Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: jacksonracingcomau on May 01, 2026, 06:07:29 AM
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I caught up with a bunch (gaggle? flock ? mercy?) of BMW riders today.Talking at fuel stop, one asked me why I ride my Guzzi .
I actually couldn’t bring myself to tell him,
would you be the bee that tells the fly that honey tastes better than shit ?
MH
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Should have asked them why they don't ride Harley's. Friends don't let friends ride BMV
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Wow guys. All bikes are cool.
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I started riding BMW’s in 1985 with the introduction of the K bike . For 1985 it was a tremendous bike ! I put over 200k miles on it with only maintenance as scheduled ! During that period a SP1000 shared garage space with it . I was much younger then & had different priorities. I parted ways with the Guzzi . It went to a good home & was campaigned for a few years,then I lost tack of it. Then a few R1150’s were cycled through the fleet finally ending with a R1200r ! As I got older & riding habits changed I started looking fo a lighter & lower bike . My local dealer was a BMW dealer as wel as a Guzzi dealer ! The V7 bikes locked close to fitting my needs @ that time . An extended test ride & a good price on a leftover V7II sealed the deal .Once sorted the bike grew on me as the miles accumulated. Light,easy to handle & maintainance similarly easy as previous bikes . Also a decent accesory network & rider info network (such as this one)is invaluable !Well one thing leads to another , and when the V7/850 came out , well ya know ! I now have 2 V7’s ! See ya on the road !
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For years I rode a Wing to Guzzi breakfast & rallies (before I had a Guzzi) and no one said anything to me about my choice of rides or excluded me from an event. Fast forward to present day...I show up to the local BMWMOC for the (old geezer) Wednesday ride every week on either my Eldo, LMIVSE, v85 or one of the other turds I have and again, no one has ever asked me why I show up to a Beemer ride on something other than a bmw. The way I kinda look at it is that it is more about the ride experience with others having the same interest than what we rode in on. And, it is because of the the lack of brand prejudice that I've had a great time, met nice folks & made lifelong friendships. I hope it never ends.
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The differences between (thinking vintage) BMW and Moto Guzzi are not that great. Kind of similar to the Swedes and Norwegians who are more alike than they are different from each other. And they are not exactly in love with each other either. :grin:
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The differences between (thinking vintage) BMW and Moto Guzzi are not that great. Kind of similar to the Swedes and Norwegians who are more alike than they are different from each other. And they are not exactly in love with each other either. :grin:
and they both like to play practical jokes on the Finns...just for fun of course!
Although there are many quite funny jokes about Swedes vs. Norwegians and vice versa...all good natured and not malicious of course!
:)
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Owned a ‘75 R90S from 1977-1986.Great bike but not very reliable. After several reliable but boring BMW K75’s decided on the ‘08 Guzzi 1200 Sport in 2013. Reminds me so much of the R90S but with more power, better handling and reliability. Never looked back..
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I think BMW riders fall generally into two camps... the first are the people that have been riding BMW's a long time, maybe starting with a /6 or /7. The classic airheads. Usually lifelong riders that have piled a ton of miles on. Not sure what they may be riding NOW, but they appreciate the old air heads and generally "GET" the newer Moto Guzzi's. This group, however, is probably aging out pretty quick...They are not the type that would ask "why are you riding that?" Rather, they would nod in approval or give you a thumbs up. They get it.
The second camp are the nuevo BMW riders, usually a high end model, all the accessories, every bit of riding gear BMW branded. They have a new 7 series car in the garage, and the latest M3 on order. Perhaps they have never ridden anything that didn't have a BMW logo on it. This group will never get it, nor is there any real appreciation for heritage or for having respect for someone who has been riding longer than they have been alive and knows what matters and what one truly wants and needs in a motor bike.
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I bought my Guzzi LeMans in ‘78. Then bought a Beemer R100RT in ‘84 so I could tour with my wife. Had that bike for 20 years and put 226,000 miles on it. Despite the similarities it was never as reliable as my LeMans. Bad valves and seats, melting diode boards, solid state ignition failures. Later I carried a spare hall sensor, rotor and stator. Good thing it was easy to repair even on the road.
As for the riders, a few fit the stereotype but most are just riders same as all brands.
Pete
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I caught up with a bunch (gaggle? flock ? mercy?) of BMW riders today.Talking at fuel stop, one asked me why I ride my Guzzi .
I actually couldn’t bring myself to tell him,
would you be the bee that tells the fly that honey tastes better than shit ?
MH
You should have replied that you are still a fellow motorcycle elitist snob, just not a BMW elitist snob or a Harley Davidson elitist snob!
I'm sure they would have understood! :wink:
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My lone BMW in a forest of Guzzis.
(https://i.ibb.co/BKLfQGVF/IMG-2091-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/BKLfQGVF)
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They never wave at you. Kind of like Harley riders
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35 years ago, I was bombing around on a Yamaha FJ1100. I went to 3 Guzzi rallies with my uncle; one in Arkansas,1 in Washington state and 1 in Arkansas. No one gave me any grief for being on an off-brand bike. After the Iowa rally, I bought a Cal II and have since owned 5 others.
The lack of brand bullshit is why I ride a Guzzi today.
Bill Lovelady IS
Eskimo Spy
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My lone BMW in a forest of Guzzis.
(https://i.ibb.co/BKLfQGVF/IMG-2091-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/BKLfQGVF)
During my first cross country motorcycle trip, me on my ‘71 Norton and my brother on his ‘69 750 Honda we were coming back on the Trans Canada Hwy in British Columbia. I see a single head light about a 1/2 mile back in my rear view steadily gaining on us. After a few miles he passed us going maybe 80 MPH on his slash 2 BMW. My experience with BMWs then were I left them behind at the stoplights. We tried to keep up but at 80 MPH the Norton starts to sound like a bucket of bolts and had to back off. Thats when I learned the difference between sprinters and marathon runners and gained a lot of respect for BMWs.
This before I had ever ridden a Guzzi.
Pete
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My first big bike was an R50/2. 80 mph was only a dream.
kk
Edit: It didn't help that I lived in Denver where the mile high altitude didn't help.
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We rode R60 2 up with camping gear all over Alaska and back to Chicago and it never missed a beat.I didn’t know what I was missing until I got a Guzzi but have great memories of that ride.
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My first big bike was an R50/2.
I want to save that quote for posterity! It's for the next time someone questions me that >500cc is into "middleweight" bikes - a phrase not a unit of measure. :angel:
[After my wee SS50, the Z200 felt like a 'grown up' bike, mainly due to features and a big Rickman fairing on it. ]
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I was in BMW land for about 20 years 97-17. 84 R100RS, 97 R1100RS,04 R1150RT and finally 03 K1200RS. A Victory and a Harley thrown in during those years also. I was strongly into the BMW rally scene. I enjoyed them very much when I went to them. I really liked the rallies and didn't practice brand elitism or actually hear any of that. More often riders were interested in non-BMW bikes especially Guzzis. Every BMW rally always had between 3 and a dozen Guzzis. It has been Guzzi only for me since 2017. The Guzzi rallies remind me of the older BMW rallys when there were still many airheads represented. Those 99-08 BMW rallies felt more like family reunions where you could meet people from all walks of life, many who had bikes that had never been serviced by anyone but their owners. However, as the years passed and the bikes became far more expensive and the airheads and their riders became fewer, the character changed at the rallies. It seemed to me that it switched over to what I call "credit card" riders as they were the ones that could afford the bikes so the atmosphere was a little different at rallies. I have not been to a BMW rally since the mid teens. Guzzi rallies still feel like those older BMW rallies where it feels like a family reunion atmosphere and there are plenty of affordable bikes and many that still work on their own and a bigger cross section of our general population. The rallies are the high point of my year.
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My first bike was a Yamaha 80. Second was a Yamaha YDS3 250 then the R50. Big bike by comparison. The one of the very first R75/5's. The last and best was an R90/6. My V7lll was very much like that R90 from what I remember of that bike. My V7 850 is a whole new direction in a good way, the best bike I have ever owned.
kk
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Yamaha YDS3
Must've seemed like a rocket. :smiley:
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I used to think old BMW motors were ugly as sin, considering the engine cases didn’t have ribs and lines for air-cooling or structural support. And the cylinders sticking out flat like wings…what weirdos.
But then I made a really good friend after moving to New Hampshire—hardcore 80s punk, saw action in Kosovo and Desert Storm 2 as a tank driver / combat medic, rode over 200k miles on various BMWs but also loved and owned many old British bikes, and has had multiple sidecars. Just hanging out with him made me fall in love with both sidecars and airhead Beemers. He poops on the Italian brands in jest (guess it’s that German engineering vs Italian emotion rivalry), though admits he once considered buying a red-framed V7 Sport.
I’m not old or engrained enough to know the historical relationship between the two brands, but considering so many of the similarities, as a newer rider (15 years now) and lover of older machines, maybe I’m just like the Gen Z kids who call Avril Lavigne ‘punk’. Love my R80/7 despite having to play catchup on all the previous owners’ neglect and follies.
There’s a Guzzi-lovin’ ex-mechanic curmudgeon in the USCRA club (United States Classic Racing Association), and he’s constantly pissing on anything BMW. I look up to him for all things Guzzi, but I like both perky jugs and saggy jugs, thanks. Maybe one day I’ll learn to like liquid-cooled bikes, too.
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14 HD's, 7, BMW's, 3 Guzzis, misc other bikes... The only answer is what "speak to you".. Only the HD and Guzzi do to me. End of story.
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I think BMW riders fall generally into two camps... the first are the people that have been riding BMW's a long time, maybe starting with a /6 or /7. The classic airheads. Usually lifelong riders that have piled a ton of miles on. Not sure what they may be riding NOW, but they appreciate the old air heads and generally "GET" the newer Moto Guzzi's. This group, however, is probably aging out pretty quick...They are not the type that would ask "why are you riding that?" Rather, they would nod in approval or give you a thumbs up. They get it.
The second camp are the nuevo BMW riders, usually a high end model, all the accessories, every bit of riding gear BMW branded. They have a new 7 series car in the garage, and the latest M3 on order. Perhaps they have never ridden anything that didn't have a BMW logo on it. This group will never get it, nor is there any real appreciation for heritage or for having respect for someone who has been riding longer than they have been alive and knows what matters and what one truly wants and needs in a motor bike.
This is it exactly. The old school airhead guys love Guzzi’s. I restored a ‘71 /5 years ago, and rode it for 10 years. Took me 5 years, and way too much money to build. I dragged it out of my HS buddy’s shed after a couple decades. Regret selling that one
(https://i.ibb.co/5gg7yZ7y/BC7-B3-B2-E-6117-4-D92-AB19-5-CAB993-C75-D9.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5gg7yZ7y)
regret selling that bike.