audiomick

I'd be taking that with a very large grain of salt, unless there is impeccable documentation of the history of the bike. That sort of mileage on a bike that old is just not plausible. Still, it looks well looked after, and 112k miles would also be ok for a bike of that age.

Like this?

You don't say... I've actually lost about 8 Kilos over the last couple of years. That has to do with working in a building where one walks a lot to get from here to there, and not eating as much, after a year or so of practically no work due to CoVid during which I put on a bit. Smoking is probably also a factor, but I can't recommend that as a tactic for losing weight. It's a really bad idea.

I'm reminded of something I read in a bicycle magazine once regarding saving weight on a racing bike: the cheapest place to save weight is on the rider. Maybe the concept lets itself be applied to handling on a motorcycle as well.

What are they?

For those not familiar with Australian vernacular, this might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy I have the strong impression that Phil is not that impressed with the man in question...

Sorry, somebody had to post it. Have fun.

Thats funny, the view out of your visor looks almost exactly like the view over the bonnet of a Porsche.

Sad that he's gone, but over 90 years old is a good innings. I'm grateful for what he gave the world.

The consoling thought is that you discovered that before you mounted the things, and corrected the fault. If it had shown up after mounting them, you would have had to take it all apart again to do what you did before mounting them in the first place. But I would expect the part to be at least properly painted, preferebly powder coated, by the manufacturer.

Don't confuse spring stiffness with pre-load. They are two different things. Raising the ride height at the rear, by whatever means, will quicken the steering, and bias the weight balance to the front a bit. Stiffening the spring will perhaps raise the ride height a bit, but that is not what stiffer springs are about. A stiffer spring will manage a heavier rider weight better. That is the point. If the stiffer spring results in higher ride height, then it is too stiff, or there is too much preload. Adding pre-load to the setup doesn't stiffen up the spring. It only raises the ride height. If you need a lot of pre-load to get to the optimum ride height, you probably need a stiffer spring. If the spring is not stiff enough, and the ride height is being "corrected" by more pre-load, you are losing suspension travel. If I have this correctly in my head... Spring too soft and lots of pre-load to correct the ride height will tend to bottom out. Spring too hard will tend to top out. It's not that complicated actually, but one needs, perhaps, to sit down with a bottle of Shiraz and think it through several times to get one's head around it.

can't think why, but I am reminded of this...

I was fortunate, in the course of my work, to hear him from about 6 feet away. He was already over 70 at the time, and still amazing. The thing that really got me was the control of the voice. Pianissimo, and solid as a rock. Anyone can do loud, but doing really quiet under complete control is the sign of a master. That applies to singing, and every musical instrument I know.

It's no good if you can't ride it. Jus' sayin'...

Very pretty, but.... Why on earth would one put knobby tires on a bike like the dark grey one? It obviously isn't a chook chaser. And he forgot the mufflers, apparently.

I haven't read that, but in a similar vein, "Space" by James A. Michener is a fascinating book. It is a novel, but draws on the facts of the developement of the Aerospace Industry from the beginnings through to the space shuttle. ISBN 0-436-27967-3

Indeed, and the water doesn't have to be leaking in from the outside. Condensation will do it. Has the bike been doing a lot of short trips? The reason I ask: I used to have a Z900, which I used in Melbourne as daily transport. The sight glass for the engine oil nearly always showed a milky white sludge. I only got clear after a good blast out of town for at least an hour. I would have been interested to know if your gearbox oil looked a little more "normal" after a long ride out of town to let it all get properly warm. When it all warms up properly, the condensation (water) evaporates back out.

No. All I've done up to now is new plugs, vavle clearance, set the TPS, look at connectors to see if they look ok, that sort of stuff. One of the next things will be to look at the various sensors, and go back to the beginning and do the "decent tune up" again. PS: Computers, yes, I can get along with them well enough mostly. Not that I'm a genius or anything, but doing the work I do, dealing with slightly "out of the envelope" computer applications is a matter of course.

I don't have these, and don't expect to be buying some, but this is the brand that is so dominant here that one could believe that they are the only manufacturer of such systems. https://www.stahlbus.de/index.php?language=en

I've seen a lot of stuff about those sort of problems, whether it relates to a V11, a CARC bike, a Breva 750, or whatever. As far as I can tell, it all boils down to getting as direct a connection as possible from the battery to the starter solenoid through a big, fat wire, so the starter solenoid gets enough of a kick in the arse to do its job properly when you push the "go" button.

I hope you can enjoy the rest of the ride home.

Thanks, I'll look at that. I'm planning on looking at everything I can think of, but am having trouble finding the time to do it. Plugs, by the way, are new, so I don't think there is a problem with them specifically.

Nothing on the V11 today. I rode it a few days ago. No change: it still works and it still has the dreaded constant-rev splutter. I had hoped that might have magically healed itself, but no luck there. Today I took the Breva 750 out for a couple of hours. I'm happy to be able to report that the rev-limiter works reliably and accurately every time.

Yeah, the 750 Breva has a "relearn" function too. The same as the CARC models, I imagine. Screw(s) on the throttle bodies that you shouldn't touch under any circumstances, and a function in the ECU that tells it "the TPS is closed now, that is your base value".

Well that's good to know. I was worried, as must have been obvious further up.