mdude

"Do anyone of the gentlemen want some more chianti before the massage"

there will be no Harleys on my drive. I'd rather walk, if I can walk at all when I'm that fat. Too fat to fall... too old to rocknroll...

when on a long trip you can no more fold your legs under you in the foetal position and drive on; then the V11 has been out in the rain and shrunk under you. Right?! That happens. Right??!! Cause no way have I gained weight. Or years. Damn that 150 mile trip hurt.... And the noise of those open Mistrals.... I should have known better. Gloriously antisoscial though.

done. but i quite fancied the Beast from the East as well....

I picked up that many businesses have moved further out of the city core due to rent prices, there is probably another motorcycletown another place in Tokyo. Anyone knows? And yes: the beer and sushi is still brilliant.

Hi all. Just been on a eight days exhausting stay in steaming hot Tokyo. Ate strange things and drank great things. Been sweating more than I have ever done before in 38 C and 80% humidity...... But: went to the legendary motorcycle town and it was a sorry sight, all the large stores and bigger chains had closed down/moved out, only the small specialist stores that carried cheap helmets and scooterparts was still open, scattered around the area. Good deals on helmets, gloveas and such was possible but only on goods from mysterius brands and of lesser quality. Walked around in the smaller streets and saw workshops doing up Yam SR 500s into flat trackers; very cool bikes. And some extremely hotted up scooters. So in my verdict, stay out if you go to Tokyo; go to Asakusa and buy handmade cooking knifes instead. I did that.

watch it guys, im probably considerably bigger than you...

simple tests first. Unscrew plug caps on both sides from cable. (if you have the stock NGK type that screws onto the cable that is) Cut half an inch off the cable, screw plug cap back on. It sure helped me..... Vibes may make bad connection worse when engine runs. Its usually the simple things...

dude, you cant ever have been drinking akvavit. after a night with the water of life you cant even lie down in a orderly manner....:-)

Anyone travelling to Norway or Scandinavia for their biking holidays should be extremely aware: the number of bike accidents has had an explosive increase this summer, up over 40% from last year. Many foreign tourists crashing or ditching. Several deaths already. Often it seems they have fallen asleep on long straights. Be careful and take frequent rests, dont overdo it on those long hauls. Dont trust anyone in traffic! And look out for animals (deer, moose...). Just some advice from a concerned Guzzista.

I had the same thing going last summer and finally traced the source of the problems to near-gone rear light bulb (of all things) which caused a short circuit. According to local Ducce engineer its not uncommon on Italobikes.

I've got a similar bike to yours. Switched to a 160 from a 170 recently and found a much easier more predictable bike to handle. I'd never consider a 180.

Grumpy Lou will shurely blow away cobwebs + any faint traces of happiness at the least.....

those guys are riding the earthbound elevator really fast. ugly stuff...

Ive gotten myself a gloriously open bore replacement Mistral so if theres anyone out there who has damaged his left hand side Ti-pipe, this is for you. Left side pipe is in fine condition, right side is scratched on the lower edge, dinged on the inside (invisible when on the bike) and scuffed again on the downpipe, the fastener is also bent. Springs and hooks are ok. I guess a handyman could make it look ok again, and for instance Leo Vince fasteners will fit (I've heard). Im keeping the ECU. I'll ship, preferably within the EU. Make me an offer, I have no idea what a used set of one and a half pipe without the ECU will fetch. Area of 300 Euros??

but not while driving?? that would border on the obscene....

I wouldnt altogether "bin it". I see that you are looking to replace it, which is wice. I have a stiff left wrist to prove what happens when you turn the damper off, have to brake and turn at the same time to avoid something and get the slappers... the slappers are not your friend.

you can lift your tank with fuel in it. its just gonna be heavy.

I think you guys misunderstood me a bit. No need to worry: I LIKE the vibrations. It makes the world a nicely blurry place. Its also a mans thing, riding a noisy vibey bike. A mate of me has a highly tuned monster of a Triton. When he gets a bit frustrated and cross at the world, he kickstarts it with risk for loosing a leg and after an hour the Triton has flamespittingly kicked the devil out of him. Hes like a lamb for days afterwords. Im sure the Salamander bits are great, as a matter of fact I looked them up and actually I might want to get a set in the future. Only thing with the V11 I'd like to change now is the position of the clipons (my arms are too long).

I think I've seen Manic Samander stuff on some webshop and I am sure these are great, but I have just about given up getting stuff from the US. Almost no one are willing to ship internationally. And if they do it takes forever for goods to arrive. I guess I'll try to source some adjustable clipons locally, with a more generic bar end configuration. ( just ordered some wheel nuts for my Range Rover from the UK, and it took 14 days before I had them in my hand. Thats 14 days on a distance that takes 2,5 hours by plane)

What you say! Only bikemag I buy on a regular basis, together with the swedish mag with the same name. Frome time to time Performance Bike when I just have to know more about the latest Ducatis, but the quality of the journalism is just awful in those. I feel insulted every time I read it.

Replying to myself here, bump-de-bump. Put the bike out for sale cause I didnt feel we got along an ddidnt have the time. Thought about that for a while. Checked out what I could buy instead. Rode a couple of alternatives. 77 Honda GL1000 was nice looking but a big f... sofa. The Laverda 3C just didnt exist. Had a trip to the cafe in gleaming sunshine, felt the pistons vibrating my wrists to a pulp, the seat massaging my crown jewels to something resembling a BigMac, outdragged a GSX600RFZWYKLOP (or something) at a redlight, washed the Guzzi and fondled it a bit, attended to its battle scars and silently peeling paint, had a trip round the block without a lid on just to feel the noize bouncing off the neighbouring retirement homes walls (sorry old guys). Then sat down with the guz in the garage and had a nice emotional conversation. In the end we agreed that we are still friends and not finished with each other. I cant sell, even though a couple of really nice blokes rang me up. Stuck with the old tractor. Even my wife applauds this. EDIT: I probably just wanted some attention

the relay thing is exactly what I struggled with last autumn. Changing of relays did nothing. Unbolting the relay box and checking ALL cabling underneath did a little (and certainly nothing wrong cause those wires were LOOOSE). But what really was wrong was that the brakelight/rear light (combined on my bike with a Rossopuro rear) was on its way out and made a short circuit.... so check it out. I heard that its a known little fault on the italians (also Ducces). Just a thought: the backfiring and and unwillingness to rev is similar to something I had. And turned out to be just a bad connection in one of the spark plug caps. Unscrew the caps, cut 2cms off the wire and screw them on again.

but man, I dont WANT a Salivio..... urrrgh.... and theres considerably more weight on the bottom of me than at the top, so more weight on the front could only be a good thing...

"is that a cylinder poking out in front of your bike or are you just happy to see me?"