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So . . . It will be telling whether any (South'n) SpineRaider will ever break this record: Pretty crazy: @KINDOY2 bombs in from the Pacific Coast on his very-custom-Griso . . . Frikkin' amazing . . . The quintessential, modern, V7 Sport, some fifty years on . . .

I had a great time at the spine Raid last weekend It was a great pleasure to meet all the Forum members in person and put a face to them. Everyone I met was friendly ..I'm glad I went..It will always be a memorable occasion for me and my " bucket". ( lots of good riding and roads in that neck of the woods too, (Tenn and KY) ) The Guzzi ran awesome..It was almost 7000 miles by the time I got home and it never missed a lick, not even one small problem and there are plenty of big wide open spaces between here and there that a fella wouldn't want to break down in... It didn't use enough oil to be able to see on the stick.. A larger fuel tank would have been a PLUS..but hey...no complaints!!

I've had two BMWs, but I'm a slow learner. The R100RT is *quite* a bit more protective than the LeMans, but you have to put up with having a R100RT to have one. The RS is similar to a LeMans, but.. Honestly though, the fly screen on the Mighty Scura was more comfortable (for me) than the Rosso. My helmet was in clean air on the Scura. Rosie was better in rain, however. There is no perfect motorcycle, no matter what Melissa says.

Yes they were a special order. Roland doesn't seem to be listing them anymore which doesn't surprise me. Phil

Josh's Tonti was my favorite bike there ..and might I say " He rides the PISS" out of it..Makes he want one now..Although I wouldn't look as cool as he does on it!!

Pretty much. I did a how to post years ago. It's all pretty straight forward. High points Don't attempt to adjust the main eccentric adjuster on the bike. It's a bench adjustment only despite what people do. The shift returns spring on the stop plate assy can be installed upside down. When installed wrongly the spring arm rubs on the cover The pawl arm over travel stop if adjustable should be .60mm clearance at the minimum point in the travel Fit a scudd needle roller to the detent drum Fit a Chuck spring Check the pawl arm is straight and fine finish the contact faces. Phil

So the moral of the story seems to be, read everything here and everywhere else you can find good info, believe it all, and then have a look for yourself and think very carefully about it all despite what you have read up til then.

The stuff of SpineRaids . . .

By the dawn's early light ... on Sunday at the Lodge at Tellico. A great Raid .... thanks to docc and all. Bill & Kathi P.S. Yes, more pix later.

Thanks for bringing out your Air pump to top off my air pressure while there Bill....Great looking bike you have there as well!

My Honor to ride with you!..Thanks!

When I first got my R100 RS it suffered from two common alignments. The fairing is really designed for someone with a 30 inch inseam. I'm a 34 inch inseam. I had to remove the knee armor in my Roadcrafter suit. Other wise it would rub up against the edge of the fairing and slice into my suit. Then there was the windscreen that was made to look cool and super sporty. The Lemans fairing suffers from that as well, as you ride down the road you create a low pressure area where the rider is. The air then tumbles off the lip of the windscreen into the chest of the rider. Added a Parabellum windscreen to mine and it became one of the best fairings of all time. Better than my K1600 GT which is saying a lot. Charly Perethian designed the Parabellum windscreen. He has one of his bikes in Smithsonian Museum for its aerodynamic achievements. Also he was involved in a few projects like Vetter fairings and Rifle fairings. Any way the man couldn't say enough good things about BMW's R100 RS fairing so take that with a grain of salt. Buy a BMW R100 RS? A BMW /7 is pretty ancient. I rode mine all over the country it even went to Alaska before me. That was many years ago.

I happen to know that they are PVM wheels, and Phil got them from Däs Mototech. However, even knowing that, I can't find them on the net. I rather suspect that Phil might have got (one of) the last set(s) that Däs had on offer. I'm not 100% sure, but I think they are from this series (but the V11 is not listed there...): https://pvm.de/de/produkte/raeder/6-speichen-felge/

You made it back in <4 days!?!?!

Same neutral position added markings on my ~2002 banana plate selector . . .

To my eye, the lines of the bodywork flow better when the eye picks it up at the very front like the air would flow over whilst the sweet thing rips past a lazy stream in an otherwise quiet wooded hollow on the way to the next banked turn . . .

I never had a K 100 myself, but a couple of mates of mine did. What I have is a Kawasaki 1000 GTR. Rumour has it that Kawasaki bought a K100, looked at it and found the "weak points", and made a motorcycle that didn't have them. Looking at the photos in the interweb, I can imagine the BMW has a couple of tricks up it's sleeve akin to the GTR that the Le Mans doesn't have. On the GTR, the rider's hands are in the slipstream from the mirrors. Going by the photos, that is likely to be the case on the K 100 as well. That is worth a million in cold wet weather. The fairing on the GTR is so good that it is unpleasant in hot weather. Too hot. Also, 160 km/h on the German Autobahn is completely relaxed, because the fairing keeps you out of the wind. I have a little bit of turbulence on the top of the helmet, but that is it. When there is a gusty wind and lots of traffic (i.e. turbulence from other vehicles) one starts wondering if the motor has a problem. One doesn't feel the incosistent wind, and it feels like the motor is missing or something. Going by the photos, at least the K100 RT is going to be very similar. From what my mates told me way back when, the RS is not quite as all-encompassing as far as protection goes, but still very good. Oh, yeah, when it starts raining, on the GTR the first part of the rider that gets wet is his back, due to blow-back from the turbulence. Front on, barely anything gets through. The fairing on the Le Mans strikes me as being pretty good. I haven't ridden mine in the rain yet, but the wind protection seems quite well sorted for the size of the fairing. The motor takes care of the legs a bit. That is likely to be similar to the RS. The fairing on the GTR and the BMW RT goes down further. I dare say the RT provides heating for the feet through motor heat, as does the GTR. The RS probably not, but rather similar "performance" around the feet to the Le Mans. Lots of speculation there, but I'm pretty sure most of it must be fairly close to the truth.

Our very own, personal, Carabinieri . . .

Nice! Needed a loop and a V100 to round it out. Amazing looking at that, fifty years! The Tonti seems like only yesterday! Fu*k I'm old!

Rolling out after everyone meticulously selected their preferred routes, destinations, and derived riding partners . . . . . . our small team was fortunate to encounter a "need." I heard Josh say, "Let's try to fix it ." Having benefited from the "ideas" about the area and the lunch spot (and the lake overlook), we navigated back to The Lodge with little precip. Josh noted that our small team represented four decades of Moto Guzzi and suggested a photo op with SIX decades of Moto Guzzi at the SSR: '70s; 80s; 90s; 20s; 'teens; and 2020's . . .

Success!

My friend V-7 Paul sent me a text Friday evening asking about info I had mentioned about a Guzzi gathering in Tellico Plains. I explained that I could not spend the weekend but would like to ride over early Saturday, meet the group, maybe have lunch and ride back home the same day. Wife is worried about the bears who like to stroll thru our back yard occasionally. Paul is up for it I get my hall pass from my WONDERFUL WIFE and we decided to meet near his house at 07:30 which means I need to interrupt my rem sleep and drag my raggedy butt out of bed before sunrise. We met at the designated location and other than the thick fog had a relatively uneventful ride to Tellico Plains. Arrived at the Lodge around 09:00 in time to see everyone. Was great seeing acquaintances from previous Raids and meeting new folks to. Paul and I started a ride after the first group left. Thinking we were behind the group we didn't waste much time on SR315. Just as were came to a rise my bike sputtered to a stops I watch Paul ride off over the horizon. At a slim and trim 215 lbs of retired lazy butt, luckily I only had to push the bike uphill about 10 yards to the driveway of the Duckett Memorial Cemetary. How appropriate, a final resting place for me or the bike if I can't figure out why it stopped running. As I was gasping for air I noticed a strong odor of gas and started looking for leaks. Look down at my right pants leg and it was wet from just above the ankle down to my boot. Since I don't suffer from incontinence I looked at the lower right side of the fuel tank and noticed the return line to the fuel pressure regulator was disconnected. Got that fixed turned the key on and hit the start button.....nothin!! It was about this time the group which had left before us go riding past, waving as they go. Checked all the fuses and relays. The plastic top of the fuel injection fuse was melted but still functioning. Replaced a couple relays with the spares I had brought- Docc. Still no neutral light! Ok I'm running out of ideas. Time for AAA which would be fine if there was cell service. Paul graciously offered his bike for me to search for cell service. Ride down the the local fire hall about five miles back, still no service. Figure that one out. Furthur down the road I stop at an intersection with a lawn sale. When I ask if they have cell service I was met with "who is your provider?". "Nope, gotta go further towards town". Wait, what's that sound rumbling thru the hills? It sounds like another group of Guzzis. And this group even stops to ask what happened to the owner of the bike I'm on. Doc, Josh, and the South Florida boys to the resue !! Head back up the road to my bike for a little roadside diagnostics. A circuit tester miraculously appears and each circuit on the bike is checked. Then someone asks if the bike is in neutral. Well it must be, I pushed it uphill onto the shoulder. Let's check again. Duh! It was caught between 3rd and 4th gear. Falls into neutral on the little green light on the dash lights. Pull the clutch lever, push the little black go button a varoom, starts right up. My bike still has the idiot proof switches for neutral safety, clutch and side stand. With the sidestand down and in gear, or between gears it won't start. Gear up and off we go. Rode to the top of a mountain and a rest stop with an awesome overlook South towards the North Georgia mountains. After a few minutes we hear thunder off in the distance. Time for V-7 Paul and I to roll. We head back South thru North Carolina and into Georgia without incident. Paul breaks off to head home near Blairesville as I continued on to Hiawassee. The closer I got to home the darker the skys got. About two miles from home the roads were wet but at least it's not raining. Just as I pulled onto my road I caught up to the rain, but with only a quarter mile to go not a concern. What an awesome day. Great riding. Close to two hundred miles round trip. Met some old friends and made new ones. The bike for the most part ran great. V-7 Paul was impressed how well 20 year old bikes ran so strong and wanted me to pass along his thanks for the great hospitality everyone extended. We are so looking forward to the 20th Southern Spine Raid. Tools, relays, and spares included.

That was up early. This was up late:

Well, it’s been an interesting day. I can’t figure out how to post pictures with my phone, so my too many words will have to do. Left home about 7:30 and had a fine ride for an hour or so . Then a bee or wasp got into my helmet and started to work.. Anyway, that hurt — as in really, really hurt. I’m not a bee sting virgin. In fact, a week or so ago, two hornets got me. Those really hurt, too, but this was worse. Stopped at a Walmart and got some meds,but the pharmacist was understandably reluctant to give me anything that might make me drowsy as I was riding a motorcycle . Oh, then it rained. Lots of it. Actually, for a very short time. But long enough to douse me completely. Finally made it to the hotel. Took off my helmet, looked in the mirror… and screamed. Let’s just say the puffiness is impressive. Mitch McConnell’s wattle has nothing on mine. So, here i sit in a crowded urgent care waiting room hoping to get something better. Will see you tomorrow. Though you may not want to see what I look like! Bill

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake." ― W.C. Fields

I protest. If we are going to have drums, these: Bill

It seems @ScuRoo has given us our theme music for this year's XIX SSR . . .

Tech Session!