belfastguzzi

I'll see your Mersey Beat and raise you one socio-political message: Power to the Bees

You made me go runnin' for Mad Dogs and Englishmen Cry Me A River with sublime Leon Russell Back to Henry Boston to Belfast

:lol: :lol: :lol: I thought I knew the words now I don't :lol: and never will again His guitar player from those Grease Band days, local boy, the fine Henry McCullough, has weathered the years rightly. Get a listen to his recent and his latest. http://www.myspace.com/henrymccullough

Don't panic, no crisis. UPDATE There is only one of the single rooms booked directly so far (a Guzzi guy, but not a Forum member here, as far as I know). The rest of the rooms are held for us. If you phoned and were told that there are no rooms available, it was probably because the rooms are already allocated to us. Give me any updates on your requests, desires , arrival / departure times etc and I'll make/confirm the initial bookings within the week. After that, it may be a free for all. It is best that people if people are prepared to share as there are double rooms, family rooms, mini dorms (4) and dorms (8).

The list of attendees that I have on the belfastguzzi.com site is currently: Updated again Feb 2009 BelfastGuzzi – Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun nights Ballabio Bertie – Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun nights Stockportclaret & GF – Fri, Sat, Sun & poss Thurs nights Brushwarrior – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Guzzirider, Mr – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Guzzirider, Mrs – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Macguzzi – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Jaap – Fri, Sat nights Mal & GF – Fri, Sat nights Tikkanen – probably David Graham – local, will be around Marty Hanse - local, will be around, poss at accomm Tom Robb - local will probably be around Davy Russell – maybe Ferguzzi – maybe Baldini – maybe Antonio – maybe John O'Sullivan – maybe Grossohc – maybe Slavomir – maybe Wambiker – maybe Orson – is probably a no now That is 11 definites for accommodation. I had provisionally requested 20 - 25 beds. Let me know any updates to the list. Edit: site sign-in no longer required. You can view the web page at http://sites.google.com/a/belfastguzzi.com...lly-attendees-1

Seriously? I was only aware of one person who has booked directly. Have others from the Forum here booked – or is it others, outside, who have booked the rooms? I'm surprised. I had the rooms penciled-in for our meeting, so I hope that they haven't gone to people not attending the rally! Will at Barholm didn't say anything to me about that when I last emailed. I had intended to get down to see the rooms and sort out bookings with him last week, but I couldn't, due to a combination of circumstances. I have had bad flu for the past week and as I have other lung problems, that knocked me back a bit. Today was my first day up. There have been other problems over Christmas, as my mum had a minor stroke and has been in hospital, so we have been looking after my sister, who has Downs Syndrome... so anyway... I didn't get to Portaferry to get the accommodation sorted! 1) If anyone has booked a room directly, would you let me know? 2) Anyway, there shouldn't be accommodation problems. – There are dorms, as long as you are happy to share. – There is the Fiddlers Green pub with B&B just a few yards (metres) away across the road. – There are other B&B possibilities. I had hoped to check the Fiddlers Green last week too, and also the possibility of camping. I will check those things as soon as I can. Don't forget that a couple of other accommodation options are on the website http://moto.belfastguzzi.com/accommodation and don't Panic!

Thanks again FG and yes, I meant the Icycle Derby. Is that an older version of iMovie? I think there used to be that option, then it changed. In version 6 the 'web' option exports directly to iWeb. The settings there are lower than those I used. They're 12 frames per second, 320 x 240 and medium quality sound. I haven't used the newer, different Version 7, though now that there has been time to develop it, the brand new V7 upgrade, just announced, looks really good. It may not be the complete answer, but most of my problem was because I didn't realise that when a video at higher quality settings is uploaded to YouTube, it presents the video at a lower quality and the viewer has to to select the better quality picture. I was uploading the video and it appeared blocky, so I tried different settings – and it always looked the same, until I realised what was happening. The unfortunate thing is that I imagine a lot of people will only see the lower quality YouTube version.

Re Ferry Travel As well as trying MCN discounts, there may be no harm asking these people, Nutt Travel, for a quote.

Imagine moving the Royal Enfield to India! Imagine moving the Great British (Leyland / Austin / Morris) Mini to BMW Imagine moving Land Rover / Jaguar to BMW Ford.... India etc Imagine moving Moto Guzzi to.........

Ah, so from what you and Paul say, the 'Style Laboratory' was an actual project / project team. I've looked it up and there is an interesting bit of blurb on plenty of sites. I assume that it comes from a Guzzi press release. It does talk about a strategy. So the birth of the 01 Corsa and the Griso both came from that new exploratory process? "Passion as a mission. The MGS-01 Corsa is .... a machine dedicated to all riders who love and understand motorcycling, not an over-tuned mass of technology for a limited few." "Winning designs are not born by accident. Behind the sleek lines of the MGS-01 Corsa are strategic decisions, a gradual development process and above all the desire to explore the potential of the Moto Guzzi all the way, without limits. ....The "Style Laboratory" was set up at the beginning of 2002 as a training ground to put the skills and creativity of famous designers, planners and preparers such as Ghezzi & Brian to the test with the aim of designing motorcycles with modern style and technology, but unmistakably Moto Guzzi.....All the company's technological and human resources were made available for the challenge which showed all signs of being both difficult and thrilling....The deadlines were concrete: the models designed, if agreed, must be ready to go into production within two years at most. The technical starting point was the four-valve twin of the Centauro and the six speed box of the V11, for the first time working together. To say that Ghezzi & Brian had little time to "give birth" to their creature would not be wrong, given that they had less than nine months, from February to November, to present the show-bike at Intermot in Munich. The ideas were very clear. It must be simple, without frills, "pure". Go back to the very essence of the motorcycle, be easy to ride and have a number of elements such as the exposed mechanics and shaft drive which would communicate the personality of the bike immediately. From a technical point of view, attention was concentrated on ridability and handling. Short wheelbase, excellent balance and racing mechanics were the parameters on which work began immediately and with great enthusiasm. The prototype had an original and aggressive design, sleek lines and a decidedly sporting temperament in an ultra-modern interpretation of the Moto Guzzi spirit in which the lines reflect the technical characteristics of a bike able to transmit strong emotions. The use of lightweight components such as a swinging fork swingarm in box-type aluminium enabled the weight to be kept down. This lightness, together with the rigidity of the rectangular cross-section steel single spar frame and high performance Öhlins suspension, gives this bike extraordinary handling. .........The public was enthusiastic. Press reports were flattering. Articles on the bike started to flow into motorcycling sites, praising the beauty of the new Moto Guzzi to an extent that surprised even the design team. Market research commissioned by Moto Guzzi and carried out by CSM International showed that potential sports motorcycle buyers held the MGS-01’s styling in great esteem. This was the stimulus to go ahead - also because customers and dealers wanted the motorcycle to go into mass production as soon as possible. The public and motorcycling enthusiasts submerged the Mandello del Lario company with thousands of requests. All that was left was to decide the technical specifications. ..........The project is divided into two phases: • a limited series non homologated - for racing use - MGS-01 Corsa will be available during the first quarter of 2004, complete with 122 HP power kit; • the fully homologated production MGS-01 Serie will be launched in October 2004. ......The MGS-01 Corsa is a motorcycle with a sporting temperament. It is also a machine dedicated to all riders who love and understand motorcycling, not an over-tuned mass of technology for a limited few. The MGS-01 nevertheless has tremendous competition potential and could well dominate events like the American AMA Championship. A type of race which could also attract an enthusiastic following in Italy too."

More on this area: Northern Ireland – County Down coast. There are more pictures of this general area in the previous thread in this forum and on a web gallery here. ( 'Ulster Rally' site: moto.belfastguzzi.com/picturesandvideo )

I know a lot of this has been talked to death here already, but, on the engine again... The project seems to make strategic sense if there would be a direct link to street models, so why (ok, I know it can only be guess work) did they use the Daytona engine which clearly had no further life in it? Why not take a chance with the new engine – maybe they did intend that to be the next step? Should they not / could they not have started there, instead of starting with a 'kiss of death'? OK, that's all speculation unless someone has inside knowledge. The other part of the question was, what do you think has been achieved? Does anyone think that Guzzi's standing / image / reputation has actually benefitted from the appearance of the bike? Or is the teasing and lack of follow-up counter-productive? Can you see where any actual technical or even aesthetic benefits have been forthcoming? (That's where it seems to me that experiments with the new and future production motor would have brought much more benefit.)

AAAAAAARRRRGGGH!!!! The last effort didn't look much better, BUT I've realised that I needn't have bothered trying all the different settings. I now see that in YouTube, at the bottom right under the video picture, it says 'watch in high quality'. I clicked on it – and the video appeared in high quality! So the first versions have been ok all along! Groan I wish they made the good quality view as the default, with the option to select the poor quality picture if necessary. (Edit. The video with smaller dimensions doesn't have the high quality option.) Here endeth the lesson.

So, why did Guzzi do it: after the past few years, what is the result of the MGS 01 being produced? On their website, Guzzi says it gives, full attention to the sports model market segment and that for this reason it has, created a “style laboratory” where research can be carried out freely, looking for new ways to make enthusiasts dreams come true. They claim that the bike has returned Moto Guzzi to the aristocracy of world motorcycle racing. Has the MGS 01 improved Guzzi's profile? Has it resulted in any benefits to Guzzi's production model / research / technology development? Why did they not use the new engine, which would have a direct real-world relationship to the rest of the range and Guzzi's customers (even it meant waiting a while before producing the bike)? What was the strategy plan, what's the follow-up?

The action is that trials video above is quite astounding! Thanks fotoguzzi. I had been wondering what settings you used for your snowy video. I put a link in the first post here to a version of my video that is on a Mac site. The copies that I have there all look good when viewed. The problem is just that they are slow to download. I think that short clips would be ok, rather than 8 or 10 minute epics! http://web.me.com/davidboyd1/Black_Guzzi_-..._road_ride.html Google Videos doesn't look any better, in fact I thought that they had downsampled the video even more. I have also had trouble uploading to Google. Mostly, the process has just gone on forever and not resulted in an upload. Google version: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...349258376577349 YouTube is good because of the links that it creates to similar videos, so that's why I want to persevere and find how to get a decent quality picture on there. I'm about to upload a version that is sized at 640 x 480 and I reckon that will give an improvement now, though it would be best to go back up to 25 frames p.s. as well. We'll see. Thanks again.

I have tried to get better quality video on to Youtube. It would make a big difference. I split the video into two parts and edited them down to be shorter. For a start, they are better for being shorter. But the final quality when uploaded is still not good. Somebody must have better experience, as there are better looking videos on YouTube? I originally compressed the video to 640 x 480 as YouTube recommend. I kept it at 25fps but but reduced the compression quality (more compression) as it was a long video. It looked ok when exported, but looked poor when uploaded. The latest upload is reduced to 320 x 240 and frame rate is dropped to 15fps to make a smaller file Compression is H.264 Quality is Best (maximum) rather than reduced When exported, the quality looks fine, though the reduced frame rate is apparent. However, when uploaded to YouTube the quality is poor (blocky) again. Perhaps it's because I reduced the dimensions to 320x240 and YouTube has upsized it? ~Help requested~ Can anyone advise?

There will soon be less than 130 days until the date

There is video of a ride along the shore road at Portaferry, in the Travel Forum

Click here for > Video of the shore road at Portaferry, County Down, Northern Ireland If everything is operating fast enough, so that the download option works for you: to see a decent picture in YouTube, click on 'watch in high quality' – bottom right under the video picture. ___________________________________ Portaferry – Moto Guzzi rally base This is the area where our May 2009 V11 UK meeting, (Ulster Rally), will be based. On the video, the main accommodation at Barholm can be glimpsed, opposite the ferry pier. Map of the video ride route. The green line shows the road, The scale bars to the left show 1 mile / 2 km ___________________________________ Other versions: EDIT 1 The video picture looks better here. It's a smaller pic and higher quality though it takes a minute or two to download. EDIT 2 – BEST VERSIONS These versions now on YouTube are better because they are edited shorter. Split into 2 videos here: Part 1 Part 2

Yes, the main point is that someone with 'too much money' spent a fortune on messing-up for everyone including his co-driver who appeared to get nothing from the whole experience, apart from condecension. It was clear that others with more understanding and genuine involvement had spent much, much less on entering cars that they loved and they actually completed the event. A programme on some of those guys and their cars would be much more interesting than the vacuous celebrity chef. Nice cars, nice place and nice, in a way, to see that money doesn't count for everything.

There probably was, until the Manticore ate it. Such were the dangers of prog rock. Youtube: ELP performing part of Tarkus

There is a great series of old programmes about Prog on BBC4, started yesterday. (By a freaky coincidence it was preceded by a programme on the Large Hedron Collider.) There's just been a clip of Focus' first appearance on BBC tv – and I fondly remember originally seeing it http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-v7LzOeTkfM They've said that following the Old Grey Whistle Test appearance, demand for the album was so high that the record company had to switch their plant's entire production output to the record for 10 days. Next up: over an hour of ELP on tour in 1973. Overturn the Hammond, let-fly the Moog, unleash the Manticore.

Jan 2009. Some ferry prices (GBP) with MotorCycle News discount. If you want, try http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/Offers/MCN Amsterdam - Newcastle (England) £216 return, including cabin Esbjerg - Harwich, £342 return, including cabin http://www.stenaline.co.uk/mcn Hook of Holland - Harwich, single is £28 http://www.stenaline.co.uk/mcn Stranraer (Scotland) - Belfast, single is £36 or £44 or Holyhead (Wales) - Dun Laoghaire/Dublin is £36 single Fisguard (Wales) - Rosslare (Ireland) same price Fleetwood (England) - Larne £48 single + cost of cabin

very good – it's not as long as your memory

...by means of the Luddite Head Collider BTW I may have spotted what went wrong with the boffins' LHC last year. Does it not seem somehow wrong and a bit worrying that all the big tube things, in the pic a few posts previous, are held together by gaffa tape wrapped round them?