Tom M

Thanks again guys. I ordered a 170 Z6 for the yesterday through a local independent shop who gave me a great price for the tire and mounting/balancing. He mentioned the Pirelli deal and an Avon deal but both were more track oriented tires than I was looking for. The shop owner is a long time racer so I asked him his opinion on the mismatched tire combo and he felt that I would be fine, as RH suggested. I'll throw a new Z6 on the front later this year. Here's a link to the shop for any of you MA guys out there who may need tires or gear sometime (Turo?) http://www.bikeworx.com/ Rocketman, I went with the Z6 because the Pirelli website shows the Corsa III tire as a "70% track, 30% street" tire. They give no indication of expected mileage but it doesn't sound like a 6k+ mile tire to me. I could of course be wrong on that though. Rocker, I saw your "Moto Guzzis DO NOT LIKE Metzelers" comment in another thread, thought you were kidding. Care to elaborate?

Thanks for the replies guys. Dan, are you running a 170 or a 180 on the rear? If 170, how do you like it? BTW, great avatar! Rocketman, the current Pirelli free front tire deal is for a track day tire that I believe would wear out too quickly. Even if they are a great deal I don't want to burn through another set of tires before winter. I'm not a real aggressive rider and I don't do track days so I think a sport touring type tire would be more appropriate for me. I wish I had caught that 2 for 1 deal on the Stradas

My rear tire is shot, front still looks very good. Both are BT020. If Pirelli still had the 2 for 1 deal on the Stradas I'd buy a set but the Corsa deal that they are now offering doesn't interest me because I want a higher mileage tire. I read some of the other tire threads here and the Metz Z6 sounds like it would work well for me. I'm cheap so I'd rather not swap the front tire out at this time even though I'm not real thrilled with it. So...does anyone here think that a Z6 on the back and a BT020 on the front is a bad idea? I will be going with a 170 instead of the 180 as suggested here too. Thanks, Tom

I use the shockproof heavy too and it didn't noticeably change my shift quality, but there was nothing wrong with my shifting before the Redline. I've been using Redline lubes in my manual tranny cars for years where it has noticeably improved shift quality.

I was tempted by this until I went to the Pirelli website and saw that the recommended usage for this tire is 70% track, 30% street. Too bad they don't extend the deal to the Diablo Strada for us non-track guys

If you're looking for decent protection get something with CE approved armor. I have a Belstaff textile jacket with CE armor that I really like, and I recently got a Cortech mech jacket for 85+ degree weather that doesn't have CE armor and probably won't be much good in a crash. The cortech came from newenough.com. If you want to try stuff on and buy locally (the smart way to do it) try moto market in Acton (http://www.motomkt.com). Brockton Cycles might be worth the drive if they have as much in the shop as they do on their website: http://www.brocktoncycle.com/

Speaking of photochopped Guzzis, here's one that's been posted to Anima Guzzista. I don't like the headlight but the rest of it isn't too bad. IMO there's no need for a bike like this when they already have the Griso.

Rest in peace Mr Pomeroy. from http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/ Jim Pomeroy, the first American to win a World Championship motocross event and a member of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, died Sunday. He was 53. According to the Washington State Patrol, Pomeroy was driving his 1979 Jeep CJ5 with his 9-year-old daughter, Jamie, Sunday morning. He crashed about 15 miles west of Yakima when his Jeep struck a telephone pole guy wire and flipped onto its side. Pomeroy died at the scene. His daughter sustained minor injuries and was treated and released from Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. Born into a motocross racing family on November 16, 1952, in Sunnyside, Washington, Pomeroy raced dirt track, hillclimbs, motocross and hare scrambles and enjoyed a successful amateur career before turning pro in 1970. His first AMA professional race was a Trans-AMA 250cc support race at Puyallup, Washington, where he finished sixth overall. Pomeroy's career included a number of successes, particularly overseas, where he helped establish Americans as contenders in international competition. In addition to his win at the 1973 World GP motocross race, he also was the first American to lead the World MX Championship, the first American to lead the Trans-AMA Championship and the first American to win a moto at the U.S. 500cc GP. He retired in 1980 but continued to be involved in the sport through his motocross school. Pomeroy toured the United States for several years helping develop another generation of American motocross riders. Pomeroy lived in Yakima with his wife, Linda, and their daughter. He was preceded in death by his father, Don. Bio: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame...opage.asp?id=85

As far as I'm concerned it's like jetting a carburetor. On carbureted bike you need to change the jetting to take advantage of intake and exhaust modifications, and sometimes just to get the bike to run right since because the factory jetting isn't always optimal. Many bikes sold in the US are lean in the midrange due to our environmental requirements. The only way to "jet" a fuel injected bike is to change the fuel map. PCIII lets you do this.

There's an interesting tidbit on the Raptors & Rockets site about Aprilia developing a new 1200cc twin engine. I wonder if this engine could end up in a new LeMans? Here's what they said: "Right now Aprilia is testing its brand new, in-house developed, 1200cc V-twin engine at the Noale factory. It is actually believed that the new engine is purely built for road use and that the engine will not be used for racing. For World Superbike racing Aprilia is developing a brand new 1000cc V4. But to stay ahead on the roadbike market Aprilia needs a large displacement V-twin to match both Ducati’s imminent 1188R and KTM RC8 1150. So this is the reason we believe also the RSV will benefit from the new engine and eventually the Tuono as well. The current Rotax V60 1000 would not tolerate being enlarged to 1200cc and I see a bye-bye to Rotax on the horizon. Moto Morini and Harley-Davidson were first with a 1200cc performance V-twin in the Corsaro 1200 and V-Rod. The V-twin performance engine seems to be going through a revival period now and 2007 and 2008 will see all these machines hit the roads and racetracks of the world. Aprilia is not developing the new 1200 to be used for racing, so which other new models will receive this engine? Well, first of all the Futura and Caponord has been a bit of a sales flop for Aprilia so to revive these two models they will be the first to receive the new engine along with a softer version of the RSV. From being the top superbike in Aprilia's range the RSV will continue as a sportsbike for the roads where it will find its place somewhere between the Futura 1200 (the new sports tourer might get a new name, but we will go along with Futura for now) and the RS 1000 V4 superbike. Caponord is not a motorcycle Aprilia feels fits to well with its “racy” image and it is heavy and bulky. If Aprilia decides to upgrade it with the new 1200cc V-twin however it would be much more like KTM 990 Adventure than BMW R1200GS. Lighter, more powerful and user friendly. What is important to mention about this new engine is that it is purpose built for the road rather than following strict WSB regulations. Torque will be the most important goal, where RSV 1200R will get the most powerful version of the engine, ETV 1200 would get a version with torque only a big 1200cc V-twin can provide. This story will develop further. By Tor Sagen/CG’s by: Robert O’Brien "

The GW thread has inexplicably surpassed the hooters thread in views again so I'm doing my part to correct this horrendous turn of events. (Sorry if this link has been posted before) Cycle Garden Girls

Right (wrong) side shifters scare me. Nice bike though!

Are you saying that you hear a single click when you press the starter button? If so then your battery did not charge up enough after you started it with the portable jump starter. The portable jumper does not charge your battery, it IS a battery that only allows you to start you bike. If you rode the bike for a longer period of time after jumping it your alternator probably would have charged the battery back up to near full charge. You need to either attach your battery to a charger until it's fully charged or jump start the bike again and take it out for a nice 1 hour cruise then see if it will start on it's own.

I have an 02 LM with Ti exhaust/ECU and a custom map. I'd be happy to share it with anyone who wants a copy. Email or PM me if interested. Note I'll be off the web for a week starting this Saturday.

I'd just like to let the non-US readers of this forum know that there are LOTS of US citizens like myself who don't own a gun and don't have any use for a gun. Unlike the impression given on many MC forums we aren't all gun owners here in the US. That said, I'm fortunate enough to live in a low crime area and I'm not a hunter. If I lived somewhere where I was legitimately concerned about my or my family's safety regarding home intruders I would consider owning one. dhansen, please tell me that's you in that picture!

Do pro stunters do something to their bikes to prevent oil pickup problems? I've seen the videos of these guys riding wheelies for miles, doing 100 yard stoppies, etc. on lots of different brand bikes. It sure seems like they would have to do something special to keep their motors healthy. A quick google search didn't turn up much info. Here's a great stunt video of Chrisian Pfieffer from '03. There used to be a better version out there but I couldn't find it. How does he keep that Duc alive? http://www.bofunk.com/video/2397/christian_pfeiffer.html

Here's a source for the rocker covers: http://www.sportcyclepacific.com/featureditems.htm

My last bike had the wiring harness hacked up by the previous owner. Rather than try to fix it I just bought a used one off of ebay for $20. I think that would be a good permanent solution to your electrical problems.

Thanks for the writeup Pete. According to the FAQ here the '03+ motor's pistons are "cooled by an oil jet". This seems like a good place for someone to explain where that oil comes from.

Nice bike Chris I was considering a DS1000 Monster before I found my LeMans. How do the GT ergos compared to your V11? Less forward lean? More legroom?

Have you considered changing sprockets to gear it down? It seems like it would be a lot more fun on the street that way.

For what it's worth... I recently figured out that my fast idle/choke wasn't working because the cable was broken . Since the cable sheath was fine I wanted to replace only the inner wire. I didn't have a suitable replacement in my bicycle cable collection so rather than ordering from Guzzi I hit the local bicycle shop and picked up a universal shifter inner cable for $5. It had 2 different swaged ends on it, one was close to what I needed. I snipped off the unneeded end, did a little filing on the remaining end and it fit perfectly. Per another thread here I switched the return spring with the seat latch spring while I was at it and everthing works great.

Leave it open so the tow truck driver has a place to run his lifting strap after your pod filter has fallen off and you've sucked in a low flying buzzard

Thanks for clearing that up big J

This is true for the white faced Veglia speedo on my LeMans. The trip meter knob is a female left hand thread.