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Sorry for messing up your thread.... but you know.... coffee!!!

Ok, you get points for using Illy, however do you purchase it ground or in beans? If beans, do you use burr or blades to grind them? What coffee maker do you use? do you have a Bialetti in the house? or even better, do you have an M21? if you do, I am in awe. I considered installing one myself, however you need a direct water feed, and it involved breaking the entire kitchen to route it. The M21 is extremely expensive, but worth it. You can also get it used, still outrageously expensive. Here in Texas, we can purchase Illy ground or beans off the shelf from HEB, Central Market, and some other specialized stores. Not cheap either since imported. I have always been fascinated that in Italy, no matter how small the village, how remote, you always get good coffee. Not something that holds true anywhere else in the world.

@PJPR01 let's not jump the gun here... fresh coffee, not "good" coffee. If you ride a Guzzi, your favorite coffee will always be Italian.... What I like of Buc-ee's is as with the bathroom, they seem to have people continuously brewing fresh. I don't think they brew Illy, but it is better than the burned up that you find past morning in other gas stations. True, I sometimes sit on the deer corn bags, but I like to sit on the Guzzi and watch the people around, see what they do, observe... you know, like the old people. The Guzzi draws attention inevitably. It is funny sometimes. I mean I get that a lot at traffic lights. Guys lowering their window to tell me how cool the bike looks. I wish it was the girls, but it seems a guy thing, unfortunately... Since we have Buckle Bunnies, we should have Guzzy Bunnies too, no?

Buc-ee's has the cleanest bathrooms of any of the gas stations I have been to. They usually have personnel living inside there, and cleaning as the flow goes. For a large majority of people, this is the number one reason why they stop at Buc-ee's. Gas quality is flawed because of the mixing with Ethanol. There is no certainty on what percent you get by volume. However, at Buc-ee's you can actually pump Ethanol free gas if you wanted to. Not many gas station have that. Indeed Buc-ee's stations are larger than your standard brand X. At times of migrations, finding a parking spot close to the entrances may be challenging. Not for me. I always park the furthest away since I like to walk after a ride; it is good to move your muscles. I don't much care for anything Buc-ee's sells in terms of goods; I usually stop there because the coffee is always fresh. This is the most important factor to me. I don't eat when I ride. But I would say they have a large variety of food, cold and hot, junk and not. I would qualify this as a plus. As for the branded items, everyone their own. If people like to go out with a beaver T-shirt, it does not really disturb me. What i dislike about buc-ee's: There aren't any place to sit; they don't want you to sediment there. They want you to purchase and clear off for someone else. It is fine for those traveling with four wheels. However, sitting on your motorbike to sip your coffee is not convenient. Buc-ee's are usually large and with many gas pumps; but they attract a lot of people too, and inner traffic becomes hazardous due to people being desperate to park as close as possible to the entrances. Users forget that even in parkings, they need to respect some of the rules. The third problem I noticed is related to what I just reported above. Because gas pumps are usually closer to the entrances than the parking, people use the gas pumps to park their cars. Which means another hunt to refill your tank. Fortunately, for us bikers, we can squeeze in and pump gas even if a car is parked at the pump. But I have seen some people getting upset to see many cars at the pumps without their owners around. While initially cheaper than the rest, I noticed that prices have been on the rise. Now this is across the board. They have signs advertising hourly wage outside the store, inclusive of 401K, Benefits and paid vacation. It all makes sense. There is a lot of competition in the service businesses. Buc-ee's have a lot of employees at each store. The gas station model with the single employee do it all is not theirs. They clean and empty the trash cans at regular basis.

Very touching eulogy! the narrative transpires the respect for him and the shared good times that will hopefully remain the key souvenirs; I checked the Smugmug photos. It is always difficult for a complete stranger to get the true feeling of a sad event like this one. Sincere feelings;

This is for oil as in petroleum application only. There aren't any refined product in that chart. All the fluids are either effluent coming from a well, or fluids used to drill or control the wells. However, since we operate in the upper boundaries of the envelope, you can safely assume it should be fine for a V11.

@80CX100 Here's a table that can be used; for your application the fluid should be CO2 Gas; Viton is your best choice. You have to keep in mind that "cycling" ages your o'ring. Not that Kalrez is not good for low temperatures. I am not factoring pressure and differential pressure either.

What is the maximum temperature the exhaust cross over experiences? The most resistant compound to temperature is Kalrez.

I can bring more material and knowledge to the topic; as said before, o'rings have always been at the core of the many failures we had to contend with. The oilfield environment always was a nice playing ground given the slue of effluents and conditions the o'rings had to be submitted to. This is one of the reason my company worked with chemical companies to get the best compound to address said conditions. But for our purpose, Nitrile should suffice to cover the vast majority of our application. The fluid used in brake lines may be incompatible with Nitrile. The color of certain o'rings may be added for compound identification..

Lots of good things in Russia, including motorcycle passionate guys... I know a couple of Russian ladies that would make my Le Mans look.... better?

No Idea what this is, however Texas is spawning in Tennessee... Buc-ee's has turned out to be so popular in Texas that road trips always include a stop in one of their locations. Whoever invented the concept was genius!!! Road Trip Wonderland Buc-ee’s Sevierville, Tennessee Location Will Be the World’s Largest Convenience Store

O'ring have played a big part in my professional career. We should call them by their real name: tore joints. I remember the space shuttle catastrophe. Cold make o'rings brittle. I would go Nitrile 70 or 80 if really pushed. I was surprised to see the price from Parker. I was expecting something in cents, not 2+ dollars. We could make a table with the size of the mostly used Guzzi o'rings. The oil filter cover one can justify a purchase of 6. I would never reuse an o'ring. I systematically replace them. Not worth the saving. Even if the o'ring looks ok, the temperature changes affect the molecular integrity. I had a leak at that very oil filter cover on my Le Mans.

Let's work with an example; When you change the oil filter on a V11, lets take the oil filter access cover oring. I have that oring on hand, so I can measure it with my vernier caliper; The o'ring cross-section is 3.5mm; which correspond to 3.53mm from the table. Measuring the ID is a bit more difficult, but it is around 95mm; the closest I get is 94.84mm from the table. It corresponds to Parker size 2-240. On a funny note, if I was still in my company, I could use a B-17308 o'ring; which is the reference my company gave to that o'ring size, for our application. Most likely a Viton o'ring because our tools are submitted to high pressures. Nitrile would deform and leak. Let's go to the Parker site; for this o'ring size; I select Nitrile and 70 durometer; the cheapest. Since this o'ring is just sealing one direction and temperature is below 250F, I would not need Viton. I have ran oil field tools in oil wells for 35 years, and changing o'rings after each run. That oring costs 3.64 USD at MG-Cycle currently. So the biggest job, is to find the size of the o'rings you want to stock. Use the Parker sizing tool which is easier than my tables. We had those tables back then, because we did not always have maintenance manuals, so we had to find o'rings using cross references and/or sizes.

@Scud The size is normalized. Parker is an o'ring supplier from which we got all our o'rings. There are different Nitriles strength. Viton is more resilient to temperature. Here's a link to the Parker website which will ultimately help you finding whatever o'ring you need: http://solutions.parker.com/ORingSelector

There may also be the UV factor implied. You know that UV rays affect the molecular structure of elastomers. This is why you always need to put your o'rings in opaque bags, so they don't catch the light, besides the 10 years shelf life. We have a lot of sun here in this State. I have seen what that did to my joints on my cars, which have hardened precociously. There are different compounds to fight it. But nitrile is one of the cheapest, and one of the most prone to UV alterations. None of the tire manufacturers are going to tell us what recipe they use, but for sure hard light induces premature aging.

I remember you reporting this. Maybe it is my safety culture, but if I had been a dealer, knowing that leaving your on the road with a worn out tire was not the best course of action, I would have made an exception. If only for keeping my peace of mind. Because if you had had an accident and it had turned out a worn out tire was the culprit, there is some kind of mental liability there. I understand what you mean with riding solo. Riding in a group implies responsibility; some riders don't understand it. It is no longer individual driving and different set of rules apply. Else, there is no point. I did a lot of team road riding before, I am more into solitary rides now. Not that I don't appreciate tandems or more, but I like to stop to take impromptu photos whenever I see something I think can justify it; which is against the group safe ride procedures which have determined stops established ahead of time.

It is not as bad; I requested the tires on December 29th; Davey said he would tell me when he would be ready to install them. He asked me to bring the bike on January 21th; I brought the bike on January 27th. From the 29th until the 27th, it was hidden time since I kept riding. I could have gone to another shop and gotten the tires installed in one day if it had been an emergency. I am just a faithful guy.

Understood! I have started to plot my course yesterday, and given that Paris and Gladewater are still in the stop list, I was going to put Donie on my way back from Paris, like I did in 2021. But I can also do the one day transience. Depending on how late in March since I have something already in the pipe. I am not (yet) too preoccupied with the Guzzidiag; it is more a "I want to get it working" than a real need. Davey showed me some vintage bikes that he restored for Sunday riders, and it must be taking a lot of time just to source the parts. Six weeks is the magic number the lady at the front gives you for whatever you want to do.

I like to think of myself as patient, however I look ahead of myself and don't see much more time in store. I am trying to make the best of what I have. Probably the reason why I am toying over getting a second bike. I want to dedicated myself completely to the Guzzi; Exactly! we have gotten use to programs doing the handshake for us. I am wondering if the Firewall is playing tricks on me. I will verify what Davey can or cannot do. I actually never asked. I saw that he does full rebuilds, and I am assuming he would rather pick the more lucrative jobs. What Texas Sidecars? the one is Donie? it is a tour stop of the Texas tour 2022.

The 1155 between the 290 and the 105 at Chappell Hill is an acceptable substitute. However you need to be very careful, there are many blind curves and people riding horses. Wth all the ranches and farms around, I never take any risk.

I did not try the PR4, so I am going straight on the R5; I agree that Michelin quick move from R5 to R6 is intriguing. I asked MPH to source R5 in Dec 21, I did not know about the R6 at the time, else I would have gone 6. We should maybe start a (long) discussion on why some of us seem to be wearing the front faster than the rear? on the same model though. I never go full acceleration personally, just for that reason, flattening the rear tire too quickly.

I feel the same about Davey, although I do not have as much data as you do to back up my assessment. I judged the "love" from the number of motorbikes waiting for his ministration each time I go there. I asked why they don't take an apprentice, so the knowledge can be passed on. Nobody is getting younger, and all the Motorcycle intervention is actually relying on a single man. Can you tell me if Davey does injection checks on V11? I did not ask if he had the equipment. I have purchased the interface from UK, but I am having a hard time getting my computer to communicate with the Lonelec KL-1. It is the port opening which I am not doing right. I have gone back to my UNIX manuals. The major draw back of MPH is the lay over time. I am hoping to get my bike in March to start the Grand Tour on time this time....