My Quota 1100 ES

	Text from Alfred Jorgensen Well, this is like comparing apples and oranges! The Elefant was born as a desert racer, the modern version of Guzzi's "big block engine" used in the Quota was originally designed in the fifties for the Italian Army, destined for a vehicle to replace the Army's mule powered supply train's on mountain trails. The vehicle, which I believe never went beyond the prototype stage, was nicknamed "the mechanical mule" and was a form of a three wheeled tractor, the Quota was originally also developed for military duty. Aside from that, Guzzi did develop a series of prototype desert racers and street versions there off, comparable to the eighties Cagiva Elefants'. Guzzi, like everybody else, was inspired by the success of the BMW R80GS and started out with a bike called the 650 TT, which subsequently morphed into the 650 and 750 NTX series. The NTX continued in production through 1993/94/95 depending on who you ask. The model years during Alejandro De' Tommaso's ownership were almost as quirky as his business deals. The original TT series was loosely based on a street bike with longer suspension travel, a tall exhaust and a bigger tank and was mostly a styling exercise based upon the Guzzi "small block" engines. The TT's employed a very light "loop frame" with the engine being an integral part of the structure and the swing arm and rear shaft drive supported from the back of the engine/transmission assembly. A very similar design was later adopted by BMW in the 1995 R1100GS series. However, unlike the TT's, the NTX series were real off road/adventure/rally bikes with a fairing, huge 33 liter tanks, long travel suspension and weight and power output comparable to the 650/750 Cagiva Elefant's. Some NTX prototype desert racers even used the "Lario" four valve head engines which made more power than the 750 Pantah engines employed by the Cagiva's at the time. Back to the Quota, it was originally developed in response to a design brief for a North African police and military vehicle, much like the famed Lamborgini LM 03 and 04 monster four wheel drive vehicles, which were originally developed for the Saudi border patrol and military. The LM 03 and 04's can still make a Hummer H1 weep in its tracks, let alone a H2 imposter. The design brief was for a robust vehicle, capable of 20 years of service on rough to non-existing roads with a 100 mile an hour top speed and initially the bike was sold to Tunisia and subsequently to Libya, although the sales were disappointing, in line with most De' Tommaso undertakings. Anyhow, the NTX series suffered some structural failures during "heavy duty" use, likely due to its light "loop frame" and integral use of the engine as a structural member as did the R1100GS, just look at a "Touratech" catalogue from that era and it is filled with fixes for the R1100GS's structural failures. Guzzi obviously learned the lessons from the NTX, and probably BMW, and decided the recipe for successfully filling the design brief was to un-stress the engine and hang everything from a massive backbone, remember we are not talking desert racers here but emphasis on simplicity and absolute longevity and reliability. Anybody who has stripped the plastic of a Quota cannot have missed the absolutely massive steering head, backbone and swing-arm structure. The first time I saw it, I wondered if they got the drawings from a Fiat dump truck, it is that bloody massive. Than again, it makes sense, having lived in the Middle East and Africa for about 10 years , I have broken lots of truck frames going over bad to non-existing roads and desert trails marked only by oil drums, painted red and white, and they are invisible in a sand storm, no GPS's back then. The real achievement however, is that Guzzi managed to build one heck of a robust design matching the R1100GS's weight with a comparable engine capacity. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that BMW added a ton of weight to their engine for the sake of not having a traditional frame. They bolted the Telelever "steering head" to the front of the engine way above the engine block, necessitating a very heavy engine/tranmission casting instead off using a light steel frame, probably for some marketing reason. The "proof in the pudding" is off course that BMW finally woke up and produced the R1200GS which has a light steel frame and the engine lost an astonishing claimed 65 pounds! I bought a Quota new in 2000 after deciding to modify my E900 with long travel suspension and a 21" front wheel, which I mistakenly believed would render it "useless" as a long distance "adventure tourer" and confine it to "desert duty". After riding Allen Naile's CH Racing suspended and hard luggage equipped E900 in August of 2001 (not his CH Racing Marathon), I had to modify my opinion, that bike is a very nice "adventure tourer" and can still do the dirty deeds with honors. Anyhow, I have used the Quota as a "desert bike", a "snow plough" (not recommended as I had to walk out after about 15 miles of ploughing, could not lift the bike anymore), and an "adventure tourer" and it fits the latter role best, preferring hard terrain and has tons off torque to handle the highest mountain passes, true to its engines tractor origins but feeling like a railroad engine, with a very long wheelbase and extreme stability on any reasonably hard surface. In closing, as others have commented, the Quota shares a lot of components with the Elefant and are usually readily available in the U.S., I will endeavor to compile a list of common parts, hopefully with the help of fellow crossover owners, are you listening Chris? _________________ Geisterfahrer sind sehr entgegenkommend www.guzzi-live.com

Text from Alfred Jorgensen

Well, this is like comparing apples and oranges! The Elefant was born
as a desert racer, the modern version of Guzzi's "big block engine"
used in the Quota was originally designed in the fifties for the
Italian Army, destined for a vehicle to replace the Army's mule
powered supply train's on mountain trails. The vehicle, which I
believe never went beyond the prototype stage, was nicknamed "the
mechanical mule" and was a form of a three wheeled tractor, the Quota
was originally also developed for military duty.
Aside from that, Guzzi did develop a series of prototype desert
racers and street versions there off, comparable to the eighties
Cagiva Elefants'. Guzzi, like everybody else, was inspired by the
success of the BMW R80GS and started out with a bike called the 650
TT, which subsequently morphed into the 650 and 750 NTX series.
The NTX continued in production through 1993/94/95 depending on who
you ask. The model years during Alejandro De' Tommaso's ownership
were almost as quirky as his business deals.
The original TT series was loosely based on a street bike with longer
suspension travel, a tall exhaust and a bigger tank and was mostly a
styling exercise based upon the Guzzi "small block" engines. The TT's
employed a very light "loop frame" with the engine being an integral
part of the structure and the swing arm and rear shaft drive
supported from the back of the engine/transmission assembly. A very
similar design was later adopted by BMW in the 1995 R1100GS series.

However, unlike the TT's, the NTX series were real off
road/adventure/rally bikes with a fairing, huge 33 liter tanks, long
travel suspension and weight and power output comparable to the
650/750 Cagiva Elefant's. Some NTX prototype desert racers even used
the "Lario" four valve head engines which made more power than the
750 Pantah engines employed by the Cagiva's at the time.

Back to the Quota, it was originally developed in response to a
design brief for a North African police and military vehicle, much
like the famed Lamborgini LM 03 and 04 monster four wheel drive
vehicles, which were originally developed for the Saudi border patrol
and military. The LM 03 and 04's can still make a Hummer H1 weep in
its tracks, let alone a H2 imposter.

The design brief was for a robust vehicle, capable of 20 years of
service on rough to non-existing roads with a 100 mile an hour top
speed and initially the bike was sold to Tunisia and subsequently to
Libya, although the sales were disappointing, in line with most De'
Tommaso undertakings.

Anyhow, the NTX series suffered some structural failures during
"heavy duty" use, likely due to its light "loop frame" and integral
use of the engine as a structural member as did the R1100GS, just
look at a "Touratech" catalogue from that era and it is filled with
fixes for the R1100GS's structural failures.

Guzzi obviously learned the lessons from the NTX, and probably BMW,
and decided the recipe for successfully filling the design brief was
to un-stress the engine and hang everything from a massive backbone,
remember we are not talking desert racers here but emphasis on
simplicity and absolute longevity and reliability.

Anybody who has stripped the plastic of a Quota cannot have missed
the absolutely massive steering head, backbone and swing-arm
structure. The first time I saw it, I wondered if they got the
drawings from a Fiat dump truck, it is that bloody massive.

Than again, it makes sense, having lived in the Middle East and
Africa for about 10 years , I have broken lots of truck frames going
over bad to non-existing roads and desert trails marked only by oil
drums, painted red and white, and they are invisible in a sand storm,
no GPS's back then.

The real achievement however, is that Guzzi managed to build one heck
of a robust design matching the R1100GS's weight with a comparable
engine capacity.

Nonetheless, there is no doubt that BMW added a ton of weight to
their engine for the sake of not having a traditional frame. They
bolted the Telelever "steering head" to the front of the engine way
above the engine block, necessitating a very heavy engine/tranmission
casting instead off using a light steel frame, probably for some
marketing reason.

The "proof in the pudding" is off course that BMW finally woke up
and produced the R1200GS which has a light steel frame and the engine
lost an astonishing claimed 65 pounds!

I bought a Quota new in 2000 after deciding to modify my E900 with
long travel suspension and a 21" front wheel, which I mistakenly
believed would render it "useless" as a long distance "adventure
tourer" and confine it to "desert duty". After riding Allen Naile's
CH Racing suspended and hard luggage equipped E900 in August of 2001
(not his CH Racing Marathon), I had to modify my opinion, that bike
is a very nice "adventure tourer" and can still do the dirty deeds
with honors.

Anyhow, I have used the Quota as a "desert bike", a "snow plough"
(not recommended as I had to walk out after about 15 miles of
ploughing, could not lift the bike anymore), and an "adventure
tourer" and it fits the latter role best, preferring hard terrain and
has tons off torque to handle the highest mountain passes, true to
its engines tractor origins but feeling like a railroad engine, with
a very long wheelbase and extreme stability on any reasonably hard
surface.

In closing, as others have commented, the Quota shares a lot of
components with the Elefant and are usually readily available in the
U.S., I will endeavor to compile a list of common parts, hopefully
with the help of fellow crossover owners, are you listening Chris?
_________________
Geisterfahrer sind sehr entgegenkommend
www.guzzi-live.com