wsholar

A few of us have been known to have a drink before the New Years Day ride, a little hair of the dog. But other than that, we're a pretty dry group until after the bikes have been put to bed.

It's winter here in S. Cal, so that means we're limited to only about 9-10 daylight hours of riding on New Years Day. That was still good for about 400 miles, though (we got a late start and kicked a lot of tires). It was tough to find a restaurant that wasn't either closed or full of bikers in Borrego Springs, but this little watering hole fit the bill:

Actually, I met with no negative comments or "looks." The only feedback I received was positive-- an out-of-the-blue thumbs up at the beginning of one of the last couple of sessions by one of the instructors, also a few "that bike is so cool" comments by a couple of other riders. Passed two SVs and a 675 Triumph, riding in the "B" group. "C" group were first-timers, "A" group were "studs." Most of the bikes in the B group were liter bikes-- the interesting ones included a couple of Triumphs, a Tuono Racing, a couple of Ducs, and that's about it. The bikes were almost solely Japanese inline 4 liter bikes and 600's. You can see the breakdown of the field here: Red Shift Track Day at Laguna Seca The Scura held its own in a very fast crowd on a very fast track. It was kind of cool to be riding on the track where just a few months ago the best riders in the world were competing. I noticed that the crowd that showed up for Laguna was a much more serious crowd than the one I rode with at Buttonwillow in April. I was passed many times, but only lapped once (at the end of a 15-lap session), by a pair of very competent riders.

Here are a couple more:

A couple of photos from my recent track day at Laguna Seca:

I think you hit the nail on the head-- BMW buyers don't place a premium on character, whereas Guzzi (and Maserati) buyers do. To illustrate: The Italians get it; the Germans just don't. And yes, Guzzi is getting back into the performance game, for non-lc motors anyway. They'll have machines that will compete with BMW's boxers' performance within a year, two years max, wait and see.

BMW will not be competing for 65,000 customers, they will be competing for something on the order of 10,000 new customers/yr, and Guzzi has a very good chance of winning more than half of those IF they can build a nicely finished, fairly reliable, but very sexy line of bikes. That's all. And I'll take a new Maserati over a new BMW auto any day of the week. So will many other car buyers out there. It's a niche market, but large enough to turn into a viable business.

Guzzi can and will compete with BMW moving forward, and here's why: Piaggio/Guzzi have done their market/history research, and they've discovered that there is a market for a "sexy V-twin BMW." They know that BMW doesn't know how to design a sexy bike. They know that they can come much closer to BMW's fit/finish/reliability/sophistication than BMW can ever come to their beauty/sexiness. Also, Piaggio/Guzzi know that BMW will never produce a longitudinal V-twin. Ducati is a Ferrari, BMW is a BMW (auto), Guzzi wants to be a Maserati. Make sense? Makes sense to me, but it just might take a while for Guzzi to get there. Just my

How about a stage II 1200 Griso?? That's next, ya know. Head and shoulders above the 1200S, IMHO.

And this is with the "race kit?" I would think that's pretty funny if it weren't so sad. What a crock.

To my way of thinking, the good news about the racing kit/power improvement has nothing to do with the 1200S, but that here's a way to turn your Norge into something approximating a true sport touring bike. Bring a Norge up to 100 whp for a reasonable price, then you actually start turning the heads of some BMW, Ducati, Triumph, and Aprilia riders, maybe just maybe. The 1200S is some sort of strange attempt to add a bike to the lineup without spending any money on adding a bike to the lineup. If you want a Guzzi sport bike, wait for Guzzi to spend some R&D money and actually introduce a sport bike.

Maker's Mark is what people who live outside of Kentucky think Kentucky Bourbon is supposed to be-- sort of like Chivas Regal. And don't go on about how even the best Kentucky Bourbon is not even [blah blah blah]. The first distillery in what is now Trigg County, KY was built on my Great-Great-Great Grandpapa's land in 1825. I would be familially obligated to take it personally, which I would rather not have to do. Cheers. Carry on. And no offense intended in your choice of Bourbon, Greg. I know it's tough to get the real stuff in Seattle.

Ah, I guess I get it now-- so I suppose the Honda would qualify as a bodge because it never failed? The Ballabio header was subsequently rewelded by the chap who gave it a good new home-- his bodge is still working AFAIK, so does he get a point? I guess I've generally managed to avoid bodges, usually opting for the legitimate fix, according to the strict definition, so I think my JB Weld job would be all I have to contribute to the discussion. Sorry 'bout that.

I had a welder attempt to weld a crack in my Ballabio header, but he didn't take into account that the clamp had to slide over the weld to bolt up to the exhaust port-- so, I told him to just file the weld down to provide clearance for the clamp, which he promptly did. Yeah, the header recracked after about 200 miles. So, whose bodge is it-- mine or the welder's? I JB Welded a vibration pinhole on the underside of the gas tank of my wife's '66 Honda CA-77 Dream. Worked like a charm, at least until after the bike was sold to become a sales floor fixture in a Honda auto dealership-- they prepped it for dry storage ($3K sales floor fixture-- go figure). I don't think I'll have to worry about any future bloody noses, though, at least not from THAT buyer.

I'd like to see something true to the Guzzi tradition, yet more refined for a Guzzi street-going sportbike-- a supercharged twin-cam pushrod 4 valver, dry sump, oil/air cooled, possibly even supplemented with a modest liquid cooling system. Small jackets, small radiator, lightweight, etc. With the traditional Guzzi engine orientation, most cooling could be achieved with air/oil, but the supplemental liquid cooling system could allow more headroom for compression, hotter cams, bigger valves, etc. A dry sump design would provide a net gain weight reduction-wise, even when adding liquid cooling, a supercharger, and another cam. The displacement could be kept quite modest (saving weight), grunt provided by long stroke and modest bore. It wouldn't need to rev particularly high, but would still provide huge grins between 4K and 8K-- remember, we're talking about a sport bike for the street, not for the track. Seems to me this type of design would give us a lighter, faster, nimbler, snottier, and more forgiving sport bike for the street, and it would still be all Guzzi. Just my 2+ cents.

Man, sorry that happened to you. Florida is a "red" state, presided over by the brother of the US Pres. You have the recently created Department of Homeland Security to thank for these sorts of "precautions." I think that in many cases, this is a way for the proponents of the current agenda to harass folks who MIGHT not agree with them (better safe than sorry). These days, the next worse thing to a "terrorist" is a "non-neoconservative." And if you don't fit the "neoconservative" profile, you're on the list of suspects-- could've ended up a lot worse for you. Welcome to our world-- it mght begin to ease up after the first of the year, when the non-neoconservatives could possibly regain control of the legislative branch of the federal government. Unfortunately, it will take another two years to take back the executive branch and another 4-10 years to take back the judicial branch along with a critical mass of the state governments. We'll all have to be patient and deal with the system as best we can until then. Remind you of another era of 20th century western culture? Me too. I have faith enough in our system, though, that it won't get much worse than it's been over the last few years. Until then,

what was your source for your spring? good price?

Ah, okay. Have you been able to dial your Scura Ohlins in satisfactorily? Have you had them modded? Again, what's your total riding weight and mileage?

Quick questions: Were you on your Scura when the rear shock blew? If so, then... What is your total body weight, with riding gear? What was your mileage when the shock blew? thanks!

Ah, these are internationally famous Guzzi riders. Sounds like you've got some catching up to do (left to right, click links for profiles)... Johnny: V11S (friend of Guzzi Jon) Guzzi Jon: LeMans/CaliSS/Eldo HKMouse: V11S Yours Truly: Ballabio (recently switched to Scura) Scott/CaliTitanium (hubby of HKMouse) RacerX: LeMans/Custom Jackal/Custom Stone Kiwi Dave: LeMans/Cali75thAnni/EVTouring (back in NZ) mg spd rcr: Scura/Jackal/EV/Convert (w/wife Vicky) KevinS: Quota/CX100 Hope that helps-- sorry for the ambiguity.

In my driveway, my bike... and some of the LA Guzzi gang...

Taken at Sweeney Pass, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, east of San Diego, CA. And yes, that's the official World Baseball Classic cap of Team Italy. Of course, Italy has provided some of the greatest players of the world's greatest ballgame: DiMaggio, Torre, Garagiola, Campanella, Conigliaro, La Russa, Lasorda, Rizzuto, Viola, Piazza, Lo Duca, etc., etc...

when I wrote "a little money," the implication was "some money" without writing "some money." to be more direct: "a little money" $11-14K "good money" $15-18K "a lot of money" $20K+ that work for ya?

That would be trying to be a French Confederate. But Wakan's considerably behind the curve: http://www.confederate.com/renovatio.php 190-hp/125-ft/lbs supercharged watercooled v-twin, and uh, 340 lbs.

bit of an understatement, eh?