HiFiRuss71
Just got it firing!
Hello from Cambridgeshire, UK. Pardon if this is a bit wordy, but I'm an ex-journo and like a story.
I'd been considering a number of different bikes to break a 15 year motorcycling duck (sold a Mille in 2006 and left the scene) but saw a 2014 Breva at a relatively local dealer and started to read up.
I'd always fancied a Guzzi.
I loved my 2003 Mille, but I was getting older and slower or basically, just in less of a rush. In my yoof, I was a salesman at a BMW & Suzuki dealer and had a lot of time for the 2V air cooled flat twins, despite what my 20 something mates would say when I pulled up on a demonstrator. People will take umbridge, but a Guzzi semed a natural resting point between my beloved RSV and the BMW R Series bikes, even if that is a tenuous conclusion.
Roll forward 20 years and it was Googling the price of a BMW R1100S parked at work that set me looking again and then checking the wallet to realise time and earnings have moved on and frankly, I could afford to itch that scratch.
TBH, I nearly went off the idea. Every bike that fell within budget seemed to have some sort of 'issue'. I guess the intervening years and the proliferation of internet forums causes information paralysis. I mean, I knew about all the issues my '80s & '90s Honda V4s were supposed to 'enjoy' but never suffered any such failures. I just rode the wheels off them and moved on.
Searching now, the Breva fitted the bill to a tee, but then I started seeing the 4V DLC issues and blah, blah,blah... another good idea is about to go south.
Hang on. There's a 2014 2V Breva just up the road with 1748 miles (seventeen hundred and forty eight in case that looks like a typo) miles on the clock at a Guzzi dealer. I start Googling there's nothing about two valves that means a damn for my requirements, except the cam train won't melt. I'm sure there's probably some other issue somebody will illuminate...
The following morning (today) I'm at the dealer staring at a full yearly service schedule (roughly 200 miles between each yearly service, give or take) and zero extra miles since the last service. Bar a black mark from a toe rub on the downpipe near the gear shift and a tiny dull rub mark on top of the tank (cover?) this thing looks like it's been ridden out of the showroom and straight back in again. £5995 on the sticker, bought for £5750.
This may or may not be a great price, but bikes of this mileage fall so far outside or guide book pricing, who knows? The downside is that it probably needs running in. I can cope with that in the pantheon of second hand bike issues.
The dealer explained that it had been a showroom model in [I think he said] 2012 that had a deposit put down and then for one reason or the other, the sale cancelled after a protracted wait. The bike ended up getting registered in 2014 and sold to a bloke who basically didn't ride it.
My question is, does anybody know of a later 2v 1200 Breva?
This is a purely academic question, because like my 2016 MX-5, I have absolutely no reason or intention of selling it. There's no technological or performance reason to do so. I can't promise I won't 'mod' it with a slightly fruitier can (and I do mean slightlier) and maybe a screen and luggage at some point, but it's a toy I can afford to not use, which even as I type it, sounds bad. It will be cosseted and used on days that suit it and me; that's all.
Russ
I'd been considering a number of different bikes to break a 15 year motorcycling duck (sold a Mille in 2006 and left the scene) but saw a 2014 Breva at a relatively local dealer and started to read up.
I'd always fancied a Guzzi.
I loved my 2003 Mille, but I was getting older and slower or basically, just in less of a rush. In my yoof, I was a salesman at a BMW & Suzuki dealer and had a lot of time for the 2V air cooled flat twins, despite what my 20 something mates would say when I pulled up on a demonstrator. People will take umbridge, but a Guzzi semed a natural resting point between my beloved RSV and the BMW R Series bikes, even if that is a tenuous conclusion.
Roll forward 20 years and it was Googling the price of a BMW R1100S parked at work that set me looking again and then checking the wallet to realise time and earnings have moved on and frankly, I could afford to itch that scratch.
TBH, I nearly went off the idea. Every bike that fell within budget seemed to have some sort of 'issue'. I guess the intervening years and the proliferation of internet forums causes information paralysis. I mean, I knew about all the issues my '80s & '90s Honda V4s were supposed to 'enjoy' but never suffered any such failures. I just rode the wheels off them and moved on.
Searching now, the Breva fitted the bill to a tee, but then I started seeing the 4V DLC issues and blah, blah,blah... another good idea is about to go south.
Hang on. There's a 2014 2V Breva just up the road with 1748 miles (seventeen hundred and forty eight in case that looks like a typo) miles on the clock at a Guzzi dealer. I start Googling there's nothing about two valves that means a damn for my requirements, except the cam train won't melt. I'm sure there's probably some other issue somebody will illuminate...
The following morning (today) I'm at the dealer staring at a full yearly service schedule (roughly 200 miles between each yearly service, give or take) and zero extra miles since the last service. Bar a black mark from a toe rub on the downpipe near the gear shift and a tiny dull rub mark on top of the tank (cover?) this thing looks like it's been ridden out of the showroom and straight back in again. £5995 on the sticker, bought for £5750.
This may or may not be a great price, but bikes of this mileage fall so far outside or guide book pricing, who knows? The downside is that it probably needs running in. I can cope with that in the pantheon of second hand bike issues.
The dealer explained that it had been a showroom model in [I think he said] 2012 that had a deposit put down and then for one reason or the other, the sale cancelled after a protracted wait. The bike ended up getting registered in 2014 and sold to a bloke who basically didn't ride it.
My question is, does anybody know of a later 2v 1200 Breva?
This is a purely academic question, because like my 2016 MX-5, I have absolutely no reason or intention of selling it. There's no technological or performance reason to do so. I can't promise I won't 'mod' it with a slightly fruitier can (and I do mean slightlier) and maybe a screen and luggage at some point, but it's a toy I can afford to not use, which even as I type it, sounds bad. It will be cosseted and used on days that suit it and me; that's all.
Russ