audiomick

Yeah, I'd have one of those in a pinch.

You mean how many wires need to be re-connected when the battery was out, don't you? I assume the original state is only one (fat) wire to each terminal, like most vehicles. The thing is, one never knows, on a bike one isn't familiar with, what may have been added to or altered in the wiring loom. For instance, my Breva 750 has only one additional wire to +, the modification to get battery plus direct to the starter solenoid. From memory, my V11 has 2 wires on minus and 3 on plus, but the wiring loom has obviously been modified, so that is nothing to go by. It looks like it was only the two fat ones originally. My V35 Imola is the clear winner: 3 (or 4?) on minus, and 4 (or 5?) on plus. It also originally only had the two, I believe. However, it has acquired a mount for the navigation device, a different alternator and electronic ignition, all of which brought additional connectors to the battery with them. I really should build some sort of "connector busbar" so there are only the two wires on the battery. PS: I've gotten into the habit of binding the connectors from each pole together when I disconnect them. Experience shows that is too easy to miss one out when reconnecting if I don't do that.

Finally found the "proper" Fat Bottomed Girls photo. I think it is an ad for the item, so the link might break at some point... https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/1213/09/queens-album-jazz-1978-fat-bottomed_1_1bf9954ed9f478f2a6381cf6da0f5cc1.jpg

Yes.

It's not my fault, Davey started it Great to hear that the old girl is up and running again.

I mentioned further up that I got to ride a TZ 350, a pure race bike on slicks. That was on a closed circuit, of course, and I had done a number of laps on my Z900 before I rode the Yamaha. That was here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11692249#map=17/-37.216168/145.083636 The first time round going down the longer straight, I braked for the right-hander at the end of the straight where I had been braking on the Kawasaki, and actually accelerated again to get up to the curve. Even then, the bike could have no doubt got through the curve a good bit faster than I was able to ride it.

From the ad: I wonder where that came from...

I want one. Not the only reason I like the XJS, but one of the reasons, is the TWR car that competed in the Australian Touring Cars races for a couple of years. The thing went really well... Incidentally, this is the circuit shown in the video. https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/172987017#map=15/-33.44861/149.55710 It has been used as a race track for ages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Panorama_Circuit Apart from race meetings, it is public roads, and I have driven around it. When you drive around it with the pictures of the race broadcasts in your head, you think they must all be completely insane. Really steep, and really tight, and then that really long straight. The bit on the long straight labelled "the chase" was put in in the '80s to slow them down a bit. One too many cars got airborne over the humps. EDIT: just watched the video again. "The Chase" was apparently not yet implemented at the time of the video. The "in-car" camera towards the end shows how it was: the steep and tight descent down the mountain, and then this really long straight with a couple of humps in it.

Yes, but you don't need to get it from Amazon. There are reputable suppliers who sell it too...

Don't care, mate. The XJS was, and remains, a thing of beauty. And I got to drive an XJ40 once with the V12 in it. Sensational. Given that a V11 is absolutely reliable, with no maintenance issues or recurring problems, I can see why you might be concerned about the reliability of another vehicle. I try not to worry too much about that. If I like it, I like it.

So you've apparently jury-rigged a battery to try and get it started. Are you absolutely sure you connected all the cables that need to be connected to the battery? "Stupid" question, I know. Just for the sake of completeness.

No. A number of Guzzi models, including the V11 series, were (are) prone to becoming reluctant to start with time. Some of them (not the V11, I believe, later models) had a function in the engine management that prevented starting if the system thought the voltage was too low. Others (including the V11 and my Breva 750) just don't get enough volts to the starter solenoid to pull it in properly and activate the starter motor. The solution for the V11 and my Breva is to provide power, switched by a relay, directly from the battery to the starter solenoid (with an in-line fuse). Easy on the Breva, but on the V11 it requires an additional relay. Never mind that for now, though. Going by your description, that is not your problem, or at least not your first problem. That is a topic that you can get into later, I reckon.

Charlie, thank you. Given a choice of Jag, I'd have an XJS. But only if I couldn't get a Triumph Stag. Or both....

I read on the german forum that they have filed for insolvency. That is no doubt what he meant with "legal restructing proceeding with self admistration". They've filed insolvency, but are not being put in the hands of an administrator to sort it out. I guess we'll see how they come out of it. Incidentally, crappy video, and really bad suits.

Yeah, me too.

Indeed. I only owned one, a Honda MVX 250. Sad story, actually: I helped my girlfriend at the time in choosing it. She only rode it for a couple of months before she had a really nasty accident. Someone turned across in front of here, and she suffered multiple fractures in the right leg, and a ruptured knee in the left, pretty much all of the ligaments on the knee. Anyway, I got the bike, got a new frame for it, and rode it for a while. Nice, actually. What I would have really like to have had was a Kawasaki KR 250 S, but never could afford one. I also rode an NS 400 R a couple of times, an RD 250 (it made the rounds in my circle of friends, and proved indestructable), a brief ride on a Suzuki RGV 250, and one time a TZ 350 race bike on a track. The TZ was simply amazing. So two-strokes have their charm, but are most likely a thing of the past. As far as four-stroke motors go, obviously I like the Guzzi V-Twins, both the big-block and the small-block versions. Visceral, invigorating maschines. Lovely. But, I still do like inline-four motors. I had a long and in-depth relationship with a 1976 Z 900 whilst I was still in Melbourne, and about 10 years of GTR 1000 here. Before that, 6 or 7 years with a Honda CBX 650 E that someone gave to me as a birthday present. A fundamentally boring motorcycle, actually, but the motor was really quite nice. The Guzzi motors offer something that no-one else does (not even Ducati, despite the similarites...), but a Japanese in-line four can also be good. At least, if it is a Kawasaki. I've ridden some pretty boring Honda and Yamaha in-line fours too.... PS: I once rode a Triumph 750 Triple that a mate in Melbourne had for a while. One of the old ones that were created by adding a third cylinder to the Triumph vertical twin 500 motor. I think it was, essentially, a boat anchor, but it was really good fun to ride for that brief ride. A motor that really let you know it was there, even if it wasn't actually producing a great deal of useful power. I think that has something in common with the Guzzi motors. These days, they are not really anywhere near the ball game as far as power output goes. But the way they do that what they do is entrancing.

It worked well for about 10 years for me.

And what doesn't get mentioned in all of this is your water supply. Perhaps a little more important for a good cup of tea, but also for good coffee. If the water is not good (too hard, too much chlorine, whatever...) the product wont be good. I remember a job I did in the first couple of years in Germany. I'm talking about tea here, but the point applies. The job was here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/240059372#map=16/46.87158/11.02950 altitude just over 1900 metres. So we are talking about "pure mountain water". Up to that point I had been a little frustrated with my attempts to make a good cup of tea in Munich, and then the caterer there served a cup of tea that was absolutely fantastic. I'm sure that a commercial caterer wasn't making any great effort in the choice of tea, or the precise preparation. It was just the water. The same applies to coffee. If your water isn't good, you can try what you want, it wont be really good.

That's it. About a year ago, in the process of rationalising getting rid of the GTR 1000 to myself, I did a back-to-back ride over a stretch of road heading north out of Leipzig. The GTR 1000 on the one hand (about 91 hp, 290 kg) and the V35 Imola on the other (something less than 30 hp, around 170 kg). I came to the conclusion that I wasn't using the extra 60 hp on the Kawasaki, even taking the extra weight into consideration. A moderately powered bike, as long as it is fairly light, is enough to have immense amounts of fun.

Yeah, me too mate. I had an inkling that coffee nerds exist, and that bloke it the proof in the pudding. And I'm sure he is definitely not on the payroll at Gaggia. The grinder looks really good. Over 60 dB is still pretty loud, actually (and we wont get into the measurement method or whether his meter is calibrated or anything like that), but he did mention the pertinent point: it allegedly doesn't sound annoying. Have fun with it, Phil.

Looks like this: although, if they haven't done it already, it will probably in the near future have Charlie on it instead of Betty.

Yes please. I would also be most interested in having that explained.

@p6x : regarding having chose the wrong brand, listen (again) carefully at around 5:03 where he says "or my Moto Guzzi Griso"... As far as the philosophy goes, yes, he hit the nail on the head. I too have experienced the value of a bike with "no power". My V35 Imola. The handling is good for its age. The motor claims to make about 30 h.p., but probably doesn't really do even that. That bike fits perfectly to what he said about "thrashing the bike without getting too far into illegal". Fantastic. And it is beautiful into the bargain. I don't need to tell anyone here about the joys of the V11, I expect. Still, it is "too fast" for public roads, actually. It seems to be happy about 140 km/h, and that is 40 more than legal, and definitely fast enough to get into trouble a bit too quickly. Still, even though it has lots of issues to be fixed, I'll be keeping it. The one that surprised me is the Breva 750 i.e. . I'm still not quite sure about the looks. The seating position is too upright for my taste, and it will get some clip-ons at some point because of that. Despite that, the thing is really good fun to ride. Moderate in all things, but just nice.

I know the thread is about espresso, actually, and I've been writing about coffee with milk in it. The espresso it still the point. If that's not good, the flat white wont be either. So anyway, these are, in my humble opinion, the fundamental requirements around which a good breakfast can be constructed.