Pexi's Moto Guzzi Weblog

Breva Maintenance Schedule - Draft

A work-in-progress release of Breva maintenance tasks and schedule in pdf format is available here. Mandatory disclaimer: it's just a list of collected information and may contain errors. If you use it, you'll use it with your own risk.

Moto Guzzi World Club

Moto Guzzi World Club material was finally delivered to my mailbox last weekend. As a result of that I had a hard time deciding where to glue the sticker on the bike. Life is so difficult, decisions, decisions. Finally ended up sticking it onto the rear mudguard.

Rubber is melting!

Just realized that the cylinder head bolt rubber plug - or whatever it is called - has decided to melt down. Three others are like new but this left side front plug has transformed itself into a sticky, glue-like substance. As far as I know, I have not used any strong solvents while washing the bike, so this can't be the origin of the problem... actually it looks like someone has made a practical joke and replaced the plug with a black chewing gum!!

Anyone else experienced similar alchemistry?

Update March 23: Got a new plastic cap from Aigle Motos and cleaned the mess away. The cosmetic problem is really caused by heat and the choice of material - my case is clear: just look at the sunset photos below and imagine how I waited for the sun to go below the horizon while the bike was standing still and idling several minutes after an enthusiastic mountain climb.

Sunset adventures of Breva

I was riding my Guzzi in the lower mountains (moyen pays) at the time of sunset. The air was quite foggy after the first really warm and sunny day after the cold winter, making the scenery almost magical.

My camera captured the moment quite decently. All photos are from the same spot, somewhere between Coursegoules and Greolieres.

St Tropez

Hundreds of other motorists had obviously got the same idea as me: St Tropez is the place to visit when the sun finally really shines. I sat almost four hours on the saddle, enjoyed the sun and scenery. And relaxed.

Moto Guzzi has done something different with the Breva; it has kind of a magic formula in it. It is a relaxing and easy bike to ride in a walking speed traffic and then, on the other hand, put it on a twisty road and you just can't stop smiling. Two hours after today's ride and I'm still smiling.

The photos are from St Tropez and from St Raphael. The beer was excellent, too.

Friday evening - short ride to the coast

After the hard but probably successful day in the office I treated myself by riding the Breva in late Friday afternoon dense traffic down to Cannes la Bocca. And I'm still alive. Yes, right, the weather is finally reasonable, we had 15°C today and plain sunshine. The pictures should prove that, I think!

   

Route Napoleon

A short 50 km ride just before the sunset along the Route Napoleon cleared my thoughts quite well after the work. Highly recommended treatment.

What a wonderful weather

There was spring in the air this morning, blue sky and mild temperature. I planned for two hours riding in the afternoon, after washing the cars and cutting down the Laurier Rose bush in the garden. By the time I was ready for riding, dark clouds had appeared in the east. Ignoring them, I fired the Breva and headed towards Tourrettes-sur-Loup. I could feel the temperature dropping while riding eastwards -and suddenly it was snowing. Snowing! I made an angry demi-turn and rode back home. 5 minutes after I had returned, it was snowing in our garden too. Great!

This weekend's Australia Formula 1 race reminded that the weather has been exceptionally rainy and cold down there too. Any buyers for global warming theory? Oh yes, the photo is from Pont-du-Loup.

Eagle rides again

I thought I was living in French Riviera, in warm and sunny environment where you can enjoy sun 300 days a year. What did I know, life seems to be more interesting than that. This week has been everything but warm and sunny. More like cold as hell.

But who cares, it's Saturday and sun is trying to prove that it's spring. I took the Breva out and had a nice ride. Roads were mostly dry, yet some shady corners still had alarming amounts of snow waiting for a careless motorist.

The pictures below are from Cannes. Unfortunately the Ferrari is not mine.

Quiet period, but only temporarily

This is the coldest winter here in 30 years. Far too cold and snowy for riding - only a short blast week ago on Friday. Hope the freezing winter is over soon. Unfortunately, at the same time, I also encountered bad surprises in business so I've been forced to put lot of effort in thinking business issues - not much energy or time left for other activities in life. At least I will remember these last two weeks for the rest of my life, whatever happens.

Anyway, on a positive side, I'll be visiting Mandello soon and expecting to test ride Breva 1100 over there. Lot of photos posted in this blog if and when that happens!!

OK, back to business now...