Baldini

Why is the badge in English? KB

Wasn't commenting on function, just styling. As you say, no doubt with Buell there is a reason for things being what & where they are. I like the look of the small, single headlight but I also don't like the blinding headlights fitted to many modern up market cars. Position/style of can is fine but connector/tail pipes & mid box look tacky & ugly, at odds with the considered styling of the rest of the bike. KB

Great to see him back, good luck to the man - someone who thinks for himself & with the strength to follow his own vision. I like the headlight. Not sure about the moped style exhaust though.... KB

Yes, I would. KB

As johnk mentions, leak from timing cover gasket was very common. Most commonly on upper, left side just below engine mount. Sometimes you can just torque it up, sometimes gasket needs replacing or bodging. Also check oil breather pipes. KB

Cantaloop, saw your wanting a clutch - can't reply in classified. You tried: http://www.rebootguzzispares.com/index.html?mainframe.htm&2 (France)

Still does Have you tried a Griso?

Be interested to see pix. That's first Tenni flywheel I've heard of. I replaced Scura clutch at 19k miles with a RAM unit. Original was working fine & didn't show any obvious cracking when I'd took it out, but I've seen enough of others. Wonder what's the most anyone's got on a std single plate unit without losing flywheel? KB

And for those who reckon MotoGP is dull... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09vbxFUtfn4

Do you remember this one? Last race of the season, Edwards didn't need to win this race, only had to finish second to Bayliss to take the title...but Bayliss needed him back in third... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVhlL6GXlzg

...the same Max who got his arse kicked in MotoGP? KB

Guess he figures life is just a computer game...

Great BFG. I love that stuff. Like the bit about the lightning fast pitstops with mech swinging a lump hammer at the spinner - not one for the torque settings pedant! wonder what they'd make of F1 sci-fi stops? KB

Styling of that Cali is growing on me. It's a cleaner & neater design than any of the recent ones. IMV Cali looks went off a cliff after the T3 version, trying to disguise the straight lined elegance of the Tonti frame with swoops & plastics. Call a spade a spade, I doubt that this will have the integrity of the Tonti, but at least it has coherence. KB

The crankcases & sump appear old style with matt finish, the trans & other bits are high gloss black. Something funny about that pic.

...so.... it's all your fault... I guess i'm with BFG, what is Guzzi now but a name? Them bikes are just styling exercises or like someone else said - toys. Maybe it's time to put it out of it's misery or sell the brand to someone who cares. Good grief, even Roper's leaving the ship. Me, if I had the money I'd have one of them new Nortons. There's a man who seems to give a f*ck. .KB

It is worth reading. Attitude? yes, I think he has some "issues" he's trying to work out...or not. KB

Have you read Dan Walsh - "These are the days that must happen to you" ? KB

I don't know about time signatures, but there's Richard Thompson's "Vincent Black Lightning", Captain Beefheart's "Carson City", Steve Earle's "The Other Kind" & have you read "The Road" - a chapter in T.E.Lawrence's "The Mint"? Two singles echoing back off a stone-walled pass? A Benelli Sei on open Megas on a quiet duel carriageway? But, does the essence of what you're getting at have to involve motorcycles (let alone Guzzis) at all? When the first people heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the internal combustion engine had not been invented. Horses. The Beat poets. Synchopation. Is the motorcycle ride just another way to get to the same place? I walked up Cadair Idris the other day. KB

Have you tried sending him pm & emailing address detailed on his profile page? http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showuser=80

A person can only recognise in something/someone else that which they have within themselves. That someone perceives "soul" in a Moto Guzzi or a Triumph is not just an appreciation of the "iron, aluminum rubber, plastic, etc." but more a sensing of the intentions, skill, aspirations, soul etc. of the people who designed & built the machine, their history, their place & the history of that place. These things are embedded in the machine. The machine is an embodiment of these virtues. I believe a genuine enthusiast recognises the same in others whatever the subject of their enthusiasm. Those who deny others' enthusiasms, deny their own. KB

Now you're in trouble. KB

Must've been the phrase "will go down well"... I thought when I wrote it; it might be troublesome. (Apologies if I have used the semi-colon incorrectly there, or the colon here: I just don't know the rules on the more edgy stuff). KB

I think that will go down well. Thanks. Nice job. But whenever I see a loop frame it just looks wrong, like they got disorientated when they got to the top of the back tube & just turned the wrong way. KB