Guzzirider

The original speedo on the Jackal is large, white, chromed and ugly- it has to go! Nice road btw- is that near the A494, or a bit further down? Guy

I've been a naughty boy and have not ever had my Ohlins forks serviced despite the bike having covered about 18000 miles I've been lucky as the seals have stayed oiltight, and the forks still work as well as they did when the bike was new. Guy

Is anyone else from the UK coming along? I think last count there was Martin, Bertie, Mal, Helen and myself. Mal, Helen and I are catching the 9pm ferry from Hull Thursday night, landing in Rotterdam Friday morning. Guy

For sure when someone runs away with it the race becomes more boring, just like it used to do when Doohan won every race easily. But lets give Casey lots of credit- everyone is complaining and whining about tyres, but the truth is that he is simply kicking everyone's butt- including a lot of riders that have the same tyres. I think Rossi has the right attitude- I want to beat this guy in the long run so am testing a new engine because I realise the chase is over and I want to get ahead next year. It was a risk that backfired but it shows he and his team are doing something positive to redress the gap, rather than just feeling sorry for themselves, and blaming the Michelins. Guy

Aprilia lanyard Is this the sort of thing you are looking for Ben? Over here they are called lanyards. Guy P.S. Don't worry about the language barrier in Europe- most Europeans speak it better than you guys!

Thanks Jaap- some nice bikes there- I like Hartmut's HTM bike. Maybe I need to take a hacksaw to the rear frame rails to get that shortened look! I may pop in and see him on Friday week, as he is only down the road from Valkenburg in Aachen- I don't know if anyone else would like to join me. Guy

In most countries, these sort of silencers will not strictly be "legal" but many chose to use them anyway, because it is unlikely any enforcement action will be taken. Some countries are stricter than others- I think Germany may be one of the strictest but I guess it depends on how the Greek police view things- maybe Alex Corsa can help you. I've been running pipes similar to these for many years in the UK with no problem- they even pass the annual MOT checks if ther are not outrageously loud. My Guzzis are unsilenced, but I have left the baffles in the Termis on my Ducati because they are embarrasingly loud. Guy

At the moment I have my hands full (and my wallet empty!) with the Cafe racer project- but when that is finished (and paid for!) then I will turn my attention back to the V11. Guy

Hi Gyles! Fancy seeing you here!! I now have secret Daytona envy- was chatting to Bruce at the weekend about getting a fast Daytona motor for my V11- he's a bad man and will make me bankrupt with his suggestions! Guy

Sounds like a great idea Antonio- will you get the motor bored out to 1225cc by Dynotec?

I've found Ryan's advert on t'internet!

And cheaper than buying Guzzi units- also does 0-60 time!

Just dropped the sump on Helen's V11 to change the filter- and yes, it was a bit loose but not spun off. I remember tightening it when I fitted it- but obviously not tight enough!! Guy

I can multi-task.

Nothing much to see- just work in progress. Tarozzi rearsets have arrived and I've ordered some Tarozzi high rise clip ons, which will hopefully help with the stretch over the long alloy tank. Here is also a picture of the combined rev counter / speedo which I will be using. Plenty of work to do yet, Guy

Same thing happened to me- the cradle failed after a Mandello thunderstorm- after that, the unit would not charge. Took about a week for Garmin to send a new one after they agreed the old one was faulty. A forum for Zumo nerds: Zumo forum Guy

I am sure we will organise something similar again- and it would be great to have some European friends along with us. Guy

You are just jealous because I can still get it up!!

You got it Paul! See my new thread.

Mal and I rode over to Cadwell Park on Saturday on our V11s along some very pleasant sunny Lincolnshire lanes. The purpose of our visit was to watch and support Gyles Fairclough who was racing his largely standard black Daytona RS in the Thunderbikes class in 2 races on Saturday, and another 2 on Sunday. Plan was then to stay over on Monday and join in a Hottrax track day along with a few other Guzzis. If you don't know Cadwell Park I'll describe it- it is the true spiritual home of grass roots bike racing in England- long, hilly, twisty and very technical- a real challenge for any rider and a lot of fun. We missed the first race but heard that Gyles had come 9th, with about 20 riders behind him. It was a similar result in race 2, and we enjoyed watching him race his heart out on his fat Guzzi against bikes that had similar power but weighed 60 kgs less. He struggled a bit more in race 2 due to a bike that was pinking like a bastard due to some bad fuel. While draining the fuel, he found a bumble bee in his tank (Mal joked this was the Daytona factory "B" kit). Gyles is sponsored by the Wylam micro brewery in Northumbria and always has 60 odd litres of free wheat beer on his van, so we all got a bit pissed on Saturday night, and paid the price on Sunday morning with bad hangovers. On Sunday, he was really flying, up as far as 7th during one race, finishing 9th again. To put his efforts in perspective, Phil Read Jr who was racing in the same class came 3rd on a Laverda 750 which had £80,000 spent on it. Gyles is on a standard Daytona. On Sunday night we were joined by Robin (MGS01), Alan (1100 Sport Corsa) and Garth (BMW K75- his Sport Carb was out of action). Gyles's buddy and team mate Chris who had been with us all weekend was on his Sport Carb. We had a nice walk around the circuit under the bright starry sky and enjoyed watching some spectacular meteorite showers. With most of us slightly nervous, Alan kindly cheered us up with tales of horrific road accidents and people burning to death just before we headed off to our tents to sleep! Up bright and early Monday morning, pleased not to be at work and in the sunshine, we joined by Bruce and his family. He had brought with him the championship winning 1288cc Raceco Daytona. What a beautiful beast! He had bought it from a guy in Denmark, and as an engineer by trade, restored it back to its original form, with the exception of detuning to 130rwbhp, so the compression was low enough to use a starter motor. Robin and I were in the academy, hopefully to get some professional track tuition, and the rest of the guys were all in the same track day group. The academy was a total mess- too many riders on track, with too many varying abilities- a total shambles and I found it totally dangerous with wobbling riders 4 abreast taking funny lines while some fast guys were burning past them. After 3 sessions I swapped to the regular track day so I could ride with the other guys. The organisers apologised, and agreed it was a bit of a mess out there. After lunch, I went out with the other Guzzis, following Gyles on the borrowed MGS01 (very generous of Robin!) for about a lap and half until he chose to shoot off into the distance. I had the pleasure of an open and largely empty track, and was able to enjoy myself much more. During one lap I could hear and sense a really noisy powerful bike up my chuff- in fact I could sense pure evil behind me. Sure enough when I got onto a straight the Raceco Daytona blasted past me like I was standing still- what an awesome machine- the best racing Guzzi of modern times and I now have serious Daytona envy! My Rosso Corsa was very well behaved though- and was extremely stable and steered much better than the Sport Corsa I used to own and had taken around Cadwell on a couple of previous occasions. Being quite tired, and wanting to ride home in one piece, I sat out the last 2 sessions and enjoyed watching the Guzzis thunder around the track, and I felt very priviledged to be there with so many nice and special Guzzis being thrashed. It was great to see Gyles and Bruce lap most of the other riders, most of whom were on fast Jap bikes or Dukes and Aprilias. Poor old Chris had a fall when his bike cut out on a hairpin due to a blown fuse- luckily not too much damage done, and Gyles let him ride his race bike in the last session. Alan's Sport Corsa developed a clutch problem so Gyles lent him his spare red Daytona- everyone was being very generous with each other. I had politely declined an earlier offer to ride his race bike in case I threw it down the road. All in all, Mal and I enjoyed a fantastic weekend, mainly great weather, watching bikes racing, free beer and riding on the track with some very special Guzzis- bella!!

Nice one Ben- there is some good kit on that bike! Take it easy. Guy

Wow what a weekend- got to see Gyles race his Daytona 3 times in Thunderbikes, then had a go on the track myself today. There were 6 of us including the Raceco Daytona and an MGS01. I'll do a full report and some more pics after I have got some sleep. Guy

Yep I'll be there as usual!

Thanks for the heads up, BFG!