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So, I have this maniacal Canadian friend who lives in Maine. He bought an '04 BMW GSA. Then he found another, price so low it was theft due to a tank full of water. So he 'bought it for me'. 'Come get it whenever you can, pay me whenever'. So after a year of telling him he could triple his money on it, he still insists it's mine; He planned a trip to Ohio with a few other friends, and since I was going to Ohio anyway there was no avoiding it. Flew to Maine, rode it back to Florida. Never saw an inch of interstate, about 3k miles worth of secondary and back roads. I forgot to record some of it, but here are the links to the parts I did. https://www.relive.cc/view/v36AxYYm7GO https://www.relive.cc/view/vRO78Mk2oy6 https://www.relive.cc/view/vPOpr5L7XRq https://www.relive.cc/view/v8qkpzj1n3v https://www.relive.cc/view/vNOPQkLppY6

And the leaves are nice too.

That photo really captures the brutish,brawny lines & stance of the Griso

There, a bit more of the tree.

I haven’t used the silver V11 much this summer, but yesterday it went back on the road and I’ve put around 200 miles on it over this weekend Noticed the telltale drips of battery acid from the rubber tray when I got home this evening, so I removed the battery, no battery case cracks / leaks, so I guess it’s been overcharging and venting I guess It’s time to replace the regulator; I understand this is a reasonably common problem with the V11 charging system Should I check anything else before I replace the reg / rectifier unit ? The photos below were taken yesterday at the National Memorial Arboretum Ride to the Wall, where around 5000 riders paid their respects to armed forces personnel, past & present

Indeed. Pity that motorcycle is blocking the view.

Well, if we are going to talk about it, I started to work in the oilfield in 1980. Back then, there were no easy way to have personal communications from offshore or onshore rigs; if you were in between jobs at the base, international phone calls were cost prohibitive, even in Europe. So we wrote; whoever was going on days off would mail letters received from strangers. That was the unwritten rule. So you'd have your family receiving letters mailed from around the world. In some countries, the number of consecutive days you could spend on a given offshore installation were limited. However, my company had found a loop hole. You would do your legal time on rig A, then they would switch you to rig B, and because it was a different installation, the day counter would be reset to zero; and so on and so forth. But when you work 12 hours a day, every day, you do not have time to miss anything. Sony had just introduced the Betamax system. The first offshore rig where I did three months nonstop received two new films per month... writing was a better way to satisfy your angst if you had any. VR46, MM93 never really had to leave their respective forgiving environment when they were grinding their teeth in their own national championships. It is a plus. There is also the financial part of it. Unless you have a deep pocketed sponsor to support you when you are abroad, or come from a wealthy family such as Tito Rabat, you start at a disadvantage. But the new generations seem to be less resilient than we were. Once I had moved on from being a grunt, running the show, we started to have a lot of defections. Guys that simply could not stay away and breaking down on their first jobs; sometimes, a family emergency would make you feel helpless as you would be stuck miles away from home with no means to get back fast. It happened to me three times. I know how it feels to receive an emergency message while in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes, perfect strangers would help you beyond what you even thought could be possible. But you could never count on it. As Rudyard Kipling put it: you had to be a man. In any case, the newer generations do not want, do not need to make the sacrifices that older ones had to. Both my grand-father and father were drafted. There was no choice; you had to go and leave everything behind with no clear idea if and when you would return. I expect that we are probably going to see racers coming from Thailand, India, Malaysia; countries with more motivation perhaps? Dorna seems to be wanting to diversify as much as possible as it is clear that only two nations dominate the Motorcycle GP rosters at present, and there is possibly some lassitude there.

Recipe for ruining handling on a 99 V11. Pay a big chunk and widening rear rim to 6inch, 180/55. Now 170/60, just a tiny test yesterday with no curbs, but yes please. Next summer, glad l got a M better feeling with the bike. Meaning more km before desicion about the front with different rake. My other Greenie, just fun, how brave do you feel today. Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-S906B via Tapatalk

Just thought I would throw it out there on this forum about a Meet n Greet over in Tellico Plains next week: Moto Guzzi Meet n Greet Lunch Oct. 14, 2023 @ 1:00 PM Tellicafe 128 Bank St Tellico Plains, Tn. Everyone invited just let Bob Rebos over on the Wild Guzzi Forum know if you plan on attending.

The engine sound, NICE Cheers Tom.

A big change from the 'Sport. Super tall, monkey motion front end with no dive took a minute, power brakes I'm still not sure I like. But I have to admit it's comfortable (though it has risers and aftermarket bars, tough on the shoulders) and from 0-50mph it's a terror on tight pavement where the 'Sport likes higher speeds. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to put 550 pounds and 8 gallons of gas on a Giraffe, but I did make it down one horror of a gravel 'road' without much event.

The big GS is super competent motorcycle. And almost as fun as a Stelvio. I hope you enjoy it. Looks like a good trip (it's almost always a good trip if you avoid the main highways).

US Road Racing has been in the tank for 15 years. The manufacturers pulled out and the last two talents are gone from MotoGP. It's not bounced back. The Daytona 200 is a mere shadow of itself. There are more opportunities in Flat Track and Moto Cross. MA has made some incremental advancements. So the opportunities are largely gone here and the whole scene has shifted to Europe. That being the lower Moto classes and perhaps British and Spanish racing are the places to start. It's a young man's game, so not many teeneagers are moving to Europe. I'd suggest that we have better regional racing and perhaps some spec racing bikes that might be under the MA umbrella that keep the costs and travel down. Then have a few national events for championships. This has been done, just not with a lot of sponsorship. Flat Track is able to fund a national schedule even for the amatuer classes although the top class only has a dozen bikes.

The sound of a 1977 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce…

Wow... The odo rolled over to 00000 again just before I got into the office yesterday morning! Now have 94 kilometres showing on it and still running like a champ! Cheers

This week-end was supposed to be the one when I would complete my Texas Tour stops; However, we had heavy thunderstorms predicted to take place over most of Texas, so I decided to delay. Nevertheless, yesterday I opted to have lunch in Brenham: I said bring it down! It did not disappoint. I got there completely drenched! The Le Mans loved it though....