First Moto Guzzi - And it's a GRiSO!

Hi All,

Just wanted to take a moment to say hello, introduce myself and tell you all how excited I am to get on my new bike. It's a 2017 Moto Guzzi GRiSO and I've been loving this bike from afar for years. With a small bonus from work and my desire still strong, decided to search all of Montreal for anything and found only two new bikes left for sale. And yes, I got my hands on one of them. I'll be trading in my 2007 Honda 919, which I have been terribly pleased with. One question however, does anyhow have any experience having gone from the 919 to the GRiSO? Would love to hear the differences from someone who's experienced both bikes hands on.

Take ownership in about a month, but living in Montreal means I won't be able to actually get out on the bloody thing until sometime in March. I'm pretty stoked.

Afraid no pictures yet, but they will come in due time. Just pleased to be part of this little community.

Hello all!

Génial!

If you've been lurking here for a bit, you know what a great resource that many here provide.  I am in the "taking" mode in that exchange, and am grateful for the generous help with the technical stuff.

Have been reading recently of American "visitors" to Montreal in 1776.  Glad we are all past that.  

Hope to ride your way, maybe after the Guzzi "national" rally in Keene, N.H., in 2021.

Best wishes and welcome,

Bill

Comparing a 919 to a GRiSO is like comparing........ golly, I don't know. I have a CBR-XX and a GRiSO. I can tell you I much prefer the GRiSO. It has a LOT less power, handles perhaps a little better, and makes me laugh inside my helmet.

I guess your age might be a factor. I'm on the wrong side of 60, and short for my weight. With different bars and lowered pegs, the GRiSO works everywhere. With the same mods on the XX, I still felt cramped.

BTW, welcome to the nut house.

Welcome garratyr. You're going to love it. Check out the ontario guzzi riders site, we are planning a tour in Quebec this summer through to Shawinigan, lake St. jean, possibly the Gaspe and back for the Adirondak rally in NY state south of Mtl.

Welcome to the Ghetto, Ray!

Pete (Street)

Thank you everyone for the welcome wishes!

Thanks for trying to answer my query concerning the 919 and the GRiSO. I guess I was just looking for a little encouragement, as I bought this GRiSO without having the pleasure of a test-drive and am desperately hoping I'm going to wet myself when I get on it for the first time. Know the two bikes are hard to compare!

All the same, based of almost everything I've seen and read, wet my pants I actually might. Can't wait to see!

Ray Garraty

Ray, you won't be the first, nor last. Oh, and welcome to our little neck of the woods.

I went from a 900 Honda Hornet to a GRiSO 1100 back in 2006, my 1st thoughts were that the GRiSO rode and braked much better than the Hornet. The ride really surprised me as I didn't expect it to be so well damped on our crappy British roads. Obviously the Hornet was way faster. I preferred the wider bars of the GRiSO which to me made the bike feel more nimble. Hornet had a 19l tank which could give me 180 miles as opposed to 150 max on the GRiSO (touring). Reliability wise they were even. I replaced the speed sensor and the oil pressure switch which are common things. The Hornet used to have an intermittent non starting fault which left me stranded twice before randomly sorting itself out.
After 3 years I found the GRiSO a bit gutless so I replaced it with a MV Brutale 920 which on paper was a similar spec to the Hornet. It was insanely quick had amazing brakes but a mismatched ride. (front too hard, rear too soft) that I never quite got sorted. It had a 23l tank but 150 miles was the max I ever got from it and the clocks were unfathomable. I then got a Ducati before coming back to one of the last GRiSO 1200SE's in the UK. The 1200 had a good bit more top end than the 1100 but probably still wouldn't be as quick as the Hornet. It drinks a bit more fuel and I feel out of the box the suspension and brakes aren't as well sorted as the 1100 (maybe my memory).
The main thing for me was the individuality Guzzi give you you just can't get with a Honda. That and the sound. I had twin underseat Laser cans on the Hornet and baffles out it sounded nowhere near as good as the GRiSO sounds on even the stock can.
In short, you won't regret it. For all it's faults it's so much more 'special' than any Honda could ever feel. They won't lose much money either as they've never been replaced. I sold an old XT600 last year when I put a deposit on a new Norton who last week went pop (with my deposit). So glad I never got rid of the GRiSO.

garratyr wrote:

All the same, based of almost everything I've seen and read, wet my pants I actually might. Can't wait to see!

Ray Garraty

I've never thrown a leg over the bike you're trading in, but I think you'll find that just about every GRiSO fan here will agree that precious few motorcycles will make you giggle inside your helmet like a GRiSO does!

It's not for racing, it's not the best for touring, but it will make you smile when you give it the berries!

I ride with a bunch of other old guys who have Japanese sport touring bikes. Whenever we stop for a break many times someone comes up and wants to see the bikes. Most times they really just want to see the Moto Guzzi......