Jon decided to learn how to ride and purchased his very first motorcycle in the first year of the pandemic shutdown, August 2020 in NYC.
While doing research on his new Moto Guzzi V7 III Racer, he said he kept coming across the GuzziTech Forum. At first, he used the forum to educate himself about the brand and the bike itself. Jon eventually followed suggestions from the forum members and purchased small upgrades, and personalized aesthetic touches for his bike from the GTM online Store.
Jon’s first official investment was a flash tool and exhaust. He shared, “As soon as I put on the new exhaust and ran the flash tool, the difference was really immediate – You could feel the power and smoothness. At this point, my bike seemed fine for the time.” However, as it is to be a true Guzzisti, you just cannot stop there of course!“Out of all the professionals that you find online – Todd @ GTM was putting out the most information and felt like I trusted him most even though I never met him. All of the products and support he put out there – just made sense. It seems to me he is THE GURU for the brand!”
“Eventually, curiosity got me digging a little deeper into posts about the huge differences GTM’s bigger upgrades like the 820cc Big Bore Kit, suspension and tire upgrades made to the enjoyment of the bike.”
In March of 2022, after many days of reading glowing reviews on the GTM 820 BBK, Jon kept thinking how great it would be to finally have an excuse to fulfill a lifelong dream to travel cross-country, and why not have GTM do the mods! So Jon tells us he started putting away savings and once there, he packed up everything on his new V7 and headed west from NY to LA!
When Jon arrived at the GTM shop, he already had many stories to share and lessons learned about the trip, especially like having the proper gear for all types of altitude and weather. He said he was so happy to be in California in the warm dry weather. While waiting for his bike to get the 820 big bore kit, suspension and radial tire upgrades to be completed, he spent some time exploring the west coast shoreline, and said he was so thrilled to do so.
On his return, GTM set up everything for his long ride home, insuring proper set up, suspension settings and making sure the bike was 100%. Though the hope was that he could spend a full day riding locally in SoCal, he said he really needed to get back on the road home to New York as soon as possible. So with very little miles on the bike, off he went on his 3k trek home!
We caught up with Jon on his way back East at one of his stops in Lake City, Colorado:
“Everything feels EFFORTLESS. There is power everywhere. Before, I would hesitate in dicey situations where you could maybe squeeze through or back off; Before I would always back off because I was worried about the time to build up speed. And prior in having experienced some bike struggles over the 11,000 foot Colorado summits and quick extreme elevation changes elsewhere, I never struggled again on this trip, even fully loaded down! Again, so effortless! IT WAS REALLY SPECIAL for me to read up on GTM and Todd for so long, and getting to meet him and have him work the bike, such a joy! I was so happy to be able to make the trip, and the bike NEVER missed a beat in either direction!” – Jon Garcia
