any other Guzzis in Sask?

[sn0winSaskatoon]

Hi - just bought a leftover 2007 Breva 1100. I'm in Saskatoon. Any other prairie goose out there?

Ian

 

[lucretia]

Yes, just south of you in Regina. My first Guzzi was a 2000 Cali Special. Absolutely fell in lust with her at first site! Unfortunatley had an accident outside of Port Alberni, BC. I made it out, she didn't. But I was able to find a used 07 Cali Vintage in Toronto and trucked her here. I was told this is the only one registered in the province. So far. Only was able to ride about 1500 kms before snow fall. I am getting very anxious for spring! It's great to see some other Guzzi people in Sk. Few and Far between. Lorne.

 

[baloches]

That Vintage is verrry nice! What are the roads like in Saskatchewan? I haven't been there yet..

 

[lucretia]

Long, straight and narrow. Major highways are not to bad. Secondary roads can be rough. Unfortunatly Saskatchewan is often seen as the place to ride across quickly. But if you catch the season right, the horizon can be filled with glorious crop colors of gold, yellow and blue.

 

[BravoBravo]

That Vintage is verrry nice! What are the roads like in Saskatchewan? I haven't been there yet..

In 2000, I rode my Kawasaki Concours to a conference in Saskatoon. Crossing over from North Dakota, where the roads were beautifully paved, into Saskatchewan was a complete shock to me. I have never seen worse "paved" roads than I encountered in Saskatchewan. Little better than cow trails. It seems the socialist provincial government of the day in that province deliberately did not invest in the road infrastructure. I felt like I was riding into some developing third world nation. I was actually concerned that I was going to damage my bike. Horrible experience. That government is no longer in power, so maybe things have improved. I would need to know for sure that they have, before ever riding through Saskatchewan in the future.
Cheers,
Bruce

 

[lucretia]

The road deterioration was not because of the government of the day (2000), but the result of the previous "right" wing government bankrupting the province. This resulted in several of their ministers being charged and convicted. Those debts had to be paid off first. Check out http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/ ... RTM0011027
The socialists paid down the debt, rebuilding the province. Now we'll see what the next non-socialist government can do. Their last budget was $billions out of wack.

Lorne

 

[mofa52]

I had the pleasure of driving accross Canada last year (two months off work). I agree the roads accross Canada were very bad, they were better near the big cities Toronto and such but overall just BAD. I too thought I was going to damage something and in fact I did, I was in a new Class A MH and broke several items including the dash fans which fell off due to pot holes. In some spots I was down to 45 KM per hour. I only made it as far as Quebec City and turned around and went home (BC) via USA. The roads you have down there are super!

 

[BravoBravo]

I had the pleasure of driving accross Canada last year (two months off work). I agree the roads accross Canada were very bad, they were better near the big cities Toronto and such but overall just BAD. I too thought I was going to damage something and in fact I did, I was in a new Class A MH and broke several items including the dash fans which fell off due to pot holes. In some spots I was down to 45 KM per hour. I only made it as far as Quebec City and turned around and went home (BC) via USA. The roads you have down there are super!

Yes, the roads in Canada are generally in poorer condition than in most of the U.S., although they tend to be better in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario than in many other areas. Quebec continues to have serious infrastructure issues. My Saskatchewan experience was ten years ago, so I can't speak to what the roads there are like now. They could not have gotten much worse, so maybe there has been an improvement since then.
In Ontario, motorcyclists like to say that the best Ontario riding roads are in New York and Pennsylvania. :lol:

Bruce

 

[Matteo]

Nothing is as bad as the Northern Yukon roads. :evil:

 

[BravoBravo]

Nothing is as bad as the Northern Yukon roads. :evil:

True! I hadn't even thought about the territories. :mrgreen:

Bruce

 

[FrostBittenCanadian]

Wow! If Ontario is considered a province with some of the better roads in the country, I'd hate to see the state of the rest!! I remember when I was a kid, being in some northern US states and my father and I laughing at how bad the roads were. I have suspected for some time that there was no way the US roads could still be in worse shape than ours. I guess this confirms my suspicions. Just recently The Toronto Star did a poll of readers favorite bad roads. Out of the top 20 Toronto was voted to have 7 of the worst roads in the province. This situation greatly influenced my choice of motorcycle. I just didn't see the sense of owning another sport bike. What's the point when all you have to ride it on are goat paths!
FBC

 

[sn0winSaskatoon]

Good to hear there's at least one Goose inthe Queen City. I know there's another Guzzi Cali in S'toon but I'm pretty sure I have the only "modern" Goose in Saskatchewan? If this warm weather holds, my red Breva will be out of the garage before april starts... We call her the "Italian Girlfriend"...

But I have to jump in here and defend our province. Our roads are actually about as good as can be expected in our climate, with cold winters and the frost damage that causes, and the frequent occurance of expansive soils (some soil minerals swell and shrink a lot as they wet and dry). Roads in Quebec, Manitoba and the Maritimes are usually worse and they don't have the excuse of soil mineralogy, and in Ont, the roads are fine in the south near Toronto and London but northern ontario's roads aren't great...

In the 80's the incompetent tory government of Devine was beholden to all the grumpy farmers so they "paved" way too many gravel roads. We call those "TMS" or thin membrane surface - basically a thin membrane of asphalt over a gravel road. They lasted 15 years or so and then the thin ashphalt layer started breaking up and most of them got really bad.

Then the incompetent NDP took over and while they did sort-of balance the budget, they didn't fix the roads. They were too busy pandering to the public service unions and would have bankrupted the province except for the high value of the mineral resources, upon which our economy is based (yes, that's true, agriculture is not particularily important, it's like the 7th biggest industry in the province, basically, Saskatoon is the biggest "mining town" in the country).

In the past 5 years, under both the NDP and the Sask Party, as we've been out-booming alberta, re-investment in our roads has been significant. We're not perfect yet, but the roads are getting better. Hwy 219 south from S'toon is beautiful and new. And a couple of years ago I rode Hwy 21 from Kindersley south to the Cypress Hills and it was a total mess - the road had numerous sections of deep sanad/gravel where there was no pavement left. Last spring, I took the Breva down there on beautiful new pavement, could've gone 220 km/hour except for all the antelopes jumping out!

That said, most roads are still pretty straight. I think that's why cruisers are so popular in this part of the world. The southeast (Regina area) is particularly flat and boring - an old glacial lake bed. But there are hilly areas formed by glacial moraines farther north, especially NW of Saskatoon. And the Great Sand Hills and Cypress Hills in the southwest in particular, are very special...

But there are great trails and dirt roads for those with dual-sports (that's why I also have a KTM Adventure). You can occasionally find some nice paved sweepers, especially in the western part of the province, but we have no paved twisties. Which is why I have my Breva- it's rock solid stable and comfy enough for the 500km of high-speed straight run with high crosswinds as I blast west or southwest to get to the mountains, while still being pretty agile and fun once I get there...

Best advice for anyone heading across the "land of living skies" is to get off TransCanada Highway 1 and get either further south, through the Big Muddy Badlands and the Cypress Hills or else away north to Saskatoon and north - in what we call the Parkland. Beautiful glacial moraine hills, lakes, big river valleys. Plus S'toon is quite a bit more interesting than Regina - sort of like Calgary vs. Edmonton on a smaller scale. But beware the deer, antelopes and moose. We have the highest rate of animal-vehicle collisions in North America!

Ian
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

 

[BravoBravo]

Good to hear there's at least one Goose inthe Queen City. I know there's another Guzzi Cali in S'toon but I'm pretty sure I have the only "modern" Goose in Saskatchewan? If this warm weather holds, my red Breva will be out of the garage before april starts... We call her the "Italian Girlfriend"...

But I have to jump in here and defend our province. Our roads are actually about as good as can be expected in our climate, with cold winters and the frost damage that causes, and the frequent occurance of expansive soils (some soil minerals swell and shrink a lot as they wet and dry). Roads in Quebec, Manitoba and the Maritimes are usually worse and they don't have the excuse of soil mineralogy, and in Ont, the roads are fine in the south near Toronto and London but northern ontario's roads aren't great...

Ian
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Thanks for the informative post, Ian. It certainly puts things in a proper historical perspective.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[sn0winSaskatoon]

yeah, well I'm a geotechnical engineer. I often give Engineering Students a quiz. What natural cause is responsible for the most damage in North America each year, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires or... expansive soils... ??

That said, our roads do suck, and I'm thinking about Todd's hyper-expensive super-suspension for my breva.

has spring come to London? I used to live there, went to grad school at UWO...

Ian

 

[BravoBravo]

yeah, well I'm a geotechnical engineer. I often give Engineering Students a quiz. What natural cause is responsible for the most damage in North America each year, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires or... expansive soils... ??

That said, our roads do suck, and I'm thinking about Todd's hyper-expensive super-suspension for my breva.

has spring come to London? I used to live there, went to grad school at UWO...

Ian

Is spring in London? My tentative answer is "yes" as we have had an almost unprecedented run of warm, fair weather for the past week. I have had the Stelvio out a couple of times. I will continue holding my breath though, until we are into the second week of April, at which time I think I will be able to say with confidence that spring has truly arrived!

Nice to see your connection with Western. My oldest son has a degree in biochemical engineering from UWO. He spent a couple of years in Africa with Engineers Without Borders, and is now finishing second year law school at McGill.

Bruce

 

[blackdog]

Add me to the list.
In Regina, 07 red Griso. Just getting it up to speed.

 

[blackdog]

New on the scene: 2008 black 1200 sport in Regina.

 

[Thunderbox]

Hello Ian,

There are several modern Guzzis in Saskatchewan. I am in S'toon and I have a 2008 Norge. A fella up at the syncotron has an 08 Sport and there are 2 people who have Sports in Regina that I know of. Sorry to ruin your exclusivity but we still are relatively exclusive anyway. Maybe we can meet up and go for a ride sometime.

Dave

 

[devildogg]

Hello Ian,

There are several modern Guzzis in Saskatchewan. I am in S'toon and I have a 2008 Norge. A fella up at the syncotron has an 08 Sport and there are 2 people who have Sports in Regina that I know of. Sorry to ruin your exclusivity but we still are relatively exclusive anyway. Maybe we can meet up and go for a ride sometime.

Dave

Be careful on those roads out there Dave, you know at your age and the accompanying failing eyesight, and old bones don't want you all worn out before you make it to BC for the BBQ :lol:

 

[Thunderbox]

Hello Ian,

There are several modern Guzzis in Saskatchewan. I am in S'toon and I have a 2008 Norge. A fella up at the syncotron has an 08 Sport and there are 2 people who have Sports in Regina that I know of. Sorry to ruin your exclusivity but we still are relatively exclusive anyway. Maybe we can meet up and go for a ride sometime.

Dave

Be careful on those roads out there Dave, you know at your age and the accompanying failing eyesight, and old bones don't want you all worn out before you make it to BC for the BBQ :lol:

Don't you worry. We don't ride above 50 KPH without a proper RCMP Guide. Just too dang dangerous. Takes forever to heal up these old bones. Besides who needs to ride faster than 50 anyways? Life is just too dang precious to be crazy.