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Almost everything is. Here's the deal. The Chinese are perfectly capable of making a $5 bolt. However, if the retailer wants a $1 bolt that they can sell at $3, they can make that, too. If you want, they can make a 29cent bolt that you can sell for $2 to unsuspecting customers. They don't care, they just make what the retailer wants at the price they are willing to pay. I've said for years that if we had enough rope we'd hang ourselves. Now, we've sent all the rope making machinery..and the expertise to run it.. to China. As my favorite actor Babe the Pig said, "That's the way life is."

Yes , Cat has metric stuff too . Fastenal depends on the area . The Paducah store is almost mail order and The one in Calvert City is incredible . You can't get your sentence finished before a salesman says "how many ?" The pic of the stretched bolt reminds me of Suzuki fasteners of the late 70s-early 80s. Terrible ! I keep new stuff , I keep old stuff of everything I tear down . Last week I took to the scrap yard a 55 gallon drum of SAE stuff , carriage head & what-not of standard stuff. I think I have a hoarding complex for metric (and just about everything) stuff ?

I can check for you docc,I have one down in the garage. My plan was to upgrade the bike to the later tail(purely for weight savings) and the later in tank pump tank and get the whole lot painted.Problem is I cant use the later tank now with the Daytona engine as you loose too much steering lock and its reduced already. Oh and for those interested the in tank pump tanks are 20mm longer from the front mounts to the front of the tank. From the front mounts to the rear mounts is the same. So they extended the front of the tank when they went to the longer frame. I suspect if you fitted the later tank to the earlier frame you would lose some steering lock as well. Ciao

Yep that's what I'm referring too. I refer to it as a seat cowl just because its just a decorative cowl piece and really has nothing to do with the seat as such. The factory call it a "tail" or "rear fairing" depending on the model,earlier or later. This is the earlier one you're after up till 2002 by the parts manual. This is the 2002 and onwards. Ciao

So I was away for a couple of weeks and as a precaution disconnected the battery, came back checked the battery and it seemed to have a reasonable level of charge in it. connected it back up, key in the ignition turned it on all the lights come on click on the start button, loudish clonk noise all the lights go of,and nothing turn it of and on again one of the relays makes noise like a siren, so replaced that but still no joy on starting. My charger indicates battery is charged, fuses in the fuse box under the seat look good, are there any other fuses elsewhere in the loom say under the fuel tank or somewhere, as the engines been out recently I was expecting the earth connections to be clean and sound, only other thing worth mentioning would be it's had a new stator fitted last month. From other posts as it's a 2001 bike, startus interruptuse shouldn't be the issue. Any suggestions gratefully received. Cheers Andy

My brother is a huge fan. He loaned me the "Ghost Rider book which is really good IMO. He and I went to see them in concert. I had a hard time figuring out the "amps" that Geddy was playing. It was big bank of glassed boxes with something spinning in them(?). And I finally got it, they were huge chicken rotisseries, probably cooking a hundred chickens during the show. After the show, we sprung for some Macallan since that was Neil's drink.

If you want really excellent, no excuses good stuff, (I haven't checked ARP), RaceBoltUK has absolutely top shelf stuff in SS, Ti and even alloy for less stressed tasks. You can choose your head style and drilled for safety wire, etc. Last order it was one week - seven days - from mouse click to doorbell here on the west coast of the US. Incredible. And the lucky blokes in the UK get it sent for free. https://raceboltuk.com/

Thanks docc!

If time isn't critical, ordering from Fastenal online can get you exactly what you want, and I've found their customer service to be very helpful. Like you, I tend to keep a bunch of fasteners, old and new, on hand, so when I put in an order, I just get a bunch of stuff "in case."

If there is a Caterpillar dealership near , get fasteners from them . I have been told , they manufacture them and say CAT on the bolt head . Also Lawson is an excellent vendor .

After days and days of fighting with the driveshaft-side swingarm bearing I succeeded in getting it out. My first try was to just use heat with my good inside puller and a slide hammer. No luck. I ordered a cheapo puller kit that took either a slide hammer or two-jaw puller. None of its pullers fit snugly in the bearing. I ground the closest puller to the right size and modified its two-jaw puller to fit on the very thin area around the bearing. I cranked it tight and the bearing pulled out. I had to grind a lot of metal off the original puller to get to the one sitting on the bearing: I ground the two-jaw puller to have a slight hook to fit the narrow material surrounding the bearing. Here's what it looked like after I pulled the bearing. You can see the hooked inner surface of the puller legs.

Was sorely tempted by a nice red '04 Ballabio tail unit on eBay - but someone else snagged it first. Mine is identical to this one, but with red tank and fairing. Oh, those artistic, pragmatic (wacky) Italians! "Heya Carlo, whatsa color dat taila piece we hava left to put ona dis red Ballaaaabio? Blue? Atsa all right. Goa get it denn."

D'oh! Really hard to get that tube in their for an electrolyte draw! Load test is the only way. The lesson seems to be: do not disconnect the battery unless you want to 1) replace the battery, 2) replace/rebuild the starter, 3) replace or disconnect, clean and re-tighten all cable terminals, or 4) all of the above. Let sleeping Guzzis lie?

I quess we all want a desent price or bargain's was checking with my local hydraulic, tools, bolts store before Christmas, 120bolts M4 M6 M8 bolts in different lenght's, 20-35mm in Titanium,,,,, 26200Kr + 25% vat= 32750Kr,, oopss,, close to 4000$. Small portion's I quess. Way less from far east,, BUT , I mean who knows the precision and quality of the treads. I'll do small portions,,, or is it realy nesseceary Cheers tom.

Its the base (horse shoe) piece that I'm looking for info on and yes there are differences. I believe the one I'm after is the early model..( Heavy piece ) that has the bag affair bolted to the rear internal assembly. Thx Phil

Some lovely bits on her and a deafeningly lovely sound- who wants a v50! Harr!

Unfortunately, there is no pulling specific gravity on the V11 AGM battery. Check the battery's date code and series of voltage tests to consider whether it may respond to "conditioning." Done properly, with correct charging voltages for the AGM, these can be remarkably resilient (speaking of the OEM Hawker Odyssey PC545):

I had this issue. Put in a decent ground strap. I installed a new battery, relay and starter. All these gave minor improvements. One $9 ground strap and it spins like a Japanese top. The stock wiring harness uses three small gauge wires to some frame tabs.... Garbage. I installed one proper cable from battery neg to the top starter mount bolt and FIXED FOREVER. Amazon link to part I used. TOPDC 4 Gauge 36-Inch Battery Inverter Cable All Copper Conductor Wire with 3/8" Ring Terminals (4 AWG x 36 Inches) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K68YO5W/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_tUemEbQJFWMGJ

I always load test the battery with my cheapy Harbor Freight load tester before starting troubleshooting that kind of problem. I'm *not* saying that is your issue, but it is the root of many electrical issues. I've seen battery charges lie through their teeth, and say, "Oh yeah.. that battery is fine.." they should look for work in the political arena. My best guess is the starter has dropped a magnet..

Battery. Do a specific gravity test. Betcha' its a goner.

Raise a glass of The Macallan to Neil. The Ghost Rider

Metric hardness 8.8 is not SAE "Grade 8" as I recall . . .

A dear friend, fellow motorcyclist, and talented drummer shared this full length video with me. Neil Peart's interview, and performance, near the last of the video is stunning. There are even motorcycles about 1:30:30 . . . Masters of Resonance

Are we talking about cars again? Did I mention my new project? So I traded my Corvette. It had 130k miles and was worn out. I had it for 17 years so it was time to go and besides, the family didn't fit in it. I managed to trade it for a 1967 Mustang convertible. Although the Mustang is going to be a lot of work in the end I'll come out ahead. So far I've managed to pull the engine (and sold it) and get a welder. Both necessary steps. I will be replacing a bit of rusty metal but I do like learning... the hard way.

My 1973 V7 Sport

At least the valves wont have any trouble exiting when the inevitable happens Ciao