Looking for a Light Weight Motorcycle

I've been looking for a lightweight bike recently, something with an emphasis on handling.  The motard concept of a dirt bike converted into a sports bike is really appealing due to the low weight of dirt bikes and their strength.  You have to be tough to survive on dirt.  The biggest problem I've encountered in my search has been the copious seat heights of some the bikes.  Frankly, I'm short and motards aren't.

Anyway, I've been looking at the KTM Duke II, the Suzuki DRZ400SM and the Yamaha WR250X.  I want weight under 400 lbs, one cylinder and liquid cooling.  Fuel injection would be nice but is not a requirement. I'm not that interested in balls-out horsepower and I just want a corner carver.  A motard fits this bill nicely.

So, with the requirements above in mind, I bought this:

It's a 2003 Moto Guzzi V11 Sport.

Keen observers will notice that it meets none of my requirements.  It's heavy (500 lbs dry), twin cylinder and air-cooled.  At least it's fuel injected.

I was looking around the Internet and stumbled across this Guzzi for sale at Martin Eurosports in Coopersburg, PA and I was hooked immediately.  The red paint, racer position and throbbing twin sucked me right in.  All thoughts of 30 horsepower motards flew away like birds during the onset of winter.

I took the 6 hours drive a few days ago to look at the bike and was sold before I got out of the car.  It's in extremely good condition with 15,000 miles on the clock.  The previous owner took very good care of the bike, evidenced by the expensive and tasteful mods like the carbon fiber rear fender, Moto Guzzi accessory quarter fairing and Fast by Ferracci silencers.

The heart of the V11 is the 1064cc V-Twin that churns out 91 horsepower and 63 lb/ft of torque.  This engine is traditional Guzzi, from the air-cooling to the pushrod valve actuation to the rightward lurch whenever the throttle is blipped.  The sound and fury emanating from the nice carbon cans is pleasantly growling without being obnoxious.  It sounds like a muscle car.

Sitting behind the engine is a six-speed gearbox, hailed by the motorcycling press as Guzzi's best, sending power to the back wheel via Guzzi's traditional shaft drive.  Holding everything together and on the road is a steel backbone frame and fully adjustable suspension front and rear.  The front wheel gets it bounce from a 40mm Marzocchi fork and the back gets its from a Sachs Boge shock unit. 

Bringing the big red bike to a stop are Brembo brakes front and rear with Guzzi's (again) traditional linked brake system.  The foot pedal actuates the front left and rear brake while the lever control actuates the right front brake.

In all, this bike so unlike me.  Number one, it's red, a color way too flashy for me.  I like dark colors (gray, black, dark blue) and red is too ostentatious for conservative ol' me.   It's also modern in its styling, though it still has a few retro touches.  I prefer the styling of old bikes (one of the reasons I bought my Bonneville) but this Guzzi is very good-looking.

What attracted me to this bike was its Italian heritage (I'm Italian), its unique qualities and its abilities.  It hides its girth well and is just a joy to pilot down a winding road.  Its quirks, like the lurch when you blip the throttle or the rattle of the dry clutch, speak to me in a way that's hard to describe.  They give the bike its own character, something you won't find on any other bike.  Stuff like that drives me wild in a good way.

I'm looking forward to a long relationship with this machine.