guzzi bagger – Chasing Motorcycles

This is the third in a series of articles about living with and riding a California Vintage from Moto Guzzi. The previous one is here.

Looking for a Cool Cruiser or Big Bagger? The California Vintage is “Seriously Cool”

Moto Guzzi California Vintage under the Hollywood sign.

Cool is Fonzi before the Shark Tank. Cool is James Bond before Roger Lazenby. Ford before the Pinto. The Blues Brothers before Belushi died.

While it is most definitely true that some people that ride motorcycles from “The Motorcycle Company” are cool, it’s not because they own Harleys. They are cool AND they chose to ride Harleys. But there are people that are cool and they choose to ride Vespas. The issue here is the great number of people that buy Harleys and other “lifestyle” motorcycles because it will make them cool. This is “checkbook cool”. No work needed, just add money and you’re cool. Continue reading “Moto Guzzi California Vintage Day 3 — Cool vs. “Checkbook Cool””

Initial Impressions

I Got up at 5 o’clock that Friday morning, knowing that I was going to ride the California Vintage to work. As stated in the last posting, I had to take the Breva in, but then it woujld be three hundred miles of riding on a real, honest-to-goodness sumbitchin made-for-the-long-road cruiser.

My Eldorado probably qualifies as a cruiser, but I think of it more as a “standard” because of the seating position and the usual lack of bags and windscreen. My usual commuter is a Ducati ST2 Sport tourer since it’s all bagged up and will hold my 17″ Mac laptop. I had been riding around all last week on a Moto Guzzi Breva 1200 Sport and having a blast. But now it was time to cruise.

While the previous post put the California in context, this one is the “feel” post. 300 miles on the first day gave me a feel for the bike. What I liked, didn’t like, etc. Getting to ride through some diverse commuter roads gave me an impression of what the bike would be like when sitting on it day-to-day. Continue reading “Moto Guzzi California Vintage – Commuting and First Impressions”