Lucky Phil

Well its about the engineering really, 65LBS extra weight plus the shock loading going through each knee 6 or 7000 times per day doesnt require an MD to work out. Nor does diminishing flexability and core strength required to support your skeletal frame and keep you doing the stuff you want to do. My Gym is about 45% plus 65 year olds these days and good on them. I'm betting every one of them wishes they had started gym years earlier than they did, but great to see anyway. The sore butt is easily solved without making your bike look like some daggy old rat bike(aka the lambs wool cover). Go and buy youself a pair of cycling nicks with the padded chamos gusset and wear them under you riding pants. Theres a reason cyclists,myself included can do a hundred KLM ride on something with a seat like a modern pushbike has and still walk at the end of the day....its called riding nicks. Your a cripple without them after a long pushbike ride and ready to do it all again the next morning when you use them. Needless to say they work a treat on motorcycles as well. Ciao

Of course the other solution is to spend some time at the gym and general exercise including some Yoga and Pilates to specifically maintain your flexability, suppleness and maintain core strenght as you age. Works well for me. I sat at a table at a gathering once and listened to 2 people go on for 30 min about how bad their knees were and how replacements were on the cards. I also clocked the fact that both were at least 30kg ( 65lbs) overweight and had been for years. Go and pick up 30kg sometime and imagine that weigh going through each knee plus the shock loading for the 5 or 6000 steps you take each day. I said nothing of course because they wouldnt have gotten the point anyway. Ciao

Carefully loosen off the starter while its idiling keeping some rearward force on it and see if it stops. May be the starter solinoid not pulling the gear back all the way. Ciao

No "give" is needed. I've used one of these for years without issues. Stock arm is a mass production compromise. Ciao

After 11 years this ones gone to a good home. And awaiting delivery on this.

This is true but only because a drum brake system has lost motion due to the shoe clearance to the drum and some mechanical play that needs to be addressed before the fiction surface actually applies force to the drum. The shift mechanism doesn't really have this issue to any extent.90 deg is ideal for the shifter input arm but it's not critical within reasonable limits. Ciao

This is true but only because a drum brake system has lost motion due to the shoe clearance to the drum and some mechanical play they needs to be addressed before the fiction surface actually applies force to the drum. The shift mechanism doesn't really have this issue to any extent. 90 deg is ideal for the shifter input arm but it's not critical within reasonable limits. Ciao

I suspect you'd be dissapointed docc. Ciao

Not only ugly but almost totally unrideable. Ciao

I prefer the Cobra clips. Very nice and reuseable. They sell a "special" tool for them but its not necessary. Ciao

For those interested a video. Its all quite interesting but take a look at the comparison that starts at 5min 30 second into the vid. I know its extreme temp wise and most of us would change our oil at a lot shorter intervals than the average car person but its a nice demonstration of one of the advantages of a full synth oil. Ciao

Yes docc I thought the Penrite info was interesting and backed up my research from a few years ago now that around 1000ppm of ZDDP was adequate for a flat tappet engine. There are always folk that look suspiciously at new technology and search for reasons to stick with what they know to save them from reading, research and analysis and to stay in their comfort zone. Sometimes you need to tweek the machinery to take advantage of the major benifits of the improved technology. Measuring CHT insn't hard just a thermocouple under the spark plug and a CHT gauge. Chuck will know all about them from the bug smasher world:) Ciao

Why? They are *much* better when hot. No contest. Ok not counting Air Craft lol.But for an Air Cooled Engine on the ground I would avoid full synthetics. Everybody is intitled to be completely wrong I guess, and I respect your right to be so. Ciao http://www.geneberg.com/cat.php?cPath=26_575 This is the common issue with taking one small piece of scetchy info totally devoid of detail and making a blanket statement covering all groups ( IE "air cooled engines") I think everybody with any real knowlege of full synthetic oils these days would agree that they are far superior in every aspect of performance, hot or cold. So here we have some observations with no detail on how the testing was conducted and what types and weighs of oils were compaired and under what conditions. But lets assume that the only thing of real concern in this particular application was the cylinder head temps were higher. How much higher? enough to be an issue? And if indeed you did need them to be lower then the probably cause in this particular case would be that the superior flow rate of the full synthetic meant it stayed less time in the head to pick up the heat. Assuming all this info is correct FOR THIS PARTICULAR APPLICATION and bearing in mind that full synthetics are far superior to mineral oils at dealing with heat what would I do? I would run drain restrictors in the heads to allow more dwell time for the synthetic oil to absorb the heat and make use of its superior ability to tollerate high oil temps. What I wouldnt do is make a blanket assumption that flys in the face of all available evidence and ignor superior modern technology. Ciao

Why? They are *much* better when hot. No contest. Ok not counting Air Craft lol.But for an Air Cooled Engine on the ground I would avoid full synthetics. Everybody is intitled to be completely wrong I guess, and I respect your right to be so. Ciao

Yes docc its been built up and re profiled at some point. Not pretty now though. Ciao

It is Chuck. I believe it will revolutionise our whole economy eventually. They are 3D printing metals now and things like jet engine turbine nozzles. Currently when you machine something on the CNC there is over 70% of the raw material that ends up as swarf that needs to be transported back to be re made into new material and you need to stock and transport the raw material in the first place. 3D has virtually no wastage so stocking and transport costs are slashed, just for starters. It will also change the way things look a lot. Currently even simple things like a machined bracket dont only look like they do because of the loads and forces they need to deal with but also because of the limitations of machining and even casting. 3D can produce exremely complex shapes easily so examples I have seen of structural components compaired to the machined piece they replace are much more organic looking because the manufacturing process is now unfettered. That really nicely machined 90 deg flanged bracket with its fillets and webs now looks more like a something that grew out of the ground because the item can now be designed purely to deal with the loads and forces without consideration to the limits of current machining. So machines will start to look more like they have grown than made in the future. Think of this, in the near future you will put the thing you want to reproduce into your home 3D laser scanner email the file produced to your local 3D print shop which will have a metal laser 3D printer and it will produce the part on the spot. No part stocking no transport no wasteage. Of course simple plastic and composite stuff you will do at home with your home 3D printer. Its as much the secondary aspects that will alter our lives profoundly as much as what we will be able to produce with 3D. It will be big. Ciao

One thing to mention about Berylium for those interested is that its highly carcinogenic in its powder form so dont go cutting it and breathing in the dust.Berylium copper valve seats require special precautions when cutting/ machining for example. Ciao

Ok thanks, good to know. I'd prefer if it was around 1.2mm but 1.8 is better than what it must have been with the std composite gasket at 2.6mm if the metal one is 0.8 thinner. Really 2.6mm cant be considered a squish band at all, pretty much useless. A thinner base gasket will get it to the 1.2mm mark I'm sure. Ciao

Whats the squish clearance with the Breva gaskets? Ciao

Loose valve guide means the guide is loose in the head as opposed to the valve being loose in the guide. As i mentioned earlier I would K-line it. K-line guide sleeves are superior material and will last a lot longer, interupted spiral grooved for oil retention and lubrication and the best part is you can avoid using the seat cutter. When you replace guides they never go back in parrallel to the guide bore as the one that came out so there will be valve seat cutting to do with a cutter. With the K-lines you dont have this issue so you can just lap them in and save seat material. I've seen them used in street and race engines. Ciao

The head discoloration is pretty typical from what I've seen, as for the ring gaps well the rings rotate in operation so they may end up anywhere. Aligning the ring gaps at 30deg intervals is all well and good when fitting but in practice they dont stay that way. In some race engines the rings rotate so dramatically they wear the piston lands significantly. Best idea is to K-line the guides. Of course if you have a loose guide then that needs repalcement. Have you physically checked its loose? Ciao

I've been using off brand rotors with Brembo calipers and pads for years on the road and track without issues. 45,000 miles out of a set of rotors is way beyond expectations for mine. My ST2 rotors are just on minimum thickness now at 57,000 klms and need to be replaced and its been use for mainly commuting and touring. Ciao

Oh, I don't know. Ducati posers are always putting the "latest bling" on their ducks, and many times very low mileage rotors, calipers, etc show up on the bay. I upgraded my Jack All tractor when I put a hack on it to a dual rotor front end with duck Brembo stuff for a little less than 150 bux. That is fine. It's a free country. But for me, it is not a place I scrimp to save a few bucks. I am sure some of those parts on ebay are in good shape, but I know some of them aren't. People seem to think their worn out / broken cr@p is worth pretty serious money all to often. And if I am upgrading my brakes I would rather upgrade to higher quality parts. While the OEM Brembo's on Ducati's (and Guzzi's) aren't bad their bespoke stuff is of a higher quality and performance. But to each their own. You pays your money, you takes your chances. I wouldn't use Chinese rotors for example as my experience with some of their machined stuff is really good and some is quite poor and I'm not convinced on their control of material specs. As you point out and I agree brakes are a critical component and not worth skimping on. However I agree with Chuck in that there is a lot of very good low mileage Brembo stuff out there for cheap money. Us Ducati ownwers are quite a generous lot, I sold a set of brand new Ohlins forks with tripple clamps and rear shock off my 1198s for a killer price to one happy 748 owner when I upgraded the bike to FGRT road and track forks and TTX rear shock. Ciao

Galfers on mine, no complaints. Ciao

Whats the dia difference? Ciao