MGV Guzzi on Bike Exif

[4corsa]

[pete roper]

They all look exactly the bloody same. They’re all ‘Built from a catalog’ cookie cutter versions of the same thing.

I used to like a nicely executed ‘Cafe’ Tonti but then they all became as dull and formulaic as those Harley’s that have been ‘Accessorised’ from the ‘Screaming Eagle’ catalog.
 

Back in the early 2000’s I used to get an endless stream of these gurning numpties coming through the shop. They’d buy something like a lovely old SP1000, tear the fairing off, paint the frame, (With a brush and without taking the engine out!), throw away the airbox and put pod filters on the same tiny carbs so the engine didn’t run right and then to make it truly ‘Individual’ they’d do something like saw the flange off the bevelbox, shorten the rear mudguard and paint the sidepanels maroon or something equally gross! They all had clip ons and a stupid tail light and every single one of them was an unutterable pile of shit!

When I expressed my feelings their owners would always flounce off in a huff! No skin off my nose as none of them ever had any money! It went hand in hand with the lack of talent! F*ckwits one and all.

[docc]

Let's face it, re-making a motorcycle successfully is not a matter for amateurs, the faint-hearted, or commercial venture. For the outcome to touch the heart and capture totality, some combination of skill, vision, experience, tools, and a certain amount of reverence must combine with resources, time, dedication and perseverance.

I offer this case in point:

 

[gstallons]

It is understood , when you personalize a bike .......you personalize YOUR bike.

[4corsa]

3 hours ago, pete roper said:

They all look exactly the bloody same. They’re all ‘Built from a catalog’ cookie cutter versions of the same thing.

I used to like a nicely executed ‘Cafe’ Tonti but then they all became as dull and formulaic as those Harley’s that have been ‘Accessorised’ from the ‘Screaming Eagle’ catalog.
 

Back in the early 2000’s I used to get an endless stream of these gurning numpties coming through the shop. They’d buy something like a lovely old SP1000, tear the fairing off, paint the frame, (With a brush and without taking the engine out!), throw away the airbox and put pod filters on the same tiny carbs so the engine didn’t run right and then to make it truly ‘Individual’ they’d do something like saw the flange off the bevelbox, shorten the rear mudguard and paint the sidepanels maroon or something equally gross! They all had clip ons and a stupid tail light and every single one of them was an unutterable pile of shit!

When I expressed my feelings their owners would always flounce off in a huff! No skin off my nose as none of them ever had any money! It went hand in hand with the lack of talent! F*ckwits one and all.

Pete, as far as the Kaffemaschine bikes go, I invite you to check out their website and see that they are anything but "built from a catalogue". https://www.kaffee-maschine.net/philosophie_en

They design and machine countless custom parts, frequently one-offs for a particular projects, including engine parts. If you know of a higher quality custom motorcycle shop (other than perhaps Walt Siegel), I'd love to know about it!

[Lucky Phil]

6 hours ago, docc said:

Let's face it, re-making a motorcycle successfully is not a matter for amateurs, the faint-hearted, or commercial venture. For the outcome to touch the heart and capture totality, some combination of skill, vision, experience, tools, and a certain amount of reverence must combine with resources, time, dedication and perseverance.

I offer this case in point:

 

My aim when modifying a motorcycle docc is to enhance the original concept with better components and create something that is unique but looks like it could have come out of the factory. So not trying to create a "racer" out of a tourer or GT bike and no just stripping it down and making it an uncomfortable, impractical and often illegal bike for the road. There needs to be balance, and an elegance about it and the retention of the original bikes DNA and character. This is why my V11 Sport for instance still retains the non radial callipers. Radial callipers would mean Aprilia RSV forks and a different front guard and that would have eliminated part of the V11 Sports recognisable aesthetic signature. Hanging gaudy aftermarket bit's off it is something i like to avoid as well.

 

Phil

[pete roper]

8 hours ago, 4corsa said:

Pete, as far as the Kaffemaschine bikes go, I invite you to check out their website and see that they are anything but "built from a catalogue". https://www.kaffee-maschine.net/philosophie_en

They design and machine countless custom parts, frequently one-offs for a particular projects, including engine parts. If you know of a higher quality custom motorcycle shop (other than perhaps Walt Siegel), I'd love to know about it!

OK. So they ‘Design and machine countless custom parts’. Why then do all their bikes look exactly the same? Few, if any of them, have any air filtration and their HP figures are the usual fantasy bullshit to mug the punters.

I’m sorry, it’s been done to death, again and again and again. Sure their execution is better than Joe Blow brush painting his ruined SP but it’s still the same shit. Sorry. I hate it.

What makes a bike like Phil’s, or Paul Minaert’s outstanding is the attention to detail and the ‘Outside the box’ thinking and effort that goes into them and they still look outstanding and WORK!

The usual response to me criticising things like this is that “You couldn’t do it yourself”! Damn f*cking straight I couldn’t! I have neither the skill or the patience to embark on such a project. I did, back around the middle of the first decade of this century build a short stroke roundfin that produced 80+ hp on a couple of Dino’s but it was only 891cc and it had to rev to nearly 10,000 RPM to do so. At those sorts of engine speeds, even though the MEPS was fine it torched its big ends regularly through oil pump cavitation! In 2006 I bought an 1100 Griso and it did everything my little hot rod did but was a turn-key machine! It also handled better, even without work on the suspension, and didn’t run its big ends with tiresome regularity! Looked far better than those tiresome two wheeled ‘Artworks’ too.

Look if you like that sort of thing? All power to you. I’m sure that whoever runs that business is far richer than I’ll ever be. I prefer just finding problems and solving them to make a good product better rather than making fantasies for rich dimbulbs who will probably ‘Ride’ their bikes once or twice a year. Im strange like that though……

[mikev]

1 hour ago, pete roper said:

the usual fantasy bullshit to mug the punters

pure aussie gold

[Paradiso]

I'm with Pete on this.  Great bikes, created by designers and engineers, are being destroyed by morons. It's cultural vandalism; our motorcycling heritage is being laid waste.  The same horror is being wrought on BMW airhead twins.