Greg Field

The Replacements: Anything off of "Hootenanny" or "Let it Be" Uncle Tupelo: "Whiskey Bottle" Split Lip Rayfield: All of it Slim Cessna's Auto Club: "Providence" Sex Pistols: "God Save the Queen"

If they're K&N or other guaze-type filter, clean and re-oil them before the color changes from pink to gray or before they look dry. This can mean oiling every two weeks if the bike gets parked in the sun frequently.

If any of you V11ers're coming to Seattle to attend the Seattle round of the Cycle World International Motorcycle Sow (or whatever the official title is this year), stop by to say Hi. (The show runs Friday through Sunday.) I'll be there at whatever Piaggio supplies for a Guzzi booth Friday unitl close and then all day Sunday. And if you can find time to get to Moto I, I'll be there all day Saturday. We'll be having a sale, too, starting Friday and running through Dec. 24. All parts and accessories will be 10 percent off (mail order, too), and we'll have a bunch of stuff on close-out deals, too.

All of that is true, but many people do brutally use engine braking to slow their bikes. My point was simply that it is quite possible to add shock loads to your splines and clutch plates during engine braking that are every bit as large as those applied by the engine

As with all Guzzi stands, there is a technique one must learn to make putting a bike on the stand trivial. Absent the technique, you might get a hernia. Send me a PM, and I'll expound on the technique. I have one, and it is no work to get it on the stand. It sure was the first few times, though!

I really do not mean to be insulting, Ratch. Please believe that. I say all the following out of genuine respect. You clearly are a fine thinker, and you have a well-thought-out world view that you defend with flair and gusto. All of that is far more than most can boast of. That said, your writing is filled with so many parenthetical elements that it sets my eyes to spinning. It is just my humble opinion, but I think if you simplify your writing style to eschew the parenthetical, you will be more accurately read and found more convincing. Please, none of you mock based on this. It is not meant to be so.

1) Maybe. I do not kn ow of anyone who has tried it, but I do not see why it wouldn't work. 2) Maybe the sensor is out? 3) I think some have tried it on other Guzzis.

Dave: On a V11, are you more likely to exceed the traction available to your tire by: 1) Cranking on the throttle 2) Downshifting and dumping the clutch with the throttle off. Personal experience has shown me that #2 is more likely.

Before the eight-year demonization of W, there was the eight-year demonization of WJC. It's just the same old same old. Now there will be the as-long-as-he's-there demonization of Obama. There really is two "sets" of media in the US. One leans Democratic, and one leans Republican. The side that leans toward the loser will demonize the winner. This is neither new nor remarkable in any way, yet it dominates the mindset of some. Why that is is a mystery to me.

I currently have mammoth oiled-foam UNI filters on the Eldo. THe foam one seem to capture dirt.

Yes. I work at a dealership. On 95 percent of the bikes I see come in that have K&Ns, the filters are dry and gray. They filter nothing smaller than butterflies. One weekend, I rode my V11 with holed airbox but paper filter on a bunch of dirt roads around Mt. St. Helens. A friend rode my Eldo, which at that time had freshly service K&N pod filters, to the same places. After the weekend, I pulled out the paper filter from my V11. The dirt was piled up halfway along some of the pleats. A shocking amount of dirt. Then, I looked at the K&Ns on my Eldo. There was absolutely no dirt piled up in the pleats of the K&N. They didn't even look dirty. WHere did all that dirt go? I'm guessing it all got sucked into my Eldo's engine.

You have only one system to supply positive acceleration: Your engine. Use it. You have two systems to supply negative acceleration: Engine compression and brakes. Use your brakes and you will take a great shock load off of your splines. When in doubt, think of the following: Engines are for going; brakes are for slowing.

Just bite the bullet and replace the fork seals while you're in there. Time destroys them as much as mileage. Ohlins seals typically last 7,000-16,000 miles in consistent usage.

Because of all the expensive spline parts on Guzzis, I advise that the rider modify his riding style if necessary to minimize the use of compression braking, especially violent compression braking. This is easpecially important on the bikes that lack a cush drive.

Do you like or despise intake noise? That is the question. I despise it. If you do not, then pods are an OK option. Keep in mind, though, that none of them are as good at filtering dirt out of the air as your airbox nd paper filter are. Will that matter? How long will you be keeping your bike?

Centauro?

If thos mufflers will fit up with a stock crossover, it will with a Mistral crossover. Will it need remapping? Maybe.

M Istrals, M4s, and I know where there's one set of the Guzzi Titanium cans left.

The new batch of UFI filter have 14 flutes.

Remove the tank. Get some metal rulers of various lengths. Get one about a meter long, as inexpensively as you can because to do this right you'll need to alter it. Lay the straight edges along one side of the spine at a time. If you need to file a notch for clearance around a weld or bracket do so. Look for bends, and also for ripples in the metal. Use a strong low-angle light to examine the metal and welds around the steering head. Look for wrinkling of the metal on the underside or stretching at the top. If the paint is cracked, gently scrape loose the flakes and look for cracks in the metal. Usually, it's a front-end hit that cracks both driveline mounts, and usually that means the frame is a little bent. If the hit was that hard, usually the steering stem is also bent. Remove its nut and check to see that the stem protrudes normal to the top tripl clamp. If it's bent even a little, the axle is usually bent, too, as are the fork tubes. To check them, you have to remove them and disassemble them. These parts may have been replaced or straightened already. Or, the absolute minimum may have been done. A while back, a guy tried to trade in a V11 Sport that he had recently bought. We knew the bike. I knew it well, as I had tried to buy it from the owner after he had wrecked it. There was absolutely no question that the frame and steering stem and axle were bent, and the front engine mount was broken. I was planning on replacing the frame and front cover and whatever else it needed and giving it to my down-and-out brother. Instead, the guy sold it to a buddy. The buddy came in to price these items, 'cause he found out they were bent. He didn't want to pay the money, so he welded the front cover and had a frame shop try to straighten the frame. It cracked, and the frame guy came to us for advice and then against our advice welded it. Then, he slapped it together and sold it. It didn't work so well, so that guy sold it to this guy, who I suspect found out it doesn't work so well. Now, the front cover's cracked again, and the trans case is cracking, too. We declined the trade, at any price, as the bike is unsafe. All this done to it, and it has a clean title. Yes, there's a little sour grapes here. But really the bike is unsafe and should never have been "fixed" like that. Caveat emptor. I'm quite sure we'll see that bike again.

THe parts sitchiation has improved amazingly in the last 10 months. That said, it can be challenging to get a few parts for very new machines. A good dealer can get it donw, though. The stuff that breaks nowadays is silly stuff like leaking LCD dashes and stuff. That won't keep you from riding, unless you let it. If you want a Stelvio, get it. If your local dealer can't help you others can.

For a V11 Sport? The stock size is 16mm. A 15mm will work fine. The Stone one is, I think, a 13mm.

I can understand why you would want to think it just fell off its stand. A fall off the stand can break cylinder fins and such, but it is extremely unlikely that it would crack even one, let alone both major mountngs between drivetrain and frame. I'd bet it suffered a very major crash to crack both cases. If it were mine, I'd check the frame and the steering stem. If there were any signs of damage (I can tell you what to look for, if you're interested), I'd also check the forks and front axle.

1936 Harley EL. Nothing else is even close.

Folks who look around would find the following hard to deny: Millions of Americans who would otherwise naturally align themselves with and would be solid Democrats are held back by the constantly reinforced knowledge that the Democratic Party will push for further restrictions on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. If the Democratic Party would simply commit to preserving the status quo, and then prove it for a few years, all these folks would return to the fold and no George W. Bushes would be elected president for the next 40 or more years.