Dr Gil Posted May 26, 2006 Posted May 26, 2006 The online motorcycling group Sport-Touring.Net (STN) had its West Coast Regional Meet this last weekend for its third year in a row in Humboldt County California. My wife and I live in the area and have acted as unofficial hosts for all three years. This was the first year I've owned and attended on the Le Mans. I'm trying hard not to brag when I say that the Guzzi was certainly one of the stars of the meet. Hundreds of pictures were taken of it. Any time I stopped the bike there was a crowd formed around. At one point I came out of the restaurant to find a member actually on his knees, fondling my valve covers (I subsequently let him take it out for a ride). Several people told me that they were immediately going home and buying a Moto Guzzi. The bike ran great, looked great and sounded great. I'm a slow-ish rider and curiously I often had much faster riders following me over the roads. I was told later they just liked listening to the bike pull through the curves. Here is a picture taken of the bike and I during a group ride Saturday on the Lost Coast Highway (Hwy 211). There was also a short video taken by a fellow rider that can be viewed HERE (be sure to turn up your speakers)!
Ouiji Veck Posted May 26, 2006 Posted May 26, 2006 Way to go Doc... Hey...does my LeMans look that good comming down the road! I guess...'cept on a left hander I'd be out on the other side of the lane... Go wide young man...go wide...
Dr Gil Posted May 26, 2006 Author Posted May 26, 2006 Way to go Doc...Hey...does my LeMans look that good comming down the road! I guess...'cept on a left hander I'd be out on the other side of the lane... Go wide young man...go wide... 90427[/snapback] Yeah, that is rather embarrassing. Being it's a "European" bike I couldn't decide whether to use the left or right lane so I was just "splitting" the difference and riding the centerline. Actually there is no traffic to speak of on this road (saw maybe two cars all day) and the site line is extensive in this section. I was safe...besides didn't want to run over one of those pesky paparrazi.
dbdicker Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 Way to go Doc...Hey...does my LeMans look that good comming down the road! I guess...'cept on a left hander I'd be out on the other side of the lane... Go wide young man...go wide... 90427[/snapback] If Veck didn't say it, i was gonna. That's the first thought I get seeing that pic. Get a later apex going dude and practice it. you only have to not see ONE guy coming the other way that tight to the centerline to have a bad outcome.
stogieBill Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 Hmmmmm. Methinks I've seen that rider/bike in my rearview mirrors before. By the way, Highway 36 was excellent that day too. Lots of riders...far apart Happy trails
Steve G. Posted May 27, 2006 Posted May 27, 2006 Ahhh, the Lost Coast! What a great diversion. Is the road quality still....................rough? I've done it many times, but not on a naturely harshly suspended spine frame. The way I normally do that road, I would be pissing blood from the harshness it the Lost Coast. Did it last year on the way to Moto GP. A bunch of guys from where I live were in squadron, with chase car with all the luggage, and the majority were on machines regarded as supersport big Japanese. My brother and I felt hindered so quickly passed the group. Two of them broke away to try to stay with us, and before we got to the shoreline one had disappeared from my rear view mirrors. It wasn't until we pulled into Fort Bragg hotel later, did we see the results of putting a full on sport bike through that route. A mint 954 Honda with 6 pounds of ducktape holding it together dragged it's ass into the hotel with all his buddies following. They avoided us after that. Will be running through there again in early July as part of a Road Rider Magazine ride pictorial. And Happy Camp, etc, etc, etc,. Ciao, Steve G.
Dr Gil Posted May 27, 2006 Author Posted May 27, 2006 Ahhh, the Lost Coast! What a great diversion. Is the road quality still....................rough? I've done it many times, but not on a naturely harshly suspended spine frame. The way I normally do that road, I would be pissing blood from the harshness it the Lost Coast. Did it last year on the way to Moto GP. A bunch of guys from where I live were in squadron, with chase car with all the luggage, and the majority were on machines regarded as supersport big Japanese. My brother and I felt hindered so quickly passed the group. Two of them broke away to try to stay with us, and before we got to the shoreline one had disappeared from my rear view mirrors. It wasn't until we pulled into Fort Bragg hotel later, did we see the results of putting a full on sport bike through that route. A mint 954 Honda with 6 pounds of ducktape holding it together dragged it's ass into the hotel with all his buddies following. They avoided us after that. Will be running through there again in early July as part of a Road Rider Magazine ride pictorial. And Happy Camp, etc, etc, etc,. Ciao, Steve G. 90494[/snapback] Yes Steve, much of the Lost Coast road is still a mess with washboarding and potholes. Litre sport bikes are probably not the weapon of choice for it. The group I was loosly (the only way to ride this road) riding with included a BMW R1100RSL, a Triumph Speed Triple, a Buell, a VFR and three BMW GS's. The GS's were the perfect bikes for this road and traveled it much more quickly that the rest of us. The problem that freaked me out the most was the washboarding in the tight (10 mph) corners that taken, trying to maintain good speed, made the front end on the Le Mans hop in a most disturbing way. The bulk of this road cannot be riden quickly but is more of a scenic ride in my book.
al_roethlisberger Posted May 30, 2006 Posted May 30, 2006 Awesome I'm glad to hear you were able to get the bike back on the road in time for the WCRM. If we were still out there, I would have loved to come. I wasn't able to make the first two for various reasons such as new baby, job, etc... which was always a bummer to me. Al
Dr Gil Posted May 31, 2006 Author Posted May 31, 2006 Awesome I'm glad to hear you were able to get the bike back on the road in time for the WCRM. If we were still out there, I would have loved to come. I wasn't able to make the first two for various reasons such as new baby, job, etc... which was always a bummer to me. Al 90704[/snapback] If you're at all interested Al (and of course anyone else) I created a video in .wmv format of the WCRM III using some of the pictures posted on ST.N and putting a soundtrack to it. I think it worked out quite nicely. It's HERE.
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