Moto Guzzi Stelvio (merged) threadfest...

Ditto

Marc, I'm surprised to see a comment about the cost of the 12K service. I'm guessing that the Eldo service is where your real expense fell. Other than balancing the TBs and resetting the TPS your 12K service should only be a couple hours labor and, of course, the parts/fluid. Man, I can still remember the 12K on a Ducati...usually something north of $1,000 unless there was a real problem like replacing the clutch basket.

Peter Y.

Blew the exhaust gasket out from the LH header to crossover today

Gotta call MPH Monday see if it's warranty or wear and tear - first issue in 16.5kmiles

One the other hand I'm liking the anakee III's more and more

Since I wanted my dealer to warranty replace my destroyed Aux light for possible use later, I took my bike in for its 10k km (approx. 6.5k miles) service so I could show them the light, explain how it blew, etc. With shop rates at $120/hr, it came to $600 w/ a TB sync, which according to the shop was not a part of the 10k km service (turns out the TBs were out by quite a bit so it needed it regardless of what the "book" said). That's a lot of cabbage..... :eek1

I don't anticipate any further warranty needs (touch wood), so I'll be doing my own work going forward, just like I did on my '08 Norge.

-SM

No this was just for the Stelvio. We did the full Monty however and not just the 12K. I also bought a rear hugger and 2 gallons of the cheap oil which added about $280 buck to the deal. The Eldorado is not looking good. We found it was just a bad seal, BUT the reason the seal is bad is the differential carrier is scored. When the donor bike shows up I am hoping it is in better shape and maybe we can just swap final drives. If not then the money starts to flow, or the Eldo's go on the block for cheap.

SO my V7 project is not looking like it is going to happen, unless someone wants to give me big bucks for my RT.

Marc

Cross post of my ride today. But hey I did it on the Stelvio.

Had a great day. The only issue was the new rear hugger I had put on the bike to protect the rear shock was not installed properly and rubbed on the tire. No real damage to the tire and I remounted it when I got home.

I rode up Coal creek canyon and ran into a whole heard of New Yorkers that were on rented bikes and on some kind of a tour at the top of Golden Gate. I think there is a place here in Denver that does than kind of thing. HEY I would lead a tour and get paid every weekend.



I then headed up through Central City and over the raceway to I70 where I ran up the Georgetown. Took a quick break and then headed up over Guanella. The west side of Guanella has been repaved and is a killer sport bike road now.

Sorry these are fuzzy but the handle bar mounted camera did not do such a good job.



Georgetown just up the pass a ways. Cool little town but becoming way too touristy.








On top were more people than I had ever seen. Must have been a few hundred cars up there. YEA that's right, hundred.

Mt. Evans from the West side.



Closer view.



I sure would hate to fall off that sucker.

Hikers starting up. WAY to late in the day if they are trying to summit.



And more terrible views of our state.



After coming back down into Grant I stopped where the Rally is going to be next weekend. I had no idea they set up this little camp ground just up off 285.



Still working on it I guess.



A little south of Grant there is a building that has had several businesses in it over the years and they all failed. There is a new little restaurant there now so lunch was had. Very decent food and very nice people. And yes 4 more people actually showed up as I was having lunch.



Then it was back down 287 and riding in the RAIN. It was really coming down in spots. I stopped at Erico to check out the new Moto Guzzi V7 Racer but after getting home found out there are serious issues with my Eldorado so that is probably not going to happen.

Home in more rain and then remounted the rear hugger so no more tire rub.

Al in all a fun day.

Marc

Dang..... we're back in CA (Palm Springs for the night) and I'm already missing the scenery & riding in Colorado, but NOT the funky afternoon storms. It's definitely better to get your riding in before about 3pm.

I sure wish we'd had the time to get some personalized tours in. I know we missed a bunch of good stuff, but there's only so much you can cram in 10 days, especially when you start out 3 states away. At least we got a pretty good first go at it.

You got to see a lot and some of the best stuff. It would take me 10 years to show you around. Heck I was born here and have only seen about a 10th of it myself.

Marc

Next time I think I'd rather trailer the bike to CO so I could just banzai thru the stuff in between and then find a good "base camp" to explore more of the back country and cool out of the way places with a MUCH lighter load. With the bike fully loaded there was NO way I wanted to consider going off-road.

I'm guessing we had an easy 75 lbs of luggage plus both of us (~325 lbs) so I was looking at ~1,000 lbs GVW kinda scary in the dirt.

BTW, the 705s made it across the desert from Lake Havasu, AZ to Palm Springs,CA in 110-112 degree heat at ~75-80 mph without showing any signs of trouble. Ya, that part sucked big time....

I am convinced that is the way to ride CO, especially from as far away as Minnesota. I've done such travel several times now. It saves on tires (especially knobbies) and you can bring more stuff, bigger tent, etc.

As I get older, riding the bike across Nebraska and So Dakota in the heat of July is no treat.

I saw an orange Stelvio yesterday heading north on the section of 287 between Amarillo and Dumas yesterday. I waved, but I was in the car.

Mr B, having done the 'ride across the USA' trick a few times I agree with you 100%. This time of year is particularly off-putting, seeing the temps out west at well over 100F. Riding when it is super hot is doable but neither smart nor fun. Been there, done that.

Ian,

If you ever get up this way again and want a front fender extender I seem to have ended up with an extra one.

Marc

Ya, it's no fun at all. We stopped often to cool off and hydrate. I had a camelback on filled with ice water. I tried to figure a way around it and besides doing that leg at night there was no way around it. I have no choice but to cross the desert getting to CO. Utah is nice but also hot this time of year, we saw 110 in St George and about 108 in Moab. I stuck to the higher elevations in northen AZ as long as I could on the way back to keep the temps reasonable.

I've ridden Utah a couple times now. Like CO, it's better to just trailer there and do day loops in the fun/interesting stuff and earlier in the year.

I did enjoy riding multi-state but will do the next ride at a cooler time of the year probably in a different direction, I hear Idaho calling my name

I'd also prefer to do it with a small group if possible, it really helps if you run into problems and I think it adds to the fun.

Thank goodness we had zero problems with the bike besides tires which was just bad luck. The Stelvio ran like a champ the whole time. It idles amazingly smooth at 7,500 ft elevation, it just purrs. We're nearly home and I'll check the oil again, but so far it has hardly used any, NICE!!!

If the stupid bastage was wearing a black Badlands, that would be me.

Dunno, I was distracted by the sweet Italian bike.

I was in the comically overloaded (Honda CR480R, bicycle, and a big gas jug all strapped to the single-bike hitch carrier) but still very fine British automobile (my dirty, beat up, but still occasionally mostly functional Land Rover).

I'm down in the DFW area now, near the speedway. If you live nearby and want too get out for a ride sometime, let me know.

In principal I hate trailering a bike I can ride on road but I am also getting much less tolerant of riding over the gazillion miles of flat land between me and the rockies or the Northwest Pacific coast. Its a dilema !!! Guess that's why I find myself riding more in the North Carolina, WV, Tn, North Georgia area these days. But I do miss the spectacular scenery out west.

I've sort of concluded that if I didn't do the ride out and back, I wouldn't need the NTX. Another bike -- a lighter/smaller one, just for day trips -- would suffice.

I just returned from a 3800 mile trip to SW CO to a Guzzi Rally in Ouray. It was pretty straight forward going out but I took the opportunity on the way back to see a few friends and relatives. While at the Rally, I only rode about 250 miles. I saw other areas/roads in CO while riding to see my friends/relatives in Centennial, Fort Collins and Fleming.

For the total venture, the NTX was a great bike. IMO, it is a very good long distance, road touring bike. I'm set up with Cruise Control, so the long distances and open spaces with the big tank were relatively easy. With its weight, it was a lot easier to manage in the winds than a lighter bike.

I live in the Great Middle (south of Indy). If I want to get to the mountains, I have to go across the Great Plains. This recent trip was my fifth time across those Plains. Yes, it's boring. Yes, it can be hot/windy/rainy/etc. But, if I were going to trailer the bike to get there, so I could ride while there, I definitely wouldn't need a bike in the class of the NTX. And, when I think seriously about it, would I trailer a bike 2K miles or more, so I could ride a few hundred miles?

Certainly something to consider. Ride safe out there.

Chuck,

The same thing has happened to me when I've hauled the bike somewhere. Haul it 350 miles to only ride 50. Or haul it 1500 miles to only ride a few hundred.

I guess I'm kind of sick, but I actually kind of enjoy the ride across the plains...

Me too. Something very soothing about it.