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This weekend we have the Le Mans race! it should be an interesting race; well, hopefully it will be. The is racetrack is the one with the most braking, 35% of the time, according to Brembo. Ducati should not be getting too much of an advantage, maybe. It is said that Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins will race with a new inline 4. The French GP broke the racetrack attendance record the last two years, and they are hopeful to beat 297,471 this year. Meanwhile, have a little taste, back in 1988 when the French GP was taking place on the Paul Ricard racetrack, on 2 strokes bikes, and with Barry Sheene commenting with a bit of an Australian accent... lol...

Personal goods should not be subject to retaliatory taxes. As I have moved from country to country during my professional career, with some of my personal belongings in tow, I never had to pay import duty. Those so-called "tariffs", derived from the French "Tarif" meaning "price list", are directed towards new goods, for commercial resale. Say you are transferred to work in South America. Because cars in manufactured in South America are usually boxes with wheels, four generation older than the rest of the world, and more expensive, you decide to take your own Opel with you. After a few years of work in Macae (Brazil), your company transfers you back to Stuttgart. Germany is not going to charge you import taxes on your car, purchased in Germany.

I thought Nigel was no longer setting speed traps?!

I am surprised! In my mind, import tax is applied to new goods, based on the country of origin. Your motorcycle is not new, and its country of origin is Italy, not the USA. I feel strange that your Canadian buyer would need to pay import duty on used goods, made outside the USA. Also, based on my own experience, if you have owned something for more than six months, you are exempted to pay duty, as it is considered your own property that you are bringing back. When I came to the USA, I shipped a container from France of my own items, nothing new, but no motor vehicle. I did not have to pay any import duty. The import tax is applicable to new goods, and the import tax percentage is based from the country of origin. What your buyer could do, I to purchase the motorcycle from you, and wait six months before getting it across the border. He can tell the Canadian authorities that he purchased it to tour the USA. I checked the US import regulations for personal belongings bringing into the USA, and nothing has changed. As long as those goods are not prohibited items, and they weren't purchased right before being imported, no tax duty is due.

Good call! I never looked at Quadlock, I considered them phone oriented. On the picture shown, it seems the clamp section is slimmer than my Smallrig, Insta360 ones. I also used Ulanzi, DJI accessories without much more success. The Insta360 X3 offers more flexibility, as I could anchor on the luggage rack of my V11, whenever I try it. Scottymakestuff has a lot of accessories, especially for GoPro cameras... check it out! Mounting cameras on my Quota is a dream compared to the V11...

Fulvio has Moto Guzzi coveralls. Maybe he is a retired Moto Guzzi employee? Someone forgot to tell him that if you personalize your motorcycle, to the extent of permanently immortalizing it with your name in multiple places, it may become difficult to sell... But what do I know....

Isn't that genius? 5/4 time signature...

In the same verve, someone is selling a modified Griso for 23K EUR. His name is "Fulvio", just in case you missed it...

I attempted to carry forward my love of guitar playing to my son... I initially bought him a smaller scaled guitar, so he could start developing his chops. Paid for guitar tutor too, because according to him, I was too strict. All that amounted to nothing, because as you clearly pointed out, this was me wanting him to learn to play guitar. I gave the guitar away to Goodwill, hoping that someone will make a better use of it. All the successful guitar players that have spoken about their humble beginnings wanted to learn. But you need to accept that sometimes, when you are a kid, you don't really know what you want. Michael Jackson would not have been Michael Jackson if his father had not imposed an army like discipline on his kids. Same for the Williams sisters... the will of their parents made them. Sometimes, you only need to provide the means, instigate the discovery, and the momentum keeps by itself. Also, if your family is into music, you have a better chance to succeed in it too. Look at Lalo Schifrin, Ennio Morricone... both had fathers that were into music. Prince too... father was a Jazz musician, mother a jazz singer... I fell in love with guitar playing after seeing Jimi Hendrix live at the Olympia. He was opening for Johnny Halliday. I was young, and my mother was horrified to see Jimi's playing antics on stage! she bought me a trumpet and I could only get to learn guitar when I did not have the time any longer. Fact is, my parents never were into music.

@docc the bass player has a smaller scale bass; probably because he has small hands...

The insta360 is most likely your best bet. Unfortunately, it is very expensive for what it is: 550.00 USD! I have the X3, which is currently being sold 330.00 USD, with taxes (Texas and Houston 8.25%) on Amazon. Plus, you need to purchase an SD card, and various accessories to install it on your motorcycle; there are plenty of brands making kits, so you don't necessarily need to purchase from Insta360 store. I can give you a tip about accessories: I have purchased many from different brands. Most of the clamping sections don't fit around the V11 clip-ons. Either because of the diameter, or because there is not enough width space to accommodate them. Plus, the vibrations from the engine tend to affect the quality of the video, and get all screwable parts loose. I have not even taken my X3 out of the box yet...

I own two video cameras: a DGI pocket 2, and an Insta360; for sound, especially while running, you need a separate recorder. I suggest the Zoom H1n, which cost nothing. I used it with my Le Mans, under the seat, where the tool kit was meant to go. My bike did not come with one (tool kit). You have to make a hard foam padding to set the zoom recorder in, so you don't get any parasite noises. Just the sound of the bike. Do not use the DGI pocket 2 for dynamic presentations. The gimbals on the head don't resist the wind, or in FPV (first person video) it is difficult to get it to focus where you want. For static presentations, it is perfect; see the sales video of my 1100 Quota below the Le Mans dynamic presentation. Although, on the Quota, I used the DGI, since I can hide it behind the screen. I can't with the Le Mans. But you can hear the wind, because I did not use the zoom recorder. Also, the vibrations. The Insta360 is supposedly better with eliminating vibrations digitally. I am planning to test the Insta360 soon. I purchased it more than one year ago, and I have not used it yet. Not even taken out of the box.... If I like it, I will purchase the latest Insta360 with the larger sensor.

I had the same oil leak problem. The nipple gets loose. Loosen the flexible connection first, holding the nipple. Then tighten the nipple that feeds the oil into the head. Following that, tighten the flexible onto the nipple. This is a metal to metal sealing, and the nut on the flexible will rotate.

Once could imagine an impurity in the alloy cast, or a fissure caused by a specific condition. Piaggio would know as their dealer would have reported the failure.

I found a video demonstrating how alloy is used in foundry and later machined; this is for wheels, but the principle is the same for anything alloy I believe.

Yesterday, during the debrief of the GP in Jerez, I asked the journalists and was told the decision to not introduce the new front tire in 2025 was also condoned by the teams. There are going to be more debriefs today, and while in a live stream, I will try to confirm if possible. I agree the pressure limit is a an impediment to the spectacle, and I don't understand why they would not change that front tire.

The Gresini team seems to have drawn the lottery, one Marquez after the other are bringing them up. Considering they are one of the least sponsored team, it is quite the performance.

Some are thinking that MM is working hard behind the scene to have AM in the Ducati factory team. Obviously, FB has a valid contract for 2026, but it could be possible to see AM in Factory Ducati from 2027. I don't know, it feels like a long shot, but looking at Alex Marquez performance since the beginning of the season, it is not impossible.

There's a lesson learned here. For all of us. I am always listening for changes with all my vehicles. Anything that sounds different from before, and I am off to the shop to investigate. Thus, I captured two problems on my 911, before they could evolve and cause damage: the left bank distribution chain tensioner; since it works with oil pressure, there is a spring that compensate when you start a cold engine. I heard the sudden rattled when starting after long pauses, and replaced both tensioners. Alternator; started to make some noise, probably the bearings, it was still working. If you hear anything out of the normal, I think it is worth investigating sooner than later. This guy said he inquired with the dealership, and they told him it was nothing to be worried about, I think that was a big mistake to take the reassurance at face value. A new noise that wasn't there before, he should have asked them to open the bike and check it out.

Bagnaia has an issue with this year's sprint race Ducati configuration with the small reservoir. He said that he is working to get back the feeling. Tomorrow should be different, hopefully. Bagnaia likes Jerez. Fabio was actually delighted to manage pole position with a new track record for the circuit. He said that he had to pull all the stops to stay in front, it was fill or kill. Unfortunately, he does not know why he was performing at this track. Tomorrow will most likely be different. He is not going to throw it away. Zarco, and all the Honda team have to compose with a lot of vibrations from the rear. He said that he was not comfortable with the bike, and indeed, he went down. He was the only one using medium tires when the rest used soft. We can anticipate that tomorrow will be the same, as shown with Fabio, it is almost impossible to overtake outside the racing line on Jerez.

That front tire was going to debut in 2026, however, since development has been frozen until the start of the new regulations in 2027, that front tire will not be introduced to maintain consistency for all teams. They will continue with the 2024 Front tire until the end of their tenure. Hopefully, Pirelli will not fall in the same trap. I found this (english) article about the front tire that was meant to be introduced in 2025. https://www.paddock-gp.com/en/motogp-en-2025-la-donne-pourrait-changer-avec-larrivee-annoncee-par-michelin-dun-pneu-avant-plus-gros/

True. When my company was still manufacturing our logging tools, I visited a machine shop, where all the elaboration was driven by CNC machines. One operator told me the major issues were when something happened and an emergency shutdown occurred. Restarting at a given step, when the piece getting machined is not completed, often leads to discarding it. The way they test today, is they check parts randomly, not systematically. But the faulty part should have a cast number, and in theory, this should help Piaggio to determine if this could be a recurrent fault.

This is what the media have said. Including official Michelin statements which have not been contradicted by Dorna either. Why wouldn't Michelin introduce the tire that solves the current pressure limitations? there is no rationale for not doing it. In any case, there is more suspense in trying to guess who will be the next pope than predicting who will win the world championship.... lol...

I have a little bit of experience with foundry, as it was part of my training at school. We did some casts, but with sand molds, not the modern techniques they now have. I believe those light alloy parts are pressure cast. Even if the entire process is run by computers, a bad batch can always happen.