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And South Korean too... What I have noticed, and I am not the only one, Chinese companies have either purchased notorious brands on the verge of extinction, or extincts, and have resurrected them. I am thinking about Moto Morini, Benelli for example. I am almost certain KTM will not accept to go under Chinese control. But during my Parisian walkways, I have noticed the CF Moto on display that did not use to be there before. There are other Chinese brands too, but not well known. (Voge) Also, look at the Dakar starting 2025... you have KTM, Honda, Sherco (French!), Fantic(Italy), Huskvarna (KTM), Yamaha, Rieju (Spain), Hero (India), Kove (China), GasGas (KTM), Hoto (???). Of course, almost everybody is racing on a KTM or a derivative of KTM. But we have also Kove, which commercialize their dual sports here in the USA. They do not have any dealerships, but you can order online: https://www.kovemotousa.com/models-2024 I think the Dakar is the reason why there are so many 450 Dual Sports/Adventure/Trail bikes in the market.

Well, you certainly remember the 70's and the arrival of the Japanese cars, later followed by the Korean ones, arrival depending on your home base. At that time, where I lived, we used to make fun of those who purchased the cheap Mazda cars. In France, Mazda used to be a battery brand. Slowly we learned to change our mind. While they looked funky for some, they also started to make some ground. I remember the first time I saw that Toyota Celica GT... The Chinese have been manufacturing motorcycles, motorcycle engines for some of the European brands for a while now. It was only a matter of time before they would start making their own. KTM is one of the brands that uses CF Moto to manufacture engines and complete bikes. As we have been witnessing, Chinese (Indian companies too) companies have purchased a lot of the brands that we grew up with. But today, they are coming strong with their own brand name. Iron Power Sport in Houston carry CF Moto. They are already sold out of every Ibex, the dual sport of CF Moto. I only like older motorcycles, and the one brand; I am wondering if the Chinese brands are going to take over the motorcycle market the way they did the EV market in Europe.

One of our main competitor exported its production line to China. I don't know if this is still the case, but at the time, if you wanted to produce in China, you had to share the technology. A few years later, in Africa, we responded to a call for tender, and we were surprised to learn that a Chinese company was also tendering for the work. Basically proposing the tools of our main competitor. They had only partially altered the names of the tools, so the customer would recognize them for what they could do. They ended up getting the contract, because as the customer pointed out, they were so cheap compared to the traditional companies, that there were not even a big debate. However, the technology they had copied was not applicable in all situations. So we had to bail them out a few times. I had a chance to speak to their lead guy. They were paid peanuts... but their salary still made them king of their land. The major drawback, is that by manufacturing outside of your frontier, you lose the know how. For a long time, maybe still now, the design teams were located in Europe while the manufacturing would take place in China. It seems that now they have gained enough experience to do their own design. The auto makers in Europe, where EVs are being pushed full speed, can't keep up with the Chinese car makers, mainly because the Chinese have secured all the rare metals that are currently required to make the batteries. So just about the complete world have to purchase batteries to the Chinese as it stands. There are new battery types being studied, that would require less of those rare metals, but until they can take over, I am guessing some car makers may go down under.

With regards to KTM, it seems they are really in deep doo doo. I read their debt is in the billions... if the sources I read are correct, they even are in difficulty to pay employees for December... I hope they manage to come through. I wonder if potential KTM interested purchasers are going to think twice. I does not really make sense to continue in MotoGP.

Thank god it is not the same for Italian motorcycles... There is only one....

hmmm.... that's a very strong statement; let me retort!

The situation seems to be serious... they are going to stop the complete production on January and February and furlough the employees. I understand they are, they have taken steps to prevent Pieirer mobility to be run by an external administrator during the recovery. They have apparently refused financial help from Red Bull for the same reason. They have also said that MotoGP would not be impacted, but I have a hard time believing that. KTM needs to start developing the next generation bike for 2027. Potentially, it is going to be a big financial effort because they need a new engine, and new chassis, and compose with the new aerodynamic rules. I don't know if this year's debacle had anything to do with the cost-cutting. As for the video, it seems to be clear they improvised it without any help from the usual advice companies. It is aimed at reassuring people they can continue purchasing KTM motorcycles. On some of the forums I follow, I read about several issues that should have been taken care under warranty, where warranty was denied. Obviously, Internet is not the most reliable source. They have been in financial trouble since 2023 now, and it seems they have a lot of debt and creditors; hence the reason why they are trying to stop the vultures to break the company.

Nowadays, tickets seem to be only sold online; it is actually cheaper since you do not need to have people paid to deliver said tickets at the entrance gate. I have personally verified this has spread like fire. I went to a concert venue, where I used to purchase the ticket at the box office. This time, there weren't any. All venues use a third party service, which also charge you a fee on top of the ticket. So tangible tickets seem to have gone. Maybe not in Italy, maybe not in Misano. Here's a tip I used before. You go to the racetrack early, at the box office of the main entrance, ask around for excess tickets. I have done that before with success. Besides scalpers, which are usually trying to sell tickets for soccer matches, there are always some people that have received free tickets, and that may have more than needed. I have done that at the Houston Rodeo when I was working. My company was a sponsor, so we always got free tickets for specific days, that we could not use. You always have the backup to be able to get your tickets online if nothing else works.

You may have heard about it, but KTM is in dire financial situation since the end of 2023; Today the CEO of the company has released a statement about the company's future; the same causation model for the same consequences. During Covid, KTM ramped up production to meet the insatiable demand. They invested a lot of money to produce more, also detrimental to quality. The extreme measures they have taken have seen a lot of cost cutting, including shuting down factories and transfering activity to countries with cheaper manpower. Are they going to survive? CF Moto, where KTM does some of its manufacturing in China is coming strong in the European market. This is one of the downside of manufacturing in China. You have to share the technology with the local company.

I lived ten years in Italy, including on the Adriatic coast. I was based in Ravenna at the time. We used to go to the Rimini discotheques, because we had never seen young ladies going dancing in not much more than bathing suits... Anyway, a lot has changed since then, and I am guessing you can now get as much information as you want by watching those people that give advice about just everything in the world. "Coach"? I think the technical term in today's world is: cattle class... "wine country"? where is that? absolutely everybody makes wine nowadays, including places that could not before. But the weather changes have enabled it. Rimini is a really nice place to spend time in. Be prepared to spend some money though. The entire Adriatic coast was expensive before, and it is even more expensive now. One tip I can tell you about; you will not need to speak much Italian at all. Absolutely everybody speaks English nowadays. The websites are in both Italian and English so no problem there. What kind of tip were you looking for anyhow?

Sometimes no news is good news? maybe he resolved the issue and that's why he has gone silent?

I am trying to understand what the marketing group that came up with this idea used to support that engagement. When I think of Jaguar, it is like Rolls Royce, or Aston Martin. A non nonsense company. Where did they got the feeling this orientation was going to be a hit? I think Jaguar was one of the brand caught in the let's move to only EVs. The lastest sales statistics showed that company was not doing very well. I got they needed to shake up the spider webs from the "old" Jaguar. Yet, I think they went too far into turning the company upside down. I think the latest events in the world are demonstrating that a large majority of the population wants to remain with the values that were the mainstay in the past. I recently logged on an administrative government website, and under the usual gender questions, there was a third choice. (I am talking about France). There is also the inclusive writting introduced in France. I must admit I am getting lost...

Awright! he is excused then.... incidentally, I left the Facebook Moto Guzzi Quota group a few days ago. I don't like the format, the restrictions; I thought I had finally found one possible way to use Facebook, but then navigating the way they want you to post, the contact photos which require the user to flip through them to see them all, the automatically hidden replies chosen arbitrarily, so you have to click to have all the answers, sometimes multiple times. Garbage! I am better off it.

Yeah, but this is the Moto Guzzi Owner's Group; these guys are already sold on anything Guzzi...

Well, as the saying goes, to each, his own... I rode Japanese bikes until they stop making two strokes engines. Personally, the two strokes had something that four strokes never offered. But let us not go there, because two strokes are just a thing of the past, and if you never had one, then all the discussion would remain opaque. If we go past the early Guzzi models, once they got that distinctive engine architecture, they never deviated from it. You will always know its a Guzzi because it has that powertrain look unmissable. The same could have been said about BMW and their flat twin, but they have also added water to their wine. Most of the other brands always were eclectic in what they chose to power their creations. Honda being the best example. I think they have just about built any possible engine architecture during the years, including a Guzzi copy in the CX. I thought Ducati would have stuck to the L shape engines, with the desmodromic distribution, but this year, they have also started one with conventional distribution. Yesterday, I looked at a Suzuki SV 650 on the one hand, and a Suzuki 9S on the other. However, today, the engine architecture that prevails everywhere, is the vertical parallel twin. This powertrain is now everywhere, including on the Chinese brands. There are some exceptions; Indian and HD are still sticking to the past. I don't know where we are heading, but I am going to keep with what I feel corresponds to what I think a motorcycle should be. I am most likely obsolete, but when I look at that Suzuki 9S, I see nothing that I wish I had.

I know, right? when you have a Guzzi, you can't go riding a Kawasaki. It's a complete different phillosophy. I think a Guzzi incarnates exactly his thought process. The 900 RS is a modern copy of the Z1, and it does not fit there. I feel it is an anachronism. Now, it is just my personal opinion, and he may not exactly feel the way i do.

Whatever the format they fancy, how they promote it, nothing will ever equal the Grand-Prix held in the 70's. There, you had the pilots and the public mixed together. I literally remember talking to Barry Sheene as he was working on his Suzuki 500 before the Trophée du Million. There were no hospitality trucks, sleeping RVs. The only guy who was not easily accessible was Giacomo Agostini. But he was the big star of the pack. Today's races have lost that spirit of bonne humeur that you always found when you attended a race. The locals would often invite you into their home when they found out you had travelled all the way from your country just to see some guys running in circle. Today's races atmosphere are very different. I am told it is because I don't get it. I think it is because I can make the difference between then and now. The newer crowd can't. Simple.

It sounds strange, unless you have a loose connection, the switch is either close or open. Couold it be one of these pesky relays with intermitent failure?

The Norton is more expensive because at this point, they don't have any market, very few dealerships, all located in UK. I was only comparing the spirit of the V7 Sport reissue versus the Norton Commando. I have a feeling that, because of the so many iterations of the V7, Guzzi/Piaggio was very careful to make sure the V7 Sport would not encroach too much on the other models. I have no idea how much the Norton Commando costs; not even sure it will be produced en masse, and imported in the US.

If you read my post about the new 2025 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, I think Norton did a better job with the modern take on the Commando. It seems like everything Piaggio/Guzzi missed on the V7 Sport was done on the Commando.

My real first contact with a Moto Guzzi was with the V7 Sport in the 70's. I remember very well, and I have a photo somewhere in a box. Edit: watch the video about the Norton Commando! in my opinion, they did a better job, adding a café racer to the classic! According to you, did Moto Guzzi/Piaggio miss the mark on this iconic reissue? My gripes and kudos: -That single digital instrument is an offence to the spirit of the bike. They have a dual clock arrangement on some other V7s. Why not on this one? -Not a big fan of the rearview mirrors at the end of the handlebars, but that is an easy sorting. -Electronically, they have the ride by wire, the ABS that works in curves, I read somewhere they have a cruise control, with the usual ECU maping modes which I don't think are necessary on a bike with so little watts. -Dual rotors, radial calipers, inverted forks with additional settings; ok. -A removable seat cowl and a front fairing would have been nice. -I like the reduced length mufflers, but maybe some Akrapovǐk like on other V7 would have given a better tone. Price is undecided, but the Guzzi representative says it will be attractive. What do you think? would you make room for this one?