kaput

Beautiful but my personal fave is their 2005 classic lemans in blue and white road trim. Kaput

For sale my metallic green 2003 V11 sport located in S. Florida. 13K, M4, guzzi carbon kit (screen, fender, cover), powercommander. Very nice for bargain price of $4,590 pictures by request

I'm with the V11cafe and bet that some version of a Guzzi will be in my garage ten years from now unlike some others but.... in the meantime its fun to speculate. If the Buell and other forums are to be believed Buell has a sales winner on their hands. In regards to Rotax reliability it is just as the orangeokie says - my own experience was with an Aprilia Falco that went 45,000 hard miles without any serious mechanical problems and with all the valves still in spec. - great bike but perhaps without the smiles per gallon of my Guzzi as the Falco is no longer in the garage and I don't miss it all that much but I sure as hell would miss my Guzzi. Just to stoke a few more conspiracy theories and get somebody worked up .... the American sportbike Fischer was originally designed around a Rotax 60 degree Vtwin like the one in the Aprilias but the Rotax factory suddenly backed out of the deal about a year ago just about the time development of the new helicon Buell/Rotax engine must have reached a fever pitch. You don't suppose the Buell contract had anything to do with that now do you? Kaput

Buell has existed for a long time in a parrallel universe where ultimate engine performance supposedly didn't matter and things were done the Buell way lightness, engineering for the sake of function, simplicity, compact packaging, weight down low and centered etc. etc. Yes the racing competition will now come from water cooled Japan and Italy but if you think Buell does not care about remaining the fastest best handling American sportbike you can buy then you haven't been reading the bi-monthly magazine I get sent from the good people at Buell - one of the perks of owning one of their quirky machines. Cheers Kaput

My take is that with the Fisher, SV 650 engine since they could not source their original choice of an Aprilia engine, and the Roer with the Vrod engine, the competition for a competitive American based sportbike was getting too close to home and Buell had to pull the trigger. I like it and also hope there are more rational spin off models to follow. My take on a Harley sportbike:

Sad moment for me. For sale: 2003 V11 sport (light green) with 12,000 miles. M4 exhaust, K&N pods, dyno tuned, complete carbon fiber kit. $5,600 or best offer. Located in South Florida, Contact Kaput.

To those of you going to Daytona this week you will be pleasantly surprised by the good Guzzi turnout. Unlike last year, demo rides from all the major manufactures have been available from Monday until this upcoming Saturday. All of the current Guzzi range including new Norge and California Classics are waiting for you for you to try out in triplicate. I counted (alright I didn't count) but there must have been at least ten shiny new guzzis lined up. I remember the good old days when they had one V11 sport on display minus the engine internals! Kaput

For those of you who remember Nielsen's Daytona victory fondly, he was supposed to take a leasurely honorary "parade lap" on the Old Blue replica (Reno Leoni took his two up on a scooter!) but you know how that goes. After absolutely flying for his first lap he decided to take one extra parade lap. He finally rolled up to the announcer for his post lap interview and said something like "one hundred fifty miles per hour on a Ducati on the high wall of Daytona is the greatest experience you can have." Oh yeah. Kaput

I was lucky enough to see the race sitting in the Daytona grand stand with no kidding about ten other people in the middle of about ten thousand empty seats. A very eerie experience indeed hearing all the sights and sounds of a motorcycle race but no audience. I didn't realize about the Guzzi entry because I was too busy watching two "Old Blue" Cook Nielsen Ducati replicas that started from the back row. I'm old enough to have seen Old Blue and Nielsen win at Daytona. The relicas got a great hole shot and knifed their way to run one two for about one lap then all of a sudden the announcer started excitedly talking about a fast Guzzi pressuring the leaders. At the end of the first lap the Guzzi rider was trading places back and forth with a "special experimental" (according to the announcer) Ducati with the Guzzi rider avoiding the draft just right at the end. Great rider. Great race. No audience to speak of - maybe they were all too busy attending the Harley Owners Group convention held at the same time right in the infield. Please help me understand. Kaput

Thanks Karl Von, info very much appreciated. I'm going to start working on my schedule. Kaput

Fernando. I'm located in Plantation. I didn't realize from your post that that you are local. I'm glad to have company! Kaput

Fernando. If you feel like going riding while in Miami just send me a message. Also if you need anything while you are here just let me know. Daytona for vintage racing and to see the crazies is always on my yearly schedule. Kaput

Man that made me want to go riding. Right now! Terrific stuff. Kaput

OK thanks Pierre. Now I'm happy.

Greg, all of your modifications are a nice blend of aesthetics and performance improvements. I'm into that. Kaput