Pressureangle

Thank goodness it's already Thursday here lol

It wasn't so difficult. The US forces prohibit alcohol due to being in a predominantly Muslim Country; so them sneaky wine aunts' care packages got confiscated. But of course, things being what they are, instead of destroying it and reporting it, them what had their hands on it sold it on the black market, and it found it's way to the receiver with extra cost, and sometimes to the ...others... in the area. The Russians reportedly paid a high premium for American liquor. I wouldn't know about that, of course, since I only played chess with them in their off time.

Rebalancing for piston weight is really a non-issue. Anybody who has talked to professional tuners knows there is a wide range of balance factors for single and twin cylinder engines; the longer the crankshaft, the more critical balance becomes due to torsional harmonics, number of main bearings etc. But for our big dumb lumps, there's a generic recipe for 90* twins, and some accommodation for the resonance in the frame for felt vibration. In my '85 LM1000, I installed Carrillo rods under the stock pistons without a rebalance, and it became dead smooth at all RPMs, losing the annoying handlebar vibration around 4000 rpm. I was as surprised as anyone. Balance factor has only 2 functions, comfort and mechanical durability; for instance, old British twins would literally break the crankcases if the balance factor got too far away from 50% (iirc) On something like a big block 'Guzzi or H-D Sportster, the crank and cases are so overbuilt it's simply not a structural issue. For me, I would never tear down an engine to rebalance it unless it proved uncomfortable, or if it was going to be thrashed within an inch of it's life at maximum effort.

I saw a few of these in Afghanistan, where Russian contractors operated light freight. They had enclosed bodies, looked like they were carrying a VW bus. Goofy, reliable, and fun to watch. Has a console drink holder for the Vodka.

I don't need them, just wondered if anyone had seen these. https://knightdesignllc.com/motorcycle-parts/moto-guzzi/1999-and-earlier/v11-sport-models-1995-2005/1-inch-lowered-regular-width-foot-pegs/

The simple old-fashioned way to check suspension travel is to place a zip-tie on the fork tube, go through your areas of concern and read the travel via the zip-tie which has been pushed up the tube to record the maximum travel. 'Harshness' a LaGrasta stated about his driveway transition is not a function of spring (unless actually bottoming the fork) as it is too much compression damping. That said, if you're a fast rider, you may need that control at high speed which feels harsh at low-speed big bumps. My 'Sport is set up so that if I encounter a big pavement change such as parking lot/driveway, it will actually bottom; if I'm banging through the Dragon, it will compress to about less than an inch of max travel. At higher speeds, nowhere near that as cornering doesn't generate the G force that braking can. Let me make clear that I am no suspension scientist, just have my subjective feels, lightweight science such as zip-ties, a lot of personal experience from Roadracing, flat track, observed trials, and decades of anecdotal education from amateur and professional suspension users.

Shock length... a thread of landmines the likes of tires and oil. The difference between a long and a short shock where the ride height is identical, is zero until you find the circumstance in which the longer shock can extend further than the shorter shock. (or bottom out, but that's dirt stuff) The shorthand of this is that on-road, the only time you'll see a difference is when you're turning on the brakes, hard. A longer shock allows the rear to rise further before the weight of the rear wheel comes into play, which in turn reduces rake and generally eases turn-in.

Find a strong apprentice. Raise your rates Ride more. Happy Trails! Don't be a stranger.

Wrecked an 883 once, it handled so much better after the crash- but could never get the top motor mount in it again... blew the engine in the Volvo 242 endurance car at hour 4 of the Nelson Ledges 24 hour and swapped the owner's wife's car engine out into the racer with rope and a 2x4 lol. Ah, the good ol' days. The call of the wild; "Anybody got a footpeg bracket? Front wheel? 8x25mm bolt? lol

It is at any level I ever achieved.

Don't get me wrong. I have a fine appreciation for people like this- in fact, I spend more than just a little time on YouTube looking at how complex technologies are handled in the third world. The tragedy amongst the comedy is how we first-worlders have lost touch with technology to the point that most would say this is impossible, won't work, won't last an hour, etc. because we think everything has to be CNC and assembled in a white lab coat in a climate controlled facility or it won't work at all. Anybody who's had a transmission scattered over the bed mat from a pickup truck under the headlights in the pits before Sunday's main event understands.

Kam's Kams https://www.facebook.com/reel/6252746388162146

So much worse, so much earlier than the Japanese; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

They *ARE* crash bars. lol I wonder what costs more, Ago exhaust or stock valve covers?

Just a 6 month update note; My petcock is perfectly operational, but still harder to turn than I would like. If I had my 30 year old thumbs back it wouldn't be an issue. But it doesn't leak, and I can close it.

I do love me some Junior Brown.

Saw a vid of a Tesla hitting a deer, though it was a glancing blow on the mirror because the deer jumped back at the last second, the car made no change in speed or direction.

All the good recipes for beer were discovered 500 years ago.

I worked at a friend's Texaco station in the mid-80s. He was scrupulous about quality in everything, starting with the bathrooms. His friend owned an independent station halfway through town ("Woody's Gas" lol). One time we couldn't get gas from any regular channel, so my friend went to Woody for enough low-grade to get by. Woody said, "@#$$#!, I would rather see you turn them away than let them catch you selling what I do". Heh. Yes, there's a difference. And they're very careful never to let you know all the secrets.

Ethanol content; no clear data. However, Ethanol takes x3 the liquid volume per horsepower than 'gasoline'. So if you have 10% ethanol content, that instantly removes 3% of your horsepower; that then is also dependent on your engine- if it's carbureted, it can't adjust for the ethanol's additional oxygen requirement, and the engine runs lean, reducing power. This is the chainsaw scenario. On an EFI engine with oxygen sensors, the fuel system can increase the amount of liquid mixed in to maintain power, but then increases volume consumption. Either way, it sucks. But it doesn't explain the huge difference in mileage in the same vehicle of either type, with the same usage, using what is expected to be similar 'mandated' pump fuels. We're being skinned, simple as.

I haven't been able to turn up any science on gasoline formulation that gives any clues, but I can assure you that you are not insane. I regularly see + or - 5mpg on my Sport, and on my recent 3k mile trip on this BMW GSA, + or - 3mpg. These are consistent across an entire tank of gas, and I've been very careful on both to ensure my usage was similar enough not to affect it. The BMW needed a good tune and one stick coil (2 plugs per cylinder) has a hot fail, so that may explain the lesser difference since efficiency is down overall. Meh.

We discussed material offline. My plates were .080" 304 Stainless. Let me add one more thing here; I can tell you that taking on this burden for the benefit of the community and without any meaningful profit is a favor not to be made light of. I stuck my neck out for many thousands of dollars up front and I may have kept enough profit to pay for my gas to the post office. If there's one among us who will willingly take a passed torch, I'm one to thank them and sit back down.

All the specs but the material are in the digital file, and actually hard to make mistakes with. Quality and finish are really the domain of the cutter.

The race is on! I'm still chasing quotes on my end. DGI has the file on the West Coast.

I built the motor in my '85 LeMans 1000; famous for not-city-friendly drivability stock, but pretty quick. I added a half-point of compression, stupid good ported heads and a Web 86b camshaft that took more shade-tree engineering to fit than anything I'd done by myself previously. It is absolutely glorious to ride. Perfect throttling from idle, smooth power from 2k rpm up (although you can over carburet it at low RPM if you try) and fast as F**k, boiii... At the end of the day, it's a little smoother, a little more docile, and just enough faster than my stock-with-pipes and MyECU 1100 Sport-i to say it's a certainty. Not enough difference to spend any time or money making the 'Sport any faster or more drivable- which by the way, is nearly impossible to improve both at the same time on a bike that was pretty fast and drivable to begin with. My reading says that Crane Cams designed the lobes in the 'Sport, and I've dealt with them for decades long enough to know that what's in there is the best balance between power and drivability, within the confines of durability.