strider

In Australia the right hand side wears quicker. We ride on the left hand side of the road. Same goes for England. How you corner has bugger all to do with it otherwise the wear would progress far beyond the usual contact area when upright. By the way, the road shape is what is known as 'Macadamised' after a guy named Macadam who invented it. I guess the Michelin Macadam tyres were also named after him. I've also heard the highest part referred to as the crown. Some dealers here in country areas are pretty pathetic too and can take a while to get tyres in. I usually travel the 120 km to Brisbane to get my tyres replaced - a set of 020s for $AU400 - about $US280 - fitted, balanced and the slippery release agent scoured off. Cheers

The AU$ was close to US 80 cents a few months ago. It's dropped back down to around 70 cents. If you guys get a new batch in, the price 'should' drop - but don't hold your breath! Cheers

Al, Australia isn't part of the EU. The current exchange rate is approximately AU$1.00 = 69 US cents. Cheers

G'day Brian, Actually I reckon it's running rich. A mate's Rosso Corsa is returning 21- 22 km/litre so of course I want to know why. My 35 km ride to work is fairly boring highway. Very seldom get to change back to 4th. I usually go the back way which has some great corners but there's a fair bit of roadworks going on. Even so, there's no need to change lower than 4th as most corners can be taken at 110 km/h plus. Not bad seeing as we have a 100 km/h max speed limit in this area. Cheers

A mate of mine has Staintune mufflers on his Rosso Corsa. They have a removable restrictor which helps them comply with noise laws. They sound great with the restrictor out without being offensive. His fuel consumption figures are also better than my 2001 LeMans (22 km/litre, mine gets 19). Don't know whether Staintune make headers to suit the V11. Cheers

My low level light usually comes on around 270km when commuting. On a trip I've got as high as 311. I use 96 octane because with anything less it pings like hell under heavy throttle. Pinging is another term for detonation - which leads to all sorts of engine damage. (Sorry if I'm teaching you how to suck eggs.) Cheers, Bill

My name is Bill Howard and I live in a little place called Gowrie Junction, Queensland, Australia. I've just bought my first Guzzi - a 2001 V11 Le Mans and I pick it up in Sydney on Monday (19 April). I'm 18 years old in a 51 year old body and I've had my bike licence since 1968. I currently own an R75/5 BMW, a Honda ST1100, a 'Supermono' - KLR650 engine in an RGV250 frame (still under construction) and as of today, the Le Mans. My history includes motocross, enduro and short circuit riding but I never tried road racing. I do 'track days' with my club but that's not competitive - well, it's not supposed to be competitive! I bought the engine and rolling chassis for the Supermono to help my eldest son get into racing but I'm looking forward to riding it too. I first became interested in Guzzis with the S3 in the 70s. I thought it was absolutely beautiful but couldn't afford one at the time. The Le Mans has been a long time coming but after riding a mate's Rosso Corsa for about 140 km I became very interested in getting a Le Mans. It just so happened that one was advertised on our club bulletin board at a price I could afford - is that fate or what? Although the 'straight line' distance to Sydney is about 1,000 km, I'm planning on taking several detours around some well known twisty roads on the way home. I plan on writing a story about it and I'll probably post it on the site. Cheers Bill