Lucky Phil

The Griso motor is far superior to the Daytona engine in every way. Phil

So what was the "appears to be a spacer but it won't fit" turn out to be? Phil

The problem here is all this speculation is just that, journalists speculation. What amazes me is that with a whole army of jurnos involved in Motogp all the news is just second guessing. It's all just background noise to me these days, like the hum of passing freeway traffic. Even the Commentators know zero details about anything and they live and breath it and work in the circus itself. I often wonder why the hell they have things like pitlane interviews with team principle or riders because you can't hear a thing over the engine noise and the interviewee is trained to talk a lot but say nothing. Totally pointless. I turn the sound down as much as possible. I wish there was an option to hear the bikes and not the clowns that commentate. Matt Oxley posted on social media a few days ago that a request for an interview with a particular rider was met with a condition of submit all your questions, they will choose which ones they want to answer and no deviation from that. It's not motorcycle racing anymore it's F1 on two wheels and who the hell wants that. It's the old story, popularity has it's happy zone and when it goes beyond that it's detrimental to the endeavour. We have gone beyond the happy zone in MotoGp and now it's a business first and foremost. Phil

No images available but the only spacer is the one that goes on the axle between the bevel box and the wheel drive spline so axle ID, 2mm wall thickness and about 20mm long. The other "spacer" is a washer between the bevel box and the swingarm. Phil

Got this delivered today and noticed the warning! Looked up the website but all the usual nonsense. Am I missing something here?

True I misses the S Phil

"Hand me your hammer" is what she's saying. Phil

Check the rocker arms for hard chrome flaking and the cams for damage. Phil

This is true.

As a general principal I'm not sure I see the point in rebuilding a component with an inherent fault when a later superior iteration has been released unless you have the ability to reproduce the update to the original unit. Always opt for the latest version unless there is some other issue. I'd personally opt for the later unit with the better magnet retention system if indeed that is the case here. Phil

You can get "LV" ATF these days as well. "LV" Low Viscosity. Phil

Fitted. Next victim the swingarm pivot locknuts and learn how to cut internal threads.

I've mentioned previously the best thing to do is measure the viscosity of the old oil and the new oil and compare the two and make a decision based on how the fork damping worked for you with the old oil. If the forks worked fine with the old oil viscosity then buy/mix and match the new oil to the same Vx. If you think you need higher or lower than the original then use new viscosities as required. Phil

No it was caught in time fortunately. I went in for another hand operation and when the surgeon did the pre op consultation he put the original operation on the back burner and prioritised the plate removal. Not having use of your thumb on the dominant hand would be a major life changing experience I'd imagine. Phil

Here's the Ti plate from my right wrist care of Phillip Island turn 10. BTW Mick if you put your middle and index finger on your left wrist like you're feeling for a pulse and move your thumb and feel a tiny, tiny vibration as your thumb is moving get the plate removed. It's the Tendon sawing it's way through on the edge of the plate. Hence the removal of mine. Phil

I made up some bevel box drain plugs yesterday. I cheated and bought a couple of M12x1.75 plugs with the same hex head dia and turned down the threaded section and cut 10x1.5 threads which are a bit of an odd size for a drain plug. I had to also remove and shorten the magnets and re fit them as they were a bit long. Phil

Best part of a Centauro is with V11 body work and tank you can turn one into a 5 speed version of my bike pretty much. Phil

That Potomac river ditching was not only a great piece of flying but also decision making. Very cool head. Almost as cool as Neil Armstrongs moon landing with warnings going off repeatedly and fuel critical. If you look at Armstrongs flying career before the moon landing it's littered with exceptional flying decisions made under the pump such as flying a B29 to drop an X15 and the 29 got a runaway prop. Exceptional pilot and human being was Armstrong. I recommend his Biography "first man" the film doesn't do him justice really. Phil

Although not a pilot I've spent hundreds of hours in the 3rd seat of commercial jets with commercial pilots and even a few test flights out of Seattle with the Boeing test pilots on pre delivery flight tests. The stick and rudder and instrument flying stuff is a given but what separates them is three things in my mind. As a pilot you must have a profound sense of personal responsibility and be highly disciplined. Add to that the ability to be cool in a crisis a lot of which comes from repetitive training in crisis situations which private pilots don't get. Commercial pilots for large companies get put through the Sim wringer every 4 months or so and need to pass that test. An ability to know when the rule book no longer applies is also an advantage such as when you have a cockpit fire you don't fly around dumping fuel to hit you max landing weight target you just get it on the ground and hang the structural stress issues.

But still fine by the looks Phil