New bike was delivered two weeks ago - waited 6 (long) weeks for it as they're all built to order at the moment. The beast is a Motto Guzzi V85TT - slightly left field. Piled on a couple of hundred miles so far but planned a road trip to the IWM at Duxford on Sunday. Meeting up with a Dutch pal as he's crossing over to Harwich Sunday evening. The bike so far is pretty good. Photo below taken at the Ty Croes motor circuit on Anglesey (used regularly by Fifth Gear).
ibb.co/N1MtwDR
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 19 Jul 19 at 16:55
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I see it has supports for the couriers panniers
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It looks great.
Moto Guzzi have always made the best looking bikes IMO, especially with the cylinders going the right way for a V configuration.
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Looks the biz :)
Lovely photograph as well.
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It was a prep trip for the Tom Pryce (local F1 racer from the 70s - part of the Lost Generation) memorial day last Sunday. Excellent day out
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I could never get over the way the back end rose up under acceleration and never found out if it dropped on a trailing throttle. Do they still do that?
Similar reason I backed off from buying a Douglas Dragonfly, because of the torque reaction of the horizontally opposed twin trying to lean the thing when backing off for a corner. One reason I never owned a Beemer boxer.
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Yes it does, it's quite weird really, Having ridden shafties for many thousands of miles with almost zero torque reaction from big Beemers it adds to its charm actually. BMW have sorted that out years ago !
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>> ibb.co/N1MtwDR
Now *that* is lovely.
Not something I could be trusted with., sadly.
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A gorgeous looking bike R.P. I’ve never had a bike, of any description, although living in the Y Dales we have some great driving roads. To my shame I’ve never had a pushbike...parents forbade it as I was born and spent my early life living over the shop at a busy crossroads in Bradford.
I think being returned home by the local police aged 4 having escaped and pedalled over a mile in my pedal car on the main road jaundiced their view. This was 1959 so my mother tells me.
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430 miles all told. A5, A14 down to Huntingdon (Strange place, aggressive begging witnessed) George is a fine old hotel. Dropped down to Duxford via the back roads avoiding the M11 mostly. Duxford was epic. Could have spent all day there. Tempted to book a Spitfire flight (£2.7k for 30 mins !) Hot ride back through heavy traffic on the M11 and M14 to Thrampton staying at the Bridge Hotel which was er..rough.
Took the A14 and went to Market Harborough, then the A6 via Loughborough and Sat Nav gave me a beautiful route around Leicester, A50 to Stoke, A500 and A41 to north Wales. Bike was excellent and is settling down well.
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RP, forgive my ignorance here - but I know nothing about motorbikes.
On a comparison to cars where the toys have grown to include air con, cruise control, radar control cruise, collision detection, music streaming,heated seats, reversing cameras etc etc, what do you count as "toys" on modern motor bikes?
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>>>>
>> On a comparison to cars where the toys have grown to include air con, cruise
>> control, radar control cruise, collision detection, music streaming,heated seats, reversing cameras etc etc, what do you count as "toys" on modern motor bikes?
>>
The throttle.
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>>what do you count as "toys" on modern motor bikes?
ABS, heated handlebar grips, power socket for your heated gloves - jacket - leggings, electric start (have you tried kicking over a modern large capacity, high compression engine?), gearboxes that actually let you select gears (especially neutral), sidestand (because the thing's too heavy to hoist onto a centre stand - have you seen the beautiful, handle arrangement that IIRC Rudge had), flies in your teeth and broken bones from the SMIDSY brigade.
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>>Duxford....
Love the place. It's amazing!
Wish I could get there more easily - I could visit it a few times a year.
>>The bike...
Jealous. I am not allowed to ride, after a very, very lucky escape when I was young I have made a few promises to mum and it would worry her in to her grave if I got another one.
Safe and fun travels RP!
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>> >>Duxford....
>> Love the place. It's amazing!
If you're in the area, may I suggest a trip to Shuttleworth at Old Warden. OK, I'm biased, but it's very biker friendly and there's no entry charge if there's no airshow on at weekends. They've got the oldest flying aeroplane in the world and, I believe, the only flying Lysander.
Can't recommend the cafe, as I think it's overpriced and poor quality, but can't argue with the visitors that turn up every day for a cuppa and watch the visiting aircraft every day.
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I keep meaning to go to shuttleworth but not got there yet, keep seeing the signs for it. Isn't there some gardens you can pay to go around as well?
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>> I keep meaning to go to shuttleworth
Sorry, Find the Shuttleworth Collection a bit limited and pre 1935 biased. Duxford and Cosford make it look a bit boring.
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>> Sorry, Find the Shuttleworth Collection a bit limited and pre 1935 biased.
Surely that's it's USP. Loads of museums with Spitfires and post war piston/jet/jet prop stuff.
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>> >> Sorry, Find the Shuttleworth Collection a bit limited and pre 1935 biased.
>>
>> Surely that's it's USP.
No its too limited for me. Too tight type and age range. If I am going to drive to that area, then its going to be Duxford every time with its very broad range of stuff.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 26 Jul 19 at 21:17
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Not worth bothering with then?
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>> Not worth bothering with then?
If you are passing by, yes its worth a stop, for somewhere to go for the day, forget it.
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It's not that far from us, I'll have to pop in one day.
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You did better than me. I went for a spin and it was just tooooo hot. 5 miles either way and I was glad to get home. Lightweight mesh jacket as well.
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>> If you are passing by, yes its worth a stop, for somewhere to go for
>> the day, forget it.
I'd totally agree, unless there's an airshow on. Expensive at fifty quid a pop for a couple of people, but that includes the house, bus rides Swiss gardens and the collection. Any other day's free for a cuppa in the cafe. If the wind's light you'll probably find several folk landing the same as you, as something to do.
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If you're into such things, there's also a really good circular walk starting from Old Warden village hall...
My sister in law goes to Duxford every day. She works there. Oh the stories I could tell, but mustn't. Until she leaves.
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>> If you're into such things, there's also a really good circular walk starting from Old
>> Warden village hall...
Thanks, I'll look at that, I do quite like a stroll out with the dog on a nice day.
>> My sister in law goes to Duxford every day. She works there. Oh the stories
>> I could tell, but mustn't. Until she leaves.
Amusing stories?
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Walk we did recently. It skirts the edge of Shuttleworth airfield and there was some flying right overhead. Also try to go into the church to see the serpent...
mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/BH-GO/cms/pdf/Old%20Warden%20leaflet%20v2.pdf
Stories - some amusing, some political, some oh my god. Don't worry, she retires in twelve years.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Sat 27 Jul 19 at 08:58
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Interest now stimulated. IWM Duxford is a 4 + hour drive from my home outside Settle, 350 mile round trip, so I’ll look at visiting after the school holidays when it will probably be quieter. I don’t know the area at all, so maybe stay over 3 nights in a Travelodge or similar, visit Ely, Cambridge, do some walking and maybe a flight with Classic Wings in their Rapide.
Sounds marvellous
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Two (dual canopy) Spitfires took off together whilst we were there - I checked the price for a half hour flight £2.5k....I was mightily tempted...glad it's far away ;-).
Bikes have different types of toys. The current ride has LED lights all round, ABS (of course, switchable on the rear wheel) - Different engine modes for off and on road riding. It has the ability to link a smartphone to provide navigation on its TFT screen. My old BMW had built in Sat Nav, heated seats and grips, electrically adjustable screen etc....depends what you feel you need. The Guzzi is pretty minimalist. It is a fine bike. Covered 833 miles in a couple of weeks, goes for its first service next week.
Trip to Oxford end of August is the next mini adventure.
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>> Trip to Oxford end of August is the next mini adventure.
No pun intended presumably?
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None ! :-).......it was a superb ride there and back down the A roads (Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Kidderminster, and Stow) beautiful ride through the Cotswolds on Thursday evening. Spent three nights at the Hill End Centre with like minded motorcyclists talking about travelling across the world. Decent weather helped.
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Road Trip - New bike. - Zero
