Subject: Re: The Same Yet So Different
Author: Alan Dunphy
Date: Jul 1, 2002, 8:45 AM
Post ID: 1710523672
Some years back and shortly after I had restored my first Eldorado,
(a '73 brought home in boxes) I happened to find an '71 Ambassador for sale
at a price to good to pass up. Both bikes were fully dressed, bags, top
box, and Wixom fairings, though the fairings were the different models. The
Ambassador had the lighter version of Wixom but it also had driving lights
to sort of balance the weight on the forks. I always felt that the
Ambassador felt sportier and sounded more powerful, hand made stainless
glasspacks, than the Eldo with stock peashooter mufflers. I really loved the
Ambo around town because of the better acceleration and sporty feel and the
Eldo for the open road for the comfort due to the foot boards, police bars,
custom seat and the smoother ride. On occasion I would remove the
accessories from the Eldo for service and cleaning (that was my baby) and
even stripped it felt heavier than the Ambo which I considered my beater
(6K+ invested in the Eldo, one tenth that in the Ambo, I actually paid the
same for both bikes). The brakes were the same on both bikes as far as
maintenance of the cables and type of brakes, but the brakes on the Ambo
would always out stop the Eldo, even after (so called) tweaking the brakes
on the Eldo. And as you observed they both had different sweet spots.
I have to agree that for two bikes with so many similarities they
had a very different personality. But I loved them both and wish I still had
the Ambo. The link below shows a photo of them side by side. I sold both a
few years back due to family needs. I just replaced the '73 Eldo with a '74
lapd with a disc brake. The disc is way better than the drum but still not
perfect, perhaps a second disc...............It never ends does it, Guess
that why I love the Guzzis.
http://home.midmaine.com/~adunphy/EldoAmbo.jpg
Alan
'74 Eldorado LAPD Wixomized
MGNOC 4352
Alan R. Dunphy
adun-@midmaine.com
Pittsfield, ME 04967-1426
----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Ruff" <klru-@fcc.net>
To: <Loopfram-@topica.com>
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 8:28 AM
Subject: The Same Yet So Different
| Overall, for bikes that look so much alike, they run so much different, each with their own personality. To me, Cam's Eldo felt tighter overall (engine & suspension), ran quieter, and idled a bit better, even though his odometer reads 51K miles and my Ambo only 5400 miles. Perhaps the 850 motor is smoother. To Cam, he felt like the Ambo felt tighter than his Eldo and idled better, so I guess it's matter of opinion. Both are sweet machines, and ya know, we didn't see any others like them during our evening ride, nor during any other ride we have been on, cool....... |