Totally amazing looking bike! I was always a fan of the Norge but yours looks like a Norge Improved 10X model. Congrats!!!
AAngen,
No clue about the 10X improvements. But coming off a 31 year old bike that was a legacy bike even in 1992 is a revalation. All the modern fuel injection and engine design are welcome. I don’t smell like a 1970 car going down the road anymore. Why so long to get it? Well, I was looking for this bike for 20 years actually but the world went ADV. And I hate those bikes as I don’t ride my imagination much off road or boy racer stuff. I wanted a modern “UJM” as it were with shaft drive, liquid cooling and a decent but smaller faitring. An R100RT with a modern engine that doesn’t weigh 600 pounds or more. BMW went to huge and heavy bikes even for their sport models. So they gave-up and what they started, light and functional bikes. Oh, it doesn’t hurt if the bike isn’t an ugly travesty of function and nothing else (Yamaha MT-09 as an example). The V100S is an amazing piece of art to hide all the modern uglies and still look like a pure engine sitting in the frame. You can enjoy looking at this and riding it both. Sure, it is cheaper to ignore cosmetics and pile on the parts.
Sadly, that modern R100RT bike didn’t exist until I found the V100S. I bought it in a day and a half from finding it. I spent 20 years defining what I wanted and it didn’t take much thought to grab it. Cost wise it is about the same as the BMW was factoring in time value of money / inflation. But what you get for the price is so, so much more.
For a modern roadster style that can do everything 85% or better well, this is my bike for sure. This is my CB750F four valver and the BMW R100RT rolled into one. It has the legs of the BMW and the spunk and handling of the CB750F. Perfect.
Galen
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The evolved modern classic. Really interesting aesthetic perspective that I totally agree with but hadn’t recognized as a Guzzi characteristic. Harley and Kawasaki are a couple of others who did or do a good job of preserving, though not substantially evolving, the classic look while incorporating modern conveniences or requirements.
Nice to know you found a ride to complement that 49 year old leather jacket. I retired my 25 year old leather jacket from everyday riding a few years ago in favor of a clown colored Roadcrafter. It certainly doesn’t fit the Harley, Kaw, or any other modern classic look, but would look just as at home on the V100 as leather.
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Allan,
Don’t worry, I have a KLIEM INDUCTION PRO vented monstrosity jacket I wear most of the season above 65F. The leather is really good when it is cooler with the sweatshirt liner.
I agree, never thought the replacement for the R100RT would be a Guzzi! But they did the job, they got my business.
Galen
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I could do that on my Multistrada with proper tires right?
If you have the Multistrada with 19 or 21 inch wheels you would be fine, with the proper 50/50 tires. My bike at the time was fully loaded, so I had around 600-625 lbs to deal with and it rained thruout the pass except for the last section on the switchbacks you see here. Lots of rough baby head sized rocks and steep sections, but still all doable. The pass is only open from end of July till first snow, which can be at September/October.
Took about 3 hours to complete with some stopping for photos.
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A little note, cars stop faster than motorcycles.
Even accounting for weight, motorcycles have tiny contact patches.
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Bigger note (this is a music site after all), by the time the average motorist notices your extreme braking their advantage is used up. POW bat man. So yes you are right fundamentally. In reality few people can use their takes properly car or motorcycle. The first thing I do on any motorcycle before I ride it too far is to go to the the braking limits so I know what they are and how it feels. The V100S has pretty good anti-lock that hits pretty deep into the brakes on dry pavement. Wet, they hi much earlier. I had a VW GLI Jetta that got into the anti-locks way too early. I guess VW was advertising it “works”? They did, and about anytime you used the brakes. That car had awful braking distances as it threw away a lot of the braking traction triangle. So all cars, or motorcycle’s, don’t necessarily brake faster than other other for that reason.
Car and Driver had an article on anti-lock and show some cars brakes 25% faster with it turned off, and other cars actually exceeded a pro’s average braking distances. It’s all about being on the verge of lock-up on the surface you are on, and that ain’t easy.
Also, cars corner faster than motorcycle, too. It’s all in the physics of weight and contact patch.
Gman
I mentioned a car’s superiority braking as many believe a bike outperforms a car when braking and a rider can rely on this.
Nope.
A tailgating bike will become part of the car it is following if the car suddenly brakes hard, ABS or not.
But when on a bike it feels like it brakes fast. 
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Brakes are the same as HP technically. They convert the go to stop as HEAT. There are 746 watts in a HP, so we can measure the brakes ultimate heat dissipation on a surface and calculate the HP. That will match the most traction an engine can put down into the pavement. A pro race car uses brakes no heavier than the tires traction can put to the pavement. Once that is solved, the rest of the story is to cool the brakes. A hot engine or brakes have fewer HP available. Heavy brakes really hurt a car’s / motorcycle’s acceleration even though the disc’s are, on average, close to the axel where the rotational inertia is minimum. This is also why big heavy wide tires can “waste” acceleration over corner speed. One is a trade for the other. On the street I’d rather brake better and corner faster than accelerate.
Sadly, few car’s or motorcycle’s use brakes design that match the “negative” traction available based on the tires used.
Galen
PS - I found the data I was looking for as an example of brake “HP”.
A Bentely Bentayga S takes 25.7 seconds to reach 150 MPH, but only 6.5 seconds to stop from 150 MPH.
The “go” HP is 542 HP.
The “stop” HP is 1143 HP.
Brakes are crazy HP ratings and we take them for granted. So little total weight compared to an engine and over twice the power.
I respectfully believe you overstate this. There is absolutely truth to it, but motorcycles have predictable an powerful brakes that in dry conditions do an excellent job. Antilock braking systems make the bikes safer but add a little distance to the stop. You don’t hear the phrase “I had to lay her down” too much anymore.
A car once stopped abruptly in front of me on my Honda. I was on the front brakes hard and I locked up the rear wheel. This caused the rear to slide out to the left which allowed the bike to miss contact with the car by inches. This was dumb luck but it is an example where locking up the rear and causing a skid was preferable to antilock brakes. (I imagine this is something I could not do intentionally)
Having tracked a good number of cars I am too familiar with the problem of cooling brakes.
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I do not understand the “overstate” part. Many bikers are comfortable tailgating harboring the inaccurate belief they can stop faster than the car in front of them.
They can’t.
Of course, we are perfectly fine following any car on a bike at a safe distance. I am also not suggesting motorcycle brakes are useless.
Motorcycle brakes are wonderful, including those on my Ducatis and BMW S1000RR. But they unfortunately remain subject to the laws of physics.
“I had to lay it down” has always been a bad decision. Braking upright is superior to sliding.
When confronted with an emergency we also need to remember to steer, especially if the bike has ABS. Too many ride straight into the danger. This is true of cars as well.
Edit: It appears i should have quoted to what I was responding when discussing motorcycle brakes.
This is not a concern.
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All common sense.
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I accept “dumb luck” every time.
The rear brake on my Ducati has worked perhaps 2% of the time. But I may be exaggerating. I never ever reach for it as it usually doesn’t respond without pumping it two dozen times. O my recent 45K tuneup the replaced all the rear brake lines. Some 8 to 10 feet of brake lines due to the magic controller in the center of the bike. Just for giggles I activated them and they worked! WoW! But in a week or so they will most likely be gone again. No matter.
Then you have what I did. I went around a round-about too fast and when it was too cold (48 degrees) and the rear end went out. Before I could react the anti-lock traction system did. It retarded rear power and I hooked up so smoothly I never felt it stop sliding and away I went down the road. You can’t steer a locked up wheel. On a dirt bike a locked or sliding rear wheel has to follow the front tire, always. You learn the the hard way. Never pay attention to the back of the bike over the front tire. In your case the locked rear still was steered by the front tire, that was ROLLING. Pros can over ride the physics of either tire in a turn and slide them anyway. That’s why they are pros.
Best,
Galen
Some deliberately weaken their rear brakes, arguing they should only be used for tightening a corner or at slow speeds on grass and the like.
I’m of the want the rear to be as helpful as possible camp.
I hope your brake continues to function as it should.
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Every year at my bike club we had a talk by Police Accident Investigators. Their experience led them to believe that a motorbike can stop more quickly than a car. Although it has been many years since I had to do a genuine emergency stop I always used to practice them when it was safe to do so; on every run with a bike and sporadically with a car. The bikes always stopped more quickly, and in the case of the Fireblade markedly so. Bikes may have a smaller contact patch but they weigh a lot less than a car and thus have less kinetic energy to dissipate.
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