Guzzi vs. BMW

Hi Guys,

Another lovely cartoon from the German Holger Aue.
I changed the text    English for you!


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Shouldn't that read "Look, a BMW with saggy boobs'.

Even though my old LeMans gets exactly 40 years today (Yesssss!) her titties are still tough enough to make You loose Your teeth. YEAH!

zebraranger wrote:

Shouldn't that read "Look, a BMW with saggy boobs'.

This was not the intention of the cartoon.
Like Holger Aue wanted to express: Looks like a Guzzi, but...

A BMW with baggy (or is it saggy) boobs would touche the ground...

Toni,

congratulations to your LM anniversary.

Find my present to LM and you below from "Motorrad Katalog 1997":

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Sorry for a mistake!

The catalog is for sure from 1977!!

Still one of my favorites!!!
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BMs since water cooling have gone up a cup size for sure.

I had a BMW R1100s shown in the original cartoon and a fine bike it was too. One of the reasons I went over to Guzzi was BMW replaced the R1100s with a 1200 that was no longer practical. Today I wouldn't touch a modern Beemer with a barge pole.

I had a new R1200R back in 2016. It did everything very well indeed. To be honest I could not fault its ride, ergs, handling or performance. That said I was shot of it after 4 months. It just had no personality like my GRiSO or multistrada.
After a ride it was just ho hum, no lasting tingle you get from riding Italian masterpieces.

I watched a utoob compare in 2008 between the r1200r and the Sport 1200...
conclusion was that they were actually quite similar... similar handling, performance blah blah
it was a very nice job indeed.
his final sentence was "if you're going to buy with your head, you'll buy the BMW, but if you will buy with you heart..."

Go with the heart. Riding is about passion. One of the things that I love about the GRiSO and guzzi's in general is the lack of hi tech electrickery. Just you and a bike that has excellent road manners and a sheer delight to ride.

The Guzzi 1200 2 valver was in my opinion a better engine than the old R1100 BMW oil head. It was less vibey and more willing to rev. What the BM had was telelever front forks which gave brilliant handling. A R1100s with a 1200  Guzzi engine would have been perfect for me.

It is a crying shame Guzzi shot themselves in the foot with the 8 valve engine  which stained a hard won reputation the CARC bikes had built up.

Of course BMW have a shit load of problems with their modern bikes (BMW= Buy More Warranty) but still retain their reputation and sales figures. For example (among many) my friend did not have a single  period in two years when his new R1200RT was not under a warranty/safety claim, including  three months off the road waiting for a new rear shock. If the bike had been out of warranty it would have been £1800 plus fitting.

£1800 for a standard rear shock! that's a little expensive

sidrat wrote:

£1800 for a standard rear shock! that's a little expensive

There is a guy on Youtube with his own channel called the MissendenFlyer  who did a video about his R1200GS failed rear shock and the price BMW wanted for the replacement. The video went viral  with loads of comments from other pissed off owners in a similar position. It got so bad his local dealer was shamed into supplying a new shock for free even though the bike was out of warranty. Strangely I cannot find the video anymore maybe it's been pulled.

edit found it:

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Dave i see why its so expensive now, its one of the ESA shocks, that sorts out the suspension as you go, i have one of those on my GRiSO, i just aim to miss the pot holes :-)

Until about the five minute mark of that video I wasn't sure he'd ever even ridden the bike outside of his garage. How does he keep it so clean?

When I had one of them things (BWM), my rear shock failed. went to dealer, who quoted $1100, (gulp) OK get me one...

"Oh there's none in Australia and we dunno when more will be available". Choice!

I knew the service manager and he called me aside and said "go get a Koni". These are now branded as Ikon and made in Orstraylia to boot. 'Twas still on the thing when I sold it. So, go for aftermarket might be a solution if needed. This wasn't a smart one, just had a pre-load from memory - probably as basic as the one on my Sport...

For my 2005 1200GS I got front and back Ohlins for $1,200 total

Street wrote:

Until about the five minute mark of that video I wasn't sure he'd ever even ridden the bike outside of his garage. How does he keep it so clean?

He does ride his bikes and the channel itself has become very popular, worth a subscription if you are into bike tests.

When he got his free shock the Youtube comments brigade turned on him for buying what in their opinion was a stolen shock from Italy.
In his position I personally wouldn't have accepted BMW's offer because it smacked of favoritism after they realised how big his Youtube channel was.

Just a comment on the 1100 BMW telelever suspension. In todays iteration is is a good bit of kit. However, in the earlier models I found it very hard to determine the front ends limits in terms of grip. Front end feed back was very poor. I concur the bikes handled well and did not loose front grip easily, but there was no feel as to where the break out limit was.

davem wrote:

It is a crying shame Guzzi shot themselves in the foot with the 8 valve engine  which stained a hard won reputation the CARC bikes had built up.

The 8V was plagued with the flat tappet fiasco... had they come with rollers from day one, there would have been no stain but still, Guzzi didn't shoot themselves in the foot with that mill.
They needed to come up with an engine that produced a little more oumpf that the old push rod and the 8V delivered.
As it stands now with the roller set up, it's a winner.

Grisonut wrote:

davem wrote:

It is a crying shame Guzzi shot themselves in the foot with the 8 valve engine  which stained a hard won reputation the CARC bikes had built up.

The 8V was plagued with the flat tappet fiasco... had they come with rollers from day one, there would have been no stain but still,  Guzzi didn't shoot themselves in the foot with that mill.
They needed to come up with an engine that produced a little more oumpf that the old push rod and the 8V delivered.
As it stands now with the roller set up, it's a winner.

But no longer in production........

sidrat wrote:

But no longer in production........

What do reckon's powering those Cali 1400's?

Guzzi have a gaping hole in their line up since the 1200 motor was axed. Maybe Piaggio have done this intentionally to promote the Aprilia models or just can't be arsed to produce a Euro 4 compliant machine, who knows.
I don't even know if there is a big enough market anymore to offer a GRiSO/Breva/Norge/Sport replacement. I'm at a age where a good used CARC model will do just fine and there is still enough out there to satisfy the limited demand.
If there was room in the garage I would have a Norge to go with the GRiSO 1100 and even a sorted 8 valve GRiSO, if I could trust the seller. That would see me into my dotage quite happily. Come to think of it my mates got a low mileage 2 valve 1200 Sport he never rides and it's a nice day, time for pay a visit methinks.