WitchCityBallabio

I'd love to ride with you too Ouij. I've had the pleasure of riding with waspp, and Doug Danger and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I have to say the Guzzi community is the nicest bunch that I've ever ridden with in all my years of riding.

I think he's right on the money here. Guzzi is never going to be a Ducati. There are any number of bikes that offer ridiculous levels of performance for less money, better reliability etc than even Ducati. I've had GSXR's, VFR's etc and I still like the Guzzi better. Those bikes were technologically light years ahead of the Guzzi, handled better, accelerated better etc, but I'd still take my V11 over them again any day. You have to enjoy a Guzzi for what it is, not be angry for what it's not. I would like to see Guzzi at least offer a full sport bike package like a street legal MGS for general consumption. It still wouldn't compete with the 1098 or a GSXR 1000 or the like, but it would be a wonderful bike for carving up the twisties. Realistically, who's buying a Guzzi thinking of superbike handling and speed? If you want Guzzi to retain that lovely air cooled V twin, you have to accept that there are performance limitations. I personally have no interest in a water cooled or 4 cylinder Guzzi.

The only problem with buying a Ducati is being associated with (for the most part) a bunch of trend humping, fashion lemming poseurs. Don't take my word for it....go to any Italian or European motorcycle show and watch them all strut around in their thousand dollar track suits that always look like they came off the rack the day before.

I wish they'd keep making the MGS, and make it more available. Even though it's not the fastest "Superbike" , it's definitely one of the sexiest. True rolling art.

As another Ballabio owner, welcome to the board. Hope you love yours as much as I love mine.

I was just thinking the other day that I'm close to driving the bike again as the temperatures are nearing the magical 35 degree mark. That's my minimum temp that I can ride to work and be reasonably comfortable. 80....... Bastard.

Congratulations on your purchase of a gorgeous bike! Welcome to the board too!

We did a week long trip two up with ours with the hard bags, and the foot position and room were fine for the passenger. Because I used my Givi's and fit them to the H&B rack, I was able to position them optimally for that though. I'm not sure about the H&B bags, but I'm sure they leave enough room for the passenger. If you retrofit another type of case, you'll be able to put them (basically) anywhere you need them.

I use the Hepco Becker rack and fit my Givi hard cases to them. Relatively easy modification. I only used the Givi's because I had them from another bike and loved them. I remove the Hepco Becker rack when not using the luggage. Any easy rack to remove.

Got the calendars yesterday. Fantastic quality. Very heavy paper and high definition photo's. Looking forward to next years already.

Gorgeous! The best 2008 calendar I've seen yet! I just ordered 3 for me and my Guzzisti friends!

I have the Guzzi Ti cans, Mistral X-over and PCIII. I found my mileage stayed the same or maybe a little bit better.

The HyperPro (I think it's the 031/041) shock looks good and I think is a quality unit. HyperPro

I don't think I've ever been as smitten for any bike in my life like I am for this one. This video, if possible, only made it worse.

Cabot Trail, NS

My recommendation would be full leathers, a good pair of boots (waterproof) and a quality set of rain gear to go over the leather. I ride in a short sleeve shirt under my leather jacket (without a liner) down to about 35 degrees in comfort. In the hotter weather, I just open the vents.

I ride a Ballabio, and if I'm not mistaken, the Cafe' Sport has the same handlebar set up. I find it very comfortable. I think the position is a bit more upright than the standard V11 Sport. I've done 400-500 mile days and found it relatively comfortable and that was two up to boot. The Ohlins suspension of the Cafe Sport can only make it better riding and more comfortable. Besides, the Cafe' Sport is waaaayyyy cool.

Throw a shifter return spring and a handful of relays in the tank bag and do the Cabot man! I did 1500-1700 miles up in Nova Scotia without so much as a hiccup mechanically (other than the broken bolt that happened in Boston that resulted in a cracked pork chop). I'm not too far away from you in Salem, and there is starting to be a rather healthy contingent of Guzzi's around here now. If you want to hook up for a ride in the future, let me know!

I got about 7000 out of each set (put on 2 sets this year. Currently riding on the Metz. Roadtecs that came with the bike just to finish out the season) and they were ridden pretty hard. They not only did some touring duty with luggage and passenger for 7 days and almost 2000 miles but all the dreary commuting and weekend carving. The harder compound in the middle seems to make them hold up better than they have any right to.

This is why I love my Pirelli Diablo Corsa III's. They warm up ridiculously fast. Maybe it would have helped in this situation. Maybe it wouldn't have as the Aprilia has a ton more hp than the V11 and maybe nothing would have prevented it from spitting out.

I also would be very interested in the pipes. I just dropped off my Cafe' project frame, forks (lowers), swingarm, rear caliper bracket, etc to be media blasted and powder coated, and the original Borrani wheels to be highly polished and relaced. Besides getting in queue at the Tank Shop, the exhaust is still the unknown variable. I was considering the Lafranconi Competizione but they don't look like they would have much "bark". Dropping all this stuff off, has definitely brought my excitement level on this project off the chart.

I've put about 15,000 miles on the Ballabio this year (probably more....damn speedo) and out of all the bikes I've owned in my life is the only one that every time I drive it, I fall more in love. I can't really explain it. Like what has been said here, not super fast, heavy, not great fuel mileage, but still...... I love the sound, the way it handles and how it rewards me for taking the time to really understand it's handling. I actually love it so much, that I bought a Tonti frame to restore into a Cafe' bike to see how it compares to the spine frame bikes and see if it is even more soulful. I'm afraid that the Tonti will be even more addicting and am probably overly excited to complete the project and drive it. My fear is that I will love this and decide I need to experience a Loop frame next. The bottom line for me with my Guzzi, is whenever I'm not driving it, I'm thinking of driving it. No other bike has ever done that to me.

Yeah...that's it. What would I possibly have to be insecure about? I don't own or have interest in either of those businesses. All I can say is that with all the "stuff" I've ordered from Todd at Guzzitech, (PCIII, HyperPro Springs, Brembo rotors) I've had nothing but spotless service. Todd is knowledgeable and runs his business professionally. Regardless of the whether or not he's a "brick and mortar" store. I've made purchases at MI as well. Guzzitech's service is every bit as good. That's not personal preference, that's practical personal experience.

It sounds like you're implying Guzzitech is not reputable. I couldn't disagree more. I've had excellent service from Todd and he has been quite available for all my questions. Shipping has been prompt and pricing fair. With regards to the PCIII.... How do you get much more reputable than that?

Your best bet for a PCIII is to contact Todd Eagan at Guzzitech. He'll take your mods, and map the PCIII for you.