A Big Italian Affair

Its been a long time since i have type something here. I have been much into touring since the last time i penned something here.

Something to regret is that I have sold my ST1100 without doing any long trip on it. I found it too bulky to move in city although it rides like a dream on highways. Had a couple of falls on that bike solely trying to park it or push it. I reckon this bull is not for me to tame.

So I moved on, sold my ST11 to a big malay guy who loves it to bits. By the time I sold the ST, the famous Phuket Bike Week was around the corner, I was very fortunate to be offered by Piaggio to ride an exquisite motorcycle to Phuket to make publicity for this motorcycle. This motorcycle as depicted on the left (and that is a nice photgraph of me riding it!) is the famous (or the infamous?) Moto Guzzi California Vintage.

This motorcycle is powered by a 1100cc 90degree V-twin, chilled by an oil cooler and driven by shaft. Cost a freaking $32,900 machine price! Why the astronomical price tag? That is because this California Vintage is a exact replica of an old 1968 - 69 California where the LAPD uses the bike as their police bike, yes replicating the original bike up to the side panniers, old school windscreen and the black white pinstrips paintwork. This is also the only other bike those cops uses in their long history of LAPD bikes. The rest of them are all Harleys. (The Italians are obviously damm proud of this fact)

I have make fairly good amount of studies on this bike in order for me to be ready when I am suppose to answer those curious enquiries along the way to Phuket. There is also an almost impossible target set by my boss during that trip...it is to put it in the limelight at the Phuket Bike Week Dinner! As any seasoned bike traveller knows, although PBW (short for Phuket Bike Week) welcomes all bikes from everywhere, it is very harley based and bikers that reach Phuket during the PBW season are more often then sitting on a rumbling pushrod twin and some screaming eagles.

Not blaming them, as PBW is a show event, what could be more showstopping then a sparkling chromed harley. And in this case, we are talking about thousands of them!

Now after the ride to and from Phuket. I would say the bike is generally ok and comfortable to ride but it lack the top speed and not exactly fulfiling comparing to a booming Harley twin (my boss will kill me when he see this!)

The heat from the Vs in some occasional of riding thru Thailand weather can almost cook my testis*** (balls, in another word, which courteously mean, the engine is positioned in a manner that when its hot and running, the hot air are channel past the ride, on the California, the hot air passes through the rider's legs and most of them went between)



I had a great time with this bike though. Catches a lot of attention and especially in a Harley based event, it is something out of the blue. Most of the passerbys would tends to take a 2nd look.