Leaderboard

[Some here knew Dennis from a SSR a few years ago.] Today, 4 February 2022, would have been Dennis Kristof’s 79th birthday.I am sure he would have celebrated with a ride, as he loved motorcycles.But, sadly, Dennis was killed on 8 January 2022 while riding with a motorcycle touring group in Thailand. His wife and pillion, Taew, was severely injured, but survived. Their son and daughter are with their mom as she completes her recovery.Dennis was born in 1943. His hometown, Bad Neustadt an der Saale, in Upper Bavaria, is a lovely place, and only a few miles north of where I was born in Würzburg. Dennis grew up in Germany, but came to the U.S. as an adult, where he became a successful businessman in Georgia, doing international agriculture trade, primarily in Thailand where he met Taew.Dennis was a well-traveled motorcyclist, tallying many hundreds of thousands of miles over the years. And, I do not mean “mere” miles, but of the sort that involved multiple runs to the likes of Prudhoe Bay and Ushuaia. He once crashed his beloved BMW GS in the mountains of Chile on one of the latter trips, and spent weeks in a hospital in Santiago. On recovery, he continued on that trek! He also shipped that GS to Europe to ride from Amsterdam to St. Petersburg. In the U.S., he especially delighted in riding with friends in the Southeast on another BMW and a Kawasaki Concours. Dennis was one of the most technically proficient riders I have ever seen, a natural on two wheels. That said, most of his riding friends — and I am honored to count myself among them — would not (or could not) emulate his … erm … “exciting” riding style. Let’s just say that it often attracted the attention of law-enforcement officials. Yet, although frequently stopped for roadside discussions with uniformed personnel, Dennis had an astonishingly clean driving record. Despite his age, he always had a boyish grin, and that, along with his undeniable charm and strong German accent, led more times than he deserved to “OK, Sir, just be careful and slow it down,” without getting any written “Performance Award.” World-traveler Dennis was an unabashed American patriot who knew more about U.S. history than most native-born Americans. He also spent much of his time in Thailand on business and pleasure. He and Taew owned a home there and, naturally, he had a motorcycle in his garage. They were on that machine when they crashed.I paste in, below, two emails with photos I received from Dennis just a few days before his death.===========From: Dennis Kristof Subject: Pictures from Dennis in ThailandDate: 6 January 2022 at 05:56:41 EST To: Bill Hagan Hi Bill,Thank you so much for sending me some wonderful pictures from your home with family and friends. I am sure you had a wonderful Christmas and new year celebration with your family. I don’t envy you for snow and cold weather in Virginia because I am enjoying the tropical sun entirely in the last two mornings riding my motorcycle 650 Suzuki V Strom all over the country with some young friends and my wife. We will be staying here until the end of this month. We plan to return home on January 31 if traveling conditions allow and they let us fly home. I hope to see you guys in the spring to ride with you again and until then I wish you all the best in the new year. Auf Wiedersehen,Dennis ============== The next day, he sent this: From: Dennis Kristof Subject: Touring Thailand on two wheels with my wife and lots of new friends Date: 7January, 2022 at 09:07:07 EST To: Bill Hagan Life is wonderful here great weather and great company greeting from the Far East. =============== Then, he left us. I have been gathering photos of Dennis from the many trips and other good times we spent with him in the hopes of posting this memoriam on his birthday on some motorcycle forums. Here are a few that illustrate his joyful, generous, and adventurous soul. This last was in Owensboro, Kentucky, in September 2021 when Dennis, others, and I were on a “Mutton Run.” We also visited Green River Distillery and Dennis, so typically, shared his purchase with us that evening. More individual shots in this album … Pic Potpourri of Dennis Here are some slideshows of him and others riding along the years. Hover, if you care, your cursor over the pix to see the captions. https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Sashaying-to-Swanzey-in-2015/n-NR8Rrf/ https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Men-Motorcycles-Mutton/n-GRNH7j/ https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Mutton-Run-2019-/n-9V3j52/ https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Muttoneering-Sept-2021/n-VzxTGK/ For all sorts of obvious reasons, no memorial service has yet been planned back in the U.S., but there will be some celebration of Dennis’s remarkable life when his wife and children return. I will post details of that here when the family sets a date and place. Dennis’s great friend and road companion, George, wonders if Two Wheels of Suches might not be a great venue. But, whenever and wherever, tales — tall and true — will be told of this gentle giant. Finally, as a mutual friend observed when he learned of his death: "Dennis was one of those larger-than-life characters who managed to pack about five lifetimes of experiences and travel into one life; I was glad I was able to meet him and ride with him. I'm sure he left people feeling the same as we did across four continents.” Yes, indeed. The saying “joie de vivre" is French, but I have never known a person who lived that phrase more than German-gened Dennis. I can only hope that, for his sake — tho not necessarily His! — that there are twisty roads and motorcycles in Heaven! We miss you already, “Chancellor.” You’ll always ride with us. Bill & Kathi Hagan

Here's a tip before you write off any sealed bearing because it feels stiff esp after greasing. use a small screw driver watchmakers or tooth pick or similar and lift the grease fitting ball off it's seat a fraction and release any pressure in the bearing. Sometimes they will actually let out a pssst and shoot a little squirt of grease. The bearing will now turn freely. Internal pressure on the seals is the issue. Used to happen greasing aircraft regularly. Ciao

Very touching eulogy! the narrative transpires the respect for him and the shared good times that will hopefully remain the key souvenirs; I checked the Smugmug photos. It is always difficult for a complete stranger to get the true feeling of a sad event like this one. Sincere feelings;

As of yet, we have no physical confirmation of the change in "cant" between the earliest V11 Sport and those built after about January or February of 2000. What we do know is the earliest V11 Sports used "carry-over" triple clamps from the 1100 Sport-i with greater offset (and from a bike with 26.5º steering head, rather than the V11's 25º). Significant diffence in trail, and therefor "stability" . . . Great work by @Lucky Phil posted here:

Be ever diligent threading in those pinch bolts, perhaps clamping the collars so that the fasteners line up perfectly with the holes. Otherwise, they tend to cross thread and potentially fail later. Torque in steps and back forth across the pinch collar.

Ended up selling the 67 this week. The wife was happy to have her parking spot back in the garage. Went to a few nice family who have the wherewithal to get the car back on the road. No crying for me, I still have the 65 to work on.

That's a good idea anyway, even if the grease hasn't pressurised the bearing. I found that just poking the ball on the fitting loosens it up. Usually there's all manner of crap that gets thrown onto the fitting from the road and then even a small amount of corrosion will "weld" the ball onto the static part of the valve. Mind you I'm referring to Magni's shafts which are slightly different but reasonably confident the same logic will apply to Guzzi's set up

Whack it a while and see if settles down. Seriously, if you tap the castings around the four u-joint caps it may loosen up a bit, and you can force a bit of fresh grease through it as well.

That confirms the numbers then. On my Sport I have the LSL handlebars & risers to sit up more, rather than the clip-ons.

Another cross-post: "Britannica " brings to mind all of the contributions to @Scud's amazing "Encyclopedia of Compatible Parts" thread pinned in the How To . . . subforum:

My gosh Docc, you & Phil are the Britannica of this business.

I assume so from my calculations but I'm open to being corrected by attributable material. In broad terms it's not a major issue if my actual figures aren't exactly correct it's more about the differential between the various permutations based on the same baseline data I used. Ciao

Flat black powder coating generously applied to pork chops and many other bits. Candy apple red plates and covers on Champagne. Close up of those same candy-red plates that I migrated to the Nero Corsa.

sorry. As you can see it's slotted a fair way to relieve the stress. Best image I have.

Hey I must tell the wife that for this reason I have to get out and ride more. A pity its a long holiday weekend here but rain forecast the whole three days.

Lots of good things in Russia, including motorcycle passionate guys... I know a couple of Russian ladies that would make my Le Mans look.... better?

Seriously, this tuition so informs the reports and concerns about the earliest V11 Sports showing bad handling behavior. Was it a "1/2º change in the cant" of the triples? That has long been disputed as unlikely. Was it the holdover of 45mm offset triples that had been used on 26º 1100 Sport spine frames, then did not work well on the 25º V11 ShortFrames that benefited from a 40mm offset? Would the change from a 26º frame with 45mm offset to a 25º frame with that same 45mm offset = that "1/2 degree" that has been of so much concern?

Can confirm the V11's have 40mm offset docc. If you look at an image of an 1100ie Sport the triples look identical but do in fact measure 45mm offset. Ciao

This gets us closer to the true explanation of what changed between the 1100 Sport-i and the eventual V11 Sport. It may not, actually, be about a change in a "half degree" of rake milled into the triples, but the transition from the 26º->25º change in frame rake while retaining the 45mm offset triples from the earlier gen 1100 Sport before introducing the 40mm offset triples for the 25º rake of the V11 SpineFrame, especially in the Short("Red") Frame version. I have found "offset" very difficult to measure with the forks mounted to the bike . . . I tried.

Sport 1100's had 45mm offset triple clamps on a 26deg head angle from what I can see. The V11 Sport has a 25 deg head angle and 40mm offset clamps. If you had 45mm offset triples on a 25 deg frame it would be intrinsically less stable compared to the 45X26 due to the greatly reduced trail not only from the steeper head angle but also the extra offset. If Guzzi originally fitted Sport 1100ie triple clamps at 45mm off set on the 25 deg V11 frame maybe they were a little too twitchy so they went for 40mm offset forks to increase the trail and get some stability back on the later bikes. Ciao

The early 1999-2001 RedFrame/Rosso Mandello Parts Catalog does show two different sets of triple clamps. "Up to frame KR113031 (T3)" an "From frame KR 113032 (T4)" (The Rosso Mandello were all in the later frame range and their part numbers differ for their black coloration.) I am certainly vague on the "T3/T4" designation and makes me wonder about "T1/T2" . . .

In the Guzzi Fiches I have found that revisions or specs are given in the last part of the breakdowns. In reference to T5/T6 it shows Up to Frame KT211300 =T5, After frame KT211301 = T6. Paul B

The red frame v11 sport (KR) got some bad reviews in Germany and other places, because not as other old Guzzis, it wasn't so stable. They were delivered with 170 wide tire on 4,5", what is a to wide tire for the rim. And that makes the tire shape to pointy. German tuner Dynotec made a corrected version of the first gen V11 sport, other offset triple clamps were part of it. But in Italy, Aprilia just owned Moto Guzzi, and didn't want the bad publicity so they took drastic measures. The second generation(KS) got a wide tire rear, the popular 180/55 on a 5,5"rim. The area between swingarm and gearbox got a extra steel rods to make it stiffer. with extension to the engine crank case. The front engine mount was reinforced. And the steeringhead was extended to have more wheelbase. The third generation(KT) kept same geometry but got optical tweaks and the 43mm forks where this subject is about. Not all changes occurred at the same time, first mount old stock before making new. It has been always the same. The Dynotec v11 http://www.dynotec.de/presse/DynotecV11_2000MO.html

Talk all you want about the track performance of other cars in those vids, but Andy's shot depicts incredible adhesion. Just now, however, I just care about getting down our driveway so I can shovel VDOT's blade berm to reach the cleared roads. OTOH, could be worse, to wit, my b-i-l's car in Erie yesterday! Bill

I was able to get a standard grease gun fitting on the front nipple on my '03 Le Mans. Was not able to bend the hose successfully through the obvious direct path, but when I routed it through a crevice over the top it was easier. I had to use a pair of pliers to push it down onto the nipple once aligned. Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

I used to think mine was the same, just one of those character details. Till someone reminded me that I could flatten them on a piece of plate glass. Stopped the weep. But I would prefer to have the reusable vitron gaskets that fit on the Griso

I filled in a job application for the local council and under disabilities I put Narcolepsy and Tourettes Syndrome. So not only will I be able to sleep at work, if someone tries to wake me up; I can tell them to @#!#$# off.

In tune with political correctness and not to offend any ethnic or minority groups An Afghan, an Albanian, an Algerian, an American, an Andorran, an Angolan, an Antiguans, an Argentine, an Armenian, an Australian, an Austrian, an Azerbaijani, a Bahamian, a Bahraini, a Bangladeshi, a Barbadian, a Barbudans, a Batswanan, a Belarusian, a Belgian, a Belizean, a Beninese, a Bhutanese, a Bolivian, a Bosnian, a Brazilian, a Brit, a Bruneian, a Bulgarian, a Burkinabe, a Burmese, a Burundian, a Cambodian, a Cameroonian, a Canadian, a Cape Verdean, a Central African, a Chadian, a Chilean, a Chinese, a Colombian, a Comoran, a Congolese, a Costa Rican, a Croatian, a Cuban, a Cypriot, a Czech, a Dane, a Djibouti, a Dominican, a Dutchman, an East Timorese, an Ecuadorean, an Egyptian, an Emirian, an Equatorial Guinean, an Eritrean, an Estonian, an Ethiopian, a Fijian, a Filipino, a Finn, a Frenchman, a Gabonese, a Gambian, a Georgian, a German, a Ghanaian, a Greek, a Grenadian, a Guatemalan, a Guinea-Bissauan, a Guinean, a Guyanese, a Haitian, a Herzegovinian, a Honduran, a Hungarian, an I-Kiribati, an Icelander, an Indian, an Indonesian, an Iranian, an Iraqi, an Irishman, an Israeli, an Italian, an Ivorian, a Jamaican, a Jap, a Jordanian, a Kazakhstani, a Kenyan, a Kittian and Nevisian, a Kuwaiti, a Kyrgyz, a Laotian, a Latvian, a Lebanese, a Liberian, a Libyan, a Liechtensteiner, a Lithuanian, a Luxembourger, a Macedonian, a Malagasy, a Malawian, a Malaysian, a Maldivan, a Malian, a Maltese, a Marshallese, a Mauritanian, a Mauritian, a Mexican, a Micronesian, a Moldovan, a Monacan, a Mongolian, a Moroccan, a Mosotho, a Motswana, a Mozambican, a Namibian, a Nauruan, a Nepalese, a New Zealander, a Nicaraguan, a Nigerian, a Nigerien, a North Korean, a Northern Irishman, a Norwegian, an Omani, a Pakistani, a Palauan, a Palestinian, a Panamanian, a Papua New Guinean, a Paraguayan, a Peruvian, a Pole, a Portuguese, a Qatari, a Romanian, a Russian, a Rwandan, a Saint Lucian, a Salvadoran, a Samoan, a San Marinese, a Sao Tomean, a Saudi, a Scottish, a Senegalese, a Serbian, a Seychellois, a Sierra Leonean, a Singaporean, a Slovakian, a Slovenian, a Solomon Islander, a Somali, a South African, a South Korean, a Spaniard, a Sri Lankan, a Sudanese, a Surinamer, a Swazi, a Swede, a Swiss, a Syrian, a Taiwanese, a Tajik, a Tanzanian, a Togolese, a Tongan, a Trinidadian or Tobagonian, a Tunisian, a Turkish, a Tuvaluan, a Ugandan, a Ukrainian, a Uruguayan, a Uzbekistani, a Venezuelan, a Vietnamese, a Welshman, a Yemenite, a Zambian and a Zimbabwean all go to a nightclub. , The doorman stops them and says, ‘Sorry, I can’t let you in without a Thai.’

Father had two sons, one pesimist, one optimist. He gets them Christmass presents, an electric model train for the pesimist and horse shit for the optimist. Pretending not to know what they got, he asks the pesimist: - What did you get? - Electric model train, but I will not be able to play with it if there is a blackout! - No worries, it runs on batteries. - But they will run out! - I'll get you new ones. - Tracks will bend and break eventually - ... Fed up, the father turns to the optimist. - What did you get? - A pony. He just went somewhere...

President Barack Obama is visiting a Glasgow hospital. He enters a ward full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or illness, He greets one. The patient replies: Fair fa your honest sonsie face, Great chieftain o the puddin race, Aboon them a ye take yer place, Painch, tripe or thairm, As langs my airm. Obama is confused, so he just grins and moves on to the next patient. The next patient responds: Some hae meat an canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat an we can eat, So let the Lord be thankit. Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the President moves onto the next patient, who immediately begins to chant: Wee sleekit, cowerin, timorous beasty, O the panic in thy breasty, Thou needna start awa sae hastie, Wi bickering brattle Now seriously troubled, Obama turns to the accompanying doctor and asks, 'Is this a psychiatric ward?' 'No,' replies the doctor, 'this is the serious Burns unit.'