jihem

they were serviced, Paul.

Goood, the SKF shop had the main bearing in stock and has been able to identify all needed others so I should get all parts within the next week. But I got a couple of mails wondering "why it happened and so early in the bike's life" ? Well, it's a bike that's being ridden hard. Is it such a rare failure to have the bearings gone by +/- 43.000 kms ?

bedankt for the concern, Paul. I'll have them parts (2 bearings) tomorrow and will actually bring them to a SFK specialist, not so far from the Kawa shop where the bike is at the moment.

is it possible to see a picture of the incriminated area ?

yes, the answer is 1100 Sportt It's been confirmed to me by another source that it's indeed the ol' dog end. thanx Jaap, I wanted to post it in the quizz area for a moment

hi all, aaah, the pleasure of owning a delicate exotica when there are no Guzzi shops within 100 miles, your bike can't be moved and your friendly and competent Kawasaki shop is hardly Guzzi knowledgeable (and so am I it seems) ... I have broken some transmission bearings and am now confronted (again) with equivalence problems... As you may know, the Ghezzi STW is made off parts from V11 and parts from the 1100 Sport. From the picture below, would you say it's a 1100 Sport transm' or a V11 trans' ? Yeah, I know, I know, but Bruno Saturno is on holidays and the entire Italian economics is at sleep in august. I have looked here and there are several threads wich mention parts number but as long as I'm not sure which bike donated the parts, I'm stuck I have taken a V11 parts list and here's what i need bearing 26 (92 20 80 14 numbers are from a v11 2002 list parts) needle bearing 25 (92 23 40 55) spacer 04 35 51 02 (i actually need to measure it to be sure if it's 0,8, 0,9, 1 or 1,1mm) Are there equivalence between 1100 parts and V11 parts ? (the parts numbers aren't the same on the parts lists). Would you know any parts that would fit from a different origin (SKF ?). Thanx for any help... (sorry, i know the rear wheel is dirty and all, but that picture was taken in november and it's the best pict for showing the rear wheel )

Bruno may know which dealer has a STW left, try sending him an email

Exceptionnal race. The one MotoGP fans have been waiting for years... Casey Stoner, who's got my 'fan' vote cos Rossi while being an excellentissimo rider ain't clean in my book, is strong and will come out of this much stronger imho. Up to now, Rossi has been giving him the VIP treatment, never a word above the other, always seemed to be the gentleman he supposely is, but to me it feels like they both were sitting at a poker table and Rossi in fact showed him how he does it. Casey will learn now that: 1/never believe what Rossi says pre-race especially if he rubs your back 2/never underestimate Rossi and his immense lust for victories 3/never ever ever underestimate Burgess and his team. these guys are the real Mc Coy of racing engineering at its best 4/never forget Rossi can be a dirty rider when he needs it. 5/never think a race is won because the bike has been 7/10 of a sec faster than all the others in tests or Q sessions. shit happens. 6/Rossi has seen it all and done it all, and he ain't finish yet. You're 22, you still got to learn things and you have the best teacher that can be (he's italian and has the #46 on his bike). Championship is still not done with. The Gp8 is very well dialed in now, but so is the M1. Laguna is such a tight track that you can ruin your opponent chances just by being on the tighter race line, as Rossi mastered it last sunday. The circuits that are coming are larger and allow for different lines, Vale's job won't be easy there cos now he unleashed a very different rider in Casey. (IMHO and not wanting to start another flaming war that goes on and on and on like on so many forums around the motorcycle world)

Italian police demo (back in the 50s) http://youtube.com/watch?v=_yYb4RsKCW8 this is pretty impressive...

I enjoyed that, thanx! it was dark enough Now, if he can struck a few chords on an ol' bashed Telecaster, we're in business

Kwack competition manager (Barthelemy) has declared that Hopkins seat is available for Melandri in Germany if Marco and Ducati part company (which is only a question of days/weeks unless Marco suddenly changes the way he rides that GP8).

That didn't stop riders like Barros to perform very well. Of course it's better to be thin and all muscles (Bayliss and Toseland are very good examples) but some rather 'equipped' riders still do well despite a few kilos here and there.

Oh, the bike. Here's what the official Kwack press releases says (John Hopkins' words) : "It's difficult to express how frustrated I feel after today's race. I got away from the start pretty well, but then Toseland highsided right in front of me exiting the first turn and, while he slid off the track, I had to brake almost to a standstill to avoid his bike. This left me dead last on the opening lap, but I got my head down and fought my way back through the field, eventually passing Anthony to take tenth position. I think it was possible to close the gap on the group ahead of me, but then the bike just stopped at the Old Hairpin.

Looking at Hopkins stopping in the middle of the Donnington race I would say no, they must be very angry...

OMG ! I was reading Pierre's posts here and saw this picture and thougt for a milli-second it was a picture of Dany Pedrosa leathers

Well, it's a hard and disturbing movie, thousand miles from the Hollywood cliches, sure, but it's really strong and worth looking at. Makes you realize some are really way down the food chain but are trying hard to overcome many, many difficulties just to barely survive. And express themselves. Makes self-pity embarassing.

REBEL SCUM, the trailer I've seen many, many documentaries about music and bands, but this one deserves all it can get cos it's quite incredible indeed. It's actually (very well) directed by a V11lemans.com member... Here's some piece of infos: >Rebel Scum God and Man square off in the American Deep South in the controversial new rock documentary, Rebel Scum. Chronicling two years in the life of “psycho white trash punk band”, The Dirty Works, this startling film expands the boundaries of traditional rock documentaries in a manner that is not always comfortable, but is always riveting. The multi-textured movie explores several themes, including mental illness, addiction, relationships, family dysfunction, and the struggle for artistic expression in the heart of America’s “Bible Belt.” Centered on frontman Christopher Scum, Rebel Scum is, at its core, the story of one man’s continued drive to create art in spite of the barriers imposed by society and his own self-destructive tendencies. Bouncing intermittently between the extremes of comedy and tragedy, the film reveals a seedy American underworld that is, at the same time, both fascinating and repulsive. Rebel Scum. A celluloid train wreck – not for the faint of heart. DO give the trailer a look and if you're working in the DVD scene or movie industry please DO give this movie a chance by helping out finding licences or distribution or genuine help. You can contact the director of the movie HERE

the new Michel Gondry movie (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, lots of Bjork videos, Dave Chappell's Block Party, etc...) is very funny, clever, and has a BIG heart

I miss the english magazine called Fast Bikes: it was funny, witty, not-too-serious at time and Colin Shiller, the editor, had a nose for recruiting pilots that were good witers and very fast indeed (one of them was Shakey Byrne, english SBK champion but at the time he was unknown). Another great recruit of him was Andy Ibbot, who now runs the Keith Code School in Europe. Lost of italian bikes bias, lots of real scoops and tests of rare bikes.

I personally care for football nearly as much as i care for military marches so don't actually count on me to know the slightest thing about it...But if Scotland, Netherland or Ireland can win it, fine by me, I'm always for the underdog (allowing they are in this game. I don't even know if Belgium is in...)

yes, the man has good taste there's an exhilirating video of his Ducati D16RR too.

superb report. it's amazing one of the world's most famous painter ever has such a small and nearly forgetten stonetomb...

the Ghezzi-Brian website has been updated and comprehend now the Sport Monza kit.

This is also one of the reasons Colin Edwards left Aprilia: sometimes the throttle (which was a fly-by-wire) would have a life of itself too (and the bike started to burn at 150 mph but that's another story...). Hope it goes down well with the lawyers...

wot ?