Common sense prevailed, (For a change!)

[Pete Roper]

Well, I got a replacement for my written off Griso. I would of loved an RSV-4 but logic dictated this would be a far better option. Hopefully I pick it up in June!



Pete

[Castaway]

Looks cool. I haven't been keeping up with the Aprilia line-up, what model is it?

[County Tar]

If he'd just own a VStrom he wouldn't have to be switching bikes all the time.  One of these days he may get it.  

Seriously, nice bike.  Don't you already own a Mana?

[Croak]

That's about as close to a 180 as you can take from a RSV4 and still be on an Ape that requires a MC license to ride.  

All that said, they're nice machines.

[Pete Roper]

Completely different to an RSV-4 Half the power and probably half again as heavy! That's not the point though. I've been in the bike business for thirty years. I can ride just about anything I want from Kymcos to extraordinary exotica just by asking any time I like and can, if I chose to, own any damn motorbike on the planet. The thing is, as far as I'm concerned, virtually any bike can be fun, even a V-Strom!

The reason I have such a downer on them is simply that I was badly stiffed by a bloke with a V11 and a V1000-Convert who then went on to buy a V-strom so I just like to get stuck into them at every opportunity. It wasn't even the fact that he stiffed me. It was the fact he stiffed just about every other decent person of note and good shop in the Guzzi community in the USA. Miserable little turd!

At the end of the day though as I said in my last ride report the important thing is to have something that is 'Fit for Purpose' and quite simply, for the purpose I put a bike to in the USA a Mana makes far more sense than an RSV-4. The problem with the RSV-4 is that I soil myself every time I look at one! They're tiny, and obscenely powerful and so light you need to tie them to a lamp post to stop them blowing away in a gentle breeze and they are stuffed full of really clever, cutting edge technology. Something I like and admire. Oh well.

Pete

[Croak]

There's a lot of impressive technology stuffed into a Mana too, Pete (such as the worlds greatest tank bag cleverly disguised as the tank itself).  

Along with enough ballast to obviate the need for lamp post brackets.  

[Orson]

for my written off Griso.

you were just posting pictures of the Griso the other day  

whut happened?

[Pete Roper]

you were just posting pictures of the Griso the other day  

whut happened?

No, no, no! I had two. The Griso Verde in Oz. that one is still alive and kicking vigorously. The other one was the Griso Pinko I picked up for a song in the USA from a dealer that bought some bike stock from a closeout sale at a Pontiac dealer. He was interested in the pontiac shit and just wanted rid of the bikes. one of which was a Black  Griso 1200. It needed the cam recall doing so Isent it to MPH in Houston and while it was there they had a customer who was desperate for a black Griso but in 2009 they only bought in red ones to the USA so Todd asked if they could swap the bodywork. Since I didn't give a fat rats arse what colour it was I said fer-shure. The MPH boys are close enough to be 'Mates' and they've helped me out heaps in the past so why the hell not?

Anyway last year I shipped it from Houston to LA and then rode it up the Western seaboard to the Guzzi National Rally in John Day in Or. Then on up to Seattle where I left it with Greg Field with instructions it was to be loaned to anyone 'Sensible'. A bloke from Oz went over to pick up his Convert that Greg was doing a bit of prep work on and it wasn't quite ready so he was riding Pinko for a few days. One evening they went out for a pizza in Ballard or somewhere and while it was parked outside the pizza shop some young fuquewit on a ZX14 decided to 'Launch' from two blocks away. Unfortunately one block away a woman in a pick-em-up truck pulled out in front of him. The bike glanced off the front of the truck and cartwheeled up the road until it impacted Pinko outside the pizza shop, pushing it six feet sideways and knocking over two Harleys that were also there! Now in the novel from which the name Griso comes Griso was himself a bodyguard and Pinko lived up to that job that night. If it hadn't been there the blokes eating pizza at tables on the sidewalk would of worn a cartwheeling, hot fluid spraying ZX10!!!!

Needless to say neither the young punk, (Who gave himself a $120,000 medical bill as well.) or the woman in the pick-em-up truck were insured but I, as always, was insured up to the hilt! I had to claim, which rather buggers my no claims bonus but Progressive paid me out full market value which was $4,000 more than I'd paid for the bike!!!! Not wanting to repatriate weedy US dollars to Oz while our $ is well above parity I left the money with my daughter who is in Ithaca, last year she was studying at Cornell but this years she's doing an internship, with instructions not to spend ALL of it on boozy partys and casual sex with spotty youths and when the Mana GT came up I just got her to wire Richard the money.

Pinko was a cosmetic write off but I bought it back for a grand/fifteen hundred bucks or so and gave it to Greg with a sort of 'You give me the grand when you have it' sort of arrangement so Pinko WILL rise from the ashes. But I really don't have the time or inclination to be rebuilding a wreck when I'm over on holiday. Much better to move on, so I have!!!!

Pete

Pinko in LA. With my mate Jon's 1100 behind it.



With some fat, blue-bearded idiot in the SM mountains somewhere.



At Neptune's Net on the PCH with Kiwi Dave's Sport 1200 and Jon and Don GArcia's matching pair of Special Sport Cali's



Time to hit the road!



With Chuck and 'Darth Quota' up in Yosemite.



Pack of Guzzisti fueling up in Northern Or. The usual disorganized mayhem!



Didn't have room for this savage creature on the back of the bike for the return trip to LA



so we had to do it on one of these!



Oh I do like abusing hire cars!!!!

[Orson]

holy kwap!  

[Pete Roper]

Orson me old mate, at the end of the day nobody was killed. In fact I think that neither of the 'Protagonists' even have permanent injuries, and like it or not and no matter how angry their compacency about their own responsibility in not having insurance makes us the fact is they WILL have to pay the price in financial terms eventually and neither of them DESERVE to die because they are stupid. Yes, it will mean that I will end up paying more for the same cover on the new bike. Yes it means that I will be 'Out of Pocket' but luckily I'm in a position where that sort of financial 'Hit' won't cripple me and I'd much rather that than being in a position where the only *option* I had was gloating over the misfortune of others, even if that misfortune is self inflicted.

At the end of the day Pinko is only a motorbike. A collection of bits of metal and plastic. It can't live, love or be loved in return. The fact it got smashed up is a pain in the arse! But far better that it did than anyone suffered irreparable harm or died.

Pete

[Pete Roper]

 Don't you already own a Mana?

Yup, here in Oz. This one is the fully faird GT with ABS. 173 miles. $8,500 US. I'm lucky enough to be able to keep bikes in different places, I have a part share in a Mille GT, (Another Guzzi ) in Europe and I keep a bike in the USA for when I visit because the sort of bikes available for hire are not what I like.

The Mana is an 'Automatic', in fact it has an electronically controlled CVT that uses a servo-motor rather than mecahanical variators to move the front pulley. Three on-board computers. Four different drive modes. Top speed of about 115-120 MPH but in 'sport' mode its acceleration from 50 to 80 MPH is near 'Supersport 600' territory. It's real strong suit though is as a lightweight tourer. At that it is superb. It's probably also a great 'Commuter' but i don't live in a cty so I couldn't tell you for shure.

Pete

[BuckeyeRider]

It *is* a great commuter, I have one just like it   (same color even).

I live "inside the beltway" in Columbus, OH and it takes me 20 minutes just to get through traffic out to the 2 lane roads and the Mana is a dream to ride from stop light to stop light - especially for me since I have some nerve issues with my left hand/arm that make working a clutch non-stop a pain in the .. well hand/arm.

[Roadscum]

The Mana is an 'Automatic', in fact it has an electronically controlled CVT that uses a servo-motor rather than mecahanical variators to move the front pulley. Three on-board computers. Four different drive modes. Top speed of about 115-120 MPH but in 'sport' mode its acceleration from 50 to 80 MPH is near 'Supersport 600' territory. It's real strong suit though is as a lightweight tourer. At that it is superb. It's probably also a great 'Commuter' but i don't live in a cty so I couldn't tell you for shure.

Pete

Last summer I had the opportunity to ride a Mana for several days in the mountains of Ga. and NC. It was a great ride for the mountain roads. It always seemed to be in the perfect torque range and without the need to think about clutch and shifting I was able to focus on breaking and turn in. That made for some very fast corner speeds. I've been thinking about ownership ever since.

Regards, Paul

[BobW]

Congrats on getting the new bike choice sorted.

Cheers