Heavyweight
Just got it firing!
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2012
- Messages
- 2
Well,
Excuse me for muscling into your forum but I'm a bit excited and I just had to tell someone about my new bike. I brought it home today, parked it carefully in the garage, and waited for the wife to come home and marvel at my impeccable taste. She drove in, got out out of the car, duly bumped into the bike and stormed inside, muttering that she wished I wouldn't always park that rotten big black monstrosity in her way. I live with a non-believer...
By way of introduction, I did my "apprenticeship" on small and mid-sized Yamahas (I still have a soft spot for those evil, noisy, smelly anti-social two-strokes) which culminated in a brave little four-cylinder XJ550 that I rode into the ground. But I always envied the old guys with their grey beards, Belstaffs, flying boots and Boxer BMWs who always looked like they were on their way to somewhere very far away...
I got my first job (delivering mail off a Honda CT110) and saved my money furiously until I had enough to go to the BMW shop and buy my first Boxer. As it turned out, there was a brand-new JPS Special K100RS sitting in the showroom, and to me it was just beautiful. I bought it and, over the next eight years, proceeded to ride it around Australia during each of my annual four-week holidays (this was before meeting the above-mentioned wife). Except for some electrical hassles from riding it through a flooded river, it never let me down. But it was a seriously boring motorcycle: reliable to a fault and with all the character of a sewing machine. In many ways I was glad when it was completely worn out at 235,000km, and I traded it on a new R1100RS.
Nice bike; it rumbled and shook a bit and certainly had a bit more presence than the old "brick". It was also ridiculously reliable. I kept it for 17 years, during which time it only broke down once (a broken driveshaft 1200 km from the nearest dealer during one of my by-now annual trips to Phillip Island). I was sad that at 170,000 km it was at the stage where it was getting a bit rattly and I was due for a new bike.
Had BMW still been making an RS, I would have bought one on the spot, but unfortunately they have moved on and left the likes of me behind. I looked at the R1200R and the F800ST but they weren't exactly right, and anyway I didn't feel particularly valued by the dealer. So I looked further afield: Triumph GT, Yamaha FJR, Suzuki Bandit etc.
I finally chose a bike that looks good, sounds good and feels good. The dealer also passed muster, so today I brought home my new Moto Guzzi Norge GT and I hope that she and I will have a long and fulfilling relationship. This will probably be my last new bike, and I'm already looking at ways to improve and personalise her.When i brought her home , I couldn't work out how to get the panniers off (the owners' manual is downright laughable), so I googled "Guzzi remove panniers" and that's how I found this great forum. I hope to be able to add someting to it.
Cheers
H
Excuse me for muscling into your forum but I'm a bit excited and I just had to tell someone about my new bike. I brought it home today, parked it carefully in the garage, and waited for the wife to come home and marvel at my impeccable taste. She drove in, got out out of the car, duly bumped into the bike and stormed inside, muttering that she wished I wouldn't always park that rotten big black monstrosity in her way. I live with a non-believer...
By way of introduction, I did my "apprenticeship" on small and mid-sized Yamahas (I still have a soft spot for those evil, noisy, smelly anti-social two-strokes) which culminated in a brave little four-cylinder XJ550 that I rode into the ground. But I always envied the old guys with their grey beards, Belstaffs, flying boots and Boxer BMWs who always looked like they were on their way to somewhere very far away...
I got my first job (delivering mail off a Honda CT110) and saved my money furiously until I had enough to go to the BMW shop and buy my first Boxer. As it turned out, there was a brand-new JPS Special K100RS sitting in the showroom, and to me it was just beautiful. I bought it and, over the next eight years, proceeded to ride it around Australia during each of my annual four-week holidays (this was before meeting the above-mentioned wife). Except for some electrical hassles from riding it through a flooded river, it never let me down. But it was a seriously boring motorcycle: reliable to a fault and with all the character of a sewing machine. In many ways I was glad when it was completely worn out at 235,000km, and I traded it on a new R1100RS.
Nice bike; it rumbled and shook a bit and certainly had a bit more presence than the old "brick". It was also ridiculously reliable. I kept it for 17 years, during which time it only broke down once (a broken driveshaft 1200 km from the nearest dealer during one of my by-now annual trips to Phillip Island). I was sad that at 170,000 km it was at the stage where it was getting a bit rattly and I was due for a new bike.
Had BMW still been making an RS, I would have bought one on the spot, but unfortunately they have moved on and left the likes of me behind. I looked at the R1200R and the F800ST but they weren't exactly right, and anyway I didn't feel particularly valued by the dealer. So I looked further afield: Triumph GT, Yamaha FJR, Suzuki Bandit etc.
I finally chose a bike that looks good, sounds good and feels good. The dealer also passed muster, so today I brought home my new Moto Guzzi Norge GT and I hope that she and I will have a long and fulfilling relationship. This will probably be my last new bike, and I'm already looking at ways to improve and personalise her.When i brought her home , I couldn't work out how to get the panniers off (the owners' manual is downright laughable), so I googled "Guzzi remove panniers" and that's how I found this great forum. I hope to be able to add someting to it.
Cheers
H