Stelvio

[The Monkey]

Right on man! The Buffalo will go down as the greatest bike produced by this company ever. Anyone who has spent time with one will agree. That road with the "gravel" looked rough all right.

[GuzziMoto]

Of course you would, if you only ride on pavement it doesn't make any sense to grab one of these types of bike. I agree most of the "Adventure" monsters probably don't see much dirt or rock. Nothing rules the bends like a dedicated road machine, but if you start venturing out a little further ie fly rod and tent on back of bike and end up on stretches of disused logging road camped beside a lake, then one of these starts to come into its own. This is the reality for me anyway riding about BC, Wa, Idaho. I seem to be riding stretches of back country more and more in order to string together interesting trips from one twisty piece of pavement to the next. Personally I will take the gravel stretch over the 4 lane alternate (unless very short) as they are usually fun and no boredom is encountered, I mean clipons in the gravel is entertaining! Although I have had logging truck drivers laugh themselves half out of their cabs as they roll past me pulled over to let them by covering me with enough dust to fog the guages, I know it is worth it. I always thought the Yamaha TDM was a good idea when it first appeared, supermoto became popular and demonstrated the advantages of a longer travel suspension. My Lemans has done the gravel and rock trip, and no bike is more rewarding for me when I do hit the little 2 lane twisties. These roads however are not well maintained and as you bucket about over them, well I anyway wonder about longer travel suspension. My V11 works an absolute charm usually but more trips means more territory, more territory means alternate road surfaces. I think that was what the marketers were getting at when they came up with "Adventure". Whether you take advantage of it or not is up to you. I only managed 10000k last season, but 24000k the season before soon put me into the "ok been down that one too many times". Lets face it, we need more than 1 bike, why do they have to cost so much?

Yeah, my wife and I sometimes end up on gravel or even dirt roads. Probably more the most SUV bikes do. But it has never been an issue where I found myself wishing I had something taller and heavier... That makes no sense. A dual sport like a KLR (I have a DRZ 440 myself) is good in those conditions, a Stevio or any other pseudo adventure bike is just not as useful as people want you to believe. But if a 2 wheeled SUV floats your boat, go for it. If it happens to be a Guzzi, all the better. I just have no use for them myself. My brother had two, and he sold them both. The funny thing is, he wasn't a huge fan when he had them and then missed them when they were gone. Like a woman who drives you crazy but is great in bed, after she is gone you only remember the "in bed" part.

[Dan M]

. Like a woman who drives you crazy but is great in bed, after she is gone you only remember the "in bed" part.

 

Pretty true about any woman after she's gone

[The Monkey]

I have memories of one particular woman and 1 particular bike (RZ350) that consist entirely of shrieking, harangue, terrible front ends, awesome back ends and costly detonation. Did the tour of bike shops yesterday, found a couple Stelvio's, sat on and pondered. Bars are too wide (easy fix) Bag arrangement is massive, ridiculously so. No hope for a tank bag either. Exhaust nuts so rusted on the used one (only 21k on it) its obvious you have to strip and sort the machine from new to elimate the potential hassles and poor quality control. Hmmm... back home took the cover off the Lemans, awesome front end, hilarious back end, roll on and stability out of a corner at speed that shifts your own internal C of G this is the reason to me for this bike and this engine. I need another 50k on this bike at least, it is that good to me. It's sorted, It'll do the job, every time, so what if it gets whapped now and then by foliage grown over the dirt road. It reminds me of the fall in the bush during hunting season, at 3000' you find all the new 4WD's, at 5000' all the old 4WD's, at 6500' and beyond its just the odd station wagon. The grass is always greener, till someone hands you the pushmower.

[Greg Field]

When I'm forced to ride on roads worse than I'm comfortable with, I always think of this clip:

 

Look about 1 minute into the clip for some gravel. Mother of mother of gravel

 

Hey! That's my buddy Paul. He knows how to ride that thing.

[gstallons]

Pretty true about any woman after she's gone

 

I don't think so.

for what it's worth. I had a fling with one woman 25 yrs. ago. We made love only 2 times. It was (I will steal the phrase from Hugh Grant) like love heroin. It was so good I wish i had never had it. This was better than making love to a nymphomaniac, epileptic mermaid while you were on the best cocaine ever made. I know how Odysseus felt or maybe he knows what I went through?

[Dan M]

I don't think so.

for what it's worth. I had a fling with one woman 25 yrs. ago. We made love only 2 times. It was (I will steal the phrase from Hugh Grant) like love heroin. It was so good I wish i had never had it. This was better than making love to a nymphomaniac, epileptic mermaid while you were on the best cocaine ever made. I know how Odysseus felt or maybe he knows what I went through?

 

Right, Like GM said, you remember the "in bed" part. - 25 years later.