rocker59

Put in a big block and you'll lose the 405lbs weight that makes the V7Classic a fun little bike. The engine and tranny of a big block are heavy chunks! Maybe if Guzzi would use billet engine internals... But that would be mucho $$$... A "classic" big block would be this bodywork on the current Cal Vintage Tonti frame. The Cal Vintage weighs 550lbs...

The two Yuasa batteries that were OEM in my 1996 Sport 1100 lasted eight years. That's not bad, so when the time came, I replaced them with two new Yuasas. That was four years ago. They're still going strong.

Approaching 20,000 miles on my '04 LeMans Nero Corsa and the only failure has been the odometer. Pretty F-ing trouble-free if you ask me...

My Nero Corsa will ping occasionally under load, usually at rpms below 4500. I've run RON+MON/2 octane ratings as low as 87 and as high as 93. The bike has pinged on all octanes under various conditions. There has been no rhyme or reason to it... Personally, I think the pinging has something to do with the variability of fuel at different stations in different regions than it does with anything else...

An "all of the above" choice would have been nice... Personally, I'd like to see an 8v version of the smallblock in 1970s roadracer clothing... Otherwise, all your choices except the BMW/YMCA one would work for me... I voted MGS-02...

Beautiful !!!

Here are a few pics taken on Main Street in Italy. Great turnout. Nice variety of machiness. I was kinda stunned at the number of H&H fairings on Californias. That fairing must really work! I think Ken said that 135 people signed in. There were many that didn't. I always wonder what people casually driving through Italy on TX-34 think when they round the bend onto Main and see over 100 motorcycles lining the street of this sleepy little town. 1987 LeMans: The only two examples of the V11 LeMans that I saw at the rally: My favourite Guzzi in attendance (and the favourite pic that I took): There were also examples of other marques. This Vincent was notable. I'm not sure what model it is and there were lots of modern parts on it, but it arrived in town being ridden 2-up with a rider and passenger: Ducatis and Triumphs were in attendance, too: Awards were at about 2:30. Lots of door prizes and distance awards. Hey, I even won a MGNOC membership! After the awards, riders scatter rapidly to whence they came and leave the streets of Italy as deserted as they were only a few hours before: Around 4pm Michael D and I headed back North stopping for fuel in Sherman and then again in McAlester, where we parted ways. I arrived back home in The Hills a little after 10pm having had another great ride on my trusty '04 V11 LeMans Nero Corsa!!!

...Texas, that is Here are a few pics from the trip to Italy. Michael D and I planned to meet in McAlester, Oklahoma Saturday morning. It's the junction of US-69 and the Indian Nations Turnpike. A natural place for us to meet driving from Tulsa and Fayettevile. I left Fayetteville, Arkansas at about 0730 during a rainstorm that had blanketed NW Arkansas since earlier in the morning. I looked at the radar and decided that it would be hours before the rain let up. I didn't want to call Michael D and delay the trip, so I donned my old Chase Harper rain gear and headed South on I-540. It poured rain for about 70 miles in 50-degree temps! A good test of my ten year old rain gear, which worked perfectly. Also working perfectly was the Nero Corsa. No problems at all maintaining 80mph speeds in those conditions. The Metzeler Z6 front and Dunlop Roadsmart rear performed flawlessly and I made good time to McAlester, arriving on time at about 10am. Michael D and I had agreed to meet at a place I found on the internet. "What about Bob's" was a great cafe/restaurant for us to meet. Great food and staff. We arrived on the tail end of the breakfast rush, so it took awhile to get our food, but it was well worth it. Highly recommended, if ever you're hungry in McAlester. http://www.whataboutbobs.net/index.html : From McAlester, we headed South towards Texas. The weather turned for the better. From cool and rainy to warm and sunny. We bucked a 20mph headwind running South towards Ennis and were welcomed to Texas by the sun and 90-degree temps. After a couple of traffic tie-ups on the Central Expressway, we arrived in Ennis at the Days Inn where a contingent of Guzzisti from the Houston area would be staying. Shortly after our arrival, a certain Texas Redneck arrived on this shiny new Guzzi: I have to say that I really like the Stelvio after seeing it in person and sitting on the one that the Havens brought with them. I still don't like the 4.75-gallon fuel tank, but otherwise this is one sweet Moto Guzzi !!! After Frank and Joey arrived, we all headed over Bubba's BBQ which is just down the street from the Days Inn. Problem is that in Texas the access roads are one-way. In order to drive one mile to the restaurant, we had to travel about four miles of access road to get there, first going North and then going South before turning back North to get to Bubba's !!! Look 'em up when in Ennis. Bubba's is rated as one of the top BBQ joints in Texas. After dinner we all headed out to Waxahachie Creek Park to hang out with some of the campers and visit for awhile. Afterwards, it was back to the motel for an entertaining Bull Session attended by Todd and Mike Haven, Jim, Frank, Joey, Michael D, and me. I hit the rack about midnight in order to be able to get up and ride the 20 miles over to Italy early in on Sunday morning.

The BT-014 is a great sport tire for the spine-frame bikes. I've been running 'em on my Sport 1100 for the past few years. The only downside to this tire it tread life. On my Sport 1100, they last about 3,000 miles.

My '04 V11 LeMans Nero Corsa makes for a great SPORT-tourer with the Hepco + Becker bags !!!

Thousand Oaks promised to support the out of town riders who attended the National Rally at Malibu back in June. Many riders were turned away who needed simple things like tire changes because the dealer was too busy selling/delivering scooters. There has been some debate on the issue on another Guzzi forum where the dealer actually chimed in and denied this, but the fact remains that a lot of riders were pissed off that they had to go to Japanese dealerships for service while in SoCal. It'll be interesting to see how he fares in the aftermath of that SNAFU.

Update: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/new...losure-reports/

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Annual Pilgrimage to Italy, Texas. It's a one-day event in downtown Italy beginning at about 8am on Sunday, 5 October. People ride Guzzis in from all over the country to this event. When I was there two years ago, the distance award was to a guy who rode a Quota from Vermont !!! I'll be staying, along with some other Guzzistas, at the Days Inn at Ennis Texas. Just South of Dallas on I-45. Hope to see you there!

Thanks Sean! Yep. They're great people! I really love in in Northern New Mexico. I'd sure like to find a way to live out there for awhile. So when are you going to come back to NW Arkansas to do some riding and check out Fayetteville?

The new dealer in NW Arkansas, Freedom Powersports, in Rogers is set to have an open house on Saturday, 8 November. Steve Walker, the Arkansas Rep for the National Owners Club, is wanting to try and have a good showing of current Guzzi owners at the event. I agree that it's a great idea as a show of support for this fledgling dealer. If you're within a hundred miles of Rogers, Arkansas, I encourage you to ride out and join the event. VR6Dave, put it on your calendar!!! http://www.freedompowersportsnwa.com/

It's hard to figure USA import figures from these dealer stats. USA imports are said to be 10% of Guzzi's world production, or about 1,100 to 1,200 units...

I copied this from another forum. The info is courtesy of Jason at Speaker's Cycle. Interesting that both the Breva 1100 and Breva 1200 Sport are not being imported: 2009 Model line up & M.S.R.P. Norge 1200 $15,690 Bronze, Silver, Black NO red (No Changes other that the one color) Cal Vintage $14,990 Black/White & White (No Changes other than the color) Stelvio $14,990 Black & Red Griso 1200 $14,290 Black & White V7 Classic $8,490 White V7 Available late October 2008 All others should be available now does not include $430 Freight bill No Breva 1100, No Breva 750, No Nevada, 750 and No 1200 Sport all those models will not becomming back to the USA for 2009. The meeting was basically about scooters. They talked 2 hours about scooters and about 10 minutes on Motorcycles. Then we had a seperate meeting for Guzzi only and it was about 30 minutes Moto Guzzi increased sales by 3% between September 2007 and August 2008. (they didn't give actual number of bikes sold) There were 86 existing dealers that were dealers for 12 months or longer and 26 that are less than 12 months old. There are currently 122 MG dealers in the USA. There were 56 when Piaggio took over in 2005 (Can't Say how many have come and gone in this time period either) 1 exisiting sold 50 or more (MI) 3 existing sold 26 - 50 (Speaker's, Thousand Oaks, MPH) 5 exisinting sold 11-25 67 existing and 15 new shops sold 1-10 10 existing and 21 new shops sold 0 bikes this year.

...with a commemortive plaque on the wall of the new apartment/condo complex that'll replace the grand old factory!

2,500 miles... 3mm depth in the center, down from 5mm.

I think it sucks. It makes Moto Guzzi no different than Oldsmobile or Plymouth. A name brand with no hard assets. We all know what happened to them. Personally, I think leaving Mandelo and just being a brand of Piaggio Group takes away much of the reasons that I fell in love with Moto Guzzi 25 years ago when the LMIII was new. I'll hope for the best, but I am worried...

sixth gear. 180/55-17 Dunlop Roadsmart.

Just got back from a 2,200 +/- miles trip to New Mexico. 1,550 miles were high-speed Interstate-40 at 80 to 100 mph speeds. I measured the tread depth at the center and it is a little better than 3mm. The tire now has 2,500 miles on it. At that rate, it should last a little more than 6,000 miles. Hopefully it will last longer than that as for the next few thousand miles, the bike will live mostlyon the curvy roads in The Hills of Northwest Arkansas. I can say that the tire handles GREAT! I was on over 600 miles of sweeping mountain roads in New Mexico. The turn-in is great. Line adjustments are easy. Overall the Roadsmart seems to be a great tire! I'll update again soon.

Not only was Tucumcari an important Route 66 town at the junctions of US-66 and US-54, but it was also an important railroad town. This was the western end of the Rock Island Railroad. At Tucumcari, the Rock Island handed off it's trains to the Southern Pacific. Famous passenger trains like The Golden State passed trough Tucumcari during the golden age of railroading. Today, Union Pacific trains roll through town past the old Rock Island depot. The sprawling yards and shops but a distant memory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucumcari,_nm At the next stop, I check out Groom, Texas. It's another little town on old Route 66. Most recently known for the huge cross on the east end of town. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groom,_Texas A cool little Victorian cottage. High Noon in Groom. Not much happening on Route 66 these days... The Britten water tower. The truckstop is long-gone, but the sign remains... From Groom, I rode three more tanks of fuel through the Nero Corsa to get home to Fayetteville at about 10pm Central. A little over 12.5 hours to cover the 775 miles, including the stops for photos. This Guzzi gets a big thumbs-up from me for long-distance sport-touring! What a great trip! I truly love Northern New Mexico. Many thanks to Marcelo and his wife for hosting me on my first stay in Santa Fe! I can't wait to get back on the bike and do it again! 8)

Day 5. Santa Fe to Fayetteville with a couple stops along the way. I drank coffee with Mr. and Mrs. Santaferider Sunday morning, then departed about 830am Mountain time. A couple minutes later, I ran into this. At first I thought is was a roadblock to keep me from leaving (wishful thinking), but they were just hauling an SUV outta the ditch that some drunk had put there overnight... 775 miles ahead of me. I-40 in Eastern New Mexico. Between Clines Corners and Tucumcari the traffic was flowing quite nicely. I saw about 50 miles of this. And about 50 miles of this while pacing a Toyota pickup with Kentucky Tags and a Porsche Cayenne with Illinois tags. I'd say I gave the Nero Corsa a pretty good endurance test on this trip. On the way to Santa Fe, the pace was 80mph to 90mph. On the return, traffic was flowing a little faster. Five tanks of gas each way at these kinds of speeds and not as much as a hiccup from the bike!!! At my fuel stop in Tucumcari I decided to cruise town for some Route 66 and Rock Island Railroad snapshots.

US-64 is a nice run down through the Carson National Forrest to the valley that leads on to Taos. This is an old ranch along the way. Crossing the flat valley, you come to the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge was built a little over 40 years ago to ease travel in the area. It's about 650 feet above the river below, making it the third highest bridge in the US. I stopped in Taos at the plaza and grabbed a little bite to eat at Ogilvie's. I enjoy thier veranda overlooking the plaza. from Taos, I decided to hit The High Road one more time since I knew that would be the last of the twisty roads for almost 800 miles until my return to the Ozarks... Marcelo's steak dinner was very welcome upon my return to Santa Fe after an almost 400 mile circuit of Northern New Mexico!