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We will see what next year brings. Marc Marquez seems to struggle with the Ducati's propensity for loosing the front. That may continue to be an issue for him. If he can't adapt to the Ducati he may not be the factor so many seem to think he will be. He may be a guy who will win races but also a guy who crashes too often to win the title. I suspect others will be more of a title threat. The racing between Pecco Bagnia and Jorge Martin is getting serious. But impressive how hard they are able to race each other while still showing respect. Very refreshing.

The other day I was mounting this C-tec remote charging thing to the car. It's mounted behind and under the back of the hood and has 3 LED's that blink once/second depending on the battery state of charge. Green/orange/red. I got sick of opening the hood to connect the battery tender so I installed this which required cutting the wires and re soldering them in this particular instillation. My pet hate/nightmare is soldering loose wires together insitu, it's a propper bastard. There's a few options out there for the job on the bench but I wanted something for the bench and in situ. Here it is, brilliant. The tongs have spring loaded blades to hold the wire halves and you simply squeeze the pliers and guide the bared ends of the wires together as the strands mesh then when you have the mesh correct you lock the pliers. The ends are held firmly in place so you have 2 hands free for the soldering and the joint doesn't move. Brilliant and worth the $15aud or 2 cents USD. Well worth the expense. The Ctec thing is also great. I don't like leaving anything on a tender. I've seen them fail and destroy the battery and surrounding stuff so I connect the tender and when it's charged the battery I remove it.

Or you could purchase this 1956 Moto Guzzi Iodola for $4500.. it's in Monterey. Seller says its equipped with the 235cc engine; not the 175. Runs like the wind!

"It was supposed to have been fully serviced but clearly it wasn't" . If it were FULLY serviced it would have been $1,000 more to the price tag. I would suspect oil change , valve adjustment and fluid checks only .

@Molly, and all-y'all, it occurs to me to suggest inspecting, cleaning, and greasing the torque reaction rod pivot bolts (especially the forward, frame side) . . . . . . and shock pivot bolts (especially the lower at the swingarm) . . . As well as the shift lever pivot bolt:

I'm trying to remember if the plates are cast or forged and unless something has changed over the last 10 years you'll not have much luck anodising them if they are cast. Your local anodiser won't usually touch any cast part because the surface finish never turns out well and will be powdery and blotchy. The Italian manufacturers such as Brembo have some sort of special anodising process for cast parts such as master cylinders and callipers etc that your average anodiser here and in the states does not. It's the reason cast ally car wheels aren't anodised but usually power coated. Billet and forged parts are different though. These days you can get powder coating that closely replicates an anodised finish anyway.

Oil either passes through or bypasses the oil cooler governed by the thermostatic valve in the oil distribution unit in the sump depending on the oil temperature. Phil

I think foot plates (aka porkchops or stilettos) are aluminum. They certainly are not magnetic. Also consider powder-coating - but be careful with the fine threads for the swingarm pivots.

Thailand, my favorite track, due to those back to back straight-aways. This year, those really favored Ducati. My guy #BB33 did not have a good weekend, poor KTM and that first turn debacle. Exciting race though!

Not only Ducati's issue, but everybody's. This has been described as brought by the new Michelin rear compound which provides extra grip, and, de facto, transfers stress to the front of the bike. Ducati is said to have already found a way to mitigate the problem for their 2025 bike. Bagnaia tested it and is satisfied. Since it was a chassis modification, they could have implemented it immediately, but given that Pramac is leaving for Yamaha, they do not want to give it away. Although the championship seems to be a given, Spain announced flooding possibility in the Barcelona region, which was the backup track to end the championship. So we know it is not going to be Valencia, and it may not be Barcelona either. Nice gesture from many of the pilots, including non Spanish ones, giving their bonuses to Valencia region devastated by the flooding. I am wondering how some people still say the extreme weather problems we are now seeing happening worldwide have not been influenced by men's activity on earth. Scientific evidence and sea warming does not seem to be convincing enough. I don't know what would.

Today, November 4th 2024, a legend went to write and produce more music with Michael Jackson. Of course, you knew Quincy Jones for MJ's Thriller and many more. But Quincy Jones has produced so much good music for so many, including himself; So many of us danced to that song.... Ai no corrida...

Many thanks for the kind words and compliments guys.

Soldering is a feat you have to do all the time to stay good at . Using (old) good resin core solder , good flux and a good iron or gun. I do it just frequently enough to look terrible. I hope you are using a GOOD heat-shrink tubing to close the deal ? It doesn't hurt to practice 15 mins before soldering the real connection either.

Thanks Docc. I'll look at all that. This one is now replaced.

Don't worry mate, you'll find something else to keep you amused for sure. Mine has been full of surprises. The latest delight is a blown fork seal. Still love her though...

@KINDOY2 while we're on Neil Young.... EDIT: silly motorcycle, but I like the song.

Seems like a great band, @docc, but I couldn't listen to it. Someone needs to tell the sound guy that the red lights at the top of the level meter shouldn't be on all the time...

Golly. The easy answer is GO-NOGO. Insert the one you want for spec, then try to insert the next size up. If your spec goes and the next doesn't, you're there within a half a thousandth. Besides, there's more difference in 'factory' and 'RaceCo' spec than you can error at any given point. Don't overthink it. My engine is much happier with the hammering elves in the valve covers than the quieter factory spec, too.

How accurate are the feeler gauges you use anyway? Was there a metrological check included with them? I think they are mass produced so the entire procedure is kind of relative anyway. Its rather an approximation exercise. Not withstanding the temperature at which you are using them. Usually, properties are measured at standard conditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_temperature_and_pressure Lol....

I was showing my pup Austin how to adjust valves a few years ago. I told him you want it to feel like it would if you put it near the spine of a phone book, closed it, then pulled the feeler gauge out. He said, "Phone book?"

Naaa. It was perfectly safe. No spring-loaded tension set to explode across the garage or anythinglike that. Biggest risk was a bollocking from the Mrs for spending the entire weekend in the garage. ;-)

Looks like Jorge Martin has taken a serious option on winning the title. Unfortunately, it really takes the form of a demolition derby more than anything else. Marc Marquez was again the best of the seconds, even if he said that he struggles a lot on this track, due to his injuries. He still does a pretty good job. I also learned that Jorge Martin has hired someone to keep him from being too nervous because of the proximity of winning the title. This is something he had not done last year, and he confirmed it helps quite a lot to be more relaxed. It is really going to be a shame to remove one of the main protagonist from the championship next year. The Aprilia officials are way behind. Next year, it is only going to be between Bagnaia and Marquez.

Celebratory beer... Had to look a the manual's drawing to appreciate how releasing fluid would find its way to the splines. Removed the grease nipple and put loads of WD40 in that way. Reassembled my contraption, heated the heck out of it, and it finally let go.

What a gloriously silly game. I wonder how long the motors last. Running pretty much constantly at red-line is generally not conducive to high mileages.

Following a weekend of riding on wet, sodden roads (another appalling wash out of a UK summer), I cleaned the filth off my burgundy V11 today

Quick follow up: Yesterday we installed the new front brake lines. Today we are starting with the buiding of the exhaust. It's going to be a two stage design with a box type collector under the gearbox. This contains perforated sheet metal for creating back pressure. Out of this box comes a 54 mm to +/- 120 mm megaphone type muffler with a perforated pipe and stainless steel wool interior. Of course the muffler ends with a reverse cone made from billet on a lathe. My brother consulted a gas flow technician and he said that this could work very well. We use 0,7 mm. ss sheet material for the box and the muffler. It seems that a lot of exhaust dB's originate from resonating sheet material. Adding a db-killer is also going to be possible. And coming friday I can pick up the paintwork! :pic: The rest of the bike is ready and runs. (that's important too) Just a quick question: We came up with this solution for fastening tha battery. Because it's a gel battery, this should work. What do you think?