big J

oooooh you mad fool! Welcome to the twilight home of the terminally bewildered.

Sounds exactly like what happened when my starter went south. The button had stuck or had been sticking in slightly and the ring gear wrecked the bendix, spun the starter into oblivion in a few moments. Pull the starter, make sure the battery has plenty juice and bump start her.Hope that's the problem, cos its easy to fix.

Is there somewhere local you can get his stuff?

Excellent! I've got these parking tickets............

Dinnae go wavin that too hard in the highlands,young man. Thae clansmen hae long memories!! They'll get ye drunk,take ye up intae the hills,then cook ye and eat ye!!!! I heard this from a pal of mine who heard it from a friend of his.

Poor old Sete,he's seen more of Valentino's arse than all the women in Ibiza. I get the impression that Gibernau gets to the front of the field,sees who's there(Vale) and just goes "Ah fack".And he's lost the race right there.Just remember, we're watching history being made,Rossi will probably retire in a year or two with an astonishing record in GP's.Savour these days.

So, BFG, what's your costume for the Lord Mayors show? Squirrel? Kermit? Giant chicken? Come on Belfast, tell us yer secret!

Can I recommend the West coast,up around Sheildaig follow the road up to Ullapool but make sure you do the loop round to Applecross down the pass of the cattle. If you get the weather,this is Gods country for motorbikes.Keep your tank topped up too,petrol stations can be few and far between.And see the palm trees at Plockton. And the Cuillins on Skye.And the silver sands at Morar.And.........

Never saw your earlier post,had a closer look at the valve,looks like corrosion did it in, the old girl maybe saw service through a Scottish winter before I got her. That road salt will eat cheap ally.I'm now thinking of improvising a trombone to vary pressure on the move and play some nice tunes as we go. Yes,been at the drink.........

Hey BFG, got the video set up for tonight? 1 hour on the run up to the North West. For the benefit of any colonial readers, this is a race on public roads where speeds can reach 200mph,chicanes along the prom,4abreast under the railway bridge into a fast left,etc....There's nothing else like road racing.Last night the Tandragee 200 was very fast, bumpy roads sometimes in pouring rain,stones from riders in front shattering screens,180mph on a track barely wider than your average Cadillac, no run off,no false bravado or ego's just incredibly brave guys doing the business. Apart from that,it was quite boring,really. Snowboarding? Extreme sport my arse.

"The safest prediction of tomorrow is what happened yesterday" Why,what happened yesterday?

Sadly,cant make it either. What an utter bastard. Echo the points made about Joey,some man. Almost as good as Hizzy both sadly missed. I still believe if he had got the chance,he could have won in gp's. The win on the Norton at the TT was just incredible.

I was gonna bid on it, but if you're after it I'll lay off. Good luck.

There's bars round here like that too.

Are you going? If I can get the day off, I'm gonna head up.Sadly no Scots riders nowadays,(still miss Hizzy) but dont want to miss it , cant make the island(again) and the Ulster isnt til August. Still, Skerries is only a couple of miles away, as far as I know middle of June.

It's a Scura, he'll have the clutch out soon enough anyway!

I dont know the diameter of the clutch (about 9 inches?) but i wouldn't think the additional mass of an extra plate on a radius of 4 1/2 inches would be that great. If you're working on aircraft, you could put your flywheel/clutch in a compressor or turbine balance rig and simulate the weight of a second plate with plasticene, then time acceleration rate to compare.

Nope, standard valves, made from hard cheese by the look of it.

Unfortunately no UTV where I live. Bollocks.

Cant get UTV where I live,watched the Tandragee tho. Awesome,absolutelyf!!!ing awesome! I love motogp, but nothing beats racing on real roads, those guys must have balls like spacehoppers.Course, I could have beat them if I really wanted.....

BTW, I "yellow lined" mine coming home from Scotland last night between Dundalk and Drogheda (about 25 miles), washed the old girl off tonight and the rear tyre valve came off in the sponge.Laugh? I nearly shat

Cheers BFG! Now tweaked!

Did it use much oil? How's the clutch?Did you run over any parrots whilst yellow lining?[sorry]Is it definately burning oil or is it coming from a breather or similar and leaking onto the exhaust?

If this is what owning a V11 does to you,I'm off to buy a Solex What time IS it, by the way?

My starter went recently, so badly damaged it was u/s but investigating things I found out that many european cars use the same starter but turning clockwise instead of guzzi's anti clock. You should be able to pick up a solenoid assy for pennies from a good starter repair outfit.