audiomick

Give us a chance to finish writing the post, ya bugger.

Ok, here we go. The Hyperpro steering damper arrived today. UPS is a bit of a pain in the arse, but that's another story. The Hyperpro damper looks really well made, and it is quite pretty. A test by pushing the shaft through the damper slowly and suddenly faster indicates that the advertised "progressive" damping rate actually works. A good start. The best thing about the new damper is this: That number starting with KBA is the certification number that means I can legally use the damper here. The damper is made in the Netherlands, so it is no wonder that it has a German KBA number, but it is still good. Here are two photos of the original damper and the new one. In the first one, they are lying with the "base" lined up to show the length of the shaft. The shaft on the Hyperpro is a bit shorter. In the second one, they are actually lined up at the head, but the parallax caused by me not shooting straight makes it look like the aren't. The point is, the bracket on the Bitubo is placed where the easily visible wear marks indicate that it was mounted there. The destructions provided with the Hyperpro stipulate 39 mm from the base end to the bracket, so I am convinced it will be able to be mounted. The bad thing is, the mounting bracket does indeed have a ball joint. (Note, what looks black on the ball joint is actually chrome. I was using a flash on the camera, and shiny surfaces come out like that with a flash. Has something to do with physics, I think...) Funnily enough, the more than adequate destructions sheet shows a drawing that is recognisably the original mount on the lower triple clamp. I'm starting to wonder if they disagree with Phil's assertation that one shouldn't put two ball joints "on top of each other". I believe @Lucky Phil entirely, what he wrote makes sense, but I think I want to bolt up the mount to the mount and see what really happens there. Anyway, here's the destructions, and the provided screw, nut, washers and o-rings. And the best thing of all is, you get stickers!!! I'll be plastering them all over the Le Mans for sure, wont I?

Suit yourself. I use mine a lot. It's paid for, so it must be used.

I like Armorall. https://www.armorall.com/home Be aware, though, that if you use it on the seat, you will be able to move around on the seat very, very well. Slippery...

Indeed it is. Can't be New Zealand, though. I can't see a single sheep...

Yep. I wouldn't use anything else. I reckon that block gets a bit of a hammering.

My Hyperpro should be here in the next couple of days. I'll take some photos of it "out of the box" before I put it in.

Ken Shorter. Was he in there? I'll have to have a closer look. I've watched Stone at least 10 times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_(1974_film) Sorry, back to the topic in hand...

Sorry, absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand, but you just reminded me of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAu_q1uvtGM I was between 8 and 12 years old during the first run, and I think I was never "officially" allowed to watch it, even the re-runs that no doubt happened. I don't really remember anything much, but the tile is still present. Etched in my memory, so to say. The show was based in this Matlock, I gather: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matlock,_Victoria Incidentally, the two-door car in the title sequence is a Holden Monaro, a HG I think. I had a HK for a number of years, and loved it. Anyway, back to the topic...

Because I was getting brain ache trying to understand the posts here, I took the trouble to go down four flights of stairs at nearly one o'clock in the morning, pull the cover off the V11 and take a photo, go back up four flights of stairs, and take a photo of the original Bitubo damper from my V11 Le Mans. I reckon it is easier to see what Phil is getting at from the photos. You WILL ALL be VERY GRATEFUL for these pictures, I am sure... So here we go: This picture shows the mounting tab on the frame on the left, no ball joint, and the mount on the triple clamp on the right, obviously a ball joint. the next picture shows the original Bitubo damper from the Le Mans, currently lying aroung on my "desk" close to the computer. Obviously a ball joint on the end of the damper shaft, and no ball joint on the clamp around the body of the damper. The bolt in the ball joint on the end of the shaft goes through the tab on the frame in the first photo. The bolt in the clamp around the body of the damper goes through the ball joint in the mounting on the triple clamp in the first photo. That is how Guzzi built it, and that is, as far as I understand it, what Phil is getting at. When my Hyperpro gets here, that is how it will be mounted. I hope I don't have to get anything fabricated to do that, because the Hyperpro was expensive enough without any additional fiddle-faddle.

Yes, I've read about them, that they are quite good, and seen photos. I'm fairly sure I've never seen one in real life, neither in Australia nor here in Germany.

That's interesting. I think the sound in that video is really that which is to be seen in the pictures. Not bad.

No, mate. That is not a common hammer. That is a precision adjustment tool for specific British motorcycle models. Well, all of them, actually.

Nothing to do with bikes, but.. Up until a couple of years I was free lance as a sound engineer. Lots of jobs, particularyl corporate events, involved a stage set being built specifically for the event, mostly out of screwed together chipboard. And then there are trade fairs. The stands at those are a combination of modular wall elements and cut to fit and screwed on chipboard. The last couple of years I have been employed in an opera house, and had some time in a couple of theatres before that. The sets in a modern theatre are very often screwed down to the stage floor. They buy the screws by the kilogramme, I think. The all use Torx. Why? Because you don't have to concentrate as much when using a battery drill to screw them in and out as you do with a Phillips, or even a Posidrive. The Torx head is less inclined to spit the bit out. Transfer that to a motorcycle: as you say, the look good, and the assembly line worker is more likely to get them in without trashing the screw head.

Yes. I've got that problem with my Breva 750. Firstly, almost anything you put on a motor vehicle needs to have an ABE. That means "Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis", something like "General permission to use the part". I'd very much like to put some clip-on bars on it, because I prefer a slightly "forwards" riding position. The original bars (and mine are bent, I reckon...) dictate a very upright riding position, which I don't like at all. So, the immediate succesor to the Breva was the new V7 range. The frame is to all intents and purposes identical. Motor is the same except for a newer fuel injection system. There are bits around the triple clamps that have the same part number for both bikes. A clip-on that would fit the V7 would, with about 99.99% certainty, also fit the Breva. But the Breva was an "entry level" bike, and the V7 was a "modern retro". So there was no market for clip-ons for the Breva, so there are no certificates which include the Breva. Only the V7. The icing on the cake: these are an original Guzzi part. First introduced on the V7 Racer model in about 2019, and still available as an accessory (for rather a lot of money...). They are pretty much exactly what I want, and would almost cerainly fit well. But they are an homologated part for the later model, and therefore don't specifically have the appropriate certificate such that they can be bolted on to a different bike. I haven't given up on them yet, but I need to find an "Inspection engineer" who is willing to switch his brain on and go the extra ten yards. There must be a way, but you have to find the person with the official accreditation who is willing to go to the trouble of making it possible. EDIT: the bureaucracy does have a reason. Ok, part of it is just Germans being German, but large part of it is because there are roads here where it is legal to go as fast as the vehicle can manage. So there are good reasons for making sure that some idiot doesn't put something on his vehicle that is going to cause an accident as soon as he gives it a bit of berries. But it can be a real pain in the arse...

Yes, there is definitely something in that thought.