PJPR01

Go Kermit!!

Allons-y!! Hoping for a good outcome as well on the election. I'll have to tell you a funny story about Maradona one day, reminds me of an interview I saw about him while on vacation in Punta del Este, Uruguay when we were living in Argentina between 1999-2002. In a sympathy Porsche message, I am also having to drop some $$'s into the 911, the left rear upper shock mount has apparently broken and was the source of an annoying squeak I was trying to find for the last few months, so after 13 years of ownership since new, both left and right rear strut mounts will need to be done and then an alignment, along with some preventative maintenance, including spark plugs (have to remove the exhaust system to get access to the plugs, quite labor intensive). The reward is in the drive after all, one has to pay to play! At least I can do oil changes, filter changes both oil and air on it, all else is just not doable given how tight the engine is packed in there, but honestly, this car has been error free since I bought it, so I don't mind it needing some maintenance on a rare occasion. On my side of town, I use Euro Auto Techniks (Michael Crawley), who ironically many years ago worked with Mike Haven of MPH! Quite a small world in fact. Is the leak affecting the clutch (slipping at all?)... Now...about that brisket in Lockhart...hhmm, something to look forward to on race weekend!

Thanks for the update p6x! Looking forward to a good day at the races, will watch the qualifiers via the Moto GP subscription and see if the King can be competitive. I agree with the above that if he can't have a good showing at COTA, he should take time off to recover completely or he risks jeopardizing the remainder of his career. Now I also wonder how many Rossi fans will not show up now that he's retired, and if overall attendance will be down year over year. It was good to see him race last year and send him off in style...the crowd was very appreciative. Griso is ready to go, Scura is on the operating table with lots of bits and bobs off at the moment...struggling a bit to get the left pork chop off to get to the shifter extender which I have been meaning to replace for several years now since buying that here on the forum! Peeking into the throttle bodies, they'll need a cleaning too with a fine toothbrush to get rid of some of the gunk accumulation there, new rubber intake boots all around, valve adjustment and new gaskets coming up, and then a proper tune again once all the new items are in place. Everything else looks good so far with the tank off, airbox pretty clean, just a bit of oil in the bottom to remove, air filter still in good shape.

That is smart!

We don't have to ride together, just arrive at the same place. Much easier to do! You already know where Blacks is anyway! Open invitation...I'll head there after the race, if you want to join, send me a text, otherwise, no worries! We did have a nice Italian meal in Poteau, just didn't ride back together, so I'm proposing a meal, not a ride! Lesson learned! Ha ha!

I'll throw in a free meal at Black's on Sunday after the race for you John...come on down!

Ciao Arveno...I have one from my 2002 Scura, but it's in excellent shape. You have a $ budget in mind? PM me. Shipping may be a bit pricey given the box side, probably $50 bucks at least.

Griso is beautiful...Have that exact color combo and year. It's overpriced by about $4K, but I'm sure the dealer knows that and will haggle. Nice collection of other cars there to look at for sure!

A good quality Radar detector (Beltronics, Escort, Valentine) highly recommended and allows more driving enjoyment. Why drive in a school of fish, and gamble on getting a ticket, much better to be in control of one's own destiny and the radar detector allows that. So many spots in Texas with wide open places, no traffic, plenty of room to let the horses run free! Enjoy!

Big congrats to Aleix...super riding and a reasonably fun race to watch. Jorge Martin shows lots of guts in his riding style. Aside from Marc's medical issues, the other tragedy is that as bad a season as Marc is having, he's still doing better than his brother. I'm beginning to doubt whether they should have elevated AM from Moto 2 to GP...or he may be years away from reaching his potential, like Aleix has shown. 200 starts is a lot of races never to have won. COTA will be exciting...another new winner likely unless the KING comes back, but I doubt he'll make it unfortunately.

Always good to have a backup place just in case…I like redundancy in terms of where to go for service in case one disappears. Of course a 50 mile drive in the 911 is a pleasure in itself…I just did a 500 mile round trip to Dallas and back in my 911…good to let it breathe on the open road a bit at full speed!

Another Josey Wales fan!! I knew you had good taste! You’ll be ten bears… I’ll be the grey rider! What a great scene among many!!! One of my favorite all time movies!

I realize this is a bit of thread drift, but there are 2 Porsche garages of extremely high quality a lot closer to you, both of which have stellar reputations in the Lone Star Porsche community. I don't know if you've tried their services in the past...but for convenience, would be a lot easier! Einar's garage (10 miles) and Modern Air Cooled (5 miles)...

As long as it's a nice sunny day, the racing will be enjoyable. Like most of the races this year, I'm guessing we'll have a surprise winner if Marquez is unable to participate. Regardless, it's always a nice excuse for a ride up to Austin, a little detour to Lockhart afterwards and then home. Makes for a fun day out. Red/black Griso is likely to be the steed of choice this year, Scura is going to go thru some tank off maintenance over the next couple of weeks, 4 new rubber intake boots/throttle body boots, rubber bumpers for the tank mount on the frame, a replacement fuel downspout that I've had on the bench for a while and it's time to put on now.

I’d like to see that bike! What dark side tire are you running out of curiosity? We do usually sit in Turn 15 or 16 also…will see what’s available!

No worries, would have not been a bother to interrupt at all, would have been good to put a face to a name and enjoy a conversation. A la prochaine!

I'm puzzled how to respond to the above p6x...You were close enough to hear me talking about putting a sidecar on my Guzzi with the owner of TSC, while standing next to my Scura, the only V11 there, so you decided not to say hello or introduce yourself? I didn't see a red 911 in the whole parking lot, so I'm guessing you came in another vehicle. Several current and ex Guzzi riders and the others I rode up with all sat together for lunch at the table at the back and enjoyed a nice visit. Cheers.

Excellent! I finally have mine now...# 853, another friend who will join is #861, and likely we'll have a 3rd moto join. The 4th one is unfortunately at an event in his Boxster this weekend down in Angleton with the Lone Star PCA group, fun track to race on if you get the chance to do so.

Good to hear P6X, but I hate to disappoint you in advance, our fairer companions are not coming on this trip. I’m tempted to bring the 911 also, but several friends are riding their motos, so I’ll do the same. Still waiting on my official tour number to arrive however and I’m running out of days here!

Los Angeles back in the 70's had horrific smog levels. Look at many cities in China today...almost unbreathable for their citizens. Some level of emissions controls are needed to provide a livable locale and not have to wear a filter over one's mouth just to breathe clean air or see the skyline. However, the extreme level of monitoring and then actual intervention on driving/speed controls taking over the vehicle does invade our personal preferences much deeper than we are comfortable with... I do find it ironic that Diesel cars, which I do like, and conceptually has been pushed so hard in Europe for decades is now considered one of the largest contributors to unbreathable air in these very same European cities which touted it in the first place. Why not roll back the diesel incentives and force more hybrids or some % of electric vehicles that can help cut out the pollution, but still leave the autonomy of the driving to the driver. I'm still pissed that VW (Porsche & Audi) falsified their emissions software just to try to meet deadlines, I had a lovely 2015 Passat TDI that I sold back to VW due to this fiasco. It was a fantastic car...I could go from Houston to El Paso practically on 1 tank (almost 750 miles). Who knows where it ended up...maybe offshore somewhere.

If the 5's are anything like the 3's and 4's before, you'll really enjoy them. They do make the bike quite intuitive...and turns are effortless. Think left and you're left, think right and you're right. Bring the bike up one day to the National Forest and scrub the edges off those new tires!

Oh crap...I'm on the black list again! Well...I had stopped at a nice French bakery close to the coast, and asked for a Napoleon (mille feuille), unfortunately they had none, so I had to "settle" for a scrumptious eclair de chocolat! The suffering was unimaginable! The postcard is of the famous Sun God from a French artist Niki de Saint Phalle, and was donated to UCSD when I was a student there back in the early 80's. We had many Sun God Festivals (aka drinking and dancing and music during those days!) https://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artist/de-saint-phalle.html

Hey John...I remember Mike well from Cedar Vale...soft spoken and very decent chap. I was afraid his medical issue may have taken a turn for the worse, I'm sorry to hear the news he passed. Look forward to seeing you guys there if you make it down!

It was a cold Saturday in San Diego last week, but nonetheless a welcome reward after a week of work conference. Although no Guzzis were available, a nice Triumph Bonneville was at Cycle Visions, and provided a decent set of wheels on a rather cool day around the area. A few pics...sadly, had to leave for home the day after and the weather had improved dramatically. I wanted to make it all the way to Julian and Lake Henshaw, but "wintry conditions" and freezing temps prevented me from getting all the way there...still plenty of other twisties to play on around Ramona (found the old Julian Highway and Highland road and rode past several of the wineries along the way...thanks for the tips earlier!) A few stops along the way from San Diego, thru Poway, Ramona, Solana Beach (always have to go by the Belly Up), Del Mar, La Jolla and a favorite stop at my old alma mater UCSD where I spent countless hours studying many years ago. Hopefully posting Triumph pics on a Guzzi forum will not be considered terribly against the rules!

Will be attending Sunday at Moto GP in Austin this year, possibly Saturday depending on other obligations. Easy 150 mile ride up from Houston. Most likely on the Scura. Who else is going? Hoping the King of COTA can get some challenge this year from the other riders and we'll see lots of great passing instead of a typical 3-6 second massive lead, and of course, hoping for good weather!