Picked up my Guzzi and rode home

[Dave Bell]

I flew to Charlotte NC and was picked up at the airport by Sunbather.  He sold me a 2013 V7 Stone and we went to his house and picked it up.  I rode up to Staunton Virginia and got on the Blue Ridge Parkway and rode it to Asheville.  I headed back and got on the Natchez Trace Parkway and rode it nearly to Jackson Ms, and then on I20 home.  I will write a detailed ride report but I have one question:

What are some good replacement shocks?

[clubman]

Congratulations on the new bike! I have 25K on my '09 V7C. The OEM schocks on my bike were horrible. After some research replaced them with the IKON's from MG. Very happy with them. There are several other options, mostly more expensive, that will also help a lot. I used HyperPro progressive wound springs in the forks with their recommendation on oil amount and weight. Again big improvement. Have fun.

[Kev m]

SWEET - enjoy.

[Lannis]

I flew to Charlotte NC and was picked up at the airport by Sunbather.  He sold me a 2013 V7 Stone and we went to his house and picked it up.  I rode up to Staunton Virginia and got on the Blue Ridge Parkway and rode it to Asheville.  I headed back and got on the Natchez Trace Parkway and rode it nearly to Jackson Ms, and then on I20 home.  I will write a detailed ride report but I have one question:

What are some good replacement shocks?

I don't know about V7 shocks (I use made-for-my-weight Hagons on my Britbikes), but you sure took the long way home riding from Charlotte to Staunton, then 350 miles back down the parkway, then all across Tennessee to the NTP .... Sounds like a great ride and should be enough to start "bonding" with the Guzzi!

Enjoy!

Lannis

[drlapo]

solid bars of steel would be an improvement on the stock V7 shocks.  they are made to Chinese pit bike standards. Dave Quinn does a good job with Hagons at a reasonable price
the forks need to be re-valved and the spring replaced; call RaceTech

[Haze]

Great route! Skyline Drive and the Trace are my two favorite roads in America.

[Cam3512]

Congratulations on the new bike! I have 25K on my '09 V7C. The OEM schocks on my bike were horrible. After some research replaced them with the IKON's from MG. Very happy with them. There are several other options, mostly more expensive, that will also help a lot. I used HyperPro progressive wound springs in the forks with their recommendation on oil amount and weight. Again big improvement. Have fun.

I put the same Ikons on mine. Definite improvement, decent price.

[pyoungbl]

Shocks on mine are RaceTech...not the cheapest but these have been built for my weight and the valving is satisfactory (after some factory adjustment).  RT was good to deal with when I was not happy with the initial setup.

Forks:  RT .80 springs and RT emulators to replace the stock metering rods.  Make sure you know what brand forks you have.  You'll need to take the fender off to see the casting mark on the forks.  That's the only way to know, they look alike but are not identical on the inside.  No matter what you do to the forks, you will still have to adjust the preload and air gap to your taste.  That's easy to do, just takes a few minutes to make the changes and then go for a long ride...and make the next small change.  Don't expect to get great results merely by taking some numbers and plugging them into a formula, weight and riding expectations differ too much for that.

Taking the fork caps off can be 'interesting' because the caps only have a small lip.  A standard socket will not get enough purchase to remove the caps without some damage to the soft metal.  Simply grind the face of the socket so it's flat and the problem is solved. 

Peter Y.

[balvenie]

I got IKONs front and rear for my Cali, built to my weight, from the Aussie factory.

[Clancy]

I weigh 70Kg dry and am very happy with the 'off the shelf' Ikons I got.
They're not 'racing' level shocks, but for the small price they are a massive improvement over the stock shocks, especially as they include damping adjustment.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Congratulations on the new bike, nothing like a fly and ride to get aquainted.

[Arizona Wayne]

Interesting........ ...the gas charged rear shocks on my `04 750 Breva are stiff but I usually put some extra weight back there.   Have no complaints about the front forks @ 42K miles.  I just adapt to what I have.