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I don't believe he will go back to Honda, beyond the promise that he may. That page has been turned, and doing back and forth is probably not the best path forward. Once he masters his current ride, he will most likely want to capitalize on it, rather than starting again from scratch with a bike which is now growing apart from him. I may be proven wrong, but it seems logical to me that now that he has committed to Ducati, he should persevere. Even if Ducati keep saying that Marc Marquez is a bonus, but not an option as they have their "own" riders, and they don't really need him. I was following on Phillp Island WSBK, and Iannone did pretty well for someone who was inactive for a long time. Bautista and Rea, not so well... I am seeing some analogy between Rea and Marquez. Once you have won multiple times, it may be too much of a challenge to motivate yourself to do it again. But in the case of Marc, I think it is obvious that he has the motivation to at least equal VR46 in the number of the championships won. I always thought that he did what he did in 2015 to prevent VR46 to get one more, furthering away the goal post.

It always makes me wonder what Jimi could have come up with if he had lived on. Mostly regarded for his guitarist prowess, mostly known for his Star Spangled Banner interpretation at Woodstock 69, he was also an incredible songwriter. Few guitar players have gone without covering his songs; take all the most known ones, they all have.

Nothing like a Nothing else matters with a Symphony Orchestra to back you up!

Red!

From the latest interviews with Fabio and Yamaha team manager, the long time recurring issue of rear grip prevents Fabio from getting a good time with the soft tire. According to his latest declaration, he only managed a few tens' improvement between a used medium tire and a new soft. While he is relatively comfortable with the race pace, he says that starting from the back of the grid automatically excludes him from competing for the top positions. As for Marc Marquez, I am not worried at all about him being competitive. He may not race for the podium initially, but he will get there. Also, because Enea Bastianini's continuation inside the Ducati factory team is not guaranteed, unlike that of Bagnaia who's going to be signed in early this season. It is no secret that Jorge Martin wants that spot, but I am wondering if Marc Marquez could also be a candidate. After all, we know the money is not what drives him. He wants that ninth and possibly tenth championship. Another possibility is Fabio Quartararo, who clearly said he was not going to wait for Yamaha to sort their M1 longer than the first quarter. Hopefully, Ducati is not going to poach every best rider of the MotoGP.

When the Honda CBX 1000 came out, quickly followed by the Kawazaki Z1300, I immediately wanted either one. Only I got a job overseas, and my motorcycle dream ended before it even started. BMW seems to be the only manufacturer offering a six in line. Obviously, a tourer to compete with the Goldwing. The six cylinder singer: listen to the music! The first part of the video is about the machining of the six in line that equips the K1600;

As I was recently looking for rubbers to go on the foot pegs of my Quota, I came across this from Revzilla; they are shown as out of stock; I am sure you could possibly place an order. https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/mfw-vario-passenger-footpeg-mounts-moto-guzzi-v11?sku_id=1000652

The Qatar two days testing ended yesterday; What have we learned? The Ducati are still the top machinery to beat. Even if Jorge Martin said he experienced rear shattering. Marc Marquez hid his real potential, or so think some of the specialized media. He tested the limits of his GP23 by going down yesterday. The KTM are not far behind the Ducati, and Pedro Acosta appears to be as good as what was expected from him. His chief mechanic said he has already mastered all the button pushes that are required to make the most of the ride height system. The Aprilia look to be fast when needed, but is it just for the one lap? Honda and Yamaha are still far from the top. It will be interesting to see how quickly they recover, if they recover this year.

The Quota is surprisingly nimble, while being obviously top-heavy. The grand plan is to be able to take some of the unpaved roads with a little bit more agility than with the Le Mans. The Stelvio, is much more a mastodon than the Quota. When I went to MPH last week, there was one Stelvio waiting on maintenance; I set the Quota close to it, and the difference in size is flagrant. I still think the Stelvio is a better choice as a do it all.

As one may have expected, the riding feel between a V11 and a Quota is completely different, with pros and cons for each. The I-10 and its incredibly gusty winds made it a Quota ride hardship. The V11 is a lot more stable, and I can tuck myself behind the fairing. Obviously, the legs are more relaxed, and the large handlebars makes it a lot easier on the wrists than the clip-on. The Quota is unrefined compared to the V11, less smooth, crude I would say. The gear change is clunky, even if I did not experience any false neutral so far. The turn indicator switch is not placed like that of the V11, which made me fumble initially. Anyway, not anything to write home about. I am looking forward to putting some more miles on it, once I get the Tachometer fixed.

After 1200 miles of I-10, for the major part, the trail mission did the job. That being said, they are not the 90/10 that I wanted. These seem to be more 70/30. The Quota gear box staging privileged terrain use; the 5th gear is purposely only dedicated to highway cruises. I am eager to check it on non paved roads, once I have resolved the dancing tachometer issue....

PJPR01 and I went to Bandera for the early remittance of this year's tour flags. The frisky morning did not stop the riders to congregate for this event. 39 degF does not seem to be that cold, but when you factor the wind and the humidity.... Lots of first timers, many couples, many Harley Davidson motorcycles... This lady travels everywhere with her dog! for this chilly morning, he was in an isothermal bag right behind her. The dog wore a coat... Another Lonestar lady on her tricycle... I had seen many with two wheels on the back; this one has two wheels in the front...

When I was in school, it was the lower case omega symbol; nick named the bum...

The journalists are currently in Spain to test the official presentation of the Moto Guzzi Stelvio;

I got the Le Mans back after full maintenance, including TPS setup, remapping of the ECU. The engine is pinging when I do a hard throttle opening, even above 4000 rpm on 5th. The only time I got the engine to ping, was when I was comparing octane contents. I thought the pinging was only happening with regular gas. If I drive like I usually do, there is never any pinging, because I never do any kind of hard acceleration. I am almost certain the pinging existed before the TPS adjustment and remapping, with premium gas. The Quota does not ping at all. Anyone else has their V11 engine pinging under hard solicitation?

@PJPR01 I've got it! I went to USPS this morning, and one lady took up upon herself to find the package. I think I would have eventually received it, but like this I can take the socks to you tomorrow. I am staying at one of the historic villas. There are two sides serving a common living room. One has one bedroom, the other two bedrooms.

Yes! I will be staying at the Flying L on the 16th. I most likely will be with the 911 though, as I am only picking up my flag. Some of the rides such as the Frio Canyon I want to do with the Quota, because I would like to be able to carry my photo equipment which does not fit on the Le Mans.

@Tom in Virginia Thanks for sharing! I am going to go with Casa di Moto which seems to have a good reputation. Hopefully, USPS is not going to lose the package. The UPS and FedEx prices are not making any sense...

I have gotten my V11 back yesterday; the Road SIX are terrific! On a more serious note, the SIXS gear was supposedly going to be delivered yesterday. Then the tracking changed to "undeliverable, package to be returned to sender". I went to USPS, and they told me the zip code was incorrect, 77040 instead of 77055. They gave me the address of the Post-Office servicing 77040, I went they told me they have corrected the zip code to 77055, and the parcel should arrive; but it did not today, and there is no active tracking from USPS.

@audiomick Good information! many thanks! Guys, we already have one confirmation from Germany: As usual, the worse part of any overseas transaction is now the shipping. Both instruments look perfect visually. I am guessing that he will open the tachometer from the top, make the repair, and maybe clean it so it is going to look different from the speedometer. Unless someone tells me the Speedometer fails too, I think I would pass on sending both instruments. I am still going to check if a repair in the USA is possible.

Thanks! I will get in touch with them to check if they actually know what issue affects the Moto Guzzi Veglia. It is like Stein-Dinse GmbH; they speak Italian, French, English, Spanish, Dutch... A German company that named itself "Casa di Moto" may have some rudiment of English. Although, I am not taking anything for granted. I worked for Texaco in Germany in 1982. The company representatives I did the job for only spoke German... This was a stint job from my days based in The Netherlands, where everybody spoke your mother tongue better than you!

@docc I wrote to Bicilindrica, "La Rivista dei Guzzisti". They have access to people with the insider's knowledge. I checked with a number of companies that repair Veglia Borletti instruments, but it is always related to cars, and as expected, they don't really have experience with this particular Moto Guzzi Tachometer, other than telling me to send it, pay the significant bench fee, and accept the outcome, whatever it would be. I shall see if I can get a clear indication of what the problem is.

@docc Unfortunately, the erratic behavior of the white face Veglia tachometer persisted. It seemed more steady at low speed, but that was just a lure. At speed, the rpm shown decrease as you go faster. I have been reading a lot of threads related to this issue, and no confirmed root cause. "This old Tractor" has a method to open the instrument, which is a major venture and often results in breaking the lens. I do not want to risk it, and I will rather accept the tachometer as is. I have some clues that I am going to follow. If and when I go to Italy, I may be able to find someone who can really tell me what is the root cause of the problem.

The Sepang tests have ended. The track lap record was beaten by several pilots. The real surprise was Pedro Acosta. There's a saying in French that goes: -"Aux âmes bien nées, la valeur n'attend point le nombre des années", from Pierre Corneille (link to Wiki). The two 2023 protagonists were pitted again on each other. Bagnaia versus Martin for a repeat of 2023 with a different outcome? They are saying the 2024 Ducati is very much different from the 2023 model, than the 2023 from the 2022. Especially the engine. I did not get a good idea of where the Japanese are now. Improved seems to be the consensus. All teams were testing their new aero packages since they have to freeze one before the season starts. No feel for how well or how bad Mark Marquez is doing. He admitted that after 11 years of riding a Honda, he needed to return to school. See you next month!