dlaing

Too late.... As a result of Nixon's Ping Pong Diplomacy, a newspaper's headline read: "They got Taiwan, we got egg rolls." When the going gets tough, everybody treats China as if Taiwan was under its dominion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2...tent_385511.htm So much for not believing China...

Blanket plus light bulb could be an accident waiting to happen Although there must be some lamps safe enough to use with a blanket. Maybe if Pete Roper could add heating coils to the sloppage sheet. You are right about the dangers of a high wattage bulb, but it too is doable. It might need some testing to keep long term temperatures from exceeding much above 100C. Again a safe lamp is needed. A leaky fuel line could be catastropic

Metzelers in action, 1942. I wonder if Metzeler ever used forced labor?

At first I went to the Guzzi Shop but the tires installed were too expensive, and the Guzzi shop is a little far away. I then went to a a non Guzzi shop that sold tires for great prices and saw that they jacked the bike at the QuatD, that soon after had a crack discovered in it. They also let the brake lines dangle over the exhaust. Since then I have pulled the wheels myself and taken to the nearest motorcycle shop with a tire changing machine, where they charge me $20 if I bring in the tire and $15 if I buy the tire from them, plus $2 disposal fee

Forgive my ignorance of heated dipsticks. I always thought a heated dipstick was a forum member that lost their cool discussing global warming No sign of them at JC Whitney with a keyword search. No sign at eBay either. In any case, I live in SoCal, so I shall just tweak my cold engine mapping until the bike runs rough when cold then back it back just enough rich that it smooths out again.

1064 lashes with spaghetti al dente! But seriously, that is completely up to you. FWIW, the shock absorber and Bridgestones are not made in Italy. I have a bias for Pirelli but Metzeler are clearly of the same quality. IMHO a good handling tire, a good rain tire, and a long lasting tire are the three most important criteria. For my money, good options are the Pirelli Strada or the Metzler Z6. For sportier riding the Metzeler M3 appears to be the ultimate. What is the corresponding Pirelli tire to the M3? I just tried a Pirelli Diablo which was great, but the mileage was lousy. It probably compares to an M1, which is my next tire....expecting lousy mileage...

Cantonese and Mandarin are spoken languages or dialects. The websites are written in Chinese: The Taiwanese website is in Traditional Chinese http://www.cst.com.tw/ The Chinese website is in Simplified Chinese http://www.cst.com.cn/

They are primarily a Taiwaneese company, but appear to have factories in China and maybe elsewhere, like Thailand and Vietnam. Click on the eighth link from the left in orange that looks like this (assuming your browser shows the characters) : 公司簡介 http://www.cst.com.tw/ You will see pictures of business offices and factories, two of which are in China. Does this mean Ratchet is right and they are made by Communist Slave Labor? They still could be made by college graduates, cannibals, or even desperate people trying to feed their children in the free world of Thailand or Taiwan, right?

Where can I buy one that fits our bike, John?

I like it! My bike could be a hybrid of sorts! A 300W heat lamp or halogen lamp for ten minutes under the sump might do the trick. I rarely start the bike below 45F. The mountains here get colder, but the bike is already running. If you could heat the inside that might work even better. Anybody want to invent and or market an electric heated dipstick? Or fairing lowers that could block the wind with the flip of a flap?

PVM still lists our bike for their wheels. Average weight (not Guzzi weight) - "10Y" spoke Forged Aluminum Front - 3.5" x 17" = 8.25lb Rear - crush drive w/sprocket carrier - 6.0" x 17" = 13.5lb Beautiful wheels. I wish they cost less. I have to write that darn Santa a letter Alpina spoked wheels are pretty, too, but not forged, and the weight savings are apparently not as great. Alpina Weight for complete front wheel : 5,49 Kg Weight for complete rear wheel : 7,5 Kg Anybody know the weight of the stock wheels?

No offense taken. Many others have V11s that consume a lot of fuel too. When I weighed 180lbs, my Honda 125 got 60MPG pretty much however I rode it. My 500Four and my V65 got about 50MPG. None of them seemed worse when cold, as they probably warmed up faster, and once the choke was closed they weren't enriching like the fuel injected bikes do. I was hoping my V11 would average 40+ MPG (US) so it is a little disappointing. Judging by the number of people that get 40+ gas mileage, I am confident I can re-map the ECU to reach my goal, but I keep procrastinating on getting it done. Less posting to the forum should give me the time to do it. But I am grateful for all the advice. Cliff gives good advice on the sensor signal modification. Surely a cold bike that is running a little leaner than the factory designed, will warm up faster and could easily get much better than 25MPG for the first two miles. I have tried various tire pressures and noticed no difference in fuel mileage, but a big difference in handling, so I don't want to sacrifice the handling. I also wear through tires pretty quickly 3500 - 6000 miles for sport touring tires, but I have heard of people wearing through in 2-3000 miles. Smooth riders probably get better fuel and tire mileage

Gosh, a thorough answer! Thanks Kevin!!! The most likely differences from my bike are the Ti ECU and my slightly plumper 215lb +++ My fuel mileage is about 30 MPG on short commutes and 35-37 on longer rides. Otherwise, how I ride does not seem to make much difference. Maybe one or two MPG difference. I have seen 42MPG but that was going a pretty steady 70MPH with a 20MPH tail wind. To compare: he motor is stock '00 V11 Sport Valve settings: IN--.006", EX--tight .008" currently. TPS baseline setting: 3.5-3.6 degrees.(525mV) Stock airbox with BMC replacing stock air filter and FBF lidless kit Stock headers/crossover, Mistral mufflers. Stock ECU w/ TuneBoy overlayed PCIII map (002map(I think?)) I usually run Premium gas, but have experimented with 89 octane, which seems to improve gas mileage a little. TBS are synched about every 2K, plugs have always been NGK BPR6ES, gapped at whatever is spec (forget offhand,too). But recently switched to Bosch Platinum and noticed no difference. I run full synthetic oils in crankcase, trans, final drive--currently Repsol 5W50, Redline Shockproof Heavy(tried shockproof light, no difference in MPG) I weigh 215 lbs plus breakfast, lunch, dinner, and riding gear, and am 6'3" tall, making for a pretty good size wind sail. Tire air pressure: 34 psi front, 36 psi rear, (120/70, 160/50(makes odometer read high, meaning MPG is even worse than quoted)).

I am jealous. What is your state of tune? What do you set tappets and TPS to? Is the airbox stock? Are the mufflers and crossover stock? Are you using a PCIII, and if so, what map? What octane fuel do you use? And last, but not least, how big and fat are you?

I like charts: Guzzi Brevas do OK, helping make Guzzis one of the more fuel efficient bikes. The V11 spine frames don't do quite as well. BMW F650 and F800 do very well, as do many Harleys. I am surprised so many of the big air cooled twins out perform water cooled fours. http://maxitest.moto-station.com/moto/page-consos.html

A quick google and we find a pdf http://www.radix.net/~futurev/pwrplnt.pdf that shows lower emissions for battery powered cars. Even with the batteries being charged by coal powerplants, the CO2 emissions are lower with battery powered cars. Of course if the electricity comes from other sources the emissions are even lower. I did not yet find cost of production and ownership comparisons. I am sure comparisons will vary. A Toyota Corolla has a low production and ownership cost. To build a comparable electric car, the major cost difference would be coming from the batteries, but the money saved by buying electricity rather than gas in cheap hydro-electric areas, could easily recoup the cost of the batteries. Some sacrifices would have to be made, like range on a single charge. Electricity won't be good for touring cars until an infrastructure is built for it. But for someone like me with an 8 mile (times two) commute, it is doable. Unfortunately I don't like the options out there. Piaggio's hybrids are fine in hybrid mode, but overly complicated, and in battery only mode I believe they are slow with a short range. Vectrix makes a battery only freeway legal bike, but top speed is only 62MPH. But the range should be good enough to get me to and from work. But the price is $11,000!!!! Can't they make it for $5500!?! An electric bicycle is still looking like the only viable option for me to be green on my commutes.

Thanks Skeeve! Reading that book would be a good idea. I really only understand the basics. Understanding in greater depth may help me clue in on whether to change ignition or fuel. Still better equipment would help, too.

http://macenstein.com/default/archives/951

One thing to keep in mind is that you don't need to remove the bolt to get the rear wheel off, so go ahead and put some mild thread locking compound on it. As for other potential tragedies, be sure to remember to keep the brake line up on the clips and not hanging on the crossover after a rear tire change. A few of us had the security bolts back out of the ignition lock. (could be ugly if you lost control because of that) I have lost bolts at the alternator cover. I had the engine temperature sensor unscrew, and I cracked it when tightening it gently. Oil filters are known to come loose, with nasty consequences. A new bike should have every bolt torqued a initially, after a few hundred miles and again after a few thousand, and after that, they should be fine. Not ejected appendages, but worthy of mention: There have been a few rear lockups due to bad bearings caused by too short of a bearing spacer. Rear Brake problems due to sticking pistons have been a problem on a few bikes. Some things that should be in the manual: Lube the socket bushings at the shock absorber's eyes, especially important for the aluminum end of the Sachs, that has been known to crack. Clean and lube throttle linkage. Clean and lube shifter linkage. Anybody got anymore? Oh, I can't forget, the most dangerous thing is a loose nut in the saddle or behind the bars.

I preceded the quote with a FWIW, but yah I think there might be about a one in a thousand chance that Roper and Richardson are wrong. My guess is that Nehls assumed, but yes, there is a very small chance (IMHO) that he is correct and Ratchet was right. I stumbled on the quote and it would have been negligent of me to withhold the information, even if it is likely wrong.

I totally agree and retract the statement preferring the filter after the PRV. But I stand by the assertion that if the filter is after the PRV the pressure will be lower in the filter if the PRV only partially opens. Thanks for being enlightening rather than treating me like an donkey. I was hypnotized by Ratchet's PDF's warnings of doom and disaster, as if filters explode anywhere near to the degree that oil pressure is lost for other reasons. Clearly the likelihood of too low pressure rather than too high pressure is what we should be concerned with. FWIW, I just found more evidence contradicting Guzziology and Pete Roper, http://www.mgnoc.com/article_oil_filters_revisited.html (I think Ratchet cited that article earlier, why did we not pick up on what he said then?) In the article the author, George Nehls, P.E., ponders ideal filter bypass pressure, weighing the value of high pressure rated valve's more constant filtration vs. a low pressure rated valve's more pressure availability. His conclusion, trust only the UFI or a filter that meets the same specs. Nobody is suggesting going through the trouble of re-plumbing, but knowing which side of the PRV the filter is on further encourages me not to use a Fram cardboard filter, and it might help select a filter with the proper bypass pressure rating, if only we knew exactly what is happening. If Guzzi's have a history of low oil pressure we might choose a slightly lower bypass pressure. If Guzzi's have a history of damage from contamination, we might choose a slightly higher bypass pressure. The only problems that I have heard discussed on the forum are filters that come undone and lost oil pressure due to starvation of the reservoir during uphill acceleration or wheelies. ((helicopter (wheelieman) jim's engine is still going, right?)) 0W60 synthetic might be able to go with a higher bypass pressure than straight 30W dino-tang. Mild weather might also favor a higher bypass pressure. All we have to go on is Guzzi's recommendations, and maybe a table of cross-refs. Buenos Noches, Herr Hatchet. BTW, here is a nice photo. The Toyota filter is a YDDZ3 probably made by Nippondenso. http://forum.ih8mud.com/attachment.php?att...mp;d=1172165776 Tag is dynamic so you may have to copy and paste... From http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbth...true#Post876877

I think for it to work you would need extensive R&D per bike model, and then you would need it set for various tire and weather conditions. It is almost completely un-feasable, but I SUPPOSE if you set the pre-load on the spring high enough, you would get the minimal benefit, of lower risk of locking it you really over do it, but it would be a very narrow range of protection. You would have to set the spring preload so that there would be no difference from a normal set up under the most aggressive braking situation under ideal conditions, but it you exceeded the most aggressive situation the spring would kick in and very slightly reduce the chance of lock up. For real world riders, the threshold could be lowered a little, but if set too low, it would be like what Skeeve said and you would get the same benefit as spongy brakes. Obviously the negatives of spongy brakes outweigh the positives...So, I say it MIGHT work if you get lucky, but for most buyers it will make it work worse. I am right, so what? Get over it.

I am getting closer and closer to getting a BMW F-Series for their fine fuel efficiency. I still don't buy what Skeeve says about electric engines. From what I have read, they should be cheaper than hybrids to produce, and much cheaper than hybrids or gasoline engines to maintain over, oh say a 300,000 mile lifetime. Depending on the cost of electricity in your neighborhood, they are an excellent option for short trips. If the freeways had third rails, then they could be even cheaper. Because nobody seems to make one that does what I want, I may just get an electric bicycle, and get a little excercise Tuneboy and some elbow grease is the cheapest solution, and thus my preference. Still I have been too lazy and cautious to experiment. My primary goal is fuel efficiency, with smooth running and decent power being critical. Does anyone have a clue as to do determine which way to go with timing at cruising throttles? Supposing your fuel ratio is reading 13:1(using a WBO2 sensor) while cruising at highway speeds. To save fuel, would one want to go leaner with fuel, or more advanced with timing? I suppose it would depend.... What are some of the clues? I would think too much advance might produce pinging, while too lean might produce surging. Of course too lean can also cause pinging and popping.

I misinterpreted when I read 'unwind', thanks for the clarification. I like you more when you explain something clearly rather than ranting about paranoia. What makes you think a jammed PRV won't cause filter problems on a Guzzi? Then why do we even need a PRV? What makes you think the side the PRV is on, won't effect what pressures the filter sees? If the PRV fails to open completely, the pressure before the PRV will be greater than after the PRV. I would rather have the filter after the PRV. Do you need 'proof' that if the PRV fails to open completely, the pressure before the PRV will be greater than after the PRV? This may all be academic as I have never heard of a Guzzi filter exploding, but the more likely issue is how much oil is being pushed through the filter. If the filter is before the PRV, a lot more oil will flow through the filter and filter may spend a lot of time in bypass mode. If the filter is after the PRV, the excess oil is bypassed back to the sump by the PRV, so less oil flows through the filter (and its bypass) and the filter can then do its job.

I thought free trade agreements had prohibitions against subsidies, but I guess they consider it ok if the subsidies go to some other country Those rules on being a net supplier are ridiculous