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Much Ado about Mutton ... & Less

Bill Hagan

GT Reference
GT di Razza Pura
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
1,700
Location
Above Pott's Camp along Braddock's route, Virginia
This is about the latest "Mutton Run" to Daviess County in western Kentucky, and includes -- at no extra cost — (a very few) pix of a Hagan family reunion.

As longtime readers of this forum know, for several years, I and others similarly afflicted with a love of motorcycles and willingness to eat mutton — not necessarily a common combo! — have ridden from various points to eat mutton twice a year at the St. Mary of the Woods picnic and at restaurants in Owensboro, e.g., the iconic Moonlite BBQ.

OK, OK, as many also know, it is possible that it is not only mutton alone that calls us, but, perhaps, beer, bourbon, and BS, all of which abound on the Mutton Runs. :giggle:

Here’s the latest of these, told in (too many) pix and captions, of our ride to Daviess County. Some of myy moto-accomplices began arriving on Tuesday, 20 September, and we returned home on Tuesday, 27 September. My total mileage of about of 1300 miles was hardly of the “ironbutt” sort, but not a mile was on the slab, and most on very fine backroads in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky.

I rode my Griso, a wonderful beast and fine tourer now has 32K miles. With the exception of the well-known "rollerization," its only problems have been self-inflicted by me. :swear:

Larry, who started from Ormond Beach, Fla., on his shiny new V7-850, tallied 2300+ miles. His return home was less of the “smell the flowers” sort than his outbound leg, as Hurricane Ian smacked his hometown hard.

Bob started in Rochester, N.Y., and rode with us on is '01 EV to Maysville, then returned home via a side trip to visit an ailing friend in Columbus, O.

Larry and I rode on with a brief appearance at the Kentucky rally in Frankfort. Fun to see Zoom Zoom and other Guzzisti there.

Then, Scott of GuzziTech mod fame, met us in Owensboro on his really nifty MP-3. :clap:

Kathi [:inlove:] slabbed it in one day in our little Fit, carrying enough tools to do roadside depot-level maintenance. :giggle:

Back to the pix. As I usually do, I have these on Smugmug in “collage landscape” form. That way, they all open in collected thumbnails first. You can then hover your cursor over the individual pix to read — if desired — the captions. That process truncates one or two captions a bit, but most appear completely.

You can make the pix bigger and see (again, if you wish) all of captions in larger text size if you select the slideshow option.


Nutt'n But Mutton; Sept 2022


As a (slightly related) aside, I dropped my laptop in the hotel on this trip, resulting in the “Black Screen of Death.” Kathi gently suggested that bourbon was involved. Anyway, as it was long out of warranty, I decided to try some self-help “surgery.”

Guzzista friend Lannis, a Mutton Run veteran with several "service stripes," is blessed that I didn’t perform his recent bypass op. I watched a few y/t vids, donned gloves, used the right tools — delivered by Mr. Brown the same day! — and converted the MBP’s dead monitor into a large paperweight. $igh. Yes, I now have a new laptop.

Hope to see some of you on a future Mutton Run!

Bill
 
What you have just read is based upon real events.

The names have been unchanged to protect the innocent and punish the guilty accordingly… 👌👍🙏

The idiot traveling cross country on the incredibly fabulous Piaggio MP3 scooter (It was surprisingly supremely comfortable 😆 and besides, I am developing my techniques for retirement in Italy as this is how I intend to travel around Europe! 😀) had to leave early, because he left all of his damn medication at home and unfortunately, I need that crap to stay alive and move properly right now…Stupid me…

I will say that this is the vehicle to take when one wishes to speed with impunity!

Nobody pays attention to a scooter!

I’m sure that more than one Highway Patrol Officer said to themselves, “85-90 mph…Nah…something’s wrong with the damn radar because that’s just a scooter. It must be picking up the cars(s) behind it or something …😆

I know I am absolutely addicted to watching the faces of people as their super expensive luxury vehicles, or super bad-ass pickup trucks, or their big fat Harley-Davidson road pigs, get passed on the roads and freeway, by a scooter sucking the paint off of their vehicles as he flies right by! 😆😆😆.

Their ego invariably shifts into high gear and they usually floor it trying to catch back up and pass the Blue Beast, but then they realize just how quickly they are moving and how visible they are, and they get nervous about the police and throttle back as I fade off in the distance, an unnoticed scooter…It’s priceless jolly good fun! 😁

Mutton Run II MP3
 
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Bill,
Great photos and captions, as always. I have enjoyed viewing your photos from various "events" since I contracted the Moto Guzzi bug and found this site last year.

Scott,
You know you have jinxed yourself in the eyes of the Highway Patrol now!
 
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Hello Bill and thank you for the photo essay.

Scott, I'm intrigued by your scooter; have you ridden a Yamaha Niken and, if so, how does it compare to you scooter?

Jason
 
I hated the Niken. I rode it and this is my impression.

Horrible loss of value. 2019 MSRP $17,300, examples with 1,000 miles are selling at asking prices of $10,900. That's a huge drop in 2 short years.

It is clunky and insanely overly complex compared to the elegant simplicity of the MP3 in my opinion. Way too tall.

3 cylinders vs 1. More power but significantly more vibration. Unnecessary complexity increasing cost of acquisition and owning.

The most complex front end ever constructed that in 8 more years, every dealer will refuse to work on it. Hell, they won’t have anybody who will know how to work on that monstrosity.

When it needs maintenance, it will be ridiculously expensive.

Everybody hated it.

Hence, discontinued after 2 years while the MP3 is now going on 17 years of continuous production.

I absolutely love my MP3.

Plenty of power, simple design and single cylinder 4V proven technology. Inexpensive maintenance anybody can do. It’s very simple. Rugged simplicity.

Outstanding handling and great onboard storage and seating.

Mine runs to 105mph. How fast do you need to go anyway?

If I could only keep 1 of my 8 motorcycles, I would sell every other motorcycle I had and keep my MP3.

It’s that good to me.
 
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I hated the Niken. I rode it and this is my impression.

It is clunky and insanely overly complex compared to the elegant simplicity of the MP3 in my opinion.

3 cylinders vs 1. More power but significantly more vibration. Unnecessary complexity increasing cost of acquisition and owning.

The most complex front end ever constructed that in 8 more years, every dealer will refuse to work on it. Hell, they won’t have anybody who will know how to work on that monstrosity.

When it needs maintenance, it will be ridiculously expensive.

Everybody hated it.

Hence, discontinued after 2 years while the MP3 is now going on 17 years of continuous production.

I absolutely love my MP3.

Plenty of power, simple design and single cylinder 4V proven technology. Inexpensive maintenance anybody can do. It’s very simple. Rugged simplicity.

Outstanding handling and great onboard storage and seating.

Mine runs to 105mph. How fast do you need to go anyway?

If I could only keep 1 of my 8 motorcycles, I would sell every other motorcycle I had and keep my MP3.

It’s that good to me.
Thank you for the Niken review!

Jason
 
You are welcome.

It’s just my opinion though. YMMV

Most importantly though, the Niken is Japanese and hence, BUTT UGLY!!! The Japanese have ZERO styling ability and no sense of aesthetics whatsoever. They make the ugliest everything.

Everything they make looks like a goddamn ugly insect! It’s pathetic really.

It makes me nauseated just looking at it.

889E0AE8 4B44 4A95 B091 A015A182A305

C2BE7DFF DBE3 4F97 B0E2 A4F421B1A99C



The MP3 is elegant and beautiful Italian design.

IMG 8829

IMG 8832
 
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