The Bittersweet Aspects of Selling a Guzzi

Pete Roper wrote:

So when did the Norge go Bill? I don't remember hearing about that?

Yes, Pete.  Sold it to a young couple this past April.

Almost gave it away at a foolish price, but I am a combo of curmudgeon and romantic, and he comes from a Guzzi family.  It will give them many more miles than its 85K when I sold it.


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It was our primary two-up machine.  Unfortunately, aging  -- mine, not the Norge's   -- was looming larger.  

As we all know, anyone can ride down straight roads at 100 mph.  Coming, however, to a stop sign, two-up, at the top of a hill with fast-moving traffic in the cross street and broken pavement at the end can be more of an issue.  

That is especially so with the Norge's high COG, coupled with Kathi's safari-level load of her "essentials."    She is my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess, and loves to ride, but it'll be on the EV for the foreseeable future. I am 75 and, in keeping with Dirty Harry's maxim, I know my limitations.

Ah, but the Norge, so many great memories ...


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A few of the less fun sort   ...


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And, it -- and folks like you! -- taught me so much.


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But most of those memories are of the wonderful and wistful sort ...


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Thanks for asking, Pete.  

Godspeed, la mia dolce Norge.

Bill

I get that Bill. It's one of the reasons I decided against pursuing the idea of purchasing an 8V Norge. I can still manage my Grisos but I'd be constantly worried about dropping a Norge.

People who ride well, yet admit when they recognize their own diminished abilities, are my heroes. I hope that when I get too a point where I'm beginning to be hazard to myself and others, that I can be as wise as Bill. I'm still a spritely youngster at the tender age of 68, and can still muscle a big bike, but it's getting to be a chore.

My bride and I joke about buying a pair of Honda Monkey bikes or perhaps Vespas, but the truth is, it may happen sooner than we realize.

I still have my Stelvio (probably always will as I don't think there'd be anyway to part with it), but I made the management decision a couple of years ago to retire it from offroad work. Picking up 600 lbs of bike in the mud isn't that enjoyable anymore. I bought the Himalayan and love the thing. It feels like a minibike next to the Stelvio. I can still comfortably thrash around the Ballabio and the Stelvio on the street, but the handwriting is definitely on the wall.

I too wanted to sell my 07 calvin as i have a left leg that still feels the effects of my tangle with a toyota resulting in the totalling of my Quota one of my favorites of all time
almost heartbroken back in 07. I then had a new Bonnevile that i put a hack on for a few years to haul the kids to school in north florida and st croix usvi. When i got back stateside i fell in love with a new leftover 15 GRiSO first week of 17 many happy milestill it was wrecked 3years later. Alan antmanbee sold me the 80,000 mile calvin which to me was heavy but reasonably manageable i did a lot of commuting on it sometimes 700 a week i havnt owned a car in well over 30 years now. However my leg was feeling worse moving it around so i decided to put it up for sale this last bikeweek had lots of interest but no takers as a over 100k mile bike must have frightend them so i kept it untill i got a call from gusto in st augustine offering me his 07 red GRiSO which fits my need for lighter . The next day my freind in Ft lauderdale told me story of how his neighbor wouldnt sell a yamaha cruiser to his son or anyone else on his street it must have had an issue so i gave him the calvin . It really was an excellent machine and i probably could have lightend it up a bit but i introduced a young man to the guzzi world. I still miss the past machines but this 07 GRiSO keeps the passion going

I had been toying with the idea of selling my Honda ST1300 for several years. Always, in the back of my mind, thinking What if I dropped it. Then I'd think, man, Sargent seat, MCCruise speed control... it's just so good. This past summer I got really ill; it eventually was diagnosed as celiac disease, a pretty bad case, but by that time I'd lost far too much weight and muscle and then it really did have to go. I sold it to a nearby (by the local standard) Honda dealer for cheap and am down to the 2014 V-Strom 650 purchased a few years ago (it replaced a Breva V1100). It's great, although lacks the supreme comfort, power, and wind protection of the vast Honda. I missed much of the riding season this year and hope to do much better in ’23!

  I believe we make the decision about riding or it gets made for you.  We all face this decision sooner or later. I think the longer we have been in the MC culture life the harder it is to do.  It certainly is for me.   I sold after 10 years owning my very long and very heavy Victory Cross Country Tour to downsize to my current  07 Norge. Trying not to recognize my senior age in my lizard brain for as long a possible.  This conversation is ongoing season to season as I am riding less but still admiring and working on it in the garage, for therapeutic reasons.

Bill Hagan wrote:

Pete Roper wrote:

So when did the Norge go Bill? I don't remember hearing about that?

Thanks for asking, Pete.  

Godspeed, la mia dolce Norge.

Bill

So very sorry sir, but, like all good things, they come to an end. I too enjoyed my Red Molly for years. Then again, I've a reputation for changing bikes a bit more often than you

I find this discussion quite depressing. I too have reached (not like some unlucky buggers) 68 and am finding things a chore that were easy only a year or two ago.

My Sport is still my favourite; I love the BSA (harkens back to yesteryear); The Himalayan is kind of like a new BSA; The V85TT and I, have a love/hate relationship. Either I am too short or it's too tall - can't decide which.

Either way, I recognise my limitations and now plan a two day ride instead of what I would have done in one, not so long back.

Sheesh.

Didn't know you had moved that one Bill.  Here's a shot of appropriately parked

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