1974-1984-2014

[canuguzzi]

and before that 3 others and in between all those, about 32 others. Wish I still had every one of them, from the 2 stoke Kawasaki 250 Triple to the Triumph Trophy 1200

[drw916]

I see your bikes have gotten bigger.  How about you?

[canuguzzi]

I see your bikes have gotten bigger.  How about you?

I held on. 5'10 @ 160 give or take 5 depending on how good the apple pie comes out. ;)

[swmckinley54]

It's a disease for which there is no known cure for, I should know cause I have it also. The only thing to assuage it is to purchase a bike again, and again and again.

[StuCorpe]

I don't think there are any "Bad" motorcycles but I have tasted a "Bad" Apple Pie,  actually one my mother made (and she wouldn't even eat it).  There are many average Apple Pies and a few that are "EXCELLENT!).
My wife's Apple Pie trends from very good to excellent.  ;-T

[guzzisteve]

What happened to 94?
Me in 76

Daytona Beach, riding thru the surf, and down the beach, 1st touring trip 2500mi

[tazio]

LOVE the old photos. Keep 'em comin' ;-T
'79 Bonnie around 1987 and '82 Vision in '85

[canuguzzi]

I had a short dry spell around the 93-96 years. There were severe withdrawals during those years, thanks for bring up those horrible times.  :(

I vowed not to be without ever again.

[tazio]

Give us your impressions on the Sabre  ;-T

[Lannis]

Like a wise man once said ...

"You can't have everything.   Where would you put it?"

[guzzisteve]

Got this baby 2 weeks after I got back from Daytona, 5K mi service instead of 1200 mi service.


On my way to Sylvan Grove National Rally in 81


On my way to New Cumberland, W VA Rally in 84, another new Guzzi

[tazio]

Leaving home for the second time..1984
Early ADV bike :BEER:
Florida bound. Still got the jacket. Does not fit...

[Guido Valvole]

Tazio - silver 82 Vision in 85? Did you get it new at half price? That was my first bike, when they were blowing them out cheap. (eventually around 90 or so you could get a brand-new one for $999) V-twin, shaft drive, nice engine in an unfinished frame. My next bike was a Ducati Darmah. Then on to Guzzis. Much simpler!
cr

[Gary]

My first in '69. Tazio - I also had a Vision in the mid '80's.

[canuguzzi]

Give us your impressions on the Sabre  ;-T

The V65 Sabre is a beast. A lot of motorcycles are called beasts, they all cower to the Sabre. I wanted the V65 but initially bought a VF700S, one of the tariff beaters. A few days later I couldn't stand not having the V65 so I rode down to SoCal on the 700 and traded it for the V65. They had a Hondaline Fairing in a box so I bought it as well and borrowed some tools and put it on in the dealers parking lot.

The word to describe the Sabre is ferocious. Think Dodge Hellcat, you can ride it sanely and even cruise with it which is what I did on the way back up, going up the coast to the Central Coast. It handles reasonably well and much better than you hear about. Good tires, setting the suspension up right and using a gear higher than you otherwise might use through corners makes all the difference.

Its all about that engine. It pulls off idle like only a Trophy 1200 four cylinder can do. If you open the throttle at 1500 rpm there is a kick from behind and you shoot forward, in any gear. You can idle in 6th and it gains speed at an amazing rate. Once past about 3k things gets really interesting and as you pass through 6k you must know two things, how much in tickets you can afford and exactly where you are going.

The Sabre is amazingly smooth and never bothers you with mechanical rumblings. It is as close to vibrationless as you can get, the only thing close was the Suzuki water buffalo with its rubber mounted engine at 50 mph in top gear. You can ride the Sabre across the country and run with any tourer.

I saw quite a bit over 140 on the speedo - once. It happened so fast and the bike was as stable as anything I've ever ridden. The rake of the front end made it run at ultra high speeds easy without having to wonder about when the shakes would set it, they never did.

The beast part. It has the sound, from stock exhausts. There is no need to aftermarket exhausts, the thing barks. 3rd gear is the reality gear. The Sabre being geared tall could take off from any gear from a stop but 3rd was as easy as first. Barely any clutch slip and off you go. From there to 10k it is sheer terror if you open the throttle wide and hold on. You know how with some bike you look down at the speedometer and gasp at the velocity you are traveling? Not so with the Sabre, you know the velocity because you felt the acceleration the entire time. There was no looking down to check the speed because whatever there was in front of you, even as far as you could see was coming close very fast. The acceleration was that kind that was there full force all the time. There wasn't a powerband, when the engine was running it was in the powerband.

The seat was good for about 400 miles being designed more for shape and style than function. I'm not a big guy, 5'10 and 160 so the Sabre didn't even know I was aboard. The rear suspension was tight so I rode it with 2 pounds of air which made for a decent ride. With a passenger it actually rode comfortably. The front suspension also being air assisted was pretty compliant at very low air pressures. It had a lot of adjustments for both compression and damping. The TRAC anti-dive really worked. Grab a handful of front brake and it settled down just a little and hauled itself down really fast. I never worried about not having enough brake. The thing though, was that it was so fast in acceleration that you're braking from much higher speeds than other bikes. Triple digit speeds were just a matter of fact, not something you thought consciously about doing.

There was a lot of heat. With the full fairing and lowers, on a hot day the heat at stop lights could really toast you. The lowers had neat air flow vents like the Yamaha Vision so at any speed you got cool air or warm on cool days depending on the vent position. In the rain, your feet didn't get wet as the lowers went all the way down to the front of your boots.

Being shaft driven and water cooled you had it all, power, good range from the large fuel tank and little on road maintenance. I fitted an oil kit for the cams and never had a problem with them. The Sabre was the most maintenance free bike I've owned. It went coast to coast and never skipped a beat and an oil change after was all it needed. The valves stayed in adjustment.

I could get 50 mpg on the Sabre. On the freeways it purred like a 73 TransAm SD455, you knew that if your right foot moved toward the firewall more than 1/2 and inch things would be moving right along.

The riding position was the standard upright type. The handlebars were adjustable although many who owned one never knew it. You could adjust the bar ends close or farther away making it easy to be comfortable.

Honda replaced the Sabre after a gap with the ST1100 which I also had but the ST was tame compared to the Sabre. The Sabre as like a Honda Accord, capable and you could ride it all day but the Sabre has real personality. Those that didn't know what the V65 meant, thinking CCs instead of cubic inches got shamed.

Recently I dipped into my nut bag and sold my 2nd V65 Sabre. Now that I think about it I don't really know why. It has very low miles on it, ran perfectly needing only a better rear shock to allow for my older and more tender rear end but it was a jewel. The new Norge kind of takes away the missing of the Sabre but there just isn't like a Sabre. With the Sabre you can call ahead for the coffee and get there before the machine is finished brewing it.

The one engine that comes close to the Sabre was my 96 Trophy Four (I had 2, the other was a 2000). The trophy was like silk, it wasn't raw power, the Sabre was like a burlap, it burned your arse and there was no such thing as being subtle.

[tazio]

Great write~up, NP. Thank You. ;-T
This bike certainly left it's mark on you !!
Yeah, Guido, got the Vision CHEAP. Heck, the place had four KZ1000's for $1,699 !
Ahh, if only I could go back to the early eighties with a wad of cash :BEER:

[Tobit]

Re the Sabre, I rode a buddy's new V65 Magna and agree, that engine was a beast.  I had a GPz750 at that time so that was my point of reference.  The V65 hit "Ludicrous Speed" every time I hit the throttle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygE01sOhzz0

[Wayne Orwig]

So YOU bought that other V65 Sabre.


 ~;

I had a V65 Magna. My brother still has an 84 V65 Magna. A friend had a V65 Sabre. He had the factory fairing AND the factory luggage to match. Hard to find.
He put a lot of miles of his Sabre, but the cam decided to seize in the head and locked it up. That was an exciting few seconds.
Yes, they were beasts for sure.

[canuguzzi]

Here is/was my 1996 Triumph Trophy 1200 (4 Cylinder), the first of two.

This was was geared short when I got it, turning just over 4k at 60 and made for very fun merges onto the freeways.

What I didn't know until a bit later was that Triumph only brought a few of these 96s into the USA and about midway through the year went to the large fairing and standard sport tourer style bike. This one had the silverish-black engine was different that the 95 model year which was aluminum and the later 96 had deep black.

It had D&D exhausts on it but I couldn't stand the noise so I swapped someone who liked that sort of thing and put on originals.

Car in the background is an 86 Fiero GT.