Guzzi, errr, character?

[sondela]

My V11 fire up in the weekend first pop after sitting for @ least 2 months- should have seen my surprised grin

So you going to keep it now? go on..you know you want to..

[nudemetalz]

yes !!
Keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have I made myself clear ??!!

[popelli]

Ha,..had a laugh today.
Took the V11 down to Scooterazzi (in the pouring rain) to get it's WOF today.

Anyway, couple of hours later, I go to pick her up (after passing with no worries of course !!).
Put the key in, hit the starter motor, she turned over a little slower than normal, then an almighty bang of a back fire, followed by an engine running on one cylinder making a squealing noise.
Hmm,...what has gone wrong?
Turned out the backfire blew the RHS throttle body (it's EFI) right off it's intake manifold !!
Easily fixed and starts up fine also to a nice ride home in the rain...
(thanks to Garth, the mechanic, for fixing her )

Yup, Guzzi character, that's why I bought her ..

I had a guzzi california once, it broke down virtually everytime I rode it, it had large panniers fitted, they were very ueful for carrying tools

Its a toss up between that and a honda cb450 that I owned as to which was the most unreliable but the honda may have had the edge in performance

Compared to the iron head sportster I had owned before the guzzi

the guzzi drank more fuel

the guzzi was noticably slower

the guzzi was less reliable

however on the plus side the guzzi had good brakes, unfortunately it usually broke down before you ever had the need to use them

in short the bike was a great disappointment

[AllanB]

however on the plus side the guzzi had good brakes, unfortunately it usually broke down before you ever had the need to use them

Bloody funny, probably not at the time for you but I had a good chuckle

[laRIKin]

yes !!
Keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have I made myself clear ??!!

It is up to SDU if she keeps it.
Looking more likely by the day.

Well we are keeping the MKIII.
And I'm riding her again for awhile.
It normally fires up OK if you hold your mouth just right.

Just gave it a tune and new blood and filter.

[Paul in NZ]

I had a guzzi california once, it broke down virtually everytime I rode it, in short the bike was a great disappointment

yeah - they are not for everyone but generally they are very reliable...

[Drew]

I had a guzzi california once, it broke down virtually everytime I rode it, it had large panniers fitted, they were very ueful for carrying tools

Its a toss up between that and a honda cb450 that I owned as to which was the most unreliable but the honda may have had the edge in performance

Compared to the iron head sportster I had owned before the guzzi

the guzzi drank more fuel

the guzzi was noticably slower

the guzzi was less reliable

however on the plus side the guzzi had good brakes, unfortunately it usually broke down before you ever had the need to use them

in short the bike was a great disappointment

yeah - they are not for everyone but generally they are very reliable...

Some years back, my father had an '86 GSXR750, with some Yoshi gear in it. A friend of his had a Guzzi California, two stage auto thingy.

At the time we lived in Dunedin, and on a trip back from some place, dad with Jimmy on the back came up Ratray st WFO on the Gixxer. Jimmy turned to see how fast they were leaving Bo behind on the Guzzi, to find the tractor powered cop bike, thundering up the hill a very short distance behind indeed.

And the only time I heard of something going wrong with the Guzzi, was a flat tyre. You can trust this too, the bike was perhaps the least maintained motorcycle I've ever laid eyes on.

[Molly]

I resign myself to the idea that one day my Guzzi will suffer a terminal explosion and it'll become an expensive but beautiful ornament. In the mean time I'll rag the arse off it