Non Guzzi Content: What is it about moto guzzi that makes you a fanatic?

[mach1mustang351]

I started very logically. I wanted an older project bike. My dad restores British bikes so I have a love for the brits, but that was his thing. I didn't want to compete. I couldn't afford and Indian. And I liked Ducati, and the Guzzi came up. The rest is history. I now have two of them. Old and new

[geoff in almonte]

Many years ago I was at the Sportbike Rally in Parry Sound.  There was a fellow there who had ridden his heavily modified Sportster there fro Texas (!!!).  He was holding court in front of several squids on oriental iron when one asked why he had sunk so much time and money into a bike that would never keep up to any of the stock 600cc jap spotbikes.

His reply?


"It makes me smile."

Nuff said.

G

[pebra]

I'm right, so don't call me a fanatic! 

The torque, the sound........ Pushing it to 6,000 rpm, then taking off...... 
Lazy driving in second on twisty roads, between almost standstill and 120 kph, braking with the motor only. 

[alanp]

I originally gravitated toward Guzzi because I wanted something different.  I considered Brit bikes (unreliable, at least that was the rap), BMW (at the time airheads, that sewing machine sound didn't quite cut it), and then saw a V7 sport parked in northwest Denver.  I left a note on the seat telling the owner it was the most beautiful bike I had even seen and asked if he would call me to tell me about it.  He called, really nice guy (no surprise there), and I ended up on an '83 Lemans with Lafranconis.  A bunch of Guzzis later and still love them. 

Yes, it's the engine character, the relative ease of maintenance, and it isn't the Same thing everyone else is riding. 

[ajwood]

Something Special

[Penderic]

I feel special. I feel at home.

[Triple Jim]

.... Pushing it to 6,000 rpm, then taking off...... 

You know you have a dry clutch, right?

[segesta]

Call me a poser, but all my friends had Harleys, and I wanted a cruiser that absolutely nobody else had. The fact that the California 1400 turned out to be a fantastic motorcycle was secondary. 
Plus, as my username and spouse indicate, I'm an Italophile.

[Kent in Upstate NY]

That fact that a total mechanical ignoramus like me can work on it.

[normzone]

Didn't know any better. Having owned a Honda 350 CL and an H2 (crashed, are you suprised? http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=68761.0;wap...)

I was speaking to a customer at the service station I managed in Sausalito " I want a basket case Harley or Norton " and afterwards another customer said " Are you interested in a not running Moto Guzzi ? " and I was all " WTF is that ? "

Paid $350 for my first Eldo, woke it up, rode it, and now I'm in trouble...can't quit.

[wymple]

To me it was the engine layout, and the fact that Guzzis (at least back then) were tinkerer's bikes. You could fool with it all you wanted with half a brain, instead of putting it on a truck and hauling to a dealer. You could rebuild a switch. Parts interchangeability. Quirkiness that attaches itself to you. The feeling that you could ride it around the world and know you'd get there. I never took a long trip on a bike, or considered it, until Guzzi, and I was pushing 40. And I'd been riding a Jap 1100. I did Texas, the Black Hills, and Phoenix in short order. I don't know, I guess if you have to ask, you don't really get it.

[normzone]

I know what you mean, when I saw a distributor and cap I was stunned...

[NCAmother]

Yeah, I really got lucky when I joined this forum, everyone has been helpful, a member even donated a sweet brake light for my project.  Sourcing parts is a little expensive, but mostly available and much cheaper than I had thought, used parts for a Tonti are very available.  It's that engine I love so much, it's very nostalgic and americana (ironic), it compliments the frame with a muscle look. I love it.

[Rox]

Why Moto Goozy? 

They're original.
They're beautiful.
They're straightforward. .

[Arizona Wayne]

Well, I used to be a fanatic Guzzi owner(still have 3) but after 30 years I'm luke warm on them now.  When they need certain things like a new clutch, my happiness in them takes a dive.  Have found other brand Italian  quirky rides to enjoy too at the same time.    Maybe if I didn't do my own repairs...........

[guzzista]

Well, lets see: Started with the the sighting of a then new V700 in red and silver riding into my hometown when I was 10, then, the awesome  black Loops  around when I was  a teen, helping uncrate a brand new V7 Sport circa 1972, my  first own Ambo Loop rescued from a yard in San Francisco, the  LM1 sighting in the Euromart showroom in San Jose back in '77 , Mike Baldwin on the LM1 racer, followed by Tontis, road trips on Guzzis for decades, Calis, LM's both Tonti and spine,T's. Asides from that, not much

[Zazu]

I'd been riding since I was nine years-old; my Dad and brothers always had something to ride, from old Triumphs to homemade scooters to small enduros and I finally bought my own CX500 while at University. Life happened and any time and money went to raising the kids. While deployed to the Middle East a few years ago, I convinced myself, and my wife 😉, that when I came home it was time to get back on a bike. I had been thinking HD, everybody I knew was riding a Harley. I had an Austrian friend overseas, however, who wouldn't stop talking about Moto Guzzi, mumbled it to me every time we crossed paths; I had no idea ... by the time I got home, searching for MGs became an obsession. The harder they were to find, the more I wanted one! He was right though, Motto Guzzi was what I had been waiting for all these years. Turns out one of the reasons I love the bike the most is the very reason I started thinking HD in the beginning - I was the only guy I knew riding one, everybody else seemed to be riding a Harley 😎

[ajwood]

Aren't Harley riders just a little laid back ?

[Muley]

My dad said "you'll never have a motorcycle while you're living in this house", and he was true to his word.  Of course that made me want one even more.  I was not forbidden from having motorcycle magazines, and I remember one of them, circa 1967, had a red (I think) Guzzi on the cover with the exotic and mesmerizing V twin engine. I guess it was the 700 and the first time the V twin was available.  I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong on the dates, etc.  It was love at first sight, and I, for some reason, thought a Guzzi was so exotic and unobtainable that I sort of put that image in the back for my mind for nearly 36 years while I had Japanese bikes.  The first Guzzi I ever saw in person was the EV I bought in 2003, and the only time I see them to this day is at rallies and once in a blue moon around Atlanta or maybe on the BRP.

It was the layout of the engine that attracted me and it still does

[Testarossa]

The first time I saw one, around 1969, I thought "That layout makes so much sense, and the proportions are just right -- that's what a motorcycle should look like."  I went through three bikes before I stumbled across the T, and it felt so good to ride -- solid and neutral handling with great torque that made everything easy.
'

[Doppelgaenger]

The original reason I gravitated towards Guzzi was sloth. I don't like chain maintenance and I really wanted valves I could adjust myself without having to take the whole damn bike apart.

I hate chains, I hate chains. Did I mention I hate chains? So shaft drive it was, and I didn't want a 4 cylinder bike or a parallel twin. That left me with BMW and Guzzi.

BMW is... well Break My Wallet... that and every damn hipster in seattle has one. Not to mention your average BMW rider is a special kind of person that I don't normally associate with. I wanted exclusivity so it was down to just Guzzi. That and I love the engine layout and just the general aesthetics of their bikes, so much more soul than Beemers.

It was actually harder to figure out which model Guzzi I wanted than it was to pick the brand.