- Joined
- Apr 15, 2009
- Messages
- 11,540
While I wait to get over the grief of my poor Norton I decided I'm done with the Triumph. While a lovely bike, dead reliable and ok to ride I wanted something else. Since I was having so much fun with the 850-T but wanted something newer I started looking.
I saw a green Guzzi in the back of a truck at the OVM show last year and couldn't stop thinking about it. So I got on a Guzzi forum and not too long afterward someone posts a link to a craigslist ad with the instructions to get to the airport asap.
I put the Triumph on craigslist and it was gone in a couple hours. Nice guy bought it for his brother so they could go riding.
Now all there was to do was arrange the trip. I booked my flight into SFO and then checked the weather, solid rain up the West Coast. Not fun, and if you're going to fly and ride, at least try to make it as fun as you can. So I rebooked for the following week. Seller asked for a deposit and that went in the mail asap.
I flew into San Jose and seller picked me up. We went back to his shanty in Palo Alto and after some paperwork I hopped on the bike, now this was the first time even on a V11 Sport so I took my time. Instead of headed straight for the nearest bridge I decided to take a detour back to San Jose to visit Rabers. I'd always wanted to visit there and you never know when places like that will shut down. I had a lot of fun poking around there.
After Rabers I headed up the east side of the Bay, now mind you it's now rush hour, I've put about 20 miles on the bike and I've never lane split. No time like the present! It was actually quite nice although stressful. At one point I tucked in behind a couple locals and let them clear the cars out of the way. I was headed up to Oakland to stay with a friend for the night.
I made it through rush hour traffic, a little frazzled but both mirrors intact. Win.
The next day I stopped in Richmond to visit with a guy from the V11 forum. He had some nice bikes. We chatted for a while and I was off again. I had planned on just blasting up I-5 to Portland but there was a chance of snow and ice in the Siskiyous. I told the wife that I was just going to have to take the coast the whole way. Darn!
From when I picked up the bike until home I put on 800 miles. I got a bit cold when the sun dropped but otherwise no real incidents.
[video]https://youtu.be/8Iqhw_-vuo4[/video]
I still need to do some fettling and farkling, but the bike is pretty solid. And way more fun that any Bonneville.
I saw a green Guzzi in the back of a truck at the OVM show last year and couldn't stop thinking about it. So I got on a Guzzi forum and not too long afterward someone posts a link to a craigslist ad with the instructions to get to the airport asap.
I put the Triumph on craigslist and it was gone in a couple hours. Nice guy bought it for his brother so they could go riding.
Now all there was to do was arrange the trip. I booked my flight into SFO and then checked the weather, solid rain up the West Coast. Not fun, and if you're going to fly and ride, at least try to make it as fun as you can. So I rebooked for the following week. Seller asked for a deposit and that went in the mail asap.
I flew into San Jose and seller picked me up. We went back to his shanty in Palo Alto and after some paperwork I hopped on the bike, now this was the first time even on a V11 Sport so I took my time. Instead of headed straight for the nearest bridge I decided to take a detour back to San Jose to visit Rabers. I'd always wanted to visit there and you never know when places like that will shut down. I had a lot of fun poking around there.
After Rabers I headed up the east side of the Bay, now mind you it's now rush hour, I've put about 20 miles on the bike and I've never lane split. No time like the present! It was actually quite nice although stressful. At one point I tucked in behind a couple locals and let them clear the cars out of the way. I was headed up to Oakland to stay with a friend for the night.
I made it through rush hour traffic, a little frazzled but both mirrors intact. Win.
The next day I stopped in Richmond to visit with a guy from the V11 forum. He had some nice bikes. We chatted for a while and I was off again. I had planned on just blasting up I-5 to Portland but there was a chance of snow and ice in the Siskiyous. I told the wife that I was just going to have to take the coast the whole way. Darn!
From when I picked up the bike until home I put on 800 miles. I got a bit cold when the sun dropped but otherwise no real incidents.
[video]https://youtu.be/8Iqhw_-vuo4[/video]
I still need to do some fettling and farkling, but the bike is pretty solid. And way more fun that any Bonneville.
