The "Grand Quirk"

[helicopterjim R.I.P.]

Moto Guzzi's 'Grand Quirk' is that it exists! Period!

[Baldini]

Longitudinal crank, yes . . . and transverse cylinders. But is that really quirky?

Yes. It has big effect on handling & character of the bike, & with car type clutch/flywheel & shaft trans is mostly why you have to ride a Guzzi different to other bikes. Put anyone on a Guzzi who hasn't ridden one before - see how they react & tell me it's not quirky....eg: "how the hell do you ride this thing?" You have to learn to ride a Guzzi & ride it the way it wants to be ridden, you can't just apply UJM experience etc. You can get on a Duke, Buell etc & just ride it, it's character doesn't interfere with riding it quickly...even if you never rode one before.

 

The grand Quirk is the cylinders sticking up and out and in the way of properly positioning the rider for good weight distribution.

For me, on the V11, the motor isn't the limit to getting bodyweight forward, it's the long tank. A shorter tank would much improve handling ability. Is the Sporti tank shorter? On a Tonti you can spread your knees along the rocker covers & get a fair way up over the motor (well I guess it depends what shape you are...). But yeah, that you can't get your weight right over the front wheel is a limiting factor in how hard they can corner.

 

KB

[luhbo]

Surely to qualify as a "Quirk" a feature has to be deliberate and a weird way of doing stuff. Desmo qualifies. ...

 

Thanks, Nog. I looked the word up now. I should have done that before. Our German word "Spleen" probably comes near. If I think about Guzzi and other italian bikes like Laverda for instance then I think that the author of the mentioned article also was not really sure of what it means.

 

But it's always difficult to find proper words for sentences beginning with "All italian women..." or "All Italian bikes.." or "All Yanks..."

 

Hubert

[BrianG]

For me, it's the torque issue. It's certainly not a big deal once you are used to it, but get a look at the face of the fellow you swap bikes with when you laugh and launch his RC-51 hard off the light, and he does the same with the Sport. There's nothing funnier than listening to him describe the feeling of his first full throttle shift, as he's inevitably going to tell that he was sure that he was going to be pitched off sideways!

[Guest redguzziv10]

Moto Guzzi's biggest quirk...the Centauro

[Dan M]

Reading April 2006 "Cycle World", an article by Phil Schilling on the Moto Parilla, he states, "No Italian motorcycle would be authentic and complete without its Grand Quirk. For Ducati it's the desmodromic valve system. In the case of Parilla, it's the high-cam engine . . . "

 

And in the case of the V11 Moto Guzzi?

 

 

Slug, oldbutnotdead & ferguzzi all got it. The bikes themselves and their riders are plenty quirky.

[Frenchbob]

 

But it's always difficult to find proper words for sentences beginning with "All italian women..." or "All Italian bikes.." or "All Yanks..."

 

Hubert

 

A friend once told me that he thought all things Italian - cars, bikes, women - were built the same way: to go like the clappers and prematurely fall apart...........................but I think that is a terrible, politically incorrect thing to say, of course, and I repeat it only to illustrate how unreconstructed some people are.

[Dan M]

A friend once told me that he thought all things Italian - cars, bikes, women - were built the same way: to go like the clappers and prematurely fall apart...........................but I think that is a terrible, politically incorrect thing to say, of course, and I repeat it only to illustrate how unreconstructed some people are.

 

Italians and their products are typically sexy performers who are at the same time a bit unreliable (OK, in the case of Fiat perhaps more than a bit). As far as us falling apart prematurely, not true. Refer to the photos of Sofia elsewhere on this forum!

[Frenchbob]

Italians and their products are typically sexy performers who are at the same time a bit unreliable (OK, in the case of Fiat perhaps more than a bit). As far as us falling apart prematurely, not true. Refer to the photos of Sofia elsewhere on this forum!

 

I speak as a lover of all things Italian, of course. Much of my adult life has been spent suffering from FIATs [Fix It Again Tony], Ducs and Guzzis. Sadly no Italian women.

[badmotogoozer]

My V11, from the tip of the front tire to the end of the rear, is one big friggin Quirk.

 

Rj

[Guest ratchethack]

I speak as a lover of all things Italian, of course. Much of my adult life has been spent suffering from FIATs [Fix It Again Tony], Ducs and Guzzis. Sadly no Italian women.

Having been down the road apiece with an Italian woman many years back, let me just say that like the cars and motorcycles, there can also be certain "trade-off considerations" that accompany the fiery Italian female temperament. . . . .

[Guest ratchethack]

. . . .I think that is a terrible, politically incorrect thing to say, of course, and I repeat it only to illustrate how unreconstructed some people are.

Say, Frenchbob - I'm curious. Is "unreconstructed" the same as failure to become "post modern"?

 

Enquiring minds just gotta know.

[Guest Nogbad]

Yes. It has big effect on handling & character of the bike, & with car type clutch/flywheel & shaft trans is mostly why you have to ride a Guzzi different to other bikes. Put anyone on a Guzzi who hasn't ridden one before - see how they react & tell me it's not quirky....eg: "how the hell do you ride this thing?" You have to learn to ride a Guzzi & ride it the way it wants to be ridden, you can't just apply UJM experience etc.

 

KB

 

Same as a BMW twin though, they have the heavy clutch and torque reaction too, and if anything, with the weird suspension they keep playing with, an R series beemer could be considered quirkier than a Guzzi.

[Frenchbob]

Say, Frenchbob - I'm curious. Is "unreconstructed" the same as failure to become "post modern"?

 

Enquiring minds just gotta know.

 

Post-modern ironyis my speciality [hence some of my difficulties on this forum] but New Man I'm not! Nor do I believe that History has ended. We continue to make the same mistakes, and benefit from them..or not.

[Guzzirider]

ironyis my speciality

 

My Guzzi is mainly constructed of irony and the rest finished in heavyminium.