Doing my normal day-off routine of laying around the house till noon **C then going for a short ride in and around town, I stopped by the local Suzuki/Yamaha dealer in search of a new helmet and other time killers. Looking around the back lot, I caught a glimpse of chrome out of the corner of my eye...
Dealer says its there as a consignment sale, and all they know is its a 2002 Moto Guzzi California. Its obviously been cough 'customized' by its previous owner.
From what little I know about the California models, they're 1100cc's of transverse v-twin goodness with about 75hp, 560 pounds wet, and shaft drive. Its about the size of a H-D Dyna, but weighs about the same as a sportster, and can actually handle. They normally come with floorboards and linked brakes on the upmarket versions, a dual seat, and possibly/probably a windshield, turn signals, different fenders, possibly factory hard bags. It looks like the PO ditched the floorboards in favor of forward controls, a single seat, and lopped off the slip-ons for something aftermarket, and got rid of the airbox for a pair of K&N pod filters.
They let me test ride it and I came back thinking I really really liked it. Torque is a wonderful, wonderful thing to have. It wasn't loud at all and the motor sounded fantastic through the slightly opened up pipes. There were some fueling issues rolling off a closed throttle, but I'm guessing the pipes and no-airbox have something to do with that. Once moving it pulled really really well, rev'd smoothly and happily with gobs of torque everywhere. I could easily see this motor giving no berkeleys how much I loaded down the bike with gear.
The riding position was new to me as I've never ridden a bike with forward controls. I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I was once I relaxed and let myself fall into the position the bike dictated rather than trying to impose the dual-sport 'sit up and beg' riding position I've become so accustomed to. The controls were a bit too far forward for me though, as the top of the shin guard on my boots were resting on the cylinders. Fortunately it looks like it would be relatively simple to relocate the foot pegs.
It was hard to evaluate the handling and ride of the Guzzi given the midwestern flavor of the roads in and around the part of Fairbanks where I was test riding it i.e. straight and flat. Ride quality felt good enough to me, not any worse than the WR anyway. Handling was obviously slower, but not at all cumbersome even during a tight u-turn. I'd really have to take it out for some miles to get a better feel for it.
In the end I came away extremely impressed. Its a rat bike, its relatively cheap, and it 'should' be relatively maintenance free. Its certainly better suited to living out of and off of than my WR250X is, especially if I continue chasing the sun for a living over settling down. Should I?
