Lucky Phil

I've actually been stopped by them another time . This occasion in a French registered Renault Megane somewhere in Italy, Florence maybe, cant remember now. Not stopping for a pedestrian at a pedestrian crossing. The pedestrian was half way across the opposite side of the road and hadn't actually reached the middle of the road and my side of the street so as all Italians do I kept going. Italians don't stop at a crossing for pedestrians until they are about to cross your side of the road. The Carabinieri stopped me, thinking I was a French tourist, saw the Aussie passport and waved me away. The Aussie passport, ticket to do anything at the time. Oh and NOT being French or German. My wife spoke Italian which also helped. Phil

I wonder if I'm the only one here that's been pulled over by the carabinieri? Maybe not but I bet I'm the only one that's run into the back of a Carabinieri 4WD full of them. Once they found out I was an Aussie and not a German like the Rego plates on my BMW indicated they didn't give a rats arse and were on their way again. Phil

Just make sure you email them before you order. I bought and paid for a new Brembo calliper from them a few weeks ago and they informed me they aren't available anymore which I already knew. So they don't stock stuff. They refunded my payment promptly but I lost out on the exchange rate and charges and they had my funds for 5 or 6 days. I mentioned this scenario in a recent post. None of these sellers carry stock and they don't keep track of the availability from their suppliers. Personally I'd go for wave disks myself. Phil

You can use "Braking" disks or Galfer disks. I have used both. The part is as common a fit as mud. The Braking disks are mono directional so separate part numbers and the Galfer are Uni directional so same number. Same disk as my 2003 Ducati 1000SS and many other bikes. I can get the numbers if anyone needs them. I have the Braking disks on my 1000SS and the Galfers on the V11. Shopping around I think you can buy a pair new for around 550-600usd. Phil

Yes Mick very odd that. I found out about this years ago from Paul Minnaert. Phil

Thats like treasure to me. I like the "discovery" aspect of a trove like that. Discovering just what treasures are in the boxes. I'll be interested in V11 parts for sure. Phil

The answer is in the thread drift I think. Phil

You haven't heard the half of it. Get Mick to relate the recent new noise laws in a particularly nice part of Germany frequented by a lot of weekend motorcyclists that are so draconian even the local Polices can't use their Ducati police bikes because their std mufflers are too loud. One of the German members on the Royal Enfield forum happened to mention how when he rides his 650 twin around he "just naturally" turns the engine off at every set of traffic lights or stop sign etc and restarts again to move off. "Just like modern cars do automatically!" Needless to say people were flabbergasted at this "environmentally concerned madness". Imagine on your V11 where every start irrespective of the engine temp or OAT the ECU gives you the start enrichment trim for 4000 revolutions. Your saving the planet shut the engine off at every set of lights is actually creating more pollution than leaving it running not to mention the engine oil cooking itself around the exhaust ports because the oil flow has stopped and the oil now heat soaks from the heads causing future engine issues. Crazy dumb stuff going on out there these days and I don't think it's a particularly a German issue more a Europe/EU issue. Unfortunately we are getting dragged down the same path by politicians. Phil

I know you were serious Mick, I know the draconian German rules I was just joking with you. NSW had yearly registration inspection requirements for cars over 3 years old and it was sold as a way of improving safety. Victoria has never had yearly inspections and the mechanical quality of Victorian cars is no worse than NSW cars. It's not like here there is a noticeable percentage of heaps of shit driving around our roads, nope. No headlines about tragedies caused by mechanical failures. So after living in NSW for 45 years and Victoria for 20 it's obvious the yearly inspection requirements are just another draconian way to cost the motorist money and impose nanny state rules on people. The Germans take it to another level though and I seriously don't know how the average earning Motorcycle or car enthusiast tolerates it. All the high end enthusiasts are fine because they can afford the massively expensive "TUV approved" accessories although I don't know how some of them can be approved when you hear them here on the roads. I'm now beginning to like the Harley riders getting around with straight pipes and riding flat out everywhere. They make the rest of us with sensible although illegal mufflers on their bikes fly under the radar. It's a finger up to the authorities. The cops never bother them anyway. None of the bikes I own now and very few in the past have ever had std mufflers and as for other mods well I'd be here all day. Can you imagine riding a Bevel drive Ducati around with the std Lafranconi mufflers the later ones were approved with? First thing that went on the shelf were those and the Contis fitted rules or no rules, EPA roadside inspection or not I wasn't riding my Hailwood Ducati around with the original shit Lafranconis on it. We have proud history here of fighting stupid rules like the mandatory headlights ON, the front number plate rule they tried to impose, the illegality of bikes with dual headlights like the Ducati 916 the list goes on. Proudly recalcitrant me. Phil

You're kidding aren't you Mick Phil

China recognises the "technical superiority of Moto Guzzis" Really? I thought it was the opposite that keeps this Forum alive. The endless quest to improve on the "lack" of technical superiority of Guzzis. Phil

Get one of these Pete and stick some Guzzi decals on it mate. I thought the 650 might look better with black guards so I bought a new pair from India. Original front and rear guard, brand new, with factory paint. Delivered to the door in under 10 days $60usd or $105 aud. A new fuel tank painted and delivered around $275US. You'de be crazy not to own one of these and save the mileage on the V11. I had a ride on my Son in laws bike the other day around the Yarra valley. Not a fan of the feet forward position. The engine was good but the rear suspension rubbish. Not enough rear wheel travel. It's something like 75mm I think. Not enough for our country roads.

You used to be able to buy it in the supermarket a while back. It's very dark red, dense meet and high in protein and very low in fat. Strongish flavour. Used to shoot Roo's years ago and cut the hind quarters off them for the farm dogs to eat for the week. They had to make it last, lol. Phil

I hear they aren't culling as many as they used to do as the USA now is banning Kangaroo skins? Might be rubbish but my FIL mentioned it. The numbers are getting OOC. I live near Kangaroo Ground a fringe suburb of Melbourne which is basically Rural. I've hit a Roo on the Wattle Glen to Kangaroo Ground road a few years ago. It's quite sobering to drive that road now and look into the grazing paddocks and observe 35 or more Roos in a mob hanging about 100 meters away . Hitting one in the car is bad. On the bike it's life threatening at worst and hospital and grave injuries at best. Phil

Yea you are right it's debateable. An analogue is better when it's at or over a certain size but when you are talking about compact clocks such as we fit on bikes I'd rather have a digital clock inside the instruments with numerals 5-6mm high or so which is pretty typical. On our country roads which are pretty patchy these days reading the bouncing small dia analogue seems harder than 4 digital numbers to me. It's about the size of the clock and the conditions. Just about anything's fine to read in a car but on a bike on our roads, not so much. Freeways are probably ok but I just drove from Melbourne to Brisbane last week and the Hume to Sydney was totally strewn with road kill. I've done that trip a lot over the last 20 years and I'd say i came across at least 300 different road kills on the trip. So bad you couldn't afford to take your eyes off the road for a second. I had to avoid at least 25-30 dead roo's and wombats actually in my lane on that leg of the trip! What happens when you stop/reduce culling Roos. Phil

Too small to read these. The are fine sitting on the parked bike but when you're riding they are too small to read at a glance. and a glance is all you should need. My RE650 has this fitted and it's the same issue. It's not that you can't read them while riding it's just they aren't a "glance and read" proposition unlike the Formotion fitted to the Guzzi. Digital are probably the best on a bike. Phil

Why docc? you mean for corrosion protection? Phil

I dont know whether sealed is optimal or not I've never use the grease nipple and just lubed it by hand as pressureangle suggested. My bike doesn't do lots of miles though. I would assume that any time the end is filled with grease and it's compressed grease just forces it's way past he oring? not sure. Phil

I have a brand new drive shaft assembly as a spare and there is no bleed holes. So the yoke and shaft with the splines is one casting with a blanking cap fitted from the yoke end and staked in place. The flat sections you can see are the staking marks. The cap seats on the end of the splines internal end face. I would just clean out the grease thoroughly and drizzle some 5 min Araldite or the resin of your choice down inside the splined section to seal the cap from the inside. a small syringe and 1-2ml of resin. Easy. Phil

Well if you change the bottom tree offset and leave the top the same then the fork leg bores need to be bored at a slight angle so they align. So now on the later forks the stem and the fork legs are not parallel. Just like an RC30 Honda and others for example. So the top and bottom triples are a matched set between the earlier and later. Phil

So here is the definitive answer to the triple clamp offset question. Twenty years in the pursuit. This is what you get when you use a later top clamp on an early lower clamp with fork tubes fitted. The stem doesn't line up with the stem bore due to the different lower clamp offset. Another difference between the later and earlier lower clamps is the steering damper lug is 7mm longer on the later clamps so you need to machine that amount off the later clamps for the steering damper to fit correctly.