Hallo.
I haven't found a dedicated board to introduce oneself, so I decided to do it here.
My name is Michael, but Mick is good.
I turned 59 a couple of weeks ago, and have been riding motorcycles since 1985. The first one was a Suzuki GSX 250 (at the time in Vicroria, Australia, beginners were only allowed a 250), which was followed by a 1976 model Z900. I owned a couple of those 2-Stroke 3-Cylinder Kawasakis (a 250 and a 400) for a bit, but one was a basket case, and the other one had been out in the weather for several years and didn't run. In addition, I had a Honda MVX 250 for a while. The Honda got sold to an acquaintance, I don't remeber why I got rid of it, and the Kawasakis all got sold when I moved to Germany at the start of 1996.
After the move, I didn't have a motorcycle for about 10 years. Then someone gave me a Honda CBX 650 E, a soft-chopper thing. Never would have bought it myself, but after the first ride I couldn't understand anymore how I had got through the 10 years without a bike.
Rode that for a while, and then I made the "mistake" of going to have a look at a V35 Imola that was for sale about 20 km. away from where I was living at the time. Bought it, of course. A mate of mine who lived in the same house with me for a while in Melbourne had a Le Mans III, which was the clincher for the interest in Moto Guzzi. The Imola is "only" a small-block, but the lines are very similar, and I couldn't resist. It wasn't a runner, as it had been in a cellar (going by the waft under the seat...) since it was taken off the road in 1997 according to the papers I got with it. I took it apart, put it back together with new seals everywhere and an electronic ignition (Silent Hektik), and have been having fun with it ever since.
About the same time as I got the Imola, I got rid of the soft-chopper Honda and got a Kawasaki 1000 GTR (Concourse in the USA, I believe). Not my style, actually, but I wanted a bike that could hold its own on the german Autobahn, and for that, the GTR is hard to beat. I once rode it from Leipzig (where I have been living since 2015) to the north of France. More than 800 km., rain almost the whole time. On that bike, that is a doable proposition.
I broke that one (the GTR) at the end of 2017 by not noticing that a car that I was overaking in a long line of cars was about to turn into a side road. Broke both hands in the process...
The GTR I broke was ok before the accident. The one I bought to replace it turned out to have a heap of problems, which leads us to why I am here.
The interest in Moto Guzzi has been increasing over the last several years, and the justification for the GTR through changes in my employment situation decreasing. On top of that, I'm having a bit of "if not now, it may be too late", so I bought a V11 Le Mans about a week ago. Haven't ridden it yet, as there has been snow on the ground here more or less since the day I picked it up (slightly over 1000 km. round trip to go and get it....).
I am absolutely delighted to have found a forum a) in english and dealing with the specific model, and b) with such good information. I've already read the thread about the ominous pawl spring from start to finish (65 pages, wow...). Looking forward to reading more here, and I dare say I'll be posting some stuff eventually too.
'till then
Mick
