plexiform

This place is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Unfortunately as others mentioned not a lot of cool bikes to see unless you want to see a ton of Vespa scooters and the occasional BMW GS Adventure. The bus drivers on these tiny coastal winding cliff side roads are darn good drivers. Literally coming within inches of each other without even flinching. We visited mainly Positano and stayed right in the main square (Mulini Square down by the beach). We went to Capri, Rovello, Praiano, Nochelle, Montepurtuso, Amalfi, Pompeii. I would have to say the most memorable thing from this vacation was to see a level of service and pride in ones work that I have not seen in the states for a long time. Every single person provided 5 star service whether it was a baggage porter, server at a restaurant, boatman taking us into seaside caves, driver in a cab, or private driver to tour us around Pompeii and Amalfi. No one expects to be paid tips there (but the drivers do appreciate them). Servers in restaurants were confused when you try to leave them tips and encouraged us not to do so. Every meal at a family restaurant came with free wine included....and it was very good wine. It seems like a lot of the tourism businesses are family run so each family member had a vested interest in simply providing an excellent service without motivation by extra money. From what I was told the majority of businesses on the coast are owned and operated by families who have been living there for generations so their goal is not to get rich but to maintain the lives they've always known. And living on the coast does not look easy. In fact it seems that everything is physically difficult. The second most memorable thing was the pizza. Best pizza in the world and they bring it to you fresh in less than 10 minutes from ordering. Third most memorable....the cannolis. I've never had such good cannolis in my life. The food is so rich and tasty I was shocked that the average person is bone thin and very few morbidly obese people. Seems like life on the Amalfi coast is very active. Lots of walking and literally thousands of stairs (steep steps) all day long. We walked literally 2000 steps to get down from the Path Of The Gods from the city of Nochelle to Praiano and my legs are still in pain from it. And this was no escalator. These steps looked like they were built by the gods 2k years ago. Spent one night in Milan before flying back to LA and Milan felt very different and a world apart from the coast. It was beautiful to see the snow capped foothills of the Swiss Alps in the horizon from our hotel in Milan. Overall loved the trip but can't say I would want to ride a motorcycle there. At least not on the coastal roads. The congestion on the tiny roads made LA seem not so congested. And even if the roads were not congested, you could barely get past 30mph because the twisties are so tight and has blind hairpin turns every couple hundred feet with unprotected cliffs (100's to 1000s of feet in height) out of nowhere. Lastly the most impressive thing that comes to mind is that despite a constant barrage of tourists, they keep this place spotless. At least Positano, and some of the other smaller towns are literally without a single piece of trash on the ground. Amalfi was surprisingly not this way. It seems they have garbage trucks running daily (recycling one day, paper one day, plastic the next day....and so on). I have a new level of respect for the Italian people in this region because they have turned what at first seems like total chaos in to a very smoothly run operation. I would recommend visiting the Amalfi Coast to anyone thinking of traveling through Italy. But don't ride a motorcycle, just take a cab or bus. It would be great to hear from some Italian members on the forum to see if my experience is typical or did I just luck out and meet all the nicest people on the coast? Positano, Italy (view from the ferry ride to the island of Capri)

Thanks. We will be staying in Positano mostly. And hoping to do a day trip to hike Mt. Vesuvius.

Anyone know of any nice places to visit on the Amalfi coast (Naples, Positano, Amalfi, Pompeii)? Spending the next week there with family for vacation. Hoping to see some nice exotic Italian bikes and cars on the roads.

They feel very different but equally exhilarating. V11 feels heavy like its moving along with the inertia of a freight train. The Norton feels very light and nimble. When at speed and wanting to punch it, the V11 has more ‘umpf’. Riding position on the Norton is superb. More upright, foot pegs are wider set and sitting feels very natural and no stress points even after a long ride. I highly recommend a modern Norton although it seems to have even more quirks than the V11. But a very solid online community exists for Norton owners which is something I was worried about when I got the bike because I had become used to having this forum so ready to help when issues came up. I think owning any specialty motorcycle these days without good online community support would be very difficult.

I've been switiching back and forth between the V11 and Norton lately. Both make the commute to work a blast.

Love this song and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

My 1975 911S life long project car is finally getting the cosmetic restoration it deserves.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/mcy/d/moto-guzzi-scura/6737178014.html

I backed completely off steering damper for the commute home this morning and it is better. Thanks!

Feeling like a wuss for taking the bike to a shop to get routine stuff done but I had been dragging my feet on several issues for a while now because I just haven't had the time to address them and in some cases the know how to fix the problem. So I bit the bullet and took it to a local shop (Chrismoto in San Luis Obispo) to get things done. I will say though the bike is running better than ever before. 1. Roper plate installed 2. Oil change 3. Valves adjusted 4. Throttle bodies synchronized - apparently they were way out of sync 5. Gaskets replaced in oil pan and cylinder head covers 6. Trans oil changed 7. Suspension adjusted. This was actually the problem that led me to seek help in the first place. The bike had been very hard to handle at low speeds. Felt like I was riding a grizzly bear (no i have not actually ridden one before but I imagine riding a grizzly bear would feel like riding a V11 with suspension issues). Anyway, at highway speeds it was rock solid and felt perfect. I spent many days adjusting the forks and rear suspension thinking something was just not set right. At one point I played around with the steering damper as well but never thought it made much of a difference for this problem. The shop returned fork and rear suspension to spec but said the real culprit was steering damper set way too stiff to the point where the fork and rear shock were doing their job but with such stiff steering damper the quick changes in suspension were out of sync with the steering and just made for a very uncomfortable ride. I can't say I fully understand the problem but It feels much better now with much less steering dampening. However I can't say it is perfect yet. When I compare the ride to my other bikes, I feel like the BMW and Norton are much better handling bikes. So I suspect there is still room for improvements.

I would be nervous pulling that fuse in and out since the holders are already known to be weak. Easy for me with the switchable circuit breaker installed. Yet, aren't those the same diodes that can "go bad" in the SCR regulators? I like the idea of a switch to connect and disconnect. Would love to see a picture of the circuit breaker you’ve installed.

Just curious what the verdict is on charging the odyssey battery while it is still in the bike? Can I charge it while it is in the bike? Do I need to remove the 30amp fuse? My battery has been holding up well without any charging since I installed it but now that the bike has been sitting for a couple weeks the charge is down to 12.65 so I figure I should give it a full charge now. Thanks for the help.

This is sad news. I’ve bought parts from them and it was nice to know there was a central Guzzi hub on this continent. Too bad someone can’t just buy the shop and keep it going.

I would love to see Honda bring back the naked Goldwing. One of my favorite bikes was my 78 GL1000. An updated version of this with a massive 6cylinder engine would be one badass machine.

Look similar but different manufacturers: Brembo on the Norton. Grimeca on the Guzzi.

2016 Norton Commando 961 Sport MK II. Picked this up in San Diego at GP Motorcycles used with 64 miles on it. Has almost 1,000 miles on it now and it has been fun getting to know this bike. Has its quirks but overall I don't regret this purchase. I've been neglecting the V11 for the past several months with this beauty getting all my attention. Sounds amazing! Build quality is impeccable. Looks even prettier in person.

Is this true? That would be very convenient.

New battery: Odyssey PC545 installed. Starts up better than ever! Ordered the BatteryMinder model:128CEC1 charger to keep this battery healthy. Read through a bunch of posts on this topic and finally decided on this battery/charger combo. Stucci crossover pipe has been sitting in the garage for couple years now. Finally installed it. Sounds great! Might be a little too loud to roll up the driveway at 5am coming home from the night shift though.

You can have your stock mufflers re-packed and they can be made much louder. The previous owner had that done to my 02 Scura and I really like the sound. Deeper, Louder and very throaty. Here is a video clip. Not the best example of what it sounds like but if you're interested I can try to make a nicer video.

Made an offer. My colorful Scura needs an original dark companion.