PJPR01

The stops are up now! May have another participant recruited to join this years adventure on a newly acquired K1600 GT…

Even for the new bikes? I didn’t know that Davey was familiar with the mechanical maintenance of the new bikes?

Indeed...that was great to see in fact so many 50 stop finishers! I'm sure we'll see most of them again in Bandera next year to pick up flags early again! Let's hope it's not as cold this time around! The 5 stops are quite dispersed, there's 2 that might make sense to grab in May on the way from or to the Cedar Vale Guzzi rally, while the other 3 would have to be a separate trip or maybe combined with a small National Park tour of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming...but to make it fun would need to be at least 1 week to not just pound out miles and actually enjoy the trip up and back. Colorado is worth a whole week in and of itself, I hate just rushing thru scenic places.

Hi P6X... I'm going to review the video today and take a look...the territorial expansion of the Tour sounds intriguing! There's a chance of a Colorado rally in September next year that might play nicely into this expanded Tour. Time to take a look at the tour stops, I hope there are a number of new ones! Edited: I see 5 stops outside today's Texas borders for Option B. Although not necessarily stops I'd normally make having been to Rawlins and Roswell and the Colorado one before very nearby, but if I'm on an extended trip somewhere else, I'll detour to get them. The new patch looks cool though, so who knows...I must just make an excuse for a ride anyway!

These are easily available from MG Cycle and in stock: Here's the link: https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=279 Cheap enough you don't need to worry about refurbishing...I had no trouble fitting new ones...you can always add a slight light film of lubricant to help them slip on.

I'm looking forward to stopping there again...made a quick stop last year on the way back from Tucson...great riding in that area of Big Bend along the River road. Wild and rugged terrain, wide open spaces, remote and peaceful, lots of interesting scenery along the way.

Likewise!! Very well earned rocker…time to sew it on this weekend I hope! Looking forward to 2025!! There will be a new one near Big Bend at the Teepee Rest stop!

The new V85's are lovely looking bikes....a couple of interesting observations from the video I would like to see in person. The first bike he reviews has basically 2 front fenders...never seen that before... The 2nd and 3rd bikes have this adjustable rear shock, it seem like that the adjustable portion is sticking out so far it would bother the rider leg position perhaps Murals are indeed some of the cool stops along the Grand Tour of Texas...many innovative ones in small towns in unexpected places. P6X...which is the French bakery you are referring to nearby?

The GTO is without a doubt a great looking car as well P6X...I don't deny it. I have a soft spot for the Dino, if I could find one in blue! I've always loved the metal shift gate of the older Ferraris and the shape of the chassis. The problem is I have no room in the garage at all, and I can't sell the bikes or the other sports car. So I'm afraid the Dino will remain a dream never to be realized and only admired from afar. I drooled over the one in Arkansas last year, it was my favorite of the 40 cars there. There were so many other models of Ferrari present as well that it was a good chance to see all of them together (almost 40 of them gathered at Mt. Magazine State Park, originally Mt. Magasin in French looking out over the Petit Jean river valley). Even a few "poor" Porsches were allowed to partake in the event.

Without a doubt, the most beautiful Ferrari ever made....the Dino! Saw one last year at the Ferrari festival in Arkansas...easily must have been a million dollar collector car. Just gorgeous!

When Jaguar was part of the Land Rover/Aston Martin/Jaguar Trident, it was a good time for the marques and the Ford developed V8 engines put in the LR's were exceptional...MUCH much better than the BMW engines which while smooth enough were oil leakers extraordinaires. Aston Martin was carved off the group, went off on its own, leaving LR/Jaguar to operate for a bit until being bought by Tata, irony of ironies that a superb Indian company would buy out the crown jewel of British Automotive Industry. How humiliating for the UK, how sweet for India to get revenge on the British empire after waiting 80 years since independence...in automotive terms of course. Politics aside, the Rovers have been exceptional since 2006 onwards. LR has been doing very well, Jaguar unfortunately is floundering. I did think the F-type was a beautiful design, but it doesn't appear that they sold enough volume. The ad above for Jag, or maybe we should call it Hag, is further evidence of how far off the mark this brand has gone...what did someone call it...a dumpster fire or something to that effect?

A couple of friends have a Jaguar, it's only about 5 years old. They were recently informed by our local Land Rover/Jaguar dealer that in short order, the dealership will stop servicing older Jags, and only concentrate on the new EV models. WTF?? As a long time Land Rover owner, it's pretty incredible to see the destruction of a brand such as Jaguar... Anyway...the video above is just plain madness. I'll stick with my Diesel Land Rover for now...but can't say what I'll buy when it expires in another 10 years as I like to get 200K miles out of my Rovers before selling them!

Probably better than the Blarney Stone! Here I was thinking that the Stone was an adequate substitute for a 10mm wrench!

Aha...I completely missed the pun...good one! At least I have a heat gun...middle of winter here in Texas...a freezing 55F...should be good enough for a valve adjustment!

How exactly does the rock get used in the Valve Adjustment? Seems I'm missing that tool in my toolbox! Funny to read this read, I was just thinking about tightening up the valves a bit as they're a bit too clattery for my taste...have been running them loose now for a couple of years...but I do like the sound of a quieter engine.

I saw a Guardia d'Onore model in the Encinitas showroom back in July. Quite a good looking bike indeed. Doesn't seem as "wide" visually as a Stelvio with the rear bags, very purposeful. I'd be tempted to try one out, but I'm out of room in the garage...4 bikes and I can't even contemplate getting rid of any of them. Yours is setup quite nicely!

A modern day Greenie!

Nice write up there...So it's more of an homage to the mountains rather than an Africa Twin livery copy. Coincidence on the styling, but nice back story to be sure.

Oh I'm in trouble now...look at the blue V100! Just lovely! Have to say that the V85 gets better looking each year...nicely kitted out for adventures and still very stylish.

An Africa Twin version of the Stelvio...hard to believe they could not have come up with better color combination. Nonetheless, still a beautiful bike...

Truly a thriller to watch....until Marc crashed...but man, Peco and Jorge were really racing at an amazing level. What a great race to watch and a tremendous come back for Peco compared to the Sprint fiasco.

Having seen your posts on FB on the same topic, I would say, don't be cheap...fight your natural tendency to "cheapness"...even if at times it's a Guzzi quality characteristic. If you have time to do it wrong and fix it 3 times, do it right once and pay a fair price.