I am at a stop point

[Seamaster]

Bought a 2016 V7 II a few months ago. The bike itself was inexpensive but the accessories are costly. A few hundreds dollars here and there, I have been  emptying wallet faster than a cold beer on a summer day after yard work! Not to mention all the new jacket, gloves, helmet, etc. I have to buy...... Now, I am at a stop point and here are some pictures to share:

[Rich A]

More like a ready-to-hit-the-road point...Lookin' good.

Rich A

[rodekyll]

Looks like a classic case of farkelitis.  The only cure is to rub money on the places where it hurts.

[charlie b]

ROFLMAO  I gotta remember that one.

Nice look.  Where are you riding to?  :)

[Groover]

Money was well spent; All ties in together nicely, well done.

[Cam3512]

Is there really such a thing as "Stop"?  "Pause" is more like it.

Looks good!

[Guzzistajohn]

Ok now that you have her all farkled up you're just missing one thing BUG SPLAT

[Seamaster]

I will add bug tar soon  !! And look mom, no mirror holes, haha. Three things surprised me in this process. 1) the quality of the Chinese made eBay clutch and brake levers are freaking good, they have a little bit of flex but tight down the bolts helped, hey, at $25, I can't really complain. 2) The engine sliders from eBay too, they were made in Taiwan, I swear that factory makes the Sato Racing sliders too. The quality and hardwares are top notch. The fitment is tight and neat. A bargain at $180. 3) I ordered Agostini crash bars from Italy (because the local shop did not have them in stock). It was a pain in the ass to install, I gave up finally, beside the Taiwanese stuffs seem are better made believe or not, compare to the Agostini junks.

My point is the Italians still have the originality and technology, but at this rate, they will slowly lose the edges in product quality and efficiency to oversea manufactures......

[rodekyll]

The flip side is that I bought brembo RCS pumps from a Chinese outfit and the mfgring and finish were shockingly sloppy.  The lever adjuster screw on one side had fallen out in shipping, and the one on the other side was a smaller diameter than the threaded hole.  Loctite was ineffective.  The one I got to work wasn't repeatable -- the lever position changed with each pump.

The seller dragged the discussion out past the end of the ebay return time by answering only one email a day, and picking some irrelevant detail to comment on rather than responsively answering my concerns.  I had to get ebay involved to get him to understand English enough to agree to a refund.  Then he didn't want to send a return label -- wanted me to pay for returning a counterfeit, defective product.  His second shipping option was for me to pay shipping to another USA address and then he'd re-emburse me for the sale and all shipping.  Since time was running out on the visa card and paypal protection too, I had to go with that option.

Since I felt the seller was a predator and a thief, I wrote a cover letter with the goods explaining to the new owner what my experience was, what my opinion of the goods was, and that I felt I was being forced into helping out with the scam.  I mean -- can you believe it?  After telling the seller there were parts missing and the pumps didn't function he had me ship them on to another buyer.

The upshot was that as soon as I reported the tracking number, we were a day out from paypal protection and the conversation with the seller dried up.  He got my sale price, my shipping, and the additional shipping.  I got nothing -- no parts, no refund.  I filed a claim with ebay, but the seller had cleverly dragged it out past where ebay cared, so I'm fucked on the deal.  I don't consider it a racist statement to say I won't be buying any more Chinese shit from Chinese bastards.

[Seamaster]

The key to buy Chinese sh*t on eBay is to find a US stocked seller that makes transaction and communications much easier, just my $0.02.

[rodekyll]

This was advertised as a USA seller and shipped quickly from a USA warehouse . . .  and I guess it's true in a way, because the last buyer of the item is the USA warehouse as the stuff gets resold and passed from owner to owner.  But when I did get a return address from him it was entirely in Chinese characters (part of his stalling for time -- it took a week for him to understand that I can't address a package to scratch marks and little hat shapes*), so I think he was lying about that.  You gotta wonder how many times he's pulled that stunt and why ebay protects him.

*actual message excerpt:  ".  . . If you have any questions about this, please contact 董 成鹏."

[JeffOlson]

Your bike looks good! Well done!

It is hard finding bits for one's Moto Guzzi compared to finding bits for one's Triumph Modern Classic (check out British Customs' website ), but you did well.

[Penderic]

You done good! 

[guzziownr]

Nice keyfob!

[ScepticalScotty]

Great touring setup!!

[Tom]

Ride it over to the Humbug campout next month or the NV State rally in Dayton, NV.  Best therapy to get over the "buying blues".