{"id":31477,"date":"2025-11-09T11:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T19:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=31477"},"modified":"2025-11-09T11:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T19:58:11","slug":"quite-a-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/11\/09\/quite-a-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Quite a Week…"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

As the title implies, last week was quite a week, and a lot of it focused on Moto Guzzi stuff.\u00a0 The Roman gods are sending me a message, I think, but old age and big bucks will most likely keep my desire to own a vintage Guzzi suppressed.\u00a0 And there’s been some pocketknife stuff, too, leading into the age-old Chinese quality discussion.\u00a0 I’ll get to that in a minute.<\/p>\n

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The guts of a Guzzi in the Cycle Garden<\/a> shop. This is a cool place in a hot locale (temperatures sometimes approach 120 degrees in Indio).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spent Monday morning at Cycle Garden<\/a> in Indio, California, getting tutored by good buddy Steve on the finer points of Guzzi fork rebuilding.\u00a0 It’s for a piece I’m doing on that topic, and the folks at Cycle Garden couldn’t have been more welcoming.\u00a0 These guys know their stuff, as well they should: They are the largest, busiest, and probably the best in the world at concours-level Guzzi restorations.\u00a0 I developed a bad case of the “I wants” for a restored Guzzi after seeing some of the bikes at the top of this blog, but it’s probably not in the cards.<\/p>\n

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Just forking around out in the desert…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After treating me to a cup of his famous home-roasted and ground coffee, Steve showed some of the bikes to me.\u00a0 There’s not a single part on a Cycle Gardens restoration Guzzi that isn’t touched during the restoration (both 0n the motorcycle and in the engine).\u00a0 \u00a0How much?\u00a0 Somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000 to $50,000.\u00a0 A look at any of the Cycle Garden bikes easily confirms the value is there.\u00a0 But my wallet is light enough already.\u00a0 Watch for more on the Cycle Garden shop; it’s amazing.<\/p>\n

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The man, the Moto Guzzi, and the legend: Chris Donaldson sitting across the table from yours truly. Buy the book on Amazon. Buy mine, too!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Friday, I visited another Guzzi shop 130 miles to the west, this time to meet with and interview Chris Donaldson.\u00a0 Chris wrote Going the Wrong Way<\/a>, the story of his ride around the world on a Moto Guzzi.\u00a0 He just flew into Los Angeles from Ireland to ride across the US.\u00a0 We had a nice meeting, and you’ll be hearing more about Chris in a subsequent blog.<\/p>\n

One the pocketknife front, it’s been mostly good (and the good will be featured in upcoming blogs) with several new additions to the collection.\u00a0 But there’s been a couple of bad apples, and that’s increased my smarts about what to look for in a pocketknife.<\/p>\n

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The Schrade stag-handled folding hunter. The blade wobbled in the knife body when closed. Back it went. I’m still waiting for a replacement.\u00a0 It’s made in China.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first was a large Buck-110-style Schrade folding hunter with stunning stag grips.\u00a0 The knife arrived and I loved the look of it, but it had a defect.\u00a0 With the blade closed, it wobbled inside the knife body.\u00a0 In my opinion, it should have no side-to-side play, so back it went.\u00a0 I don’t want my money back; I just want a good knife.\u00a0 We’ll see what happens.<\/p>\n

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The Rough Rider Large Hunter. I love the design, but the knife is no good. The tip lies above the line of the knife body when the knife is closed. Muey malo, mi amigo. This is also a Chinese knife.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next was another beautiful large hunter, this time from Rough Rider. It’s a beautiful knife, but it arrived with a different problem.\u00a0 On this one, when the knife is closed the tip of the blade sits slightly proud of the knife body, and that means you can catch your hand on it.\u00a0 \u00a0Who would think to check for this?\u00a0 Apparently, not the folks who manufacture the knife, and not the folks who sell them, either.\u00a0 I bought one from Amazon, and I returned it the next day.\u00a0 I wanted the knife, though, so I ordered it again from Chicago Knife Works.\u00a0 Wouldn’t you know it?\u00a0 The replacement knife had the same problem. Size notwithstanding, it’s an inexpensive knife, but apparently they’re all bad (at least based on my sample of two).<\/p>\n

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The Rough Rider’s kick. Grinding it down didn’t fix the problem.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I tried grinding down the Rough Rider’s kick (the part of the blade that controls how far it goes into the knife body when it closes), but that didn’t fix the problem.\u00a0 It’s an inexpensive knife (only about $15) and I’m not going to bother returning it.\u00a0 I’ll just look at it from time to time.\u00a0 It will remind me that I’m not as smart as I sometimes think I am.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned, my friends.\u00a0 There’s more coming your way.<\/p>\n

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