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I just spent 3 weeks in Italy/Switzerland/Austria/Germany riding the Alps/Stelvio/Dolomites, etc and all over Northern Italy...with one to 3 well experienced guys riding the new 1300 BMW's and me on a stock 2020 V-85 with 90,000 km on it .....There is nothing the BMW 1300 can do in the tight and steep mountain roads that the V-85 cant do except blast for a minute on the straights..and in fact the v-85 can do the tight steep Stelvio and Dolomite switchbacks better..you just have to use the gearbox more and push it harder..on the highway it'll run along for hours at 155KM just fine...Plus you have the Character of a Guzzi Air Cooled under you..:-) No rider modes,traction control..etc...just fun.

Sorry, never saw the replies to this. End of the story is that a bloke from Victoria turned up, with a case of ‘Crankshaft’ and took it all away. He wasn’t the first to ask though. There was a very typical ‘Guzzi Guy’ from NSW who called first. Wanted me to send him an itemised list of what I had, preferably with part numbers! How about ‘No’! I said if he wanted he could look at it and decide. Then the whining started about how I lived so far away, (I was about 170km from him.) and then the ‘Icing on the cake’? ‘Crankshaft was ‘Too Expensive’ and would I take a case of Tooheys, (A shitty mass produced commercial swill I only drink under duress!). At that point I cordially invited him to get a colossal, wooly, black pup up himself and told him I’d be taking it to the tip the next day and if he didn’t like it he could go swivel on something sharp! He told me I was rude and unreasonable and he’d make sure *Everybody* heard about it! “Behold the field in which I grow my f*cks! Cast thine eyes upon it and see that it is barren!”

SOLD! Happy to see this old girl go to a good home and appreciative new owner Kevin, who has some interesting plans for evolving his stable of Guzzis. Kudos to Jaap for keeping this community going, and all of you talented people of seemingly infinite patience for keeping these magnificent machines alive. --Andy

Credit to Kevin Cameron for accumulated tech knowledge.

Yes docc good point I would assume they use UOA for that as well to save money with semi's etc in large fleets. In these large trucking fleet companies I know they have dedicated departments that do nothing but monitor the trucks mechanicals in real time as they are on the road. I would assume they use UAO for plotting their oil changes as well. I guess it depends on the engines oil consumption. Engines that are used commercially and are running 24/7 obviously consume oil and it gets to a point where you no longer need to do oil changes because the consumption and top offs are cycling the oil through anyway. Big gas turbines are like this. Because they burn around a quart/hour you never change the oil like a bike or car, there is no point as fresh oil is always being installed. I remember when I started in aviation and some of the old guys had tons of experience on big radials they talked about how pointless and annoying it was doing a mandated oil change on the bloody things because they consumed so much it was a pointless exercise dumping 25 gallons of oil that was in reality never that many hours old. The old Lockheed Super Connie Qantas used to fly had a dedicated oil tank and engine replenishing system in the fueslarge that the flight engineer used to pump fresh oil to each engine on long flights to keep the main engine oil tanks at a safe level they used so much. Phil

It always amuses me how people spend thousands of dollars on GT snake oil and then, despite their bike being so wonderful, want to sell it and get something else. The second one has traction control! Amazing! Very rare ‘One of a kind’ machine there!

You are correct, sir. I wasn't sure it was needed, but it was. Works as well as described, I'm continually impressed by what a bunch of handy and generous fellows hang out here. A big thank you to Chuck and Lucky Phil and everyone involved for providing this upgrade to some random stranger on the internet.

Good luck with your decision. "Feelers out" may mean you sort of want to sell it and sort of want to keep it. The Red/Grey looks even better in person. Is there a bike night in Tuscon or nearby where you could pop a for sale sign on it? You just need someone to look at it and think "What the hell is that? I need it."

buying: When I go look at something , if it looks good I buy it . selling: I have had some buyers want bunch of pics and then pick it apart pointing out flaws . They didn't mention wanting "still in the box condition" unmolested stuff. Now that I am older , my diplomacy is in short supply.

There's plenty of them here in Germany, too.

Hmmm. I thought those personalities only existed in The USA . AFA the personality "CRANKSHAFT" . a friend of mine was on the selling side of the counter and a customer was telling him "I'm gonna tell everyone about you" to which Mike immediately came back with " Fine , anyone stupid enough that would listen to you , I don't want their business" .

Not so sure I agree with the "tremendous value" part.

I sell a lot of stuff...cars, trucks, tools, furniture, etc. And I follow a lot of stuff for sale, especially Moto Guzzis. One thing in common with all things that sell, they are priced right, which means fairly for both buyer and seller. I see so many motorcycles that are priced 2k over what they should be. Those are the bikes that sit. 5k seems like a good starting point, $4900 sounds better. Be prepared to go down a bit. But it needs to stay advertised...summer, fall, winter. You never know when someone will fall for it.

.. and a tank with a dent I got to replace it vanished after landlords contractor moved my belongings to storage so to renovate .. then stopped paying on storage unit after 2 weeks & didn't tell anyone .. everything went to Auction Dec.5th .. " . it's always something .. " ~roseannRoseannadana

I guess that makes mine a bit of a bargain? But hey, if your wanna give me $7k instead of 5, I'll take it.. I'd rather be happy and sell a Guzzista a good bike instead of making a fast buck and worry about a squid destroying it. Scud knows my style. Just another passionate Guzzi guy like you guys.

Some sunset shots to show off the candy..

Some ideas.

We're talking about motorcycles that are more than 20 years old, and not even known by a large part of the population. Finding a buyer takes time.

Absolutely, each one its own. It is true that our brains are better wired for visual information; now keeping your eyes on the road at all times, scanning for hazards, is what I prefer to do. While the aural information dispensed by navigation apps is certainly perfectible. In the USA, these apps provide additional voiced information, such as traffic, speed traps, possible hazards such as road flooding. There is a learning curve to properly decrypt the voiced turn indications, and once you get it down, it is fairly easy to never miss a turn. Mainly, driving in Houston is a much more challenging environment that requires keeping your eyes on the road at all times. Unlike Europe, drivers text and drive, hold their phones in hand. The roads are filled with debris of all kinds, including pieces of regrooved tires, lost equipment, you name it.