Skeeve

Enzo mi amigo: The aluminum single plate clutch is likely quieter than a lightened stocker, but it won't be stronger, since the lightening actually makes the stocker stronger by removing the weight that is trying to tear itself apart: the aluminum one still has the mass in the wrong places... WRT porting: you have the common misconception that "porting" means making the ports bigger; it doesn't, per se. What proper porting tries to do is to smooth out the flow path, and keep the velocity of air moving into the chamber as high as possible at all times. Buncha info on this on the various hot rod sites [check articles at Hot Rod mag online, others of that ilk...] You're not going to be able to raise the compression too much w/o going to fancy fuel or dual plugs. With your superb 2->1 exhaust [check out the new Griso! Ever get the feeling MG has been cribbing from your notes? ], you stand to gain more from porting than anyone still running a variation of the stock exhaust system. Save the money on the new clutch & just get your stocker lightened, and put the $$ saved into a good porting job [the defacto person for this wrt MG seems to be Mike Rich.] You can always get some high comp. pistons if you still want moooorrrrrrrre powerrrrrr!

The choke lever [o.k., o.k.; "cold start lever"] on the left handlebar of my Le Mans is: 1] Alarmingly stiff to operate 2] Despite this resistance to activation, pulls shut almost immediately after starting the engine. Is this a common problem? Is there a ready fix for this? If not, how are you supposed to get the bike to idle while you're putting on your gear: you can't just stand there holding the thing! It's new, so I could take it to a dealer & whine, but I'd rather find out if it's something simple I could do for myself before going to the bother of taking it in, as he's not close by... TIA

Howdie: OCT has a decent rep; the only complaints I've heard about them is in re: their service bay taking too long to perform warrantee services [ie: cash repairs go to the head of the line; service that requires collection from the manufacturer to the back... ] Who're you dealing with? Nathan is a nice enough guy, but has a short memory [quoted me different prices on the same Bike; only a couple hundred $, but still... ] I haven't met him, but according to one of the sister stores in the chain [OCT is part of a very large "group" of dealerships all over the southland, run as separate entities by the same principal owner. Sorry, don't know much more than that, but it is part of how they can offer such great deals: big buying power, don'cha know...], Mickey is the man to talk to at OC Triumph. Best o' luck! Wish I had the ducats for that Rosso Corsa! FWIW, OCT was where I got scooped on the Le Mans Tenni by person(s) unknown [may they never crash it, lucky dog(s) that they are... ] in my member profile...

This is the combination that everyone using BT-020s here in sunny SoCal uses. Everyone seems satisfied w/ the grip of the 10s, but not the lifespan on the rear; nobody cares for the grip of the 20s on the front, but likes'em well enough for rear duty. I like the idea of a poll to find out what people are happiest with. Ride on!

Yup, huge ones, on all my bikes. I'm mostly a commuter rider, and narrowing the strips requires twisty bits of road, not freeways and surface streets laid on a grid plan. On the few occasions that I've made a run for the hills, I find that my confidence in my tires' adhesion does not outstrip my reason, ie: I ride fast enough to suit myself and haven't managed to crash yet. Works for me...

What he said. Altho', it *does* leave the whole l.s.r. Guzzi thing open to other Guzzisti who want to give the Cooked Goose thang a run for the money. Betcha there's enuff expertise here on v11LeMans to give them/him a run for it...

Pepperoni: a heavily spiced, extremely low-quality type of salami used in cheap American fast-food pizza. Quality pizza maker refuse to use it, offering proper spicy Italian sausage or better quality salami as available toppings. See pepperoni also under the heading: "How to turn your pizza into a greasy, revolting mess."

"Chicken strips" are the un-scuffed fringe of a motorcycle tire between the center strip and the ragged edge. "He-man, macho"-type riders pride themselves on having no chicken strips, as it means they're in imminent danger of low-siding their motorcycle on public thoroughfares, proving their worth as breeding material. I especially like the morons who point out the chicken strips on my Lead Wing, completely oblivious to the fact that you cannot get the thing leant over more than about 35deg w/o grounding hard parts. Heh. It's also grossly unfair for a fair-weather So. Cal. rider to point out these to a European rider who has things like wet cobblestone roads to contend with that the So. Cal. rider would refuse to ride because it isn't manicured sufficiently... [NB: GuzziMike is excepted: he really *does* ride right up to the edge, on sandy, dirty mtn. roads that have GSXR riders crashing in his wake... ]

The respective cr's are listed as 9.3->1 vs. 9.5->1; I think it amounts to accumulated rounding errors when some copy boy at the ad agency was given a cheap calculator w/ one of those defective PentiumII chips... Or maybe it's Harley-envy! You know: gotta keep up w/ the Joneses! [Or Davidsons, in this case...]

Peter: as you say, nobody involved in after-market parts production for any one marque is going to retire in luxury... [great imagery, btw! ] Esp. when it comes to Guzzis: the market is just too small & dispersed. WRT your observations about how hard it is to get rid of the small runs you've done, might I point out that at least part of that has to be due to the high cost of shipping from Oz? Of course, the other half of that equation is getting the word out: you'd need to take out ad$ in wide-distribution moto rags so that people who aren't plugged into the bboards like this one or members of a national club like MGNOC can still find out. Unless your making parts for lots of *different* marques, this just doesn't work out. The alternative is to sell the information, which is easily transported, so that someone far away who *does* hear about mod. "x" can do it themselves from their local sources. Of course, the cost has to be reduced since more of the complexity is being handled by the end user, but there you are. Meanwhile, I'm very glad that v11lemans.com gains the benefit of your considerable experience & insight: thanks for setting us all straight on the realities of making Guzzi kit!

Wow. Wish I had the ducats to buy some o' those sweet parts... But I'm incredulous that your local Yamahahaha dealer had *two* buyers back out & walk away from their $500 pre-order payments! That's wild... I guess the dot-bomb is over, and the overpaid software executive is coming back, eh?

I personally wouldn't want to use a filter recommended for a cast-iron block car engine on a motorcycle [aluminium] engine, but most of the modern import car engines are derivative of motorcycle engine designs, ie: multi-valve, aluminum block-pistons-cylinders, etc. The filtration requirements are accordingly [a pun! ] similar... I wouldn't waste the money on Mobil 1's filter, since it is likely built under contract for them by one of the big 3 or 4 filter makers anyway. Go to Pep Boys, look for a Purolator motorcycle filter [i think Guzzis are mf-011?] & install. Done!

For those considering this mod, I came across this: http://www.moto-man.com/catpages/details.pg?item_num=@11 It might prove pretty useful, to keep major detritus from clogging up the regular filter, w/ little increase to the intake drag...

Not that my opinion counts for much, since I won't be there, but: my memory of the Lake District is of it being even greener than the rest of England, since with the constant rain algae grew all over everything... & Scotland was d@mn cold [for a native of Lo-Cal So. Cal., where the money is plastic & the people are too!] Accordingly, I'd think the Yorkshire dales would be a good call. What are the roads like down in Cornwall? Of course Wales would have some great roads for riders: heck, you'd probably rack up more mileage side-to-side than forward over there! Ride on!

Ever wonder why intake valves are bigger than exhaust valves? It's because there's so much more power to be gained from getting more mixture into the cylinder than there is in getting the spent gases out [which they kinda want to do anyway, since they're all hot & expanding...] Let's put it another way: what's the quickest way to improve your car's performance when you notice the mileage is getting worse and the get-up 'n' go has got-up-n-went? By changing that plugged air filter for a new one, n'est-ce pas? In the same way, decreasing the intake drag on your Goose, Hog, [insert name of non-race rep crotch rocket here, since those already have the intake restriction all-but engineered away...] is the quickest way to some free ponies. In the real world, there are trade-offs that have to be considered like louder intake roar [which is why the manufacturers stifle the Bikes in the first place, to sneak'em under EPA's noise restrictions...]

Have you ever been anywhere *near* a tannery? You'd want hazardous duty pay too, if you had to live with that stench! Wheeuughh!

The crossover exists to balance the exhaust flow between the two mufflers. By isolating the exhausts the way you intend, you'll double your backpressure [same flow thru 1/2 the muffler volume per cylinder] and lose power. BUT, w/ the increased back pressure your torque curve will shift and you may fill in the "hole" at 4500rpm... Best of luck! PS: there's a specific set of instrux out there on the web on "how to bolt up your new exhaust to your Hog." The key being you only bolt up your pipes loosely until you fasten them at the head and work your way back to the muffler. This supposedly keeps them from cracking; did you follow the same procedure when mounting your exhaust? Just wondering...

Someone left off the base gaskets when moving stuff to the new cases, raising the piston relative to cylinders & increasing c.r? The new cases were machined improperly, changing the deck height? My bet is on the base gasket theory, personally...

Over $400 for bars? Ouch! Not saying they aren't beautiful & elegant, but ouch! For that kind of money, you can adapt regular bars & get longer lines. Wouldn't look as swank, tho'...

Cut him some slack: he's posting from Sweden! They tend to be a little more solicitous of their neighbor's good graces over there than us obnoxiously loud Yanks!