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Good choice. I enjoy the reactions when I pass a posse of sport bikes in the twisties on something that is clearly not Japanese, then at the local hang out they realize that it is not only something different; but different to the next level. (particularly the squids "Man, that bike came with OHLINS STOCK!!!!!) You can see them wet themselves. Great fun. Sometimes even a grey-bread will take notice and start a converstaion. Nothing wrong with the Lemans, but if your are going to do it, do it.

From the looks of your pick the dripped oil has killed off all of the vegetation too.

Lets remeber that the speed of the bike should be unrelated. Other than being bloody scary to the rider. (Been there done that, ooch.) The clutch is spinning only at engine speed not output speed. The failure could have happend in any gear and still be just as impressive. I have just over 8k miles on my Scura and ride it very agressively, even two up. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Lowered mine 12mm. Haven't looked back. Steering is noticably quicker. Haven't had any problem with weave though. Either one or two up.

On the surface. It is similar to car wax, it is used to help prevent the rubber from sticking to the mold that the tread is formed and vulcanized in. Mechanical, light scuffing works just fine. It only take a few revolutions of the tire to wear the compound off. As the bike is leaned over the majority of the contact patch has already scuffed. Lean it over a little farther and a little more is scuffed. As long as the rider isn't really pushing it the available contact patch is more than adequate. Nope. Cars have a much larger contact patch plus more of them. Also cars don't have the side loading that a motorcycle can generate. Made the same, and scuffed the same. Watch a racer leave the pits during practice, he will normally "tip-toe" the first few corners until the is scuffed. At races like Daytona the tire for the race are scuffed during practice and then saved for the race, this also gives the rider a chance to make sure that the tire is balanced and not out-of-round. Which at Daytona or Brainerd would be a big problem. Tires that are not worn in will normally be cleaned with a chemical cleaning agent. 3M's product works great.

Spray carb cleaner works great. Let it soak for a minute then you can wipe the paint off with a finger. By the way, don't accidently grab carb cleaner to clean up a small oil weep.

Boy thats a name from way back. I used them to do some custom gearing back in the late eighties for some projects cars. They were top notch back then, but they were not cheap. But you do get what you pay for.

Guzzi Tech Windage

Mine whines at about 5k rpm in 6th, pretty loudly. I actually slowed down last time to try and see if a bearing was seizing or not. No problems though, figured it was just because of the heavy load on the straight cuts. It is nice to hear that others have a similiar experience.

Just to stick in my two cents my scura's clutch rattles loud enough that very little else can be heard at a stand still. I don't know about shouting but talking loudly is common at a stand still.

Well I guess i am just unlucky, my timing cover gasket blew out twice. Right under the motor mount on the right side. The third time I pasted up the area with a little black silicone and haven't had the problem since.

Since we are on the subject of oil, did any of you know that many early Japanese motorcycles came with fish oil in the front forks. Work really good until the seal started to leak and then it just stunk. I wonder if the the italians are using olive in our fronts??

Good explaination Jeff. The part that really entertains me is this whole debate. MG wanted the valves to be set at 0.006" in and 0.008" ex or 0.15mm / 0.20mm. Just check the vehicle service tag that is under your rear hugger on the right side. As Mr. Subash stated the valves do get noisier and you can't skirt those pesky noise regulations. If the dealers would start to adjust the valves to the specs (what was intended, not what was a quick fix) there would be many more happy riders.

There is that Bub exhaust on Ebay and look for "the rolling crow." Im sure he is around somewhere, I think he had some at one point. Check the links sections for his site.

Docc, If you are curious about your tire alignment you can run two staightedges along the rear tire up to the front. (make sure you bike is upright, center stand or helper) Then measure the distance to either side of the front tire. It should be darn close. Also if the tires are not parallel bikes track real funny through turns. I would think you would notice it.

And while your at it don't forget the Ohlins like us Scura owners so you can have all the fiddlly bits too. , and that cool tail section that Paul makes, and dual plug heads, and HC pistons, and that x10 cam, and the CF alt cover and fairing to match. Wait that my wish list, at least after the Ohlins bits, sorry. Speaking of petcocks, TX is right, my wife does like her electric better. Oh well less work for me to do.

I just love the squal that comes out during the spin cycle. I am a firm believer in RedLine products. I have had nothing but excellent results since the mid 80's in everything from turbo cars to bikes. If I recall they started out making full synthetics for the aerospace industry and military before it was "in vogue" and then began to offer it to the racers. While it always has been expensive and hard to find it is well worth the price in the long run. www.redlineoil.com

If it is any help I think you did it right Al.

You are quite right jrt, good eye.

Well assuming that the SUV was using DOT3 or 4 (currently all major manufacturers use one of those, except HD, at least for all vehicles imported to the US, any comment from those in other places???) and it is harmful to your paint. Glad to hear you wiped it off in time. The numbers are used to ID different Department Of Transportaion specifications. The main one being the Boiling point. Dot 3 and Dot 4 are both a gycol based fluid, Dot 4 having a higher boiling point. Dot 5 is a silconce based fluid and is NOT COMPATABLE with gycol based fluids nor should it be used with ABS systems. While it has a higher boiling point then 3/4 it has very poor aeration qualities and is hygrophobic. If water is introduced to the system it merely creates pockets of moisture which can cause rusting etc, not to mention boiling under heavy use. If you are thinking about converting you MUST completely diassembly the entire brake system. Dot 3/4 fluid shrinks rubber, additives are added to help prevent this, Dot 5 causes seals to swell (this was a design requirement, so that it would lessen the chance of fluid leaks over time) which also has additives to help reduce this. If the two are mixed, the seal turn to mush, and under high pressure normally fail. People who do convernt must first soak the entire system in Denautured Alcohol to remove all traces of fluid. Normally people who do this have little or no problems. Then there is DOT 5.1. More confusinion. Ok it is back to gycol based and is compatable with 3/4. But not 5. Once again higher boiling.

I just noticed something funny when I pulled off my rear hugger.... The Moto Guzzi SPA information tag. You know the one with all the adjustments, idle speed, mixture, etc. Guess what it says for the valve clearence... In: 0.15mm +-0.02mm Ex: 20mm +-0.02mm. Exactly what I am running because my bike would not idle when warm with the SPEC's that were published in my manual and to the dealers. I agree with those who have stated that MG tightend up the clearence to make noise limits, loosening them up do create some extra noise and it sure does sound good.

I always liked blow jobs. Sorry....

There was some heat treatment issuses with some transmissions, i think MOTORCYCLIST had one that the had some gears replaced in due to wear problems.

You would only notice the difference in contact in racing situations. I think you would really have to push it on the street. You would notice the difference in handling though.

Nope, no converter in the US on the V11 models. The OEM crossover is just a big box with some perforated sheet to help deaden the noise. Somewhere here there is a few pictures of one cut open.