New Motorcycle.....
Bassas are cool, but those V11 Le Mans - Oh, Man..!
I test rode the first V11 Sport that came to the USA...! It was one of the Green Ones, with Red Frame. Like this one:
The shop where I get my Guzzi CX100 serviced used to set up the Moto Guzzis for the Moto Mags test ride and evaluations...(Cycle World, Sport Bike, etc..) and the owner of the shop, a real cool guy I had been friends with for a while, said to me: " Look the bike is in great shape, I just un-crated it and tuned it up. Why don't you take it around for a spin and tell me how it feels, or if I should do anything else to it.."
I was stunned, overwhelmed and honored..and a little blown away, so I asked: " Are YOU Sure you want me to do this, to ride it BEFORE the Magazine writers..???" "
And he said: "Yup, I want you to ride it and tell me what you think of it before those Magazine Winnies trash the bike"..
And so I did , I rode it in some local back street twisties to get the feel of the bike, suspension damping, handling, accel / decel, etc..and then I got on the Freeway (405) and put the hammer down - Holy shiite it was fast for a Guzzi..! I got it to (allegedly) +130 MPH real quick and then I tried the Brembo Gold Four Piston Brakes..HOLLYY FUKKEN SHYYT..!!!! Those brakes are BAAD ***..!! My eyeballs popped outta my face I decelerated so hard...
WOW..! I had never experienced such an overwhelmingly fast, violent yet controlled slowing of a motorcyle down from Buck thiry..Not even in a Gixxer 1000R with its six pot Tokikos (or Nissins...)
Those Brembos ROCK..! No wonder the Japanese factory teams use them for their racing bikes..
I have Brembos on my Le Mans, but they are Single pot, early 1970s vintage..They do a good job, but not like the new Calipers..not even close.
Anyhow, I returned the bike and complained about an annoying vibration around 3000 -4000 RPM felt at the handlebars..It felt like someone was hitting the palms of my hands with a broomstick about once per second and kinda hard..Hard enough to be a PITA.
And that's why I passed on getting one of the new V11 Sports..
But, man they are Beautiful..! especially the V11 Le Mans....
I heard one of those at the shop mentioned earlier and the bike was retrofitted with a Termigioni exhaust system and it had to be the best sounding bike ever (for me)...
Re: The Kawis..I got into them when I first heard a Kaw 9 hauling *** on Firestone Blvd right in front of my High School one week before Summer Vacation. I'm looking at and daydreaming about Cindy Claussen in her cheerleader outfit in 10th Grade Chemistry Class and this Kawi goes by at full throttle with a KERKER 4 >1 Exhaust System..
DAYUMMM..!!!! That was awesome. 8) 8)
Forget Cindy Claussen...I had to get me one of them KAWIS.. :toothy10: :toothy10: :toothy10:
That one bike, that One pass got me hooked on bikes...This was in 1973..
I have been fooked in the head for bikes ever since...
Even broke up an engagement over the issue of riding motocycles.
Hey, Ya know how it is..:snakeman:
BTW, The Guzzi shop owner is a classic MOPAR dude too, he has two 63 or 64 Valiants. He races on of them, It's a Slant 6 that does 11's in the quarter. His name is Mark Etheridge.
Curiosly, I know 3 other guys with Guzzis who also have Muscle Cars. My friend Bill here in SoCal. has a '63 Falcon all hot rodded and another guys has a vintage Mustang and a guy named Tom has a '68 El Camino with a big block 396..so yeah, you are right...There seems to be a lot of overlap with Guzzi guys and Muscle Cars.
Overlap with Guns too.
Bill is a gun nut who also made himself a Cannon. Damn thing shoots empty beer cans filled with concrete as ammo. Bill claims he can hit a shithouse from 1/3 mile way. I believe him..
This youtube vid shows Bill shooting his cannon
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2es2agbz7rc"]YouTube- Overkill Bill's Cannon - First Shot[/ame]
--8)--
I used to ride an old Kawi ZL600. that was a sweet little bike. I'd like to get another one some day (maybe the bigger motor version) but for now I'm riding Moto Guzzi. 8) GuzziMike, I had a 2002 LeMans V11.
What a blast! I traded it for a Bassa though. < snip >
I absolutely love to see people keeping these older bikes and machines going. It's a passion for sure. I guess it's not surprising how much overlap there is with the classic car hobby.
Bassas are cool, but those V11 Le Mans - Oh, Man..!
I test rode the first V11 Sport that came to the USA...! It was one of the Green Ones, with Red Frame. Like this one:
The shop where I get my Guzzi CX100 serviced used to set up the Moto Guzzis for the Moto Mags test ride and evaluations...(Cycle World, Sport Bike, etc..) and the owner of the shop, a real cool guy I had been friends with for a while, said to me: " Look the bike is in great shape, I just un-crated it and tuned it up. Why don't you take it around for a spin and tell me how it feels, or if I should do anything else to it.."
I was stunned, overwhelmed and honored..and a little blown away, so I asked: " Are YOU Sure you want me to do this, to ride it BEFORE the Magazine writers..???" "
And he said: "Yup, I want you to ride it and tell me what you think of it before those Magazine Winnies trash the bike"..
And so I did , I rode it in some local back street twisties to get the feel of the bike, suspension damping, handling, accel / decel, etc..and then I got on the Freeway (405) and put the hammer down - Holy shiite it was fast for a Guzzi..! I got it to (allegedly) +130 MPH real quick and then I tried the Brembo Gold Four Piston Brakes..HOLLYY FUKKEN SHYYT..!!!! Those brakes are BAAD ***..!! My eyeballs popped outta my face I decelerated so hard...
WOW..! I had never experienced such an overwhelmingly fast, violent yet controlled slowing of a motorcyle down from Buck thiry..Not even in a Gixxer 1000R with its six pot Tokikos (or Nissins...)
Those Brembos ROCK..! No wonder the Japanese factory teams use them for their racing bikes..
I have Brembos on my Le Mans, but they are Single pot, early 1970s vintage..They do a good job, but not like the new Calipers..not even close.
Anyhow, I returned the bike and complained about an annoying vibration around 3000 -4000 RPM felt at the handlebars..It felt like someone was hitting the palms of my hands with a broomstick about once per second and kinda hard..Hard enough to be a PITA.
And that's why I passed on getting one of the new V11 Sports..
But, man they are Beautiful..! especially the V11 Le Mans....
I heard one of those at the shop mentioned earlier and the bike was retrofitted with a Termigioni exhaust system and it had to be the best sounding bike ever (for me)...
Re: The Kawis..I got into them when I first heard a Kaw 9 hauling *** on Firestone Blvd right in front of my High School one week before Summer Vacation. I'm looking at and daydreaming about Cindy Claussen in her cheerleader outfit in 10th Grade Chemistry Class and this Kawi goes by at full throttle with a KERKER 4 >1 Exhaust System..
DAYUMMM..!!!! That was awesome. 8) 8)
Forget Cindy Claussen...I had to get me one of them KAWIS.. :toothy10: :toothy10: :toothy10:
That one bike, that One pass got me hooked on bikes...This was in 1973..
I have been fooked in the head for bikes ever since...
Even broke up an engagement over the issue of riding motocycles.
Hey, Ya know how it is..:snakeman:
BTW, The Guzzi shop owner is a classic MOPAR dude too, he has two 63 or 64 Valiants. He races on of them, It's a Slant 6 that does 11's in the quarter. His name is Mark Etheridge.
Curiosly, I know 3 other guys with Guzzis who also have Muscle Cars. My friend Bill here in SoCal. has a '63 Falcon all hot rodded and another guys has a vintage Mustang and a guy named Tom has a '68 El Camino with a big block 396..so yeah, you are right...There seems to be a lot of overlap with Guzzi guys and Muscle Cars.
Overlap with Guns too.
Bill is a gun nut who also made himself a Cannon. Damn thing shoots empty beer cans filled with concrete as ammo. Bill claims he can hit a shithouse from 1/3 mile way. I believe him..
This youtube vid shows Bill shooting his cannon
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2es2agbz7rc"]YouTube- Overkill Bill's Cannon - First Shot[/ame]
--8)--