I posted a bunch of pics of my bike recently as well for the same reason. The color scheme of your Guzzi really stands out, I like it! I don't know if I could handle maintaining an Italian bike, but I have a KTM and a BMW so maybe it wouldn't be any worse.
I was waiting for the TransAlp, but they're not bringing it to Canada this year, if ever. So I looked around, and this came up with heavy discounts. I thought about the KTM 890 Adventure, but they're not exactly giving them away, and it's not like KTM have a stellar reliability reputation either, though I haven't had issues with mine.
Shaft drive, cruise control in a reasonably sized package at a heavily discounted price made it hard to pass on. We'll see if I made a mistake or not. So far, so good though.
Funny thing about the colour, the dealer said they sold the monochrome ones at a pretty steady rate, but people really didn't seem to get on with the multi-coloured ones, this colour in particular would just sit on the lot. I rather like it, but I'm used to loud colours, I guess.
My 1200GS has a shaft drive and I really love not having to worry about chain maintenance, though I did have to replace the drive shaft when the u-joint wore out because it's not a serviceable u-joint.
My wife had a KTM 890 and I made fun of her every time she had to lube the chain while I didn't need to get dirty maintaining my driveshaft.
Lately we've been riding dual sports. She's on a Honda 300L and I'm on a KTM 500 EXC-F so she gets to make fun of me when I have to do an oil change every 500 miles.
I didn't realize Guzzi had shaft drive bikes. Are they known to be reliable? Also, does the transverse V twin get in the way or cause any issues while riding? On my boxer the engine kept my feet warm in the winter and it made the bike really easy to pick up when dropped, but I did frequently bash my shins on the engine.
From what I can gather from forums and owners, for the most part they seem to be decently reliable, if not quite up to Japanese standards. It's a pushrod engine, and sitting transverse, servicing the valves should be pretty simple.
I'm 178cm, and my knees are nowhere close to the cylinders, sitting or standing. It's apparently about 220kgs wet, so not something you really want to pick up a lot, but manageable. I still have to get crashbars on it, so haven't done much offroad yet.
The last dual sport I had was a kick-start 1990 DR650S. With a built suspension and DOT knobbies, it was decent, but pretty heavy off road. There's a lot to be said for light weight on trails.
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