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Larry

(Alan Frame) wrote in news:1hkwrcp.lpinmb1x1zs7qN%
:

99 Ducati 748BP, 95 Ducati 600SS, 81 Guzzi Monza, 74 MV Agusta 350
"Ride to Work, Work to Ride" SI# 7.067 DoD#1930 PGP Key 0xBDED56C5

Back in the 60's I bought a Ducati 450 one cylinder beast. It had rear
view mirrors on it but we could never figure out why. You could never
see anything in mirrors bouncing up and down that hard on each stroke.
If you rode it 20 miles, you couldn't stand up by yourself to get off it.
The vibration was the best chick magnet we ever saw....(c;

Guzzis....I had a 700, 750 and my last one was an 850 police special I
bought from the Tampa Police Department for my winning sealed bid of $300
in fine condition, taken care of by a loving cop. They de-militarized
it, put new tyres, brakes, generator belt, plugs and points in it plus
fixed a few other "safety items" the police department wouldn't sell it
without fixing. I drove it for many years, selling it for far more than
I paid, even including maintenance.

Aren't Magneti Marelli electrics just so much fun to continuously
repair?!

Fed up with swapping starters, I took the last one into an auto starter
shop that had been in business since the Model A Ford was new. He took
one look at it and said, "It's a Fiat starter, but they've swapped the
brushes around so it would run backwards. That's why it has a pinion
solenoid." He swapped the brushes in a rebuilt Fiat starter and handed
it to me. "Try that and bring it back if it doesn't work." It was the
last starter problem I ever had with Mother Goose....

It ended up with maintenance-free HONDA 750 handlebars and switches.
Problem solved. Other Guzzi enthousiasts were horrified. Fiat 850
points fit it, too...(c;

My father "borrowed" a Guzzi V-twin from a couple of dead Italian
soldiers in North Africa during the war. There were many of them running
great in Allied hands, prized because there was no water cooling in the
desert. It was like a little pickup truck with a motorcycle front
end....like those little Italian delivery vans with motorcycle handlebars
I saw in Naples in the '60's. I think they were 2-stroke Vespas, though.

Ok, back to boats. Thanks for the great story. I'd like another Guzzi,
but can't see paying the same for one as a new Lexus.

--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.