guzzi ownership

[Wistrick]

So en light of the problems/issues I have with my new Norge.(ie.oil leak, heat at feet) got me thinking that maybe I looked before I leaped...I mean I knew they where quirky and had there own personality and demanded that you spend a little time wrenching on them to make them happy...Which I was totally prepared to do...What I wasn't prepared for was to have to spend hours tracking down an oil leak (that still baffles me) and the annoying heat @ my feet that I told the only way to fix is live with it...Maybe I should have followed the flock and bought an FJR....Nah that is boring.......So is all this normal????

thoughts

dan

 

[Bill Hagan]

**** Maybe I should have followed the flock and bought an FJR....Nah that is boring.......So is all this normal????

thoughts

dan

Howdy, Dan.

The short answer is, IMO, yes, it's normal.

Here's the long answer.

Think nearly all of us have been there; some of us (including me) still are. After awhile, longer for some than others, most learn to like it. Some bail out early, and -- as with Fowler's groupings of folks about the split infinitive -- are a happy lot, to be envied by the rest. :laugh:

Seriously, tho, all of us come to the sport and the marque in different ways for different reasons.

Ten years ago to the week, I stumbled (almost literally) into a local (no longer there, surprise!) Guzzi dealer in the Atlanta 'burbs. I was looking for a Honda dealer to buy a ACE 750. My poor map-reading skills changed my life in ways that the Honda never could have.

Monetarily, I am much poorer.

I've bought three Guzzis (so far); sold one (I was stupid; won't let that happen again; still grieving ... can you tell? ... always will); built a $70K garage that, had I exercised better non-Guzzi-affected judgment, would have cost $30K tops; have rented U-Haul trucks (and, before I learned not to tell rental places what I was going to put in the truck, rented a truck to tow a trailer!) to haul my sad butt and broken-down motorcycle home in Atlanta from, e.g., BFE's in southern Illinois and northern Virginia; shipped at my expense, my still-in-warranty Norge to Houston for the (incomparable) Haven Bros. to fix a seized engine from an oil-pump failure; spent numerous unplanned overnights in motels to sort out the next day via this website, friends, and dealers, etc., the latest "Oh, shix, what now?" event; cursed my dead-in-the-water EV in the gathering dusk and in the presence of a surprisingly interested cow at the side of the road in southwest Virginia; pushed same EV later that night UPhill from the restaurant where I parked it a block or two from my motel room because I innocently and ignorantly assumed it would start. Most recently, on a group ride to the Virginia rally -- https://www.guzzitech.com/forum/168/4953.html -- I had to park my Norge on downhill slopes every time I turned off the engine so as to ensure an easier bump start. My fellow riders (including Kaw14 and ST13 buds) got pretty tired of being my launch crew! :woohoo:

That (abridged) list notwithstanding, in every other way, I am much richer.

As I said, the above recitation is hardly a complete catalog of my Guzzi woes, tho I now look back at everyone of those as adventures ... because, really, they were.

I came to the party already intoxicated ... with Italy and Guzzis. Lived in Italy on an Army assignment in '77 - '80. That changed me, all for the better, I should add. I also worked with the Carabinieri, and it was there that I learned to appreciate Moto Guzzis. A couple of the Carbs let me "test ride" their police Guzzis and I have loved them -- Carabinieri and Guzzis -- ever since. So, yes, I am drunk with the koolade ... erm ... tho, in my case, grappa would be more accurate. :whistle:

BTW, it also helps to have a doting wife. Kathi has probably rolled her eyes more than a few times and no doubt giggled with her girlfriends over some margaritas about me and Guzzis, but she never says "no" or makes me wish as if I had. Can't buy that with money.

Bear in mind that among the many posters and lurkers on this board and other Guzzi websites, I am probably in the bottom quintile of mechanical talent and skills. Yet, I have learned more about motorcycle innards (and outards!) in that time than I ever thought I would. Before I bought a Guzzi, I was a car-service establishment's dream: "Yes, it needs a tune-up." Now, and occasionally without much adult supervision (tho it abounds on this board and probably near you), I can do things that amaze and please me ... and save me money. I am still "poor," in that no bean-counting cost-benefit analysis would ever find my motorcycle budget in the black, but, because of Moto Guzzis, I have a life of joy that, as with a sweet wife, no one could buy.

Well, if you've made it this far, I should stop, but let me say one thing about one of your present gripes: Norge heat. Assume you have the "lowers" still on. If not, put 'em back on. Mandello knew what it was doing when it designed the fairing as a unit. The heat is not from the engine proper, but from the header pipes. The "lowest lowers" direct that away from the rider. While, as someone already mentioned, I think, that higher boots help -- and I agree and wear 'em -- some heat is gonna get to you. I plan to have my pipes ceramic coated "one of these days." FWIW, I spent about 100 or so miles a couple of weeks ago on that friend's Kaw14. OMG. What a rocket. Almost dropped Kathi off the back of it a several unintended wheelies in upper gears. But, compared to the Kaw14, the Norge was cool. Really. Even Kathi noticed and commented that Kaw was an oven.

OK, enough. Hope this has been of some help in adjusting you to this strange subculture of man and motorcycle, or in convincing you to bail before it's too late.

As I am recovering from minor surgery, can't toss a leg over my Norge or EV just now, but it almost makes me ache when I think about it. After lunch, I'll come up with some excuse (tho Kathi will see thru it, of course) to hobble out to the garage where I'll just look at 'em ... and remember and dream.

Warm regards,

Bill

 

[Wistrick]

So the comment that I heard @ the Rally in John Day about the first 20,000 miles being the worst of your life but the next 100,000 being the best....sound spot on...

I am sorting out the oil leak right now, seem the dealer over filled the sump twice once at the setup and again at the break in service and never drained the air box tube...so there was enough oil backed up into the air that when placed on the side stand it seeped out the lid....drained the plug and all is getting better...

second issue was the UFI filter was only put on hand tight...that was the reason the oil got below the dip stick...

the dealer has been advised of the said problems and was grate full for the info....there new to Guzzi....

thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with me

Dan

 

[Petrov]

You can also have your ECU reflashed, that should lower the engine heat. Stock Guzzi maps are VERY lean due to EPA.