callison

The Griso comes out Sepember 20th in Europe with availability in October for that continent. It's undoubtedly a 2006 model which might account for some of the confusion. I wish like crazy it would be available at the same time here in the USA. I'd spring for that pearly blue one in a microsecond. It doesn't look gay to me, just brawny and with a great "in yer face" stance. Something notably lacking from the Mandello contingent for some time. There's an upside to some colors that you guys may be overlooking. My wife will okay nearly anything that's blue and naysay anything that's yellow, gray or black. So... if I want a Griso, it'll have to be blue or red and I already have a red Guzzi. No need for two.

Especially in Pearly Blue. According to Motociclismo, it will run 11,900 Euros. A bit rich for my wallet. However, given a choice of a Griso in blue or a Breva 1100 at this very moment, I'd probably opt for the Griso.

I've already got funds set aside for one and I am waiting for the USA to get their allotment. Got any suggestions as to which color combination looks best?

How about a Dr. John look-alike?

That isn't a fuel petcock, it's the pressure regulator for the pressurized fuel system. The open tube is the atmospheric reference port. This is the device that maintains the 42 psi (or thereabouts) gas pressure.

Well Joe, you shoulda got them spinners. Whining didn't help

I only wish the V11 Sport had as much room under the seat as the Sport 1100's. Actually, with a little "shade tree engineering", you can recover quite a bit of space under the seat of a Sporti. I'll throw in some pictures, but I won't say they're pretty, because they're not. I replaced the battery tray with a wooden plate routed out for some "L" brackets to limit the movement of the battery. Some other cobby looking home-made brackets re-locate the rear brake reservoir, some bolts reversed to put the head towards the battery and things of that nature will allow you to turn the battery 90˚. Only one actual modification to the bike is the removal of a piece of bracket at the rear of the battery box. I think. This is from memory from 6 years ago. It's an evening's piece of work and worth the effort. I was experimenting with an automotive cruise control at the time and needed a spot for the control module. It fit fine - that's what the bundle of small wires are left over from. I only used it for 17,000 miles and removed it after the carpal tunnel surgery gave me my hands back.

PayPal is enormously easy compared to money transfers. PayPal will get 4% or so of the price, so expect the seller to up the ante to cover it. It's still the best deal I've found by far. I've used my (former USA band - Wells Fargo) a few times and money transers to Europe have taken as long as 4 weeks to get done correctly and cost about $42 or more.

I'd trade my V11 Sport and maybe include the Sport 1100i for a Griso, and replace my California with the Breva 1100.

Except for the 55 gallon trash can muffler, the Griso looks pretty good in the flesh. For technical merits only, I'm planning to buy a Breva 1100. From the back, the Breva is a pretty nice bike. As to whether I can ever absolve the tank of its visual impact, I'll just have to wait and see.

Enter the GMG at Mandello Del Lario and win a Griso Motociclisom article (in Italian)

Griso announcement Looks like the long awaited Griso is only a few weeks away. Maybe.

Nah. Gold spinning hubcaps. Joe, you know you really want them. You really do!

Bullet connectors are the individual type like the turn signal leads use. The multi-pin types on the Guzzi are generally Amp connectors. You pretty much have to buy a kit for the Amps as finding the exact parts for individual connectors is difficult in the USA. There are similar connectors available at places like Pep Boys if you're real handy with electrics and/or a soldering iron. All is not lost though. The Amp connectors have a little rubber weather seal at the rear of the connector for each wire. Try prising them out and taking a peek down the barrel of the connector where the wire resides and see if the contact is completely seated inside the connector. Luigi may have been a little less than thorough.

The Lario was a faulty design and it's unreliability was an embarrasment for Guzzi. I think the Ippogrifo would have had a version of that engine too. Perhaps that's part of the reason that particular bike never made it to production.

My wife and I went along for a ride up into the Sierras two years ago with a group out of a local BMW shop. Her first long ride. We made a really good pace up Hwy 49 to Maricopa, California. The Guzzi surprised the BMW and sport riders quite a bit as we never dropped below middle of the pack. The centerstand would grind along for most of a sharp curve (I wouldn't back off). When we got to Maricopa, my wife asked if that dragging was normal. "Why certainly my dear - perfectly normal". Two years later I told her the truth. I had an ulterior motive though. I told her the California was not a sufficient two-up bike and that it should be replaced by a Breva 1100.

I've got the funds set aside from my retirement for the new Breva. Unfortunately, I live in the USA... Thank you California , for setting the Breva 1100 arrival back by months for a fuel overflow re-design.

Joe - go put some miles on it. Whiner.

So far, all of these ATV type hydraulic lifts that I've seen have a bail that is used to engage some dogs in the lower lift frame allowing the lift to be locked at various heights. This is so much of a safety issue with hydraulic lifts that I doubt they're even sold without that safety bail. I've literally had bikes up on these lifts for months. Allthough I've tied the bikes down for really intensive operations I don't generally secure the bike for everyday use. I move the bikes around quite easily on the lifts and as long as I don't make sudden and strong motions there is little likelyhood that a bike will topple. Plus, there are no earthquakes in Oklahoma.

Standard turn signal blinkers rely on the load from at least two incandescent bulbs. LED's don't draw enough current to heat up the bi-metallic strip in the turn signal blinker - so it never starts blinking. You can either add a resistor in parallel with the LED turn signals (and no, I don't know the value, but I suspect that a 2 ohm 5 watt resistor from the Radio Shack would probably work but be forewarned - they're very large and ugly). A possibly better alternative, although ridiculously expensive, would be to install a Kisan SM2 Signal Minder and wire it for the running light function as well. It's an all electronic unit and so it shouldn't care about the actual load of the bulbs. For $100, it had damn well better not care about the load. The Kisan is pretty large too, it's best to make some wire extenders and run them back into the rear of the tailpiece and place the Kisan in there.

It works like this: The one for a California looks like this: If you'd like a different approach, try a pair of Pitbull stands: The Dunwell V11 Sport adaptor is the only one that I've been able to use successfully to remove the sideplates without major surgery on the bike.

It doesn't take too much of an impact to damage the frame. Take the tank off and very carefully examine the spine at the steering head and especially thoroughly just aft of the engine mount sub-frame rear bolts where they attach to the spine. If it's bent, buckled or twisted in any way - part the bike out. It simply is not cost effective to repair these bikes at that level. Been there done that, rue the decision to do so. Damage at the spine level can also involve damage to the front engine mount ($

The Griso has the oil cooler mounted on the side of the engine sump. Pretty unusual and visually, it takes some getting used to. Now I see it as novel and not annoying. It does sort of have that industrial diesel locomotive appearance to it. I don't see any reason why a radiator can't be tailored to fit nearly anywhere on a motorcyle and still have airflow and won't detract from the appearance.

Very common. I eventually decided to just leave them off. The black airbox is not too unsightly as far as I'm concerned. Maybe my standards are a little low...

What he said. Been there, done that.