callison

I love a semi-captive audience. Tag. You're it. One of these days, I'm going to write a book. Here's a probable chapter, just a little bit too late for the recent Christmas holiday. A Christmas Tree Story... It was the second Christmas after we had been married, and the first in northern California where we had moved to after I had departed Uncle Sams Canoe Club, otherwise known as the United States Navy for a new job. We were still only about one third unpacked from the move, the holidays were upon us and we had the In-Laws on an inbound collision course to pay us a visit. Never a promising affair. We hadn't yet gone out and bought a Christmas tree as the In-Laws had phoned us saying they had found the perfect tree. When they arrived - no tree. Where was the tree? "Oh, we all have to go back over to the town where we saw it." Thirty miles away. Crap, another 30 mile trip over the hump to the town where I work. Off we go in the wife's car, six of us crammed into an old Chevy with a bunch of rope to tie the tree to the car. Thiry miles over, buy a nondescript tree off of a lot to please the In-Laws and another thirty miles back home. Everyone sat down in the living room of the miniscule house while I dragged the tree in the door. Well, I don't know if everyone, everywhere uses the same kind of Christmas Tree stand, but in the good old USA, the common one is the ubiquitous green legged apparatus with a red bowl and a silver collar with three screws for centering the tree. I knew we had one too, but I wasn't entirely certain which moving box it was in, so, off I went to the garage while everyone else remained in the house engaged in the usual drivel that passes for communication with the dreaded In-Laws. Crap, there were about forty boxes in the garage full of stuff, things and more odds and ends. In no particular order either, as we had literally thrown everything in the boxes in our haste to move to the new job. Mutter, mutter and curse. Aha, found it! And only in the eleventh box too! Back to the living room and the tree. Under no circumstance could I get the tree to remain upright in the stand. The tree kept falling over - and my language took on a less civil level tone with each failed attempt. There is truth to the phrase "He swears like a sailor." I do, because I was. After about the twenty-third try, I realized that the little silver collar for the stand was missing and so it could never function correctly. I also knew I'd never find that single part in all of those boxes and that the easy route would be to simply purchase a new stand. By this time though, all of my fuses were lit and I was hopping mad. So I took the devilish tree stand and put it in the center of the living room floor, and there, before startled In-Laws, and an appalled pregnant wife, I proceeded to stomp the living shit out of the damn thing!!! I felt much, much better, but the reaction from my audience was one of extreme silence. In an absolutely dead-pan voice, I said "No big deal, I'll go buy another". No comprehension on the part of the In-Laws. How does one go from raving lunatic to dead calm in a heartbeat? Had their precious daughter had married a madman? No. It really wasn't such a big deal, I had merely vented my anger on an inanimate object that I knew was useless and had to be replaced. But there was no way I could convey the appropriateness of my actions to this particular audience, so I left the house to buy a new stand. When I returned, I put up the tree to the stares of a still silent audience. It was the perfect Christmas Tree. It even came with some sort of mite infestation and we all scratched and itched for another two weeks. Yes indeed, the joys of having the In-Laws join you for the holidays.

What a nice web site! I really dig that MG Police bike. It probably couldn't make an impression here in the states because of the HD/BMW preferences and the rather insignificant output of the electrical system. Still, it's pretty cool. Good photos of the Griso too. I'm trying envisage a Griso with a Magni type fairing.

I've cleaned the beejeezus out of it with cleaner, electrical contact cleaner, rags - whatever, to no avail. I'd hate to be relying solely on a piece of rubber if I'm under the bike. The hose clamp is an excellent stop, not too intrusive visually and very inexpensive. It wasn't just the Pit Bull stand either. I had a Lockhar Phillips (POC) that slipped even worse.

See those scratches - and the bent piece of metal? That's from having the V11 Sport slide off of a rear stand numberous times. The combination of angle, narrowing swingarm width, plastic cover and road grime make for a treacherous purchase for a swingarm stand. After a number of times of the bike sliding while changing tires or during maintenance I finally decided to just add something to the swingarm tha would keep the stand from sliding. I don't weld, and the swingarm was already powder coated, so I took a less esoteric path to the solution. A hose clamp. All you can see in the photo is the head of the clamp on the underside of the swingarm. It's not very obtrusive and from above, nearly invisible. The strap of the hose clamp has been covered in black heat shrink tubing to prevent chafing the paint and to make it less visible. It works very well. The reason the stand has yellow tape on it is because all of the previous sliding incidents have torn the rubber cover. That won't happen anymore.

That should be interesting. Leather motorcycle jacket covered in sequins. Are you going to upholster your LeMans seat in Taffeta?

There were several movies that were Jean Shepherd manifestations. They're a hoot to watch and some are really difficult to find a copy of. "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" (1988)," A Christmas Story" (1983), "The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters" with the last one based on the Wanda Hickey stories although I doubt it lives up to the novel.

On 26th May 1951 ... The Number 1 single was: Les Paul & Mary Ford - "Mockin' Bird Hill" Born on 26th May: 1926 - Miles Davis ( real name: Miles Dewey Davis III; deceased; Trumpet, Organ. ) 1948 - Stevie Nicks ( vocalist, Fleetwood Mac ) 1949 - Hank Williams Jr ( country singer ) 1949 - Mick Ronson ( guitarist, Mott The Hoople; deceased ) 1964 - Lenny Kravitz 1972 - Alan 'Whitey' White ( drummer, Oasis; replaced Tony McCarroll prior to the release of (What's The Story) Morning Glory. ) 1975 - Lauryn Hill ( solo vocalist and with The Fugees ) I get John Wayne and Peggy Lee too. If you're curious about who else you might share a birthdate with, check out International Movie Database and fill in the fields on "On This Day in History".

I looked at mine, they appear to be in the correct location. Nothing like being consistently inconsistent...

The stub for the rubber is screwed to the main part. You could move it relatively easily by drilling a new hole. Offhand, I can't remember whether it threads into the main piece or secured by a screw from the backside.

You may have had a front wheel bearing failure. Very difficult to evaluate something like this, especially when there have been no warning indications in advance.

I have to agree with you. The first pictures of the Griso I say struck me as hideous. In person, it's a lot more attractive. One positive move was to ditch the droopy meliting glass Salvadore Dali headlight and put on a standard round one. I'd like to see a less obtrusive silencer though. IMHO, a Nortonesque reverse cone megaphone of a somewhat smaller diameter would look terrific.

I am impressed with your persistence. I'll have to give this remedy a try. Congratulations!!!

And I didn't know Brembo owned Marchesini. I doubt seriously that close inspection would reveal any other than a change in names on the two brands of wheel. It would be interesting to know if one really is superior to the other.

I've never heard of wheel failure of that sort that hadn't had some sort of damage done to it previously. Smacking into a curb would qualify. Here's your first option. Get a front wheel off of eBay, that's what I did when I totalled my V11 Sport last year. There's only a few sizes for the front - maybe only one. I have no idea what my wheel came from, I only know that the rim width was the same. Since most of bake makers are sourcing directly from Brembo for brakes, you'll find more than few that are compatible. You generally have to change all of the bearings and spacer sleeves, so be absolutely certain that you don't lose the ones from your old wheel. Especially with some of the earlier Guzzi sport models. Here's a set of wheels on eBay for a Ducati. You could try for them and then sell the rear or email the seller to see if the front wheel could be obtained separately. eBay Brembo wheels The forks are a little more difficult. There are, as Todd mentioned, several sets available for V11 Sports - he has two, I have a set (re-valved) and there are probably others. LeMans forks are a little harder to come buy and you may have to wait for awhile for a set to come around on eBay or wherever. The high dollar route would be to get some Ohlins. If the LeMans fairing is toast, it is very expensive and you may want to consider converting the bike to a naked sport. You could just make it naked for now using V11 Sport forks and wait patiently for a set of LeMans forks to become available.

I heard of a guy that did the Copper Canyon trip on a 97 Sport 1100i. More cajones than I've got, to be sure.

Maybe that's what I received. I went out into the garage last night and tried again. The exhaust crossover hanger mounting tabs are dead nuts the same as the mounting tabs on the TLM stand I have. So that's a no go. I put the bike back together. So, are the exhaust collector mounting tabs on the "wide" bikes wider or narrower than those found on the earlier V11 Sport? I still think the hardware mounting outside of the porkchop is pretty ugly. The Sport 1100i stand is visually very unobtrusive. A fair bit heavier though.

At a guess, I receive something other than what I ordered. This would be the dealers mistake, not TLM's, howver, a lack of instructions of any sort and/or labelling, would leave the dealer in the dark as well. Anybody need a center stand for something other than a 2001 model?

Center stand, not kick stand. I like'em. Especially on hot asphalt.

There's no replacement for additional displacement. One of these days, I'm going to obtain the rest of the parts to go with the oversized barrels and stroker crank I have squirreled away. The problem is, I keep looking at that water cooled monster and wondering how that would work on the 1100 block with the stroker crank. Expensively, no doubt.

Steep? Good Lord, that's straight up! I emailed Pete at guzzereboot to see if he had a set, no reply yet. Will keep you posted. For that price, I'm not parting with mine even if I do get the Daytona fairing fitted (and boy is that ever getting to be a slow project!).

Good, I'm looking forward to it. Did you get any instructions? Maybe what I got is for a different year.

$185 later... it simply doesn't fit. No instructions aren't much of a help, but the ONLY location the cross frame fits is OUTSIDE of the porkchop sideplates. Pretty hideous. The inner part is an interference fit with existing frame parts. I'm not certain if it is meant to fit some other V11 Sport variant, but I would suggest NOT buying one. The one for the Sport 1100i however, works just fine and is visually unobtrusive. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatment.

The nice things about Oklahoma are that my Dad lives in OKC, the house will be paid for and the state is central to everyplace I want to visit - which is everywhere. I have a brother down in Bastrop, so I'll undoubtedly have to pay a visit to MPH, Ken Hand and may even try to find where I went to first grade in Waco.

Ooops...

Ralph, you need to ride that road to Mt. St. Helens. The sharp turn signs are more than just warnings! Those turns (90˚ in ten feet) will do more than get your blood pumping when you're moving along at a good clip. I've only seen one other warning sign in over 100,000 miles of riding other than the ones on that road that meant exactly what it said. That other sign is a 15 MPH corner warning in Tilden park east of Berkely, California. I entered that corner at 20 mph. And went off of the road. I like the 25 MPH warning on the back road I use coming home from work. Even in my Prius, it's good for 55, on the bike, 65 easy. Freaks out the guys trying to tailgate you though when you dive into the curve, uphill, obscured by a tree and immediately followed by an equally sharp curve going the other direction. Barbed wire on one side, downhill into the ditch on the other. The power pole at the apex gets sheared off by the careless/unwary/unskillled car drivers several times a year. This same road claims an idiot on one of the 90 degree blind turns with a cliff about once every 3 weeks. Sort of like Darwinism, it filters out the bad drivers.