This is when the clock reset; the beginning of time; my discovery of the V-Twin.
This 1980 beauty was bought at a BMW dealership in Tunbridge Wells. He did me a real favour and took the XJ650 for scrap value; 20,000 miles in under 18 months had reduced it's value by 2/3rds. Ah the joys of Jap-Crap.
The Guzzi was a revelation. For a start the faring kept the wind off the upper body. The torquey engine allowed you to be lazy with gear changes; point and squirt. It would genuinely cruise at 100mph all day long, in a time before speed cameras. The handling was superb - the only problem was the non-folding foot-pegs tended to dig in during adventurous cornering.
Ok, so the switchgear looked like lego; the gear-change action more suited a Massey Furguson, and the electrics were, well, Italian. But at the time of writing (2008) a DVLA check has shown that this baby is still taxed, meaning someone still has it on the road.
This 1980 beauty was bought at a BMW dealership in Tunbridge Wells. He did me a real favour and took the XJ650 for scrap value; 20,000 miles in under 18 months had reduced it's value by 2/3rds. Ah the joys of Jap-Crap.
The Guzzi was a revelation. For a start the faring kept the wind off the upper body. The torquey engine allowed you to be lazy with gear changes; point and squirt. It would genuinely cruise at 100mph all day long, in a time before speed cameras. The handling was superb - the only problem was the non-folding foot-pegs tended to dig in during adventurous cornering.
Ok, so the switchgear looked like lego; the gear-change action more suited a Massey Furguson, and the electrics were, well, Italian. But at the time of writing (2008) a DVLA check has shown that this baby is still taxed, meaning someone still has it on the road.
