This past winter i built an Ambo out of parts. 3 weeks after it was running, I rode from Seattle to Redmond Oregon. I started at ~8PM. lots of construction around Olympia delayed my arrival in Portland until midnight. Camp or press on? Hell I was too worked up at shedding the surly bonds of work and life. I was crossing the mountains in Tombstone Pass at 4AM. I stopped near there for an hour. I was jumpy about animals. Then I pressed on to Redmond and got there at 7AM. a month after, I went to circumnavigate Washington state. Almost made it. the 700 mile day from Loop Loop pass over to republic, down to Spokane, coer d'alene (then I noticed mechanical noises I didn't like) and headed for home. MIdnight and I was in Moses Lake (desolate place. but one really good cheap motel) the next morning I got exactly 4 miles down the road and the motor seized up tighter than a cat in a whiskey barrel.
I covered some miles. ANd the Ambo is by far the most comgortable bike I have ever put down serious miles on. my wide tractor seat, wide bars, police-ish sheild and foot pegs on the crash bars. no sweat.
reliable? you bet. We are talking 30 year old beasts here. but that NOS bike Dave built, I bet that bike can be ridden a hundred thou with no worries. cross country? no problem. That my particular beast gave up is more due to me using suspect parts and being impatient than any design or manufactuing flaw.
But that's not what you asked, is it? you wanted to know why the LD folks go for wings and BMWs.
simple. it's perception. there is a BMW dealer and a honda shop just over every damn hill. there is a national "come fix it" line for the hondas. feels very safe. no worries. no risk. when my ambo blew up I was just about 200 miles in either direction from a guzzi shop. feels a little lonely out there. Now if it was just me and I didn't have to worry about getting to work and staying emplyed to keep my kin fed, I would have just hunkered down and started working on getting parts sent to me. fix it right there. and get on going. but that is a whole different attitude than the wing and BMW touring folks have.
From: Robert Hawkes <haw-@frontiernet.net> Reply-To: Loopfram-@topica.com To: Loopfram-@topica.com Subject: Re: LONG DISTANCE LOOP FRAME Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 21:15:34 -0500
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Patrick, Yes, this is what I am talking about also. I notice that a few guys here are saying "when I was younger" and I know about that too! (Ugh!) I talked to a guy this weekend who said he only traveled on a BMW because he didn't want to "think" about the bike but just about the traveling. Maybe that's why people go for the Wings and Beemers. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: Patrick Hayes <peha-@aol.com> To: <Loopfram-@topica.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 4:16 PM Subject: Re: LONG DISTANCE LOOP FRAME
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When I was young and energetic, I came home to San Francisco from the
Guzzi
National Rally in Sylvan Grove, KS with one night stop in Green River,
UT.
That's about 950 miles for each of the two days. That was on a dressed
out
'73 Eldorado.
Patrick Hayes Fremont CA
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