Frenchbob

Doh!

I took a walk to the lake down the road this morning and tested the ice at the edge: it bore my weight. Now I keep looking at the Armstrong and wondering............

"Obscene" is right.

..........with a considerable degree of apprehension, is my guess. Is this a motorcycle or a film prop? I can't see "Moto Guzzi" anywhere on it. You never know, these days. On the basis that "if it looks right it probably is right," then you probably can't ride [drive?] it at all. It's not another gross Triumph, is it?

La Bestia, you could get away with anything, talking to people like that.............. Merry Christmas!

Don't go relative on me, Big J; heavy is enough, man.

Thanks, mate, although the responsibility may be too heavy!

Please accept the gratitude of an old man for this image, Anthro: now that's the TRUE spirit of Christmas.

Hey, some of us are old farts: been there, done that, done it again for good measure, survived the whole process [and have the scars to show] and we're still out there doing it..................don't knock it. Love your bike! Love mine, too, and it's still almost standard.

I have to agree: it makes a half-way handsome bike look ugly.

Yes, a merry consumerfest to all. Er........milk?

I enjoyed the Christmas card as only someone my age can. However, I have to say that I found Ben's thumbnail deeply, deeply offensive, not least on the grounds that I absolutely gave no-one permission to publish my photograph, here or anywhere else!

Any town that doesn't hit back. Wine-coloured = the same colour as wine Sorry, don't normally reply to others' responses, but I've been drinking this lunchtime. It was wine-coloured.

Nice one: laughed for the first time since my wife got home yesterday.

Motomecca in England do a V11 workshop manual for £36.

Thanks, Martin: bald, bespectacled, retired, married blokes need all the help they can get, I find!

Some righteous metal, so far, as I would expect. Since I'm probably the oldest on the forum, here are mine and no apologies for their age: The Guzzis you know Triton, 1960, 650 slimline, AMC close-ratios, Grimeca, etc [mine's an expresso] Norton Dommie 88 Special, 1955 [tuned 99 motor, where's the track?] 1959 Thunderbird [accept no imitations, Marlon] 1986 customised Amstrong MT500 enduro [puddle fetishist, also]

I beg to differ. Any Guzzi can be wine-coloured. It all depends what's in the glass you look at it through when you've finished riding. Mine's wine-coloured all the time, however: it came that way.........I hope.

Do I really have to put my in here...........or can you guess?

It was not me. Mine is a wine-coloured V11 but it has been blocked in the garage all day by my Norton which is sans rear wheel, temporarily, and I was making cider........in France. However, I would like it to have been. So..was it you?

I'm with those who say the north: food, wine, scenery and great roads. Go to Lake Garda. Start from France and ride the St Bernard Pass. Have a great time. If you do this and you do start in France, get in touch. Otherwise I endorse the advice already given.

I'll look at that. Classic Bike was almost unrecognisable last time I saw it [last week in England]. Could be a change for the better, methinks?

I would stick with the kit, if it makes you feel like you've drunk a whole chemistry set..................or have I missed something again?

This all sounds like good advice, but, actually, I'm with Martin on this: it must be something to do wtih English beer kits. If I make any, I make sure to give it to friends with strong stomachs. I have noticed that when motorcycling friends make it from kits, they are EVER SO keen for you to take as much as you want away to try. My friends here in France are puzzled by the whole business of home brewing, and although cider is made every autumn, the apples are entrusted to someone who has all the gear, who's done it for years and learned from his grandfather.

They regularly drink too much eau de vie and chainsaw their legs off round here, but, hey! You have to draw the line somewhere.