Kane

Interesting to see another GB Folgore pop up in California. This is not the same bike that was at Pro Italia a few months back. Different pipes, dash, and other bits. These bikes are beautiful works of artful design and engineering. The air box frame is something else. Btw, GB is still in business, and Bruno is easy to communicate with. Shows that it is possible to lighten up a Guzzi!

Here’s a nice article by Ian Falloon on the Daytona, a twinkle in the eye for our V11. Praise be to Dr. John and Signore Tomaso. https://www.mcnews.com.au/moto-guzzi-daytona-the-most-underrated-guzzi/ My apologies if this has already been posted.

I spent my high school years doing high Sierra backpacking in California with friends, going off trail and traversing passes and glaciers — when there were still glaciers up there 😢 — all around Mt. Banner, Mt. Lyell, Mt.Ritter, et al. This was done with USGS topo maps and a compass. It is really great to have an analog in a topographical drawing to look at the land to see things with added dimension. As a youth I spent many happy hours leafing through the map drawers at the USGS office in Menlo Park, CA. Probably about my favorite place to be, second to the library. I like paper road maps. I have AAA maps, Benchmark maps, and some of the Butler motorcycle maps. I also like reading about routes and looking at them on maps. Then I can use my phone’s map app to make a crude distance and arrow chart to put in the tank bag window. Call me an ignorant Luddite or a romantic curmudgeon, but I like not-too-much information, particularly when going off on a road trip. The great thing about a paper map is that the next leg of the journey may only be three inches…..of what? Let’s find out. The older that I have gotten the more I have grown to dislike and resent digital technology and devices. I have a real love/hate relationship with my phone because I have adapted it into so much of my life and so much depends on this tool to interact with and accomplish things, yet it and its ilk draw me away from the real things in the world that I could, and did, engage with. I am to blame for letting myself succumb to the digital malaise that I see and feel in my life. I know better. But I have gone back to writing on typewriters outside of work. It slows you down and is a nice visceral and physical experience in making a text. I am old enough to remember the good old days before computers, when there were plenty of pay phones and public drinking fountains around and everyone did fine. I have always had an analog aesthetic for things, whether audio, visual, or mechanical. And while I am glad to have a bike like my V11 with FI and a good ECU, I am turned off to TBW, different ride modes, etc., on bikes. I understand having ABS and traction control as a safety feature, but I have never had those things on a bike and have never felt the need for them. I am currently looking for a touring bike, and I am leaning toward a Stelvio NTX (it does have ABS and traction control! 😬) rather than a V85TT, partly because it is not TBW and is more old tech. When I throw a leg over a bike and ride away, one of the things I am riding away from is all of the crap of the modern world. All I want to look at is the road. All I want to hear is the bike and the road, although I ride with earplugs to dampen the wind noise. A mileage and arrow chart in the tank bag window and a trip meter or odometer have been enough to get me down the road, as well as keep me from running out of gas. If I need more info I’ll pull off the road, have a smoke and look at a map. I am sure I am ignorant, and probably part or full-blood idiot, but that’s how I like to go. Use maps! They give you something to mull over and mark up while you’re taking a break and having having a cup of coffee, and they will become old and creased.

Wow….Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs. Have not heard that name in a loooong time. When I lived in Long Beach, not too long ago, Carlos Guitarlos would show up sometimes at a local coffee shop and play solo. It was great to see him and to know that he was still playing. Not too many people knew who he was, but the few of us that did showed much love, respect, and awe. Hollywood in the early ‘80’s…….Good times, good times. We used to bop around between the Rainbow, the Central, and the Frolic Room. If we were lucky we might catch a Mentors show at the Ivar Theater ‍🤢😱 Btw, anyone remember the Temple Beautiful in S.F. in the very late 70’s, sort of pre-dated the Fab Mab (Mabuhay Gardens) as a proto-punk venue in the city?

Here is one like yours, sans the side panels and seat cowl: https://www.proitalia.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=11829106&p=3&s=Year&d=D&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

Thank you, Pete. As always, I appreciate your concrete and specific information and help. Thanks for the directive to the Griso link. I guess Griso riders got their own version of this place….good for them! kind of wish I was a Griso rider

Hello, I’ve been wanting an adventure touring bike, and have also been interested in the 8v motor, so now I’m looking at Stelvios. There is a nice looking 2013 Stelvio NTX 1200 not too far away, in the burnt orange color (which I have mixed feelings about. I like the red and silver best). I am not totally comfortable with a 2013 because I figure that there could have been left over flat tappets that made it into some 2013 bikes. This bike has the later 8.5 gallon tank. I am wondering if the larger 8.5 gallon tank change on the NTX model Stelvio means anything or is a marker in terms of the tappets that may been used?

Got mine today, Chuck. As always, very nice work. Thank you! Mine is classic black, but that is a nice shade of blue.

Lol. Yeah, I noticed that, too. Maybe because she’s not on the bike for that bit.

Happy Friday!

That's great. No pain is gain!

Ouch! I hope you get your tooth sorted, guzzler. So many of these pics look like somewhere in Montana. Or Montana looks like somewhere Down Under.

https://www.nickadamswriting.com/ Nick is a classical Man's Man. Intelligent, witty, articulate, tough as nails and free! And he has damn good taste in motorbikes!

Is the Pope catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods?

Is that the Sport livery? I borrowed a V4S MS for a weekend and thought it was a pretty fine machine. The radar blind spot warning lights and the assisted cruise control is awesome. I can’t wait until someone comes up with accessory radar stuff to be added to any bike. There is a lot to love about the bike. Long valve adjustment intervals, great power and very smooth and easy to ride, you can hammer it like a superbike and it will step up, or ride it like a very nimble two-up touring bike. I did not take it off road. A few very good riders have told me it’s the best bike they have ever owned or ridden. It was very nice, but didn’t totally blow my mind like all the hype set me up for. I might try a Stelvio just because I am prejudiced toward Guzzis and want one of the 8v motors, but I am a Guzzi fanatic more than a Ducati fan, and I think most reasonable people will find the V4 Multistrada to be way superior to the Stelvio or GS. I don’t say V85 because that is not in the full size adventure bike class as the others. The KTM 1290 may be the best if you are big bike true adventure riding and not just touring around or staying on asphalt canyons.