Calamarichris

http://www.calamarichris.com/klrforsale.htm 3200 miles, (fewer than 50 off-road), adult owned, ridden & maintained. Please see link for additional information and photos. Thanks. calamarichris@yahoo.com

"I think the Gimp's sleepin'..." "Well I guess you goin'-hafta wake-em up now, aintcha?"

I'm no fan of stealth-bomber, asphalt-camouflage colors, but I have to admit your bike gave me a stiffy, Mr Jedione. Sorry I couldn't stick around for much of the rally. I had a date with a girl I had a crush on when we were sophomores in highschool. She was still hot after exactly 20 years, but alas we didn't hit it off. AND I left my digital camera at her place, so I can't post my photos of the rally. (Really shagged-the-pooch rotten this weekend.) Mighty nice to meet David, John, Todd and some o' them Ton-Up grouches. Pretty tolerant of my Jap-bike and foo-foo dog. Still didn't get a chance to swap bikes with any Guzzisti, but I shouldn't get the bike after all. Been saving up for my trip to Argentina or to New Zealand next year, and the money in my pocket was beginning to tingle in the direction of a LeMans, but I need to see the world before I get too damned old to appreciate it. Peace and THANKS! I'll be posting photos as soon as I get my camera back from Kimberly.

Haha, small world Tim! I've still got my W650 and it's coming up on 50,000 miles. Still do my own valve adjustments etc. and she's a lifetime bike for me, which is more than can be said about that half-@$$ed wife. She made that trip on her own bike Dlaing. An EX500 in purple, identical to the red one I recently got for my dog (also a life-long thing.)

That was no "least another W650 rider"... that was ME suckah! That was was the first moto-tour my ex-wife and I took as newlyweds, when she was still good at masking her troubled past.

Ahoy, Mdude... there is a local guy here who rides with his cat. He elongated an old helmet and turned it into a little cat-box with a trap-door on top. It rides on the tank in front of him and the cat can look out the faceshield. The guy walks around at biker hangouts and the cat would remain calmly perched on his shoulders while he walked around. And who can forget Rastus (RIP): The biking dogs are coming out of the woodwork. I was riding Vietnamese-family style with both dogs and my crazy feminist red-headed date on Pacific Coast Highway the weekend before last when we saw this guy with his weiner hanging out proudly:

And thanks for the info DLaing and kind compliments on the photos, you nutty buncha lug-nuts. Tim... You aren't by any chance Tim Graham are you? If so, you and I met back at the AMA Vintage Days at Sears Point. I might have a humiliating picture around here of your pre-Guzzi days if so...

I have the best restraint system possible: a disciplined dog who loves riding. She's ridden more than 45,000 miles with me, without incident (rarely on the freeway though.) I wear no gloves when she's with me for 3 reasons 1) I can grab her more certainly if anything were to go wrong. 2) As a reminder to take it easy while she's aboard 3) If anything does happen to her, I'd prefer to go through life without my thumbs. and my dog is happy after 6 years and 45K. The EX500 is her bike really. Perfect table-top gas tank, tall fairing with good visibility for her... And sometimes we puppysit other dogs. Buddy hasn't ridden as much, and therefore isn't as jaded as Angel. He is REALLY REALLY passionate about riding! His mom says he gets really excited whenever a motorcycle goes by her house: Though he's grown since this photo, and I now carry him in one of those chest-harnesses you see yuppy parents carrying their infants in.

What unbelievable good fortune that it happens to be THIS WEEKEND!! Gracias senor y dios bendega sus manos! I will certainly be there (hopefully they allow sissy dogs in the campground.) I'll ride my W650 to avoid offending the apparent tender sensibilities of the Ton-Up boys. Angel, Chitty and I are regulars on Lilac, West Lilac and Couser Canyon Since you probably don't really look like Marty Feldman (who has always looked like BMW's R1100S to me), please introduce yourself if you see us! -Calamari Chris in Carlsbad

...Can you send one of your best recruiters? Despite being a sensible type, the LeMans has been a bee in my bonnet (or perhaps a boner in my briefs) since double-aught ('00.) But something has always scared me off. Anyone in Southern California who would like to meet and swap bikes for a few miles? I'll buy your gas, your breakfast and you can take the pick of my litter: My '02 ZX9R, '02 EX500, or '00 W650. I'm not one of these mechanically antipathic types who likes to redline an engine, I'd just like to see how she feels before taking the plunge. Also, is there a decent factory manual available for this bike yet? Is the gas-tank (or tank cover) made of metal or plastic? (my dog prefers metal tanks, because her magnetic seat sticks better.) My wife split earlier this year, I tried pot for the first time in my life (did nothing for me), I kayaked to Catalina, and rode my 56.6mpg EX500 up to British Columbia this summer. It's been a decidedly profound year in many other ways. So maybe this'll be the year. I'm in Carlsbad, down by San Diego and I ain't talking about no Denny's breakfast. Mille grazzi! -calamarichris@yahoo.com http://www.calamarichris.com/

Hey Carl. Are you going to Ramona in December? If so, I'd love to meet up. I was only kidding about the hurricane-proximity, to make light of the human tendency to group distant landmarks together. I was living in Holland during the Rodney King riots and the Northridge earthquake, and all of my (utterly kind!) Dutch friends kept calling, asking if my family were safe, etc. The funny part is that my Ma wasn't even aware that there were riots going on until I called her. I was just up in Modesto last month when we rode around the Gold Country, then took the 25 down to the Wine Country--mighty nice roads you got up your way! If you'd like to meet up in Ramona (or Palomar or Borrego Springs, etc.) please ping me. We've got a few decent roads down here that haven't become expressways to casinos (yet.) -Calamari Chris in Carlsbad, CA http://www.chrisandlisachan.com/

Chris in Carlsbad, California. 35, male, happily married to a cute little motorcycliste. Ridden a little more than half a million miles on seven different bikes, but don't yet have a Guzzi. Since 1991, the looks keep bringing me back, but then I've always been chased away by the issues, which never seem to get resolved. Currently riding Kawasaki W650 (42,000 miles) and ZX9R (31,000 miles). Rode 6300 miles to Philadelphia and back this year and to Victoria,BC and back last year. I know what plastiguage and prussian-blue are for, but I value mechanical virtue* over character. I might never get a Guzzi, but I feel more at home with Guzzisti than I do with the usual kids who ride bikes like mine: "Which pipe will allow my engine to breath enough for me to ride 200mph and still match my DOT-illegal turn-signals?" I love Guzzi's, but if my views offend, I'll happily leave before hurting anyone's feelings. -Calamari Chris in Carlsbad, CA http://www.chrisandlisachan.com/ (*I'm a dull, dull person and can't afford to ride a machine with a personality that outshines my own.)

Varseveld! NATUURLIJK! Please forgive my buffoonish faux-pas, Paul. Under undue-duress of egregious stress, I'm tempted to cite the copious minisculity of the cartoonish map in our forum's otherwise-substantial selection of smileys, but alas there is no excuse for wandering journeymen such as we to not have copious quantities of geographicity at our casual disposal. -Calamari Chris in Carlsbad, CA (A big fan of Don King, just a few dozen miles west of the recent hurricane disasters we've been having over here. Ik ook houdt van Nederlandse Grolsch, maar niet de "Grolsch" wij hebben in de U.S. Warrom gezend ons de lelijk biertes?)

To hell (respectfully of course) with what Al said, Carl. From the get-go your intentions were clearly malicious, malevolent, malinformed and malingratory. This is clear because why else would someone attempt to help fellow motorcyclists? I hang my head in shame on your behalf. BTW, why is Eindhoven, NL (or is is Flint, Michigan?) significant enough among Guzzisti to warrant its own smiley in this forum? ( ) I'm a cherub-cheeked newbie to these parts and I WANT ANSWERS! -CCinC (still riding smooth and efficient Jap-crap with yet a good reason to take the Pepsi-challenge.)

God what a buffoon I am! Did this guy make it back safe from the trip way back in.... JUNE!? I had two IQ points to rub together before I got into motorcycles. Honest! -CCinC