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800-Mile Weekend on Griso

Bill Hagan

Bill Hagan

GT Reference
GT di Razza Pura
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
1,708
Location
Above Pott's Camp along Braddock's route, Virginia
Here's another in my series of unsolicited ride reports/slideshows. This one is first about running up to Rose Farm Classics for Jim Barron, recently returned from the Guzzi dealer meeting in Florida, to do the first service on my new Griso. Took Thursday afternoon off and rode up to Rockford to spend night. Friday a.m., rode over to RFC in Woodstock. I managed somehow to get lost on that short hop, but enjoyed the wandering.

After Jim did his magic, I returned to Milan with 355 new miles on the odo, spent the night, and got up early Saturday a.m. to meet Matt (stormtruck2) 50 or so miles up The River. Matt rarely gets "normal weekends," i.e., on Saturday and Sunday, so this was an opportunity for us to do a quick run into the driftless country of NW Illinois, SW Wisconsin, and NE Iowa. I love that part of the world, an area and people I was absolutely ignorant of until I unexpectedly found myself in Quad Cities, USA.

For those who wonder about previous comments on the Griso, now that I have 1600+ miles on it, I'll say a few things.

I was unable to adjust the suspension for any of this 800-miler trip. I did spend some time with Jim and Bruce Blake (the guy who rebuilt the Norge HyperPro) talking about this. I dialed in those (initial testing) changes yesterday, and took the Griso on a very brief local ride. The change was astonishing. Suspect it way too soft now for serious SE USA mountain riding, but for the often-bumpy and not-so-often hard curve stuff here, very close as a start, anyway. Look forward to experimenting more before my next long ride in May when Larry LaHue flies up from Florida to tour fried-cheese-curd country with me.

The exhilaration -- uhm, I mean acceleration -- would make a statue grin. I mentioned some aspects of this in my post, I've Had It with my Griso! wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=52774.0

And, the riding comfort, even on a relatively long day ride -- 455 miles on Saturday door-to-door -- was just fine. Well, yes, I did take some Motrin, but that's my old body after parts of three days in the saddle; I'd have done the same on the Norge.

Enough. And, as the pix tell the story as well as -- OK, better -- than my (possibly :laugh: ) too-wordy narrative, go here if you care to see more.

http://tinyurl.com/Griso-800-Mile-Weekend

Bill
 
Nice recap. Thanks for doing your part to cut down on the insect population! From those pictures, I bet you are still scrubbing bugs off :lol:
 
Hi Uncle Bill, that was a good read and the photos with captions are entertaining.

Interestingly my Bellagio seems to get better economy when I'm, lets say "playful" than when I'm being a boring law abiding citizen. It seems like 120kph (75mph) is the sweet zone.

I was supposed to do a 900k ride last Saturday but one of the boys had a tank slapper and got spat off his Ducati 130k in. Was a 14 hour day by the time we recovered the bike and sat in a Hospital for 5 hours. :(
 
Bill

Care to share what settings you set your Griso up with initially ?


Sounds like the Griso is working it's way into your heart.
 
draidt said:
Bill

Care to share what settings you set your Griso up with initially ?


Sounds like the Griso is working it's way into your heart.
Click to expand...

Howdy, Dan.

I liked the Griso from the gitgo. I also knew that the suspension as delivered was too hard. Jim and I talked about that, but I decided not to mess with squat 'til the first service. Well, 1K is a long way to ride a 2x4 saw horse! :woohoo: :S

So, along with other things at this service, Jim got Bruce Blake on the line and we talked.

For reasons not worth mentioning here, I did not make those adjustments while at RFC, thus rode home AND did that near-500-miler the following day. I really regret putting it off.

Anyway, all I did -- no science here, tho this is a process, not the end -- was to turn both top and bottom screws all the way in, then back 'em 1/2 out. That softened everything up significantly, and probably too significantly.

But, as said, this is a process. I'll work with this one 1/2 turn (top) or click or two (bottom) at a time 'til I get it right. Even that will be rough, as the compression-rebound relationship is not necessarily linear! But, I'll get with Bruce and Jim again on the phone every now and then to refine.

Point is that this is a good start, and certainly not the torture it's been.

Regards,

Bill
 
Bill Hagan said:
Anyway, all I did -- no science here, tho this is a process, not the end -- was to turn both top and bottom screws all the way in, then back 'em 1/2 out.
Click to expand...
:geek: Don't suppose you noted how many turns out you were top and bottom to begin with? :ugeek: Oh and thanks for sharing your detailed itinerary!
 
So rear sag was not address at this time, To me in all I have read it is important to get the rear sag and front to an extent adjusted to the rider's weight and go from there. It is a two person procedure just wish I had someone near who can help me set it up. :roll:

A good starting point non the less Bill.

I am assuming (and you know what that can mean :mrgreen: ) that you were addressing the front suspension adjustments ?

The Griso is capable of being ridden safely way more aggressively then my skills will ever be, But if set up tailored to my weight and style could only make me a better rider.
 
Goodvibes said:
Bill Hagan said:
Anyway, all I did -- no science here, tho this is a process, not the end -- was to turn both top and bottom screws all the way in, then back 'em 1/2 out.
Click to expand...
:geek: Don't suppose you noted how many turns out you were top and bottom to begin with? :ugeek: Oh and thanks for sharing your detailed itinerary!
Click to expand...


draidt said:
So rear sag was not address at this time, To me in all I have read it is important to get the rear sag and front to an extent adjusted to the rider's weight and go from there. It is a two person procedure just wish I had someone near who can help me set it up. :roll:

A good starting point non the less Bill.

I am assuming (and you know what that can mean :mrgreen: ) that you were addressing the front suspension adjustments ?

The Griso is capable of being ridden safely way more aggressively then my skills will ever be, But if set up tailored to my weight and style could only make me a better rider.
Click to expand...

I just read both of these, and then reread my post.

I think I am going to be sick. You can figure out why. :sick:

Back to you in the a.m. ;)

Moronically yours,

Bill
 
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