507 mile, 2004 Ballabio

[Steve54296]

2 hours ago, po18guy said:

Make sure the shift lever is not fouling the "porkchop" on the side of the frame. The lever does appear that it is adjusted fairly far down. 

I’ll check that out. Thanks! Appreciated! Who knows if my dad ever even had the bike setup, or if he ever did any adjustments, since it got shipped over from Italy? I am guessing not. There are no service records of any adjustments or service: which, at 507 miles, it wasn’t ever really due for any service. I’ll probably just swap all the fluids, before the auction is over: I already changed the oil/ filter, and put in a new battery, but now people in the comments on BaT are freaking out about the brake fluid. I really don’t like BaT, because not only do the auctioneers use overly aggressive language when describing the bike, but then a bunch of trolls end up entering the auction comments, who probably have no actual interest in the bike, and only have the objective of sowing fear and doubt in the bike. Not sure why they get their rocks off doing that, but I guess I’m the stupid one, listing the Ballabio there, when I already had a bad experience with the Falcone. 

Edited June 14 by Steve54296

[Steve54296]

7 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

I've been in your situation and the answer is keep them in the house. I had the MV Agusta in the lounge room behind the sofa and the Ducati1000ss in the dining room. No smells or leaks, all good. Every girlfriend I had at the time ( I was single and in my late 40's early 50's and there were a few) would shriek in horror when they first saw them in the house and then just ended up forgetting they were there after a few sleepovers. I used to tell them consider them Kinetic art. Once people get over the initial "motorbikes shouldn't be in the house" mantra then they just become an accepted part of the furniture. I'd actually prefer them not in the house only because they do actually just become part of the furniture you are so used to them being there and they lose a bit of their "specialness". You don't realise how lovely a 2005 MV1000 is until you haven't looked at it for a while when it's been under the bike cover.

Phil

I’m not a pushover, and I’m the man of the house…but, that being said, I also don’t want my wife to murder me🤣. Bringing motorcycles in the house would be a one way ticket straight to the wood chipper! 🤣

[Scud]

13 hours ago, audiomick said:

Think very, very hard about which of your mates have a big garage and owe you a favour. 

...and what is the penalty for cancelling an auction? Might be worth it.

I just read through the BAT comments. They seem like reasonable questions. Tires absolutely should be replaced before riding. Brake fluid, despite looking good, can absorb water over time, and should be flushed every few years whether the bike gets used or not.

And... It's not a motorcycle in the house, it's a connection to your dad. Add in a couple months of core exercises to strengthen that back, and you're riding.

That Falcone looks lovely. Maybe you should keep that one. Talk about art in the house...

[activpop]

5 hours ago, Steve54296 said:

I’m not a pushover, and I’m the man of the house…but, that being said, I also don’t want my wife to murder me🤣. Bringing motorcycles in the house would be a one way ticket straight to the wood chipper! 🤣

Oh, if I was single, the piano would be gone and the Coppa would be in its place for the winter. But, that will never happen. My wife loves art, but not motorcycle static art. I can't understand that.  

[docc]

Would someone be so kind as to post the BaT link/

[activpop]

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2014-moto-guzzi-v11-sport-ballabio/

[docc]

Such a very nice V11! And a very thorough walk-around video, @Steve54296. Complete with the wife weeding the garden at 1:22 (let's not tell her . . . )

We do have a longtime member who has a place for this (in his heart and in his garage). I'm not naming any names, but his initials are @Bill Hagan . . .

[Bill Hagan]

It is so.

My late, lamented, and lost-to-me Ballabio I bought while Kathi was getting her master’s in Boston.

I did not tell her. It seemed the safest thing to do.

That was error.

I promised not to do that again.

So, as she is in George just now, I thought it prudent to mention all of this to her on the telephone this morning.

She used her well-honed wife, and middle school teacher skills to say that I “should do it if I feel it right.”

Men married more than a day or two see the trap there.

But I am musing about it.

The reality is that I am so smitten by my V 85 and pleased with my Stornello and EV, all three of the present occupants of the Moto Grappa, that it is difficult rationally to justify such a purchase now.

At 78 next month, I’m not sure that I want Kathi and my executor to go through anytime soon what the OP is just now.

Yes, I can see what I’m doing up above, and it’s not working.

Lord, that’s a sweet machine.

Bill

[Steve54296]

3 hours ago, Scud said:

...and what is the penalty for cancelling an auction? Might be worth it.

I just read through the BAT comments. They seem like reasonable questions. Tires absolutely should be replaced before riding. Brake fluid, despite looking good, can absorb water over time, and should be flushed every few years whether the bike gets used or not.

And... It's not a motorcycle in the house, it's a connection to your dad. Add in a couple months of core exercises to strengthen that back, and you're riding.

That Falcone looks lovely. Maybe you should keep that one. Talk about art in the house...

Yeah, I’ll do the brake fluid, but from everything I’ve seen in my 27 years of working on cars, is it’s hot/cold cycles, that really beats up the brake fluid, or if something is stored outside. This bike rarely saw a humidity over 50%. The comment that irked me, wasn’t necessarily that one, it was the one that presumed that the fuel was gummed up, the seals were all dried out, the tires were shot, and the bike is basically scrap, at this point. While those are legitimate concerns of long term storage, there was a certain amount of presumption in his post, without even asking how the bike may have been kept up with, while in storage. He basically said this, without saying it, “this bike is junk”. And I agree if the intention is to hop on it, and slam the bike into corners at 120 mph, the first thing I’d do is get new tires. But, that being said, for normal riding, these tires still have a very sticky, gummy feel to them. But, I guess I’ve lived my life working on cars, and pushing things to their limits, before their replacement, so I’ve learned where the limits are..so I go more by experience, rather than some arbitrary “should be replaced” mantra…unless, like I said, my intention was to buy the bike, and immediately slam it into hard corners. 

Edited June 14 by Steve54296

[Pressureangle]

My take on BaT is that it's mostly a bunch of whiny rich-adjacent cheapskates. On one side are people fishing high prices, the other side douchebags trying to submarine the item to bring the price down to where they can afford it, or sour grapes it because they can't. 

Change my mind.

[Steve54296]

2 hours ago, docc said:

Such a very nice V11! And a very thorough walk-around video, @Steve54296. Complete with the wife weeding the garden at 1:22 (let's not tell her . . . )

We do have a longtime member who has a place for this (in his heart and in his garage). I'm not naming any names, but his initials are @Bill Hagan . . .

Ha, that was my mom! I think you just made her day with a drastic underestimation on her age, even if it does require an incestuous path to reach that estimation🤣

[Steve54296]

26 minutes ago, Pressureangle said:

My take on BaT is that it's mostly a bunch of whiny rich-adjacent cheapskates. On one side are people fishing high prices, the other side douchebags trying to submarine the item to bring the price down to where they can afford it, or sour grapes it because they can't. 

Change my mind.

I won’t be one to change your mind! If anything, I think it’s more slanted towards trying to submarine items. The auctioneers write the listings, but they leave out all the pertinent qualifiers, like, “minor”, or “occasional”. So, with the Falcone, what started out as “occasional oil drip”, and “minor pitting”, turned into, “engine leaks oil”, and “exhaust is pitted”. Then, like with the Ballabio, once the auction is up and rolling, the trolls show up, to basically make the thing sound like it’s ready for the scrap yard. I understand sellers will often fluff up an item, or leave things out, but with BaT, if a guy goes into it honestly, it ends up not just leaving the fluff out, but it turns into a bash session. There are ways to ask honest questions about things that could be concerns, without presuming the thing is ready for the scrapyard. 

[Paradiso]

Just watched the walk around video. It looks great.   Red, as good as new, Italian exotica for $5000.  A bargain, even if ownership is a character and knowledge building experience.  

When you look at 4 wheeled Italian offerings, which take a whole lot more expense and maintenance, a V11 is a cheap entry into the visceral joys of Italian sporting machinery.  

 

[Steve54296]

16 minutes ago, Paradiso said:

Just watched the walk around video. It looks great.   Red, as good as new, Italian exotica for $5000.  A bargain, even if ownership is a character and knowledge building experience.  

When you look at 4 wheeled Italian offerings, which take a whole lot more expense and maintenance, a V11 is a cheap entry into the visceral joys of Italian sporting machinery.  

 

Yes, I’ve read a fair amount about the V11 on here. The Italians definitely take a different path to engineering, than the Japanese. But, if a guy goes into it understanding that, you’ll get character out of this bike, that the Japanese bikes just can’t match! That’s my take on it. 

[Steve54296]

5 hours ago, Scud said:

...and what is the penalty for cancelling an auction? Might be worth it.

I’m don’t what the penalty would be. BaT says it’s their policy to never pull auctions down, once they are started. Not sure what they could possibly do about it, other than permanently ban me from BaT. No one can force my mom to sign the title over, and I can assure you it wouldn’t stick in court, until some sort of actual documented financial and ownership transfer took place. That being said, I consider myself honest, and I’ll go through with it. I have other items of my dad that I will use as keepsakes. If my back could handle this bike, I’d be all over it! My dad had arthritis in his back (hence the low miles), and I have reason to believe I’m likely on that same path.