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That's rather nicely put. I'm presently in the Isle of Man which has many parallels with the north of the UK. History at every turn, and picture-postcard views in every direction. The natives are friendly too. Tourism plays a diminishing part in the economy. It's certainly not like it was in George Formby's day. So we survive by helping the super-rich stay that way, and housing most of the UK's online gambling companies...

So for the 99-2001 bikes the distance is 3mm above the top triple and for the later Le mans and V11 Sport 2003 it's 36 mm and the Ballabio its 32mm. For the Ohlins bikes it's 30mm for the Rosso Corse and 26mm for the Cafe Sport. These are all starting points of course. The only thing to remember is if you raise the forks through the triples you need to make sure you don't run into ground clearance issues and the front guard hitting the oil cooler on full bump and that you still maintain the full 54mm fork OD dia in the lower triple clamp.

Hi friends: I have a 2001 Greenie I've been working to bring back to life (thanks for all the forum assistance and info). I've ridden it a bit around town, and have one current oil leak that I'm hoping for advice on. It's on the left side of the transmission case, visible just under the starter, adjacent to and slightly above the neutral warning light. It's a circular piece of steel that pokes through the case and is a little recessed (see photo - I'm pointing at it with a screwdriver). I have a manual, but can't see where that piece is named anything in the Section N Gearbox chapter. It does show up in one VERY small diagram there (see photo - I'm pointing at it with an Xacto) on p. 26 section N, but I can't work it out. And because it has no slot or fastener head on it, I'm struggling to imagine how to get it out (to put on a new o-ring or whatever) other than take that side cover off. Before such bold exploratory surgery, I thought it's best to ask :). Attached are a couple photos. The leak is just a small drip, but it does run down the side of the case and onto the pipe. I haven't ridden the bike extended miles yet, but am concerned I'd end up on the side of the road out of town with abundant hot oil on the outside, not the inside of the tranny. It does form a drip VERY slowly, maybe once a week, while cold in my garage. All advice appreciated!

docc is probably correct, pressed in. Never heard, seen a leak there before. Everything else seems A1 cleaned. You need to take the cover of, if the bike doesn't have the Chuck unbreakeable shift spring. Note some different lenght bolts. When putting back the cover, it's easy to hear it's all in, clack. Not much pressure in there, oil level correct ? Silicone, JB W. as proposed. Cheers Tom.

It's not just the crowds them selves though. AirB&B has snapped up ton loads of accommodation that used to be available to the locals.Then all the shops , bars and eateries that pander to them have pushed out businesses that catered for the locals too .Basically in Barcelona center now it's become a tourist park and the whole soul of the place has changed...with no or very little place for the people who originate from there.I guess the worst case is Venice but you can see masses of locations where tghis is happening.Tourist attractions that are simply deserted out of season...and no possibility of either buying or renting places at affordable prices either.

My Coppa has 15mm above.

The fork length varies depending on whether your bike has the clip-ons mounted above the top clamp or below. So the later bikes with the 43mm forks and top mount clip-on have forks 19mm longer in free length than the earlier swan neck clip-on bikes. The extra length is to accommodate the clip-ons above the top clamp obviously. Ohlins legs are 3mm longer again than the Marzocchi 43mm forks. So 22mm longer than the early forks. Phil

I measure 22mm on mine and the fork cap is not included in the measurement . I also do not know how long the red frame v black frame forks are.

Cheers Doc, yeah I thought it best to measure it this way too....ie not including the cap. Be interesting to hear about the long frames eh.

Carol Kaye . . . check her out . . . https://carolkaye.com/www/library/index.htm

Cant get out of the Heart Groove....especially when they are playing my Favorite bands music..:-)

Got it! 🙋🏽‍♂️. Bringing it up the border to 🇨🇦. Took me 4 years to find one! Now will need all your help to sort it.

Yeah. And this is a real phenomenum...

You need to be careful about the rear shock length on the v11. If my memory serves you can't go much beyond and extra 10mm in length or you run into clearance issues with the front uni joint and the swingarm hole. If your Hyperpro is already lengthened. I havea Wilbers with a ride height adjuster on the swingarm end. Currently staying in this Tuscan Villa. Looking down into the valley you may just be able to make out the famous Mugello race track. We are less than 2 klms from it. The roads around here are so amazing I wonder why the need a track at all. There's a Porsche club using the track until tonight apparently. You can here them in the distance. Naturally nobody here complains about a bit of engine noise off in the distance, unlike home. Phil

The picture is no doubt from one of those "AI" programmes, like Easy Diffusion, where you type in "a picture of a Moto Guzzi on the moon" or something and it generates a picture. I had a play with that a while back. Quite surprising what it comes up with.

Nice story Pete. My good wife also reminded me that since my 80's sojourns around Europe the wall has come down and China and India now have burgeoning middle classes. So Eastern European, Russian, Chinese and Indians and probably more I haven't thought of are now travelling. Phil

I’d say that while yes, it is a ‘Western World’ phenomenon it is generally more of an anglophone western phenomenon, certainly my experiences in non-English speaking cultures in the last couple of decades have generally been more favourable. There is also the simple matter of history. History and sums! For the last half millenium at least western culture has been, both geographically and politically dominant. The historical narrative, at least the one most people absorb, is western and Eurocentric. Now other countries and cultures are becoming wealthier a proportion of their citizens will want to travel and when you are looking at countries like China and India with populations of over a billion a piece it doesn’t take many as a percentage to mean that their chosen destinations will become overwhelmed. Throw in ‘Our’ own boomers who have retired and want to see a bit of the world, often in a cocooned and ‘Safe’, ie, familiar environment that never takes them out of their comfort zone and it all turns into a rapidly evolving train wreck! I don’t think that the majority of these people are bad or unpleasant. Just boorish impatient and demanding. The way Jude and I tackle it is probably a bit unusual in that we try to avoid big ticket ‘Name’ destinations like the plague and if we do want to go somewhere where you know it’s always going to be insanely busy we go, as we do in most places, in the depths of winter as this tends to thin the tourists out a bit. On top of this we like to go to, and actively prefer, to stay in poorer, less developed and smaller towns and villages. Apart from the fact locals in bars and restaurants are always fascinated by WHY these strange, little old white haired pensioner people have come all the way from Australia to their little turdpoke village in Abruzzo or wherever! Then they want to know if you are on first name terms with their cousin in Griffith in the Riverina in NSW or their son Claudio who is a waiter in Adelaide etc etc ! In the UK we only drop down below the imaginary line we’ve drawn between the Bristol Channel and the Wash to visit relatives as anywhere below that line is an overpriced zoo with far, far too many people, most of whom think they are terribly special and are crying out for a good ‘Throat Punch’! Above the line things are infinitely better. There are still pockets of asshattery and some of the cities are really grim after 45 years of almost uninterrupted Tory destruction but the population density is way lower, it’s cheaper and the locals, (Outside the grim cities.) are friendly and helpful. It is also the cradle of the Industrial Revolution with history and museums to die for. The countryside, even in mid winter when it can be pretty bleak, is beautiful and once you get into Northumbria and Northumberland and thence on to Scotland the geography and landscapes are simply breathtaking. There is plenty of interesting Roman history to tickle my fancy in the borderlands areas and once into the highlands the austere magnificence is hard to beat although the lack of trees in the far north can cause issues! In January on one trip we were travelling around the A9 across the top of Scotland and had picked up some picnic vittles in Wick. After nearly getting stuck when it stated snowing the weather cleared and we continued but Jude got a bee in her bonnet about finding a picnic table and eating out of the car. Somewhere just west of Thurso she spotted a side road with a sign depicting a picnic spot so we hung a right and went down to the small rest area on the coast. It had a beautiful little beach, (Surprisingly devoid of naked Germans because as you know wherever you go in the world if you find a nice beach it will have some ageing banker from Düsseldorf and his hausfrau lying around with their kit off! Even in Scotland in January!) The absence of trees though belied the fact that it was in fact blowing about a force five gale! As we gathered up our meal of some cold cuts and proper English Cheddar the sun broke through the clouds and shafts of sunlight speared down onto the snow covered Orkney islands to the north, it was like the dawn of the world and stunning to behold! When we got out of the car though the gale was all too apparent but my darling helpmeet insisted we go and sit at the table, which we duly did and I set about hacking up the Baguette I’d bought in Wick. Jude unwrapped the 1/2 Kg of delicious cloth wrapped cheddar and sat it down on the table just as a particularly strong gust of wind hit, picked it up and sent it whistling off in the direction of Stromness never to be seen again! One assumes some lucky guillemot or puffin probably dined well that day! Anyway, after that even Jude thought discretion was the better part of valour and we retreated back to the car! And continued our trip! Sure, in the summer it would have been warmer, the wind would probably of been gentler and we might of got to eat some cheese! But at the same time the A9 across the top of Scotland is in some places only a single lane road with passing pull-offs. In summer it would be gridlocked with morons towing caravans and other assorted mouth breathers! We were probably lucky to see two cars an hour! Anyway! Enough. My main message is pick the ‘Wrong’ time to travel and you’ll find it’s likely to be the ‘Right’ time!