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My Honda GB500 clearly says "Tourist Trophy " on the side covers, but no one calls them that. Instead, invoking the alphanumeric "GB500" (which is not depicted on the motorcycle anywhere). I am not one adept at naming my own machines, but this one rather earned her own (from the Honda marketing slogan of those days . . . > RIDE RED <

Last nights Guzzi club meet. Other makes welcome There are actually several other Guzzi’s in the line, but my photographic skills aren’t great

I was having this conversation at ( a rare thing ) my local Guzzi dealer, because I was confused why MG would name a bike after a villain The book, ‘The Betrothed’ is by my reading chair, where to my shame I am halfway through it. It’s an interesting book but a heavy read & my attention driffted. So in the conversation we learned that, later in the book, Griso who has been sent off to do the bad guy’s dirty deeds turns on his master & saves the day. This is a book that I understand is part of the Italian school curriculum, so Griso is known as a hero in the culture. When I finish the book, I’ll add more details

Love this story! And love my GRiSO. I vaguely recall reading something about the origin of the griso name years ago, but not with this level of rich history. The Tommy DeVito parallel is perfect for characterizing the bike. Equal parts humor, violence, character and style. A very assertive machine. Thanks for sharing!

There is the matter of naming our rides, even when the manufacturer is clueless . . .

Home run... I was training night driving with FLIR- the screen was 14"x16", a little too close to the driver's face and above head level. Sucked to drive with. The guys who could drive all, every one, suffered driving 'on-screen' as it was pitch black outside. Some simply could not get certified. There was a young girl, though, from NYC somewhere who had never driven anything before enlisting in the Army. Of course, they put her in a logistics battalion as a truck driver... and so since she was airbrake certified she got tagged to drive our truck. She wasn't a good driver in the daytime, had no sense of direction or sense of speed or inertia. She crawled through every obstacle slowly and fearfully, but did manage to pass. Of course, all the guys were either 'coaching' her condescendingly, or teasing her, and jerking each other off about who was fastest. At night, though, when the lights went out, she was a freakin' werewolf. As soon as it was full dark and she could only see the video screen, she set a course record for her battalion. At night. Over 12 foot hills and 12 foot deep trenches with blind corners, around off-camber turns. We were all so stunned we could only laugh. And every one of us learned something from that.

FYI , when I was trying to figure out the misfire on the black frame bike you can do this very quickly . I used an analog meter set on the highest scale of resistance and went from the HT lead to the frame and checked for continuity . This verified (infinite) an open circuit. I unscrewed the cap and checked it . These caps have resistors and have a different r value . Since it was open I knew I had found my problem. Installed new cap and tested again . Around 15k , so I knew everything else is good. The factory wire is a solid core and should be less than 10 ohm resistance . When you add the secondary value of the ign. coil to the test it will be more . It will be unusual for both sides to be messed up . Some service manuals give the primary / secondary r values. 99% of the time the secondary fails on a ignition coil aka transformer in a A.C. circuit. Remember this. If you are not sure about what you are doing or if you are not doing it correctly , go to the other cylinder and check your work . It is seldom both sides will be messed up .

That Potomac river ditching was not only a great piece of flying but also decision making. Very cool head. Almost as cool as Neil Armstrongs moon landing with warnings going off repeatedly and fuel critical. If you look at Armstrongs flying career before the moon landing it's littered with exceptional flying decisions made under the pump such as flying a B29 to drop an X15 and the 29 got a runaway prop. Exceptional pilot and human being was Armstrong. I recommend his Biography "first man" the film doesn't do him justice really. Phil

Yes. And you remember Jerry form Smokey and the Bandit..

Got it running great! My old twinmax not working correctly so ordered a new one and did the tune up again. So thanks for most everyones input all is well.

When it comes to Moto Guzzi, or other Italian brands actual or from the past, they seem to have liked giving names to their motorcycles. Some are extremely obvious and translatable in all languages, such as the Ducati "Mostro", that quickly evolved into its English moniker: "Monster". Our Japanese manufacturers were less inclined into that practice; well, if you remember the early days of Kawasaki two strokes, we had the Samurai, Avenger that evolved into S1, S2, S3, S4 and Mach III, H1A, H2 and so forth. The English were also inspired by strong names, such as Bonneville, Commando and the like. Of course, Suzuki and its Hayabusa, but before that, Bandit, Inazuma... Honda was a bit stern with the CB's and CX, but did venture into Hornets. Yamaha started with Yas and RDs, XT, FJ, but never really moved far away from these; not even with the VMAX, the Ténéré, or the Virago. So, the Griso.... if I am well-informed, the Griso was Moto Guzzi's attempt to take a ride on Ducati Monster's success. I am certain that some of you heard it before; the Griso, was an imaginary personage from a novel written by author Alessandro Manzoni. The story takes place in the 17th century, 1628/30 following the 30 years war; the final edition of the book was published in 1840/42. In English: The Betrothed. Il Griso, or in English, the Griso, was the Brave's chief; he was exploited at will for anything risky, unique. Just picture a hit man for a Capo Mafioso. The Griso was completely dedicated to his master, Don Rodrigo, having earned his complete trust. Described in English as: Griso, one of Don Rodrigo's henchmen, a silent and treacherous man. If you want to get an idea, a good example of the Griso would be "Tommy DeVito in the movie Goodfellas. In the movie, DeVito is not exclusively devoted to Jimmy Conway the way the Griso is to Don Rodrigo, but he does do whatever Jimmy Conway wants. Somebody in Guzzi must have read the book, and liked the Griso enough to name a motorcycle after him. I found the Italian original version on the Internet, I am going to read it. If anybody else is interested: I Promessi Sposi So, the Griso... a motorcycle named after a dodgy character, but Ducati did do the Diavel after all...

Best part of a Centauro is with V11 body work and tank you can turn one into a 5 speed version of my bike pretty much. Phil

Fender found! Thanks Scud!

Yep, depends on the persons individual “gifts” or shortcomings. i found out the hard way that the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” certainly applies to pilots. Folks that had all the right ingredients on paper or via interview, migjt be the ones that didn’t have the ability/gift of good snap decision making. While a certain element of luck is often involved, making the best of what you’ve got is the key when the turds hit the fan. As Phil noted, sod the rules when necessary and do what u gotta do. You can train a monkey to eventually survive the required sim training experience commercial pilots have to deal with 1-2 times per year, with enough repetition, but you can’t impart or train the gift of “good natural instinct” or experience (which are different, but have similar end-results).

Sounds like real motivation for Docc to ride out across country on his sport to the center of the modern civilized world, John Day Oregon, to be properly branded. That would be a helluva ride on a sport…. Maybe i shouldn’t be, but I’m still mildly astounded that folks are coming from distance to John Day. I’m quite fond of that area, but it’s pretty much just a wide spot in the road. Yes, surrounded by some great riding, and I suppose a lot easier to arrange for space for a lot of folks to camp and hang out, so that largely addresses why such a place i suppose, but still seems odd.

i know nothing about it..except for the ad...but sure seems like a fair price.. https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/mcy/d/novato-1998-moto-guzzi-v10-centauro/7754565368.html

If you allow me, I would classify the "Tourist Trophy" in the "Ténéré" names category. They sport sobriquets which are an identification with a known event. By the way, that GB500 is stun looking, and GB too..... Ha! I think the "Le Mans" fits that category too... afterall, the Le Mans is "only" a V11. I forgot to specify that Kawasaki has "Ninja" bikes among the H2R, Z1 and other GPZ. As for giving a name to my rides, I never felt the urge. That being said, I have named one of my guitars, engraved in the headstock in abalone.

How could you possibly neglect to include "Katana" in that list?

Just in case you don't read the post, HERTZRIDE rents bike in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and so on. I put the location list underneath. So you may be able to enjoy riding there too.

I have found that tech shop personnel respond well to 'engaged' clientele with clean projects. It presents a sign of respect. They will like you Tom ..

Had a call today from the machine shop about the loose valve quide. The oversized quide from Guzzi 0.10mm, not big enough. So plenty of play chamber side. They will make a new one. They started then, NICE. I must bring beer . Cheers Tom.

I reckon the bloke who parked his Airbus on the Hudson a few years back was one of the "have both" category. I rather hope that there is one of those in the cockpit when I am on a commercial flight.

Flying, It’s like everything else in life…. Requires some degree of natural skill, and then experience to compliment that skill set. if someone doesn’t have the basic skill set, it will not ultimately work out well. If they don’t have or acquire experience, same problem. plenty of skilled folks, “naturals”, who don’t learn from experience, and bad things happen. Or folks who manage to amass a lot of experience and survive by luck (or thanks to all the systems now available to pilots which make things safer), but without the natural skill set they are still not a great option as a PIC (pilot in command). to complicate it more, there are the very distinctly different skill sets involved: “stick and rudder” skills, akin to riding skills, and then there’s “instrument flying/competence skillset”, which is more like a video game skill set. Different parts of the brain. Bush pilots need stick and rudder skills, airline pilots just need the instrument skills, but the best pilots have both. I’ve come across plenty of airline pilots who were truly horrible pilots, but survived with the instrument skills and in an airline environment designed wisely over the decades to minimize risk via lots of amazing systems. Oh, and the final major issue is ego…. Male pride is the most common issue, but the American dream BS of “if you can dream it you can do it” ideology is just as bad at causing people to think they can do what they either can’t or shouldn’t. same for operating cars 😏, motorbikes, welding, surgery, etc

At the MGC GB Leicester area local boozer, a sunny evening for once !

Welcome back, @Drahchir! I moved the image of your lovely LeMans for all to see!

Have been away for some years! here’s my new v11!!

Like a Woman..

Hey buddy I have a v11 cafe sport Had the exact same issue you describe. Did the full tune... still had an issue... same as you, just started happening. I had an exhaust leak at the crossover pipe just in front of the timing cover. Replaced my headers with non-crossover type, problem GONE. Not saying it is the crossover, but a small exhaust leak reaked havoc with my bike.

Thinking more about @thumper's stumble, it seems GuzziDiag is a great way to watch sensor values as the bike warms up. It would be telling if one of the sensor outputs suddenly goes open at operating temperature . . .

Well , I would think a part being advertised as "nuclear powerplant quality" would be a little better than 50% successful. Maybe they could use them on submarines or aircraft ? We had a cheapskate purchasing agent that purchased EVERYTHING from eBay , Amazon , Temu , etc. Everything we installed blew up , failed . etc. We got the blame for improper installation . HMMMMMM

It's the sensor. Why would you chose the ECU ( the expensive bit) over the cheap less reliable component? As the engine warms up the trim reduces to zero at 90 deg C and then goes negative the hotter it gets after that. I think if you disconnect the sensor the ecu goes to a default temp setting. Phil

Mmmmm. AVO ? I just Googled it . Now to eBay to get one ! I have been bit using a DVOM looking for V and R in a circuit. Reason : impedance . The DVOM will not load the circuit . An analog meter will. If the circuit will support a test light or an analog meter , I will get a true reading. I had my @ss handed to me diagnosing the A.C. on a Kubota tractor on an island in the Miss. River after about 4 days getting 13v dc at the compressor coil . I put a test light on the + wire of the connector to see the V disappear. Put the DVOM back on the + wire and my 12v reappeared . I found the contacts of the temp control or relay were bad . New part and we were in business . I use a DVOM for entertainment purposes only or when I need an exact "value". BTW , I have two Simpson 260 meters and a SnapOn MT 406 along w/a bunch of things my dad had . It seems funny when you pull these out and people don't have ANY idea what you are holding ! Also , the only time I get offended (spelled perturbed) is when things are not going well w/the conversation .

Agree with everything you said In the past though I've had carbon and copper core HT leads return low resistance values, leading me to believe they were good, when hunting misfires and poor running. Eventually after checking everything else and in desperation replacing the HT leads to find that they were the culprit all along. The carbon cores are fragile and I reckon copper ages (oxidation or perhaps the high voltage degrades them in some way?............no idea) reducing the ability of the leads to transmit the high voltage. Just saying if everything else checks out and the leads are old replacing them is worth a shot

Ah, ok. This: https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/moto guzzi/moto_guzzi_california_special 98.htm Even so, I can't quite come to grips with "California" and "Sport" in any kind of correlation.