I'm so happy!











I finally found a bike after selling my 2001 Kawasaki ZR7F in England that I had for 3 years and moving to Houston, Texas. See, in Houston, even though it's the 4th largest city in the USA, there aren't a lot of standard/naked bikes on the used market; and let's be honest, many manufacturers have a massive gaping hole in their product line-ups that do not address this issue as well! So it's been a challenge to find one, to say the least!

I was leaning towards a Harley-Davidson Fat Bob. I like the style a lot, and I really like the sound. In fact, I really like torque too. After riding a 2010 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob CVO (that's the 110 cubic inch Screamin' Eagle one) in 2010 I fell in love with it. So naturally I checked out our local Harley-Davidson dealer and took a 2013 H-D Fat Bob for a test ride. I dunno, it just didn't "do it" for me like the CVO did. And a 2013, even with a good deal, was north of $16k, a little pricey for my blood. So, back to looking again.

I've always loved the UJM and one that has always been on my hit list was the Kawasaki ZRX1100 and ZRX1200R. Wonderful looking retro machines! I could put one in my living room as a piece of art. So a low mileage one (7300 miles) 2003 version in blue/silver came up. The only issue was the 4 hour drive each way to go see it, so one Friday (all Friday) we drove to it and I rode it. Beautiful bike, but again, it just didn't "do it" for me. Sure it had some power, but the engine didn't have soul. In fact, I was a tad disappointed it wasn't nearly as powerful as I thought it would be. One of Andrea's friends said "Never meet your hero" and I guess this applied here as well. But I'm happy to have rode it.

Then, I got an email from Moto Guzzi (I am official press for them) promoting their "Take our new 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone out for a test ride". I know Andrea has been craving a Moto Guzzi V7 since it came out (2009) and I thought, what a great way for her to try it out and I might as well take it for a spin too.

Well, it was the most fun bike I've ever ridden in the city and it had heaps upon heaps of character and soul. Italians seem to know a little about putting that into their machines it seems. And the sound, oh man, the sound is music. The transverse V-Twin sounds like a V8 and has torque in spades. (see my review here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=46027)

All I could think about for the next two weeks (while waiting to hear back from Moto Guzzi on a media purchase plan) is owing the V7 Stone. Unfortunately all that waiting proved to be a waste as MG doesn't have a plan (sad really), and they were checking what they could offer (I'm still waiting). So I talked to the Moto Guzzi dealer here (MPH Cycles, Houston) and just went ahead and bought it!!

Now, I really couldn't decide between the Flat Black version or the Pure White (glossy) one. I'm not a natural fan of a black bike and not flat paint either, so I was really leaning towards the glossy white one. Just a small issue was they had a Flat Black one in stock, but no white one and with Sandy (the Hurricane) disrupting the distribution chain and Andrea, Bruce, his wife and the dealer saying "it looks best in the black you know", I came around to see that myself and boom, I own a 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone in flat black.



You might wonder by now what the title of my blog "Does it smell like pizza or is it just me?" means. Well, let me tell you. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or not (the bike is 100% built in Italy with 100% Italian made parts) but everytime I come to a stop light it smells just like mushroom pizza. Was it friday and the workers were eating pizza while building this V7? Did pizza somehow get infused into the engine? How is this possible the bike smells like pizza? Now there could be many, many others scents and pizza is a GOOD one, but how strange...

Ok, more on the bike tomorrow so I don't bore you to death. But I'll leave you on what High_Side wrote to me that made me laugh:



Plus, I think High_Side should get one too.

Mike

_________________
2013 Motorcycle Model Guides
2012 Motorcycle Model Guides
2013 ATV/Quad Model Guides


Total Motorcycle is official Media/Press for Aprilia, Benelli, Beta, Bimota, BMW, Buell, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husqvarna, Husaberg, Hyosung, Indian, Kawasaki, KTM, KYMCO, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, Norton, Phantom, Piaggio, Polaris, Ridley, Roehr, Royal Enfield, Suzuki, Triumph, Ural, Vespa, Victory, Yamaha and Zero.

What's that sign on the wall behind you??? LOL

_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul!"

Bikes that one owns can be loosely classified into three categories. Ones you bond with immediately, ones you bond with eventually, and ones that you never bond with.

Looks like you have instantly bonded with you Guzzi.

Speaking of Pizza, one of the nice things about buying a new bike is the new engine smell. Each brand has a certain aroma; my favorite I think is Honda.

_________________
2008 Ducati Hypermotard 1100
2006 Kawasaki KLX250S
2004 Honda CBR600RR
2002 BMW R1150R
1996 Ducati 900SS

It's the olive oil they put in at the factory. Once it's broken in, you can change to full synthetic.

_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul!"

You guys are great fun!

Mike

_________________
2013 Motorcycle Model Guides
2012 Motorcycle Model Guides
2013 ATV/Quad Model Guides


Total Motorcycle is official Media/Press for Aprilia, Benelli, Beta, Bimota, BMW, Buell, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husqvarna, Husaberg, Hyosung, Indian, Kawasaki, KTM, KYMCO, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, Norton, Phantom, Piaggio, Polaris, Ridley, Roehr, Royal Enfield, Suzuki, Triumph, Ural, Vespa, Victory, Yamaha and Zero.

So, all the safety stickers (2 on the tank, 2 on the shocks, 1 on the rear fender) are all removed now. Not that bad to remove them, the ones on the chrome shocks were the worst. But now the bike looks cleaner, next is to deal with the license plate on the back mess as it's taking away from the looks of the tail with the Texas safety sticker on there and the large dealer plate frame.

I've found this from the Texas DPS manual about the sticker:



So it looks like I could move it to the side of the plate with the "or any other visible location on the rear near its license plate" or find somehow to intigrate it better. The dealer removed the bottom rear fender reflector (which I'll ask for back as they forgot to give it to me a few days ago) and keep it to put it back on later.

We went out last night (it was +17°C or around 74°F) on the highway and city streets, what a fun bike. Under 4k it's more V-Twin sound and over 4k it's like a deep sportbike sound. The V7 I'm finding is really like two bikes in one. You can ride it between 2,800 rpm and 4,000 rpm and it's more like a boulevard cruiser in character. Above that in the 4000-8000rpm range it reminds me a lot of a sportbike in charater as the sound wants you to keep going harder and faster and it's very rewarding pushed to the max.



Mike

_________________
2013 Motorcycle Model Guides
2012 Motorcycle Model Guides
2013 ATV/Quad Model Guides


Total Motorcycle is official Media/Press for Aprilia, Benelli, Beta, Bimota, BMW, Buell, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husqvarna, Husaberg, Hyosung, Indian, Kawasaki, KTM, KYMCO, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, Norton, Phantom, Piaggio, Polaris, Ridley, Roehr, Royal Enfield, Suzuki, Triumph, Ural, Vespa, Victory, Yamaha and Zero.

Next accessory: DART Flyscreen: http://www.dartflyscreens.com/

Thanks to Steve over at DART for arranging me to review one of his new Moto Guzzi V7 fly screens. DART is a small company and it's nice to support them. At $125 inc shipping it's a nice price and should look great on the Guzzi. The flyscreen is in the mail so I should have it within a couple of weeks and then mount it up and do an unbiased review on it (as always) within a couple of months.





About DART:



Looking forward to it.

Mike

_________________
2013 Motorcycle Model Guides
2012 Motorcycle Model Guides
2013 ATV/Quad Model Guides


Total Motorcycle is official Media/Press for Aprilia, Benelli, Beta, Bimota, BMW, Buell, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husqvarna, Husaberg, Hyosung, Indian, Kawasaki, KTM, KYMCO, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, Norton, Phantom, Piaggio, Polaris, Ridley, Roehr, Royal Enfield, Suzuki, Triumph, Ural, Vespa, Victory, Yamaha and Zero.

I haven't heard anything today in regards to the new Mistal pipes I ordered up, but I'm crossing my fingers for tomorrow! But in the meantime, here is sound clip I found that will illustrate (hopefully exactly) what the new pipes will sound like as it's on a V7 Stone as well:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYcB_EeMd8Y&hd=1&t=2s

Italian music.

Now my Italian pizza smelling bike with have a some hot chillies to go with it.



Here is Mistal's website: http://www.mistralspecialparts.it/ but it is mostly in Italian.

Mike

_________________
2013 Motorcycle Model Guides
2012 Motorcycle Model Guides
2013 ATV/Quad Model Guides


Total Motorcycle is official Media/Press for Aprilia, Benelli, Beta, Bimota, BMW, Buell, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Husqvarna, Husaberg, Hyosung, Indian, Kawasaki, KTM, KYMCO, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta, Norton, Phantom, Piaggio, Polaris, Ridley, Roehr, Royal Enfield, Suzuki, Triumph, Ural, Vespa, Victory, Yamaha and Zero.

Such a nice muted rumble, not loud and obnoxious like straight pipes or some of those cans on sport bikes. Although, I can just imagine what they're like at higher RPM's...

_________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul!"