dlaing

You appear to have forgotten a major premises of global warming theory, that it creates not just an overall planetary warming, but irregular weather, including heat waves as well as deeper freezes, longer droughts as well as greater floods, glaciers melting as well as record blizzards, etc.

I wonder??? The article says, "The Millepercento BB1 will be available in Moto Guzzi dealerships from February 2009 onwards, at a price of around US$32,000." Probably not best described as "factory effort", but probably a limited production Big Bore/MG factory collaboration sold and warranted by Guzzi. They say it has toggle switch power delivery. I hope that was just bad fueling on the prototype... $32,000 US!?!?!?! For that price it should weigh less than 200kg wet, and have little iron, lots of unobtanium, and smooth power delivery. This could be the niche market Piaggio wantss to relegate Guzzi to. But maybe they'll build us mortals a 250kg version for half the price????

Is that proof that more valves is better? LOL! Definitely good riding music, just need a motorcycle video to go with it.

I am interested in your results, especially of temperatures after cruising for miles then coasting to a stop. I sometimes use my hand to test my rear rotor for excessive heat, as it is a good indicator of sticking pistons. But be careful, you can burn yourself doing it my method...infrared meters are a better bet.

Here's a great song/video from Sigur Ros http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7g2oa_si...d-8-heima_music Starts out slow, but well worth the 12+ minutes

So, you see the splines feathering off more in the direction of deceleration damage. Very interesting. The physical difference in torque between acceleration and deceleration does not support that so, it must be some other factors at work. One thing I did not consider is that damaging effect of pure steady torque is not helped by a cush but impacts are helped by a cush. In the real world, the torque is not purely steady but is dynamically changing. Even though we may be getting 70 pounds of rear wheel torque accelerating, and maybe 10 pounds decelerating, the deceleration may have more impact due to factors like momentum. A 70 pound hammer swung at 5MPH will do much less damage than a 10 pound hammer at 100MPH. So, something must be creating significantly more velocity in the decelerative direction. (or the number of impacts may be greater) But what creates the higher velocity?

For Europe I thought the switch was made for the 2003 models, but my 2002 parts manual shows internal fuel pump If in the US, you are trying to determine if the 2003 model has internal or external I think you will have to physically look. Perhaps you also need to physically look at 2002 models??? I think safe assumptions are that 2004+ models V11 six speeds all had internal fuel pumps and 1999 through 2001 all had external fuel pumps. Of course, with all the modified Guzzis out there it is best to physically look before ordering the fuel pump.

Yes, but that is because of the balance of weight. Which is more likely to lock up a wheel, the big dual disks up front or the little disk in the rear? You can generate far more decelerative force with the front brake before the front wheel exceeds traction than you can at the rear, atleast when going forward.... In forward motion it is possible to lift the front tire. The amount of force at the splines when poppin a wheelie is far greater than the amount of force when exceeding traction on a downshift. I am not saying it is fine continuously do merciless high rpm downshift clutch dumps, I am just saying that popping wheelies or just accelerating hard will do more damage to the splines, and that you should have fewer holes drilled in your acceleration cush than the one compressed during deceleration.

I accelerate regularly from 0-60 MPH in about 5 seconds, but figure if I rev the heck out of the engine on downshifts it would probably take over ten seconds to get from 60-10MPH. Yes, getting close to redline when dropping gear is dangerous and will wear your splines down more quickly, but accelerating WOT close to redline is much more damaging to the splines. The amount of torque at the splines is much greater during acceleration. One reason the cush design is bad is that it is engineered as if the accelerating and decelerating forces were the same. I drilled only one hole in each decelerating cush(to soften the cush) and no holes in the accelerating cushes (to resist bottoming out). Made sense to me... I suppose Greg sees many more V1100s with worn splines. Do the spline wear in both directions equally? If so, it may not be the torque wearing things out so much as the pulses and or the "lash-related" sudden driveline forces during changes from accelerating to decelerating and vice versa.

Some guy tried them in a car and logged slightly worse gas mileage. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/21/do...u-money-on-gas/ But who knows? in our bikes it may create a more ideal flame front???? I doubt it, and think all the added ground area could block the initiation of the flame front and result in less complete combustion, but heck, I could be wrong and this could be the magic plug that increase HP and fuel efficiency!!!

Like any car, a hybrd does not make sense for everybody. A hybrid will save people money in the long run if they drive safely, many stop and go miles per year, paying lots of money for fuel. It is especially good in urban environments where pollution/smog is a problem. Driving steady highway speeds, paying $1 per gallon, and driving less than 1000 miles per year, you will be better off with something else. Those that said a hummer is less damaging to the environment were Rush Limbaugh and friends. They based this assertion on a sensationalistic article that made some highly biased assumptions, such as assuming the you would need three Priuses to last as long as one Hummer. It might be true if the Hummers keep squashing Priuses.

I know quite a few people who insist on driving SUVs (commuting nearly 100 miles per day), just because it makes them feel safer. For those people that could make for a very appealing 3 ton 2 seater! What the heck, we could also add a steam turbine to turn some of the wasted heat into energy, but then we might be up to 4 tons with all the water we would be carrying! eCycle designed a hybrid that 'looked' promising http://www.hybrid-vehicles.net/ecycle-hybrid-motorcycles.htm I think is a conventional hybrid(dual power drivetrain), but if you look at their website http://www.ecycle.com/APU.html they sell diesel and gas DC generators that could be used for creating enough power for an electric only drivetrain.

Interesting. Too bad they did not drop the composite body and just go with a hybrid diesel. Diesels and electric should complement each other in a hybrid, with diesels being great for maintaining speed and electric being great for accelerating. Getting back to motorcycles, Honda may get into the hybrid motorcycle game: http://digg.com/autos/Honda_Planning_Hybrid_Motorcycle Now, if Piaggio would beat them to the punch and just deliver with the plugin-hybrid MP3, better yet a plugin-hybrid Guzzi based on the ol' bacon slicers, simply replacing the flywheel for an electric motor!!! Of course hybriding a motorcycle may be a waste of time considering motorcycles already (should) get decent fuel efficiency.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm I selected 2009, 2008 and earlier could be different. I have a 2003 Matrix and I can sometimes meet the Combined, but I can't get anywhere near the Highway EPA ratings, maybe at a steady 50mph in the high desert. From surfing hybrid forums, and talking to car owners, it seems pretty common to fall well below the EPA ratings with all cars, but especially hybrids. Even on our forum, I think we get claims anywhere from 30 to 45MPG (US) for our bikes. (and I recall some claims outside that range)

Yep, more krap for the land fill. And I certainly am lazy, but there are some pretty big hills on the way to work, where cars scream past the bikes at 70MPH. If I could make it up the hills at 15mph instead of 5MPH that would be the biggest benefit. But taking the car is relaxing, warm, dry, safe, with radio on, and not very expensive. I can't imagine I'd save more than 2000 miles from my car and Guzzi, and when the weather allows,the Guzzi NEEDs to be ridden more frequently, so all in all, I'll just keep dreaming of electric sheep.

I find it hard to believe they lost money on production of the EV1. Yah the R&D killed the profits, but that is expected. Toyota's electric Rav4 was another hit that was shut down because of alleged lack of sales, but people pay more than $20,000 second hand for them, because of their value. As for comparison of Escape, Malibu and Prius, here are the "combined" 2009 US EPA MPG numbers: Escape 23 Escape Hybrid 32 Malibu 26 Malibu Hybrid 29 Toyota Matrix 28 Toyota Prius 46 The Malibu, Matrix, and Prius are all about the same cubic area, with the Escape being significantly bigger. Without actually doing the math, I'd guess the time required to break even on the hybrid investment, a typical driver might take 5-10 years in the Escape, 20-40 years in the Malibu, and 10-15 years in the Prius, compared to if they had bought like models from same car maker. The Escape pays off the fastest because the non-brid burns alot more fuel. The Toyota would pay off faster if the Matrix was not so cheap to begin with. The Malibu Hybrid is a pathetic failure....IMHO, based on the numbers. Add in the cost of replacement batteries, reliability, etc. and all bets are off. In GM's defense, I'd even bet the Malibu has the smallest cheapest battery, so the cost for the 100,000 mile battery replacement might not hit the pocket book like the hybrids that really work.

The first hybrid?

Not so laughable. They killed the electric car, because it conflicts with their status quo industry that depends on planned obsolescence and profits maintaining overly complex infernal combustion engines. An electric motored car will probably last twice as long and need nearly no maintenance other than 100,000 mile battery swaps. What the electric car does not have going for it is touring range, so it is mostly just a niche car for commuters, and those that live in 20 mile radius bubbles. Honda and especially Toyota put GM and especially Chrysler to shame by producing efficient and reliable hybrids. Just compare the Chevy Malibu hybrid to the Toyota Prius. The hybrid of course protects the monoliths by engineering in planned obsolescence and the need for conventional maintenance....oh well. Ford, bless them, created the Escape hybrid which is much better than any GM hybrid. But when Ford profits slumped, they actually came under fire for being too Green! WTF?!? That was before the price of fuel went up, which Ford was better prepared for, at least with the Escape hybrid, but all three US companies were still geared up for production of gas guzzlers. Plug-in hybrids will probably be the apex of development, as everything else, like hydrogen powered and pure electric are looking like pipe dreams, not that they have to be... My commute is 16 miles round trip, so I could do with a simple plug-in commuter. An electric assisted bicycle at about $1000-$2000 probably makes the most sense for me so that I can buzz down the shoulder past the gridlock, but the electric motorcycle would be more fun

I stand corrected. The correct word should have been won't WILL NOT! Don't get me started about the bailouts and the ignorance of we sheople who have been led by the MNCs to the slaughter!!!

I wonder why, too!!! When prices first rose, I thought it was enrichen Bush's buddies pockets, but now I wonder if the prices were risen by OPEC because the OPEC controllers despised Bush and wanted the economy to fail under him????? In any case, the Iraq wars have something to do with it. The ones that are going to make out like bandits are the cash rich oil barons that can now buy EVERYTHING dirt cheap. As for first world manufacturing, the future is dismal. Can the little companies like Electric Motorsport make it? I think we may see a growth of smalll manufacturing for a few years followed by the big corporations swallowing much of them up, within the next decade. But I could be wrong...

Probably the number one reason production was delayed (or cancelled), Piaggio From their website's FAQ: I really wish some billionaire would buy Guzzi from Piaggio.

When they get so big that they can't even bring electric cars to the market, something is wrong. I test road a Vectrics scooter, made in Poland?, and it was a blast to ride, but at $11,000 US they weren't getting my money. But recently, after years of development and disappointing promises of a production motorcycle, another company finally released a faster (60+MPH), cheaper ($8000), motorcycle: http://www.electricmotorsport.com/ Bless the small companies! (Doing what BMkawazukonda won't) As nice as that bike is, I wish it was formatted as a standard with optional windscreens, luggage, and extended range batteries....someday maybe, but this is a great first step!

If anyone is interested in converting your stock front turn signals to LED running light/ turn signals, or just to LED turn signals, apparently this Buell rider will do it: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=366473 Tinsel not included

http://home.pacbell.net/guzzi007/schematic...96_Centauro.gif Looking at the diagram, if the lights go out again, see if the horn is working. If it works than look at the switch and connections near headlight. If horn does not work, look to relays, especially the starter relay that appears to have the same lousy design of running the lighting current through the weaker contact of the starter relay. Pyro Dan or Ryland3210's Motratech can provide relays.

Does the Second Amendment (U.S.) protect the right to shoot motorcyclists with radar guns? Speaking of amendments, here's to the repeal of the 18th