rocker59

Day 4. Solo ride in the Jemez Mountains. Departed Santa Fe around 830am Saturday morning to ride the mountains northwest of Santa Fe. SFR pointed me to some beautiful riding! From Santa Fe, I took US-285 North, then highway 502 towards Los Alamos. The trick is not to go through Los Alamos, but to take highway 4 south through White Rock. It's a nice little stretch that avoids traffic. Highway 4 is a killer road all the way to San Ysidro at US-550. Here's the first part of my route: This is the secret awaiting you on highway 4: http://www.vallescaldera.gov/about/ Valles Caldera, home of the historic Baca Ranch has been a preserve since they year 2000. Beautiful country! Just West of the park in national forrest land is also amazing! These views are beautiful. The highway through the forrest, fabulous. At San Ysidro I headed North on US-550 for fuel at Cuba. Quite the change of scenery on 550 after coming down from Valles Caldera. From Cuba it was highway 96 through Coyote to US-84. I found a nice place to stop for a bit near the Abiquiu Resorvoir. HIghway 96 gets a big thumbs-up! A little run up US-84 to Tierra Amarilla to access one of my favorite roads in the area, US-64. Here's a cool farm house along US-84. This is the view after turning onto US-64. This is the reward after running the twisties up the mountain to about 10,500 feet. Brazos Cliffs.

Day 3... The High Road, Sipapu and and Angel Fire... Marcelo pulled out his Ducati ST3 and decided to show me about 250 miles of his favorite roads in the Sangre de Cristos on Friday. Our route included the "High Road" to Taos (highways 503 and 76), then the road through Sipapu to Mora (highway 518). From Mora it was highway 434 to Angel Fire... Near Truchas, New Mexico. The Church of San Jose of Gracia was built in the farming community of Trampas circa 1750 (yep... 1750). The High Road to Taos is a great, scenic, twisty stretch of highway! When we reached 518, we stopped at Sipapu for a pitstop. Then it was down the valley to Mora. Yeah, that's the highway on the side of that hill across the valley! Fun, Fun! No pics, but at Mora we headed up a beautiful (and dangerous!) highway 434 to Angel Fire for lunch. After eating, we hopped on US-64 and ran the canyon down to Taos, then "The Low Road" along the Rio Grande back into Santa Fe. A nice 250 mile tour of the mountains Northeast of Santa Fe!

Day 2. Spent the day in Santa Fe. I'd never been there and Mrs. SFR was nice enough to show me around in the morning. After driving me around a bit, she dropped me off at the plaza. Good music around every corner. Interesting buildings everywhere you look. Palace of the Governors. The State Capitol building. Incredible houses in the hills surrounding the town. After lunch, SFR and I took a drive up the road to the ski area. Beautiful country. more coming. stay tuned...

Day 1: Destination Santa Fe... 775 miles in 12 hours on Wednesday, the 17th... Fuel stops every 160 miles +/- in Henryetta, Weatherford, Groom, and Tucumcari... With only a little help from these (and my trusty AriHawk) on an otherwise stock LeMans Nero Corsa... Arrived 5pm Mountain at my base of operations for the next few days... I decompressed with a beer and some good conversation in SFR's back yard... My host for the weekend: Santa Fe Rider, aka Marcelo:

2200 miles over the past few days on my Nero Corsa.... I really should stop tempting fate, I suppose. 775 mile ride to Santa Fe on Wednesday: 600 miles of this while in New Mexico: With my friend on his ST3: Then 775 miles back home Sunday (with not a little bit of this... to make it happen in 12 hours): Maybe stopping here en route was a good idea:

WG appears to have crashed... Again...

Guess I should've never done this: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8941 on my Nero Corsa...

Sadly, machines like the MGS-01 Serie, the V11GT, and the Ippogrifo exist only within the walls of the factory at Mandello del Lario...

I suppose a couple of preproduction bikes is "more than a rumour", but keep in mind that bikes like the Ippogrifo have had brochures, too...

All the Daytonas are injected. The MGS and Daytona have completely different chassis. They are quite easy to tell apart.

Greg, American Motorcycle Tire, whom I've ordered from before, shows the 180/55-17 Diablo Strada at $133. It shows the Dunlop Roadsmart at $138. I paid $140 for the Roadsmart at my local big box store that specializes in carrying Dunlop tires. A negligible price difference for me. I don't know what your pricing is. I know that different dealers get different deals from the suppliers... I would love to have a rear tire last 8,000 miles. I've yet to have that happen. I came close a few years ago with Pirelli's Dragon GTS. I loved that tire. Usually the tires that other people say will last 8,000 miles last me maybe 6,000 miles. I'm hoping to see 8,000 with the Roadsmart. Other people are claiming 9,000-10,000 miles... It's great living in the golden age of motorcycling. We have so many choices on everything. There are lots of great tires out there. The Metzeler Z6 is a really good tire. I just wanted to try the latest hotness, the Roadsmart. Now my Sport 1100 needs new skins. I've been running the Bridgeston BT-014. Great tire on that bike. I'm trying to decide whether to stay with 'em, or try something else...

Weight... Must be... I do ride pretty aggressively on our mountain roads here, but I weigh 230-lbs also. Add another 100 to 150-lbs depending on my passenger... I had lots of 2-up miles on the last Z6 rear. I was running it at about 38-psi... Well, hopefully this Dunlop will last a little longer.

Nice, Dan!

I must be really hard on tires... I haven't gotten 8,000 miles out of a tire since I rode Harleys!!! What pressure are you running in your Z6s? What kind of riding do you do?

Yeah. Penguin Ed's is pretty good. Picked up some BBQ Pork on Sunday for a little party here at the house. I then had enough left over for a couple days of BBQ sandwiches this week...

My bike originally came with the 180/55-17 rear tire and corresponding wider rear wheel. I dropped down to the 170/60-17 rear in an attempt to quicken steering when I switched from Pirelli Diablos to the Metzeler Z6. The Roadsmart seems to have a pretty triangular profile, so I went back to the OEM 180/55-17 this time. The dealer did have a 170/160-17 on the rack. I just wanted to try another 180. Your bike has a narrower wheel than mine. I think going up to the 180 on your bike might be pushing it a bit. Probably would have a negative effect on handling. I'm going to do some solo riding this week and will report back with my impressions.

With all due respect... I'll compare what I like... The Z6 that came off my Nero Corsa was less than a year old and is what you'll currently find on shelves at motorcycle shops across the country, and on many bikes of posters on this forum... Yes, there is a new model of the Z6, but I don't know about its availablity here. The shop where I bought the Dunlop on Saturday surely didn't have one... This comparison was brought about because of the difference in phiosophy of the two tire companies. The difference is clearly visible in the tires' tread designs. That's what I'm comparing. Mainly because of complaints about the lack of tread in the center of the Z6. I liked the Z6. I ran two sets on my Nero Corsa. However, I'm willing to try something new and different and post the results here on this forum. Buy a set of Interactives if you want to. Post the results here and let us know what you think.

Wow. You guys are getting lots of miles outta the Z6. The last rear on my Nero Corsa lived less than 6,000 miles and was pretty shagged.... Lots of 2-up and lots of "chip and sealed" curvy mountain roads.... I've been running 38psi in the rear Z6... Just switched to a Dunlop Roadsmart.

Tread depth is about 5mm at the center. That's between 6/32 and 7/32. An interesting thing about these tires is that tread depth shallows to nothing as it goes towards the outside edges. A definite difference in philosophy to the Z6. I read somewhere that Metzeler didn't put any tread in the middle because motorcycles' front tires move all the water out of the way of the rear tires during wet conditions in a straight line. There must be something to that because I never had any problems in the wet with the Metzelers in the rain. The Metzelers, however, had significant tread almost all the way to the edge. Quite different from these Dunlops. Just looking, I'd say the Dunlop will probably be better on the edge in dry conditions. The Metz, with it's grooving at the edge, may be better at severe lean angles in the wet. I don't normally push it real hard, or get into big lean angles in the wet, so that may be a moot point. I covered about 100 miles on today's ride. 2-up on the Nero Corsa with a 5'-9", 135-lbs passenger. (Man! I need a stiffer spring on the Ohlins!). Roads were typical curvy Ozarks roads. Usually a posted limit of 55-mph. My speeds were usually "speed limit-5" to "speed limit+10". A nice "touring pace". (first time on the Nero's pillion for this passenger). The tire feels really good. Nice progressive turn-in. Easy to adjust the line on curves. It seems to work well with the Metzeler Z6 that's still on the front. That's good to know because there are a few thousand miles left in that front tire! (I still can't believe I shagged the rear Z6 so bad this time.) It was really hard to get a good feel for what the tire can do on this mellow "touring" ride, but I did hit a couple of nice twisties after dropping my pillion off on the way home. Lets just say the rear tire didn't mind lots of throttle well before the apex of a couple of tricky curves near my house. I can't wait to really get a feel for these tires on a solo ride this week. I'll post my impressions...

OK folks, I decided to break down and try the new Dunlop Roadsmart sport-touring tire that's been getting such good reviews. I've been running the Metzeler Z6 Roadtec with pretty good results. When new, the Z6 is a great handling tire. It performs well in the rain and sticks good in the dry. I've been running the Z6 Roadtec in the 170/60-17 size that so many people have tried. The main drawback with the Z6, and it's been mentioned by people like Greg Field, is the lack of grooves in the center of the tire. The lack of grooves makes it hard to tell how much life is left in the tire. An annoying attribute when you're planning a long trip. One other thing about the Metzelers is that they tend to square off, or flat spot in the middle. I ride mostly curvy roads, but still have a problem with the squaring off... As we all know, the spine-frame Guzzis handle like Mack trucks when the tires start going away on you. This was my second rear Z6 Roadtec and it didn't last 6,000 miles. Yeah, I probably could've squeezed another thousand out of it by going down to the cords, but the handling had gone away. The tire was really shagged. I've been riding a bunch of mountain roads here in The Hills that have been "chip and sealed". It's very abrasive stuff !!! Enough of the old tire. I checked the internet, then called the local KTM/Kawi/Yami/Suzuki dealer. They had a 180/55-17 Dunlop Roadsmart in stock. Believe it, or not, the price was within $5 of internet pricing, so I called 'em up. They're open 'til 6pm on Saturdays, so I pulled the rear wheel and drove down to the store to have the new tire mounted. $140 + $21 mounting.... Was gone from home for about an hour. My Pit Bull forward-tilting rear stand really makes pulling the rear wheel easy. Used a bungee cord to hold the bevel box up. Removing and reinstalling a rear tire on these bikes is such a snap !!! I hated to change tires and leave some tread on the old one, but I'm hoping to ride someplace like Santa Fe or Austin in the next couple of weeks and didn't want to risk running out of tire on a 1,000+ mile round trip. Plus, I'm taking a friend on a two-up breakfast ride in the morning. It was nice of the big box store to hook me up at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. I rode the bike around the neighborhood to scrub it in a bit and get a bit of a feel for the new tire. Can't tell a whole lot so far because of the low speeds, but I'll get a good feel for it tomorrow... Here's the new 180/55-17 Dunlop Roadsmart on my Nero Corsa: I'll update this post tomorrow after I get a feel for it, and later on as I get some miles on it....

Cool Sean! 250 Nighthawk

Interesting for sure. Looks like Piaggio is going to really push the small block V7 line. The Classic to be joined by a Sport model and a Touring model. Interesting stuff... Rumors persist of 4 valve heads coming to the small block engine... Maybe they will be on the V7 Sport showbike... Seems like a good plan to me... I'm anxiously awaiting the show at Milan in November...

EICMA 2008 rumors: From the "Guzzista Soul" Forum: - "new" V7 sport with red chassis and green tank - "new" V7 special devoted to touring, - 1200 Sport with 8 valves engine producing 111 HP - new California 1400 with power between 90/100 HP

liquid-cooled heads, ala Big Bore. (or Ducati ST2). it's an interim step that can be added to an existing engine.

You're talking about the MATRA, Inc. forward controls? You want the shifter peg 2.4-inches (50mm) below the level of the footpeg? You've adjusted out all the available adjustment in the linkage to the tranny arm? Have you contacted John at Motratech and asked him about this? Sounds like you may be asking too much from the available adjustment.