Chethro's WV & Nearby Travels

You, Sir, are a hardy soul!

We were, darn it, in Erie for the first nice day here in weeks ... erm ... months.

Bill

I have ridden WV numerous times over the years, been near Ripley many times. I never pass up a chance to make another trip back to WV, thanks for the pics!

First 2021 ride on the V7, 5 hours and 200 miles. A very peaceful ride with no close calls. Elizabeth to Rt 47 then Rt 16 to Ivydale and Rt 36 it was glorious. I stopped South of Grantsville on Rt16 at a gas station and not only did they have non-ethanal fuel, but some of the best peperoni rolls I have ever tasted!







This hairpin on Rt16 is very dangerous. Every person taking this turn took it on the inside nearly hitting my bike. It didn't matter if they were coming up or down the hill everyone went clear off the road thru this parking lot.





A nice place to stop and consume my peperoni rolls. Calhoun County Park.



I had to stop here and then head down Ivydale road. It is a blast.

What! No pics of the pepperoni rolls. I miss those things but will be getting sone soon when I come back to West By God in June!

Ride safe in hillbilly heaven.

Nice pics!

I so much want to ride in WV again... it's been too many years since I last did (2011).

Loading the red heads on a trailer tomorrow. There may be a new girl in the shed taking her place. Taking a trip to Cadre Cycle early in the morn. If I knew that was our last date Wednesday, I would have taken more pics!

Hmmmm ......

I didn’t see that coming. Can’t wait to see the replacement!

Getting some dinner before cutting into the wiring harness, taking things off and putting other things on. Gotta ride tomorrow!

I don't know what I'm looking at but I see the engine is in sideways, so you didn't switch brands

It looks to be a Moto Guzzi V85 TT Adventure

Waiting for the unveiling.

Congrats

I've been really happy with mine.

I'll have more pics tomorrow. I did get my Sysbags mounted, GPS wire ran and a few control adjustments. Dang ram ball mount u-bolt wont quite fit the bars, so I'm going to the hardware store in the morning, so I can mount it and ride.

I removed the butt stop from the seat for tomorrows ride. I do plan to send the seat out to be modified. I will probably have it made an inch taller and have a smooth transition made so you can slide back a bit. I only had a 10 minute ride, but the torque felt good down to 2500 rpm. Better than the V7, so I'm real happy with that. Ergos fit me good and the rider triangle is more open. I don't think I will need any handle bar risers...everything is right where I like it.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts after taking it off-road. I found that I was as comfortable riding the V85TT off-road as I was with the DR. I think you will be happy with your purchase. It's a great do anything motorcycle.

I'm not planning on anything much rougher than a groomed gravel road. Too heavy for the snotty clay around here, but I will continue on in places where I turned the V7 around. I'm looking forward to a longer ride tomorrow.

Nice bike!

I was disappointed when I read you were letting the Red Heads go.......until I saw what you replaced her with!

Congrats! Should be a great bike for the type of roads you ride.

Thanks! The red heads will be greatly missed. I loved the look of that bike and it was fun in the twisties. I thought about keeping it, but I would have had to move the truck out of the garage and the DR doesn't get enough time as it is. I wasn't planning on doing anything until later in the year, but the trade in incentive was just too hard to pass up. The only short comings for me on the V7 were suspension travel and a tight rider triangle. The V85 fixes both and gives a bit more power. Waiting for it to warm up a bit and I will go see how the new girl dances.

I thought I was just going out for a quick ride...well ended up putting 140 miles on it. I didn't want to stop. Like the DR, if I could only have one bike this would work. It can't do the nasty stuff I use the DR for, but it could do 80% of it. I took it down some of the roughest small curvy paved roads I could find. It handled it great! The suspension and ergo's are fine. I do like riding without the seat bumper, so I'll send it off and have 1" of foam added and a new cover put on. If there weren't holes in the cover for the bumper pad, I'm not sure I would do anything. 3 1/2 hours was not a problem as far as the seat is concerned.

Some differences between the V85 and the V7:

V7 - visceral machine, you feel it in a good way, throttle on mine was abrupt and you had to be careful grabbing a handful it may have been the Beetle tune, good power up to about 65mph, riding position was a little tight for me, but I could still do 6 hours on it, stock seat is a torture device, stock suspension pretty bad, Agostinis' were the best sound I ever heard from a motorcycle and I am not a loud pipe guy, I will miss the sound!

V85 - 50% less vibes everywhere you're in contact with, much smoother but I noticed no less torque particularly down in the low RPM's, I was using higher gears and could lug the engine lower and roll on the throttle with good response, more upright riding position, seat would be fine if it didn't have the bump pad, stock suspension seems OK not something I'm spending any money on anytime soon, with just a cat delete Y pipe there is some decel popping, sound is just a little deeper than stock, I did noticed either some surging or my hand was moving slightly on the throttle near 4000rpm, my first bike with electronic throttle so it may be me



The GPS and bag for my camera fit nicely and doesn't block the instruments.