The "Grand Quirk"

[Frenchbob]

My Guzzi is mainly constructed of irony and the rest finished in heavyminium.

 

Mine's got footrests made out of unobtanium.

 

 

Having been down the road apiece with an Italian woman many years back, let me just say that like the cars and motorcycles, there can also be certain "trade-off considerations" that accompany the fiery Italian female temperament. . . . .

 

There you go. Respect, Ratchet

 

 

My Guzzi is mainly constructed of irony and the rest finished in heavyminium.

 

My footrests are made from unobtanium, and break frequently.

 

I cocked that reply up magnificently, or you could call it post-modern irony.

[luhbo]

Reading your posts makes me think I still don't have a proper translation for this word Quirk.

 

Is it something like: technical overkill just to get some additional bling to the brand? Something like the already mentioned desmo-valves or the gear driven overhead camshaft on a 125ccm engine. Things like that that make a brand survive (sometimes at least) although they're realy obsolete and not worth a penny in terms of performance? Things that make owners think: "Hey, I'm riding a Ducati, under the tank the valves are desmo-driven! Wow!"?

 

If it's so then this is a real good and big question. No easy answer here.

 

Have you ever asked yours what she thinks her "Grand Quirk" is? What did she say?

[Frenchbob]

Reading your posts makes me think I still don't have a proper translation for this word Quirk.

 

Is it something like: technical overkill just to get some additional bling to the brand? Something like the already mentioned desmo-valves or the gear driven overhead camshaft on a 125ccm engine. Things like that that make a brand survive (sometimes at least) although they're realy obsolete and not worth a penny in terms of performance? Things that make owners think: "Hey, I'm riding a Ducati, under the tank the valves are desmo-driven! Wow!"?

 

If it's so then this is a real good and big question. No easy answer here.

 

Have you ever asked yours what she thinks her "Grand Quirk" is? What did she say?

 

Yes, a quirk is simply an identifying peculiarity, usually tolerable, occasionally endearing and sometimes [Duc desmo engines] inspirational. I'll just go and ask her indoors whether she considers her quirk worth living with: don't hang on my reply: I may be in Casualty [urgences] for some time!

[luhbo]

I see. If you allready have her indoors then I understand you perfectly. Just take your time.

 

Hubert

[Frenchbob]

I see. If you allready have her indoors then I understand you perfectly. Just take your time.

 

Hubert

 

[stogieBill]

When ever I think Ducati, I think Desmo valves.

 

Before becomimg a Guzzisti, whenever I thought Guzzi, I thought Horizontal V Twin. It is the common characteristic of all recent Moto Guzzi's. There is no other motorcycle like them.

 

Cheers

[luhbo]

But having her indoors is really a great idea. I have some colleagues that are complete bicycle freaks. Totally weird. They have two rollers at home where they put the bicycle on on rainy days or in winter. Then they struggle their ass off on these, staring at the cellar wall while hearing castrated MP3 stuff.

 

Next weak I'll ask one of them where I can get one of these for the winter, in order to keep the Guzzi, the battery, the oil and the neighbours all in good shape. Yeah, will be funny...

[docc]

I'm learning from all this. First, I have this growing anticipation that my Italian wife's recent, er, temperment circumstance, or, um, transient firey outburst of passionate aggravation ( OK, she was bitchy yesterday) is going to ebb into an equal and opposite reaction. If Newton was right I'll be walking funny tomorrow.

 

Also, I am confident to claim that my Sport is UNRECONSTRUCTED!

[docc]

Reading your posts makes me think I still don't have a proper translation for this word Quirk.

 

 

 

 

'Quirk' is a hard thing to translate or define ( like 'quality' in Pirsig's Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance").

 

It makes me think of having to deal with procedures that are counterintuitive to acheive a desired result. Without the insight and familiarity with the machine's 'quirks' (idiosynchrasies?) the rider would struggle with frustration and bewilderment.

 

Oddly, mastering the 'quirks' only brings performance to the status quo. This is accompanied by the personal satisfaction in knowing that the casual rider (driver, lover) could not make the Quirky Thing sing were it not for his commitment and familiarity.

[Baldini]

Same as a BMW twin though, they have the heavy clutch and torque reaction too, and if anything, with the weird suspension they keep playing with, an R series beemer could be considered quirkier than a Guzzi.

 

Yeah. BM is quirky, but somehow (I don't know how/why) just isn't endearing/involving to me like a Guzzi. But that's me & I got a mate who loves his thru 20 odd years & 200k miles. MZ's were more like Guzzi - they'd do what they were supposed to do, but take em out on the razz & they'd do things you'd never have thought! Built out of old cornflakes packets tho...

 

KB

[luhbo]

When ever I think Ducati, I think Desmo valves.

 

....

 

And when I talk to the average people about my Guzzi they say "Ahh, Guzzi!" They don't know how it looks, but they know that it's the "Italian Bike". The bike in general, the good old times, the "I had a BMW then, had to let it on the Krim. Nice bike, really!"

 

Once I stood between an Aprilia Mille and my V11 and Granny was asking how fast bikes go nowadays. 240, 250 km/h I told him, talking about the Mille. "But this Guzzi, sure it's something completely different, isn't it?" "Oh yes, it makes hardly 220". He couldn't believe it. When this funny thing goes 250 then a Guzzi must make 300! That's the picture they have. BTW, he couldn't spell Aprilia even seeing it written on the tank.

Frenchbob said: "a quirk is simply an identifying peculiarity, usually tolerable, occasionally endearing and sometimes [Duc desmo engines] inspirational".

So it seems that the real things don't need any identifying pecularities. Their pattern is burned into people's brains in its complete, entire complexity, allowing them to identify one without knowing any details of it.

 

This could work also with BMW and Triumph, the last being already mentioned in the New Testament

 

Ask this question the other way round: what is left over if you take away the desmodromic from a Ducati?

 

---

 

Besides all this lunchtime blah, my personal favorit for beeing the Grand Quirk is the monstrous (for a motorcycle) flywheel which gives (or better gave) the Guzzi its bullet like bahn-burner qualities. That's what I really miss on my V11. At least the gearbox is still singing up and down the scale as usual.

 

Hubert

[k7qz]

Having ridden primarily bikes of the german persuasion prior to my LeMans I'll toss in a "quirk" that I experience on a frequent basis. Visualize with me on this one:

 

I'm waiting at a signal light and in the lane to my left a couple pulls up along side me in their car/truck/SUV. Out of the corner of my eye I see said lady elbow her husband/boyfriend/SO and as I watch through their window glass, I can see her mouth the words as she points to my tank logo and asks "What's a Moto Guzzi?"...

[Guest Nogbad]

Yeah. BM is quirky, but somehow (I don't know how/why) just isn't endearing/involving to me like a Guzzi. But that's me & I got a mate who loves his thru 20 odd years & 200k miles. MZ's were more like Guzzi - they'd do what they were supposed to do, but take em out on the razz & they'd do things you'd never have thought! Built out of old cornflakes packets tho...

 

KB

 

I never said the Beemer was Good Quirky. I hated it when I tried one. Actually, quirks are like quarks. Strangeness and charm........

[big J]

Now quarks,I like.

[badmotogoozer]

Now quarks,I like.

 

I'm more of a Lepton man myself.

 

Rj