New Norskie

Hello all!
My name is Per, I'm 64, have had Guzzis for ten years. So no new blood to the brand here I'm afraid! I rode a 125cc NSU Super Fox when I was a teenager, and found I wanted to pick up riding again 30 years later. To a large extent it's coincidental that I ride Guzzis, although it's typical for me to be out of the mainstream. I'm perfectly fine with the quirkiness, love the sound and the torquey feel, and mostly have patience to cope with reliability issues and lack of dealers. I will stress that problems have mainly been of electrical nature on a custom build I've had for ten years, and Guzzi shouldn't be blamed!

I caught an interest in the GRiSO because of its physical dimensions and its looks. Given its displacement it's fairly smallish, which I'm all for despite being of average height myself. I think a lot of bikes nowadays are too bulky, that goes for BB Guzzis, too.

Admittedly the Tenni green SE is beautiful, but so is the white! The slightly lower price and spoke wheels made me go for the white. I looked for a used one with low mileage for quite a while and settled on one offered in Germany early in 2013. Built in 2009, 3,000 km, well kept. Flew to Berlin, took the train to the German dealer several hours to the south-east, rode home. With a fascination for the "Schwarzgerät" in Pyncheon's novel Gravity's Rainbow (a term not translated in the novel but "black device" according to Goole) I thought "Weissgerät" (white device, i.e. household appliance) would be an appropriate name for the bike, given the German slant to its origin. My other Guzzi has much more German content and an Italian name.....

I've fitted the bike with a small tinted Puig flyscreen, making eventual high speeds comfortable. A small Givi luggage rack that's unobtrusive yet can carry my duffle bag on those long trips. A rear hugger. Finally I don't fancy the original GRiSO mufflers and switched to a carbon Mistral with silencer.

So this is my second season with the GRiSO. Only problem has been that the speedo fails when riding in the rain - should be possible to fix. I also think (but am not certain) that the engine stutters in the rain, should also be possible to pursue.

As you can deduct I don't do much of my riding in the rain. Actually I don't get to ride very much at all, typically 4 - 5,000 km per season which starts in April at best, and ends in October. My wife doesn't want to ride pillion, neither does my youngest daughter, although she does horseriding..... Remains my eldest daughter who loves it and trusts me so far that she usually falls asleep. We haven't got around to let her try to be a passenger on the GRiSO yet though.

The typical ride is 100 - 150 km on an afternoon, more if I have more time. Usually one longer trip per season of about one week's duration and several thousand km. So far these trips have taken me on Guzzis around in the southern part of Norway and into Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland (just!), Holland, Belgium, France and across the whole of Luxembourg. Loose plans for Switzerland and Austria, would also like to ride in Spain.

I also use my other Guzzi extensively. That’s a roadster built by HTMoto in 2004. 1036 cc, twin plugs, big Dell’ortos. It lacks the power and the refinement of the GRiSO, but is rewarding in other ways. I think because of its rawness, lack of refinement. When that bike hits 6,000rpm, it just takes off……. I had a California EV for a while, too, but it didn’t give me so much joy as the roadster, and the riding position was tiring for me.

I do not have the space, tools, interest, time, talent or any other prerequisites for doing maintenance or mechanical work on my bikes. It’s the riding I like.

Great introduction.
Welcome to the best place to talk about the best motorcycles.

DM

Hi Per, If you want your women with you, you will need a Stelvio. The failing tacho is due to the sensor , that you can see if you take the rearwheel off. If you put some silicone around where the wire goes in the sensor case it is solved. Even more easy then exchanging the sensor for a new better one.

Hi Paul,
Yes I'll have to get a new speedo sensor. The silicone fix wasn't successful.

Those Stelvios are huge, and not for me!
Fortunately some girls like the GRiSO! Here's my eldest:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

She sure seems to like the GRiSO - you might end up having to get a Stelvio, or maybe another GRiSO.   

Hi Per
Welcome to the site.
Heaps of good info.

Velkommen!

Thanks Jostein, and others!
What are you doing in Alberta, Jostein? School, oil?

Weißgerät wrote:

Thanks Jostein, and others!
What are you doing in Alberta, Jostein? School, oil?

I moved to AB with my wife almost 10 years ago, just for a change of scenery for a few years. I drive freight trains, so nothing to do with oil apart from burning it in locomotives   

hoggerjo wrote:

Weißgerät wrote:

Thanks Jostein, and others!
What are you doing in Alberta, Jostein? School, oil?

I moved to AB with my wife almost 10 years ago, just for a change of scenery for a few years. I drive freight trains, so nothing to do with oil apart from burning it in locomotives   

Freight train driver, I should have known!
Obviously that's why you chose the GRiSO!