What brought you to Moto Guzzi ?
The 64,000,000 $ question..
My touring / riding buddy has & has had 4 twenty odd years a MK5 Le Mans..
Circa year 2001 /2002, at the time had a Honda Super Blackbird .
woooooooosh.
( And a few other bikes - BMW R1100RS, Honda CBX1000, Laverda Diamanté 668, Honda CB900F, ST1100 )
We were on a way back from a ride out to the south coast & we decided to swop bikes for a while.
What a complete bag of shite was the MK5 Guzzi was, other than the wallop of power you got when you snapped the throttle..
It handled like a cart horse, the frame was made of putty.
Weaved & bucked all over the place & prefered to go through a bend, rather than around it at speed..
It was far too fast for the power.
The brakes were good, but other than that it was pants..
( bear in mind my bike was a new Blackbird )
But the Guzzi had something, couldn't explain what though..
Now I had ridden a Guzzi b4, as I test rode a brand new Centauro a few years earlier at 3X in Dorset, although it was gorgeous.
The fueling on the early models made it near impossible to ride.
I had a Kawasaki GPZ900 R at the time, so Guzzi's weren't on my list of bikes I'd own.
Especially after that disastrous test ride.
Back to my ride on the MK5..
As I said it had something..
One Saturday I was in the local bike shop in Newbury ( premier bikes ).
The Laverda was just to small & the throttle was either full on or full off.
So was looking to trade it.
In the corner of the bike shop was a 1989 Guzzi SP3 at a bargain price.
Now I was good friends with the guy that owned the bike shop & he offered me a great price against the Laverda.
And he said take the Guzzi home for a few days to try it.
( as I'd told him how much I didn't like the MK5 )
So like a lamb to the slaughter, he had me hooked..
And after a few rides, a carburettor & throttle set up.
( throttle cables were frayed, so notchy throttle response + out of balance)
I rather liked the Guzzi SP3, so she joined the other bikes in my now rather full garage...
We rode both Guzzi's to the factory in August 2003..
Piccy one - at the Guzzi factory late August 2003
Piccy two - just after I got her...
When we were at the factory in 2003, we met an old man in a pizzeria in Mandello & he said to us.
" Guzzi's pick you, not the other way around " in his Italian accent..
And I think he was correct...
PS..
I still fink Guzzi's are a bag of shite.
But the darn fings get under your skin..