Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: pat80flh on April 08, 2015, 05:06:47 AM
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Not that I'm complaining. I've been looking to replace the girls Virago , and after showing her pictures of various rides, guess what she loves? She's definitely vertically challenged, and I've found a couple of likely candidates, all in the 2500=3500 range. Most are advertised as needing some minor work, there is a 2000 Bassa that is leading the field right now. Probably going to look at that one Saturday, anything in particular I should look for, look out for, be worried about?
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Yes, they are in that trough of affordability right now. They will be for a few years and then either fall off the charts or begin rising in value again. It's like when we were kids and the MGA was $200 junk. You need to add a couple zeros to touch the same car today.
In my opinion the 15M ecu found on the later cali's is superior to the P8, which were common ion the 90s. Someone can tell you what the cutoff dates are for the P8.
I prefer it because it's less bulky, more addressable by diag software, and runs with simpler wiring and fewer sensors. Others may disagree.
The late 90s Bassa/EV is supposed to be lower riding than the Jackal/stone.
Some argue that the first injected Bassas were the best cali's ever. There are certainly a large number with 100,000+ miles, and compared to other bikes of the day, a large percentage of their production is still on the road.
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In 2000 the Bassa may still have had the tubeless rims or the switch might have been made to tube type wheels as on the Special Sports. Also, if you buy this bike, keep an eye on the side covers. The EV side covers are bolted to the frame. The Bassa and later Special Sports were pressed on and tend to become airborne at some point. One of mine flew off of my SS on a road trip. Luckily, someone was behind me to pick it up. I ended up drilling a small hole in the top of the cover where it is covered by the seat and zip tying it to the frame. I much prefer the covers on my EV and Vintage.
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The switch from tubeless to tube-type wheels came in 2001 with the California Special. Early built bikes had tubeless. Late built bikes had tube-type.
As far as a Bassa for the vertically challenged, she really needs to sit on it. The seat height is low for a Guzzi (28"-29"), but it's really wide. The side covers are also wide.
This makes the bike hard for some shorter people to handle.
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The Bassa and later Special Sports were pressed on and tend to become airborne at some point. One of mine flew off of my SS on a road trip. Luckily, someone was behind me to pick it up. I ended up drilling a small hole in the top of the cover where it is covered by the seat and zip tying it to the frame.
Funny this. My Bassa side cover wanted to stay on so badly the little molded nipple broke off instead of releasing from the rubber socket. It's still attached with electrical tape.
I find all the plastic chromy trim bits are flimsy, but the mechanicals and options found on the Bassa are nice. You may or may not like the beach bars.
They are so cheap because there is no market. I'm seeing nice EVs hit the $2k mark, later calis barely can sell for $3k. Sad but true. But as a result I have 4 used Guzzis for less than a used FLH.
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I think Fotoguzzi mentioned recently even prices for EV/Bassa parts are down in the gutter.
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Stuff depreciates... $2500-3000 is about 20% of new price for the last of the Calis, and these bikes are 15-20 years old. Most cars and trucks that age don't sell for more than 10--20% of new price.
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I think they must have sold a million of them, they are good bikes though IMHO once you get a few things sorted.
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"Why are prices so low on late 90's EV/Cal" Because they are fugly! I bought a 2000 project Bassa for crazy cheap a couple of years ago. Damn thing was so ugly I had to stirp off all the bodywork just to store it in the shed.
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I think they must have sold a million of them, they are good bikes though IMHO once you get a few things sorted.
Or, a couple thousand... But it felt like a lot at the time...
The California variants numbers were up and down. 1998 was a peak year because of the introduction of the EV, then they dipped. The 2003 PI engine pretty much killed sales of the California line, until it was revamped in 2006 with the California Vintage.
But, with the introduction of the CARC bikes, The Cal Vintage sales were never that big.
Production and Sales of the California line between 1998 and 2011 ranged from an annual high of a couple thousand to lows in the hundreds.
For some reason it feels like there are a lot of them because the '98-up California variants have been very popular mounts for those Guzzisti who attend campouts and rallies...
In the greater motorcycling world, they practically don't exist...
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With the cali's the farther back you go in time the greater percentage are still on the road compared to other brands. This might be the real mark of the marquee. I read an article the other day that listed the top 12 most reliable bikes on the road. Guzzi was not mentioned. But the survey only went back four years. While this might be the oldest point to measure the ujms at, a proper guzzi hasn't reached puberty yet. Take it back to y2k, 1990. . .80. . .. and the results would be different. The magazine would argue that it's not fair to do that since 'modern' bikes can't reasonably be expected to last longer than 4 years. I'd argue that if they can't go the distance, they're not much of a bike.
[edit for link]
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/s/makes-most-reliable-motorcycle-100025261.html
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90% of all the Harleys ever built are still on the road.
A bit here, a bit there ;D
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Great bike, don't ask why so cheap, just ride the heck out of them
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I think these bikes are a bargain, and a pleasure to ride and own. I now many dont like the FWP looks of the bulbous gas tank, but to me it kinda grows on you. A well sorted "hydro" is a sweet machine, that engine is so smooth ,and torquey, the 5 speed shifts very nicely, parts are cheap and easy to find. I absolutely love my Aluminum!
IMHO the perfect Guzzi for me would be a California II , with a fuel injected, hydro 1100 motor installed.
A "Gentleman's Hot Rod" ;-T
Rick.
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90% of all the Harleys ever built are still on the road.
A bit here, a bit there ;D
The other 10% made it home!
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If they aren't priced high enough snobbish riders aren't interested
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:+=copcar I know my sport with the small tank didn't make it home :BEER: :BEER:
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Sounds like I'm stuck with this worthless "turd" for life..... ;)
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f82/juturtle/bassaaa.jpg) (http://s45.photobucket.com/user/juturtle/media/bassaaa.jpg.html)
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Any bike that can be identified as white is too clean and is therefore a worthless turd. It's in the rules. This can be remedied with a long ride. I recommend it. ;-T
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That is the prettiest turd I've ever seen. ;-T :BEER:
Bill
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Buy a guzzi to ride it, if your gonna worry about resale, buy something else.
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Check for fuel leaks, some of the tanks from around 98 to 02 seem to crack in various places, easy to silver solder in most cases.
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Check for fuel leaks, some of the tanks from around 98 to 02 seem to crack in various places, easy to silver solder in most cases.
John,
It was my experience that only the Jackals had problems with the fuel tanks. No problem on the three '98 EV's I had and you know the miles I put on them. ;D
Tex
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Guzzi's are not known for resale values. if you really want to sell a Guzzi, you just sell it for what monies are presented. That's why I keep my Guzzi's for 200,000 miles. The advertise them for sale as "running bike, mechanically sound, cosmetically challenged".
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Sounds like I'm stuck with this worthless "turd" for life..... ;)
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f82/juturtle/bassaaa.jpg) (http://s45.photobucket.com/user/juturtle/media/bassaaa.jpg.html)
Is this where the phrase "polishing a turd" come from? :bow Looks very nice to me.
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John,
It was my experience that only the Jackals had problems with the fuel tanks. No problem on the three '98 EV's I had and you know the miles I put on them. ;D
Tex
I believe you are right Ken, the cracks I found were on later ones, I just thought a quick visual check for that would be in order. Didn't you have a tach lite bulb burn out once?