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Prior to the 1100 Sport series there were basically three different cylinder head designs and valve sizes. With the 700 and 750cc loops there were other tiny differences but by the time the motors got taken out to 850cc right the way through to the last of the 950's there were basically three types of of combustion chamber design, small valve, mid valve and big valve. These were matched with a variety of pistons to give different compression ratios and from the 850T right the way through to the 1000S they all used a 78mm throw crank. That 'Golden Age' of the Tonti framed bikes was really one where Guzzis were like Meccano sets for grown ups! You could mix & match pretty much end thing. Of all of them the 'Big Valve' heads, which only came in squarefin form, have always been a bit of a 'Holy Grail' for people wanting to build rorty-snorty motors but IMHO the 'Big Valve' motor used in the MkIV-V LeMans and some 1000S's is a horrible thing! To get the compression up due to the combustion chamber being huge to accommodate the big valves the incredibly heavy, cast, pistons have an enormous alp of alloy on the top of them. This in turn makes the flame path long and convoluted and leaves all sorts of nooks and crannies for end gas to lurk to pollute the next incoming charge lowering combustion pressure and risking detonation issues. Bleargh! Horrible! Also big valve heads are absolute murder on valve guides! No idea why really as the 1100 motors, even the 'Sport' ones with similar sized valves and guide length don't seem to flog out so quickly as the smaller bore 'Big Valve' heads. If I was in the market for a 1000S I'd actually prefer one of the mid valvers with 36mm carbs. While no doubt it would get me sneered at by people who 'Know better' the fact is that the mid valve LeMans III/1000S motor and it's even sweeter close cousin used in the SPIII are to my mind the apogee of the 78mm stroke engine's development. The Mk III was an 850 and to my mind every bit as sweet as the 950's.

I never liked the look of Guzzi’s when I was a teenager riding Yamaha & Suzuki two stroke twins & triples in the 80’s & 90’s, I used to think the proportions were all wrong on Guzzi’s of that vintage. That was until one day I saw a Daytona parked in a car park, I had to go over & take a closer look, “wow” I thought “ that’s a Moto Guzzi,.. they can get it right.!” I loved the muscular stance of it & walked away pretty impressed. A few years later I was looking for a bike & was intent on a Ducati 1098, although after a test ride I thought, “I’ll lose my licence on this for sure”. A few days later I spied a Coppa Italia in the window of a local Guzzi dealer, I had to go & check it out. I was quite smitten but unable to afford it, the dealer did however have a 2004 Cafe Sport for sale which I could afford, I took it for a test ride & loved it, I thought then & still think now that there is no better sounding motorcycle, particularly with the cat removed & some nice pipes fitted. Mine has a mistral crossover & nice pair of Australian made Staintunes, & imho it sounds like a symphony!. I’ve owned it for the last thirteen years & the more I ride it the more I love it, dropping it deep into a bend scraping my boot off the road & opening it right up on the exit is just the best..

Never heard of the guy before... so took a look at his bio on wikipedia. Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Computer Science, and heavily influenced by Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I'd rate the credibility of the previously cited NASA report considerably higher than Alex Epstein. That said - there is a place for the use of fossil fuels in the world. Also, enough sunlight hits the earth to power everything we currently use. I do hope we figure out how to capture and use that energy more efficiently soon. Otherwise we will see a nightmare of supply chain issues and disputes over the rare-earth elements needed to make batteries.

I’m fortunate to have the best riding buddy ever, she rides the Honda CB 400 Super Four, which an awesome bike, & I’m on the Cafe Sport. We went camping down to the south west of Western Australia for a few days, it’s winter over here so it gets chilly in the evenings, we needed rain gear at times, but that didn’t put us off. The roads down here are lovely & bendy, the scenery is great & with a wood fire plus roasted marshmallows in the evenings., it was just the best. Another trip is currently being planned..

The commonest thing that happens to MkIII's is that some prick gets a hold of one and sees that the jetting on the carbs is different from the earlier mid valve, roundfin, LeMans. This causes them to phoam at the mouth, chew the carpet and accuse the evil gubmint of trying to stifle the fun of the poor motorcyclist in the name of emissions. This is absolute bollocks as the carbs are completely different. Apart from the PHF, (From memory. I haven't touched a carb in years, thank @#!#$#!) designation they are a different instrument. The *Experts* will install earlier jetting and turn the bike into an overfuelling pig that will wear itself out in 20,000km. and won't pull the skin off a rice pudding. Next step is to install K&N pod filters to 'Free Up' the breathing. The only advantage being of this being they'll @#!#$# the carb bodies and slides so they need to buy new ones at the same point 20,000km down the track when they are replacing the barrels and pistons and rebuilding the heads! Back about the turn of the millennium I had a bloke bring me a completely stock, low km Mk III. It was fifteen or so years old and very low Kms. I went through it front to rear replacing anything that was rotted or leaking, serviced it and rode it. I took it around Test Track 'C'. Bungendore, Tarago, Goulburn and back down the Federal Highway, a three lane motorway/freeway. It was butter smooth, sprightly and I saw an indicated 195kph on new tyres. It was lovely. Then they dumped that for the 'Big Valve' LM IV! An ugly, physically larger and heavier, vibratory turd that went no faster and had only minimally better acceleration. That was the beginning of a decade in the wilderness. Some would say twenty years.......

I was riding my Quota in Ohio Amish country a few weeks ago, it seems the Amish ladies have embraced electric bicycles, so you know that this is the future because the Amish are trend setters!

@Speedfrog made this current inquiry May 19, 2022, (less than a month ago) after @Onibaka revived this thread. Since then, several members have expressed an interest in the (4th?) run of the Chuck-made LuckyPhil Shift Extender. Thirteen pieces in this count . . . @Speedfrog (x2) @Tomchri (x2) @BramF (x1) @motortouring (x2) @Bingbong (x2) @Kane (x1) @Cold Desert Rat (x1) @Skip (x1) @FuelCooler (x1) Hopefully, these "notifications" will help interested members PM @Chuck to finalize. Thanks, again, Chuck!

“Yet More” because this is about yet another “Mutton Run” to Daviess County in western Kentucky. This one was from 26 - 31 May 2022. I have posted about others before here and elsewhere. Mutton may not be "everyone's cup of tea," but bourbon, beer, and BS seem to see the haters through. And for attendees, these forays are always great fun, which is why, after all, most of us ride. The photos probably tell more than you want to know, but ask if anything is puzzling … and you care. The pix open in “landscape collage,” which means you can look at all at once without slogging through in a rolling one-at-a-time slide show. If you care at all about captions, hover your cursor over the pix. If you don't … well, don't. Here goes: Motos & Mutton May 2022 Bill

IDK about all Amish but , they sure have some unusual convictions .

Is the Pope catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods?

The first time I saw a GTV up close was at Tuskeegee Motel near Robbinsville NC one morning. There was an Italian car get together at Deals Gap that weekend, old Fiats were all over the place (read broken down X1/9’s on the sides of the rode broken down). Long story short, later that morning I followed the GTV & a 164 Quadrifoglio give chase to a Ferrari on the Cherohala Skyway. I was on my new 1998 Honda Super Hawk 996 w carbon Two brothers cans, winding it up behind them. I kept getting hit in the helmet by rubber coming off the tires as they drifted the rear going thru the corners, the drivers were legit, the cars handled the road amazingly. I will never forget what a treat that day truly was for me, first time on the Cherohala & the cool Alfa’s being properly aired out.

Very close, the V6 version of the Alfetta, '86 GTV6 with almost a quarter million miles....

I've never heard so much whining over the threat of progress regarding clean, efficient and fast transportation Gees I haven't seen a Pinto, Duster, Olds Diesel, K-car, or Chevette on the streets in 20 years. Who says they really miss them? But if you want keep one of these marvelous contraptions in your garage 40 years from now, I don't think anyone would stop you.

It's subtle, not loud...just right. Love the Guzzi big block on full chat.

Alright, here is my best shot. The image below is of #7 that I will refer to as the "Fender" (what the tail light and turn signals are bolted to). @p6x's modified #7 has been cut off below the tail light, the #11 "Number Plate Holder" and the Tag Light (not pictured) are both removed from the modified "fender." I am not yet convinced there is enough left of the modified #7 "Fender" to properly re-use. edit: [-> So, upon close consideration, not likely collision or impact related. The broken Support Bracket is not the source of the failure, IMO - it stems from the inexpert modification to the #7 "Fender" which is the mounting structure for the tail/brake light, license tag/number plate, tag light, and turn signals.<-] The image is looking rearward from the front (tire side) of the "Fender" hanging down a few inches from the mounting points. Three pair of fasteners hold this assembly to the #1 Rear Subframe and the #11 Support Bracket. 1) The vertical red lines represent where horizontal #7 "Fender" holes fit over vertical threaded studs extended down from the #1 Rear Subframe and nutted from below (later V11 may have hex-drive bolts installed upward, from below). If these holes are cut off the modified #7 Fender, this is a problem and whole assembly will "cantilever" and fail as described. 2) The blue lines represent the pair of hex drive fasteners that that are engaged from behind , beside the Tag Light (which is likely missing on the modified fender), and are nutted from in front of the support bracket lower tabs through the lower two holes of the #28 "Rear Splash Guard". [This image shows the braces of the 1st Generation Tekno pannier mounts slightly obscuring the lower support bracket tabs.) 3)The yellow arrows indicate the "Nut-Certs" on the upper tabs of the support bracket that are engaged with two screws from the front of the top two holes of the #28 "Rear Splash Guard" (not shown in this image, but shown five posts back as the "The mud guard is broken too.")

All I know is have lamb chops for the grill tonight. Bev grows her own herbs and they're dry brining as I write this.

Thanks once again Bill, good times.

https://www.nickadamswriting.com/ Nick is a classical Man's Man. Intelligent, witty, articulate, tough as nails and free! And he has damn good taste in motorbikes!

WOW !!! and that's why I do it !

They are fun, mine gives me that special feeling like the RC30, hard to put a finger on it. I perfected the 4 wheel drift in mine by staying late at work in Atlanta. Back then traffic would clear out by 7:00pm, I would take the downtown connector south to the International Blvd. (I think it had a different name back then) exit, two lanes banked to the left, with no other cars you could go as fast as you wanted, not sure how many times I took that curve, but it was always worth the extra hours at work. A lot of Alfa folks would say the Alfetta was better balanced with the 4 cylinder engine, but the V6 up front and the Transxale in the rear, the car had beautiful balance, you could make steering corrections mid-corner with the throttle.

Perhaps; but the place where it broke makes perfect sense. This is just close to the two welds, where the heat weakened the carbon steel. The mount plate was solidly screwed to the frame, leaving the tail end free to vibrate. All the weight of the tail end is there. I will take a picture of the other side tomorrow; you will understand right away why it broke where it did. I am going to go to a welding ship tomorrow. We need to grind the weld out on the other side, make a chamfer and weld it again. I was lucky this incident happened at home while maneuvering by hand. If this had happened while on the road....

Just another Alfa. ALFA = Always Looking For Another, but I feel the same way about Guzzi's.

All good fun until another wee red corner of a fender butts in at the bottom left . . . Even this guy's Green Egg is red!

I’m in for one. PM sent!

Yes, fun memories with that car… Then I finally had to scrap it when the fuel tank developed leaks due to rust… Enjoy your GTV!

It was mine too, I bought this one in '95 from Spruell in Atlanta with 120k miles, it was my daily driver for a number of years, I would work late just to let traffic clear out so I could enjoy the commute home. The Alfasud was a cool car with the flat four, but they were known to rust, sometimes before they left the dealer....

Pretty sure I only just asked more questions. On the verge of buying 1000S, I did learn that there were valve size (head) changes. Apparently, the earlier 'large valve' head was "fussy?" And the "medium valve" was considered an improvement? I know, just more questions. There is also the matter of heads used on Sports vs LeMans vs Quota vs "California/EV" . . . Seems there might be quite a variety of 1000 cc Guzzi heads . . . (Waiting for an aficionado to chime in. Like @pete roper . . . .

That was my dream car as a young driver… I had a ‘74 Alphasud, the poor man Alpha Romeo. Great fun to drive but I it literally just rusted away.

I know, right? I do keep spares just in case....

Thanks doc! To further the inquest, is the casting the same between the heads so just different valve sizes? Or, can I turn a medium valve head into a large valve head by swapping valves and a little machine work?

The tyres are a joke these days docc. So teams get their allocation of tyres and have them on the warmers during the weekend and obviously not all get used so they go back to Michelin for later use. All tyres are serialised and tracked and a log kept of how many hours and cycles they have been on the warmers. It's now at the point where a tyre thats been on a tyre warmer at a previous round is in effect a "second rate tyre" as in it's performance is degraded compared to a fresh new tyre straight off the warmers so those pre warm cycled tyre need to be used for non critical practice such as the first session when a riders getting up to speed at a new GP. Miller got caught out in practice 3 a GP ago when his bike broke down out on the track due to a technical issue and he needed to leg it back to the pits and go out on his spare which had new but warm cycled tyres on it. So when a good time is needed in practice 3 he's out on "degraded tyres" that won't cut a fast time. Then we have the choice of race tyre dependent on a variation of track temp of less than 10 deg C ( not air temp but track temp) tyres overheating because a rider is riding and battling in a "pack", overheating due to ride height devices, overheating due to aero. Bikes fitted with on board tyre temp and pressure monitoring that warn the rider when his front tyre temps and pressures are too high. Add to that rides generally have 3 front and rear tyre choices and it's all about tyres these days. When it gets to this level of complexity over tyres then it's gone off the rails. Phil

Yes this is true. Ride height and aero are ruining MotoGP as is electronics. However electronics have a practical benefit for road bikes and is therefor of value in a product sense for the manufacturers to incorporate into production bikes. Aero and dynamic ride height devices have zero benefit to road riders and even for track day riders. All they do is create overheating issues for front tyres to cope with and make overtaking difficult. MotoGP is disappearing up it's own fundamental just like F1. Big moneys involved and it's all about "the show" now so unpredictability is the aim. Most sports are the same. They start out for the benefit of the competitor and interested people come to watch and eventually it becomes a money making enterprise geared around the spectator to generate the capital. Phil

My comment was on the fact that control tyres have run their race and it's not unrealistic to provide a range of different construction tyres to teams that they feel suit their bike and rider at the start of the season instead of manufacturers having to reconstruct frames and swingarms after their next years bike has been designed and constructed to suit the new tyres Michelin decide on at end of season testing. Pointing out that Michelin in the past had the capacity to produce bespoke tyres overnight. Ciao

Already have one, they are special motorcycles, these are racing motorcycle with lights and mirrors, not production bikes made to go fast. First gear is so tall, but the rest of them are so close. Still ride mine from time to time, but with values going up, just one more thing in the back of my mind during the ride. I did spend a day at Barber on mine, I did the Class motorcycle school the first year Barber opened. The bike was more at home on the track than I was, but still a fun day, even getting passed by Reg while he was two up. I do miss my Greenie...

I have a nice one you can Have..If you want it Just Pay Pal me $10 for shipping and I'll fire it off to you today P.M me your address...

Yeah, and it is hysterical what some people can read by "reading between the lines". Coal is less and less of the US energy market, it has been in decline for years. That said, the electricity that powers our electric car is almost entirely solar. I don't have children, and probably won't be alive when the shit hits the fan. So I don't really have a dog in the fight. But it seems like a shitty thing to do to leave a huge pile of burning doo doo for people who come after me. Others clearly don't care what the next generations are left with, as long as they get theirs. Ironically, many of those people have children..... Whatever.

Once had an AMG sharing a Eurotunnel carriage returning to the UK with Eric Clapton & his then bright new yellow 575M Maranello & passed the journey time chatting. He’d been enjoying tapping the performance by himself on the glorious roads of France for a few days… His contented smile struck me when I asked how much horsepower it had, “Dunno” grinning he added, “A lot!”

Burning coal makes energy for CLEAN Electricity!!!

1. So, how are they going to fly to their meetings? 2. Where does the electricity come from? 3. The less law made, the better. 4. No way the Italians will sign on to this.

I watched the MotoGP, and then Moto America Superbikes. I vote Moto America without a doubt.

Anyone else watched the first race of Moto America? Nice and fair battle between Petrucci and Scholtz... It seems that Danilo Petrucci found a good fit. The Moto America races are so far pleasant to watch compared to some of the MotoGP ones.

A set of slip-ons are just like a stereo , everyone else's sounds better .

There is something special about the sound of a V11 through a set of Mistrals.. That chug....

I have six addresses so far.

I have just finished to remove it. It broke at both corners. I am still going to get it welded.