Tomchri Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Just me saying, you will need new rubber anyway, do it before the trip home. Stranded at the road, usually more expensive and you don’t have to tell yourself what an #kr&%- l was. Have a friend who bought one VERY cheap 3years ago. Why, last owner gave it up. Wasn’t rideable in the 3k range. Last owner left it at a dealer who put a PC on it, paid a lot money, still NOT good. My friend knows computers, still did a lot of tuning with the ECU. Now she is running good. Bike has more than 90k km, no problem. Hopefully a nice trip home. Cheers Tom. 1
PJPR01 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 https://tucson.craigslist.org/mcy/d/green-valley-2003-moto-guzzi-v11-lemans/7712512091.html P6X!! Cough cough...looks what's available in Tucson now!! 1
p6x Posted January 31 Author Posted January 31 @PJPR01 I am flying out to Phoenix, continuing to Peoria Arizona, this coming Friday. February 2nd, 2024. I am going to check out that red Quota that has obsessed me since I started to look for a Stelvio 1200 NTX. I finally got the Peoria dealership to confirm he had the front tire in stock, but if I wanted the rear tire too, I had to pay in advance. The reason was, they don't sell much of this size, so if they were to stock the tire, they would probably not have any opportunity to sell it. I negotiated a restocking fee, since I have not yet purchased the motorcycle until I check it out. The seller is confident that it is good to go. So, I will have a pair of brand new Dunlop Trailmax Mission to journey back to H'town, if it comes to that. 4
audiomick Posted February 2 Posted February 2 My fingers are crossed. Have a good trip. Hopefully successful. 1
p6x Posted February 2 Author Posted February 2 3 hours ago, audiomick said: My fingers are crossed. Have a good trip. Hopefully successful. I have a long laundry list of things that usually go wrong on the Quota.... The voltage regulator, the electrical fuel cocks (2 of them for good measure), but also the rims crack with time, and I was told not a question of if, but a question of when... Given that the current owner has no idea other than the engine runs, I am going there with no expectation other than it is Red at least. He only wants $2950, but when I add the tires, I am going to get over $3500. Unless we split the cost. 1
audiomick Posted February 5 Posted February 5 I see the title of the thread has changed. @p6x Did you buy it? 2
activpop Posted February 6 Posted February 6 I would offer him 2k max. Needs wheels and tires, plus everything you find after you get it home.
p6x Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 Back in Houston, one Red Quota richer... Everything went almost as planned; I got to Peoria to check the Quota around 17:50. Now, the owner wanted to inflate the tires for the test ride, and the rear tube valve started to leak. Since I had already booked the tire change for the following day, Saturday at GoAz Peoria, I just did a visual inspection. There was a cream on top... I spent the evening with the owner at a nearby bar, with a school of Sun City residents! I met a lot of people in my age trench, all marvelling at me daring to ride back to Houston on a bike I hardly knew. The following morning, the owner had summoned a friend with a trailer, and we both reported at GoAz' Service Center. At about 11:00, the Quota was properly shod with two Dunlop Trailmax Mission Front and Rear, and two new tubes. While waiting, I did a little tour of the GoAz showroom, and was able to get close to a brand new V100 S Mandello waiting for a lucky future owner. The GoAZ dealership was simply amazing. I mean, it was organized with gusto! not just a huge number of bikes in a pen. The space was neatly organized so you could look at the bikes without having to slide in between. Accessories and riding gear were not simply in a single corner, but properly distributed. The dealership had Triumph, KTM, Royal Enfield, Ducati, BMW, Aprilia, Piaggio and sometimes, a few Moto Guzzi. I was told the MGs were scarce, few and far between. I started my journey to Houston, with my first stop planned at El Paso Texas. Unfortunately, I had not taken into account the New Mexico wind and very cold temperatures! I literally froze my behind. When dark started to set, I stopped and spent the night in Deming, NM. My initial objective was to reach El Paso, still an hour and half away. The second leg of my trip took me to Junction, Texas. I stopped there at around 18:00 Last leg to Houston where I got around 14:20. Immediately, I can tell you the Quota is crude compared to my V11; the gearbox is surly, and the 5th gear is an overdrive. The small windbreaker is not really preventing the icy wind to hit the top of your chest. The Veglia tachometer can't seem to decide anywhere on what rpm the engine is at. It keeps dancing up and down, and the faster you go, the lower the rpms! duh! The fuel consumption is worse than the Le Mans. During the I-10 80 mph portion, basically as soon as out of Arizona, the average mpg was 36. In Arizona, at 60 and 65, I did 43, then 40. At 75 mph, you dip. The tank is 20 liters, 20.3 Gal, so if I thought I was going to do 200 miles on a single tank, then I was disillusioned. For the rest, I just love that bike! it will supplement the Le Mans nicely. Not replace it, but be the understudy. It has that nice German made case, RIMOWA for those who know what quality is. There is plenty more to share, however I first need to get the state inspection done, so I can register it. In any case, I just did a 1200 miles test ride. I liked it! 4 1
p6x Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 On 2/5/2024 at 4:31 PM, audiomick said: Did you buy it? I did...
activpop Posted February 7 Posted February 7 Well I guess that's why they call it an adventure bike. Chalk that up as #1. Good luck with it!
p6x Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 On 2/5/2024 at 7:55 PM, activpop said: I would offer him 2k max. Needs wheels and tires, plus everything you find after you get it home. I missed my window of opportunity by doing everything at the last minute... I was planning to negotiate the price before flying there, as it should have been. However, I ran out of time, since I have a commitment running from tomorrow until the 21st of February. This is all because GoAz never took me seriously when I attempted to remote book a service that I told them I was not certain they would perform. I wasted time waiting for their feed-back that never came until I purchased the tires after negotiating a restocking fee. Honestly, I am not going to feel bad about it. The bike was almost as described, save for the tachometer, which does not work properly. But flying to check the bike did not put me in the best position to haggle the price. I spent $575 to get the new tires installed. We should have at least shared the cost. That was my intention.
p6x Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 10 minutes ago, activpop said: Well I guess that's why they call it an adventure bike. Chalk that up as #1. Good luck with it! Both the Le Mans and the Quota share the same place in my ticker! one is the country mouse, the other the city one... 2 1
audiomick Posted February 8 Posted February 8 10 hours ago, p6x said: I did... Great. I hope it fulfills your expectations, and doesn't require more work than you are readily prepared to invest.
p6x Posted February 8 Author Posted February 8 14 hours ago, audiomick said: Great. I hope it fulfills your expectations, and doesn't require more work than you are readily prepared to invest. You know, for the three days it took to ride it back here, I woke up with a big grin on my face, anticipating the hours I was going to spend, pretending to be the lonesome mechanical cowboy. I crossed three states, and the only thing I had in mind when settling for the night, was to start again the following day... Just for that, the Quota will always make me happy, no matter what flaws I may discover after the wedding... I will simply ignore the bad, and concentrate on the good. Don't we all do that in life? 4
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