Sept '21 Guzzi Riders Lunch Meet Report
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Ron
Sep 20, 2021, 1:03:34 PM9/20/21
to VA Guzzi
Guzzisti,
Friday the 17th a post appeared on FB about a street festival in downtown Bedford Saturday. Bummer! way too late to change the lunch location. It did throw the kibosh into my plan for taking the long way around riding down to Bedford Saturday morning. I didn't know what kind of traffic/detoured streets I might get entangled in. So, I just blasted down 460. It was a good test for the Aerofoil fairing mount on the V7. Having decided (painfully) to sell the V11 Sport, I'd moved the fairing to the V7. First test ride after the install showed that the fairing was sloped back too far. The air blast that was supposed to go over my helmet was impacting the face shield. Remounting more vertically involved having to fabricate brackets to move the front turnsignals forward. The ride down to Bedford was the first test...perfect! The Aerofoil is the absolute best fairing/windshield I've ever ridden behind. The only thing close is the factory Guzzi fairing used on the old SPs. Guzzi engineers use of the windtunnel really paid off in how well the fairing/lowers work on those models.
So, I rolled into Bedford a little early. The street was barricaded a block toward downtown from the restaurant. There was a display of fire/rescue equipment across the street, but, except for the parking lot being nearly full w/cars coming & going Bella Italia was quiet. I "claimed" the big table & was able to watch all the activity outside while I waited....and waited. I was beginning to get that "I'm eating alone" feeling when Mike & Laura Jones pulled in on his Convert at about 12:15. He put the bike in the same space w/my V7. Mike said that Nate & Keri were attending a reunion of her family in Myrtle Beach, so they wouldn't be at the lunch. I had an order of the homemade potato chips, we munched on them until about 12:45 when we went ahead & ordered. Our food came out pretty quickly & we were nearly finished when a bike rolled by on the side street. Laura said "That's a Guzzi" The rider turned into the small lot for the nail salon that's shares the building w/Bella Italia just outside where we were sitting. The chrome on the bike really jumped in the sun. It was Frank Hartman w/Miss "B" riding pillion on his V7III "Annaversario". They ordered, & we continued our usual wide ranging conversation while they got their food & ate. I must say we were generally disappointed w/the food, while my Italian sausage/peppers sub was good, MIke was not happy w/his eggplant parmigiana sub "I'd give it a "5" out of 10", Laura had a shrimp 'po boy...that only had 4 shrimp. Frank & Miss B shared a spinach stuffed ravioli dish that was undercooked "a little too much au dent". Well, anyone w/their eyes open these days has seen the help wanted signs and the empty shelves in the supermarkets. Who knows what a place like Bella Italia is dealing with keeping competent personnel and buying supplies.
We checked out the 3 Guzzi's after lunch, especially Frank's beauty. 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the Guzzi transverse V-twin. First being the 1967 V-7 700cc. Frank's is # 98 out of 1000 V7III anniversary models built. It came w/a solid chrome tank, but Frank has added chromed sidecovers, and injector inlet covers. With the brown leather seat, small windscreen & small leather saddle bags the bike is QUITE an eyefull. We all loaded up & headed home. I was able to ride up that one block, take a left at the barricade & after a couple turns get on Rt 43 to take the long way home. Turned out to be a beautiful day, just hotter than the weatherguess.
Y'all stay healthy & ride safe, hope to see you next month.
Ron
Friday the 17th a post appeared on FB about a street festival in downtown Bedford Saturday. Bummer! way too late to change the lunch location. It did throw the kibosh into my plan for taking the long way around riding down to Bedford Saturday morning. I didn't know what kind of traffic/detoured streets I might get entangled in. So, I just blasted down 460. It was a good test for the Aerofoil fairing mount on the V7. Having decided (painfully) to sell the V11 Sport, I'd moved the fairing to the V7. First test ride after the install showed that the fairing was sloped back too far. The air blast that was supposed to go over my helmet was impacting the face shield. Remounting more vertically involved having to fabricate brackets to move the front turnsignals forward. The ride down to Bedford was the first test...perfect! The Aerofoil is the absolute best fairing/windshield I've ever ridden behind. The only thing close is the factory Guzzi fairing used on the old SPs. Guzzi engineers use of the windtunnel really paid off in how well the fairing/lowers work on those models.
So, I rolled into Bedford a little early. The street was barricaded a block toward downtown from the restaurant. There was a display of fire/rescue equipment across the street, but, except for the parking lot being nearly full w/cars coming & going Bella Italia was quiet. I "claimed" the big table & was able to watch all the activity outside while I waited....and waited. I was beginning to get that "I'm eating alone" feeling when Mike & Laura Jones pulled in on his Convert at about 12:15. He put the bike in the same space w/my V7. Mike said that Nate & Keri were attending a reunion of her family in Myrtle Beach, so they wouldn't be at the lunch. I had an order of the homemade potato chips, we munched on them until about 12:45 when we went ahead & ordered. Our food came out pretty quickly & we were nearly finished when a bike rolled by on the side street. Laura said "That's a Guzzi" The rider turned into the small lot for the nail salon that's shares the building w/Bella Italia just outside where we were sitting. The chrome on the bike really jumped in the sun. It was Frank Hartman w/Miss "B" riding pillion on his V7III "Annaversario". They ordered, & we continued our usual wide ranging conversation while they got their food & ate. I must say we were generally disappointed w/the food, while my Italian sausage/peppers sub was good, MIke was not happy w/his eggplant parmigiana sub "I'd give it a "5" out of 10", Laura had a shrimp 'po boy...that only had 4 shrimp. Frank & Miss B shared a spinach stuffed ravioli dish that was undercooked "a little too much au dent". Well, anyone w/their eyes open these days has seen the help wanted signs and the empty shelves in the supermarkets. Who knows what a place like Bella Italia is dealing with keeping competent personnel and buying supplies.
We checked out the 3 Guzzi's after lunch, especially Frank's beauty. 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the Guzzi transverse V-twin. First being the 1967 V-7 700cc. Frank's is # 98 out of 1000 V7III anniversary models built. It came w/a solid chrome tank, but Frank has added chromed sidecovers, and injector inlet covers. With the brown leather seat, small windscreen & small leather saddle bags the bike is QUITE an eyefull. We all loaded up & headed home. I was able to ride up that one block, take a left at the barricade & after a couple turns get on Rt 43 to take the long way home. Turned out to be a beautiful day, just hotter than the weatherguess.
Y'all stay healthy & ride safe, hope to see you next month.
Ron
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