mike wilson

Just replying to a bit of glib and facile journalism with a bit of my own facile glibness. Don't take it personally - just a poor sense-of-humo(u)r fit. I found the article on sidevalve machines fascinating. I have an acquaintance who has not _quite_ managed to get 100mph out of his unblown 500cc single. As it states, the configuration has a possibility of comeback with modern fuels.

It's good you came out of it OK. The rest is just nuts and bolts.

Not spinning is a fault not always attributable to the lifter. For example, it could be that the lifter is cocking due to wear in the bore. On another page of the same site they have an instance of total engine failure due to bad fit. http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/...lure/index.html They don't blame this on imported valve guides. Come to think of it, they don't attribute blame anywhere. 1/8th of an inch play in valve guides!!!

Interesting stuff. Some rather unusual conclusions drawn, though. Cams are failing so it is possible that the "cheap, imported" lifters are to blame? Surely the "cheap, imported" lifters would fail, not the cams? A spot of Harleyesque xenophobia there, methinks. It's fairly obviously an oil flow problem - OHC bucketed-shim (shimmed bucket?) engines are basically the same configuration at the lobe/lifter interface and they do not seem to be failing. If it was the oil, they would be. Moral - if you are going to try to extract more power out of an engine than the manufacturer intended, make _sure_ that oil is getting to where it needs to be.

You do have some air space in the master cylinder? Hot liquid expands but it cannot be compressed.......

Don't be too sure of that. The Quasimodo look is very fashionable amongst bike designers at the moment. I, too, could be tempted by a modern Tonti. Spada vintage, anyone?

Because it's daytime outside?

Looks like there will be a lottery, with the first production model as the prize. Neat.

I think you would have noticed this by now. Unless you change big end shells as readily as you change tyres? I can't remember which models it is specific to but I don't think the Daytona is one of them.

Quote Ryland "Careful there. If Pete's gears make lots of noise, even though they are helical, the diametral pitches are likely to be too loose. Assuming you are serious, as long as you are making your own gears, better to accurately measure your engine's shaft center to center distance, and calculate the exact pitch diameters required. A common problem on Yamaha Ventures, which use spur gears for the primary drive is excessive noise. The engine and transmission are in a combined casting, so there is no adjustment possible. It appears Yamaha solved the center to center variation by cutting the gears with enough clearance to fit all engines. Consequently, some whine more than others. Mine was on the loose side, and whined annoyingly. To their credit, Yamaha will install a driven gear with a large pitch diameter under warrantee. It helped, but again, it is a one size fits all approach which is not optimum. I've considered make up my own gears as well." Whereas MZ, a properly innovative company instead of merely copycats like Yamaha [8-))] provided primary gears of slightly different diameters so that play could be properly measured and minimised. This on a poxy little go-to-work machine. No wonder communism went bust.

I would be horrified if I believed that my brake system could produce _anywhere near_ the pressure that matched the tensile strength of the bolts holding the calipers together. In theory, you would be able to apply enough force to the brake lever to do this - in practice, a number of other things would happen first; the brake lever would break; a line or pipe would burst; a seal would give way. All of those would appear (guesstimatedly) to be a weaker spot in the system than caliper clamping bolts. My guess is that there would be _at least_ a 50% safety margin in the capabilities of the bolts. I'm sure there will be an online source with a formula to calculate exactly what the force on them would be. Unfortunately I can't look for it, as I am hiding from holiday packing and expect to be found at any

Don't call Ratchet surely. I'm (almost) positive he's male.

They are the same. Pounds per square inch. So, if you have a bolt of 1sq" section, its tensile or shear rating is exactly the same as the steel's rating. If you have a caliper piston with a 1sq" surface area exposed to the fluid, its pressure is exactly that of the pressure in the system. Both making allowances for friction, manufacturing tolerances, etc, etc. Multiply by the fraction for sections/areas different to 1sq". I suspect you are after the relationship between brake pressure, resultant rotational force trying to drag the caliper around and shear strength of the bolts holding it place? I haven't done that calculation since school. From memory, it is also going to involve the turning moment of the distance of the caliper from the wheel axle. If I get time before I go on holiday, I'll see if I can dig it up from a school textbook.

Guzzi probably uses accordion music for safety, rather than banjo music. So more fitting for the model range. Except for the California.

Shilleleagh blanks pictured below. The rule is a standard 12"/30cm one. I suggest Ben takes the one on the right plus any others he wants. The rest are up for grabs; first come, first served. Your carpentry skills will be exercised. I will cover postage - you just send me something nice from your part of the world in return. I will be away fro a few weeks from now - won't be able to send them till early September; this will be good as it will allow them to dry out further.

At this point, I hesitate to mention stainless steel spokes. Oh dear, I just have........ 8-))) I do have a ME qualification but would not call myself any sort of pro.

I thought researchers were supposed to review piers? I'm getting confused. Again. Dessert trolleys have to have smooth take up of the drive, otherwise you may suffer souffle collapse horror or fool separation. The former is not recommended after a heavy meal or, indeed, at any time. The latter may have some advantages. Mice to Prince Charles? Isn't that going the wrong way? It's flexi because the oil system breathes into it. If you route the breather somewhere else, it rusts up nice and solid in a month or so. Less, in an English summer.

This is a whole new box of worms. Suffice it to say, for the purposes of this thread, that some people (primarily in the USA, I think) define the layout of an engine by the line of its crankshaft and others define it by the disposition of its cylinders. Thus a Guzzi V-twin can be defined as transverse because the cylinders are splayed across the frame, or inline because the crank lies along the centreline (ish) of the bike. Back to cush drive modification.......

Carbon steel is tested by using test pieces. These are formed and finished to produce the very best result. No sudden changes of profile, highly polished surface. If stainless is tested by stressing the finished product, say a socket headed cap screw with its dramatic changes in profile and superb stress raiser threaded part, then there is no feasible way of comparing results. The stainless will lose every time. As, I suspect, the carbon steel would if the situation was reversed.

But, allegedly, that is how stainless parts are tested as opposed to carbon steel and you are therefore comparing apples to oranges. Two other thoughts: if you have forward calipers, whatever steel you use is probably stronger than the alloy lug surrounding it. if you have rearward calipers, the fork stanchions will retain the calipers if the bolts shear.

Education takes time if it's done properly. 8-)))

Do they have piers in canyon land? Holes in the centres of wedges are "beamed" out, a la USS Enterprise. Makes for a rather expensive dessert trolley but allows the proprietor to hammer the resulting globules together into new wedges. Which then have their centres "beamed" out and so on.

The cush drive is there to deal with the shock loadings associated with the transition between acceleration and deceleration in _both_ directions. There may be some loss of fuel efficiency and power but it is miniscule compared with, for instance, turning the drive through a right angle in the drive box. Otherwise, the hub would get hot enough to either melt the rubbers or need continual lubrication/cooling.

WAKE UP, BEN!!!

Ask Pete Roper. He likes yellow.