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I seem to recall it was someone at Ford Motor Company that said, "An enthusiast is worth ten sales."

The freaking thing is that Radical Guzzi was featured on Moto Guzzi's official homepage and YT channel. I am also working in Marketing (B2B) and branding is important of course. I would have offered those independent shops a kind of partnership => Keep the name but place a banner linking to MGs website. You cannot get most parts anymore HMB is selling from MG/Piaggio. But shops like this strenghten the brand because they help to keep the heritage alive. If you just look at what models MG/Piaggio has created the last ten years ... it is ridiculous => V7, V85/9, V100 and even the smallblocks are more ore less just updates. For me being a "GuzziGuy" since 1992 it makes me sad. I guess will never buy a new Guzzi (e.g. this Aprilia V100) again ...

I think it's extremely bad business & counter productive. Manufacturers spend a lot of money on advertising,endorsements,movie placements etc,trying to develop brand recognition and hype & buzz about their products. As Docc mentions above, enthusiasts,forums,custom shops create a lot of good free promotion AND excited paying customers. I never did read Dave Richardson's books as Lucky Phil recommended,to get an understanding of the difficulties working with the guzzi factory/owners;but from the outside looking in,they seem to take pleasure & excel at pissing in the wrong people's corn flakes,jmho

IDK what Piaggo wants or wants to do w/the brand ? It seems like they want to dilute , emasculate or kill it . I thought the US was the only country that did this ? I would think they would want they would want to emphasize personality (quirkiness) and work in conjunction w/sellers, dealerships and clubs, already established. With this being said, I cannot imagine 5 letters would be this problematic or how would you identify yourself or be PROUD of your ownership or involvement with M**O G***I.

A one man shop with a clear passion for the brand. Really Piaggio? What harm is there to your multi brand international corporation. It is thanks to people like Stefan that the reputation of Moto Guzzi as far more meaning and long lasting power then any corporate advertising campaign could achieve. Do you think so many people would be interested in your new products or even know you existed if it wasn’t for the brand evangelists(Guzzisti) of this world? They should be given credit and support and be promoted as brand ambassadors. Instead they are treated with total disrespect and petty squabbles over the use of the Guzzi name. I bet the founders of Moto Guzzi would be delighted to see their venerable name and creation embraced by those artisans. In this fast spinning world we found ourselves living in, it seems that a lot of traditional values - respect, kindness, compassion - along with the freedom to follow your dreams, are being eroded by the power of the all-mighty corporation and their army of lawyers, and as a result the little people - creators, inventors, artists, etc..- are being squashed into submission and brought under control. Sad to see that such is the case with the brand that we all love and share here. End of rant. And sorry for the black cloud... Thanks to Jan @biesel for sharing the portrait of Stefan and Radical Guzzi which was a pleasant discovery!

On the other hand, there are also many examples of where a manufacturer has worked with and supported owners and fans, recognizing the value they bring in "free advertising" and that they don't present a threat to the corporation, branding, or trademark. The corporation and the "fan entity" sometimes do have to come to a legal agreement though to allow use so that there is no risk of unintentional legal trademark issues. An example of this is the Riviera Owners Association, which uses a stylized logo similar to the Buick Riviera. They obtained permission from GM at some point to use the likeness, etc. Riviera Owners Assocation Home Page (rivowners.org)

I reached out to Joe a couple seasons ago and told him when he's ready to throw in the towel I'd source the gears for the community.

You'd look good on one, Paul..

@activpop Forget the CARC; this is the one you need?!

Seymour Hersh “Hubba Bubba Big Bubbles No Troubles” 😂 Bon Scott Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi 🤣

Good thinking on both ideas. I will give them a go

Next victim: https://www.facebook.com/radicalspeedshop Some years ago:

I'm told you can align clutch plate by LOOSELY assembling clutch on the motor, attaching gearbox (requires a bit of jiggling to get input hub into splines in plate) then removing gearbox & tightening down clutch fully. I didn't have any luck with this method so made this, which worked fine. As I recall, I measured across gearbox bellhousing face to make tool, then attached it to motor across crankcase bellhousing face & used an old clutch hub to centre plate in clutch.

(shaking head and shuffling off) Those Italians and electronics.. it's amazing they could invent the space laser.

"Remember. What the doormouse said. "

oooh, this explains the e-mail I received today: HMB-GUZZI (info@hmb-guzzi.de)To:you (Bcc) + 1 more Details Dear customer, as of next week (week 6 2023) we have to change our internet access as well as our email addresses. The shop itself will remain unchanged, the existing customer/login data will continue to apply. The new shop address: www.hmb-moto.de The new email address: info@hmb-moto.de Until Sunday 5.2.2023 everything will remain as it is, orders will be processed normally. On Monday, the internet shop will not be accessible during the implementation. As soon as the shop is available again, we will inform you. This notification will then already be sent from the new email address info@hmb-moto.de. Michael -- Mit freundlichem V2 Gruss, Michael Behrendt HMB-GUZZI Zeppelinstr. 48 91187 Röttenbach Tel: 09172-669918