Moto Guzzi US Natl. Meeting in IA

[jrt]

I'll try to post some pictures of the MGNOC Natl. meeting here.

I went up on the Eldorado Wednesday, drove around Wisconsin Thursday (not ALL the way round...), drove back home Friday and picked up the bride, then back up to Elkader, IA on Saturday for the day. We took Catalina up (now 6 months) so we had to do the car on Sat.

Some highlights- it must be cherry season in WI. I bought two pounds of sour (sour!) cherries for 2 bucks a pound, picked. Dee-licious with wine.

I don't know the final tally on registrations at the meet, but it was upwards of 500. Lots of cool bikes- many old singles, a good showing by the Loopframe crowd, and of course bunches of new bikes. There were at least a dozen Breva 1100's, and one..only one...Griso, that unfortunately broke down and had to be trailered home

There was one MGS01 that showed up- beautiful bike! The owner took it out on the strip (about 1 mile long) out front of the camping and opened it up- what a beautiful noise. Of course, that inspired a few others to do the same- a couple of Sports and we teased the guy camping next to us that he should take his Cal EV out there....so he did. He's not afraid to run that bike either; it was great.

The midwest dealer rep for Piaggio group showed up on a Breva 1100 that he let people demo. You just ask him and he'd give you the keys. That was classy on his part, especially since Guzzi corporate didn't show up. Guzzi Inc. did send 600 shirts to hand out to all participants and that was nice on their part...but they were all size "large" I'm not sure they know their demographic or they would have sent XXL. There were three or four vendors there including hannigon (sp?) fairings, which would look great on a Sport. I'll get a picuture up later.

There was also a British car show going on at the park on Saturday. A couple of cute Austin's, a Lotus, a Sunbeam and a couple cars I didn't recognize. That was nice also.

Weather was not quite hellishly hot, but close. All the dang flies that are always there...were there. The rally organizers fed everyone too much food, there was plenty of beer and wine and nice pool when it got too hot. All in all, a good time.

 

ok, some pictures...

I told you it was hot! I took this picture in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.

 

The MGS was at the entrance to the campground

 

Now some bikes:

General group:

 

Lots of old Eldos

A nice 50-something Astore

 

This fellow hand-laid all the fiberglass work on his Breva (the color on my camera is off- it was all stock Breva colors and matched perfectly). The rear fender and bags were also hand-laid glass. Stunning work, really, even if you don't like the concept.

A very cool T3 from Maine

 

These are the Hannigan fairings- one on a loop, one on a Cali

I think they would look great on a V11- sort of like the old rabid transit fairings.

 

This is JB Schwartz, guzzi guru and genuinely nice fellow. He's 78 and drove 1500 miles from SoCal to be there. There's only a handful of people in the world with his mechanical ability and knowledge of Guzzi's.

Finally, a lot of people in the town of Elkader enjoy the rally as well. Some of them have a sense of humor about it- this family puts out their goose every year. Last year it said 'hello moto'.

[dlaing]

What a shame if you are our only rep at the national rally.

I love that Breva, from what I know, very original, with an excellent blend of form and function.

Kind of Retrosexual

[jrt]

I'm sure there were others- I talked to at least one member of this forum. If I had been alone, would make me asexual? If I ate pasta and acted like a jerk, would I be pestosexual?

[dlaing]

I'm sure there were others- I talked to at least one member of this forum. If I had been alone, would make me asexual? If I ate pasta and acted like a jerk, would I be pestosexual?

Only if you do it with pizzazz

Ideally the word should rhyme with hetero or homo.

Metro and Retro are close...

Pesto is is stretching it and Pest is really stretching it, but funny none-the-less

Got any more photos?

Did you see Gargoyle?

[gargoyle]

Did you see Gargoyle?

 

Hey, I saw gargoyle! Oh wait, that's me. I saw lot's of people but I'm terrible with names. I also have pictures but I need to go through and downsize all of them since I shot them all at 6M. Stand by for future posts. It was a good rally. Now at most national type rallys I've been to they usually anounce the site for next years. Did I miss that? Where is next years national going to be held? Inquiring minds want to know.

[richard100t]

I'd really like to get one of those large fairings for my bike. Are they making the large ones for a v11 sport?

[jrt]

I'd really like to get one of those large fairings for my bike. Are they making the large ones for a v11 sport?

I think he (the guy selling them) said he was working on one. It wouldn't hurt to email and ask him, but I think he's aware of the niche aspect of this market. The only reason he had a loopframe fairing is because he owns a loopframe. I also think these fairings ran just upwards of 1000 dollars.

 

I saw lot's of people but I'm terrible with names.

I was the guy that gave you my pork. No, wait, that doesn't sound right. We shared a table and I gave you some food and talked about various stuff you had on your Le Mans (nice looking bike, btw). My wife and I had the baby with us.

 

Those were my best photos, but I'll see what else I can find- probably just similar stuff. I did take about 5 minutes of video of the 'parade'.

Here's some other peoples photos (I copied the links from mgnoc):

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/One...0MG%20national/

and

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSi...20_754275830206

Next year's national will be in Money Creek, MN. It's just about 100 miles north of Elkader (this years) along the MN/WI border- beautiful country. Also, it will be a month or so later, so hopefully a bit cooler. Two years ago I woke up at 6am to frost. Should be worth the trip- The MN rallies have been smaller, and a couple people have traditionally brought smoked fish and wild rice soup. Oh, that's good stuff.