I grew up riding dirt bikes but lost interest around 1978. By 1992, I was living at my current home in beautiful Asheville, NC. I thought to myself, this would be a great place for a street bike. Having never owned a street bike, I bought an inexpensive Japanese bike to try out for a while & see how I liked riding on the road. Over the next year I ended up riding the bike more than I would have ever expected, so like most of us I went in search of something with more character. I must have ridden 6 to 8 BMWs over a 6 month period, all very capable machines but none seemed to be what I was looking for. Then one day I stopped by a friends house & he said check this out, in his basement was a T-3 he had just purchased. It only took me about a mile down the road on the Guzzi for me to know this was what I had been looking for, 2 weeks later I was the proud owner of a nice original Ambassador. I still have the Ambassador, a 69 V-700 road racer, a 72 850GT that is waiting its turn for restoration & a 80 SP1000. Ken Asheville, NC