WitchCityBallabio

Here's Joe's bike at the IMOC looking just gorgeous without all that plastic!

The fender and hugger elimination looked terrific at the IMOC yesterday Joe! I'll be patiently waiting for your next run.

I'll be wearing a maroon Guzzi tee shirt. That should narrow it down to about 50. Just look for the Ballabio with the Givi bags (probably full of rain gear )

Wow! Inverted 43mm Marzocchi forks, and a Sachs rear shock??!!! That Duc has everything... Wait a minute..... Isn't that what my "nervous handling" Ballabio has??? They must be vastly superior pieces on the Ducati than were supplied to the Guzzi factory

Done. Gorgeous Daytona

Maybe the new 1200 Sport would have done better as well. It's seems like a pretty typical Guzzi review..."not enough horsepower, not fast enough, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Frankly, I'd take the slower Guzzi to the horrifically ugly Multistruedel or Uly, or the utilitarian German tank looking BMW any day.

Here's the info on the Eagle Squadron meet up. Soooo....any southerners going up? http://www.eurobikemaine.org Look in the Forum section and the Guzzi forum for details.

As a working locksmith, I can assure you that this wouldn't work. It would be funny watching someone pressing a tennis ball against their car doors for a while though.

A mistress named BillyBob? I just thought it was a play on the pronunciation of Ballabio.

The BillyBob wth just the Givi panniers mounted.

Any interest in a ride or perhaps a breakfast meet up before the IMOC?

Key. If only because I also always forget to return the kill switch to run. That, and because I have always used the key from day one.

Please put me on your order list.

I would agree Antonio. All the things that make the Breva a disappointment, contribute favorably to a bike designed for distance touring. The Norge also is a bit soul-less but as a touring mount, I think it would be very comfortable and infinitely sportier than the competition that it is aimed at....namely the BMW R1200RT, which honestly is a fairly soul-less boring bike (as far as sportiness goes) as well. I am hoping the 1200 Sport makes it here to the U.S. and specifically the version with the high performance kit and pipes. I think then we'll get to see what the new generation of the Guzzi's will be like. Let's face it, it's a new era for Guzzi. Aprilia parts and most likely designs, Piago input and money. It was bound to change the character of the bikes a bit. This is the bike I really want to drive before I pass final judgement on the newest generation Guzzi's.

It really needs to be this one so I can put it on the street and terrorize the cagers!

Done. Happy football season, but go Yankees!

While dropping my BillyBob off for some work (right side porkchop, oil change, and speedo cable) while waiting for my ride home, took a Norge for a nice test ride. My initial impressions were that the bike was not very powerful (in the Guzzi sense), but what I found is that the bike is so well sorted, quiet, balanced, that you don't realize you're riding it as fast as you are. I wouldn't say it's as quick as the BillyBob, but it does what it's supposed to do and quite civilly. The power delivery was very linear and to me, the bike felt lighter than the Ballabio, and again, I find the Ballabio to handle very well. When I jumped on it a bit, that Guzzi sound finally gets through and you remember that your driving the venerable Guzzi V. I played around with the windshield a bit and found that with a little adjustment I could virtually eliminate all wind blast and most of its associated noise. I would imagine this would be fabulous in the cooler months. The transmission definitely shifted a bit smoother than the Ballabio's. Not a great deal better, but just a bit. I find the Ballabio pretty good. I also found the shaft effect almost completely eliminated. The fuel injection seemed a bit smoother as well. The instrument panel was excellent. Very visible with perhaps too much information. I left the ABS on, and stood on the brakes a couple of times to check them out and was pretty surprised to find that it was completely seamless. No different feeling really than well applied regular brakes, but with the benefit (especially on a rainy day I'm thinking) of not being able to over brake. The fit and finish on the bike was fantastic. I found the seat to be very comfortable, even though the riding position was a bit foreign feeling. I found that my legs felt too far forward. I'm sure I could get used to it (especially touring) and the handlebar position was excellent. I found the pegs to be a bit annoying. I tend to drive on the balls of my feet on the pegs, and this is just impossible on the Norge. In fact, I found anything but flat footed and pretty far toward the heel was the only way to put your foot. I also made contact with the panel directly behind the peg, which I found, tended to put my foot at an odd angle. After talking with the dealer, apparently it is a complaint that they've heard before. He stated that there were already a couple of companies making different pegs for the Norge and looking at it, it looks like it would be easy to find any number of pegs that could be used. Again, the pegs are probably something that could be gotten used to, but they felt a bit odd to me. The hard luggage looked great, very integrated and pretty large. They looked like they would swallow a ton of gear. The bike I drove lacked the trunk case. I would imagine for the passenger, it would add even more comfort to an already comfortable bike. My overall impression was that it was a very well sorted bike, perfect as a Sport Tourer, beautiful to look at, fun to drive. It may have been a little too refined to my taste, but overall, a fantastic bike. I'm not sure I would trade the Ballabio in for it, but it might make a nice stablemate. FYI, Seacost Motorsports is bringing the Norge and probably some other bikes to the IMOC on September 9th. If you haven't had an opportunity to drive the Norge, that may be a nice opportunity.

We left with expired passports (should've looked before we left I guess ), but also had our licenses. No problem coming or going. The passport renewal thing is such a nightmare here right now, that I think they are just trying to muddle through it all. I read somewhere that there is something on the order of 500,000 passports in renewal limbo right now. The ruling is (I guess) that they will require passports for travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda etc in 2008.

The Kelly Baker piece is very nice. Linky

Well..my local dealer got the new porkchop in 2 days. Yippee. Here are a couple of pictures of our trip to Novi to check out while I'm putting together the ride report.... Taken on the eastern side of the Cabot Trail. And one from the western side....

Gorgeous. Love that bike.

The break on my trip odometer knob is exactly the same as Mike Stewarts. I am also looking for a more permanent fix than just replacing it with another breakable piece.

Pete Roper I was under the impression that the MGS-01 Serie (street version) was to use a different motor with around 100hp rather than the Corsa's 120hp or thereabouts. I would think that if the Serie did actually make it to market, that it would be built for street type use with a less of the disposable race bits. I would also guess that if MG is holding off real production because they're afraid of getting beat up by GSXR's and CBR's and the like, then we'll never have a chance of seeing any real production #'s for the MGS. Very few twins will compete on the same playing field with any of those bikes. Isn't the GSXR 1000 coming out of the box with around 185hp w/160hp or so at the rear wheel and weigh around 380#'s dry? I don't see how any twin is really gonna compete with that. I think the buyers of the MGS would be buying it for another reason. I think the exclusivity of it, the sexiness of it, and the fabulous power that that V twin makes. I for one would definitely put myself in line to buy the MGS Serie. Failing that, I wish that MG would put that sweet 4v motor in the incoming (hopefully) 1200 Sport. That would be a nice match.

Well... We've returned from a truly wonderful trip to Nova Scotia. The BillyBob ran exceptionally well even with 70 pounds or so of gear and a passenger. I will write up a ride report soon and post some pictures soon. We covered close to 1700 miles in the province in 7 days. Now for the bad news.... I had hit a rather bad pothole in Boston not long before the trip. I didn't think much of it except that it was a severe shot. Apparently, the hit broke the bolt to the subframe at the top of the porkchop on the left side. I didn't notice anything unusual in the bike. By about day 2 of our trip, a friend riding with us on his Trimph ST (standing behind the bike to take a picture) noticed that something didn't look quite right. The rear fender/mudguard was off to one side and the exhaust pipe was also hanging much lower than the other. That's when I found that the bolt to the right side subframe had broken and the bolt on the right side, now supporting everything on it's own, had broken the top of the casting away so that the whole subframe was able to move around. We had it ramp trucked to a shop in Halifax, where the next morning the mechanics (on a Saturday) drilled out the broken bolt on the left side. We tried heating and using easy outs to get the broken bolt out, but it wouldn't budge, so that side is now through bolted rather and a threaded bolt into it. To repair the right side, the mechanics and I designed a strap that would replace the broken piece and be fastened to a lower allen screw on the porkchop. The strap is shaped into a sort of "J". After fashioning this all, we were able to continue our trip, putting on another 1200 miles on it. I'll post pictures of the repair in the ride report. Does anyone know if the porkchop is a readily available part? On the Ballabio it is a gray anodized piece rather than the painted. Does anyone have a spare right side porkchop they'd be willing to sell? Doug

It's pretty interesting. You've done/doing almost exactly the same things I did for our impending trip to Novi commencing this coming Wednesday evening. The only other thing I did was to add an Autocom intercom for communication/mp3 (iPod) between the wife and I and bike to bike with the other bike going. It's convenient to be able to chat with the other bike to coordinate gas stops etc. If you don't have a passenger, the bike to bike part is actually pretty cheap. We are planning going up the east coast, and coming down the west coast, completely "circumnavigating" the province as it were. Are you doing the same? We're also taking the fast ferry up so as to maximize our time touring NS. Have a great trip. It'll be interesting comparing notes when you get back. Doug