Lucky Phil

Melbourne drivers are the worst I've experienced any in the WORLD. I'd never seen a roll over on a public road until I moved to Melbourne 21 years ago and I saw 3 in the first 5 years I was here. One I witnessed first hand and stopped to assist. All on freeways. Hopeless drivers here. Phil

You know it's actually an offence to hit a vehicle in a public carpark and just drive away. My neighbours wife grazed a car in the Coles carpark as she was turning out. It was such a minor touch she didn't even notice it (she's in her late 70's) next thing Police on the door step as it had been witnessed and a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. No visible damage to her car either. Long story short, lawyer involved and court to fight the charge and ultimately lose. $3500 dollar exercise and still guilty. Phil

Thats the Black Spur Mick not far from my place. You know the stretch of road that the Police were caught in Camo gear in the bushes on the roadside with radar guns. I know that road well. Amazing how quick you can ride a motorcycle on any given stretch of public roads when there's zero chance of being charged of any traffic offences because you're a member of state law enforcement. I regularly came across cop convoys on Macquarie pass doing their rider training riding around bolt upright like rigid backed clowns. Good for a laugh at the time. I also did my first European motorcycle tour in 84 with a Queensland motorcycle cop. Never seen one in my life do anything particularly awe inspiring on a motorcycle to be honest. Cue of course posting of one of those old lame 50's police motorcycle trick riding videos on Harleys. Come on somebody here will be itching to post one. Phil

Depends on their riding style

The issue with vacuum bleeders is they can suck air around the bleeder screw threads and into the clear bleeder tube and give erroneous indications of air in the system. You dont get this issue with pressure bleeders. To combat this during bleeding just wipe a fillet of grease around the bleed nipple threads between the visible threads and the calliper housing where the bleed nipple drilling is to seal it from sucking air. Wipe it off when you're finished the bleed. The other air point on the V11 is the master cylinder connection which traps air due to the bar angle. Remove the master and tip it up and jiggle the lever and watch the air bubbles come into the reservoir. I've thought quite a lot about why clamping the brake on overnight improves the lever hardness and my theory is the constant pressure in the brake system dissolves any air bubbles back into suspension in the brake fluid where they have no or next to no compressibility issues. In other words dissolved air or small amounts of air effectively in suspension in the fluid has no compressibility effect where actual formed bubbles do. Anyone have thoughts or scientific info to back this up or shoot the theory down? I don't see why the brake secured on overnight technique wouldn't be worth trying on the clutch as well although you won't generate the same line pressure so it may not be as effective. I don't really get the whole remote bleeder thing for the clutch. It just adds weight and complexity. Sure it's a bit of a fiddly job to bleed but you only need to do it every couple of years or so. Not worth the added weight and failure points for mine.

I'm reminded of the riding style of the late great Paul Smart. This is Smart from the 70's knee out trying to get the rangy wheelbases Ducati to turn without riding off the edge of the tyres of the day. Well before Kenny Roberts was getting his knee down Smart was using the same technique albeit less extreme. Ahead of his time style wise paul Smart. Same technique applies today in the twisty stuff on the road but far less extreme. https://www.classicmotorcycle.co.uk/paul-smart-1943-2021-2/

I'm guessing over time the female receivers in the fuse block can lose their tension then the contact with the blade is poor and any variation in the thickness of the fuse blades will have an affect on whether or not the fuses make contact. I'm also going to assume the fuse blade contacts have a dimensional tolerance per the standards and the El cheapo fuses probably don't hold well to those tolerances as is the way often with El cheapo stuff.

Further to this docc I happened across this Aussie guys youtube channel a few years ago and was revisiting it because he's a Guzzi owner and has some interesting Guzzi tech stuff as well as some unusual bikes he rides and maintains and his wife also rides a Guzzi or did until recently. Anyway he's around our age lives in Melbourne, rides and maintains a few Guzzis and does pretty down to earth basic reviews. This one is 5 years old and has a few detail spec errors but is worth a viewing if you are interested in RE 650's and engine performance from an old guys perspective who also happens to ride and own a Guzzi and Benelli 1130 TNT and a rather nice Gilera Saturno. Phil

Yea I remember 1987 right at the beginning of radial road tyres and when the cutting edge sports bike of the day a GSXR750 had a 140 rear tyre which was considered wide. Motorcycles change and so do riding styles. Only old duffers ride like that these days on modern bikes.

Nobody can tell you are wearing them unless you are silly enough to ride your motorcycle in skin tight stretch jeans instead of a "comfortable fit" jeans/trousers. Nicks are padded more in the crutch and the bone of the pelvis that contacts the seat when sitting down not the glutes. Anyway have you ever looked at the arse of full leathers or leather riding pants? Unless you're a GP rider with the race suits with lots of inner stretch panels then they aren't exactly a great look around the rear. People commenting on things they have never tried just imagined! I offer a cheap and practical solution but people would rather imagine things and spend tons of money on impractical stuff like leather seats, lambswool covers or heaven forbid wooden bead covers. @Kevin-T mentioned he has no interest in "dragging his knee" with regards to the seat shape! Good lord you don't need to even attempt to drag a knee to use shifting your arse two inches either side of centre for better cornering control. How the hell do people ride their bikes in the corners? sit there rigidly centred and act like the mast on a sailing boat?

I've often wondered about that but I think it's an American freedom of speech/information thing isn't it? Not the same as the draconian EU laws on just about everything you can think of. Phil

No idea docc. I haven't actually experienced a blown fuse in years and years. Phil

The new fuse is cracked not blown. FWIW you should never use cheap and cheerful ebay or cheap auto parts fuses always go for the best quality and don't penny pinch on fuses.

Except a broken cable. Phil

If we are having a discussion about what makes sense and is practical and cost effective then the seat shown here misses out on all counts. It's leather which has practicality issues, it represents about 20% of the total worth of the bike and the shape is wrong for a sporting motorcycle as well. The idea is to have a flat to slightly rounded seat on a spots bike so the rider can slide himself laterally from one side to the other a little or a lot depending on the riding style. The sporting motorcycle seat shape is designed to NOT lock your arse into a little bucket like a mini lounge chair. If your V11 Sport is fitted with a centre stand then this style of seat basically turns into a bird bath if the bike is left in the rain as well. If you want long distance comfort then as I've mentioned ad nauseum you buy these and wear under your riding pants(see link) They make sitting on a bicycle seat all day relatively comfortable so on a motorcycle seat they are perfection. The cost is dirt cheap, they add no weight to the bike they allow the rider to still move around the bike for proper control and you chuck them in the wash with other stuff to clean them. For some reason people lose all rationality when it comes to motorcycle seats. Forget practicality, forget purpose, ignore the massive investment in dollars and the additional weight. It's like trying to make a sensible argument for a leather jacket over a jacket made of modern materials for road riding, pretty much impossible. I own 2 of these custom seats, one for the V11 and one for the Ducati 1000ss and both are stored under the house gathering dust. Both came with the bikes when I bought them and if the bikes are sold will be passed on to the next owner someday I guess. The rational, thinking mans choice, or any other of the thousands of similar versions. Aussie dollars remember, so about 5 bucks USD on Amazon in the USA I guess. https://www.99bikes.com.au/knicks-endura-xtract-lite-grey

If you are going to do home maintenance (and who doesn't) the first thing you need to do is down load the parts and shop manuals, they are free and the answer to your questions are there. As for removing the tank. In a perfect world no but in the Guzzi v11 Sport world probably. Phil

Nor did I until they got smart people designing them. Phil

So docc by my calculations the GB500 @170kg DRY and 39hp has a power to weight of 4.3kg/hp The RE @230kg DRY and 47hp has a power to weight of 4.89kg/hp BUT the RE 650 makes a lot more torque than the GB500. 41nm @ 5500 rpm V 52nm @5650rpm. The RE would feel a way faster ride and you can shed 12kg off the RE with a $750usd full exhaust system and make more power still. Plus the 650 twin is silky smooth and has less vibes than the V11. Phil

$700usd, yikes. Plus why people chose leather for a motorcycle seat is beyond me. It's not waterproof to start with and requires constant attention/maintenance to keep it even half way able to last. My Vinyl seats last forever with a wipe of Armor All every 6 months or so. As a matter of fact the seat foam usually gives up before the vinyl seat cover. Sorry for the differing opinion on this but to me it's an expensive and poor material choice for a motorcycle seat. Phil

You know docc you forget how overrated horsepower is until you get on something like the RE. I'm sure your GB500 with slightly less hp/lb compared to my RE650 with the same engine is fun to ride is it not. Phil

How fing ugly is that active cruise control radar box on the front! Like an after thought, Seriously. Phil

Yep they used to do that. Phil

No it's, either a Stucchi or a Stucchi copy. They Mistral cross overs are rubbish as were the FBF ones. Phil

My grandfather lost vision in one eye totally as a child but he seemed to live a normal life with regards to depth perception. A guy my age in the office back when I worked also lost an eye vision wise totally as a child and he road bikes and raced as well. Another guy I knew back in the 80's who was a Ducati rider and racer only had one eye physically. He lost one in a racing crash when his glasses frame pierced his eye. He still road and raced and also was a crazy keen free rock climber. His profession was a bride player believe it or not. I don't know how any of them dealt with the depth perception issue though.

I'm trying to remember if the plates are cast or forged and unless something has changed over the last 10 years you'll not have much luck anodising them if they are cast. Your local anodiser won't usually touch any cast part because the surface finish never turns out well and will be powdery and blotchy. The Italian manufacturers such as Brembo have some sort of special anodising process for cast parts such as master cylinders and callipers etc that your average anodiser here and in the states does not. It's the reason cast ally car wheels aren't anodised but usually power coated. Billet and forged parts are different though. These days you can get powder coating that closely replicates an anodised finish anyway.