They don't call me Mr. Bean for nothing.

[zen_kick]

Fortunately in the 7 days I have had the Blobbo I haven't managed to drop it even one time. I did notice both of the turn signal stems on the right hand side are bent and cracked. Not sure if they came that way or what I (or maybe the toddler?) did to them. Thank goodness replacements are relatively cheap. Guess it's a common problem?

 

Forgot to mention. I have been keeping the Blob on the covered porch since we are currently without a garage. I built a plywood ramp to take it up and down the two steps (much to the dogs' dismay). First time I rolled the bike off the porch, I neglected to put up the side stand. As the front tire descended the ramp, the clearance on the side stand shrunk considerably and I put a nasty gouge in the porch decking. Fortunately I didn't drop the bike or bend the sidestand. Glad it was wood and not a concrete porch!

 

My '74 LAPD was the victim of our families' most "Mrs. Bean" moment when my wife forgot to set the parking brake on the SAAB one evening. We were sleeping in bed several hours after she had returned home when I heard a crash out front of the house. I ran outside expecting to thwart some juvenile delinquents to encounter the sight of the SAAB pushed up against my /6 which was parked next to the Guzzi. The car had slowly inched down the driveway in second gear and pushed up against the BMW valve cover until the bike toppled over - smacking the chromed part of the LAPD tank with the napoleon mirror.

 

Bad news was that the previously stock-patina-perfect chrome pad of the Guzzi tank now sported a 2 inch dent and gouge. Good news was the LAPD stayed on it's feet even after taking the hit. Now that's solid machinery!

[Greg Field]

Mine happened last week. I had one beer (really, one) and while riding home, a pack of stunt riders pulled three-abreast, holding back traffic in all the lanes so their hero of the moment could go a bit ahead and have room to do some fairly impressive stoppies and wheelies.

 

I was on the Billy Bob and blasted through between two of the bikes, pulled past the guy and kept going. When I was pulling up to the "gay raj," I thought, "I bet I can do a stoppie" (I've never done one before). So, just as I pulled even with the door, I unweighted the rear end and clamped on the brakes. The rear came right up. "Cool," was all I could think. Then, it came down, and I was too close to where the apron sloped down into the garage. My right foot found pavement, but my left was hanging in the air. The bike slowly and inexorably started falling to the left. Once my left foot touched down, I tried to stop it and almost did. It touched down gently on the front crashbar and the left H&B bag. I killed the engine, lifted it upright and pushed it into the gay raj, hoping no one saw . . .

 

Just a light scuff on the crashbar and a few little scratches on the bag, and I have forever scratched the stoppie itch.

[Mr. Bean]

A stoppie on the Ballabio? Ok, I'm impressed! If I tried that, doctors would spend weeks trying extract wadded up parts of me from the wadded up remains of my Ballabio....

[Frenchbob]

Twenty six years ago, but still a livid scar on the memory.

 

A younger and slimmer Frenchbob chains his brand new Guzzi V50 by the rear wheel to a bollard outside a bar in Alicante. Several beers later, emerges to something approaching adulation from the local youths, most of whom are riding ancient mopeds. Straddles Guzzi, lifts sidestand, motions delicious new wife to get on behind, acknowledges adoring crowd with condescending wave, dons shades, thumbs starter, guns the engine and releases clutch...........and comes to a shuddering halt before gently toppling over in the dust. New wife unimpressed, youths delirious with laughter, Frenchbob humbled, burned [shorts and Guzzi exhausts - bad combination] and ever so slightly sick!

[Guest Nogbad]

Twenty six years ago, but still a livid scar on the memory.

 

A younger and slimmer Frenchbob chains his brand new Guzzi V50 by the rear wheel to a bollard outside a bar in Alicante. Several beers later, emerges to something approaching adulation from the local youths, most of whom are riding ancient mopeds. Straddles Guzzi, lifts sidestand, motions delicious new wife to get on behind, acknowledges adoring crowd with condescending wave, dons shades, thumbs starter, guns the engine and releases clutch...........and comes to a shuddering halt before gently toppling over in the dust. New wife unimpressed, youths delirious with laughter, Frenchbob humbled, burned [shorts and Guzzi exhausts - bad combination] and ever so slightly sick!

 

Have you still got either or both of the original wife and the original V50?

[Frenchbob]

Have you still got either or both of the original wife and the original V50?

 

Kept the wife, sold the Guzzi. Some decisions you get wrong!

[Guest Nogbad]

Kept the wife, sold the Guzzi. Some decisions you get wrong!

 

But not that one. The V50 was (is) a truly terrible motorcycle.

[Frenchbob]

But not that one. The V50 was (is) a truly terrible motorcycle.

 

I'm tempted to say that you haven't met my wife.................

 

Seriously, though, my experience with a V50 was all good. It was a bit on the small side for me, even when I was less generously proportioned but I toured on it two-up, commuted on it and occasionally thrashed it, for about 10 thousand miles and the only problem I had was with flimsy and unreliable switchgear. I liked it a lot.

[Guest redguzziv10]

Kept the wife, sold the Guzzi. Some decisions you get wrong!

 

reminds me of the quote by WC Fields

"Got a new car for the wife the other dayyyy

.... not a bad swap"

[nose2wind]

I had a nice fairly new Triumph Sprint ST. Those not familiar with this bike it has a single sided swing arm and a center stand. I was installing the rear wheel after a new tire and torquing the one huge nut that holds the wheel on. In the process I nudged the bike forward and it rocked off the center stand and starting moving forward on it's own. I was heeled over with the torque wrench as I watched dumbstruck as the bike rolled away smartly, slowed to a stop, leaned over and settled nicely on the side stand. The Gods were smilin!

[Tom M]

I had my first idiot moment with my LM last night. I pulled into the driveway in the dark, pushed out the kickstand, leaned left and oh shit the kickstand retracted . The bike was so far over when I realized what happened that I couldn't pick it back up straight so I ever so gently laid it down on it's side, stepped over to the left side, and hoisted it back upright. (I think I could have saved it if I had higher and wider bars instead of clipons.) Anyway, I looked down and there laying on my driveway was half of my shift lever and the front turn signal lense. Bummer! The signal lense was an easy fix. I did a temporary fix on the shifter with 2 pieces of sheet metal, 6 pop rivets and some JB weld. It'll have to do until I can find a new one.

 

Anybody out there have a V11 shifter for sale?

[Guest Nogbad]

I had my first idiot moment with my LM last night. I pulled into the driveway in the dark, pushed out the kickstand, leaned left and oh shit the kickstand retracted . The bike was so far over when I realized what happened that I couldn't pick it back up straight so I ever so gently laid it down on it's side, stepped over to the left side, and hoisted it back upright. (I think I could have saved it if I had higher and wider bars instead of clipons.) Anyway, I looked down and there laying on my driveway was half of my shift lever and the front turn signal lense. Bummer! The signal lense was an easy fix. I did a temporary fix on the shifter with 2 pieces of sheet metal, 6 pop rivets and some JB weld. It'll have to do until I can find a new one.

 

Anybody out there have a V11 shifter for sale?

 

The indicator lenses on the V11 are so weak a tiny tap on a wall or gatepost is enough to break one. Use Buell XB indicators. These are almost identical but have rubber stalks.

 

The shift lever must be some brittle cast monkey metal, probably the rottenest most porous cheap recycled ally Luigi could get I shouldn't wonder.

[waspp]

The indicator lenses on the V11 are so weak a tiny tap on a wall or gatepost is enough to break one. Use Buell XB indicators. These are almost identical but have rubber stalks.

 

The shift lever must be some brittle cast monkey metal, probably the rottenest most porous cheap recycled ally Luigi could get I shouldn't wonder.

 

Those levers are fragile, some sort of light cast alloy. I think Moto International sell a repop that's probably stronger and cheaper than stock, Harper's also sells such a lever.

I went to checkout a Norge this weekend and the owner of the shop was moving bikes around in the showroom (quite crowded with Guzzis & Aprilias) as he was rolling the Norge back into place after prying me off the seat his ankle hit the sidestand of another machine and down he wen! Being the loyal Guzzi dealer he was he managed to grow his arms 6 inches in an instant and still keep the bike upright until helparrive help arrived! It was quite impressive and probably saved one of those movie style chain reaction bike tumbling events.