In December 2008, I wrote a review of my 2007 Moto Guzzi California Vintage based on the first 1000 miles that I owned it.   I’m now at 3000 miles and figured it would be a good time for an update.  Before I start, I want to mention that I believe there are no real differences between the model years of this motorcycle, at least through 2009, so this review should be pretty valid for all 4 model years of the Cal Vin.  I purchased my 2007 Cali  new during the later part of 2008.  I don’t ride on any high mileage trips, just because of family and work obligations, so it has actually taken me about a year to accumulate these 3000 miles.  I do realize that some folks ride that many miles in just days or weeks.

My impression of the Moto Guzzi California Vintage has not changed over the past year.  Yes, I still do love it and feel very lucky to own this motorcycle.  I have had countless people ask me, in a very puzzled way, why I chose to buy a Moto Guzzi.  I’ve also had many compliments about it, most coming from people that never heard of a Moto Guzzi before.  Keep in mind that here in the USA, Moto Guzzi is not a well known brand unless you are talking to real motorcycle enthusiasts, or to those that remembers the Guzzis of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that caught on in this part of the world, especially as police bikes.  I usually explain that I discovered the Guzzi California several years ago and always had it on my wish-list.

Honestly, I think the Jackal had been introduced, with a low introductory price, and there was an idea that I could almost afford a new Moto Guzzi although I never bought it.  Of course, the engine and the entire motorcycle to me are like a mechanical art, but that’s just me.  I actually had an Italian co-worker ask me if I am able to keep it running.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any friends in Italy, so it’s hard for me to judge that remark.  I guess some people say the same thing about Harley-Davidson motorcycles here in the US, so I didn’t give it much consideration.

So far, I have no regrets about owning a Moto Guzzi, and no regrets about owning the California Vintage.  Has anything gone wrong with hit?  The only major thing to go wrong in the first 3000 miles is that I had a valve cover gasket leak.  It was no real trouble to replace it myself, and the problem was solved for less than $20 US dollars.  I wrote a “how to” about the changing the gasket with photos if anyone cares to see how that is done.   I really do not expect this to be a common problem, and based on some forums I sometimes read,  I don’t expect that it was the fault of the Moto Guzzi factory either.  Most people try to reuse the valve cover gasket and get away with it, but sometimes it can get damaged if not re-installed very carefully. No harm was caused and the leak was caught within just a few minutes of when it began.

Another strange occurrence during the first 3000 miles was that I found my tail light/brake light cable was disconnected under my seat.  I don’t know how long I rode like that (yikes!) and I have no idea how that got disconnected.  I simply reconnected it and used a nylon cable tie to secure it.  The seat locks in place, and you have to use the ignition key to open it.  Maybe I did it by accident when I was cleaning, who knows.

That disconnected cable is additional proof that it really pays to do your T-CLOCS check, as taught in the MSF experienced rider course.  If you never took a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course, you should get yourself signed up, no matter how many years you have been riding.  I leaned a lot in the experienced rider course and I really do use what I learned there.  Ok, enough about that, on with the review!

The 1064cc fuel injected v-twin of the California Vintage has a nice healthy sound and a very good kind of vibration.  Without the vibration or mild rumble, I don’t think it would be quite as thrilling to ride, but would still be good.  If that sounds crazy to you, then a v-twin might not be your cup of tea.  So, with this good kind of v-twin engine vibration comes a bit of care to make sure things are kept tight.  I’m a mechanical engineer by trade, and for years I worked on impact wrenches and other tools that like to rattle themselves apart, so I am used to keeping an eye on fasteners.

About the only loose fastener I did find was the large nut at the shift lever pivot (by your left ankle).  The shifter started to develop a little extra side-to-side play in the foot lever and I simply tightened it back up.  It was an easy task that required a hex wrench to hold the stud from rotating and an opened end wrench to torque the nut.  I always check that now, but have never had to re-tighten it again so far.  That happened at about 2300 miles.

The only other thing that has happened is that one of the front wheel weights became a little loose, but didn’t fall off.  I noticed this one day when I was cleaning the spokes.   The weights have some sort of adhesive back that is supposed to keep them on the wheel and they have no other mechanical means to secure them.  I was lucky that it did not come off when I was riding.  I suppose that could happen on any motorcycle, or car for that matter.

To me, the sound of the V11 engine as it hits 4000 rpm is something really special.  The factory Lafranconi Italian-made exhaust system is quite good.  It gives a substantial sound, but is not annoyingly loud.  It has a good, mild sort of back-pressure popping cackle to it when you let off the throttle.  I really like it because it is not screamingly loud.  Obviously, some riders like their bikes really loud, but personally, I compare it to music., where at some point, the music no longer is enjoyable if you turn the volume up too high.

I often can’t hear my bike when I ride with my Harley and Victory riding friends because of their loud aftermarket pipes, but the tachometer (standard on the Vintage) helps me make my shift points which I usually do by ear.

Many riders like to customize their motorcycle.  I was attracted to this Moto Guzzi California due to its looks,  but also due to the fact it comes with so many practical features factory installed.  For example, locking hard bags with chrome guards, chrome fog lights, chrome luggage rack, chrome engine guard, 12V accessory outlet, steering damper, tool kit, and more.  The only accessory I installed so far is the Givi trunk that I wrote about previously.  To that, I have since added the mating backrest pad from Givi to make it a little more comfortable for my young son,  as he sometimes likes to lean back against the trunk when we go on our rides around town.

Last, but not least, here in North Carolina, they require an annual safety inspection for motorcycles and cars.  Unfortunately, my local Moto Guzzi dealer is not a state inspection station due to some crazy rules the state has about the facility layout, so I had to bring my Vintage to a different place for this.  I chose the local BMW-Ducati-Triumph-MV Agusta dealer because they deal in European motorcycles.  In fact, that criteria didn’t really matter since it was just an inspection, but it made me feel more comfortable.  I’m happy to report all was well and it passed the state inspection with ease.  I can now renew my registration and legally ride on for another year.

The first time I ever visited a Moto Guzzi shop several years ago and studied actual Moto Guzzi motorcycles in person, I remember that I really loved the engines and the gas tanks.  I also remember that the Jackal was just being introduced and I had read the reviews.  They offered a special low-priced version in the US market that made it very tempting for me back then.  I didn’t have much money, but I remember it was a stripped-down model that I felt I might regret getting, and worried that I would end up spending even more than the top model to upgrade it over time so that it would have all the proper accessories and features that it should have.  So, I did nothing and continued to dream about someday owning a Moto Guzzi.  I visited that shop at least a few times a year ever since then, just to peek at used bikes and to see what the new ones looked like.

Fast-forwarding to 2008, I started to get very serious about finally getting a motorcycle.  What got me going was the California Vintage.  I took the family out with me to visit some other shops, but nothing clicked as usual.  When we walked into the Moto Guzzi shop and saw that California Vintage, we knew that was it.  In fact, my wife said “this is the bike” the instant we walked in the door, but she had no idea it was the one I went there to see.  That was amazing.

I now have 1000 miles on it and felt I had enough experience to share my thoughts about the California Vintage.  It has a few little quirks, as people seem to enjoy saying about Italian motorcycles or Italian vehicles in general.  I actually don’t really mind most of these quirks and I think that most Moto Guzzi owners also don’t mind them, well, at least most of them.

Having never owned a motorcycle that had a rocker type, or heel and toe shift lever, it took me some time to become totally comfortable with that.  I have never had to adjust the shift lever, it just has been a mental thing.  For a while, I wore small boots that are actually car racing shoes so that I could feel the foot levers better.  This helped me get used to how the shift lever and foot brake lever mechanically felt.  My feeling is that to ride a motorcycle properly, you need to become part of the machine, so I did in that regard.  When I tried wearing motorcycle style boots in the beginning, I could not feel the shift lever or the brake lever well enough to really control them how I wanted to, but now it’s no problem at all even with heavier boots.

The brake system is a linked design, meaning the rear brakes and front brakes are actuated at the same time via a proportioning valve like in a car when you use the foot brake.  Don’t be scared of this idea!  It works great and has for many years on Moto Guzzi and on other brands of motorcycles more recently.  I feel safer having linked brakes and braking is actually easier and smoother in my opinion.  The foot brake lever has been an interesting thing to learn.  It’s completely natural to me now, but at first, it was not so simple.

I’ve never had a motorcycle that had foot boards, and never gave any thought to how you have to lift your foot onto the rear brake lever when you have foot boards instead of pegs.  As it turns out, with a Moto Guzzi California Vintage, you do have a foot peg, but it’s only for your right heel.  Sounds weird, right?  To help you operate the foot brake lever, there is a short little foot peg (heel peg) about where your right ankle is.  As you begin to prepare for braking, you raise your right heel slightly and rest it onto that little peg while your right toes are still on the foot board.  To push the brake lever from that position, you simply raise your toes onto the lever while your heel remains on the short peg.  This actually is very easy to do, and it becomes second nature, but it takes a little getting used to.  Of course, you can easily just push the brake lever without doing this, but it is more comfortable and easier to have fine control of the downward pressure on the lever when you use the heel peg.  Earlier on, I had a little trouble feeling if I had my heel on the peg and not the brake linkage.  It’s totally natural now, but was strange at first.

Another thing that is a little different on the Moto Guzzi California is that it has a short little choke lever on the handle bar next to the clutch lever.  I knew that Moto Guzzi has had electronic fuel injection for many years, so I was a little puzzled when I first saw the choke lever.  It acts like a fast idle device that helps you start and keep it idling when it’s cold, a choke.  It works great, but now it tends to vibrate itself to the off position right away unless I hold it.  It probably can be tightened, but I don’t have to use it very often, so I never remember to check to see if I can snug it up like when it was brand new.  Not a big deal.

The California Vintage seat is very comfortable for me.  I am 6 feet tall and find the seat height perfect.  I think this motorcycle’s seat could easily comfort a much heavier and larger person without any problem.  It is relatively wide, pretty firm and actually very comfortable.  My only complaint about the California Vintage seat is that you are really asking for trouble if you take it off.  To remove it, you use the key to turn the lock located near the 12V power outlet on the left side of the bike.  The key lock gave me the impression that the mechanism for the seat would be a good one and perhaps easy to use.  I was very wrong.  The key unlocks the seat, but you have to lift the rear to pop it loose.  There is no hinge, so you have to remove the entire seat from the bike.  I’m disappointed with that.  For the cost of this motorcycle, and the caliber of motorcycle it is, it should have had a hinged seat for convenience.

Under the seat is a small storage tray to hold the special Moto Guzzi tool kit that comes with the Guzzi California.  I actually don’t keep it there because I know how difficult it is to get the seat back on.  There is a steel ball on a post that sticks up into a socket in the underside of the seat, and there is a tongue under the front of the seat that fits into a slot under the gas tank.  So to re-install the seat, you tilt the seat down in the front to get the tongue under the gas tank and you try to feel that the ball on the little post is aligned with the socket towards the rear underside of the seat.  But, you really can not feel that.  Then you push down as hard as you can, using your fists or whatever, to try to pop the seat into position.  You are actually pushing down onto the seat to try to engage the lock claw (like in a car door) and that ball into the socket.  It is very hard and very frustrating to do.  At the dealer, it took 3 guys to do this when they were first showing me the bike.  The owner of the dealership had the right touch and he got it back on pretty quickly after the other two couldn’t get it at all.  I have done it once in six months. I’m going to install remote connections for the battery so I can connect it to a battery maintainer during the off-season in hopes that I won’t have to mess with that seat mechanism again.

Some of the things I like best about the California Vintage are the windscreen, the auxiliary lights, the handle bars, the fuel tank, the foot boards, the center stand, and the exhaust system.  The windscreen is not too large and works very well.  It has nice stainless brackets and fasteners and has not given me any problems.  The auxiliary lights are very bright and have classic style chrome housings.  They will start to drain the battery if kept on very long, so I’ve learned to use them sparingly and only while running at sufficient engine speeds.  It seems the alternator is still undersized even though it was increased for the California Vintage.

The handle bars appear to be the same as on other Guzzi California models. They are a substantial diameter and are at a very comfortable position and angle for me.   The fuel tank is one of the things I love about Moto Guzzi California motorcycles.  The raised shape is absolutely beautiful, the size is right and the locking filler cap is very easy to use with one hand and works well.  The low-fuel light is easy to see and comes on when there is plenty left to make it to a station.  There is no fuel shut-off valve, which worries me slightly, but that’s just because every motorcycle I ever rode before has had one.

The foot boards seem to be perfectly damped to get rid of vibration and I’m always amazed by how they don’t vibrate.  They are not insanely over-sized like on some other brands.  Some people have written that they think they are mounted a little to high, but I think they are good where they are.  On my Vintage, the front edge of the left foot board rubs just slightly against fairing that is mounted on the crash bar and causes a little vibration noise at idle.  I could probably resolve that by adding a small washer to space the fairing forward just a little, but I have not been annoyed enough to do that yet. ( Update:  Since writing this, I added the washers and the problem is solved.  It was an incredibly easy fix).

Even though the California Vintage comes with a long shiny chrome police-style kick stand, I like to use the center stand most often.  How many baggers come with a center stand?  It is incredibly easy to put this Cali up on the center stand in one smooth, easy motion.  The kick stand tends to slide on the pavement, and while I know it can only slide so far, I just done’ feel confident using it.  I do like the way it looks though, especially when I see older California models with their poorly painted and rusty looking kick stands.  I’m not sure if the Vintage’s chrome kick stand would fit older Guzzi Californias, but it would make for a nice upgrade for them.  One thing about the center stand, you need to watch out for your pants on your left cuff so that they don’t get caught on it while riding.  There is a foot lever that sticks up behind your left heel, and I have had my pants hang onto it before.  That’s a scary feeling when your getting ready to put your left foot down at a stop.  As with all motorcycle riding, we need to make sure we wear the proper clothing so these sort of things won’t happen.  The Italian-made Lafranconi exhaust note is just perfect for my tastes.  It is not loud, but is deep and mellow. The sound of power really comes to life at about 4000 rpm. I can’t imagine it sounding any better.

The California Vintage handles really well for me.  The tires are not big according to today’s standards, but neither is the entire motorcycle.  At 1064cc, it has a smaller engine than most bagger motorcycles and weighs significantly less than most others in it’s class.  The stock Lafranconi exhaust is tucked in nicely and won’t drag or scrape anything.  There seems to be sufficient spacing between the bottom of the panniers and the pipes and there is no sign of heat damage or discoloration under there.  Another nice thing about the exhaust is that you don’t have to do anything special to avoid hot pipes because they are well shielded were needed and are out of the way.

I have not messed with the steering damper, but it’s there if I need it and I like that.  Really, how many other baggers do you know of that come with a an adjustable steering damper?  Speaking of adjustable, the adjustment knobs on the top of the fork tubes are great and easy to adjust while riding.  I like a mildly firm front compression adjustment, but when I have to cross really bumpy railroad tracks, I lower it back down and float right over them, then I simply turn it back up.  I really like having that adjustment within such comfortable reach.  I love that Moto Guzzi keeps some of the sport-bike features like that on their California motorcycles.  The rear suspension is adjustable for damping and compression, but I never have felt a need to adjust it.   I have heard people talk about Moto Guzzi motorcycles and their shaft drive system causing some jacking motion.  I think they are talking about something from decades ago, but they seem to still talk about it like some urban legend.  Moto Guzzi does not put the CARC system on their California models, and I don’t see why it would be needed on this motorcycle anyway.  Maybe an expert rider or racer would feel differently, but I don’t run this motorcycle full throttle and am not interested in modifying the engine for additional power, so I’m fine with the stock shaft drive and rear suspension combination as Moto Guzzi designed it in Italy.

The gauges are clean, simple and I like their style.  In bright sunlight, the neutral light can be hard to see if the sun is hitting it just right, but aside from that, I really like the gauges and am glad Moto Guzzi stayed with the classic look they have.

Let’s talk about the side bags or panniers as some like to call them.  I think they are elegant and nicely made; however, I am disappointed with Moto Guzzi’s choice of hinge for the lid.  Why on such a fine motorcycle they chose plastic hinges for the pannier lids, I really don’t know.  I can only think it is because they wanted to keep the cost low.  They blend in nicely, but act flimsy.  The lids open from the rear of the motorcycle and tilt upward towards the front.  They don’t stay open on their own due to gravity, so you have to use one hand to hold it open or else it will fall towards the front of the motorcycle and bounce several times against the nice chrome bar in front of it.  When this first happened to me, I instantly thought I ruined the lid.  Fortunately, I caused no damage or scratches.  It needs a linkage, a cable, or something to limit how far it can open just past top center so it will stay open without having to hold it.  The black plastic hinges are probably durable enough, but they make the pannier lid wobbly open.  There are obviously better standard hinges on the market that Moto Guzzi could have specified to join together such beautifully sculpted pannier pieces.  Anyway, the Southco brand locking latches on the rear of the panniers are a better grade and are plated metal, but they are not adjustable.  One latch clamps a little better than the other, but since they are non-adjustable, there’s not a lot I can do about that.  The looser fitting one actually has popped open a few times while riding.  Both times, I didn’t notice it until later.  I now make it a habit to lock them with the key before I ride.  At least the panniers lock with a key and they do look good on the California Vintage.

Starting the California Vintage’s beautiful v-twin engine has always sounded a little like the battery does not have enough juice.  It always starts, but it sounds to me like it is cranking a little slower than it should.  Someday I hope to compare that to another Guzzi California, but there’s not a lot of them around.  The Moto Guzzi Norge, on the other hand, fires up instantly without even hearing it crank.  It actually amazed me to witness that. My Vintage cranks with a lumpety-lumpety-lumpety sound before it fires.  The sound does seem to match the bike, but still it always sounds like it might not start.  It probably is just a weak battery since my motorcycle, while purchased brand new in 2008, is a 2007 model.  They are all the same, but I imagine the battery was probably more than 1 year old before I put into service, but I have not tested it because of the seat mechanism as I explained earlier.

To summarize the California Vintage so far, it’s like a best friend.  I somehow feel as if I have always had this motorcycle even though I have only had it a short time, but it’s always exciting to think about and to ride.  It is smooth, comfortable, and easy.  Not everyone has one and it is not the same as any other motorcycle.  It is not burdened with heavy oversize features to make it look bigger, but it rides two very comfortably.  It’s light enough to easily push or walk it in and out of tight parking spaces without any problem.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I wish it had a helmet lock, and perhaps an alarm, but with a respectable, classic police-style motorcycle like the Moto Guzzi California Vintage, I don’t think many people will mess with it.