VA Guzzi Lunch - Saturday, October 15th

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

From VA Guzzi rep. Ron Komoroski:

The October 2016 SWVA Guzzi lunch will be this coming Saturday Oct. 15th, 12:30 P.M., at Amici's Italian Bistro in Scottsville.  Amici's full  address is 370 Valley Street, Scottsville Va., 24590. Phone # is (434) 286-4000. The advanced weather-guess for Saturday in Scottsville is a high of 64 degrees & cloudy, w/a slight chance of precip.  Looks like a front coming through Sat. as Thurs. & Fri. are supposed to be beautiful, hopefully the weatherguessers will be wrong & the change won't happen until Sunday.
See ya there!

[oldbike54]

 Pics ?

 Dusty

[Lannis]

So the ever-popular “Third Saturday SW Virginia Guzzi Lunch” was slated for Scottsville, Virginia, an old, oft-flooded town on the James River an hour or so from home.   Being a beautiful Saturday, Fay and I hopped on the new bike (NGC) and ere long were in very rural areas:



past an old plantation named “Alcoma”, still a working farm ..



Over the James River, beloved of rafters and canoeists but deserted on this 65 degree day:



When we pulled into town, we saw a sight to gladden any Guzzisti heart …



You’re seeing about ¾ of the town of Scottsville in this last pic, by the way.

Bikes started lining up.   A Convert, a Ducati, a BMW, a Breva, an Eldorado, a Triumph, and another BMW ….



How’d this get in here?   Just wishful.   I’m going to have another one of these some day.   I know there’s still nice ones out there …



Before long we were in Amici’s enjoying some excellent food.  Clockwise from lower left is Allan and Susie, Joan and Bob (take a good look, he’s the VA Rally Rallymaster next year!) Matt, RonK, Jay, Fay,  yours truly, Nate, and Mike.


Tire-kicking was in order, but mostly we kicked the tires on RonK’s beautiful ‘74 dual-disk Eldo, back on the road after some years’ absence.



Very new NGC and very old GC!



All the instruments you could want.   No, there’s no GPS there, these are rufty tufty Guzzisti, not a teddy bear run ….



After a solid 3 hours eating, hanging around, and variously disrupting sidewalk traffic in Scottsville, it was time to head home.   If you’re worried about US road infrastructure, have a look at this bridge being built over a little two-lane state road in Buckingham County.   My gosh it looks like it’s for Interstate 70 in the Rockies …



The rule is:  When You Come To A Fork In The Road … Take it!   So I did, the left fork, the one with no paint stripe ….



And ended up on this deep gravel road with 1100 pounds of bike and riders squiggling and wiggling along … but it went the right direction and we ended up home with no trouble ….



A nice ride and a sociable time.

Lannis

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

 

[Cam3512]

Nice write up Lannis.  I've gotta ask, is the Stelvio gone?

[ohiorider]

Very nice, Lannis.  Don't you just hate it when asphalt turns to gravel. especially the deep stuff!

Bob

[Lannis]

Nice write up Lannis.  I've gotta ask, is the Stelvio gone?

No, it's still with me due to the good offices of the folks at Scoot Richmond.

While Fay and I were teamed up with SR trying to get Piaggio to send the roller conversion kit, Fay got a bit fed up with Piaggio's attitude and started browsing the showroom, and found this brand new Triumph Trophy Triple SE and (said she) "I don't want to have to 'wonder' if we're going to have a bike to tour on, let's get this one and make sure", with the thought that if I had to pay for the "C" roller kit because the tappets were only discolored and not destroyed at 40K miles, I'd just part the Stelvio out and forget about it.

So we bought the Triumph (Fay's encouragement being "What are you saving your money for, your OLD AGE?   Too late for that, pal!"), and three months later had the Stelvio back, running better than ever.   

They're both equally comfortable, have equal amounts of luggage space, equally competent on the highways and back roads; the Triumph gets the edge on range with a 7 gallon tank and 52 MPG so you can ride just about all day without worrying about a gas station, the Stelvio is a little lighter and easier to handle on rough roads.

I never planned to have two transcontinental touring bikes, but it's worked out great - in May, some friends from England came over to tour with us - they took the Stelvio and we took the Triumph and all had a great time.

And normally I'll take the Stelvio to a Guzzi gathering, but folks were asking "When are we going to get to see this new bike?" ...

Lannis

[Bill Hagan]

What a fine day that was for riding in the Old Dominion.

We actually thought about a run down for that, as Scottsville is in striking distance, but Baltimorean grandkids' school fest and soccer games called more loudly ... darn it.

Sure looks to have been a fine event.  And, for a guy who professes not to do pix and ride reports, very well done.   

Bill

P.S.  Recommend you keep Fay behind locked doors, as a wife who encourages the purchase of a new motorcycle is priceless.