WitchCityBallabio

If you're referring to the red Sport that was on there, that's was not his. He has a Ballabio.

I only paid 255 bucks for HyperPro progressively wound front fork and rear shock springs. I don't find that overly expensive and they are a company with a good reputation and seemingly, a good product.

Wouldn't dual plugging the heads take care a lot of the problems experienced with pump gas with the high compression pistons? I had a Porsche 911 that I had substantial amount of work done for the track. Compression (pistons) was increased substantially, but because I had the heads dual plugged and added a hotter electronic coil system, it ran fine on pump gas. I'm assuming as it was also air cooled, that similar results could be had with the Guzzi engine no?

I don't think there's a road in the entire Northeast region with as good a road surface as any in those pictures. I am extremely jealous. I am thinking of shipping (air freight?) to Italy next year for a two week tour. Has anyone had any experience shipping a bike overseas? Are there severe restrictions about bringing a foreign registered bike over?

Wow.... I feel bad now about not mentioning this earlier. I just assumed this was an isolated incident on my bike. I'm glad that you guys were able to check and prevent the short that happened to mine though.

I wish they'd lose those ugly rubber bumpers above the motor/below the gas tank, but other than that, I think it's not a horrible looking bike. Those panels blend in nicer on the Sport though.

Sweet Jesus.... Creamy Goodness

It was good seeing you again at the Larz Anderson Museum John! Your Ballabio looked terrific and I'm glad you're starting to get it all sorted out. I'm sure you're going to enjoy the love affair with your Ballabio like I am with mine.

I had a similar experience with a blowing fuse and loss of the rear tail light and instrument lighting. I traced everything forward of the fuse and couldn't find anything. When I started searching rearward, I found that Guzzi had routed the wire for the license plate light incorrectly and it had chafed and shorted behind that little plastic inner fender panel. I repaired the wire and rerouted it so it wouldn't chafe against the bolts and it's been fine since. Doug

I have to pick my bike up from the shop from it's oil change, rotors, brake pads etc, but I hope to be able to get down there around noon.

I desperately hope they are planning on putting that engine in the new 1200 Sport package quickly. That's what I'll wait for before I decide if I need to lose the Ballabio.

Let's be clear here. No where did I say I was a socialist. My tendancies are strictly anarcho-syndicalist. No where have I supported Al-Qaeda or any of their ilk. I find religious extremists of any tendancy repugnant. I put Christian fundamentalists in the same boat as Muslim fundamentalists. With regards to "their plans for horrific repression of socialists" I would imagine Socialists, Marxists and Anarchists in the Middle East would be accustomed to that by now. Not so long ago, when a young upstart named Saddam Hussien was taking power in Iraq (with the support and backing of the U.S) he was given a list of names of Communists in Iraq by the CIA whom he had summarily executed. Anti union, anti left raids, beatings, imprisonments continue today under a new oppressor. You misunderstand me. I don't find the deaths funny, I find your rabid quoting of western capitalist propaganda figures funny. I find the deaths in Russia and the other "Socialist" countries reprehensable. I also find it reprehensable that the leaders in these so-called countries called themselves Socialists or Communists when it was quite obvious (with even a cursory reading of Marx) that they were no kind of Socialist or Communist. I find it disgusting that in places like Spain, the anarchist collectives were destroyed and their leaders killed by "Communists" and that the Fascists were "invited" in to fly in and bomb and march in and kill them all. I find it disgusting that the Paris Commune was allowed to be slaughtered by invading forces invited in by the government. These slaughters all by rabid anti-communsts" like yourself. The U.S. has currently killed 1 million and made 4 million refugees in Iraq. Where's your indignation at that "death style idelogy"? I'm quite done debating this here. I have found over and over again that arguing with diciples of Von Mises is a fruitless endeavor. If you want to test your ideology, you might want to try it over at www.revleft.com. Good Night and Good Luck.

A classic example of a lie being told so many times it becomes a "truth". I've seen this number quoted from the "Black Book of Communism" ad infinitum, ad nauseum. It gets funnier every time I hear it quoted. Actually, they credit the ex-Soviet Union with 20 mil, with a total Communist kill of 100 mil worldwide. Numbers by the way, which handily include famine. Can you imagine how tragic it must have been to have millions of people starving while surplus grain is poured into the sea? Oh wait...... Any way...enough politics... Here's Tom with the weather...

All The Gear All The Time!

As will I!!

This one....

Wow...this sounds like a really fun ride! Perhaps I could do this run and then cruise into the Guzzi rally afterwards.

I've penciled it in pending weather. If we go, I'll have to put the luggage rack and hard bags on again.

I'm up for a ride. Name a time and place.

NEMG??? Please elaborate. robbiekb Mine too! I have a spanking new set of Brembo 5.0mm "Snowflakes" on the way! Today my neutral switch has started getting funky. Guess that's next on the to do parts list. Still love the Ballabio. 20,000 miles and the damn engine just gets smoother and better!

Ballacraine, Can you tell me what diameter the gauge is? Is it similar in size to the Guzzi speedometer?

Here's some pics to whet your appetites.... waspp's beautiful and Third Place winning Cafe' bike For some reason, I'm drawn to this Bimota Tesi like a moth to flame! JoeV11's beautiful Sport! Not Italian, but a beautiful BSA nonetheless!

The only thing I would add to the thread, is that if you're really concerned about the comfort of a V11 compared to the Beemer, you should try driving a Cafe Sport, Coppa Italia, Ballabio or whatever variants have the higher bars. I find my Ballabio down right comfy on rides as long as 5-600 miles per day. My 04 has been pretty reliable, (other than the damn speedometer) and I commute to work on it every day, and have put 13,000 miles on it this year without one stranding or failure.

Well, I removed my Hepco & Becker luggage rack ('til next years trips) and while I was at it, removed the hugger too. The bike looks so much better without that piece of plastic covering half the rear wheel. Unfortunately, where the hugger runs over the frame piece to the swingarm, it had obviously vibrated over the course of 20,000 miles and rubbed a bit of paint off and was starting to rust, so it looks like I'll be spending the weekend repairing that, and removing all the stickers that they put under there. It might be worth it for those with older, or higher mileage V11's to remove that hugger once in a while and clean and inspect for chafe on the frame from it. I also noticed when I took it off, there was a fair amount of road dirt stuck up in there.

Nice meeting you at the IMOC Sunday! As the bike was purchased as a left-over, I would think Wagner would take care of all these things for you under warranty hopefully. My 04 Ballabio has never had any of the problems that you are experiencing, and fortunately, none of your problems sound too serious. 1 You can expect speedometer cable failure 2 Trip odometer knob breaking 3 The crossover pipe soft gaskets leaking (until you add the shims available on this site) That said, I wouldn't trade my Ballabio for anything. It's super enjoyable bike to drive, and if possible, I become more enamored with it every day. Hope you get it all sorted out and get to really enjoy it. Doug