Lucky Phil

Use some loctite 638. Phil

Pull the side cover. If the post isn't loose clean the area down with solvent to flush out the oil thats migrated between the pin and the housing then apply Loctite wicking grade compound and re assemble. Phil

There's enough muppets around that can't be trusted to operate a vehicle in 2 dimensions let alone 3. I'm the exception of course so I'd love one:). No mention of range and performance. Phil

So for the 99-2001 bikes the distance is 3mm above the top triple and for the later Le mans and V11 Sport 2003 it's 36 mm and the Ballabio its 32mm. For the Ohlins bikes it's 30mm for the Rosso Corse and 26mm for the Cafe Sport. These are all starting points of course. The only thing to remember is if you raise the forks through the triples you need to make sure you don't run into ground clearance issues and the front guard hitting the oil cooler on full bump and that you still maintain the full 54mm fork OD dia in the lower triple clamp.

Yep. My bikes front end is basically the later long fork and top clip-on version.

The fork length varies depending on whether your bike has the clip-ons mounted above the top clamp or below. So the later bikes with the 43mm forks and top mount clip-on have forks 19mm longer in free length than the earlier swan neck clip-on bikes. The extra length is to accommodate the clip-ons above the top clamp obviously. Ohlins legs are 3mm longer again than the Marzocchi 43mm forks. So 22mm longer than the early forks. Phil

In I think 2003 a mate and his wife flew down from Sydney and stayed with us and we had stand tickets at Lukey heights. We sat there in miserable cold heavy rain and winds the only people in the stand until the MotoGP warm up was over and I said to them, we can either sit here and get soaked and cold and hope it clears or if we bail out now we can be back at my place for the start of the days racing and watch it on TV. You have come all this way, you decide I'm easy either way. They opted for the bail out. Got home an hour and a half later turned on the TV to watch the races with the island bathed in brilliant sunshine and everyone in shirt sleeves.

Anyone that rides their bike to PI deserves everything they get. I've been to PI track about 1 gazzillion times over the last 40 years and I learned in the first 2 years never take the bike. I always take the car and packed in the boot is the appropriate infostructure for everything from freezing hail and gale force winds to 40 degree heat and sunstroke and everything in between. This can happen all on the same day withing an hour, no exaduration. You can't carry enough stuff on a bike to cover off those conditions comfortably. Many times I've spectated from the car for a few hours in freezing driving rain only to be applying sun block an hour later. Phil

You are correct, the calliper bracket has been reduced in width on the OB side. Here's the std width. Phil

The carbon guards for the Ohlins forks are different mounting to the Marzocchi forks. The carbon Marzocchi front guards fit all the variations from 40-43mm dia. Phil

This. Leonard Coen song. Brilliant song and performance. Written about Janice Joplin.

Measured seat hight is only one aspect of a comparative. People forget the seat width. There's a mile of difference between two identical seat heights but one is narrower than the other when it comes to getting your feet on the ground comfortably or not.

Ha, they need some post WW2 reconstruction determination. Ten years to rebuild a bridge! Sounds like us. We have determined it's going to take 40 years to build a high speed rail line between Brisbane and Melbourne. Meanwhile the Chinese are constructing 1400klm/month of HSR! I was reflecting on this a month ago as the Frecciarossa whisked us between Rome and Milano at 300kph in quiet comfort. Phil

Exactly. We just spent 4 nights at the Sheraton in Mestre. 5 min walk to a bunch of restaurants a shopping centre and the Ospedale train station and 3 stops to Venezia. It's my usual MO for foreign travel. Stay on the fringes, save a ton of money and utilise the local transit systems. I normally wouldn't stay at a Sheraton but in this case it was a very good move. Phil

It closed years ago doc. In fact so long ago I read Dave Richardson autobiography “my life in bikes” and author of Guzziology and the guy that ran the place for over 20 years about 4 years ago. If you are a true Guzzi fan and esp a US Guzzi fan it’s a must read. phil

Yes it sometimes detaches from the filter on removal and sticks to the filter mount and you end up with double gaskets which don’t seal correctly. It’s possibly caused by overtightening the filter. For some reason people think because they can’t see the filter externally on the engine they need to over torque it. The other reason may be filter design which allows overtorquing and distortion of the seal. A lot of filters these days will bottom out if overtorqued so the gasket doesn’t distort to the point of leaking. phil

What you want is a group 4 full (proper) synthetic oil with the lowest cold number you can get for good flow at start up but with the narrowest viscosity spread for minimal VI improvers. So for the old BB 2 valve engine a 0W-40 such as Mobil1 0W-40 or a full synth 10W-40. The M1 spread is on the limit but I ran it for years without issue and you might need to change it slightly more regularly but it’s a great oil. The M1 also has enough zink for the lifters as well. Too much zink is a bad thing and actually leads to greater engine wear. A case of too much of a good thing. Even in a moderate climate you want the lowest cold number you can get while keeping the viscosity spread within reason. My Daytona engine runs 10W-60 which is a bit to much spread but that engines has “special needs” phil

The above the clamp risers are actually slightly higher and vibrate less. Phil

They look like std early model swan neck risers to me. Before they went to the later above the top triple clamp style. I had them on my 2000 red frame bike before I switched to the longer 43mm forks and later triple clamps with the canted stem and top triple with the clip on mount holes as shown. Phil

Incredibly? This is how I normally remove tank decals and pretty much any decal. Warm it with a heat gun before attempting removal. If you're too scared of a heat gun you can also use boiled water. The heat gun is easy and safe though, wave the gun over the decal and use your fingers to repeatedly check the surface temp of the decal. Hand hot is around 50-60 deg C and thats enough to soften the glue and 50-60 C won't hurt any painted or plastic surface. The other popular method these days that professionals use to remove automotive PPE is a steam gun. Same as those ones you can buy for home use to clean tiles etc. Fast and safe. I've not used the steam gun method myself but seen it done and it's more forgiving than a heat gun if you're not the type that can concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. Phil

This https://www.amazon.it/Cancellare-Adattatore-rimozione-Professionale-pellicole/dp/B08BG3D9Y3/ref=asc_df_B08BG3D9Y3/?tag=googshopit-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=701213345730&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5995203386749263621&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9218491&hvtargid=pla-925105828522&mcid=4f1e119a2e33385b94bfaabb262910d8&gad_source=1&language=en_GB&th=1

There are just some things you don't do Mick. It's a thing. Phil

Took a trip to the iconic Imola race track yesterday. Not able to get on the track unfortunately but we took a stroll around about half the circuit. Visited the Ayrton Senna memorial at the Tamberello corner where he died 30 years ago. More significantly to me it's where Paul Smart on a Ducati L twin beat Ago on an MV Agusta at the Imola 200 in 1972 and put himself and Ducati on the motorcycle racing world map. My best friend was actually at that meeting to see history made. Apparently it was a typical Italian race of the time...Ago took off and they then dropped the flag to get it underway:) After that we called in at the local supermercato for some groceries. You can't carry much in the way of shopping in one of these.