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Since I posted it, I searched for Cycle Garden, and I found that it is a Moto Guzzi vintage motorcycle specialist. So, I would say that the 12k miles are not original, but most likely after a complete overhaul... http://www.cyclegarden.com/

And it is red!!!! isn't it beautiful? the add says it has the cycle garden big bore kit installed... anyone knows what that means? I would love to have this one under my roof too... at least, it is not orange... 12k miles! for a 1973 motorcycle, its almost new!

This is the last report about my experience under a biblical deluge on Monday 22nd of July 2024. This was an absolute first in my life. I had never been exposed to that kind of rain intensity and duration on a motorcycle before. I did look at the weather forecast, and while it specified overcast with chance of rain, it did not exactly paint what it really was. Up to Grande Saline, the skies were dark, but no rain at all. I left Grande Saline at 14:30 and I almost immediately encountered rain. Most of the travel was on 287 then 19, and I rejoined I-45 at Hunstville. Various roads, and while still under heavy rain, Farm to Market roads had almost no 18 wheelers, which made for better visibility. I also used some county roads, which surfaces were sometimes in very poor conditions. In the process of doing some stops for the Texas Motorcycle Tour 2024, I decided to make a loop to complete those points I had missed because of my starter problem earlier that month. Here's the map of the intended loop: 506 miles and a theoretical duration of 8:37 minutes, as per google maps. The total trip duration does not include any stop. Find below the trip log as it happened, with the real times, the mileage is computed automatically between the departure and arrival points. Note that in any case the Guzzi odometer always comes short. The Michelin Road 6 experience: How can you review tires without factual data? how can you provide an unbiased opinion? how can you describe a very personal experience and feeling? Difficult, but I am going to try; The Michelin Road 6 that equip my V11 have about 5k miles on them. As far as I understand, tires are evaluated on special closed tracks which are artificially made wet by a deluge system. My experience was under the pouring rain, different asphalt quality, asphalt not evacuating water making hydroplaning one of the hazard. Obviously, other vehicles circulating, including trucks, both ways. Poor visibility, traffic lights. The conditions were very different from that encountered on a closed track. Am I biased? I am inclined to say yes. When I was a kid in the 60's, Michelin was present on the beaches, entertained the kids with Michelin men balloons, or Lego like Michelin men to build. So I heard about Michelin early in my life. Long time before I even got my first motorcycle. However, before Guzzi, I never installed a Michelin tire on any of my 70's motorcycles! exclusively Dunlop K-81. Michelin Tires seem to be more expensive than the rest of the known brands, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Dunlop, Metzeler... I don't know the reason, either marketing or... else. Back to what I did during those four hours, I rode the bike until I could feel the hydroplaning symptoms creep. Sometimes, I would be able to get to max posted speed, 75 mph. Other times, the bike started to feel unstable at 50 mph; again depending on how intense the rain at that time, and the asphalt having a thin layer of water. I kept my distance with preceding vehicles, also because the mist coming from the back of the trucks would impair vision. As you know, from a distance, you do not even see the rear lights! I did some hard braking tests, not emergency braking, but hard enough. Conclusion; I developed a lot of trust in my tires. Since those FM roads had a lot of curves, I felt at ease and relaxed. Maybe I would have felt the same on other tire brands, maybe not. In any case, I vouch for the Road 6. Now, this experience was unique in that nobody wants to go riding a motorcycle under heavy rain for any amount of time, if it can be avoided. Today we still have the same bad weather in H'town. It seems that we can only have a pickling sun or drenching rains. Never anything in between. Those were my six cents about the Road 6...

Interesting information! I was just reading an interview of Carlos Ezpeleta in which he was saying that he was going to keep being at the helm of DORNA/Liberty as he was still in good health. The question popped up about the controversies of the current Stewards panel, and he said that Dorna had had no say in nominating Freddie Spencer, that it was the FIM and IRTA's exclusive prerogative. Which feels like a white lie since everyone knows that Dorna is always part of everything, including pilots' onboarding. In any case, there have been too much criticism of the current panel for Dorna to ignore. Frankly, some of the decisions were really without any logic or rationale. We shall see what happens... in any case, a change is much needed.

As in the i3 helmet topic, I want to do a quick report on the ride I did yesterday, from Grande Saline to Houston; This was from point E to point F, 4 hours + ride under a continuous tropical storm. I posted a photo of what it looked like, because we still have the same kind of weather today in H'town. I was wearing the Armored shirt, a pair of reinforced riding jeans, motorcycle non-impermeable boots. I rode all the way with each and every piece of garment fully water saturated, as going into a swimming pool fully clothed. I did one refueling stop on the way, in Trinity, just before Huntsville. When I was in the Gas Station minimarket, my clothes were dripping water. The only reason why I was actually able to continue my trip is because in Texas, the temperatures allow you to not freeze, even when you are water logged. Of course, without the sun, the temperatures are actually below 80 deg F. Once you are wet, then you get used to it. I am not going to say it is not unpleasant, but it does not really change much of what you are doing. The main reason why we usually use rain protection gear, or at least in Europe, is when you are wet, the wind ices you completely. My KNOX shirt has dried in one night. I left it dripping in the garage yesterday when I arrived.

You may already know, but the 8 hours of Suzuka were won by Honda, and Johann Zarco, current LCR Honda rider, was one of the three riders involved in the success. It seemed to have spawned some interest from Ducati, since Francesco Bagnaia hinted that he will be racing in the 8 hours of Suzuka next year too.... Will we see more MotoGP riders pitching in the 8 hours of Suzuka in 2025? Rossi and Colin Edwards have, and Casey Stoner too.

It seems a recurrent issue. I read, about the Quota, that the AKRON rims were failure prone, e.g. fracturing... yet, Moto Guzzi used all the stock before changing provider...

Very well. So not all the V11 are concerned with the relay less installation. One may wonder why Moto Guzzi went to making a less qualitative installation??? I did not add that my V11 also suffered from a starter motor failure, with the shield between the armature and the planetary arcing and giving the exact same symptoms as in startus interruptus. If I had not updated the starting circuit, I may have gone after the wrong symptom and not have resolved the issue.

Those of you who listened to this song from a turntable, please holler!!

Yesterday, I was able to confirm the goods of the i3, Michelin Road 6, KNOX shirt, with a monumental trial by fire!!! I started from Grande Salines (E on the map) to my place of residence, (F on the map) about 230 miles (370km) 4 hours+ ride under torrential rain, throughout the ride. The i3 was switched into flashing front and back lights, the visor held its own in terms of not fogging. I think this particular travel is most likely in the worst environment possible. Safety would have dictated that I stopped, but I felt good riding in the deluge. Once you are completely drenched, even if unpleasant, it does not make any difference. I refrained from going full I-45, and it was a good decision. On smaller roads, you don't get as much projections from the larger vehicles, that makes visibility even more. I only rejoined the 45 at Huntsville. I refueled at Trinity, and this was the hardest part. Entering the Gas Station's market wet, the AC freezes you on the spot! I literally was dripping water from just standing... lol!!! I will comment on the other pieces of gear in their appropriate topics (KNOX shirt and Michelin Road 6).

All of our solenoids have a direct connection to the battery for the starter motor input. What came as a surprise is the signal connection coming from the relay. According to the currently available literature, that wire is undersized, and can only supply the hold-in magnet, but not the close-in one. But we have two different situations: Case of the V11: the "signal" wire is not routed through a relay. It comes directly from the ignition rotary; thus the advice from @Kiwi_Roy to clean it and grease it with vaseline, or modify the circuit, which is the solution I adopted, by adding a relay. So the signal wire no longer directly goes to the solenoid, but to a relay, which in turns sends the power to the solenoid. The additional relay is directly connected to the battery (via a fuse), and when the signal from the starter button comes, then the Solenoid gets its power from a shorter route. Other case: the "signal" is correctly routed through to a relay, stock, but the user's consensus is, that the wire from the relay to power the solenoid is under gauged. In some situations, the close-in magnet does not get the necessary amps to pull the fork that engages the Bendix into the flywheel, so it never closes the circuit that powers the starter motor and switch to the hold-in magnet, since it does not complete the full travel. The proven solution has been, as stated above, to add a size 14 wire between the relay + connection to the Solenoid' signal input. That is my understanding of the issue. Am I correct?

This is the way everything is now. You are second guessed at every twist and turn, and those algorithms are never completely full proof. One blatant example is the Boeing MCAS.

I know that I am late to that topic; since the OP did not reply, I wanted to document what Euro Motoelectrics recommends for those intermittent starting problems on the 1200 8 Valves engines. YouTube is full of videos related to this issue.

Francesco Bagnaia got married yesterday. I don't remember who said it, but the writing on the wall is that you lose your competitive edge after you tie the knot. That you are no longer by yourself, influences your mindset. I am not talking girlfriends, but commitment after you are lawfully married. How does being a hawk on track may be affected by the other party. I often see families in the box, and I wonder how it affects or distract from the concentration necessary to achieve greatness.

Another classic, appropriate for the season:

It is a fine pitch, there is an o'ring to ensure sealing, and again, look at the Allen wrench in the Guzzi illustration. That's all the force you need. I looked up the recommended torques, and there aren't any indicated for that cover. I'd say 15 Nm should be plenty.

I changed my oil last week, and I had that same issue. I was unable to remove the oil filter access cover using the MG Cycle driver. This tool is actually made of relatively soft material, and because there is not much depth, I could not really apply torque without the driver slipping, rounding the edges. I filed the driver to make sure it went all the way in, and I cleaned the cover properly. Using a tube on my ratchet wrench, I finally got it. If you have someone to help you, make sure the driver tool is held "in the axe" , so you are applying the torque properly. If you have the ability to rent tools, you may try to use a right angle impact wrench. Proceeding cautiously, lowest setting first, and making sure the driver is properly inside the cover. This is a standard thread, fine pitch, and there is an o'ring to guarantee the sealing. There should be no need to put a lot of torque. I found the Moto Guzzi oil filter change photos, and the original tool they sold to do it was operated by a standard L shaped Allen wrench. Less force moment than my 1/2" ratchet wrench... Note that Guzzi recommends to tighten the oil filter by hand!

Indeed... I don't know why she changed her look, she now uses a white SG instead of her signature telecaster style.

A classic that we used to listen to, many of us not understanding the lyrics, especially the gals.... lol...

A few facts that I gleaned from the latest GPMAG magazine: The stats are correct up to end of June 2024; 1.042 seconds is the average time between the winner and the followers for the seven first GPs; this is the smallest gap ever recorded during the motoGP era (2002-2024). Aprilia only needs 3 hours to rig down their pit stand after the race. The slowest teams take 4 hours. I would have preferred to have the figure for the rig up. Maverick Viñales winning the Austin GP became a member of the 3 wins on 3 different machines; Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia. The others are: -Mike Hailwood (Norton, MV, Honda) -Randy Mamola (Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha) -Eddie Lawson (Yamaha, Honda, Cagiva) -Loris Capirossi (Yamaha, Honda, Ducati) 600 grams is the rubber loss per GP of a racing tire (Barcelona 112 km) The oldest winner of the top motorcycle racing category is Fergus Anderson; he won the Spanish GP when 44 years old. The youngest winner is Marc Marquez 20 years old COTA in 2013. Did you know? BREMBO the brakes specialist: 1961 company created initially a small mechanical workshop 1964 started to produce brake rotors for the automobile industry 1972 produced the first complete braking system for motorcycle for both Moto Guzzi, then Laverda. 1975 start to equip Ferrari's F1 racing cars. 1980 aluminium and carbon rotors, initially only for F1 cars. today: 32 production sites over the world, 9 R&D centers. 15632 employees worldwide. 600 titles.

@docc I saw Samantha Fish and a bunch of other guitar ladies at the Dallas Guitar Festival. I liked her better when she played her fish alike Telecaster, and before she changed her hair to the Marilyn look. I like Lari Basilio's music. She is also pretty good on guitar!

When I come back on earth, I want a job like this one. The tow is free of charge, and they do all the hauling. Cherry on top, there is no crowd!!!

The Kazakh MotoGP has been officially cancelled for 2024. Substituted by another race on Misano in Italy. Jack Miller is almost certain to move to PRAMAC next year.

The boys work without PPE. They use a chain to screw the DP which is known to have claimed so many fingers. The ladies are doing it by the book. I have to admit, this is my first time seeing ladies floorman. When I was working in Aberdeen, I came across a few Scottish girl roustabouts, but they weren't really doing anything physical.