My accessories arrived today, and Tuesday night once again became Project Night at Turnsignal Tim’s Garage. This wasn’t any real wrenching, just a bit of “some assembly required” work to install my new luggage mounts and saddlebags. Turns out there was one bolt missing from the kit, but I figure that’s not too bad from a factory where the workers have wine at lunch. Tim rustled around and found a bolt that fit, joking, “hey, it’s from a Ducati, so … Read the rest
On the way home tonight, as I was almost there, I tapped the shifter and found it wasn’t there. I looked down to find my heel-toe shifter and its linkage dangling. I was just a couple blocks from home, so I kept it in second until I got in front of the garage, and got down to examine the damage.
One nut that held the linkage was just missing. I could put the bolt back through and shift again, but … Read the rest
I just called my insurance company to let them know that my new Moto Guzzi Stone, which they had listed as a 2005 (and the State of California has it that way tooâI have to get my registration changed ugh) is really a 2004 model. Doesn’t really matter to me; as far as I can tell the 2004s and 2005s are identical. Still, I was afraid that if I got into an accident and had to make a … Read the rest
I ordered 40-liter hard saddlebags and electric heated handgrips for the Moto Guzzi today. I’m still undecided about the windscreen versus touring fairing question and I don’t have any long trips planned in the immediate future, so I held off on ordering one of those. I’ve proven I can do an overnight trip just with bungee cords and webbing on my fender and passenger seat, and my messenger bag, but getting the weight off of my back and eliminating … Read the rest
The Moto Guzzi is in the shop today for its 1000 mile service, so after dropping it off last night I’ve been riding the Yamaha around again. In just two weeks I’ve been thoroughly spoiled by the Moto Guzzi. It’s really rough riding this lightweight, low-powered bike around. I hate to say “you told me so” but yeah Randy, it does feel like a scooter to me now.
Of course, I’m glad to have something to ride while the Guzzi is … Read the rest
I am the very happy owner of a 2004 Moto Guzzi California Stone. It was purchased new, but all the paperwork says ’04.
This bike is as different from the Virago as day is to night. They both are black, they both are V‑twins, they both have a cruiser profile, but the similarities end there.
The most immediately obvious differences are size, weight, and power. The Stone at a quarter throttle in first gear accelerates hard enough to give me … Read the rest
I got a refund check in the mail from the Treasury. Apparently I overpaid my back taxes. And somehow miscalculated by twenty dollars. It’s just bizarre.… Read the rest
This evening I filled out a credit application for 2.9% financing on a Black 2005 Moto Guzzi California Stone. If I can get the low rate with only two or three thousand down, I’m likely to enter into the society of Guzzi owners.
I’ve only had my eye on the Stone for about a month, but that’s what I keep on coming back to. The transverse V‑twin has its hooks in me.
What’s weird is that, even though … Read the rest
The earlier OS X versions were kind of sketchy, but I’m really darn pleased about the April 2005 release of Emacs 22.0.50.1 on OS X. BBEdit is certainly a passable editor, and it’s gotten me through this far while the previous releases of Emacs were getting up to speed, but it just doesn’t sing to me the way that Emacs does.
OK granted, that “singing” is sort of an atonal dysphonic torture ballad, but such … Read the rest
I went with my riding group through some of the twisties in the Santa Cruz mountains. One from the group, Tim, very kindly offered to swap bikes with me so that I could get a taste of what else is out there.
So today for a half-hour that went way too fast (in more ways than one) I got to ride a Ducati Monster 750.
I was already getting the feeling that I might be outgrowing my Virago. This not … Read the rest