part of the migration of 200 Catholic families to Kentucky, traveling first by foot and then flatboat to what is now Maysville, Kentucky — then Limestone, Virginia. Led, BTW, by Basil Hayden, they went on from there to settle for a time in central Kentucky south of Bardstown. If you enjoy bourbon whiskey, thank “My People.” If Protestants had settled there instead, Maker’s Mark might be a brand of iced tea. Be that as it may, they moved again in the 1820’s to the better dirt in Daviess County, where their descendants — i.e., many of my Hagan family — still live today. Their church, St. Mary of the Woods, in Whitesville, Ky., was established 177 years ago. Parish picnics started soon thereafter, and mutton has been the common, delicious denominator. I clearly remember the first such picnic I attended in the mid-1950’s. But this post is about the latest such gathering, from where I, Kathi, and two friends just returned earlier this week. Scott (Lima, Ohio) and AJ, (Baltimore, Md.) both longtime Guzzisti, and I rode from the Moto Grappa in Cross Junction, Va., to Whitesville. We took three days, riding exclusively on interstitial backroads. [I only learned that word, “interstitial,” yesterday — thanks, @Pillionviewpoint — and am excited to use it!] Seriously, it was a grand trip. The roads between here and there are made for motorcycles. We even travelled on many — e.g., U.S. 62, a twisty challenge, especially between Maysville and Bardstown — that my hardscrabble tobacco-farming (and distilling! ) ancestors would have used, albeit much more slowly. A six-mile blacktop hypotenuse off of 62 — SR 1504 — between Mount Olivet and Oddville (seriously) is one of the most entertaining pieces of pavement on this grand planet. And, in Ohio, we serendipitously stumbled upon — code for “lost” — SR 348 between Lucasville and Blue Creek, a 25-mile collection of scenic sweepers and a surprise whiskbroom or two to keep you on your toes. My ever-indulgent wife, Kathi, has been to many of these picnics as a pillion and, in this instance, driver of our “support vehicle.” She took only a day to join us in Maysville, and, on the return, be with me at Mount Sterling, Ky., before heading home solo. For some context to the slideshow, below, on Day 1 of the outbound leg, we spent some time with Guzzista @Chethro in Ripley, W.V. [Thanks, Chet] And, on Day 3, we stopped in to visit the Ky. Guzzi Rally near Frankfort. On the return, Kathi and I went to Mount Sterling, where I had arranged to have www.gatewaycycles.com/ do the 6.2K service to my V85. I bought my V85 there on my return last June. I cannot say enough good things about this dealership. Carl, the owner, is an avid Guzzista who went out of his way to ensure that the service would be done without delaying my ride home. For example, though closed on Mondays, he and "Super Tech" Coty, made the service happen that evening so I could leave early the next morning! Enough background. Here are the culled pix (bit still lots) in a slideshow with captions. The link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that. Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption. [For maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the code to make it more seamless, please tell me.] The pix? Go here: https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Moto-Muttoneers-Sept-2023/n-LxVRBJ/ Bill P.S. in the (exceedingly unlikely!) case, you yearn for more tales of Mutton Runs, try these: https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Motos-Mutton-More-Less/n-HnchJc/ https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Muttoneering-Sept-2021/n-VzxTGK/ https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Mutton-Running-May-2018/n-dHftGV/

Ditto for me, I assure you!

Note to Self: Find some way to get an Australian passport. Bill

Got back last night ... Now, I'm too busy ... Bill

In Kentucky on Mutton Run. if someone else doesn’t chime in before I get home, I’ll try. Bill

Thank, you, Randy. I am, obviously, not dashing enough to wear that uniform, but make do with a more utilitarian uniform. Bill P.S. @KINDOY2, what’s the story on that cap? The triple-turreted insignia looks as if from an older Carabinieri rank "shoulder board," and the eagle is similar to a Mussolini-era Italian military eagle but sans the fasces. Anyway, thank you for adding to my military moto-museum collection!

You made it back in <4 days!?!?!

I tried to "Ha Ha!" that, but got this ... OTOH, I could "laugh" at Pete's. Obviously, Sede Centrale, Carabinieri, was not amused. I am now worried about disciplinary action. Bill

By the dawn's early light ... on Sunday at the Lodge at Tellico. A great Raid .... thanks to docc and all. Bill & Kathi P.S. Yes, more pix later.

“Mine’s bigger.”