Minutes of a Motorcycle Addict

Do you have a cool bike? Or did you see one in the parking lot? Take a picture of it and send it to me by e-mail or MMS +47 99480650
- preferably with some info about the bike - and I'll post it here.

John Cooper is a new aquaintance I just made when he mailed me for some tip as he's probably going for an extended Norway ride in 2011. As it is, John is a keen Guzzi Nuovo Falcone rider living in the UK. He has had his ex-military Nuovo Falcone for eighty years now, and he has loved every minute of it, he says. "You will see I don't use an original silencer - too expensive, around £300. I am running on an International Harvester tractor silencer, about £11 from the local agricultural merchants", John tells me.

Rune Svensson is a Swede whom I actually haven't met IRL yet but as he's an avid Quota rider we have crossed paths, so to speak, on various Quota forums on the web. Rune's Quota is a 1998 1100 ES, the newer of the two versions that was produced (not counting the carburetted pre-1990 which was produced in a very small number), the other being the 1000 which I have. Rune has kept his Quota pretty much in original trim, except the exhaust can, the wind screen and the Power Commander which he says makes all the difference with regard to power and motor characteristics. A pretty ride!

My good friend Alf Langø is smiling like a girl in a toothpaste ad these days. He's replenished his motorcycle garage with a long lost love, a 1997 Yamaha 1000 Thunderace. Alf used to own one many years ago but crashed it. Since then he's been riding several different bikes, including a 1985 Honda VF1000F, which he used to ride until he bought his new old Thunderace. I suspect the Honda will live a quiet life after this, if not being sold.

Liv Ullern is a woman who by buying this rig in 2007 discovered the joy and excitement of sidecar riding. She has named her rig "The Tub" and the word above it in the uppermost pic spells "Hell" in Norwegian. I assume she's not referring to the bike but to some waterfalls in Espedalen, Norway, dubbed "Hell" due to its scary might. The bike is an old BMW R of some kind, the chair is - well - functional, at least. It's casted in plastic at a hospital's workshop for prosthethic limbs in the Easter of 1978. But, Liv insists, the rig is fully functional and she's never regretted the transition from two to three wheels.

I took this pic of my friend Jon Whitmore when he, Tor Seim and myself went touring in Hardanger the first weekend of June 2010. I think came out so well it is suitable for these pages ;-)  Even if the bike is mine; for this trip the Griso was all Jon's.

Trevor Baird is a good friend and motorcyclist from Northern Ireland. When he's not fighting for riders' rights through Write to Ride - Right to Ride, he's of course riding and looking at motorcycles. Sunday 11 April 2010 he went to Carrickfergus where the Quay Vipers MCC organized a charity run for the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice (and raised GBP 10 000). There he spotted this rather rare Moto Guzzi 500 Astore. The Astore was produced from 1949 to 1953, and from 1950 alongside the far more famous 500 Falcone. Due to the Falcone's immense popularity and because it won the favour of the military and police, the similarly displaced Astore was a rather short lived model. It's worth noting though that whereas the Falcone had the rather unsophisticated friction rear damper, the Astore sported the more sophisticated plunger suspension. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the lucky rider in this picture, but he seems like a man who've been around long enough to really appreciate his beautiful bike. The Astore is definitely one of the Guzzis I'd really like to own one day.

Bjørn Auglend, a friend from the Norwegian Guzzi Club - also owner of Old Blackie (further down this page), sent me a pic of his 1987 Moto Guzzi Le Mans IV 1000 cc equipped with an Armec Sidewinder leaning sidecar (even if it's the bike that is actually leaning...). The bike has been modified so it has all the stuff that the LM V has, except the fork dampers. The rig has had only one owner before Bjørn, who imported it from Germany. The previous owner was the one who put on the Sidewinder back in 1991. Since then the rig has rolled only 35000 kms. Bjørn writes: "The bike has a specially adapted 2-1 exhaust and a Brembo 300 full floating discs and Brembo Oro calippers". The leaning angle of the bike towards the sidecar is approximately 47 degrees. If you want to ride solo bike, the sidecar is easily detached within 10 minutes. The fairing is not the original one but was put on after a small incident last year (involving a car which didn't yield).

Roy Magne Hansen, a rider I know from several motorcycle rallies, sent me these pictures of his newest (to him) ride, a 1982 Harley Davidson FLH 1340 Electra with a sidecar. Not sure what kind of sidecar it is, but Roy says in his mail that the bike is an ex-police bike, the engine making some 70 hp. "A very torquey ride", Roy reports of his sidecar rig.

Håkon Hammerø, a buddy from the Norwegian Guzzi Club, spotted this Moto Guzzi V65NTX outside a store in Oslo. It's very rare on these shores as they where never officially imported to Norway. Hence this bike has been 2nd hand imported, most probably from Germany or Italy. The V35/65NTX was the second attempt for Guzzi to put a contender into the rapidly growing travel enduro class that was started off with the Yamaha XT500 and later the BMW R80 G/S in the Eighties. Guzzi first produced their "girlie" off-roader, the V35/65TT (Tutteterrano) before making this one in the latter third of the Eighties. It has a 30 litre + gas tank making it suitable for long distance tours and rallies. It was later on, in the late Eighties and early Nineties, replaced by the NTX 350/750 which also introduced fixes to some flaws on the V35/65NTX models. It was also basis for a Dakar rally contender (as was the V65TT btw). The one pictured above is nevertheless a great bike with a lot in store for an owner who wants something out of the ordinary.

Rolf Johansen, another Guzzi friend, has put together this Guzzi V7 Sport classic racing contender. Rolf knows his way around Guzzis, and I bet he has done a lot preparing this one for the Forgotten Era class races. For the 2010 season he has put one serious exhaust can and pipes on it to give him that extra edge to his competitors. Time will show how he fares.

Jon Whitmore is a good friend from Nottinghamshire in the UK. He's a keen rider, having several bikes in his garage; a Harley-Davidson of some sort, a Yamaha XT 600 (currently not running), a magnificent Honda Africa Twin 750 - and the 14 March 2010 he bought himself a nice example of the bike that started the whole travel enduro frenzy back in the late 1970s, the Yamaha XT500. Jon used to ride hard(ish) off road in his youth precisely with the XT500. He might be accused of going back to his youth after buying this one off the Ebay, but who can blame him for getting such a nice bike?

Knut Holte is a well known racer on the Scandinavian classic m/c racing scene. For years he has been racing Moto Guzzis put together with bits from here and parts from there. He's had several racing bikes, but suddenly one morning in March 2010 he woke up with a craving to build himself another racer. This one is going to compete in the same class as the SP1000 racer I'm building, the Forgotten Era class 7A.

Knut is by the way the same guy who's been helping fixing the gear box on my SP1000 racer

Bjørn Auglend is a friend from the Norwegian Moto Guzzi Club. He and I - especially he - were the ones organizing the 2010 Italian Spring Rally. Bjørn is obviously a keen Moto Guzzi rider, owning three Guzzis. One day in March 2010 he MMS'd me a picture of this one, a Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, which he has named Old Blackie. It's not completely original, having 950 ccm cylindres, left foot gear change and so on. But it's one of the first 200-odd V7s that was produced. In other words, it has a history record. Furthermore, the tweaking has been done by the German master of motor engineering Jens Hofmann. Bjørn took out Old Blackie to fire it up after a long winter. "No problems at all", he reported.

Audun Tveito and his 1973 Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone Civilie

Audun Tveito is a fellow Guzzisti living in the western parts of Norway. For some years he owned the only Nuovo Falcone we knew of on these shores. The Falcone was never imported to Norway, so he found his steed in UK. Later several Falcones have found their way to us, and I'm looking at importing one myself. But what is it that motivates people to buy, own and ride this slow-paced single from another era? This is a story that Audun wrote for MC-ADDICT.COM and Moto Uniche. Enjoy!

Andy J. Buckles from the UK is a man with stamina. He's built himself a diesel engine powered bike based on an Ural frame (the rest of the Ural is, sensibly enough, discarded...) and a Daihatsu diesel engine. He has grafted on a BMW gearbox. Andy's quest can be seen on the forum of www.dieselbike.net.

 
Here is the Perkins diesel engine that Andy inteded to use
for his Diesel-BMW/Ural one-of-a-kind bike.
He has put in a Daihatsu diesel engine instead.

Photo: Andy J. Buckles

Andy has put out a video of his project on You Tube.
I am mighty impressed!

Update 24 Feb 2010: Andy has the beast on the road! Pay attention to the throaty sound on that engine. Seems like a strong puller too.