Guzzimax

She looks expensive to maintain. More expensive than the nice V11 she is sprawling over. I’d still employ her as a tool holder and general garage hand, but I’d think she could quickly empty your sack Strangely I’ve never found Guzzi’s to be a babe magnet 🧲

Buy all 3 of ‘em. You can never have enough Guzzi’s. The Griso will outhandle the 1200 Sport. My choice would be a V11’s with Ohlins, & a Griso 1200 with the roller tappet motor. Oh, and a Greenie, & maybe a Rosso Mandello

Just had a look at Rizomas website. They look gorgeous, however they are somewhat pricey

My MT01 is 111 ft/lbs at only 3750 rpm, & 89 bhp. A simple old school long stroke air cooled pushrod V twin. It’s 585 lbs, so although not exactly a lightweight, it’s no boat anchor. You ride on an effortless wave of torque, the flattest torque curve I’ve ever seen and by 5000 rpm it’s all over just before the rev limiter cuts in

I love those Rizomas. They look stunning. Massive improvement over the stock stalks

I see that’s the 350 classic with 20.2 bhp and 19.9 ft-lbs torque. Getting off a V11 I would be missing the other 50 ft-lbs. It’s the torque that makes the ride for me. A friend has just bought this military look Bullet. Great for slow getaways

On a summer evening ride out. MK 1 Le Mans, my ‘99 Silver V11, Cali 111, & a Enfield Bullet 500 complete with monster top-box. The Guzzi’s had to restrict the speed to around 60 mph max, as the 28 bhp Bullet struggled to maintain “big block progress”, but of course it’s not really a fair comparison

A friend has an Enfield 500 single. I’m not an Enfield guru but this one is an early 1960’s vintage & was made in the Redditch UK factory. All UK production ceased in 1970 and since then all RE’s have been made in India. His is very well used and not a show pony. He even took it to the classic IOM TT this year. Here it is next to my 03 Sport. Not my cup of tea personally, if I was to downsize it would be to a small block Guzzi, or maybe a Ducati Scrambler, but I have to admit the Interceptor 650 twin looks like a classic Brit twin should

Local Guzzi dealer advert, stating that their demo bikes are arriving in December (2022!)

Sad to hear that Wilko Johnson, legendary guitarist from Dr Feelgood & later The Blockheads passed away last week aged 75 years. RIP Wilko

I still waller around on the ground, and if she’s available as a tool holder, I’ll foresake my ambition to get a bike lift in the future

I visited the Birmingham NEC Motorcycle live bike show on Sunday, which is the main UK expo for the manufacturers and Piaggio didn’t have a stand. Of all the main manufacturers they were the only one absent. Very poor IMO and shows lack of marketing support for their UK dealer network, Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, Triumph, Yamaha etc had massive stands, even BSA with their Indian built Gold Star were there, along with the relaunched Norton rising from the post Stuart Garner ashes

I did once harbor strange thoughts of actually doing this, and earlier this year I had to stop myself responding to a Ballabio advert, as I knew there would be a good chance in it joining the rest.. which are 2 red frames, the carryover, and 2 black frame long tanks. Bonkers really & I’d like to get a Triumph Scrambler in the next couple of years before I have to downsize to a Honda cub or something similar due to age & arthritic joints And the Griso isn’t going anywhere until the dreaded downsizing becomes a reality

My Rosso Corsa was registered in 2003. I’d be intrigued to know if there was a point when the factory was producing the “carryover” sport in parallel with the long tank (no chinpad) Le Mans. I’ll check the frame no when I return home

Yep, 100% the same as my 2003 that I assume was built in 2002, but I’ll dig the frame no out when I get home from my current overseas trip ..

Greenie’s now off the road for various autumnal jobs. Front fender has a crack that needs repairing, and the I’ll get it repainted along with the belly pan and the side panels. However the very small screws that hold the 2 pcs of the fender together are corroded, and despite soaking them in plus gas release fluid, gripping with long nosed pliers, the nuts just spin and I can’t release the screws. I’m unwilling to try grinding them off with a mini grinder in case of damaging the plastic im sure this is a very common problem, does anyone have suggestions about how to grip the small round threaded ‘nuts’ ?

Oh err, I don’t even know what sort of wine Pino Grigio is. I’m a man of simple tastes, I just stick to English ale for my boozing . As for veal piccata, it’s pie n chips for me

This photo angle seems to exaggerate the Griso’s already long - 61 inch - wheelbase; 3.1 inches longer than a red frame V11. CARC bikes feel a little more refined than the spinies, a V11 has a rawer old school edginess, but the 8V motor pulls hard right up to the red line. I’d encourage any big block enthusiast to add a 8V roller tappet Griso to their stable whilst their prices are so affordable. 2016 was the end of an era for Guzzi. It remains to be seen if Guzzi manage to get the V100 into production next year

Sorry, no new V11 photos this weekend, did go out on the Griso yesterday