Steve G.

That is a bottle conditioned beer, or bottle carbonated beer. Bottled just before fermentation is complete, the final fermentation makes pressure build up to the correct degree to give the liquid that all important head in the glass. Again as with the varying degrees of favouritism out there, serving/pouring this beer can be done including the yeast deposit in the glass, or avoiding it. Generally regarded practice is to avoid disturbing the yeast during the pour, giving the beer that should be clear, clear. The best way to do this is to put the bottle in the fridge for a few days, where the yeast will solidify to a certain extent, so when pouring it will be less disturbed. Some beers are known to be served cloudy, but this yeast should be avoided as well, as sensitive taste buds can taste the dormant yeast, and this may not be the flavour the brewmaster had planned. Ciao, Steve G.

I have fond memories of Qualicum Beach. My dad's old buddy ran the Little Qualicum River fish hatchery for decades, and not only did we spend summers there while kids at the rivers origin, Horn Lake, but spent many days there helping at the hatchery helping new baby sockeye salmon make there way. Good times! Ciao, Steve G.

Oh Golly! Don't get me started about whiskey, or I'll have to tell you about the 19 samplings of single malt scotch I have in my bar. Or the 3 single pot Irish whiskey's. No sour mash for me. And drowning it in coke is a criminal offence. Cold water only. Ciao, Steve G.

"He is a wise man, who invented beer"-Mark Twain. As you may know, I'm a serious hophead, brewing my beer the old fashioned way, according to the Bavarian purity law. I buy the grain and grind it, hops, and source only precultured live yeast. I brew everything here at home, not at a 'u-brew'. I have my own automatic keg system at home, so I'm quite comfortable talking about this. Much like motorcycles, engine oil, and tires, beer styles and beer makes are going to be different to different people. There is no one best beer in the world. There is a most popular beer in the world however[Guinness Stout] . My favourite style, as a hophead is of course India Pale Ale, IPA. There are great ones on tap, and cat piss on tap. There are great ones locally made in bottle, and cat piss made locally in the bottle. And there are great and not great ones internationally. No-one has the market cornered here, although small craft breweries in Oregon, Washington, and north California have a very strong argument saying they do. I've tasted many, from most everywhere in the world. I can tell you the worst so far I've tasted in Alexander Keith IPA, made somewhere in eastern Canada. Just terrible! The best locally made IPA in a bottle is from Phillips in Victoria, B.C., a one man show. His Amnesiac IPA is outstanding. Best locally brewed on tap is the IPA from Mission Springs Brewery in Mission, B.C. The best I've ever tasted, clearly, is Continental King IPA from Wild Duck Brewery in Eugene, Oregon. The best beer of any style I've tasted is the ESB [Extra Special Bitter] at the Theakson's Brewery in Masham, Yorkshire. Actually it was being served 20 ft across the street at the brewery owned hotel, I think it was The King's Hotel. Simply magnificent sampling. Ciao, Steve G.

Actually it's the 2 end cylinders sawed off a Rolls Merlin V12. He found this engine in his property in the outback of Australia, from some crashed plane. It's got a Holden car 3 speed gearbox. Ciao, Steve G.

I forgot to mention it's this weekend, June 18th. I can see your point about it being stuffy Ryan, with the car guys not the bike guys. Fortunately, Sailor Hagar's across the street serves a fantastic IPA. So what's the deal with your V11 Ryan? Is it really true it has the soul of the devil? What's the situation right now? Ciao, Steve G.

For those wishing to bring a large gathering of Moto Guzzi's together, this is the event to do it, in the Pacific North West of North America. This years featured motorcycle marque is Laverda, and as the biggest parts supplier in the world, and good friend Wolfgang Haerter will be down, and I own a Laverda, I will be dodging bullets from everyone. But, It is my little Guzzi's turn, and the Laverda is partially disassembled for maintenance since it's 12,000 mile run last year. I'm going to blast up to Horseshoe Bay from my region of Guildford in Surrey, have breakfast at Trolls, see off my buddies going on the British Motorcycle run through the Duffy Lake pass [ the complexity of multi bike, multi bike origin ownership is hard to juggle] , and do a quick shoot up Cypress Bowl before heading down to the waterfront park. Location; Lonsdale Quay Park, 100 yards west of the Seabus Terminal on the waterfront in North Van. I'll be there probably around 10:00am. Weather call to be sunny and 70deg F. Ciao, Steve G.

I like the concept alot. Unfortunately, in my eye anyways [beatuy is indeed in the eye of the beholder] this particular bike is not attractive. The fuel tank area, is looks weird. The headlight, I'm sorry but, geez! Ciao, Steve G.

There was a little bit of pent up frustration among our little hourd, and Christel simply pressed the right button to start it off. I think it's great! I'd like to know what Nogbad and dlaing do in their real lives. This left wing/right wing thing is crap. I call it a clash between the do-gooders and the no-gooders. She's made you guys press each others button as well. Women are good at pressing buttons. I love women. Lets all go ride our motorcycles now, and have fun. Just don't hold me up in the frickin corners. Ciao, Steve G.

I've spent years looking for THE glove, and I have 9 pair. There is only 1 for winter/rain, 'BMW Winter'! Ciao, Steve G.

Oh man!! I can't breath, , I love it. Oh, golly! Anyways, . So I'm not much into raw fish either, want to get married??? Best laugh I've had in a week, thanks. What a breath of fresh air, actually speaking ones mind, what a concept. So, getting back to the muffler thing, the cheap way to get more sound is to drill the holes as the pictures above show. Getting that steel wool out of there would be nice as well, but you'll have to get the end welded back on after hack sawing it off. BTW, isn't your national food rotten pickled shark fin or something like that? Isn't rotten a bit on the raw side too? Ciao, Steve G.

Very interesting read from the Telegraph. I laughed when he mentioned the clanking from the clutch. We all know it's in fact from the straight cut gears of the gearbox which are rattling against each other at idle, a result of the newer Guzzi engine's light flywheel, resulting in the very quick acceleration/deceleration of the engine at idle. Oh well, some things never change. Further thoughts on this layout had me thinking about the vibration damage issues this new model may suffer. 1150cc, 4 valves, 95 hp, etc, has me thinking that more than ever Guzzi may be replacing cracked plastic panels under warranty. I'm hoping engineers have isolated either engine from frame, or plastic from metal properly. There is alot of square footage of plastic compared to a V11, or even a Lemans. I still remember the day I had my V11 starter cover plastic break in half and hit an oncoming car, vibration induces failure, replaced under warranty. This kind of problem if left ignored, will do little restore Moto Guzzi's financial picture. Ciao, Steve G.

I had a good laugh at a news clip today talking about The World Cup official beer, Budweiser. They mentioned they were having a hard time selling beer at the championship. Can you imagine a Munich resident, a German, a European, anyone really, wanting to drink that cat piss? The reporter had trouble finding anyone who would sell it there, never mind anyone who would buy some. Ciao, Steve G.

I've got no issues with the bike visually, or conceptually. Guzzi had to make a machine like this to follow the general trends of the mid-life baby boomers tastes. I think it is BMWish in color yes, but clearly it's a Moto Guzzi. The headlights are different yes, but again this seems to be a trend among all the manufacturers, using unique projectors and lens shapes. And I think it will do well, if priced properly. I'm thinking this bike will have a silly MSRP in Canada, if pricing of the Griso are any indication. Honestly the only problem I have with this bike, is the name. I'm not sure about this word "Norge" in Italian, but for an english speaking person, the word sounds geeky. It is not a nice sounding word, it does not roll off the tongue easily, and in english, it offers some confusion as to how to pronounce it. I'm pretty sure it should be pronounced "Norjay", but at first glance, an english speaking person might easily think it should be "Norgg". I remember early on in this bikes prototype days there was rumour of a different name for non-European markets, who may not understand Moto Guzzi's positive historical enthusiasam for the Netherlands. Ciao, Steve G.

I've always taken dyno figures with a grain of salt. Riding tours with a good buddy on his 750 MV Brutale with me on my bone stock V11 have given a interesting look at usable torque/hp vs the results of a dyno chart. While his chipped, Pc3'd, Ferracci piped MV offers results on the dyno fully 55% more power than the V11, seat of the pants usability have confirmed that the V11 lags only in a top speed all out drag race across a desolate plateau. Even when swapping bikes for extended periods, we have both discovered the strangely usable urge of a V11, which translates into the V11's ability to catapult out of low, medium, and most highspeed corners, making up on average 15-20 bike lengths on a slower apex corner speed of 45-70 mph. The 1100cc Moto Guzzi engine is an archaic design in todays scheme of things, but it's continued usability in most every application except all out modern bike racing is confirmed in seat of the pants feel. Ciao, Steve G.

Didn't want to turn you right off your plans Slug. Certainly getting there is fun if you take the back roads. I've always found that the ride to a destination to be highlight, rather than the destination itself. And this will be the last time we in North America get to see/hear the big 1000cc engines, with a switch to the smaller engines next time. I do concure with you on riding in Oregon though. I will be riding in the area in 3 weeks on a bike tour/pictorial for RoadRider magazine. After spending a few days in and around Yreka, Eureka, Happy Camp, the Lost Coast Highway, and of course the majestic Highway 36, a night in Bend we are planning will include brewpub sampling, as we will be staying just down the road from Deschutes Brewery. From Bend we will head northeast to the best riding in Cascadia, northeast Oregon, from Shaniko/Condon, to Enterprise/Joseph. Ciao, Steve G.

Was there last year. The race was great, the traffic and crowd control was a friggin' amature show. 2hrs to get in, 5hrs to get out of the track, and I was on a bike. a duel purpose bike where we rode in the ditches to get in and out. I've been going to WSB since before Fogarty, Slight, Edwards, etc. Never has it been so poorly run. Plus the new FIA mandated track 'improvements' have turned everything all rather sterile. No getting up close to the mechanics splitting an engine, swapping suspension. No more view of the last turn before home straight because of some big motherfuc%*#@ing paddock building. I'll watch it on TV this year, from the Laverda rally! I'll go again in a couple years to see if they at least have a handle on treating motorcyclists better than those in cars, seeing as it's a bike race!! Ciao, Steve G.

Valentino Rossi is the GOD. No one is better, no one!! I just hope his Yamaha lives up to the challenge. I see the big boss CEO of Yamaha was there in the paddock. The mechanics must have been sweating bullets. Ciao, Steve G.

Not that it's an advantage at all to retain the stock crossover horsepower wise, but one thing I will note that it is robustly made, and because of it's strong hanger, header cracking will be reduced. Less pressure will be put on the headers, from having to carry the weight of the exhaust. I think some of the crossover options out there do not have a carrier. Ciao, Steve G.

Yup, I've been there with the ignition switch screws. Ironic that the very thing designed specifically to retain the switch, itself falls out. Oh well, Italia!! I had my V11 out, took a run up to Whistler. It's a great little motorbike. Ciao, Steve G.

There seems to be a theme starting on these Power Commanders. That theme is that they can be problematic, not just on V11's but on many bikes who's owners I've talked to. I'd rip the friggen thing out!! Ciao, Steve G.

Here's one for you Fernando. My buddy buys a new K1200GT, full load, $26,800 out the door. 15,000kms, 12 warranty visits @ $13,000.00, in 1 yr, he gives up. BMW gives him another brand new next year model. 8 months, and 4 warranty visits @ $3,000, he's given up on that model, and is getting a 1200GS Adventure. Point is, there is no such thing as a perfect bike. My V11 has left me literally stranded in the middle of nowhere, twice. Once was as a result of shoddy warranty work, the other the dreaded relay! I feel your frustration. Sometimes it is best to move on. I don't think this is a right time though. You should keep the bike. Ciao, Steve G.

The stock ones lasted about 5,000kms. The SBS replacements are still in there, at 34,000 kms! And no more grouning. Enough said. Ciao, Steve G.

Stopped by a local shop [Yamaha, Triumph] today to check out their big tire sale, and ran across an old V11Lemans guy Brian Robson, who was getting a new tire for the daily transport R1 he got after that unfortunate mechanical disruption of his Lemans. We had a good chat, and had great barrel laughs watching weekend cruiser warriors trying on the latest cruisomundo monstrosities, universally with white sneakers, undersize black beanie helmets, and too small $79 leather bombers. Anyways, Brian is missing the old Mandello machines, and has his sites on a Griso if the opportunity ever presents itself at our location. I miss Brian swapping jabs with the Rolling Crow, or whatever he used to call himself. Great entertainment. Ciao, Steve G.

Stopping in for a quick visit recently, one of my local dealers is being given confirmation that he will have shipment in early July this year of 2007 1100 Griso's in red and black, 2007 1100 Breva's in red. No other machines will be coming in here. No deposits tendered yet for any new bikes. In typical tradition of importation of machines like this here, the new Canadian importes of Moto Guzzi have no information, adverts, posters, no promotional goods at all. The dealer closest to me had to source the promotional stuff he has on the Griso from a Guzzi shop in the USA. Really makes you shake your head. Oh well, at least we Canadians will be given the chance of seeing the Griso in the flesh before they stop production of it!! Ciao, Steve G.